Jing He was familiar with the Tower of Wisdom so it didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. He grabbed two or three books on spiritual beasts that only had one form and went to one of the tables with them.

He had no idea what type of beast the little one was but he felt that he could somewhat narrow down the possibilities. For one, there was naturally the elemental type of beast it was. There was no doubt in his mind that it should be a fire type. Its body gave off a rather large amount of heat and from the little he had seen so far, it was very content in a hotter environment.

Other than that, he could surmise that this beast shouldn’t have another form. After all, he simply couldn’t imagine Qiu Ling gifting him something that was basically another person. That thought was just too outlandish. Not to mention that you couldn’t simply give away people, Qiu Ling had struck him as the jealous type throughout their relationship so that was completely out of the question.

Apart from these two points, the general type of beast was probably the most questionable. In general, what the immortal races distinguished were spiritual beasts and demonic beasts. They weren’t too different in the way they worked but their heritage was.

Originally, the demon race had been a lot more diverse and some parts of them had even been closely linked to the gods. Nowadays, scholars weren’t certain about why that was. Either there had been more intermarrying happening between their races or maybe there had once been a time when they had been one people instead of two.

The truth had been lost to time but what they were aware of was that both the dragons and the spiritual beasts had likely descended from that part of the demon race. Thus, the spiritual beasts of today were closer to the gods and dragons while the demonic beasts had still more in common with the demons.

As for this little beast, in all likelihood, Qiu Ling would have chosen a spiritual beast for him just out of principle. Of course, a demonic beast was still a possibility but it wouldn’t be his first guess. He could still check that if he didn’t find any relevant information in these books but he was hopeful that he would already find the answers he was looking for here.

Opening the first book, he turned to Qiang Wei and his two guards with a faint smile. “You don’t have to stand there the whole time. Here in the Tower of Wisdom, it should be safe so there is no need to guard me too closely.”

Mu Kun and Huang Lan inclined their heads and then stepped back. They didn’t mind guarding Jing He. In fact, this was a position they took pride in and that they found especially important. How could they leave their crown prince unguarded? Thus, although he said so, they simply backed off a little but continued to watch over him.

Qiang Wei watched their reaction and couldn’t help but feel awkward. He wasn’t familiar with Jing He but he could imagine that he wouldn’t want to be watched the whole time. In that case, he should probably find something else to do. But then, he also didn’t know what he should go for. They were in the Tower of Wisdom, after all.

He rubbed his neck, thinking that this would have been much easier if Yi Zan had been around. “Then … I’ll probably also get myself a book?” He could just pick something randomly and sit down somewhere close by. That way, he could keep an eye on his king’s beloved while not being too meddlesome.

Jing He nodded with a smile, patted the small beast on his lap, and lowered his head to start to study the information in the book.

Qiang Wei looked around and finally went to the section where Jing He had just gotten his book from. He picked one at random before he returned and sat down a few seats away. He didn’t say anything and just opened the book, feeling that if anyone said anything, he could just say he was helping the crown prince find what he was looking for.

Qiang Wei mostly pretended to look through the volume in his hands while Jing He actually studied the contents of his book. He even looked through the parts of the book that dealt with other types of spiritual beasts than fire types just in case this one might be a rare mutation or maybe a mixed type. You could never be too careful. Unfortunately, even until the end of the book, he didn’t find any beast that seemed similar enough.

Jing He gave a faint hum while closing the book. He took a moment to pet the small beast again, not sure if he wanted to reassure it or himself. It seemed that finding information might not be as easy as he had thought. Well, maybe this wasn’t too strange. Who knew where exactly Qiu Ling had picked this beast up? It might actually be rare.

With that thought, he put the first book aside and started on the next. Unfortunately, the result was still the same. It didn’t change with the third book either. At that point, Jing He felt a little disconcerted. He had really imagined this to be too easy.

He picked up the books and the little beast and went back to the shelf, exchanging the books for another set of three, this time taking a book on demonic beasts along as well. When he turned to go back to the table, he came face to face with one of the officials from the Court of Justice.

“Your Highness?” Yi Yun looked at him in a daze before hurriedly inclining his head in greeting. “I didn’t know you were here. I hope you are well?”

Jing He didn’t recognize the person but then, he wasn’t too familiar with anyone apart from the titled gods. Meeting him seemed like a good opportunity to find out what was going on though. “I am. Thank you for your concern. It seems the Court of Justice is quite busy?”

Yi Yun turned to look behind him and gave a hum. Inwardly, he couldn’t help but worry though. How much could he say at a time like this? Surely, the Son of Heaven had only recently woken up. At such a time, it wasn’t advisable to say too much.

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