CH 101

His Time Has Come

Yan Yuan felt that this man was so disobedient to even say such a thing.

Straightening up, he stared at him.

"When did I agree to exchange with you?"

"I don't want this child... I want you to live and stay by my side for the rest of your life, and you are not allowed to go anywhere."

He was still so domineering up to this moment, yet the heavens and earth were so big, and as he was the supreme emperor, could he really control everything in the palm of his hand?

Xuan Long's hand on the ground slowly moved towards the corner of Yan Yuan's coat, the chains rattling softly: "Please..."

The corner of Yan Yuan's coat was clutched very lightly and gently, he gritted his teeth and waved away the hand: "It's useless to beg me, I won't agree!"

"Even if you die, I will not want this child."

A breath sounded in Xuan Long's throat, "Please..."

He had not begged many people in his life: the first time was to beg his mother not to leave him, the second time was to beg Yan Yuan to let go of Hu Le, and this last time, he was begging for a way out for the child in his womb.

He hoped that Yan Yuan would be merciful and let their child go for the sake of their previous relationship.

But Yan Yuan's heart was as ruthless as a thousand-year-old pond that had frozen over in winter, and Xuan Long could not break into it. Like his mother, he refused to go soft on him.

"Don't talk anymore, Hua Niang will come soon, cover yourself with the quilt and you won't be cold anymore." Yan Yuan brought the blood-stained cotton bedding over to Xuan Long and covered him with it. "I forbid you from saying this again."

His voice was cold, as if he was angry.

In the past, when the two of them had been together, Xuan Long had often felt uneasy. He was outwardly calm, but inside he was always torn by the other's emotions, afraid that he was too dull and uninteresting to please Yan Yuan, so he obeyed him in everything, hoping that he would be happy.

Now he was no longer afraid of Yan Yuan's anger, for when he became angry he would only beat him, scold him, humiliate him and torture him. Xuan Long was not afraid of that.

The blanket was so heavy on him that Xuan Long's breathing was becoming more and more difficult. People can feel when they run out of gas. Some people know that they are about to die, so they will clean out their house the day before and leave cleanly.

Xuan Long could not be clean in this situation, and he did his best to say what he wanted to stay, but Yan Yuan thought he was too noisy and told him to keep quiet.

He was a dragon who knew what was good for him and would have stopped talking in normal times, but today he was exceptionally disobedient and refused to stop talking even though he was clearly out of energy.

He told Yan Yuan.

"The inner elixir... is gone."

“What?"

"The inner elixir... is... no more..."

Yan Yuan didn't understand what Xuan Long meant, and he didn't want to go deeper: "Let's not talk about this at this time, let's wait until the child is born."

When a demon dies, its body will dissipate into the world. Xuan Long was trying to tell him to cut out the child and dig out his heart before it was too late.

If he waited until he was dead, it would be too late for anything.

The murmurs from Xuan Long's mouth weakened to the point where he could only see his lips moving and could no longer hear anything as he drew closer. Yan Yuan frantically asked the guard outside why Hua Niang had not come yet. When he was about to order someone to rush her, Hua Niang finally arrived.

In fact, half an hour had not passed at all. Hua Niang followed the guards into the palace after receiving the edict, she didn't even sit in the carriage. It seemed to take a long time because Xuan Long had lost to much blood.

When Hua Niang saw Xuan Long's appearance, her body swayed and she knelt down, “A'Long..."

She knew.

It was today.

Yan Yuan hated this tearful look of Hua Niang's, as if Xuan Long was really going to die.

"If you don't hurry, the child will really suffocate."

Hua Niang lifted her pink sleeve to wipe away her tears and struggled to lift Xuan Long's upper body up in her arms, a movement that was bound to strain the wound. Xuan Long was in severe pain and let out a low grunt, opening his eyes in a daze.

Hua Niang whispered softly in his ear, “A'Long, it's me... Hua Niang is here..."

"I'll help you... give birth to the baby..."

Xuan Long: "...... trouble you."

Hua Niang couldn't hold back a sob, a small green bottle appeared in her palm, and she removed the stopper and brought it to Xuan Long's lips, "Drink this medicine, and it won't hurt anymore..."

The medicine inside was a pain relieving elixir, although it could not wipe out all his pain, he could at least be more comfortable and could temporarily regain some strength.

It takes a lot of strength to give birth to a child.

Xuan Long barely swallowed the medicine and leaned against Hua Niang's shoulder, drowsy.

Yan Yuan frowned at them, wanting to take Xuan Long over and hold him, but he was so injured that it was inconvenient.

Hua Niang looked up and said to Yan Yuan, "You, you go and ask someone to prepare some food. A'Long has no strength and needs to eat."

He had deliberately treated him harshly, not even giving him a good meal, telling him to eat vegetarian food all day long, and it was Yan Yuan's fault that he was in this situation. At this time, he was willing to treat Xuan Long well, so he said to the guard in the corridor: "He likes sashimi, go and prepare it, quickly."

The guard took his orders and left.

Hua Niang conjured up a pitch black pill and brought it to Xuan Long's lips, “A'Long... this is a labour-inducing pill, take it and the baby will soon come out to meet you."

"Okay..." Xuan Long opened his mouth and took the medicine, a bitterness spread across his tongue and went straight to his heart. Not long after swallowing the medicine, the pain in his abdomen, which had stopped, suddenly returned, more violent than before.

"En..." Xuan Long gasped out heavily, his hands unconsciously clasping beneath him.

Beneath the thin straw was concrete, and Hua Niang grabbed his hands, afraid he would hurt himself, but she didn't want to feel Xuan Long's broken finger bones. Hua Niang's tears barred down, and she turned to grab Xuan Long's uninjured palms, giving him strength in her own way.

“A'Long… use your strength and push the child out"

Xuan Long bent his legs and instinctively followed Hua Niang's instructions to push. The labour-inducing medicine was for the demon race and was very strong, and as the medicine grew stronger, the opening of the womb soon opened to five fingers, and it was obvious that he felt the baby plunging downwards, but it was still far from enough.

He had lived for ten thousand years and had suffered many tribulations, large and small. Among which the most difficult was the the Nine Heavenly Thunderbolts, where nine thunderbolts struck at the same time, tearing apart the soul and causing pain, but he never imagined that the pain of childbirth would be no better than the Nine Heavenly Thunderbolts.

Perhaps it was because his soul-eating pain coincidentally kicked in at this time, coupled with the pain of more than a dozen knives twisting in his abdomen at the same time, Xuan Long gradually couldn't hold on any longer and his bent legs slid down.

"I'm afraid... I won't be able to give birth..."

The bottom of Yan Yuan's eyes reflected the red blood under Xuan Long's body and asked Hua Niang, "Why hasn't it moved? The blood is almost gone, why don't you help him stop the bleeding first?"

“Hurry up and help him stop the bleeding."

Hua Niang ignored Yan Yuan and spoke in Xuan Long's ear with a suppressed sob, "He can be born... I am here, it will be fine."

"I will keep the baby safe..."

Xuan Long nodded reassuringly and said in a weak voice, "If I can't give birth… then you, help me... cut the baby out... okay. "

Hua Niang choked out a sob.

Yan Yuan looked at the two of them with a cold and hostile expression: "What are you talking about?"

This was not the time to be upset. Hua Niang restrained her emotions and told Yan Yuan to help Xuan Long bend his legs and hold them still. Yan Yuan did as Hua Niang said, and saw that Hua Niang had produced another small medicine bottle for Xuan Long to drink.

The medicine had a miraculous effect and if he drank it, Xuan Long would regain his strength. With Hua Niang around, Yan Yuan did not think anything would happen to Xuan Long, but he was still frightened by what happened next.

"He eh..."

The sound that came from deep in Xuan Long's throat was like the struggle of a human before dying, Yan Yuan's hands were easily able to hold Xuan Long's feet down to stop him from moving about, he had strength, but only enough for a while. After a while, he had to lean on Hua Niang to rest before continuing. His entire body looked as if he had been fished out of the water, and his face was as pale as paper.

The bloody prisoner uniform was wet against his body, and with his belly high, he appeared to have incredibly thin limbs; once upon a time his body was not like this, those legs were long but strong, and when they were taut they would appear as slim, with smooth lines. Now they were nowhere near half as strong as they had been, and they were so thin that they were almost bone.

The cook of the imperial kitchen was grabbed in the middle of the night and sliced up a plate of raw fish.

The order given by Yan Yuan could not have been more efficient. After about a column of incense, Chen Yan brought the sashimi over with the Emperor's imperial food box, and even the chopsticks were gold and jade-encrusted, shiny and beautiful, which looked out of place in the dimly lit prison.

Yet Xuan Long couldn't eat a single bite, he was in too much pain. Every moment wasted was a moment less, so he said he wasn't hungry and wanted to wait until the child came out before eating.

The chopsticks holding the fish were brought to his lips, and Yan Yuan fed them himself. If it were normal, he definitely would have gotten angry, but today he didn’t. He knew that Xuan Long really couldn’t eat it, so he gave up.

The sky outside grew brighter unknowingly, and the light came in through the four-sided opening above their heads. Yan Yuan did not allow others to look at Xuan Long's body, and personally knelt down and held Xuan Long's feet through the night. He stared at Xuan Long's legs in a tense mood, and was suddenly struck by a moment of shock.

"Saw... saw a foot..."

"What?"

Yan Yuan unconsciously laced his words with surprise: "Saw a foot."

Hua Niang's face turned white: "Come here, hold A'Long."

Yan Yuan realised that something was wrong: "Why?"

Hua Niang: "If the feet come out first, the baby will suffocate, the head needs to come out first."

Yan Yuan took Xuan Long from Hua Niang's arms, the cold scent in his nose was instantly stronger. By now the entrance to the womb was fully open, Hua Niang grabbed the child's bloody little feet with both hands and pushed them back.

The foetus was not in the right position and one had to reach into the belly and turn the baby around. The pain was no less than sticking a stick directly inside and stirring it up. Xuan Long, who had been weakly conscious, screamed out in pain and his upper body bounced up out of control as Yan Yuan hugged him tightly.

"It will be over soon..."

“It will be over soon..."

Xuan Long shouted once or twice and then stopped, he leaned into Yan Yuan's arms, probably in a daze again, “A'Yuan..."

"En." Yan Yuan answered him.

The edge of Xuan Long's forehead rested against Yan Yuan's shoulder, and his turquoise eyes lost focus: “I... am in some pain..."

Yan Yuan tightened his arm: "I know."

"I told you before that I don't want this little bastard, you insisted on giving birth to him, now you know how much it hurts."

Xuan Long did not say anything. After Hua Niang had corrected the baby's position, he exerted himself as hard as he had last night and used up his last bit of strength to push the baby out of the birth canal.

Unlike his thin appearance, the child was white and tender after being cleaned, very healthy and pretty, with two short thick black dragon horns on his forehead, which was oddly cute.

Hua Niang gave the child a pat on the buttocks and the child cried pitifully, making Yan Yuan's heart flutter.

Hua Niang looked at the child in her hand and said softly, "It's a boy."

"It was born to you by A'Long."

Yan Yuan frowned and averted his eyes, remembering the man in his arms who had fallen into a coma, and said, "Heal him quickly and help him stop the bleeding."

Hua Niang: "It's not necessary."

"What's not necessary."

Hua Niang lifted her head and said in a trembling voice, "It's time for A'Long."