Back at the dragon king’s palace, Jinde weighed the transmission stone in his hands before turning to look at Xin Lan and tilting his head.

The other dragon requited his gaze and quietly raised his brows. “What’s the matter?” He would have thought Jinde was worried but his expression didn’t look like that. Instead, he seemed more inquisitive.

Jinde put the necklace back in place and continued to look at Xin Lan. “What you just told Qiu Ling … you meant that, didn’t you?”

Xin Lan raised his brows. “Naturally, I did.” Otherwise, would he even bother?

Jinde’s brows drew together when Xin Lan said that and he stepped closer, his expression turning solemn. “You just recently went there to ask him for help with my condition. What did he ask of you in turn?”

Ah, so that was what this was about. Xin Lan clicked his tongue in annoyance. He really should have thought of this. Jinde might be a little preoccupied with other things recently but something like this wouldn’t simply slip his mind. Well, since it was already out in the open now, there was no reason to hold anything back.

“I have no idea. When I asked for help, he made clear he saw no reason to do it without something in return. I didn’t know what he wanted though or … most likely, there isn’t really anything he needs. At that time, I let him decide but he unfortunately failed to mention what he finally came up with.”

Jinde’s brows furrowed even further. “You made a deal but don’t even know what your end of the bargain is?”

Xin Lan gave a hum. “There isn’t really much room for haggling when the other side is the supreme sovereign, is there?”

Jinde wanted to retort but didn’t even know where to begin. Yes, you certainly couldn’t discuss matters with the supreme sovereign as you could with other people but not being told what would happen after making a deal seemed unreasonable.

In the end, he could only sigh. Rather than arguing what was already in the past, it would be better to focus on the future. “Is there no way to figure out what your side of this deal will look like? Maybe Xiang Yu can help?” Surely, going back to ask Tian himself was out of the question but as a fallen god, Xiang Yu was privy to a lot of things. Maybe he would be able to tell. Or even if not, his relationship with Tian seemed to be alright. He might be able to ask him about it if they really couldn’t figure it out on their own.

Xin Lan thought of Xiang Yu who hadn’t returned in two days and his brows furrowed. Right now, it still remained to be seen how long that fallen god would even stay missing for because of his latest trip to the High Heavens. He really didn’t think they should plan yet another trip.

Throughout all these years of his life, he had honed a rather keen intuition. Right now, it was telling him that there was danger and that this threat was related to Tian. Maybe it was simply whatever that man had done to him or maybe it had to do with Xiang Yu’s disappearance. It could also be related to the crown prince’s sudden fall or Qiu Ling’s visit to the High Heavens. He didn’t know but he didn’t feel good about this.

Something was entirely wrong and not being able to see just what it was made him feel ill-at-ease. Thankfully, he had also honed his ability not to show his feelings on his face or he would have scared Jinde as well. With everything that was going on, that really wasn’t a good idea.

No, right now, the best thing he could do was to keep as calm as possible. With time, these issues would slowly get resolved. In fact, with Qiu Ling going to the High Heavens as well, there was a good chance he’d run into Xiang Yu up there. Then the two of them would likely team up to find Qiu Ling’s lover and then return if they had had luck or at least get back in touch with them if they didn’t for some time.

Thinking of this indeed made him feel less worried. Yes, he really only needed to wait. Everything would be solved with just enough time. As for his own issue … so far, nothing bad had happened so whatever Tian had come up with to torture him, it shouldn’t be that bad. And maybe Xiang Yu could indeed tell what it was after he saw him again.

Thinking of this, Xin Lan finally nodded in response to Jinde’s question. “You know, maybe you’re not wrong. As a fallen god, he might indeed be able to tell. So let’s just wait for him to return and then ask. Anyway, I haven’t noticed any changes so it shouldn’t be that urgent.”

Yes, considering that he had been out cold for a whole week, this really didn’t seem too urgent. In fact, maybe Tian hadn’t done anything drastic and just wanted to scare him as a way of teaching him a lesson and making him more humble in front of him. He should be the kind of person who would do something like that.

Just when he thought so, the memory of Xiang Yu talking about Tian as if he was someone to look up to came up. Xin Lan pursed his lips, not happy with this. He hated Tian and he didn’t like how others thought so highly of him. When it came to Xiang Yu, he felt even worse about it. Why that was … well, he had a faint idea. Most likely, even though he didn’t like to admit it, his feelings regarding Xiang Yu were just a little more complicated than he had admitted to himself before.

Realizing this, Xin Lan finally sighed and then looked at Jinde. He had asked him earlier if he believed that he could like Xiang Yu. Well, maybe he actually could. At the very least, it seemed like he could work up some jealousy over that person. That really was … a little unexpected.