After reporting his background and name, Zhou Yuan was immediately led to a separate courtyard to rest.
As a Cave Profound True Lord from the sacred land of the Mystic Gate, such treatment was only natural.
What Zhou Yuan had not expected, however, was that Prince Tuo Dragon was staying not far from him. Clearly, he too was being treated as a guest rather than one of the family.
This only gave Zhou Yuan greater confidence in winning over Prince Tuo Dragon.
An heir by a different surname and a stepson—having even one of those identities was difficult enough. Possessing both showed just how precarious Prince Tuo Dragon's footing was.
After all, if Prince Tuo Dragon had truly been favored and not feared, he would not have been stationed outside Azure Wave Pool year-round, nor would he be treated as an outsider even upon returning to the Dragon Palace.
After resting for several hours, Zhou Yuan left to seek out Prince Tuo Dragon.
There was no distinction between day and night in the Azure Wave Dragon Palace. Corals everywhere among its corridors and courtyards bloomed with radiant light; before its jade pillars and palace walls, each pearl shone with a different splendor. Rays carried lamps in their mouths, while sharkfolk held drifting gauze. The entire Dragon Palace gleamed with myriad colors at every moment, truly a city without night.
Just as Zhou Yuan was about to visit Prince Tuo Dragon, he unexpectedly heard an argument around the corner of a corridor.
"Why shouldn't I have come back this time? Why can't I see Father?"
"Nine Phoenix has only just died, and you hurried back at once. What are you expecting Father to think? What are others supposed to think?"
One of the disputants was Prince Tuo Dragon, while the other