The half-bloods all furrowed their brows. They weren’t unhappy to hear that their king would protect them, of course, but they felt uncomfortable. They already had when they heard that a great king might be forced to abdicate simply due to his blood but hearing that he knew they might be in danger as well and that he was taking this into consideration … their hearts were bleeding for him as much as they were for themselves.

In all these years, they had never felt seen. Being called to appear before the king and being told that, in fact, he had noticed their struggle even if he hadn’t said so before had made them feel more validated than they had ever felt before. Knowing now that he had lived through the same struggle and had always wanted to help them but had to wait for fear of creating a threat to them naturally touched their hearts.

An Bai lowered his gaze, quietly sighing to himself. Of course, some of what he had said was an exaggeration at best if not a downright lie. Their king had likely never thought of helping the half-bloods until very recently. After all, he had denied his own past and origin, not wanting to confront it at all. Only when he did could he open his mind to such possibilities.

Even though he knew that, this was a truth that couldn’t simply be spoken. Sometimes, when it came to governing a realm and leading a whole race, you had to put aside some principles and bend the truth a little. Anyway, the result would be the same: He was still supporting them and he would indeed help them if this caused them any issues.

And obviously, even though he hadn’t told them about that beforehand, he was indeed ready to be seen as a half-blood in the whole realm. Otherwise, he never would have exposed his dragon form in front of so many eyes today. As his adviser, An Bai felt the need to pave the way for him in whatever way was necessary, as long as it wouldn’t directly harm others.

His voice carried slightly in the air and the other advisers in front listened quietly. They were naturally aware of Qiu Ling’s parentage and past by now and having seen him change his form earlier, they had also understood what the future would likely hold.

Now, hearing what An Bai said, they were all on the same page regarding what they’d say if any of the generals or scholars approached them later. Not diverging from the same narrative was imperative. Only if they stood closely together and took the lead in showing unquestioning loyalty to Qiu Ling and understanding for his keeping quiet about his heritage before could they hope for others to follow the same path.

This way of explaining everything really was the best. It took into consideration both the personal feelings of Qiu Ling and what was best for the dragon race, all while showcasing that the former had always been entwined with the latter because Qiu Ling truly wanted to see the dragon race thrive again. In fact, even though part of his blood was from the demon race, he certainly took himself as a dragon more than anything else.

To be fair, compared to others in the group following, the amount of demon blood in Qiu Ling’s veins could probably be counted as negligible. How much could it really be? Even though they didn’t know too much about Qiu Ling’s mother, just based on his father’s bloodline, it could only be a quarter at most. It might even be less than that. Should that really count for much?

Even though most of them also had complicated feelings about the demon race, none of them had ever felt any doubt about their king and their decision to follow him. After all, he had done well in the past ten millennia and Xiang Yong, for example, had even been personally saved by him during one of the battles while Fu Heng and Fu Min had been there to witness that first decisive battle that made him king at the beginning. Naturally, their loyalty to their king wasn’t something to be debated. His blood changed nothing about that.

Knowing that there was another group of people who thought like them actually made all of them feel slightly relieved. Even if nobody had said it out loud so far, their nerves had been strung tight since the moment Qiu Ling took on his dragon form in front of everyone. None of them could keep themselves from at least for a moment imagining the worst outcome of this and doing so gave all of them a hopeless feeling.

All of them admired Qiu Ling. Even though there had been many years during which they scolded him behind his back for skirting his responsibilities, nobody had ever really doubted that he could do everything a good king should. They had never quite understood why he did less compared to before he had advisers but they mostly chalked it up to a weird personality or maybe being a little tired after so many years on the throne.

Now, those issues were no longer and he was once again the conscientious king of the past. How could they be willing to give that up? This was indeed the man they admired, the one they had sworn their loyalty to. If he was indeed forced to abdicate … they would follow. There simply was no way for them to follow a new king, not that a successor would be likely to ask them to.

Either way, their future path was tied to his, and, of course, they hoped it could be a path of his and their own choosing. They would fight for that to happen and right now, An Bai was taking the first step for them. Later, each of them would have to play their own part. They had to be ready when it happened.