The moment Wei Yuan stepped into the room, a pungent stench of death and blood assaulted his senses.
It was a vast hall where all thirty-odd pregnant young women were gathered. Sun Yu had only just set up a folding screen and placed a couch, intending to take up residence here, but before he could finish settling in, disaster struck.
Most of the girls in the room lay quiet and still, a deathly gray pallor hanging over their faces and a blank stupor in their eyes. Strands of karmic luck attached to their bodies vanished one after another, keeping them alive, yet their physical conditions showed no signs of improvement.
Only three of the girls had bellies swollen high—so bloated they could not even sit up and had to lie flat on their beds. Their abdomens squirmed incessantly, as though something inside were fighting to claw its way out. A single glance at the sheer size of their bellies was enough to tell that these giant fetuses could scarcely be delivered through normal means.
Wei Yuan instinctively sensed something amiss. He replenished each girl with a few more strands of karmic luck and said, "I'll be right back!"
With a flicker, Wei Yuan disappeared outside. Just as he was about to take to the air, Zhang Sheng descended, holding Xu Wenwu in one hand.
Wei Yuan was both pleasantly surprised and bewildered. How could his master have known he was looking for Xu Wenwu and brought him over ahead of time?
Zhang Sheng had no time to explain. Stepping into the grand hall, he used sword qi to trace a circle on the floor in the center of the room, set Xu Wenwu inside, and said, "Sit right here. No matter what happens, do not step outside, or your life will be forfeit!"
Catching sight of a room full of young women in states of dishabille, Xu Wenwu nearly fainted from excitement. Hadn't all his hard work transmigrating been for three wives and four concubines? Was his treatment finally getting upgraded?
Yet when he focused his vision and took in the actual scene inside, his vision went black, and he nearly passed out from sheer terror.
His teeth chattered as he stammered, "Wh-what do you need me to do?"
"Just sit here and don't move. Subdue evil," Zhang Sheng replied.
By now, the karmic luck Wei Yuan had just infused into the girls was exhausted once again. This time, he infused ten strands into each of them in one breath, and only then did the karmic luck begin draining away strand by strand rather than vanishing all at once.
The three girls with grotesquely distended bellies began twitching involuntarily, the fetuses inside thrashing with increasing violence. Sun Yu pressed down on their bellies, but no matter how he tried to induce labor, nothing progressed; instead, the girls' vitality fluctuated wildly.
Sweat beaded on Sun Yu's forehead. He turned his head and said, "It's no good! The fetuses are too large—they can't be delivered!"
Before his voice had even faded, one of the girls' bellies was suddenly sliced open from the inside by a razor-sharp claw!
A bloody infant head thrust out from the tear, baring a mouthful of ghastly blue teeth, and snapped down on Sun Yu's hand!
Sun Yu cried out and whipped his hand back—his right index finger was already gone!
The infant swallowed Sun Yu's finger whole, tore the wound wider, and crawled out from the girl's abdomen.
Seeing this, Xu Wenwu's eyes rolled back, and he was about to faint, but his origin soul was lightly pricked by Azure Silk Rain sword qi, jolting him awake.
The bellies of the other two girls ruptured as well, an infant crawling out of each. The one that had swallowed Sun Yu's finger was the first to emerge. It shrieked, leaped dozens of feet through the air, and pounced upon the second infant!
The second infant let out a shrill screech like rending steel plate. It was tackled the instant it leaped, and the two immediately tumbled together in a violent brawl! Like the fiercest of beasts, they fought high and low, each leap carrying them dozens of feet into the air, slamming violently against the ceiling and pillars time and again, leaving streaks of bloody prints behind.
Wei Yuan moved to intervene, but Zhang Sheng said, "Wait and observe the changes."
Wei Yuan understood at once. If they did not grasp the full process of this transformation, they would be just as helpless if it ever happened again.
At that moment, the third infant finally crawled out from the girl's abdomen. The instant it emerged, the two infants locked in a death match both halted, turning their gazes upon it and emitting low, menacing growls.
The third infant threw its head back toward the sky and unleashed an earth-shattering roar. A beam of azure sword light erupted from its mouth, blasting right through the roof! Fortunately, Zhang Sheng stepped in, severing the azure light with a faint, gossamer thread of sword qi before it could shoot into the heavens.
At once, the two infants that had just been trying to kill each other leaped into the air, pouncing toward the third infant together!
Xu Wenwu trembled like a sieve, wanting desperately to faint but utterly unable to. Every time his eyes rolled back, that strand of sword qi in his origin soul would prick him, forcing him to stay conscious.
Left with no choice, Xu Wenwu squeezed his eyes shut and frantically chanted Buddhist prayers in his heart! After a few lines, he realized something was wrong—the Palace of Grand Beginning was a Daoist sect! He quickly switched to chanting the names of the Daoist Ancestor and the Three Pure Ones, making countless grand vows, begging only to survive the ordeal before him.
Suddenly, with a soft thud, something dropped right into his lap. Xu Wenwu opened his eyes and saw that it was a blood infant!
He was scared out of his wits. The greatest shriek of his entire life had already gathered in his chest, right on the verge of bursting forth, when another blood infant came flying through the air and slammed squarely into his face with a wet smack, its tiny hands and feet immediately latching tight around his head!
Xu Wenwu fainted instantly, was pricked awake by the sword qi, fainted again, woke again—three times passing out, three times jolted awake.
Both infants were covered in blood. The one clinging to his face was dripping with a sticky, slimy substance—whether blood or something else—that shoved its way into Xu Wenwu's nose and mouth.
Xu Wenwu tried to fling the two blood infants off, but all strength had vanished from his body; all he could do was scream. He squirmed desperately, trying to wriggle away, but the circle of sword qi lay right behind him. The moment he brushed against it, it seared him like a red-hot branding iron.
Fortunately, the third infant pounced over, plucked the two blood infants from Xu Wenwu with one in each hand, and pinned them firmly to the ground. It gripped their throats, and streams of life force instantly surged into its body.
The auras of the two blood infants dwindled rapidly. Wei Yuan frowned slightly and flicked out multiple strands of karmic luck, attaching them to the blood infants to preserve their life force.
The third infant continued to draw life force as if it were a bottomless pit.
Wei Yuan poured in strand after strand of karmic luck, keeping the two blood infants barely alive.
Xu Wenwu slumped on the ground, screaming non-stop at the three bloody infants.
Just as Wei Yuan had expended nearly a hundred strands of karmic luck on each blood infant, the aura on the third infant abruptly shifted. The blood-red hue in its eyes faded, gradually revealing a pair of clear, distinct black-and-white pupils. The ground beneath it suddenly turned into a shallow azure pool, within which azure lotuses blossomed one by one.
It withdrew its hands, and the vitality of the two blood infants slowly began to recover.
The third infant raised its head, and the first thing that met its eyes was Xu Wenwu's terrified, contorted fat face. It seemed to ponder for a moment, then spoke slowly but clearly: "Daddy!"
Xu Wenwu froze for a heartbeat, then resumed screaming. At that point, Zhang Sheng withdrew his sword qi, and Xu Wenwu was finally liberated, at last able to pass out cold.
The third infant sat in the pool, patting the water rhythmically with its little hands. It then plucked a lotus flower and tossed it toward Xu Wenwu. The moment the lotus touched his body, it sank inside and merged with him. With that lotus plucked, every other blossom in the pool withered at the same time, the water dried up, and the azure pool vanished.
With Zhang Sheng watching over that side, Wei Yuan went straight to Sun Yu and asked, "How is your hand?"
Sun Yu raised his hand. At the wound where his finger was missing, countless fine threads of flesh were rapidly growing, twining together to slowly form a new finger.
"That little creature seems to possess an innate devouring divine ability. Once my finger entered its belly, all connection was severed, so it can only be regrown. It's fine, just a minor injury. I'll just have to spend some time re-tempering the finger later. Right now, I need to save these people!"
Sun Yu paid no heed to his injured finger. He placed the three girls together and began tending to the wounds on their bellies.
The interiors of their chests and abdomens were a complete ruin, their internal organs nearly hollowed out. Sun Yu administered a dharma idol-grade treasure pill to each girl, dissolved the medicine with Dao power, and drove the medicinal efficacy directly into their limbs and bones, then had Wei Yuan reinforce them with karmic luck.
Under Sun Yu's series of miraculous treatments, the three girls' lives were miraculously preserved. All that remained was to wait for their organs to slowly regenerate on their own.
Sun Yu wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and let out a long breath. "Finally managed to preserve such rare specimens."
Wei Yuan returned to the three infants. Although the two blood infants had been drained of a vast amount of vitality, with the addition of karmic luck their life signs were now stable, free from immediate mortal danger. Having exerted themselves too greatly, both had fallen into a deep slumber.
The third infant sat on the ground, looking around with curiosity.
Wei Yuan reached out to pick it up, but the infant snorted with supreme disdain. With a wave of its little hand, a fine strand of sword qi slashed toward him!
The grade of this sword qi was extraordinarily high, already brushing the threshold of the immortal grade. But Wei Yuan naturally had no intention of indulging it. He promptly drew the Crimson Night Immortal-Slaying Sword—this was a true immortal grade. The distance between outside the threshold and inside was not a single step, but one hundred and eight thousand li.
With the immortal sword in hand, Wei Yuan made a menacing slicing motion at the infant's neck.
The infant turned pale and crawled a step backward. Seeing Wei Yuan's large hand scoop down, it had no choice but to let him pick it up obediently.
Wei Yuan scrutinized the infant's features. At best, it could be called delicate and pleasant, but he could scarcely see any resemblance to Xu Shiqi. Wei Yuan glanced down between its legs and froze. A girl?
Wei Yuan could not help but question the vision he had seen earlier. Could it have been a mere coincidence? Had this child nothing to do with Xu Shiqi after all?
Just as Wei Yuan was pondering weighty matters such as reincarnation going awry, the infant in his arms suddenly kicked both legs, and a transparent stream of water laced with sword qi squirted straight onto Wei Yuan's chest!
Wei Yuan was furious and was sorely tempted to spit back in retaliation, but felt it would be entirely unbecoming. Just then, Zhang Sheng laughed heartily and said, "Let Master hold her!"
"Watch out, this little rascal can use sword qi." On Wei Yuan's chest, aside from a wet patch, there were several punctured holes pricked through by sword qi. It was only because Wei Yuan was tough-skinned and thick-fleshed that a burst of baby pee laced with sword qi failed to pierce his skin.
Zhang Sheng reached out and took the infant, holding her before his eyes to examine her carefully. The baby flashed a sweet smile at Zhang Sheng and babbled a couple of coos.
Zhang Sheng chuckled. "Look at that, the child is very well-behaved."
Wei Yuan rolled his eyes, thinking to himself: *Why don't you withdraw the sword qi hovering at the back of her head, then, and see if she squirts you with a dose of innate holy water?*
In any case, beneath the shroud of Zhang Sheng's sword qi, the infant was impeccably docile and even somewhat eager to please, which delighted Zhang Sheng no end.
There were still two blood infants on the ground. Wei Yuan picked them up. By now, both had shed their supernatural traits, their auras even frailer than ordinary infants. However, both were exceptionally affectionate toward Wei Yuan, perhaps because he had sustained and saved their lives with karmic luck.
Wei Yuan casually checked between their legs as well. These two were both boys.
Wei Yuan shook his head inwardly. It seemed Xu Shiqi's luck truly left much to be desired—with only a one-in-three chance, he had still managed to end up as the girl.
Zhang Sheng probed the infant's body with his sword qi and murmured, "She is actually an innate sword body!"
Wei Yuan's feelings grew complicated. This child was bound to be inextricably tied to Xu Shiqi. He only wondered whether this would alert the Xu family.
Fortunately, after returning to the domain, Wei Yuan had placed the new city under heavy lockdown. Following the incident, only cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning were permitted entry, and all guard duties in the city were carried out by the youths themselves. Thus, only he, Zhang Sheng, and Sun Yu knew about today's events—oh, and Xu Wenwu.
Wei Yuan slapped Xu Wenwu awake. The moment he came to, he started wailing, so Wei Yuan had to gag his mouth first. Once Xu Wenwu had finally calmed down, Wei Yuan pointed at the infant in Zhang Sheng's arms and said, "Your daughter."
"I—I don't have one!" Xu Wenwu wanted to cry but had no tears.
Across two lifetimes, he had never even had a girlfriend before transmigrating. After transmigrating, he'd had the chance, but he had grown addicted to storybooks and spent over half a month lying flat in Lie-Flat Inn, squandering his precious time. He hadn't even done anything, yet a child had fallen out of the sky?
Xu Wenwu felt that being a ready-made father wasn't supposed to work like this.
Wei Yuan patted him on the shoulder and said, "An innate sword body. You're not losing out."
Chapter 334