Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 12, Part 1)

91 An Overly Empty Palace

Bai Fen joined Qiu Ling at the window and looked outside, shaking her head. "In that palace? No. It was indeed meant for the Heavenly Empress once upon a time but from what I've heard, many that followed after the curse was placed on the immortal races considered it to be an unlucky place. After all, the main driving force behind the issue back then was the Heavenly Empress."

Qiu Ling hummed. "I don't know much about it. Jing He told me some but ... I suppose my knowledge is shallow. I only know that she apparently resented him because of her own children and that his husband's success was what finally caused his fall." Jing He had referenced the story several times throughout the years but his focus was always on the deep love between Tian and Xing and much less on the drama that surrounded their life. About that, he really only knew this little.

Bai Fen took a deep breath and sighed. "To be honest, most gods don't dare to pry too much when it comes to this part of our history. Many only know that Xing was the Heavenly Emperor's son and that it was several people of the three immortal races combined who caused his fall. They don't dare to ask further about the ins and outs. Many probably don't even know that the Heavenly Family was involved directly in this. After all, the curse on this family has been kept quiet all this time."

Qiu Ling nodded faintly. Even when it came to the specific curse on each of the three races, many people weren't aware of what they entailed. Even if he grabbed a random god here in the capital city of the Nine Heavens and asked them about it, they might know nothing.

The only thing that everyone seemed to be aware of was that the demons couldn't love but he wasn't sure either if most gods knew that this was due to the curse or if they figured that it had always been like this. As for why this specific piece of information had been publicized so widely ... that was probably thanks to somebody doing propaganda during one of the wars. The curse on the demons simply happened to be an excellent way to paint them in a bad light all on its own so somebody had made use of it.

Compared to that, the curses on the gods and the dragons could be considered uninteresting. There simply was no need to spread the knowledge too much. Among the demons, it was even the better choice to keep it silent lest one of them used the knowledge to form an alliance and use that to fight their enemies or dethrone the king. With the trust issues between them, they naturally wouldn't risk it.

Anyway, Qiu Ling wasn't too surprised that the gods were unaware of the curse of their Heavenly Family or any of the other details of what happened back then. Even if it might seem surprising at first, lots of things could be hidden if one just tried hard enough. The fact that almost three hundred thousand years had passed since then and that many had died in the wars between their races naturally helped with this knowledge getting lost.

No, this wasn't surprising. Still, he wasn't sure how these two things were related. "Since they don't know, why consider it a bad omen? Or is it just the feeling of those who have become the Heavenly Empress since that time?"

Bai Fen nodded. "It's the latter. Well, I suppose some of the titled gods are also aware. After all, each of them chooses their own successor and I suppose they will pass some specific knowledge down. Part of that should also concern matters outside their own palaces.

"Anyway, I personally never felt right about that place. It's not just the story behind it though. I also don't like this kind of place in general." She smiled wryly and turned to look at Qiu Ling. "I don't know if you're aware but I didn't come from the capital city. I came from just a small place in the North-Eastern Heaven. This kind of palace, even after so many years, I haven't gotten used to it."

She turned back to the window, staring at the palace that could be seen clearly in the distance despite the garden that separated the two buildings. "It seemed to make sense while my brother and I lived in the God of War's palace. We had nowhere else to go, he was there to learn, and I was his family member. Anyway, we weren't the only ones. My brother's Master — the previous God of War —, the Heavenly Generals, and even a good portion of the guards has lived and worked in that palace.

"That one though?" She motioned over there again and shook her head. "It's just senseless. Why does one woman need that big a building? I felt the same about the Heavenly Emperor's palace but at least here, there are still the servants and things like the throne room. Plus, Rong Su will often receive guests so ... it makes sense that it has a certain sense of grandeur."

Qiu Ling hummed. "I see what you mean. I grew up in the dragon king's palace thanks to who my father was but it was never this building that was dedicated to just one person. We might call it the dragon king's palace but ... it also houses all those who are tied to him. I suppose that might be why I never felt the same way about it."

Bai Fen smiled, looked over her shoulder to make sure the door was closed and then leaned closer. "Speaking of the dragon king and the people tied to him ... what is going on with your family? I was quite surprised when I suddenly found myself in front of the previous dragon king. Care to tell me exactly how that happened?"