Before the two of them could deepen the topic, steps sounded outside and a servant came to announce that the God of War and one of the senior officials from the Court of Justice had arrived with Longjun’s adviser An Bai and a group from the dragon realm.

The Heavenly Emperor who had just complained about those people straightened up. “Have they arrived, yes?” He got to his feet and straightened his robe, striding out of the study while waving to the servant to let the people in. “Send them in then. I’ll see what they have to say.” Well, he already knew what they wanted but he’d still like to hear their explanation directly.

Jing He continued to sit in front of the weiqi board, his thoughts wandering. An Bai was among that group from the dragon realm. When it came to Qiu Ling’s advisers, he was the one Jing He knew the best.

He really would have liked to go out to talk to him but he knew it wasn’t right. In fact, even just remaining in the study where he could hear every word was wrong but he couldn’t bring himself to leave either. What if there was any news regarding Qiu Ling contained in what the group would say? He’d loathe not to find out. Thus, he stubbornly refused to follow protocol.

His father naturally wouldn’t think that Jing He was doing anything wrong. He planted his butt on his throne and tried to look awe-inspiring to teach those people a lesson. His opinion of that adviser from the dragon realm wasn’t that high either and he was even less happy with him for bringing people over when he was currently spending time with his precious son. This seemed too deliberate!

An Bai looked up when he stepped into the hall and quietly waited for the God of War and Yi Yun to speak before greeting the Heavenly Emperor as well.

The six people that had come from the demon realm looked at one person after the other. They naturally noticed that the Heavenly Emperor’s face didn’t look good but seeing as there were another three people, they felt a bit better.

This time, since they were in the Nine Heavens, Su Wei stepped forward instead of Ru Shu. He greeted the Heavenly Emperor and then repeated what they had already told Xiang Yong and the others the day before.

Rong Su pursed his lips. He didn’t trust Ye Yang or any of these people. But then, getting back the bodies of their own people was a good thing. Especially since one of those was likely Yin Lin Lin.

Thinking of her, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty. Even though he had never liked her, she was still the woman he had been set to marry once upon a time. Yes, she had committed many wrongs since then and lost any status she had, and finally even betrayed them by marrying the demon king but he naturally knew that much of this was a result of his own actions. When it came to her, he really couldn’t fully assign blame.

Of course, if he gave Yin Lin Lin a pass, he couldn’t be as harsh to the others either. Looking at Su Wei, he finally just curled his lips in distaste. “I see. Well then, the Court of Justice and the Palace of Magnanimity will handle this issue together. Senior official Yi Yun will help you organize everything.”

Su Wei inclined his head. “Thank you, Your Majesty.” He heaved a sigh of relief. This had gone much better than expected. He did feel that the Heavenly Emperor didn’t want to bother about them in the way the people in the dragon realm had but that was alright. Since he was known for his temper this could have ended much differently.

Yi Yun also inclined his head and then led the group outside after the Heavenly Emperor waved for them to leave.

An Bai and Qiang Yan stayed though, exchanging a glance. While the matter with the bodies that had been sent back was important to deal with, there was something much more important.

An Bai hesitated for a moment but he was the only person from the dragon realm right now so it was only right for him to bring this up. “I hope Tianjun didn’t mind me accompanying the ones sent from the demon realm. I wouldn’t want to interfere in the decisions the Nine Heavens make about this matter but I wanted to use the opportunity to inquire about your attitude regarding the new demon king and what he seems to intend to do.”

Rong Su huffed. “What is there to inquire about? He’s a demon. No matter what he says, it can’t be trusted.”

An Bai inclined his head. He had almost expected as much. To be honest, he wasn’t sure if he could trust Ye Yang either and he had had a lot of contact with him in the past. “I assume he will take further steps. It might be good to discuss in detail, especially when more about his plans come to light.”

This time, the Heavenly Emperor at least gave a hum although he still didn’t sound enthusiastic about having to work with one of Qiu Ling’s advisers. “We’ll see about that when something else happens. Now, if you would excuse me. There are still a lot of matters to attend to.”

An Bai once again inclined his head. “Naturally. I will also return to my duties then.” He turned to the God of War next, faintly nodding while giving him a questioning look.

Qiang Yan gave a hum in return. “I’ll send adviser An Bai.”

He motioned toward the gate and the two of them walked out side by side. Clearly, there were still issues to talk about. Now seemed to be the best time to do so.

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