CH 66

No Children

Yan Yuan stared warily at Hu Le. They say foxes are cunning, so there was no guarantee that this fox demon was not playing some kind of devious trick.

"Are you kidding me, Xuan Long is a man."

Hu Le's tongue was broken in small pieces and he spoke with great difficulty, the black and blue at the corners of his mouth was particularly striking, and tears continued to trickle from his blue eyes as he whispered:

"Some dragons are born hermaphroditic, and A’Po became pregnant since he has performed conjugal acts with you."

"Save him, please..."

"I know I have bullied you before and you hate me. If you save him, you can pay me back twice as much for everything I did before, I am not afraid of anything."

The fox, who was once incredibly arrogant, knelt down and bowed his head in front of the human he hated the most.

Seeing that he did not look like he was lying, Yan Yuan was shocked and panicked for a moment, but his heart still could not accept it and he shouted in a low voice, "Don't be ridiculous! How can he, a dragon, be pregnant with my child?! Aren't you as powerful as Heaven and Earth, why do you need to come begging me?!"

Hu Le lifted his head from the ground and smiled miserably, "If I had the power to save him... why would I need to come and beg you?"

Having scattered his Taoism, he wouldn't even get out of this palace, let alone save Xuan Long.

Yan Yuan put his hand on Xuan Long's pale face, the temperature was cold. He had to trust this fox demon for the time being and said anxiously, "How do I save him?"

Hu Le let out a breath and said softly, "There is a flower spirit in Chang'an City, she can save A'Po."

"Don't call him A'Po!" Yan Yuan furrowed his pretty brow, "This intimate title can only be used by me!"

Ordering Hu Le to withdraw,, Yan Yuan changed Xuan Long into a clean basalt robe.

He had previously tried to make Xuan Long happy and had ordered the Clothing Bureau to make Xuan Long some clothes, all of which were made of different materials than the plain ones Xuan Long had been wearing, all of which were made of the finest fabrics in the palace. He had never seen Xuan Long wear them before, and he had never expected to use them at this time.

However, the clean clothes were soon soiled by the blood that gushed out from Xuan Long's body.

Yan Yuan remembered the medicine hidden in a secret compartment by Xuan Long's bed. Yesterday, he saw Xuan Long taking it and asked him what it was, but he refused to tell him. Yan Yuan guessed that the medicine was related to the massive bleeding that Xuan Long was having today.

He ran over and found the medicine bottle, poured out two pills, put them in his mouth, and gave them to Xuan Long.

When he got into the carriage, the bitter taste of the medicine still lingered in his mouth, and Yan Yuan smacked his lips, irritated, touching Xuan Long's face with his hand every now and then.

"Where is that flower spirit you speak of?"

Hu Le's white profane robe was flecked with blood and his hands were tied with coarse hemp rope in front of him. Sitting on a small wooden stool by the car window, he heard Yan Yuan ask this, and twisted his head and said weakly, "Weihua Lane."

Just now, Yan Yuan was worried that he was cheating and had tied him up at Qiankun Palace, and had even put talismans on the hemp rope. If it had been in the past, Hu Le would never have suffered such an insult; now he only wanted Xuan Long to be well, and he could endure the rest.

The carriage swayed and sped out of the palace, breaking into the bustling night of Chang'an.

When Yan Yuan got the answer, he asked the guard driving outside: "How long will it take to reach Weihua Lane?"

The sound of a whip was heard from outside and the guard said, "Your Majesty, it will take about half an hour."

Yan Yuan frowned: "Hurry up."

The curtain of the carriage moved slightly with the wind, and the light from outside came in, illuminating Yan Yuan's stunningly handsome face. Hu Le looked at him, still not understanding what it was about this human that was worthy of Xuan Long's attention, "You are so domineering towards him... do you really love him?"

Yan Yuan's brow was full of impatience: "So what if I love him, so what if I don't, it's none of your business."

Hu Le retracted his gaze and leaned back against the wall of the carriage, his pale face full of exhaustion: "If you don't love him... then let him go."

Yan Yuan looked up, "Absolutely impossible!"

Hu Le hooked his lips, the long hair around his face moved slightly with the night breeze, and there were tears under his eyes, "He is so stupid... foolishly treating you well, how can you bear to hurt him like this? You don't treat him well at all..."

Yan Yuan smiled and did not speak, and only after a long time did he say in a stiff voice: "It's not as if I deliberately made him like this."

Hu Le laughed: "If you didn't do it on purpose, then so be it. If you did, wouldn't he be killed by you?"

Yan Yuan clenched his fingers on the edge of the wooden bench beneath him and said through clenched teeth, "Speak again and I will have you thrown out."

Hu Le's smile faded, and in a voice that only he could hear, he murmured, "I really regret that I didn't kill you at the thousand-year-old pond."

Yan Yuan was too preoccupied with Xuan Long to listen to what Hu Le was muttering, and after urging the guards to hurry several times along the way, the carriage finally came to a halt at Weihua Lane.

The alley was very narrow, and it was late at night, so the place was quiet. Except for the team of imperial guards who accompanied the carriage, there was not a single civilian on the road.

Yan Yuan picked up Xuan Long and got out of the carriage. Hu Le led the way and walked about a hundred metres down the alleyway before stopping in front of a dilapidated mansion.

Hu Le stepped forward, grabbed the brass handle and knocked on the wooden door. After three knocks, a soulful female voice came from inside.

"Who is it?"

"Hua Niang, it's me."

"Little fox?"

"Mmm."

The wooden door was opened from the inside and what appeared in sight was a young woman in a pink gauze skirt, a strip of pink brocade cloth tied around her head, her knee-length black hair tied into a twisted braid hanging down in front of her body. Those demonic, watery pink eyes were first surprised to see Hu Le, then when she saw Yan Yuan behind Hu Le, she frowned and said nervously, "Why is someone else here?"

This Weihua Lane was in a deserted area which was not inhabited by mortals. A long time ago, a rich merchant wanted to buy the land here to build a mansion, but was driven away by Hua Niang's husband who pretended to be a ghost.

Hua Niang's original body was a cherry blossom, which absorbed the essence of the sun and the moon to cultivate, and was so timid by nature and low in magic that she was afraid of people, even the stronger members of the human race were able to bully her.

In the past, she had her husband to protect her, but two years ago, her husband, the Snow Wolf Demon, was captured by a monk who was passing through Chang'an and his whereabouts were unknown ever since.

After taking the injured Xuan Long out of the palace last time, Hu Le met Hua Niang on his way to seek medical help, when she was being bullied by a gangster on her way to buy vegetables, so he saved her and taught the gangster a lesson.

When Hua Niang learned that Hu Le had a friend who was injured, she told him that she knew how to heal, so Xuan Long was able to see a doctor.

Otherwise, Hu Le would not have known what to do when he first came to Chang'an, a place unfamiliar to demons.

Although a little demon like Hua Niang has a low level of cultivation, she has some talent in healing, and has been living in the human world for years by relying on this skill.

Her patients were mostly good demons who also mixed in in the human world.

Hu Le reassured her in a warm voice, "Don't be afraid... he won't hurt you or Ying’er. He is the father of the child in Han Po's womb."

Hua Niang looked at Yan Yuan warily for a few moments, her white hand covering her mouth as she lowered her voice to Hu Le, "But wasn't it him who caused A'Long to turn out like that last time..."

Last time, that is, when Yan Yuan told Xuan Long to go to the border to kill Hu Le, Xuan Long returned to the palace and learned that Yan Yuan had been lying to him and using him as medicine. When the two split up, Xuan Long plucked many scales for Yan Yuan and as a result lost too much blood and went into a coma.

At that time, Hu Le brought Hua Niang to the inn to see Xuan Long, and he viciously scolded Yan Yuan as being worse than a pig or a dog.

It was no wonder that Hua Niang was so afraid of him.

"En.” Hu Le laughed. "Don't worry, he wants to save Han Po too."

"I'm here."

When they entered the alley, the hemp rope around Hu Le's hands had been untied and Hua Niang, seeing the wounds on Hu Le's body and face, was anxious to ask him what was wrong, which Hu Le brushed off. She had been saved by Hu Le and trusted him, and soon relented, "Well then, come on in, you guys."

Yan Yuan followed the two demons through the door. The courtyard looked shabby outside, but inside it was plain and clean, and there was a stone mill used by the human race inside.

Unexpectedly, under the feet of the emperor, there were demons living among the human race, living just like humans, even their habits were so similar, which was really rare.

Yan Yuan put Xuan Long onto the bed as instructed by the flower spirit, who used her divine sense to check Xuan Long's pulse. Her face gradually became grave as she complained softly, "Aiya, how could this happen, didn't I say no intercourse when you brought A'Long here last time."

Hu Le looked at Yan Yuan with an expressionless face.

Yan Yuan frowned, "... He did not tell me that he could not have intercourse."

Hu Le smiled softly, "That is because he cares for you, so he indulges you in everything. But what have you done? Have you ever shown him any semblance of pity?... I'm afraid you don't even have pity for him."

"I..." Yan Yuan did not bother to argue with him, and the hand hanging at his side tightened slightly. Looking towards Hua Niang's busy back, he spoke with difficulty. "Is he... really pregnant?"

"Yes, it's been more than four months." Hua Niang replied in a soft voice. Her character was naive and innocent, and the fear she felt just now was long forgotten, "You both have good looks, the baby that comes out must be good looking too."

Yan Yuan's heart was really strange, and his brow was deeply wrinkled: "This... is not possible. He is a demon, I am a human, how can we have children?"

Hua Niang opened the wooden box in her hand and looked back at Yan Yuan strangely: "What's impossible?... You had conjugal sex with him, isn't it normal to have a pregnancy. You wouldn't want to abandon it, would you?..."

Yan Yuan was dumbfounded and shut his mouth, not speaking anymore.

The room fell silent, and Hu Le stared nervously at Hua Niang's movements as she stuck the finger-long spiritual needles in the wooden box, one by one, into the soles of Xuan Long's feet, his palms, and various acupuncture points on his limbs.

The unconscious man on the bed suddenly shrank his body in pain, a slurred whisper escaping from his throat.

"Quickly, hold him down! It will be trouble if all the spirit suppressing needles are lost in the flesh and blood..."

Hu Le and Yan Yuan heard this and hurriedly went forward to pull Xuan Long's arms and legs away from him and pressed down on his upper body and legs respectively. Xuan Long's whole body shook violently and he ended up sobbing quietly.

Yan Yuan froze, he had never seen Xuan Long cry before, as no matter how badly he was hurt, he never said a word.

His heart was not very comfortable.

"Why does it hurt like this..."

Hua Niang was so anxious that she broke out in a cold sweat and she slightly pulled out the spirit needle that hadn't gotten too deep, "You are talking nonsense, this spirit-suppressing needle is to retain the baby's spirit. Sticking it into flesh and blood is piercing into the soul, how can it not hurt? It's probably like cutting your body in half while alive, and it hurts a hundred times more than that..."

Seeing Yan Yuan's dumbfounded look, Hu Le only felt irony, "Can't imagine, can you? A'Po has suffered like that more than once. Last time, when he was rescued from the palace by me, he experienced it. All thanks to you."

Yan Yuan pursed his lips and said nothing.

Hu Le didn't mean to stab him, he just couldn't help but say a few more words, and when he didn't respond, he stopped talking.

Two hours later, Hua Niang put away the spirit-suppressing needles one by one and put them back into the wooden box, raising her sleeve to wipe the sweat from the corner of her forehead, "Fortunately, he was delivered in time, otherwise the baby would have been in danger."

By now, the sky was bright outside the window, and Xuan Long's face was as white as if he had been fished out of the water, his black hair was scattered along his body, his breathing was weak, and a hideous scar occupied the most prominent part of the right side of his face.

Hua Niang covered Xuan Long with the quilt, and turned to Hu Le and whispered, "Little fox, come with me for a moment, I have something to ask you..."

Hu Le glanced at Yan Yuan and, seeing that he had little reaction, he went out the door with Hua Niang.

"What did you say?!"

"A'Long will live for three years at most without his inner elixir..." Hua Niang asked Hu Le nervously in the courtyard. "Why is it like this? Where are your inner elixirs?... Weren't they fine when you came last time?"

The sound of footsteps came from inside the house.

Hu Le's eyes flushed red and he swallowed back what he was going to say, saying hoarsely, "Shh, just pretend you don't know. Don't ever let that human know, or he might turn against A'Po, got it?"

Hua Niang nodded her head in fear and trepidation, indicating that she understood.

As a result of taking the unknown elixir prescribed by Hua Niang, on the way back to the palace, Xuan Long opened his eyes briefly between the shaking of the carriage. Yan Yuan sat on the edge of the bench, looking at his face in a daze, and their eyes met. Yan Yuan froze, then gently held his hand, “A'Po... you're awake."

Xuan Long was still not quite conscious and looked at him in a trance, without speaking. Yan Yuan's expression was a little strange, full of desire to speak, "You're pregnant with... my child?..."

Xuan Long's throat moved and his breath was wavering as he said, "You know."

Yan Yuan did not quite dare to look directly into his beautiful turquoise eyes, dropping his thick eyelashes as he struggled to speak, “A'Po, you and I live in different worlds, and there is no telling what kind of monster this child will be when it is born... It will certainly not be accepted by the world."

"You can stay by my side, but this child, we will not have it, okay?..."