Back in the Nine Heavens, the Fate’s Scribe Shun Tao heaved a sigh of relief. He had just read how Hong Bao had been approached by Xiao Li. Thankfully, that girl seemed to have grown up a bit. At the very least, she hadn’t gushed to him about everything and given their crown prince’s identity away. It was alarming that somebody would inquire about him though. Most likely, the person was related to the demons. Otherwise, he really couldn’t explain this to himself. It was especially likely since this was probably the same person that had wanted to ambush Zhong Jing Yi before but was driven off by the dragon king. After all, hadn’t the dragon king identified that person as a demon?

Speaking of that … Longjun’s presence seemed like a double-edged sword. They should really be grateful for the fact that he stayed at the crown prince’s side right now. Without him, that first appearance of the suspected demon might have turned out differently.

But then again, these mortals wouldn’t have found out about Zhong Jing Yi’s real identity if Longjun hadn’t directly told them and Hong Bao wouldn’t be in a position where she could actually tell the demon something. Ah, knowing her, it might just be a question of time until she started to trust him and divulged everything.

"Aiya, even though nothing happened yet, it’s still worrying. I should go and report to the Heavenly Emperor." Shun Tao said so but stayed seated. "Maybe I should go to the God of War instead." He frowned. "What is that Leng Jin Yu doing anyway? I haven’t heard anything from him since the time something happened to the dragon king. It can’t be that he ran into trouble, right?" Shun Tao stood up and paced up and down.

This troublesome task seemed to get even more troublesome with time. The crown prince was already sixteen years old and even though he had managed to pass some trials there were no others in sight. On the contrary, he was especially happy thanks to Longjun. If those two indeed married … the only thing that might happen was that one of them would die of absolute bliss.

If things went on like this, then those two would soon finish that mission and return to the Yun Zou Sect and then Zhong Jing Yi would become an inner sect disciple. It wasn’t hard to imagine what the next step would be: An inner sect disciple with at least a little bit of worth and one that was engaged to the most promising disciple of said sect, the Sect Master would need to be more than blind if he didn’t try to help him further his cultivation!

In short: If he didn’t do something soon, then His Highness’s mortal reincarnation would indeed become immortal and someday ascend to the status of a deity. And then their crown prince …

"Aiya! What should I do?" Shun Tao raked his fingers through his hair. He honestly felt like some strands were dropping out because of this couple. Hadn’t the Heavenly Empress warned Longjun enough? What was this guy thinking? He really needed to throw some trials at the crown prince but Longjun’s presence was just too troublesome. It might not yield any results. But trying it might still be for the best. He just needed an opportunity …

Shun Tao sat back down at his desk and picked up Jing Yi’s scroll of fate. Right now, the boy should be on his way to Grandmaster Shen’s estate with the dragon king. Shun Tao scratched his head. With Longjun and Hong Bao around, this would probably end in chaos anyway. He just had to watch, prepare his ink and brush, and strike as soon as an opportunity presented itself.

He read the last part that had appeared on the scroll. Those two had indeed accepted the invitation and gone there. Everything seemed ordinary. Shun Tao watched as the next part of Zhong Jing Yi’s fate revealed itself stroke by stroke.

Then, Shun Tao threw his brush away, leaped to his feet, and ran outside. He came back at once, picked up the scroll he had forgotten to take, and hurried over to the Heavenly Emperor’s palace. He didn’t care for the guards and just barged right in, throwing himself to the ground. He even forgot to extend the customary greetings. "Your Majesty! Something bad happened!"

The Heavenly Emperor Rong Su had already guessed that something must have happened as soon as he saw Shun Tao’s untypical behavior. He looked at his brother-in-law who stood next to him and gulped. "What happened to my son?"

Shun Tao winced. Ah, this Longjun! Could it be that he wouldn’t be happy until he had completely destroyed him? "His mortal reincarnation was sent on a mission to one of the so-called demonic sects together with Longjun. Besides the Sect Master, the most important person of that sect is their Grandmaster Shen An De who is part demon."

"What?!" The Heavenly Emperor leaped to his feet and whirled around to his brother-in-law. "Qiang Yan, you have to send your people immediately! We definitely can’t let Jing He stay there unguarded if demons are running rampant there!"

The God of War looked at Shun Tao. "Did that Grandmaster try to attack His Highness?"

Shun Tao shook his head. "No. In fact, he just met him for the first time. But he had dealings with Longjun before and …" Shun Tao grimaced and lowered his head. "The dragon king told him about His Highness’s identity."

Rong Su and Qiang Yan exchanged a glance. They didn’t like where this was going.

"I don’t know what his plans were but that Grandmaster gave His Highness one of the fruits from the Beguiling Night Tree."

Rong Su sat down on his throne again. "The Beguiling Night Tree?" That was actually a tree they had in the Nine Heavens as well. All of the immortal realms had them and not just a few. They were only rare in the mortal realm. And they could only prove difficult for mortals. Unfortunately, his son was one of them right now.

Qiang Yan watched his brother-in-law’s expression before turning back to Shun Tao. "Did his scroll of fate say anything about what he saw?"

Shun Tao opened the scroll with trembling fingers. He hadn’t dared to read on back in his study. Just knowing that it was a fruit of the Beguiling Night Tree had shocked him enough. Now, he took a quick glance before hurriedly closing his eyes. This … didn’t look good at all.