Heaven Official's Affliction | TGCF

004

The next few weeks were the same. When Jun Wu was away, the Crown Prince would stroll around or complete small mundane tasks in his absence. With no temples or prayers to be received to him directly, this was the least he could do. But when Jun Wu would come back, the Martial Gods would come together to catch up, talk about weaponry, or walk around to keep things in order. They hung out so often that other gods were quick to take notice.

Of course; they were respectful when they passed by. But behind their backs, the same phrase would always be said.

"Here comes his highness, and his dog."

Xie Lian was not deaf, he knew what was being said behind his back but he remained silent anyways. Those comments didn't affect him. After all, he's had a century of worse - by his own people nonetheless! If speaking of the Crown Prince negatively satisfied them, he didn't mind shouldering it.

From Heaven's Beloved Crown Prince of Xianle to the dog of the emperor - it's an identity he had to get used to.

Jun Wu was out of the capital for business and he didn't leave Xie Lian with anything, so naturally he was feeling bored. For fun he decided to enter the communication array as a spectator. He's never done this before in all his years of godhood. During his first ascension he had hundreds of thousands of prayers to answer, so the Crown Prince just never had the time to idly chat with others. Things were much calmer now.

"Black Water's disappeared again?" A voice growled. "I should have figured as much. He has a tendency to come and go randomly. But he just had to set up his base-"

"We know," Xie Lian could almost hear the eye roll in this response. Was that Mu Qing? "In the middle of the South Sea. He's messed up some trade routes and now you'll never hear the end of it."

The first god was irritated nonetheless. "He couldn't of gone anywhere else?"

"You'd have an issue either way." Mu Qing frowned. "That was probably the best location for him to go. It's in the middle of nowhere and only affects a few ships. I wouldn't be surprised if he chose it to not be bothered."

"I know," the troubled god muttered. But before he could get another word in, he was interrupted.

"These types of conversations should be left to private communication array lines." Lin Wen sighed, interrupting the two bickering gods. "I have come to make an announcement. His Heavenly Emperor has returned with news so all heavenly officials must report to the Great Martial Palace, effective immediately."

As she finished, god after god tuned into the array. The channel went from silence, to minor questions, to an eventual whole chatter of topics - most of them unrelated. It got too noisy for the Crown Prince, so he respectively tuned out. So his Heavenly Emperor has returned? If he's summoned everyone this fast, it must be urgent.

Xie Lian was quick to enter the Great Martial Palace. He was surprised by the amount of gods already present - many of which were familiar from when the Crown Prince had done his introductions. However, some were familiar for other reasons. The gods he sought to avoid all this time had also been summoned. However, they didn't seem to notice the Crown Prince's presence. That was good. Hopefully it will stay this way until the meeting ends.

What helped to distract everyone was the uncontrollable chatter. Much like the communication array, the hall had become a myriad of conversations from from political powers, ghosts, history and merits. Non one seemed to care about the urgency of the Heavenly Emperor's summons. But that chatter soon come to an end as a soft low voice resonated throughout the hall.

This soft voice was one familiar to all.

"Xianle."

Jun Wu's voice wasn't particularly loud, but his voice still resonated strong enough in his palace halls to silence gods. But this was no surprise. Jun Wu has always been able to make himself heard, no matter his volume. Nevertheless, this was Xie Lian's worst nightmare. Nervously looking around, he silently prayed it was directed to someone else. But everyone's eyes were now planted on him.