Inside Qiu Ling watched Jing He’s tangled expression slowly, feeling that this looked just like yet another setback. He sighed deeply, wondering why the two of them had so much bad luck. Was this also thanks to the Heavenly family’s cursed state? Supposedly, it shouldn’t affect Jing He any longer now that he had come of age but … well, it sure seemed that everything that could go wrong for them would go wrong.

Qiang Yan also glanced outside. Seeing his nephew’s expression, he also shook his head. “It might have been too late or maybe for him who worries a lot even on a normal day, it was too early. With this kind of thing, it’s hard to say. I only know that it’s good that the secret is out now. When it comes to secrets among spouses and family members, they usually aren’t a good thing.”

Qiu Ling tightened his lips in response to that. Secrets … he still had one as well. He had wanted to ask An Bai but … sitting in front of Qiang Yan, he suddenly remembered his son. “When you met your wife on your trial, did you know about her parentage?”

Qiang Yan blinked his eyes in response. Where had that question suddenly come from? He really wasn’t sure what Qiu Ling was playing at but still nodded honestly. “I did. Huan Yin was … special. Among cultivators, it couldn’t be denied that her constitution was just different.

“People had different guesses as to why that was but it was never a doubt that there was something about her. After being together for a while, she simply told me. So it was never much of a secret.” He figured that this should be why Qiu Ling might be asking. He shouldn’t know much about his life and was currently just asking to lessen the distance between them now that they were officially about to become a family as well.

Qiu Ling gave a hum. “At that time, you were a human. It probably didn’t matter much. As a trueborn god now … do you think differently about it?”

Qiang Yan had found his explanation for Qiu Ling’s behavior so he didn’t think more. “No. I loved her for who she was, not what she was. That was … well, it was a part of her. A part of her personal history, of how she came to be the woman I married. Without that part of her, maybe she would have been different. But anyway, it didn’t make her better or worse. Why would I care?”

Qiu Ling slightly furrowed his brows. It was good to hear that the God of War had this idea but … would the same be true for Jing He? He glanced at his beloved’s figure in the garden again and then turned his attention back to Qiang Yan.

He had nobody to talk to. At the very least, nobody who really understood how he felt. But Qiang Yan was different. At the very least, he had once loved somebody with demon blood and also had a child with the same awkward heritage. Surely, his perspective should be different?

Qiu Ling reached out and turned the cup in front of him, his expression still tangled. He had to tell Jing He. There was no way around it. After all, he would remember his confession to Jing Yi one day, and even if not for that: He agreed with Qiang Yan that secrets should not exist between couples. At least not secrets like this. So yes, he had to tell Jing He. As for others …

Qiu Ling stopped playing with the cup and looked up at Qiang Yan. “My mother likely had some demon blood.” In fact, he wasn’t totally sure how much blood had been from which side. It might be half but it might also be less. Since Chun Yin had been a full-blooded dragon, Qiu Ling’s chances of being seen as a dragon had always been rather high. Thus, it was hard to say.

Qiang Yan stared at him in a daze and suddenly tensed. He turned his head toward the garden where Jing He and Bai Fen were still standing next to the pond, talking quietly. Only after making sure that they hadn’t noticed anything did he turn back to Qiu Ling and leaned closer, his voice immediately sinking to a whisper. “Does he know?”

Qiu Ling shook his head with a solemn expression. “No. But he’ll know soon.”

Qiang Yan closed his eyes and cursed silently. He knew his nephew. He could overlook a lot of things and pretend that he either wasn’t aware or didn’t care about them or that they simply didn’t exist. But this … this was different. This was something he couldn’t just ignore.

He rubbed his forehead, not sure what to say. How could this be? All this time, he had never even suspected that something like this could be the case. But then … Qiu Ling was the dragon king. Who would ever think that the dragon king wasn’t a full-blooded dragon?

Qiang Yan raised his head and opened his eyes again. “Actually … if the two of you have a child in the future, it’ll be a half-blood anyway. This is a thought Jing He will have to get used to. You having some … other blood, will it make that much of a difference?”

Qiu Ling gave a humorless smile. “If it’s demon-blood? Yes, I’m afraid so.” He hadn’t even dared to tell his advisers and now, this was about the person he wanted to marry. With how the demons were viewed among the dragons and the gods, there really wasn’t any doubt that nobody would be ecstatic if their fiance suddenly turned out to be part demon.

This was even more the case for someone like Jing He. He paid a lot of attention to appearances and if people found out that the one he married was not a true-blooded dragon but a half-blood and even one with demon-blood … well, he certainly wouldn’t be happy about it.