Hai Ying looked at the others and finally asked the question that all of them had been wondering about inwardly: “What exactly is his origin and why is he now making this public? He’s been king for so long …” She hesitated and then shook her head, not sure what to say.

Naturally, they were all happy that they had found out and, well, having a king who was the same as them felt great just in general. But they couldn’t deny that this made them question a lot of things: Who exactly was he? Why had he kept this quiet for so long? Why did he choose to stop doing so? What was their own part in all of this? Not to mention that he had gotten married today! Did his husband know? Did the Heavenly Family know? Was anyone on the gods’ side aware of this and what were their thoughts? Would all of this have an influence on the project they had just started?

Even if they didn’t mention these things out loud, An Bai could imagine at least half of these questions on his own. Some of them, he had asked himself back when he found out about his king’s heritage and when he knew that the Son of Heaven would find out about it at the end of his trial. They had talked about some of them as well so he could at least give some answers.

“We don’t know everything about his heritage. Even His Majesty himself doesn’t know.”

“He doesn’t know?” Wei Jun furrowed his brows. Even though many half-bloods weren’t aware of their exact parentage, it seemed ludicrous that their king would be the same. Even if the throne of their realm wasn’t hereditary, which of their sovereigns hadn’t come from a line of notable warriors? How could he not be aware of his family?

Despite the half-bloods’ doubts, An Bai shook his head. “We only know for sure that there has to be some demon blood from his mother’s side but she wasn’t a full-blooded demon either. As to whether it was only introduced in the generation directly prior or even further in the past, there is no way to know. Because of this, we can’t say for sure how much it is either.

“The influence it had on him … it does seem to suggest it has been rather recently introduced into the bloodline. Most likely, at least a quarter if not half of her blood was that of a demon. His Majesty inherited some magic from that, although none of the demons’ dark magic. And, well, you have seen that his appearance in his dragon form was somewhat affected.”

To be honest, An Bai himself had been surprised by how much that was the case. With half-bloods, it was always difficult to say how they would turn out. Whether it was appearance-wise or in terms of the magical abilities they retained from each side, it was like tossing a coin. And while Qiu Ling clearly fell on the side of the dragons more than on that of the demons, the influence of the other side was still obvious to the naked eye even at a casual glance. No wonder he had never dared to take on his dragon form in front of others. He immediately would have exposed himself with no doubt about it.

An Bai sighed heavily. “One thing that we know for sure is that his mother was affiliated with demon king Jian Heng and while we don’t know the scope of the work she did for him, one of her tasks should have been to assassinate His Majesty’s father.

“I am sure that most of you will be aware of who he was but for those who aren’t, I will explain: His Majesty’s father was Chun Yin, the right-hand man of our previous king, Longjun Jinde, and the disciple of his predecessor, Longjun Gao Han.”

The half-bloods started to whisper. Of course, most of them were indeed aware of this, or, at the very least, they knew that their current king’s father had been someone noteworthy. This was exactly why it seemed impossible to them that demon blood had unknowingly entered the bloodline. But yes, it did make sense if it came from his mother’s bloodline and less was known about her. To think that she had actually been sent to kill her husband though …

An Bai inclined his head when he saw their furrowed brows. “Yes, you can imagine the impact this had. Both on His Majesty and on the situation back then. Of course, nobody can say how things would have turned out if she hadn’t succeeded with that plan but it seems not quite coincidental that the previous king was grievously injured in a battle not that long after Chun Yin’s death.”

One of the half-bloods couldn’t help but clear his throat at that. “Actually … didn’t he … die?” This was what he had always believed. He had never heard a different story either. But he had very clearly seen that golden-haired person on the square earlier and heard everyone’s whispers.

An Bai nodded once again. “That is the official story, yes. Back then, Longjun Jinde was too badly injured to be able to continue his rule and his life or death were indeed uncertain. With the situation as it was, simply abdicating would have caused too many issues so he made his ‘death’ a certainty for everyone and quietly left the dragon realm after leaving a message as to whom he intended to become his successor.

“It took him the duration of His Majesty’s reign to recover from his injuries and it is only now that he was able to return to the dragon realm. Not wanting to stir things up at such a time filled with changes, he kept it quiet at first. It is only because His Majesty considers him family that he appeared in such a … high-profile way today. Well, it is his way of giving his blessing and I am sure His Majesty and his spouse were happier for it.”