Meanwhile, Qiu Ling was still searching through the rooms around Jin Ling's garden. Unfortunately, he still hadn't found Jing Yi and with each new room he tried, he felt like he was getting further and further away from him even though Jing Yi didn't move.
Ah, just where was he?!
Qiu Ling returned to the garden and sat down in front of the big green plant, eying it suspiciously. Jing Yi was petite. Jin Ling wouldn't have thrown him in there like that arm, would he? Then by now …
Qiu Ling stood up again and looked into the plant. There was a knee-deep dark puddle in there. By now, only the tip of a finger could be seen from the limb Jin Ling had thrown in. Ah, if he had thrown his beloved in before … he would have been eaten already.
Qiu Ling scrunched up his face. "Really fitting for the demon king! Stupid plant! I should do everyone a favor and rip you out!" He reached toward the stem where the plant was hanging from but pulled his hand back at the last moment. No, he couldn't do this. If he angered Jin Ling, the bastard might really go and torture his beloved as payback.
No, instead, he had to concentrate on finding his beloved. It couldn't be so hard. He was somewhere around here. Since he hadn't seen him, he could only be somewhere where he couldn't see him.
Qiu Ling frowned. Somewhere where he couldn't see him … He looked around. Jin Ling could hardly have hidden him below the —
Qiu Ling's eyes widened and he stormed out of the room and down the corridor, finally arriving in front of a staircase leading down. He tsked. Why hadn't he thought of this sooner? Jin Ling might not be able to hide his beloved in that room but he could hide him below the room. He would still feel his mark to be in the same area so he might not notice. Vicious! Truly too vicious! This guy was the demon king indeed.
Qiu Ling didn't hesitate any longer and jumped down the steps, running into the dungeon. Just where was Jing He? He hurried past a few empty cells and past some cells with people inside and —
Qiu Ling hurried back and blinked. "An Bai?" How could this guy still sit there and read as if nothing had happened?
"Your Majesty?" An Bai lowered his book and looked at his king in surprise. "Did … Did the demon king let His Highness go?"
"No. Of course not. This stupid bastard! He actually tricked me!"
An Bai didn't comment on that and just put the book away. "Then why are you here? Did that … fallen god bring him out?"
Qiu Ling wanted to shake his head when An Bai's words registered. "What? Fallen god?"
An Bai wanted to speak up but hesitated. His king's beloved was a god. Naturally, his king wouldn't like to hear about a fallen god. It would just remind him of the possibility that something could go wrong with the crown prince. And, well, the fallen gods weren't people one should trust. Most of them were crazy.
"An Bai. What did you just say? What fallen god? What does he have to do with Jing'er?"
An Bai gulped. Obviously, the Son of Heaven hadn't returned yet so maybe the fallen god hadn't stayed true to his word. No, actually, he hadn't even said that he would save the Son of Heaven. Thinking about that, he couldn't help but regret. Maybe his idea hadn't been that good after all. Unfortunately, he couldn't turn back time so the only way was to confess and hope that his king would be able to save the Son of Heaven in case something had really happened.
"Well, it's like this. Shortly after I was brought here, someone approached me. He asked about Fu Heng and Fu Min and apparently, he freed the two of them when they were previously held captive here in the demon king's dungeon. So I thought …"
"So you thought you could trust him with freeing Jing He?!" Qiu Ling grabbed the bars of the cell, his hands trembling.
This couldn't be true. This couldn't be true! Hadn't Jing He himself told him that a fallen god couldn't be trusted? That all of them were deranged and would madly attack whoever stood in front of them? How could his beloved have fallen into the hands of such a person? That was even worse than being imprisoned by Jin Ling!
An Bai looked at his king's tormented expression and dropped to his knees, lowering his head. "I'm sorry. I thought I could trust him. If His Highness hasn't returned yet …"
Qiu Ling closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. "He hasn't returned. I can feel that he's still in the demon realm. In fact, he's here in the palace. I can feel him close by."
An Bai furrowed his brows. That Xiang Yu had made a rather approachable impression for a fallen god. Why hadn't he brought the Son of Heaven out if he valued the soul binding of the dragons so much? Could it be that something had happened that made him change his plans? Or was it that he had been mistaken about Xiang Yu?
"Maybe … you could ask Fu Heng and Fu Min for information? If he really freed them, they might know more."
Qiu Ling nodded. "That's true." He took out a transmission stone and imbued his spiritual energy, impatiently waiting for it to connect to the two dragons.
By that time, Fu Heng and Fu Min had already woken up and gotten dressed again. Seeing one of their transmission stones lit up after the others had flashed almost continually before, they exchanged a glance. It seemed something important had happened.
Fu Min imbued his energy and was met with the tensed expression of his king. "Your Majesty, what —"
"What do you know about that fallen god from the demon king's palace?"