In the Nine Heavens, the Fate’s Scribe Shun Tao sat in his study and facepalmed. "Haish … This child! I really want to know what is going on inside your head." Shun Tao sighed and dropped his hand. Alright. It wouldn’t lead to anything if he sat there and moped. He needed to act.

Thus Shun Tao once again ground his ink and picked up his brush. "Seriously, this time it’s my own fault. I shouldn’t have written 'advises him to reconsider joining the sect' just because I thought every normal person would follow that advice. I should have made it more explicit. 'Zhong Jing Yi follows the advice of the person in charge of the test and returns to the capital.' That would have been a rock-solid way to put it!" Shun Tao hesitated. That … would have been a rock-solid way, wouldn’t it?

He sighed again. After all this time of battling against Longjun, he couldn’t even trust in his own skills anymore. This had to end!

With newfound conviction, Shun Tao started to write: Zhong Jing Yi moves into the outer sect with the other recruits. After their tasks are divided, the advisers don’t pay attention to the disciples with more than three spirit veins anymore. Zhong Jing Yi is left to his own devices. Soon, the other children who have fewer spirit veins than him start to let him do their tasks so that they have more time to cultivate. With neither time nor guidance, Zhong Jing Yi isn’t able to start cultivating.

Shun Tao put down his brush and smiled, satisfied with his work. With this, nothing should go wrong, right? He had stated that the crown prince’s mortal reincarnation wouldn’t be able to cultivate. There was no room for interpretation.

Shun Tao nodded to himself. There definitely wasn’t. Then … why did he still feel so jittery? Ah, this time, nothing could go wrong or else he’d really lose his job. He was actually surprised that the Heavenly Emperor had allowed him to keep his position for now.

Shun Tao leaned back in his chair, narrowed his eyes and pondered. There had to be something he had overlooked. What had the Heavenly Emperor said? He was disappointed only because he hadn’t told him what was going on? He had even expected that something would go wrong?

Shun Tao’s expression fell. He suddenly understood: The Heavenly Emperor had absolved him of his crime because of Longjun. Only because he was the culprit behind the diverging fate. Had it been anybody else … Shun Tao still would have been punished. But in this case, the Heavenly Emperor wanted to tell Longjun that it was his fault. It was because the Heavenly Emperor hated Longjun and wanted to show him that he was inferior, unsuitable for their crown prince that he had pursued for so long.

Shun Tao felt like crying. "Damn this. Your Majesty, what am I to you? Just tell him directly that you dislike him! There’s no reason to involve me!" What if he was further embroiled in this fight between these two sovereigns? He just wanted to do his job! He didn’t want to be used to pass along messages!

Shun Tao might have been frustrated but he knew he couldn’t do anything about it. Even if he could, he shouldn’t do so. All of his concentration should go into this scroll of fate in front of him.

He was more or less sure that he had found a straightforward way to deal with the situation and that there wouldn’t be any problems. Well, even if he had missed something, there was still Leng Jin Yu. By now, he should have descended to the mortal world already and considering his knowledge about the cultivation world, he had probably found a way into that Yun Zou Sect. If Zhong Jing Yi showed even a hint of stepping onto the path of cultivation, he would intervene. After all, his own future position also depended on this task.

Mn, maybe he should go and tell the God of War about this? Shun Tao tilted his head but finally stayed put. He was more or less under house arrest. He couldn’t leave here just because of some minor issue. No, he had to at least wait until tomorrow and go to the Heavenly Emperor’s palace to report everything that had happened. If something came up or if Zhong Jing Yi managed to pass a trial, allowing the Heavenly Emperor to be in a good mood, then he could ask if it might be allowed for him to go talk to the God of War again.

Shun Tao rolled the scroll of fate up with a sigh. Why did he even need to talk to the God of War? He should just trust that Leng Jin Yu would do a good job. That guy might not know enough about the Nine Heavens to link the God of War successfully but he was shrewd enough to have the people in an environment he knew do whatever he wanted. Ah, with him down there, there really was no need to worry.

And still, he couldn’t help but worry what the crown prince’s mortal reincarnation was doing. Or, even more important, just what that Longjun was up to. He wouldn’t be … trying something funny again, would he?

Shun Tao unfurled the scroll of fate again and went back to staring at the characters that slowly formed. He couldn’t let even the smallest change get past him! As soon as something went off track, he’d go and complain to the Heavenly Emperor! With who the culprit was, the Heavenly Emperor would definitely be on his side. Hmph. He’d really like to see if Longjun dared to make trouble again!