While the Zhongs were about to start their lives in the capital, things in the Nine Heavens seemed to continue going downhill. At least that was what Leng Jin Yu felt while talking to Hong Bao.

Speaking of the Law of Balance, the Heavens really treated everyone equally. For example talents: Everyone had their own talent. Sometimes there would be people that seemed incredibly lucky at first glance because they got two talents but, well … Hong Bao was probably explanation enough as to why one could still say that the Heavens were just in treating everyone fairly.

Hong Bao’s first talent, without a doubt, was her incredible ability to extract information out of conversations even if it hadn’t been uttered. Her second talent was her unique way of looking at things as Leng Jin Yu found out right this moment.

Hong Bao looked at him strangely, her brows drawing together like angry storm clouds. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and leaped to her feet, pointing her finger at Leng Jin Yu. "What is that supposed to mean? The crown prince’s life is a worthy life but Shun Tao’s life is worthless? How can they make it difficult for him just because of some small issue like that? Isn’t it the crown prince’s fault for not being good enough to pass his own trials?!"

This kind of perceiving the issue at hand, this kind of arguing … it stumped even a man like Leng Jin Yu for words. What would the Fate’s Scribe have said had he heard this?

Probably nothing. If anyone told Shun Tao that Hong Bao had compared his worth to the crown prince’s like that, he probably would have fainted on the spot. Just let the Heavenly Emperor hear about it and he would lose his head for sure! With that irascible temper of his, he might even make sure that the head wasn’t lost too easily!

Thankfully, Shun Tao didn’t know about Hong Bao’s words and the only one stunned was Leng Jin Yu. "That … Hong Bao, do you really think that?"

"Of course!" Hong Bao clenched her hands into fists and tried to stare down Leng Jin Yu. Unfortunately for her, he had cultivated into a deity not long ago and lived for several millenniums before. He had faced things way more pressuring than a lovestruck servant girl. He wasn’t totally unaffected though. At least, he had started to question how she had been able to live in the Nine Heavens for so long.

Leng Jin Yu sighed. "Nobody is saying that the life of the Fate’s Scribe is worthless but in comparison to the crown prince —"

"It’s still important!"

"But he is someone that can be replaced. The crown prince isn’t."

"This is unfair!" Hong Bao sat down again and crossed her arms. This was too much! She shouldn’t have talked to Leng Jin Yu about this. But who could have known that he was just as prejudiced as the people trying to hurt her Shun Tao?

"It is. The Fate’s Scribe couldn’t have guessed that something like this would happen. In fact, I don’t think there would be much of a problem if he had reported it immediately. But it gets worse with each passing day. It would be better if he went to the Heavenly Emperor right now."

"He can’t do that. What if that guy really kills him?"

'That guy' … Leng Jin Yu rubbed his brow. He didn't even know what to say to her way of addressing the sovereign of the Nine Heavens. "I don’t think he’d do that."

"Leng Jin Yu … You have to help me! You can’t want to see Shun Tao die, can you?"

Leng Jin Yu sighed. He hadn’t even exchanged a word of greeting with the Fate’s Scribe before so he didn’t really care. But he couldn’t tell that Hong Bao. "Of course not."

"Then help me think of a plan!"

He sighed again. "This isn’t that easy. Disregarding the fact that he should have told the Heavenly Emperor, the Fate’s Scribe did the right thing when he tried to find the culprit behind this. That should still be one of his priorities." Leng Jin Yu furrowed his brows. Thinking of that … he had helped Hong Bao with observing the other gods, so he knew better than Shun Tao what they did and didn’t do. Obviously, none of them was the culprit. But who else could it be?

"So, we continue to observe the men in the courtyard?"

Leng Jin Yu shook his head. "No. It’s not one of them. We’ll have to consider who else would benefit from this. There aren’t that many possibilities."

"So …?"

"Let me think about that a little more. The other thing we should think about is how to get the crown prince’s fate back on track. As long as he can pass at least one trial in the mortal world, the Heavenly Emperor shouldn’t punish the Fate’s Scribe too badly."

"And you have a plan for that?"

Leng Jin Yu suppressed his sigh. "Wouldn’t the Fate’s Scribe know better than us how to do that? I’d suggest he focuses on the fate while we search for the culprit."

"Let’s do that!" Hong Bao leaped to her feet again and grabbed his arm. "Let us go right now!"

Leng Jin Yu waved her hand away. "Not so fast. Do you think it’s that easy? If it was, the Fate’s Scribe would have long found out who the culprit is."

"Then what exactly do we do now?" Hong Bao sat back down but shuffled around on her chair.

"First of all, we need help."

"No!" Hong Bao leaped back up and extended her arms as if she wanted to hinder him from leaving the room. Not that Leng Jin Yu had even attempted to do so. "We can’t do that. Shun Tao explicitly said that I can’t tell anyone about this!"

"But you told me nonetheless."

"That … That’s something different! I told you because we need your help."

"I don’t think he’d like that either. But that’s not the point. We can’t do this without help. And even if we could, we shouldn’t. This concerns all of the Nine Heavens. We can’t be irresponsible."

"I thought you were my friend." Hong Bao scrunched up her face but Leng Jin Yu didn’t react. "You’re way worse than Shun Tao!" She stumped her feet and turned around, ready to rush out. She had just taken one step when she remembered that this was her room. "Why am I running out? You should get out!"

"You don’t want my help anymore?" Leng Jin Yu lifted his brows.

Hong Bao pouted. "You can’t tell anyone!" She waited but didn’t get a response. "Leng Jin Yu! I told all of that confidentially! You have to promise you won’t tell."

Leng Jin Yu stood up and sighed. "Hong Bao, I’m sorry. I’m afraid I can’t promise that. This isn’t a trifle. If the crown prince …" He shook his head, unable to even finish the sentence.

Leng Jin Yu hadn’t been born in the Nine Heavens. He came from the mortal world. He was born there, had grown up there, had cultivated there and had only recently ascended and found a new home in the Nine Heavens. Of course, he had never seen the crown prince. But he knew how important that person was to the Nine Heavens. If he died or something else happened to him … The gods couldn’t cope with that. And as someone who now lived with them, he couldn’t look the other way when he found out that something like that might happen.