The place where Jing He was currently staying was the building in the Palace of War that had originally been meant for the God of War to live in. His uncle never bothered using it since he was only one person so it had been left empty for a long time.

It was the perfect place for Jing He to get ready since nobody would come looking for him there. Since it was still on the grounds of the Palace of War, it wouldn’t seem odd either for his uncle to be around. No matter which way he went, he’d seem to be busy with the preparations for today’s celebration and nobody would ask any questions. Even if his father asked, they could say that he was simply accompanying Jing He since there were so many people around and they had to keep him safe now more than ever.

When the group from the dragon realm arrived at the gates of the capital city, they were swiftly let in by Mu Kun and Huang Lan who had been sent over by Qiang Yan to receive them and bring them to the respective places they needed to be. For Qiu Ling, that was naturally the Palace of War, while for the others, it would be the square in front of the Heavenly Emperor’s palace where the celebration was supposed to take place.

Before they arrived, both Qiu Ling and Jinde had put on a veiled hat. One didn’t want to expose his identity just yet while the other had to cover up the fact that he was wearing wedding attire. Considering his usual looks and the rather obvious design of the robe, it would be impossible to hide otherwise.

With this getup, they looked rather conspicuous. The guards at the gate took an extra look but seeing familiar faces like the dragon king’s advisers among them, they didn’t have too many doubts. Anyway, the two who had come to get them still wore the armor of the Heavenly Guards from the Palace of War so the group had clearly been expected. Not to mention that even the demon king had been invited to the celebration. Under such circumstances, they weren’t even sure who they were guarding against any longer …

Under the confused gazes of the guards at the gate, the group walked down the main street of the capital which led straight to the Heavenly Emperor’s palace. Only when they reached the turn that would lead to the Palace of War did they split up.

Qiu Ling inclined his head toward everyone else and then followed Mu Kun away. The rest trailed after Huang Lan, soon reaching the square.

This place was the biggest square in the whole of the capital city but even with that, it seemed difficult to accommodate everyone. By now, many people had already gathered, standing in small groups and chatting or sitting at the prepared tables. Obviously, the celebration would be big.

Huang Lan slowed his steps when they reached the edge of the square and turned back. With the dragon king gone, he wasn’t completely sure who to speak to so finally turned to the more familiar Yi Zan. He and Qiang Wei had stayed at the crown prince’s palace to protect him during his trial and while the two sets of guards hadn’t interacted much with each other, they had shared the same goal for a long time, making him feel closer to them.

“There are a lot of people today. Everyone from the dragon realm was arranged on the northwestern side which is closer to the Palace of War. Adviser An Bai and the remaining half-bloods might already be there.”

Yi Zan wasn’t entirely sure why he was the one being addressed and stayed quiet for a moment before finally inclining his head. “Thank you. Please take us over then.”

Huang Lan nodded and turned back, walking ahead of them.

As they followed him, Xiang Yong looked around and then finally couldn’t help but furrow his brows. “The demon king …” He had immediately spotted the guy when they walked past and it seemed like Ye Yang had seen him as well. He had raised his head, his gaze brushing over the group as if measuring their strength … or looking for a specific person among them. The latter might be more likely if he was being honest because his gaze finally rested on the one person wearing a veiled hat for a moment before he retracted it.

Huang Lan turned around and his lips twitched. “I’m sorry about that. It seems that they were the ones who found His Highness so His Majesty invited them. The Court of Justice made sure to seat them further away from the dragon realm’s delegation though, don’t worry. The square will also be tightly guarded later. There shouldn’t be any issues.”

Xiang Yong shook his head. He wasn’t worried about that. In front of so many people, just three demons couldn’t make a fuss. Ye Yang also didn’t seem to be the type to do so. He was just worried about An Bai. He’d rather not have these two run into each other again.

Huang Lan felt troubled seeing his expression. In fact, he also felt a little uncomfortable with this situation. The dragons were their allies and despite that, he had also felt at first that their crown prince being with the dragon king wasn’t quite right. He had gotten over that though, mostly thanks to the fact that the dragon king was obviously smitten with their crown prince and wanted to pick the stars and the moon for him if only he’d ask him to. Plus, it helped that all of his advisers treated their crown prince courteously.

The demons though … they had always stood on opposite sides. Well, for as long as any of them could remember, at the very least. Even the last battle hadn’t been that long ago. But now, when they were celebrating finally having their crown prince back, these people were suddenly here. It was tough to accept. But then, you indeed couldn’t ignore that it had been them who found their crown prince, allowing him to return home in the first place. Ah, it was a situation he’d rather not comment on!

Thankfully for Huang Lan, Xiang Yong didn’t say anything else and the group simply followed him to their designated spots, greeting the people who were already there before taking their seats.

Seeing that everything was going well, Huang Lan excused himself, also making his way to the Palace of War so he could escort their crown prince later on. After what had happened before, he’d definitely never let anything else happen again!