Inside the South Dragon Palace the relationship between the Dragon King and the Crown Prince was in fact a delicate one.

To begin with, this Crown Prince was certainly the son the South Palace Dragon King favored most.

Whether in talent and bloodline, or in temperament, or even in looks, the Crown Prince was certainly the one the Dragon King found most satisfactory.

But between the two of them there was one problem that could not be ignored.

It was that demons, and particularly great demons of a bloodline as noble as the yellow-miasma venom dragon's, lived long enough to be frightening.

This Crown Prince of the South Dragon Palace might have to go on being Crown Prince for a great many years yet.

One mountain will not hold two tigers, as the saying goes.

Kings not meeting kings was the better arrangement.

The South Dragon Palace's Crown Prince seldom came to ask audience of its father the King; but whenever it did come here, it was necessarily to ask the Dragon King to "release authority."

Only after gaining that consent could it act with a free hand, without having to worry that some rift would open in its father's heart.

So when that word — Granted — rolled out of the abyssal cave—

the South Dragon Palace's Crown Prince slowly straightened. It glanced at Ke the Fourth, kneeling to one side, and at Ke Shiliang, who could neither sit nor stand easy, and said mildly, "Get out. Wait for my decree."

"……" Ke the Fourth raised its head and forced out a look of tearful gratitude.

So long as the South Dragon Palace was still willing to use it, Ke the Fourth still had a chance to get back up.

Ke Shiliang, the Crown Prince's brother of the same generation, showed not the least dissatisfaction at words that came close to a scolding for a servant.

Demons did not talk about elder and younger, honored and base.

The one was Crown Prince, and Ke Shiliang was only a minor idle prince — not because the Crown Prince was older,…