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

123 Ever Thought of That?

Jinde thought for a while, not sure what to do. There were reasons speaking for this but also reasons speaking against it. And in this kind of situation where the outcome mattered so much, it was indeed difficult to make a decision.

"Well, there are still some texts that I'd like to go through with you and after that, if there's nothing new, let's have Xin Lan decide. I'm afraid that there would still be a big chance that he would lose either of his forms so he should be the one to decide which one is worth to risk more."

Zheng Yin couldn't argue that. He still figured that the suggestion he had made might help with lowering the risk but it was still there. And only having his dragon form could be something that Xin Lan wasn't willing to risk. He could understand that. And anyway, this was indeed a decision that nobody could make for him.

Jinde once again got up and gathered the scrolls and books that he still hadn't looked at, finally putting them on the table in front of Zheng Yin. "This is the rest we need to look at. You know the situation now so I would say let's just each take half. With the two of us going through them together, we'll save some time. Let's hope there is something in there that we can use."

Zheng Yin nodded, and the two of them both picked a text at random, starting to go through them.

Meanwhile, outside, Xin Lan and Leng Jin Yu had been sitting in silence for quite some time. Leng Jin Yu really didn't know what to do with this person so, in the end, he just cleared his throat and got up. "If you don't mind, I'll also get some work done. Things aren't going that well right now so I'd rather not waste too much time waiting."

Xin Lan faintly raised his brows. He had been in the human realm for so long, he had trouble keeping up with what was going on in the immortal realms. "What happened?"

Leng Jin Yu hesitated for a moment but seeing as this was Xin Lan and he had a wealth of experience, he sat down again and told him about the whole thing.

Xin Lan gave a hum and then looked at him numbly for a moment before slowly raising his brows. "Has anyone thought of using the water of the River of Forgetfulness for this?"

Leng Jin Yu stared at him, not sure quite sure if he got his drift. He hadn't been an ascended deity for long before he went back to the mortal realm and in his time as a dragon, while he had had a high position, his relations with the gods had been kept at a minimum as well. So really, he didn't know as much about the things in their realm as he probably should.

He only had a very rough understanding of what the River of Forgetfulness was and he wasn't sure how it could help with this. "The water is used to veil the memories of the gods when they go on their trials, isn't it? But the effect wears off after a while and it would shroud all the memories, wouldn't?"

Xin Lan leaned back and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Usually, he wouldn't get involved in this matter but, especially right now, he figured that he should.

If something happened to Qiu Ling, then who would be asked to take over his duties? In the current situation, that would definitely be Jinde. After all, even though Qiu Ling's advisers were doing a good job, they were a group of six that all had different strengths and weaknesses. He didn't think that either of them would be able to just take over like that. Maybe one had the skills but an adviser taking over was usually not something that was done. It just ... didn't give the dragons a good feeling.

So having somebody else take up the mantle was the logical decision. And the previous king would be perfect for that role. It was an easy solution and also a powerful one. But it wasn't that he wanted to see. Jinde had managed to assume a different identity — however that had been possible with his looks — and he shouldn't be pulled out of that. No, he should have a free life. The world owed him that much.

So if he wanted to preserve Jinde's freedom, then he needed to help him deal with this matter with Qiu Ling. It was the only thing he could do. And he really felt that this was a way to go about it. "I can't promise anything but it should work out.

"Yes, the effect does wear off after a while but that while can be quite some time. Especially so since it is precisely not everything you want to shroud but only a part of his memory.

"If you manage to pull this off, the respective memory will be encased much tighter than what would originally be the case. And in this situation, that should be enough, right? After all, the Son of Heaven isn't really dead. So you just need to cover up these memories until the day when he wakes up. And considering that everyone is working on a solution for that situation, it probably won't take that long anymore."

Leng Jin Yu furrowed his brows, feeling that actually, Xin Lan might have a point. "Then how can it be done when it's just a specific memory? Do the gods know how to do that?"

Xin Lan tilted his head. "Hard to know. But they don't need to either. Anyway, I don't think that anyone in the Nine Heavens would be able to do it. They wouldn't be strong enough. In this case, you need somebody that is at least of Qiu Ling's own level if not higher. So the only people that are actually a viable option are Jinde and me. But then, I don't think he'd like me to do it so that only leaves Jinde. Well, I'm sure he would do it."

Leng Jin Yu nodded, not doubting that for a single moment. To Jinde, Qiu Ling was like his own child. Even though he hadn't had the opportunity to see him grow up his whole life, and even though they had been apart for a long time, these two were close. Much closer than he was to Qiu Ling even though he had been his father in his past life.

So really, if there was one person that Qiu Ling would allow to do this, then it was Jinde. And yes, they should probably take advantage of that.