Tian watched as Leng Lu’s figure vanished. Naturally, he had expected this reaction. To Leng Lu, there were only two people he cared about: his lover and their son. If he ever felt that they were threatened, he naturally wouldn’t ignore it. Instead, he would go and guard over them closely, ensuring that nobody could get too close. In fact, if he was suspicious of somebody, thinking that they wanted to harm his dearest people, he might just outright kill that person.

Usually, Tian wouldn’t bother about him. Leng Lu had a nasty attitude toward him because of his status but it wasn’t even worth getting angry over. The kind of mindset a fallen god had was different, after all. Right now though, it was an important point in time and he couldn’t let him get in the way much like he couldn’t allow Xiang Yu to get involved in this. Thus, he could only take such a route.

Come to think of it, if Leng Lu really went on a killing spree in the capital city of the Nine Heavens because his paranoia took over, it might also be beneficial to him. After all, that way, everybody would be busy with that and not cause issues for him. That would be an unintentional side effect but a welcome one.

Well, for now, it didn’t matter yet. The initial investigation should take a few days, after all, and he only had to worry about those things when that time had passed. No, for now, he first had to take care of the matter at hand.

He waited for a moment to make sure that Leng Li didn’t come back and then focused on Xiang Yu’s soul instead. Even though he had his own reasons for wanting him to leave and go on this trial that didn’t mean that he would treat him badly. No, since he had said that this was a good opportunity, then that was naturally the case. He wouldn’t lie about that.

He watched quietly as Xiang Yu’s soul reached the mortal realm, slowly traversing through the air. The soul of a fallen god was fragile since it had originally shattered. Thus, its speed couldn’t be compared to that of a regular trueborn god’s soul. After all, at such a time, there was no body protecting the soul. It could only drift through the sky like a cloud, hoping not to encounter any obstacles. Below, the towns and cities passed by while the soul was approaching a place where it could reincarnate.

When it came to the trials of the trueborn gods or — like in this case — the fallen gods, their souls were actually not meant to be in the mortal realm. Thus, what they occupied were usually the bodies of those that would not have lived: A fetus that would have been miscarried, a child that would have been stillborn, or even a newborn that should have silently died at night. They took over those soulless bodies with neither them nor the families raising them knowing what had happened.

When it came to the trials of the trueborn gods, the scribes in the Palace of Fate would look for such bodies and assign them, making it easier for the souls to find a place to settle down. A fallen god like Xiang Yu didn’t have such a luxury so right now, Xiang Yu’s soul was wandering randomly, trying to find a new home while advancing through the mortal realm at a snail’s pace. Of course, there was Tian watching over him so finding the perfect body to host it wasn’t a problem at all.

Finally, it seemed as if the soul had found a suitable place. Tian watched quietly as it sped up, rushing in a certain direction now that a clear goal was in sight. He waited patiently for a while. Then, his fingers moved and a strong current caught the soul, making it tumble toward another place. It collided with a second soul in the air, getting further and further off-course.

Tian raised his chin and his fingers moved again. The space in the mortal realm rippled and the next moment, the soul the supreme sovereign had been watching over reached the intended goal. It hovered over the body but with another push from Tian, it finally sunk through the skin and settled down.

The soul it had collided with had followed along just a step later but now, the body was occupied. The soul circled it anxiously but when it tried to enter the body as well, it was repelled as if there was a magic barrier in place, keeping it out.

While the soul still hovered there, the body opened its eyes, looking confused as if the person couldn’t make sense of anything around them. A man was leaning over them, his lips trembling as he watched the person finally raise their lids. His own eyes filled with tears that rolled down his cheeks and finally dropped down, hitting that person’s face.

The man reached out, his hand gently cupping the person’s cheek. “Ah Ying, Ah Ying, you’ve finally woken up!” He choked as the tears kept coming and didn’t say more. He just leaned down further, gathering the person into his arms and holding on tightly, his hands rubbing their back as if to comfort. Who it was that was supposed to be comforted … it was hard to say.

Next to them, the soul wavered on the spot. It once again tried to enter that body but was repelled once more. In the end, it could only leave the side of these two people and the hall they were located in, returning to the place where it had collided earlier. It hovered there for a moment and finally followed the trajectory that Xiang Yu’s soul had originally taken, approaching another body to call their home.

Just like that, the matter was settled and Xiang Yu’s second trial as a fallen god was about to begin.