Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 12, Part 1)

26 Hiding a Fallen God in Plain Sight

Solving the issue indeed wasn't a problem. The God of War went to grab the God of Medicine who had been notified of his arrival anyway and simply asked him to come along after spreading the message that they were simply investigating further.

He didn't mention yet that Jing He had disappeared completely and tried to keep a neutral expression. After all, it really wouldn't help anyone if everyone panicked, least of all his nephew.

Of course, that didn't mean that the God of Medicine wasn't able to glean something. He had also been a titled god leading his palace for a long time. In fact, among the current titled gods, he was the one who had been in his position for the longest time. He had a good grasp on what was and wasn't normal and the current search for clues after His Highness had been seen but then lost in his Temple of Medicine ... it naturally left some questions open.

Still, as the titled god longest in office, he also knew that not everything could or should be communicated immediately. Thus, he kept quiet about it and simply sent the physicians of his palace back to attend to their tasks while he accompanied the group of five through the temple, listening to Xiang Yu's explanations of what exactly had happened.

This time around, Xiang Yu gave detailed descriptions of the physicians Jing He had passed and where it had happened. Even he was surprised how much he remembered but seeing as they were getting closer to the time Jing He had vanished, it sure was a pleasant surprise.

The God of Medicine had long raised his brows. He hadn't been told exactly who Xiang Yu was or how he knew about these things. Hearing him talk as if he had been walking next to Jing He and keeping an eye on everything when the crown prince had disappeared somehow from the Temple of Medicine sure seemed odd. But then, neither of the other four people acted as if it was odd so there was definitely an explanation he simply wasn't privy to.

The God of Medicine didn't ask further either. If they wanted him to know, they would have told him. Instead, he listened very closely, trying to relate the descriptions Xiang Yu gave to the physicians in his temple. He wasn't able to identify everyone directly but save for one or two, he was able to directly put a name to the descriptions.

Qiang Yan nodded along, quietly remembering every one of them. They had already asked around the temple earlier and everyone who had seen him should have come forward. It wasn't like his nephew was easy to overlook, after all. Whoever had passed him would remember. Still, it couldn't hurt to hear this from a different perspective and question the physicians with this new information at the back of their minds. Maybe they'd remember more when asked specific questions. He was banking on that.

Their group soon reached a door at the side of the palace and Xiang Yu stopped in front of it, pointing blankly. "This is where he left." He somehow didn't think that anything he had said so far was helping at all. Still, this was all he had seen and remembered so what else could he say?

Qiang Yan nodded and turned to the God of Medicine. "We'll check the rest of the way. In the meantime, please gather the physicians Xiang Yu pointed out. We'll have to question them again later on."

The God of Medicine nodded. "Should I send them over to your palace?"

Qiang Yan pondered but then shook his head. "No, here will be fine. They're probably already nervous. No need to make it worse."

The group bid farewell, leaving through the door and stepping out onto a square behind the temple. From here, it wasn't far to Jing He's palace and the roads were likely to be empty. If you wanted some alone time, it really was the perfect spot.

Jinde sighed when he realized this. "I don't think your son felt bad and wanted medical attention. It seems like he wanted to get rid of his father's scrutiny and this was the only way he could think of to get rid of the guards that would inevitably follow him around."

Xiang Yu nodded wildly before Bai Fen or Qiang Yan could respond. "You don't know but last night, they actually stood in front of his door the whole time! They didn't leave even once and that is in addition to the two guards that are usually at the main gate."

Qiang Yan gave the little god a glance but didn't say anything about just how much he had been spying on his nephew. In this case, it really was in their favor that he had. Not to mention that he couldn't say that he wasn't agreeing with his assessment of the situation. His brother-in-law was really overdoing it this time around.

Bai Fen nodded as well. "He probably felt trapped and Jing He was never very assertive. It is a wonder he dared to say out loud that he wanted to marry Qiu Ling. I was surprised enough by that."

Jinde had heard enough about Jing He from Qiu Ling to know that this was true even though he had never met the person himself. "I heard that he engraved his own soul with the soul-engraving dagger before he started his trial. This shows just how important the relationship with Qiu Ling is to him."

Bai Fen furrowed her brows. She hadn't even thought of that since the situation seemed to have been solved back then but ... "Do you think this could have caused damage that now ..."

Xiang Yu wanted to say that he had brought Jing He to the High Heavens to solve that issue but ... he held back at the last moment. Currently, they were trying not to expose what he was. He was a bit surprised that it worked so well but when hiding a fallen god in plain sight, then the first rule right after not exposing your Mark of Wisdom was certainly not to talk about things only fallen gods would do.

Thus, he could only keep quiet even though he knew about this. It did remind him though ... if nothing could be done in the immortal realms, there were still the High Heavens he could try. Surely, Tian would be able to help him find Jing He.