Oh. My. Fate?! (Bl, Volume 10, Part 1)

76 I Want No Part in That

Duan Ming, Lan Ling, and Xian Li were sitting around a table, all three of them keeping quiet. Yesterday, Xian Li had rushed over to the Palace of Magnanimity, warning them just in time before Duan Ming could drag his mother over to the Heavenly Emperor's palace to plead for Jing Yi's case. Since then, nothing seemed to have been the same.

Lan Ling had wanted to rush over to the dragon realm immediately but Duan Ming had finally convinced him to stay around for a while longer, waiting for whether there would be any new developments.

So far, there had been nothing. He couldn't help but feel that even if there would be something new, they might not find out. After all, the dragon king had already left, brother Leng had left together with his husband and his husband's family, and from what they knew so far, the dragon king's people had also gone back to doing what they had originally done. So this left them out of the loop.

Lan Ling couldn't help but look from one person to the other, looking quite indignant. "I say we should go to the dragon realm. Brother Leng is there, as is brother Zhong. If we want the whole story, we will only get it there. Unless ... one of you dares to walk up to the Heavenly Emperor and ask. I certainly don't." Even though or maybe especially because he was a trueborn god, he knew of the Heavenly Emperor's rumored temper and he wasn't afraid to admit that he was too chicken to go and confront the man.

Duan Ming slowly nodded, feeling that, actually, what Lan Ling was saying wasn't wrong. If they wanted to know more, then they could only find out in the dragon realm. Over here, it wasn't good to inquire.

Xian Li didn't look as if he was happy with that idea though. "You know, I don't think we should get involved in this any further. It is one thing to help out somebody that brother Leng knows and — especially as an ascended deity myself — I think that helping each other out is important either way. But that is when we are talking about normal circumstances. This right here? It isn't normal anymore!

"You can say that when brother Zhong originally started something with the dragon king, that wasn't his fault. He didn't know that Longjun was already involved with our Son of Heaven and I understand that he was distraught when he found out. Clearly, he loves Longjun very much. But now ..." He shook his head, not even sure how to say it.

Duan Ming nodded, getting it even if Xian Li didn't say anything. "He went too far. I agree with that. But at the same time, we only got that one line about what has happened. Maybe we owe it to him to investigate this further and see what really happened. There might be more to this."

Xian Li shook his head once again. "I don't see how there can be more to it. In any case, no matter what the explanation is, the fact remains that he tried to kill somebody. And I don't think that I want to be involved further with such a person."

Lan Ling gave him an angry look. "He's our friend and he's also brother Leng's friend. We can't just abandon him!"

Xian Li glanced at him, feeling that Lan Ling really wasn't looking at this objectively. "Lan Ming, I get what you mean. You don't just ... forsake your friends when they do something wrong.

"But there also limits to that. And as things are, brother Zhong went far beyond that. Right now, I don't think that we should get involved with him further. I mean, he tried to murder somebody and then fled to not be punished. It doesn't even matter that it was the Son of Heaven although that might make it even worse.

"At the end of the day, he tried to commit murder and that is something I can't condone. Beyond that, he has no foresight. He ... he could've started a war!"

Duan Ming nodded, seeing this the same as Xian Li. He had originally been worried about that already when it came to even sleeping with the dragon king. But trying to assassinate the Son of Heaven? That wasn't just one step too far. "Yes, I agree with what you say.

"But at the same time, we already are involved in the situation. Brother Leng asked us to take care of him. I don't know what went wrong and how but I guess we should still at least go and take a look. In the worst case, we can just talk and then go back to the Nine Heavens and tell everything we know to the God of Justice. Maybe it will help them with solving this issue or whatever there is to solve.

"Anyway, no matter what happens with brother Zhong, there is still brother Leng around. I guess we should at least talk to him even if we don't want to talk to brother Zhong."

Xian Lan shook his head, even though he didn't disagree with the last part. At the very least, he trusted Leng Jin Yu. If they went and talked with him, they might really gain some insight from that without getting embroiled in something that they wanted no part in. But he knew that Lan Ling would never leave it at that when they really went. "I get what you are saying but I can't. I'm sorry but I just can't do that. I won't keep the two of you from going but in the meantime, I will return to the idle gods' courtyard. If brother Leng needs help, you can tell me and I will come over but I do not want to be further involved in brother Zhong's matters."

Duan Ming sighed but he understood where Xian Li was coming from. "Very well, we'll do that alone then."

Lan Lin was in favor of the idea as long as it got him to where Leng Jin Yu was. He immediately leaped to his feet. "Let's go then!" In any case, he finally had at least Duan Ming where he wanted him.

It was a pity that Xian Li didn't want to get involved further but he couldn't help it. Anyway, he even would've gone alone but Duan Ming had always tried to hold him back when he tried to do so. Now, he finally had his promise to go to the dragon realm and at least have a look at what was going on. That was already very good.

When they were there, then he could just go off on his own and figure out a way to stay there. Anyway, now that he finally knew again where brother Leng was, he wouldn't just leave. No, this was the time to stay close to your friends and make sure that they were doing well!