Seeing the Fate's Scribe in front of him the Heavenly Emperor's expression darkened. "What? Don't tell us you have some more bad news? How long has it been since the last time?"
"Uh …" Shun Tao cleared his throat and motioned to the side where the two dragons waited.
The Heavenly Emperor looked up and raised his brows. Weren't this … his self-proclaimed son-in-law and Senior Xin? What were they doing here? And why hadn't they been announced? Or had they?
He furrowed his brow and pondered but really couldn't remember. Ah, it was no wonder! The bad news about his son's situation that the Fate's Scribe had brought earlier were still occupying his mind. Naturally, he wouldn't have the mind to care about other things.
Well, now he had to pretend to care for a while. That damnable dandy might still be alright to ignore but he definitely couldn't ignore the man beside him.
"Longjun, Senior Xin, what might bring you here?"
Qiu Ling looked away as if all this had nothing to do while Xin Lan stepped forward and cupped his fists.
"Excuse us for disturbing you, Tianjun. Something has come up that needs the gods' help. I took the liberty to directly ask for the Fate's Scribe's help since His Majesty mentioned that Tianjun is rather busy at the moment. Unfortunately, this case seems to be even trickier than I thought. Thus, we had no other possibility than to still come and disturb you."
The Heavenly Emperor pushed the thought of Jing He aside for the moment. This seemed like it was indeed important. "That isn't a problem. Please tell us what all this is about. We will help you if we are able to do so."
Xin Lan nodded and presented the exact same lies to the Heavenly Emperor that he had fed the Fate's Scribe. Qiu Ling quietly listened and marveled at Xin Lan's acting abilities.
This guy was really talented! Just take a look at his father-in-law's face that grew darker by the second! He looked ready to call his brother-in-law over and send the army over to the demon realm in retaliation!
"I can't believe it! This Jian Heng! What a bastard!"
"Mn." Xin Lan actually murmured his assent.
The Heavenly Emperor turned to Shun Tao. "So what are you waiting for? Why didn't you tell them immediately? Such an important thing and you're actually wasting Senior Xin's time!"
Shun Tao lowered his head and took out the scroll of fate he found. "There aren't many scrolls pertaining to mixed raced people considering that they would need a considerable amount of human blood to count as mortal. Someone with a composition of three different types of blood definitely would seldom fulfill these criteria. I did manage to find a scroll that might have to do with that person though. It details the life of someone who was closed to a person that fits Senior Xin's description. It's just that … the life the scroll depicts is that of a god in his trial period."
The Heavenly Emperor raised his brows. This seemed to get more bizarre the more he heard! "So which god is it?"
Shun Tao glanced at the two dragons but the Heavenly Emperor just waved.
"Don't be like this! Tell us!"
"It's the current God of War, Qiang Yan."
"The brother of the Heavenly Empress?!" The Heavenly Emperor's eyes widened. How could this be? His brother-in-law actually had to do with this cursed plan of the demons?! "Servants!" The Heavenly Emperor motioned at the person that came running. "Go and tell the God of War to come here immediately. Hurry!"
The servant hastened outside while the four men in the throne room could only wait.
Qiu Ling pensively looked at the scroll of fate in Shun Tao's hands. This really was … too interesting! He never would have thought that his uncle-in-law would have been close to someone with demon blood before. Mn, what might their relationship have been like? Maybe they had been friends? Or even lovers? If so, then maybe he could use that to his advantage should the gods ever find out about his heritage? Mn …
Xin Lan carefully observed Qiu Ling while they waited. Seeing the contemplative look on his face he couldn't help but furrow his brows. What was this boy thinking? He wouldn't make everything more complicated with his actions now, would he?
At the same time, the Heavenly Emperor was worrying about his son. He had just been told that the demons had been planning something for a long time and hadn't his son's mortal reincarnation just been trapped somewhere where he started to remember his life as a god because of the demons? Maybe this was also part of the demons' plan!
Thankfully, Qiang Yan arrived soon and saved all three men from their worries. "The God of War, Qiang Yan, greets His Majesty, Tianjun!" Qiang Yan bowed to keep up appearances in front of the guests.
The Heavenly Emperor wasn't in the mood though. He motioned at him to get up and summarized as fast as he could what had happened. "Senior Xin came to alert us to the plans the demons have been making. It seems like a person you knew in one of your trials could be the key to solving this issue so I hope you don't mind us hearing about this from the Fate's Scribe?"
"Of course not. As long as it can be of help."
The four men turned toward Shun Tao and the Heavenly Emperor motioned for him to start explaining.
Shun Tao took a deep breath and unfurled the scroll of fate. He had read it before and knew exactly what was written inside but being subjected to the gazes of these high-ranking people he couldn't help but grow nervous. This had, after all, been one of the earliest fates he wrote.
"Well, this is from the trial where the God of War was reborn as the mortal Feng Jian Hao and the person Senior Xin had been talking about is very likely a woman named Huan Yin." He looked at the God of War and saw him gulp. Seeing that he didn't feel any better about what he had to say but what else could he do? This certainly wasn't a situation where he could keep silent about the details.
"That woman … was his lover."