Li Yin looked from Jing He to Qiang Yan and back again, narrowing his eyes. This boy was surprisingly shrewd to bring up Qiang Yan's own past in an attempt to convince them to let him go. It seemed that despite his good intentions, he couldn't let Qiang Yan be the one to continue this. Otherwise, the crown prince's reincarnation might really find an opportunity to get away.
He lightly shook his head and then stepped forward, patting Qiang Yan's arm to signal him to step back. Then, he turned to Jing Yi, his gaze without any emotion. "You're wasting your time trying to appeal to His Highness's uncle. The laws of the Nine Heavens are clear. A trueborn god's reincarnation from one of their trials that ascends has to be killed for the trueborn god to return. It is part of the trial to go through this. Their feelings are only important in so far as that they have to live through them to gain an experience Tian wishes them to make. But the thoughts of the ascended deities that go further than that are not up for discussion.
"Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I will leave the decision up to you. You can take your own life, allow one of the Heavenly Guards to do so or you can try to fight your way out of here and cause casualties to your true life's own people. What should it be?"
Jing He looked from Li Yin to his uncle who was obviously still thinking about the question he had asked before. It seemed that while his plan had been a good one, it still wouldn't work out because there was a second person here that could just take over. And from the bit that he remembered, Jing He hadn't been close to the God of Justice. He knew almost nothing about him.
In fact, this wasn't a wonder. Li Yin was a very private person. He would not share anything about his life with people that had no business knowing it. Even Qiang Yan as his best friend had no idea about how he had come to have a son for example. Naturally, he wouldn't be discussing his private issues with somebody of the younger generation like Jing He.
The only kind of relationship he had had with the crown prince was one where they greeted each other when meeting and where he would politely answer any questions the crown prince might have for him. That was it. And usually, they wouldn't even see each other much so this hardly actually happened. How would Jing Yi have remembered anything about this?
Li Yin still continued to stare at him, his gaze not moving at all. "I said it is your decision. But I won't give you long. If you don't choose one of the former options, then I'm afraid we will have to start with the third."
Jing Yi clenched his hands. He couldn't play for much more time. And it seemed that Qiu Ling really wasn't coming over to check this out. Then what was he supposed to do? He did not want to die. Even though he had promised to give his life for Jing He, he had seen that as a thing that would happen later. And, quite honestly, he hadn't even been sure if it would really happen.
If he spent more time with Qiu Ling, then one day, wouldn't he be more important to him than Jing He? After all, those two had only had ten years together. But he had already spent a millennium with Qiu Ling. How come he still wasn't the number one for him?
He didn't even want to think about it but he was sure that one day, the time would have been enough to overtake Jing He's position in his lover's heart. He didn't know how much more would be necessary to make up for the difference in how much Qiu Ling loved the two of them but he was sure that that day would come somehow. At that time, there naturally wouldn't be any talk of killing him anymore.
But it seemed he had thought too beautifully. They had spent so much time in the mortal realm but nothing had changed it. He had thought that when they came to the immortal realm, things might be different, that the old memories would slowly be replaced.
Now though, he had already ascended but was finding himself in a situation where he couldn't escape without Qiu Ling's help. There really was nothing he could do right now. So did he really have to choose how to die? He didn't want that. Who wanted to lose their life anyway? If he could hold on, even if it was just for another year, then he would do so. "Is this really your last word? My fiance —"
Li Yin narrowed his eyes at him. "Not only is the dragon king currently not here, but he also holds no sway over the laws of the Nine Heavens. You'd better not try to intimidate me with his name. The law is the law and as the God of Justice, I'll make sure that it is upheld. No exceptions will be made for anyone."
Yes, he could not be fainthearted. This position did not allow for that. And while he felt for the people that were in this situation, that just was the way it was. He couldn't change it. The Heavenly Emperor couldn't change it. Because the trials were asked for by Tian. And his word was what commanded all of them.
The cruelty of the trials … who knew it better than him? If he could get rid of it, he would do so in a heartbeat. But there was no way and thus, the laws that had been laid down by their forefathers would continue to exist as well.