While Qiu Ling and Hong Bao had both run off to work on their plans, the God of War Qiang Yan was on his way back to his palace to come up with one of his own. His brows were currently locked in a tight frown.

Who would have thought that someone would be daring enough to try and sabotage his nephew’s trial? Whether it was that Yin Lin Lin or someone from the Scribe’s palace and regardless of why they had done this, if it was to inconvenience the Fate’s Scribe or to target Jing He directly, he wouldn’t let them get away with this. They had endangered Jing He’s life. Even if this wouldn’t have led to his death, it might have cost him his well-being. Something like that couldn’t be tolerated.

Now, he first had to find out who was behind this and what that person’s goals were. An ambitious scribe would certainly be preferable but if it was Yin Lin Lin and this was some kind of revenge …

He sighed. Matters involving Yin Lin Lin were always complicated. Never mind that her father had been the last God of War, back in her youth she had even been engaged with the Heavenly Emperor.

Qiang Yan furrowed his brows. Actually, this might even be the reason behind all this. He didn’t believe that she would go so far as to involve Jing He if she just wanted to get back at the Fate’s Scribe for rejecting her. She could have messed up any trial if that was her only motivation and she should have done so much sooner. But if it was about his brother-in-law and his family instead …

Qiang Yan reached his palace and nodded at the heavenly guards at the gate before going in, his thoughts still dwelling on the matter with Yin Lin Lin.

Back then, she had been sure that nothing could get between her and the title of the Heavenly Empress. After all, it had long been decided that Rong Su who had still been the crown prince back then would marry her. Both their parents had agreed upon it and even though Rong Su had never liked her much, he didn’t have a reason to go against his parents’ wishes. Furthermore, her status as the God of War’s daughter was suitable even though her personality wasn’t.

Unfortunately, things had turned out differently in the end, making Yin Lin Lin lose the position she had believed to be hers for so long to Bai Fen instead. Losing to a trueborn goddess without any status out of all people certainly hadn’t sat right with her.

Naturally, Yin Lin Lin had tried to retaliate but Bai Fen was his sister and he was the disciple of Yin Lin Lin’s father so she couldn’t go overboard. Especially since Rong Su had also taken his stance and protected Bai Fen as good as he could.

How much could a young goddess do if she was up against the Heavenly Emperor’s family and her own father? There wasn’t anything but petty insults to be given and maybe some water to be spilled. In the end, Bai Fen had still married the newly-crowned Heavenly Emperor and gotten the title Yin Lin Lin had eyed.

Qiang Yan shook his head when he turned into the corridor in front of his study. Nobody had ever given Yin Lin Lin a hard time precisely because of those things. Even though she had caused a lot of problems over the years, even more so after her father’s death, his brother-in-law had been lenient toward her because he felt guilty about breaking his promise to marry her. Bai Fen had just ignored her. After all, she had already married the man she loved and as someone that had been born without status, she didn’t care about her status as the Heavenly Empress too much.

Yin Lin Lin hadn’t been able to accept it though and now, she might have seen her one and only chance to get back at the woman that had ruined her life according to her own version of the story. After all, what would feel worse to Bai Fen than losing her beloved son?

He reached the door to his study just when two guards turned into the corridor. The two froze stiff and seemed as if they wanted to turn on their heels and run away. Qiang Yan raised his brows. What was going on here? "Did something happen?"

The two guards exchanged a glance, understanding dawning in their eyes. They were the two guards that had seen Hong Bao after she hid the dagger in her dress and mistakenly thought that she had been visiting the God of War and needed to straighten her clothes. Now that the God of War was in front of them and looked at them like this, they couldn’t help but come to a vastly different conclusion than what Qiang Yan had in mind: Ah, so the God of War wanted to make sure they wouldn’t gossip like those people from the scribe’s palace and spread news about his clandestine love affair around!

"We didn’t see anyone!"

"There was nobody when we made our last round!"

Qiang Yan raised his brows even further. Why didn’t they look like it then? He leaned to the side and saw the door to the courtyard standing open by a crack. The people on duty there … His expression darkened. It should be that Gang Tai and Ru Zhen again. Who knew what they had been up to while he was away? Ah, he shouldn’t let them guard any important places anymore. Wasn’t there some back door that needed someone to stand next to it just for appearances’ sake?

He sighed, shook his head and waved at the two guards that were still standing there with cold sweat gathering on their foreheads. "Alright then. Go, continue your round."

The two nodded and hurried away as if they had been granted amnesty. Qiang Yan didn’t think about it any longer. He certainly didn’t have time to care about this type of thing now. Although, speaking of Ru Zhen, that guy might have some use in finding out what was going on in Yin Lin Lin’s palace. Mn, maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea.