Li Yin sighed. Leng Lu’s trial that finally caused him to fall had been one of loyalty. The unwavering trust he had shown the emperor of his mortal life had been repaid by taking from him the one he loved. Thus, in his eyes now, no monarch was worthy of help as they would only turn on you.

This naturally also extended to the Heavenly Emperor. Maybe it was even stronger with him because he did have authority over Li Yin and their son so Leng Lu perceived him as a direct threat. If that very same Heavenly Emperor’s son vanished, Leng Lu wouldn’t do anything to help find him. Instead, he might rather gloat that there was also such a day for those in power.

It was a twisted view that didn’t take the feelings or even life of the younger generation into consideration but this was what a fallen god was, after all. They had their own sense of what was right and what was wrong. If something touched on the reason for their fall, the reaction would be even stronger. He really shouldn’t expect his help.

Li Yin sighed and shook his head. Since he couldn’t rely on Leng Lu, he could only work to find a solution himself.

He pulled out a map of the capital city and of the Nine Heavens, then furrowed his brows and added another two of the dragon and demon realm. Even though his first encounter with the fallen god Leng Lu might not have given him much of a hint as to where His Highness could be, he was at least rather clear on the abilities of a fallen god after knowing one for years and even raising a child with him. One important point to take into consideration was that they really had no limitation as to where they could go.

Li Yin furrowed his brows even further as he looked at the maps. The crown prince had seldom left his palace in these years. Even if he did, he usually only went to his parents’ palaces and maybe visited one of the titled gods for a courtesy call.

He wouldn’t randomly stroll through the city and even the people living in the capital would only get to see his face at important occasions that the whole Heavenly family attended. And even that had only been the case since he came of age.

Because of this, there actually weren’t that many people who knew what he looked like. If somebody kidnapped him and brought him to a big city, the people there wouldn’t immediately know that the one in front of them was their crown prince. They might not realize it at all. They also might not get that he was in mortal danger. After all, they’d likely assume he was a young beauty who left home for the first time and was a little scared.

Naturally, that was only true as long as the fallen god stayed out of sight but he didn’t think that was difficult to imagine. If it was him … yes, he might indeed do that. He’d take him to a place that lots of people wouldn’t expect him to enter because of his identity. Then, he’d threaten the crown prince to do the necessary tasks to secure them a place to stay. He himself would never even need to appear while the crown prince couldn’t do anything. After all, if he escaped, he would just immediately be caught again until that fallen god was dead.

Li Yin ruminated on that for a while. Killing a fallen god was … difficult under the best of circumstances. Now, that fallen god had a hostage that he could threaten them with. Also, what would keep him from simply disappearing again? Not to mention that even if they caught them once and managed to grab His Highness from him, that person could simply wait for a while and then capture him again.

Li Yin leaned back when he came to that realization. Yes, no matter what, they were screwed. It couldn’t be said any other way. Either their crown prince had fallen and was lost in that way or he had been captured by a foe they were unable to act against. It literally didn’t matter whether they found them or not because they couldn’t change a thing about the situation unless they somehow managed to sneak up on a fallen god and kill them in one fell swoop. How likely that was … well, he also knew.

Li Yin rubbed his face, rolled up the maps, and put them away again. There was nothing he could do. Their crown prince … as unhappy as he was to admit it but they couldn’t do anything for him. From the moment those signs appeared in the sky, it had already been too late for him.