Xin Lan soon reached the room where Jinde lived. Seeing as he had no idea what the current situation was, he first knocked. Unfortunately, there was no response.

Xin Lan furrowed his brows and opened the door but found the room empty. His lips twitched and he turned to the door to the courtyard instead. If Jinde wasn’t here, he had probably woken up. If he was awake now, the first thing he’d want to do was to see his child and save them. So … he wouldn’t get around seeing that fallen god after all if he wanted to make sure that Jinde was alright.

He sighed to himself but still walked through the room and stepped out into the courtyard. To his surprise, while a certain fallen god immediately turned around and stared at him wide-eyed, there was no sign of Jinde.

Xin Lan cursed under his breath. He was of half a mind to just turn on his heels and get out of there so he wouldn’t have to deal with Xiang Yu but then, he also needed to know where Jinde was. Sure, he could try a transmission but it was easier to just get it over with since he was already here. “Where is Jinde?”

Xiang Yu pursed his lips. He really didn’t feel like telling Xin Lan anything. That stupid dragon hadn’t even said hello to him!

Xin Lan shook his head and turned away, pulling out the transmission to contact Jinde.

Before he could imbue his spiritual energy, Xiang Yu jumped at him from behind. “You can’t do this!” The transmission stone was snatched away.

Xin Lan turned around and looked at Xiang Yu exasperated. “Why can’t I do this? Since you won’t tell me, I’ll just ask him myself.”

“You can’t.” Xiang Yu still didn’t want to compromise. He simply hid the stone and continued to stare at Xin Lan.

The dragon stared back. Now, he still didn’t know where Jinde was and had also lost his transmission stone so he couldn’t contact him. Just what was going on today?! He took a deep breath before he could yell at Xiang Yu. Right now, that definitely wouldn’t get him what he wanted.

“Alright. So he’s not here and you don’t want me to contact him. Fine.” He raised his brows at Xiang Yu, barely managing to keep his expression calm. “So why don’t you tell me where he is?”

Xiang Yu blinked his eyes and shook his head. “Then you’d go over and disturb him.”

Xin Lan’s lips twitched. Why was this guy so annoying? Well, it seemed he really wouldn’t manage to get anything out of him. In that case, he could only try another route. “Fine then. If you can’t tell me where Jinde is, can you at least tell me where Qiu Ling is?” He didn’t want to deal with him either but, at the very least, Qiu Ling likely wouldn’t have any issues telling him where Jinde was.

Xiang Yu pursed his lips. He somehow felt that Xin Lan was trying to pull one over on him but no matter how he thought, he couldn’t think of what the issue was. In the end, he could only hum. “He went to sleep earlier. I didn’t pay attention after that.”

Xin Lan gave a hum. “Then was that before or after he called his advisers together for a meeting?”

Xiang Yu stared at him wide-eyed. “He called his advisers for a meeting?” He didn’t know anything about that! Should he have tried to help? But then, Qiu Ling knew where he was so he could have asked for help if he needed any. If he hadn’t, that meant his advisers were enough for whatever he had wanted to solve.

Xin Lan shook his head and waved. “Forget it. Give my transmission stone to Jinde when he comes back. I’ll go and find Qiu Ling now.”

Xiang Yu wanted to speak up but Xin Lan had already vanished through the other door into Qiu Ling’s room. Xiang Yu lowered the hand he had stretched out and turned to look at the shell behind him with a gloomy expression. Finally, he crouched down. “See? That’s exactly what I meant! It’s best not to fall in love. They won’t treat you nicely.”

He rubbed the shell and sighed, feeling that life really wasn’t treating him fair. He also wanted a lover like Qiu Ling or Jinde or Tian who would do anything for their other half. Not somebody like Xin Lan who barely looked at him and would then even say bad words. It just wasn’t right!

While Xiang Yu was moping in the courtyard, Xin Lan looked through Qiu Ling’s room only to come up empty-handed once again. His brows furrowed tightly, feeling that something wasn’t right. Where was everyone? Jinde couldn’t be with Qiu Ling or Xiang Yu would have made more of a fuss. But then, what was the reason that nobody was in?

Xin Lan furrowed his brows and left the room, instead trying the rooms of his advisers. Whether he knocked or just took a look, he couldn’t find a single one though. Just where was everyone?

Xin Lan looked the corridor up and down and then remembered that there was a smaller room between this corridor and the throne room where the king and his advisers could hold meetings. Jinde had sometimes used that one in the past but it had been so long ago that he didn’t think of it right away. If Qiu Ling and his advisers were nowhere else to be found, that should be where he currently was.

He went over there and didn’t bother to knock. He simply opened the door but then stopped right in his tracks. Jinde wasn’t there but Qiu Ling was. Somehow, he had ended up on the ground though, and a flurry of anxious advisers and a very familiar spirit beast were surrounding him.