Qiu Ling lowered his head and furrowed his brows, not sure what to make of this. With this kind of thing, he believed An Bai. Just as he had said, he was a scholar. When it came to the intricacies of what might happen in such a case, An Bai surely knew more than him.

So it seemed that this was something he had to worry about in the future. It was just that he didn’t really know what to make of that. He pondered for a moment and then looked back up. “Assuming that this might be my new normal, what can we do?”

An Bai sighed. “That is precisely what I’m worried about. The situation likely won’t change before you see His Highness wake up again.”

Qiu Ling gave a hum and turned back to Jing He, shaking his head. “Well, that has been a problem for quite some time but so far, we haven’t been all that successful with ending his trial, have we? I don’t think you’re that much closer to finding a solution unless there were some developments today that I don’t know yet about.”

An Bai shook his head, his white brows furrowing. Yes, if they had already found a solution, then they wouldn’t be in this situation. Unfortunately, despite being a scholar, despite having worked with the gods, they hadn’t been able to come about any kind of record of how situations like this had been dealt with in the past. No, instead, there didn’t even seem to be any records at all.

There were at most some stories that detailed how gods had fallen in love in the mortal realm and later found their lovers again in the immortal realms. Usually, they would both be gods and that alone would cause more than enough trouble. Adding in a dragon … there was no need to even mention it.

“So far, there hasn’t been anything. To be honest, I don’t think that we will be able to find a solution in the next couple of days. Even though almost all of the Court of Justice is working on this and there are now some of our people as well, there are just no guarantees. The problem is that we rely on finding information that might not necessarily be there. It is a lot of work and it’ll take time even if we work as much as we can.”

Qiu Ling nodded. “I know that. I don’t blame you. This situation … it is difficult for everyone involved. And there are no easy solutions. I’m aware of that. I just … I don’t know what to do about this. We have to wait until you find a way to deal with this. Otherwise, matters will just get worse.

“Anyway, you’re probably more aware than I am but I would assume that my reaction to Jing Yi’s death will not be much better, will it?” He glanced back at him, fast enough to catch An Bai’s expression, and gave a short laugh. “I thought as much.

“So either way, I’m likely to go crazy over this, am I not? Even if Jing He wakes up, it would be because Jing Yi died and that, in turn, means that it will be his death that haunts me going forward.

“I’m afraid that no matter how you slice it, I won’t be able to get out of this without losing my mind. At this point, it might be better not to consider me at all and just do what is best for the gods.” At the very least, it would mean that Jing He could come back. For him, that might be for the best. Although, he would feel guilty toward Jing Yi if that happened.

An Bai couldn’t help but reach out, touching his king’s arm. “Your Majesty, I know that things are looking bleak right now. But that is only a momentary problem. In the future, I am sure that we will be able to find a way to deal with this without impacting you too much. There has to be. You just need to give us a little time to find it. Until then, I propose that we just deal with the symptoms as well as we can.”

Qiu Ling looked at that hand on his arm and couldn’t help but be glad that he had told An Bai and Xiang Yong about everything. Clearly, he meant a lot to his advisers and he didn’t think that this was just because of him being king. No, An Bai really seemed concerned about him. Which … he probably didn’t deserve.

“Well, it’s my own state of mind so I’m all ears. If you can think of something to do about this, you can tell me. I will do everything I can to hold on. Speaking of which … I promised Jing Yi to marry him. In exchange, he will swear an oath that he will not harm Jing He.”

An Bai’s brows shot up and he couldn’t help but glance at the unconscious body of the crown prince. His Majesty marrying his reincarnation … he wasn’t sure if His Highness would be able to take this easily. But clearly, the king had already decided on this and he had done so for a good reason.

“I think that anything you can do to reassure yourself that His Highness is still well and will keep being so in the future is good. So this step, I think it might be beneficial. That oath will ensure that he cannot harm him at least. That is a good thing.

“As for the rest, I’m afraid that somebody will have to keep an eye on you. I’ll contact Fu Min and Fu Heng and explain the situation. It might be uncomfortable but somebody needs to keep an eye on you at night to make sure that you don’t subconsciously do something irreversible.

“I think that we should also inform …” An Bai faintly tilted his head, still not quite sure how to refer to Jinde. Even though there was an array keeping the sound of speech from traveling outside, you never knew.

“Oh, your … substitute scholar.” Qiu Ling still hadn’t asked about Jinde’s name so this was really the only way to refer to him. “Well, I will tell him myself. He might be angry if you did.”

An Bai nodded. “I hope he will be able to come up with some ideas. Anyway, if you feel uncomfortable and too worried about this, it is always a good idea to come here and take a look. I can’t say for how long this will be able to alleviate the symptoms but it’s better than nothing. For the time being, that is everything we can rely on.

“Other than that, I will try to hurry up the research. Maybe we can also get the people from the Palace of Fate to join in. I think that by now, the Heavenly Emperor should have realized how dire the situation really is. I will take care of that immediately.” Saying so, he got up and inclined his head toward his king before he left the palace. Really, there were a lot of things to do if they wanted to make sure that the king would get out of this alive and well.

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