When Qiu Ling arrived in the capital city of the Nine Heavens, he directly went over to the Heavenly Emperor’s palace. Even though the person in question likely didn’t want to see him and wouldn’t show him a good face for even a single second he spend in that building, it was still necessary to reassure him.

Looking up at the guards at the side of the gate who clearly hadn’t been informed of his visit yet, he gave a faint smile and inclined his head. Stepping closer, he turned to the one on the left. “Did the God of War return yet?”

If Jing He’s uncle or maybe his mother was there to act as a buffer between him and the Heavenly Emperor, he would feel a lot better. If they weren’t … well, maybe it would be best to wait until that fact changed.

The guard looked at him in surprise, wondering how the dragon king knew that the God of War had been here earlier and then left. At the end of the day, this was one of the Heavenly Emperor’s personal guards though so he managed to catch himself after just a moment and put on a serious expression again. “No, Longjun, he hasn’t.”

Qiu Ling hummed. “I see.” He hesitated over what to do but then motioned inside. “The Heavenly Emperor … how’s his current mood?”

The guard felt odd and wasn’t sure how to answer. No matter what he personally thought of the man in front of him, he couldn’t be disrespectful considering his status. At the same time, even if he was aware of such details, he also couldn’t tell them to outsiders. Between one and the other … what was the right response?

He glanced at the guard on the other side of the gate, feeling unlucky. Why had the dragon king asked him? Anyway, he couldn’t change it though so he could only purse his lips and try to get out of answering. “I am afraid I am not aware.”

Qiu Ling nodded and then sighed. “Well, please announce me then.” Anyway, he had to confront him sooner or later. It was best not to push it off for too long.

The guard inclined his head, turned to the side, and called out. No matter what reaction there would be from inside the hall, this was still better than having to continue that conversation with the dragon king.

From inside, some grumbling could be heard but seeing as the announcement had been done, Qiu Ling still walked straight in and even gave the person sitting on the throne a faint smile. “Tianjun, I hurried as fast as I could. Matters in my realm are taken care of so far but it will take some more time until the guards arrive here.”

Rong Su stared at him with disgust. This bastard was the same as always. The only difference was that he was currently pretending to be on good terms, constantly smiling. In a way, this was even more annoying than back when he just appeared every now and then only to vanish right after, looking the whole time as if he couldn’t be bothered. Of course, this new behavior couldn’t be separated from how he had dared to go after his precious son which only made this worse. How dare he covet his Jing He!

The more Rong Su thought about it, the angrier he felt about the person. “Longjun was so diligent, I could almost believe that you are speaking the truth.”

Qiu Ling didn’t drop the smile even at that thinly veiled insult. “Well, that must be because I am. But don’t worry: Am I not here to prove that to you? It’s alright if you can’t believe it just yet. Presumably, we will have some time.” His smile even brightened a little before he turned to look around. “Tianjun should still be busy so I won’t bother you. Has a room been readied yet?”

Rong Su scoffed. “How could that be? Since Longjun was so fast, I didn’t even have time to tell the servants about your impending arrival yet.”

Naturally, this was a lie and they both knew it but Qiu Ling pretended not to notice this either. “Oh, it doesn’t matter. I will leave you to your duties and find a servant to take care of it myself.” He inclined his head, glanced at the door leading further into the palace, and then simply walked over there.

The Heavenly Emperor wouldn’t show him a good face anyway and he didn’t intend to continue this game where he had to stand and be insulted with every word while he had to smile and try to smooth things over. He certainly wouldn’t lose his temper at Jing He’s father unless he really did something that went too far but he wasn’t that good-tempered either.

Stepping through the door without another look back, Qiu Ling couldn’t help but muse though: For the foreseeable future, he was now trapped in this palace. Even though he could leave at any time, that unreasonable bastard would immediately use the opportunity to accuse him of sneaking around and doing something nefarious behind his back. Then, what had he gone to all this trouble for?

No, since he had come here, he would do this until the better end. Even if they still weren’t on good terms by the end of this, it would be enough as long as the Heavenly Emperor’s attitude softened slightly. He didn’t have to think of him as the perfect son-in-law or even like him but he had to treat him with some polite restraint at least. That was an acceptable way to get along.

Having made up his mind, Qiu Ling waved the first servant he spotted over and told them to get a room ready for him. The other person’s eyes bulged, looking as if they would fall out the next moment, but in the end, they still didn’t dare to refuse.

Well, it still had its advantages to be the dragon king.