While Jing He worried about the future, Tian returned to his own palace. Stopping next to the jade coffin that held Xing’s body, his expression finally changed slightly. His fingers traced the familiar face through the lid as his gaze softened. “Don’t worry. It shouldn’t be difficult to convince him.” Anyway, there was nobody else here to influence him. That truly made things a lot easier.

Well, in fact, the High Heavens weren’t completely empty. There were still a few fallen gods living here. That was precisely why he had told Jing He not to go out tonight. Even though most of them liked to keep to themselves, they were also unpredictable. Who knew what might happen if he accidentally ran into one of them and did something that set them off? Even though he was sure that he could save him in time, he’d rather not risk it.

Also, he truly didn’t think that Jing He had realized the truth about his condition just yet. Chances were that if he met a fallen god, he would see them as a threat and become afraid. Then what if the other person reacted oddly, asking why another fallen god would be afraid of them? In Jing He’s current situation, he might be unable to bear that way of having his state exposed.

Yes, Jing He was already anxious enough after remembering what he had found out about Qiu Ling’s heritage. He didn’t believe that they still had a future together after this and might even see his own life as meaningless. That was not a suitable state to be in and should be rectified as soon as possible. But considering what the fallen gods represented to the people in the Nine Heavens, his finding out that he was now one of them would instead add to Jing He’s doubts and make him fall further into desperation. He couldn’t let that happen.

Tian took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. He shouldn’t let Jing He find out for the time being but he couldn’t wait too long either. This knowledge was dangerous for his mental state, especially so if he happened upon it accidentally on his own while his mind was still a mess. No, it was better to help him sort through his feelings for the dragon king and their relationship first and then slowly introduce the idea to him that his obsession had led him to fall.

His gaze was fixed on Xing’s face, especially the black mark between his brows. In fact, it wasn’t difficult at all to bring this topic up with Jing He. Didn’t the crown prince of the Nine Heavens like the story about him and his lover? Then he only needed to make use of that and it would be easy enough.

Usually, he would not use his lover’s past like this and he would certainly never allow anyone near Xing but … Jing He was simply too suitable. If he didn’t make use of him, who knew when the next opportunity would arise? It had already been more than two hundred thousand years since Xing fell. If not now, then how long would it be? Five hundred thousand? A million? He didn’t even dare to think about it.

His whole life seemed filled with senseless waiting. Waiting for the disaster to strike that decimated his people, waiting for the other races to develop to have something, anything at all to do, waiting to meet Xing and finally start a family of his own, waiting for him to return after everything went to hell … He was sick of it. It should come to an end. He should be able to realize his own fate already. He deserved this. So he certainly wouldn’t let this opportunity slip through his hands. No, Jing He had to be used no matter what.

Tian closed his eyes and then waved a hand. A layer of crystal clear water appeared in front of him, showing what was happening over in the replica of Jing He’s palace. Opening his eyes again, he watched for a moment and then opened another one. This time, what it showed was the actual Nine Heavens or more precisely the palace of the incumbent Heavenly Emperor.

At this time, Rong Su was sitting in his study, fuming as he scribbled on a scroll. His gaze slipped to the side every now and then, filled with resentment.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the only person who could pull this much hate from him was Qiu Ling. At this time, he was sitting only two steps away from his father-in-law, dealing with some issues of his own.

Just as he had promised, he would let the Heavenly Emperor see that he wasn’t cheating him and secretly running to where Jing He was. So, for the past week, during the day, he stuck extremely close to him, never leaving the room the Heavenly Emperor was in and preferably only being separated by a few steps. As a result, the Heavenly Emperor also had to watch him do his duty as the dragon king.

Ordinarily, this shouldn’t have been a problem. Before coming to his senses during the trial, Qiu Ling had usually shirked his responsibility and was at most doing the bare minimum. But now, things were different. He was taking his position seriously again and it showed.

Back when Qiu Ling acceded to the throne of the dragon realm, he hadn’t had any advisers. Those who had originally served Jinde had mostly died in the war and he wasn’t familiar with the others and didn’t trust any of them. As a result, most tasks had been done personally by him. Whether it was coming up with a way to deal with the destruction the demons had caused or delivering a message from one side of the realm to the other, he would do all of it by relying on his own mind and body.

This tireless work day in and day out was — apart from the glorious fight against demon king Huo Yan — the reason for his high prestige in the dragon realm. And now, this same attitude was once again pulled out to deal with every issue that was made known to him by his advisers. Having people witness this directly next to the Heavenly Emperor who was mostly known for his temper … really wasn’t a flattering comparison for the latter.

As for Tian, he saw this and simply huffed, feeling that this was only to be expected. That Rong Su … he was really like his ancestors. In comparison, that dragon king was indeed much better suited to his position.