Qiu Ling had had a moment to think things through so he had figured out how to deal with this. "Only the people from the Palace of Fate and the heavenly couple are able to read those scrolls of fate. Nobody else is able to do so since there's a spell on them. Because of that, I don't know what exactly was written in Jing He's scroll of fate even though I've seen the Fate's Scribe carry it around every now and then.
"But from what I know about the trials in general, they are to let the gods experience things that can happen in life but that they are unlikely or even unable to experience. For example, how it is to become old and die one day. That is an experience that they can only make in the human realm.
"It can help them have a better understanding of the humans. Then since the immortals are a bit more resilient, sickness might also be one of the trials. Basically, everything that can happen in life can be a trial as far as I'm aware. I know there are some more rules on what the gods need to do and when but I'm not privy to that. That is something that only the gods would be able to tell you I guess."
"I see." Jing Yi felt that what Qiu Ling said made sense. Most likely, this was indeed the truth. "So, nobody really wrote my life, yes? I was still able to make my own decisions, right?"
Qiu Ling glanced at him and took a moment to think things through. "Well, somebody certainly wrote down your original fate but then things spiraled out of control because of my involvement and some other things that happened later on. Also, as soon as you started cultivating, things were getting less likely to actually happen as well. Apparently, by stepping onto the path to immortality yourself, whatever influence that scroll of fate would have lessened quite a lot."
Jing Yi nodded at that. "I see." He couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. It really was good that back then, he had actually followed senior martial brother Wu back to the Yun Zou Sect and started to cultivate. That had probably been the best decision he had ever made. He didn't regret it one bit. Even though it had gotten him to this point where people wanted him dead so his previous incarnation was able to wake up again, it had also given him an advantage while doing that trial, as it seemed. At the very least, not his whole life had been controlled by others.
It was bad enough to always have to share his life with the person that had originally had a life before him. He didn't also want to have to live out a fate where somebody else was dictating what he could do. Being locked down in the Nine Heavens now and not being able to leave as he had originally intended was already something that he didn't like at all. To think that his whole life could have been like that … he didn't even want to imagine.
The more he thought about it, the unhappier he became. Really, what were the gods thinking? These trials, were they really fair? They were supposed to make them understand the mortals better but in the end, didn't they just let some of them suffer more? He really couldn't understand how they were able to justify that to themselves. But most likely, they weren't even trying to. To them, the mortals born for these trials weren't really people. To them, they were just … a kind of tool. Nothing that deserved their thoughts.
And looking at it from the perspective of what Qiu Ling had just told him, it somewhat made sense. After all, why would you worry about something that you had created yourself and that you intended to die? They had written those fates, they had sent those souls down, naturally, they didn't really care about the human life that resulted from that.
He turned back to Qiu Ling, his expression a little strange. "So, what else is there? Is there really just the Palace of Fate involved in these trials? They sound like such a major issue. There should probably be something more to it, shouldn't there?"
Qiu Ling gave him a long look, trying to figure out just what it was that Jing Yi was thinking. But at this moment, he actually couldn't. He just suspected that it wasn't anything good. Still, considering everything else, he couldn't bring himself to lie. "I think, for the most part, it is really just the Palace of Fate. But I think there's also a God of Love that has something to do with it."
"God of Love? That actually sounds nice. What does he do?"
Qiu Ling still had a strange feeling about this so he tried to keep it short. "I think he is tying mortals together. Whether that is actual mortals over the reincarnations for the trials. It's so they can have a blissful of life."
Jing Yi raised his brows. "A blissful love life … Did the God of Love do anything regarding my trial?"
Qiu Ling shook his head. "Not that I know of, no. In any case, it wouldn't have changed anything even if he did. After all, Jing He …" He trailed off and then looked into the distance, to the place where Jing He's palace was.
Even though he knew, even though he had seen the result, he still couldn't believe that Jing He had actually engraved his own soul back then. That was one of the many things that he really would've liked to have a talk with him about.