When the door closed behind the two people, Yi Zan turned to Xiang Yong as well. “What should we do now? Accept this?”

Xiang Yong didn’t know how to answer. “We need all the help we can get but … they’re demons. There is no saying how this will turn out so we can’t make a decision rashly. Let’s hope His Majesty wakes up soon and can tell us something we don’t know yet.”

His brows furrowed tightly when he thought of this. By now, two days had gone by but their king wasn’t any better. Jinde who was definitely one of the people with the highest attainment in refinement in their realm had already taken a look but also couldn’t say how long it would be until their king woke up again. That made matters rather difficult.

It wasn’t like they couldn’t govern the dragon realm without him for a while. Anyway, all tasks had been distributed between the six of them and now, there were even Jinde and Leng Jin Yu who could assist them. There was nothing difficult about making ordinary decisions. The problem was that they were absolutely not in ordinary circumstances right now.

Their own king was unconscious and it remained to be seen how this would play out. The Son of Heaven who was the future Heavenly Emperor of the Nine Heavens was missing. The demon king … well, he was new and nobody really knew what he was after. Such a state was precarious and could change at any time. He really didn’t want to have to go through this alone. Even though their king hadn’t always been the most dependable, he would have felt much more reassured if he woke up.

The others all had similar thoughts but didn’t know how to solve the problem either. It wasn’t like they could magic the Son of Heaven back or wake up their king through sheer willpower. No, at this time, all of them were powerless.

Qiang Wei raked a hand through his hair and cursed. “Just why did this have to happen? Everything was looking so well!”

Xiang Yong hummed. “Well, we can’t change it. Let’s get back to our respective tasks. As for this …” He raised the letter again, his brows once again furrowing. “Let’s give it three days. If His Majesty still isn’t awake at that time, we’ll get back together and make a decision by ourselves.”

The others nodded, got to their feet, and filed out of the room. Nobody tried to discuss long-term plans. They simply didn’t dare to. Even though Zheng Yin and Jinde both believed that Qiu Ling should wake up after a while, nobody was certain and they all couldn’t help but have some doubts.

What if he didn’t? What if this was somehow their king’s end? What if — even though he did wake up — he couldn’t take the stimulation of losing his partner, went crazy, and finally died? It wouldn’t be the first time this happened to a dragon. There might not have been any that a fallen god was involved in but the principle should still be the same. The agony of your soul-bound partner having their soul destroyed … was that better or worse than their death?

Either way, deep down, they all knew that there was a very real chance that they might lose their king either now or in the near future. They simply didn’t dare to admit that to themselves yet and were instead still holding on to the little hope that was left.

Xiang Yong left the throne room and returned to Qiu Ling’s room. These days, he mostly worked from there unless he needed to meet with somebody. Even though he knew that he didn’t need to since Zheng Yin, Jinde, and Leng Jin Yu were all there, he’d rather be as close by as possible to know immediately if there was the slightest change in their king’s condition.

He glanced at Qiu Ling’s figure on the bed and then sat down at the table. He put the letter in front of him, his brows once again furrowing. Glancing at Jinde who was sitting at the edge of the bed and then at Leng Jin Yu, who stood in the doorway to the courtyard with his arms crossed in front of his chest, he finally got up again and joined Leng Jin Yu. “This was delivered by the envoy from the demon realm that came by earlier. Do you think we should inform the Nine Heavens? The demon king apparently didn’t want to get in touch with them.”

Leng Jin Yu was pulled out of his thoughts. He retracted his gaze and took the letter and quietly read what Ye Yang had written before giving a hum. “He’s right to be cautious. The Heavenly Emperor is known to have a temper and it shouldn’t have gotten better now that his son is still missing. Since we are in an alliance with them though, we can’t just keep this to ourselves.”

Xiang Yong nodded. “I suppose so. It seems to only be an offer so far. We’ve decided to wait for another three days before we get back to them. Maybe His Majesty will wake up until then.”

Leng Jin Yu gave a hum and handed the letter back, his gaze returning to Qiu Ling. “I sure hope so.” He walked over after saying so, standing behind Jinde and looking at Qiu Ling’s pale face. Seeing him like this … it really wasn’t easy. Their relationship was still a little strained since they didn’t know how to treat each other but … he never wanted him to be like this. Qiu Ling should be much different from this.

Jinde reached up and grabbed his husband’s hand, sighing faintly. “I don’t know when he will wake up. In general, it should be soon. In fact, I am somewhat surprised he hasn’t already.” Unfortunately, that really didn’t mean anything. Right now, they could only wait.