Jing Yi fell silent and Leng Jin Yu didn't try to make conversation. The boy probably had a lot to think about. It was alright as long as he could take a closer look at the secret realm. After all, he had to make sure that there was nothing here that could be dangerous to the Son of Heaven. Having him die would probably be alright but as soon as his soul was concerned …
Speaking of that … Leng Jin Yu took a glance at Jing Yi's troubled expression. It seemed the dragon king and him weren't the only ones who knew about his hidden identity as the Son of Heaven. After all, it was quite suspicious that Qiguan Cheng Da had been given a Jade Gathering Beast of all things.
Most people in the human realm nowadays might not know about it and assumed that the Jade Gathering Beast was only dangerous because of the accidents that might occur when it devoured spiritual energy but he had already cultivated to the peak of immortality once and ascended as a deity so he knew the truth. The Jade Gathering Beast was far more vicious than that.
It gathered spiritual energy, yes, but that wasn't all it gathered. In fact, every type of energy was a welcome meal for this creature. Nothing was wrong with that generally, it was just its nature to do so. The problem was that this energy also referred to life energy or even soul energy.
In other words, if the Jade Gathering Beast followed a cultivator to a place where there was no spiritual energy in the vicinity, then it would first start to devour the cultivation base of its owner. If the cultivator still didn't manage to leave the place after that was done, it would then start taking in the life energy in his body which would in turn slowly let him lose all strength until he was too weak to even lift a hand. Normally the cultivator would then fall into a coma.
But the Jade Gathering Beast at that point in time would still have no other source of energy and would thus start to take in the last bit of energy the cultivator had: The energy of his soul. In the worst case, it would be completely devoured without any chance to ever enter the circle of reincarnation.
It had happened often enough in the past until the cultivators hated the Jade Gathering Beasts they had once thought of using so much that they were killed upon sight. This was what had led to the near demise of the whole population of Jade Gathering Beasts.
Considering this history of that beast type and the fact that Jing Yi didn't know much about cultivation and even less about the different beasts in the human realms one only needed to use one's toes to think to understand that something was up with this gift. He was just afraid that this wasn't something Qiguan Cheng Da could have come up with. The only thing he might have known of was the possibility of an explosion. So, who had incited him and provided him with the means to this sinister plan?
Was this another coincidence like back when the idle goddess Yin Lin Lin incited Hong Bao to murder the god that had descended to the mortal realm for his trial just to make trouble for the Fate's Scribe Shun Tao? But how many people could have a grudge against him? And after what had happened back then some precautions had certainly been taken.
Don't talk about the Fate's Scribe that would want to prevent anything unexpected from occurring, there were still the God of War and the Heavenly Emperor who were both part of the crown prince's family. After someone had nearly gotten him killed accidentally they would certainly be more careful.
Leng Jin Yu had naturally felt when the Heavenly Guards had joined them halfway on their journey from the Hei Dian Sect to the secret realm. He had been a little astonished that they only came then after so many days had already passed in the Nine Heavens since that incident but the point was that they had come. That showed that the God of War was trying to minimize the potential danger for his nephew. So it was completely impossible for any god to be the cause behind the appearance of the Jade Gathering Beast.
Then who else could it be? Someone from the demons? But they shouldn't have known that the Son of Heaven was attempting his trial right now. Not even all of the gods knew. As far as Leng Jin Yu had heard the crown prince was quite the reclusive person. One could see him sometimes from afar and he certainly would attend the important festivities but otherwise, he kept to himself. It was normal for people not to see him for a week or two in succession and it wasn't even strange if he didn't appear before them for a month. Probably, they'd even be freaked out should they actually meet him every few days.
So if even the gods themselves had no idea, how should that information have spread to the other races? Especially the demons that hadn't much to do with them.
Leng Jin Yu's eyes narrowed. There was one possibility that he felt to be quite likely, unfortunately. Once again, this should be tied to the dragon king. Maybe he had told someone about it in good faith or maybe someone was actually spying on him instead of the crown prince and had found out about the trial like that. Whatever the case it was more likely than someone getting a handle on the crown prince's information from the side of the gods.
Unfortunately, this was only a conjecture and he had no way of verifying or even reporting it right now. That would have to wait until they could leave the secret realm. Although … considering his assumption it might be good if they returned as late as possible. The older Jing Yi became while in here the less trouble the dragon king could make.