Qiu Ling cut the connection with Fu Min and Fu Heng without warning and took out another transmission stone. Before he imbued his spiritual energy, he stopped though. Ah, he was still in the demon realm. He couldn't contact the old geezer or that bastard Jin Ling might notice. He couldn't let that happen!
Mn … Qiu Ling narrowed his eyes. He had to do this in a roundabout way. Otherwise, he would lose the only bargaining chip he had.
He kept the transmission stone and looked at An Bai. "I have to return to the Nine Heavens for a while. You, keep watch here!" With that, he turned and rushed out of Jin Ling's palace.
An Bai looked at the spot where his king had stood and sighed. "I'll certainly keep watch, my king. It's not like I could do anything else." With another sigh, he returned to the wall of the cell and sat down, looking out at the corridor outside. Ah, maybe he would be lucky and Xiang Yu would return on his own? Then he could ask him what had happened to His Highness and maybe … maybe the fallen god would even answer. He could only hope so.
Meanwhile, Qiu Ling arrived in the Nine Heavens. He wanted to hurry to Jing He's palace but turned around halfway and instead barged into the palace of the Heavenly Emperor. "Something bad happened, father-in-law!"
The Heavenly Emperor frowned at him. What was this dandy doing here? Hadn't he said he wanted to save his son? Now, look at him! It hadn't even been a double hour and he was already back here without any results! Had he even tried?! Hmph, he had known he couldn't trust this guy!
He frowned at Qiu Ling with dissatisfaction and waved. "I know, I know. You didn't manage to free him. I expected nothing else. No need to make such a fuss."
"No, it's even worse!" Qiu Ling stormed further in, finally seeing his uncle-in-law standing to the side too. He blinked but didn't greet him. There was no time now! First, he had to cause as much chaos as he could to divert Jin Ling's attention!
He turned back to the Heavenly Emperor and put on the most grievous expression he could muster. "There's a fallen god in the demon king's palace!"
"What?!" The Heavenly Emperor leaped up from his throne. "A fallen god?!"
Qiu Ling nodded eagerly. "Yes! It could even be he kidnapped Jing He from the demon king! At least I couldn't find him, even though I saw the demon king …"
The Heavenly Emperor turned to the God of War. "What can we do?"
Qiang Yan gulped. "Against a fallen god? Nothing. You also know how they are." He clenched his fists. He still remembered when one of them had made trouble when his predecessor was still the God of War. As just one person the fallen god back then had managed to annihilate almost the whole army of the Nine Heavens, leaving the battlefield in ruins. Even to this day, that piece of land was hard to look at.
If that kind of person had his nephew in their hands, then all hope was lost. They could only kill the boy and pray to Tian that the fallen god wasn't deranged enough to try and destroy Jing He's soul. His expectations were low though. With a fallen god, you could never know what went on in their heads. Back then, if not for someone who had known that person prior to his fall figuring out what had caused it, they wouldn't have been able to defeat that fallen god at all.
With an unknown fallen god, it was impossible. They had nothing they could work with. Even if they exhausted all the manpower of the Nine Heavens, it wouldn't be enough. Not to mention that there was no way they could do so. Even if the person in question was their crown prince, it was impossible. One life against that of hundreds of thousands of others … He wouldn't even be able to make that decision if this wasn't just Jing He's mortal reincarnation but his true self. It just … was impossible.
The Heavenly Emperor paced up and down in front of his throne. This couldn't be. This couldn't be happening! He swiveled back to Qiu Ling and leveled him with a dark glare. "Are you sure he's in the hands of the fallen god?"
Qiu Ling hesitated but finally nodded. "Mn. Uncle-in-law probably told you about the exchange I made with the demon king. The person that was sent saw the fallen god and also found out that he took an interest in Jing He."
He blinked innocently as if he had no idea that the fallen god had only taken an interest in Jing He because of what An Bai did. Don't kid him! His father-in-law would want to skin An Bai alive! Even if he wasn't happy with what had happened, he wouldn't let him do that. An Bai might have done something wrong and he might be more handsome than was good for him but he was still kind of his person! Especially since his beloved liked talking about plants with him. His father-in-law wasn't allowed to off him. If anything, he would do it himself. Or maybe he'd just disfigure his face a bit and call it a just punishment. Mn, that might not be bad.
Qiu Ling shook his head and looked up. "I'll go and look at Jing He to make sure he's alright!" With that, he ran out of the palace.
Qiang Yan watched him leave and nodded at his brother-in-law. "There's something I have to tell him. I'll be right back." With that, the second person ran out of the palace, leaving the Heavenly Emperor alone with his worries.
Ah, his beloved son's mortal reincarnation was in the hands of a madman! What was he supposed to do now?