To be honest, Qiu Ling also hadn't spent that much time at any places in the Nine Heavens that Jing He hadn't often visited. Thus, his own knowledge was also more limited but he still had a good grasp on the general outlay of the place. "Well, the capital city of the Nine Heavens is actually quite big. We are currently in the northeastern part of it. I think originally, this was the center of the capital city. Later on, it developed more in the south and west. The most important palaces are all here though."
Jing Yi nodded. "I don't quite understand how this matter with the palaces works. From what I heard before, the place we arrived at seems to be the Court of Justice?"
Qiu Ling nodded. "Yes, contrary to the dragon realm where everything is centralized under the power of the dragon king and I'm basically the person who could make all the decisions myself if I wanted to, the gods have title gods in place that will take care of specific tasks. For example, there's the God of Justice who will deal with any crimes that are committed here and also with those that earn the status of a deity by ascending like you. So the Court of Justice also oversees the ascension of mortals."
"It was like this." Jing Yi nodded, feeling that he understood it a bit better. "Then, what else is there? I remember that Jing He's uncle was the God of War?" He had seen him before. Not only today but also back in the demon realm so he had a bit more of an impression of Qiang Yan than anyone else.
Qiu Ling nodded. "Yes, he's in charge of the Palace of War. He is … well, he is in charge of the guards of the capital city and also the other eight heavens. Basically, he has the supreme command over the Heavenly Army. From what I know, there are a couple of Heavenly Generals that support him but he is the one who makes the final decisions in major cases."
He had actually worked together with both this God of War and the one before him several times since they were the ones who had most to do with the issues that pertained to the alliance between the dragons and gods. So Qiu Ling's understanding of the Palace of War was slightly better than that of the other palaces. He didn't think that it was necessary to go and get into too much detail with Jing Yi though. After all, it wasn't like he wanted to live here. This was just so he could understand what exactly was going on around him. Thus, Qiu Ling just continued to tell him something else. "Then, another important one would be the Palace of Fate where the Fate's Scribe has the say. That is the person that does the trials for the trueborn gods."
Jing Yi turned to look at him, slowly raising his brows. "What do you mean?"
Qiu Ling froze and then realized that Jing Yi actually didn't seem to quite understand how those trials worked. He smiled wryly, feeling that this was something he probably shouldn't have said. There were some things that people like Jing Yi probably better shouldn't find out.
This time, Jing Yi wasn't willing to just let it go though. He continued to look at Qiu Ling, his gaze turning a little ugly. "Qiu Ling, what exactly is the matter with this? Don't you think I have a right to know?"
Qiu Ling sighed. In any case, he had already let this information slip so he might as well tell him. "I'm not privy to all of the details but from what I understand, the palace of the Fate's Scribe is the one where the trials of the trueborn gods are written. They have some kind of scroll of fate where they write down what kind of trials the god is supposed to face while in the mortal realm. And that is what is going to happen then."
Jing Yi's expression didn't turn better at that. "That is to say that everything that happened in my life was written down … or rather, made up by somebody?" Not only was he not his own person because he was always seen as Jing He but he was also not able to make his own decisions because some trueborn god in the Nine Heavens was just writing down what was supposed to happen to him? What was up with that?
Qiu Ling could see that Jing Yi wasn't able to take this as well as he had been able to take the things before and he really regretted saying anything in the first place. Now, it was too late though. He could only sigh. "Well, things were a bit different in your case.
"The scrolls of fate don't work on immortals the same way that they do on mortals. So because I was there the whole time, the trial worked out quite differently. I mean you were never supposed to start cultivating, you weren't supposed to ascend, you also weren't supposed to remember anything about your soul's reincarnation. That was all because of my interference. So whatever they wrote originally didn't happen."
Jing Yi still wasn't quite sure if he was alright with this. Even if Qiu Ling said so, he just couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he wasn't telling him the whole truth. After all, this was clearly a big matter and Qiu Ling probably didn't want to worsen the relationship between him and the gods. Naturally, he would try to make things sound this harmless as he could. "So, what kind of trials was Jing He supposed to have?"
Qiu Ling glanced at him, wondering how to get around this. He knew some of what should have happened. After all, he had been there to prevent it himself. He didn't think that it would be a smart decision to let Jing Yi know about this though. On the other hand, there was no way to just lie to him. He could at most skirt around the truth a little.
He cleared his throat and then squinted in the direction of the Palace of Fate, motioning over. "It's the palace over there. Let's go and take a look. I'll tell you on the way. How about that?"
Seeing Qiu Ling's expression while also hearing him suggest this, Jing Yi wasn't quite sure what exactly Qiu Ling intended to do. Would he just tell him? He actually hadn't expected that. But then again, there was no reason not to tell him, right? In any case, the trial was pretty much over. There was no reason to keep those things from him.
In the end, Jing Yi nodded and the two of them slowly walked over.