Jing He still furrowed his brows when he heard these words. It wasn’t that this wasn’t the answer he had hoped for but … Qiu Ling sounded a little lost. He might not have noticed himself but there was something to the way he had said it that came through.

He hesitated but then reached up and put his palms on Qiu Ling’s back. Qiu Ling had done so for him to calm him down and even though he wasn’t sure if it had really helped, he wanted to try as well. “If I could change it, I would. I am sorry for making so much trouble.”

Qiu Ling lifted his head and looked at him. “Don’t feel bad. If it’s about assigning guilt … I feel like none of us could escape. But also, it doesn’t sound like this necessarily has to do with you being a fallen god now. If it’s fate, then Tian always intended to take this child from us. This simply gave him a good excuse but I doubt he would have needed one.”

Jing He nodded. Yes, Tian could do whatever he wanted in the end. It was already surprising that he had told him what he intended to do when he didn’t have to. He could have … kept silent or maybe made up something on the spot. How would he have known the truth then?

Qiu Ling reached up and rubbed his cheek. “Don’t be sad. It would have been nice to have one but we can do without. It’s … enough to have one another. Don’t you think so?”

Jing He looked up but hesitated. He hadn’t thought much about having a child. Anyway, it hadn’t been that long since he himself came of age. He didn’t … feel ready if he was being honest. A child was a lot of responsibility and he wasn’t sure if he could take that on. But Qiu Ling cared about this and he was more than old enough to have one or even a few. It just seemed so wrong to take that from him. “Will you … really be alright with raising a child that isn’t your own?”

Adopting a child seemed like the best choice under the circumstances they were in but he was still doubtful if that was enough. He knew that the dragons might have different views on what blood relations meant but he was still afraid. He hated that he couldn’t give Qiu Ling what he wanted.

Qiu Ling immediately nodded though. “It really doesn’t matter to me.” Although, with Jing He’s repeated question, he couldn’t help but wonder if the same was true for him. “You … care a lot about that?”

Jing He hesitated again but finally shook his head. “I could only have one and it would be cursed just like I was. I am not even sure if I would want that for a child. Not having one that is related to me by blood … would probably be for the best.” It was just that he naturally knew that this would be expected of him. He was the crown prince of the Nine Heavens, after all. One day, he would become the Heavenly Emperor and after him, his child should accede to the throne. This succession had always been determined by blood so adopting a child … seemed out of the question.

Of course, according to Tian, he would have a child. It might just be that he couldn’t raise it with Qiu Ling. Still, that child would be alive and could take over the throne of the Nine Heavens whenever they wanted. Who would dare to tell the reincarnation of Tian’s son — the child he had personally raised himself — and who was still bound to the incumbent Heavenly Emperor by blood that they couldn’t reign over the domain of the gods? Certainly, nobody would think that even possible.

The gods would likely feel that this was as things should be. And maybe … maybe that was what this was. Maybe life was simply returning to the trajectory it originally should have taken.

Jing He wasn’t sure what this would mean either for the realm or for him but he also knew that he didn’t have the power to influence fate so … he should just accept that whatever was supposed to happen would come and what shouldn’t happen would never come to pass. That was how life was.

Jing He thought of his trial, feeling that the powerlessness he had felt at that time after he found out about his life being a trial might have prepared him for the day he had today quite well. The feeling was the same: Maybe his life was not all that worthy on its own and was only there to aid a greater plan. In a sense, that seemed to be exactly what had happened.

His brows furrowed slightly but he didn’t dwell on it. He had always known that Tian’s actions had had a big impact on his life. This wasn’t new. The curse on his family and the one on the gods alone had ensured that his life so far was always led in a direction he himself couldn’t determine. There was always somebody else who would dictate it while he could only silently follow the path that had been sketched for him. Nothing had changed about that.

Thinking of his trial though, he couldn’t help but feel sad. “If you had had a child with me during the trial, I wonder if that would have counted.” After all, while his soul resided in that body, the blood was not tied to the Heavenly Emperor’s bloodline. That was to say … a child he and Qiu Ling would have had during that time might have been spared from the curse. And maybe … “Maybe I could do another trial for you in the future and the two of us could have a child that way.” It seemed like that might actually solve the issue of not being able to give Qiu Ling the family he desired. Thinking of that, he felt a bit better about himself.