CH 68

That apprentice who was sitting beside Xia Yi turned his head again. Seeing him breathing heavily, he asked with concern, “Xia. Are you still feeling unwell after eating the potatoes?”

Xia Yi had just experienced a wave of labor pain, he smiled and said towards him, “It’s nothing. It’s just that the baby is coming.”

That apprentice nodded and turned, saying, “Oh.”

Then he turned his head slowly with a shocked expression. After a while, a scream from that apprentice echoed in the winter gourd house. That scream was so loud that it covered up the thunder from outside, “Xia is going into labor!”

In this chaos, Xia Yi created a barrier in the winter gourd house, separating himself. Through the barrier, he could see everyone panicking outside.

“Who has given birth before? Who? Say so if you have done it before.” Someone was screaming.

“Liu. Look at all of us. Who would have given birth before?”

“Then who has delivered a baby before? Who? Say so if you have done it before.” Liu continued to shout.

“Who in our sect could have delivered a baby before? We don’t even have a cow.”

“How about those female apprentices? They are female.”

“What are you thinking? We are lucky enough to be able to peek when they are practicing on Mount TengXu.”

Xia Yi shouted towards the outside behind gritted teeth, “Do not come in. All of you. I am fine by myself.”

“Host. Don’t panic. Didn’t we earn painless labor as the award last time? You can go ahead and give birth to the baby. I will use the award a while later, letting you give birth without pain and without scars.” 179 comforted Xia Yi who was lying on a long fur.

“But, why do I have to wait for a while?” Xia Yi inhaled and asked.

179 smirked cunningly, “It’s because Gu WenZhu is on his way. He is fighting with Cheng YuWan. We have to let him see how much difficulties you are going through to give birth to the child after they have finished fighting. In that way, he will treasure you even more. We will wait for him to come in, then we will use the reward.”

“What? Zhu has come?” Xia Yi did not have the mind to scout 179. The news of Gu WenZhu arriving already shocked him, making him forget about some of the labor pain.

“Correct. Host. All of his powers had come back to him. He is fighting outside.” 179 sounded excited, “Haven’t you noticed that the thunder has stopped?”

Xia Yi hurriedly lifted himself up, creating a hole in his barrier, then he shouted towards the outside, “Master. My Zhu is here. He is fighting outside. Please go and help him out.”

Seeing that Tian Xuan hurried his way out, Xia Yi fell down heavily once again.

“Host. Worry not. Gu WenZhu is totally winning over that electricity generator. You can focus on giving birth.” 179 saw that Xia Yi was intending to look outside, so he quickly stopped him. “Go on. Let’s give birth to the child. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Follow me.”

“Use that reward on me now. Do you want me to die from the pain?” A wave of pain struck Xia Yi, a lot of sweat was rolling down his face.

“Right. Right. Right. I only want the best for you. Now you can’t even endure such little pain.” 179 became slightly panicky when he saw him like that.

Is this just a little pain? Try this yourself. Quickly after, Xia Yi felt that all the pain had flown away just like that. There was no more feelings of swelling and heaviness in his back and his waist; there was no longer any pain all over him. He instantly felt much better. Lying on the mat powerlessly, he breathed heavily, thinking about how painful it had been.

“Giving birth is too hard, too difficult.”

“Host. Although you no longer experience the pain, you still need to give birth to the child.” 179 reminded him, “You can’t be lying like that not moving a muscle.”

“Then let’s do it by the windowside. I will give birth while watching Zhu fight.”

Outside, Gu WenZhu, with that silver spear in his hand, was fighting Cheng Yu Wan. Cheng Yu Wan used his iron staff to immediately build a barrier, barely withstanding Gu Wen Zhu’s attack. But his chest had been hit by the after wave, making him fall back a distance.

“Ze Yuan. It has been a long time. Now I see that I do not have to find you myself. You come on your own. I guess it is also a good time for us to settle everything once and for all.” Cheng Yu Wan rubbed off the blood beside his mouth and put on a cunning smile.

Gu WenZhu was floating in midair, wearing the long gown of Qi Shan Sect. His face was stern, his eyes cut like a knife. Not even the tornado could move him. He looked as fierce as the god of war.

“You told Wu Qian Yuan about Wang Lan’s whereabouts and killed him. Today you are kidnapping him and want to harm him again. Cheng Yu Wan, let’s settle everything as you wish.” Gu Wen Zhu fiercely stared at Cheng Yu Wan. Every word squeezed out from behind his teeth.

In front of the winter gourd window, Xia Yi was lying on a cushion with spread legs, stunned to see this scene.

Outside the barrier, Qing Xiu wanted to see the fight, but he was worried about Xia Yi as well, so he walked back and forth rubbing his hands. Once in a while, he would shout towards the barrier, “Xia. How’s it going? Do you need me to come in?”

Xia Yi recovered from the shock and answered immediately, “No. I am fine.”

Then he looked towards the outside.

The man in front of him was both familiar and unfamiliar to him, as time went by, his figure overlapped with another person, and the two of them mixed together. In a blur, countless scenes appeared in his mind in an instant. All the information, from the past until now, was swarming towards Xia Yi all at once.

“Ze Yuan.” Xia Yi was hit by the emotion. He grabbed onto the windowsill, murmuring with tears.

“Host. You still need to push. Don’t forget that you are giving birth because it is painless.” 179 quickly reminded him.

Outside, Gu WenZhu attacked wave after wave. His powerful attacks were making Cheng Yu Wan having difficulties to handle. His two other splitted figures were fighting a few apprentices as well. Gu WenZhu did not seem like it but he was anxious. Although he knew that Xia Yi was in that tall and hard winter gourd house, he did not know if he had been harmed before he arrived.

His worries made his movements even quicker, spiritual energy came with each attack, raining endlessly towards Cheng Yu Wan.

Tian Xuan glanced and saw that Gu Wen Zhu was too impatient, therefore after forcing one of the splitted selves of Cheng Yu Wan to retreat, he shouted towards Gu Wen Zhu, “Don’t worry. Be patient. Yi is not hurt. He is giving birth to your child right now. He’s doing fine.”

Giving birth? Gu Wen Zhu’s pupils contracted and he gritted his teeth hard.

After Tian Xuan said those words, Gu Wen Zhu’s movements did not slow down a bit but accelerated. Gu WenZhu’s spear attacked with the tornado. Every move was a killing move. Gu Wen Zhu’s spiritual energy was rushing out even more endlessly. Gu Wen Zhu pushed and pushed. All the scenes went by in his mind.

He and Ciang Yi flew to the medicine garden at the foot of Qi Shan. They saw that jade coffin with a bundle of purple flowers from afar. His Wang Lan. That teen who was like a deer was in that jade coffin.

Ze Yuan felt a pain pulling him apart. He looked absentminded even his spear nearly fell. He suppressed that taste of iron which was rushing up his throat and speeded up to fly forward. After rolling off onto the ground from his spear, he stumbled forward. Little Black pounced on him, pulling the corner of his clothes to pull him towards the jade coffin.

The pair of flower fairies were supporting each other, looking up at him with teary eyes. Ze Yuan stopped a few steps from the jade coffin, staring at the inside of the coffin.

Wang Lan was lying inside in silence. He could no longer find his black amber eyes. Only two empty holes were left instead. His once red lips were already sheet white; they would not talk like honey and called him sweetly anymore.

Under those clean clothes, Ze Yuan knew, the fair skin was already scarred all over, making others not dare to look. Little Black was crying, lying on the coffin. It looked at the person inside, and it looked upward to him. Although he was the one who brought back Wang Lan, cleaned the blood and carefully placed him in the coffin, when he saw him lifelessly lying there, he still felt so much pain that he almost blacked out and could not breathe.

It was like someone reached into his chest to squeeze his heart.

Ciang Yi had already reached the coffin. Seeing the dreadful look of the teenager inside, he could not help but show a painful look on his face, blinking. Then he stretched out his right arm to put his hand on Wang Lan’s head.

“What’s this?” In view of Ciang Yi’s move, the flower fairies who were supposed to stop him only looked at him in confusion with reddened and swollen eyes for he came with Ze Yuan.

“He is my father.” Ze Yuan did not tell them about the fact that Ciang Yi might have a way. He was afraid of bringing hope to them and having that hope vanished. He would take responsibility for any bad outcome.

Ciang Yi’s hand which was covering Wang Lan’s head had a soft light glowing in his palm. He frowned and thought hard.

The flower fairies, seeing this, had a guess. And so they stopped crying and held their breath, staring unblinkingly.

“His spirit and his soul has been destroyed. Only a few strands of them are left. There is no rooting for them if we want to let it grow.” A long while after, Ciang Yi shook his head.

Upon hearing that, the couple desperately cried out. Ze Yuan just stood there, feeling as if he had been pushed into hell, his heart feeling as cold as ice.

Strength had been drained from his legs. He kneeled down on the ground. Emptiness filled his reddened eyes. He murmured, “Fine. Then I shall follow his footsteps. He was such a cry baby, he must be crying in hell because he can’t see a thing. He might also get bullied…”

“What are you planning?” Ciang Yi heard him, and he scouted him with a serious face, “You think its wise to commit suicide for love?”

Ze Yuan covered his face with both of his trembling hands. Tears came out from between his fingers. He suddenly howled, sounding as if blood would drip off from him, with intense despair and coldness.

“Ze Yuan. Come to your senses. Pull yourself together.” Ciang Yi scouted loudly with veins popping up on his forehead.

Ze Yuan seemed not to have heard any of his words, he howled and howled like a wolf losing its partner. Then he lay on the ground heavily, all ten of his fingers scratched deep into the dirt. All of a sudden, he looked up, craziness and stubbornness lingered in his blood red eyes, “Lan is scared of everything. He couldn’t sleep without candlelights at night; he would cry and try to find me now that he could not see. How am I supposed to leave him there all by himself? I must find him quickly. I must protect him…”

Ciang Yi looked downwards at Ze Yuan. His expression changed, struggling. When he saw Ze Yuan reach out to grab his spear, he sighed resignedly. As if he had made an important decision, he gritted his teeth, “Ze Yuan. There is still a way. I can save Wang Lan.”

Ze Yuan sat in front of the jade coffin, with the flower fairy couple looking at him nervously. Ciang Yi stood in front of them, looking at his son with complicated looks. Then asked again, “Are you sure?”

Ze Yuan looked as if he had been reborn and looked lively again. He looked at Ciang Yi firmly and nodded, “I am sure.”

“Good. Then I will take half of your spirit and soul as the container and put Wang Lan’s few strands of spirit and soul in it to grow.” Ciang Yi closed his eyes and opened them, then he continued, “From now on, you will be just like Wang Lan. Your spirit and soul will grow back in over twenty years.”

Ciang Yi’s voice was a little shaky.

Ze Yuan looked at him for a long moment, “Father. I am sure.”

Ciang Yi heard him calling him father, making his body shake slightly, and he looked moved.

Then, Ze Yuan’s memories became vague. In a blur, he felt like floating. A twisted swirl of light appeared in front of him. There was as if endless power in it, attracting him to float that way. After he had entered that light swirl, a black figure passed by briefly. It was like Little Black had come crying as well.

Right before he lost his consciousness, he was speaking a name, Wang Lan.

—

Gu WenZhu used immense spiritual energy to attack. Cheng Yu Wan saw that things were going south, so he immediately took a few quick steps back to avoid the attack. He saw that Gu WenZhu was attacking like crazy. His eyes were red. His face seemed both sad and insane. All these were making Cheng Yu Wan feel a coldness creep up from beneath him into his heart.

Looking around, one of his split-self had been stabbed by Tian Xuan, the other was surrounded by all the other apprentices and had been hit in a few places. That split-self of his was nearly losing.

Gu WenZhu remembered everything. Now his heart was as if being roasted by a hot fire.

Cheng YuWan had been kicked and rolled aside, he rolled a couple of times and wanted to use his snake head staff to escape. Gu WenZhu jumped up high, raising his silver spear, looking like the god of war, the sparkle of the spear blinding Cheng YuWan.

In Cheng YuWan’s heart, he was so afraid that his breath was almost coming to a halt. With that figure in the air approaching him and becoming bigger, Cheng YuWan’s pupils contracted to an extreme.

The spear almost reached his chest. So he rolled on the ground again and stood up to dash away. Not even waiting for him to run for a step or two, a white light passed by and Gu WenZhu was already in front of him like a ghost. He waved his spear to create a line of blood on his neck.

Cheng YuWan opened his eyes to stare angrily and unbelievingly, he covered his neck, making breathing sounds. The blood was bursting out from between his fingers and dripping down, painting the floor with his blood. He unwillingly reached out to grab Gu WenZhu. However, he was kicked by Gu WenZhu and had no choice but to fall down.

The clouds cleared. The wind stopped. Gu WenZhu sluggishly turned. Seeing that winter gourd house standing firmly under the sunlight, two streams of tears ran down his face. He talked in a low voice, “Lan.”

Xia Yi waited until that wave of information had been received in his mind. He forced himself to calm down and not to care about what was happening outside. He grabbed the windowsill to push hard.

“Host. Just like that. Great. I can see the head of the baby.” 179 screamed in surprise.

Xia Yi breathed in deeply, and pushed again. But those scenes in his mind did not stop showing up.

“Lan. I have told my father about us. He wants me to bring you to the demonic world to see him.” Ze Yuan hugged Wang Lan from behind, smelling the scent of the strelitzia from his neck.

“I know. But I am still afraid.” Wang Lan pulled his lips in.

Ze Yuan laughed. His hot breath hit behind Wang Lan’s neck, “Are you still afraid? Right. You are only fierce in front of me. Your attitude is stronger towards me. I will pick you up tomorrow afernoon. Okay? Let’s meet at that rock in the Valley of the Rising Moon.”

Wang Lan nodded, then he started to laugh with his lips pulling inwards.

Xia Yi was pushing, and tears were coming out from his eyes.

Ze Yuan never thought that he could not see him anymore.

“Host. You are good. The head is already out.” 179’s voice was almost out of tune due to the screaming.

Ze Yuan, Ze Yuan, Zhu…

With the clear crying sound of the baby, the barrier in the winter gourd house had been unveiled forcefully. Then a tall figure came in.

Gu Wen Zhu stared at Xia Yi unblinkingly. He was breathing heavily and his expression was emotional.

With the crying sound of the baby, Xia Yi looked at him with sweat on his face, and he smiled with tears, “The baby was born. It’s a boy just like you.”

—

“So, do you remember too?” Inside Wang Zhu Yard, Xia Yi sat beside the bed to look at the quietly sleeping baby, asking with a lowered voice.

Gu Wen Zhu leaned behind him, his fingers rubbing his hair which had fallen behind him, “Yes. I remember.”

“Then tell me. When my spirit was lost and had been sent to the other dimension by the leader, why did you lose half of your spirit? Why were you sent away to rest?” Xia Yi leaned backwards and fell into Gu WenZhu’s arms.

Gu WenZhu faced down to kiss the top of his head but spoke no words.

“Zhu. Ze Yuan…” Xia began to speak to him affectionately, “Quickly tell me. If there is a question in my heart, I can never forget about it.”

“That’s because I was hurt at that time as well. My father had to send me to rest.” Gu Wen Zhu used his finger to lightly touch the face of the baby, answering with a smiling face.

Regarding the truth, Yi did not have to know.

Xia Yi did not ask anymore. He just leaned in Gu Wen Zhu’s arms to look at the baby in silence.

The baby was sleeping well. Two of his fists were raising on both sides as if he was surrendering. His face was red and was moving his fat lips.

The little clothes and little blanket on him were made by the softest and most expensive silk brought by Cheng Ming who had been searching everywhere. It was from some special silkworm used by some special women living in some special mountains.

But Xia Yi still felt slightly regretful. They had left all the clothes and shoes and diapers made by Gu Wen Zhu personally on the other side this time they transmigrated here.

Compared with this expensive silk, Xia Yi would want the baby to wear what his father had made for him. The most annoying problem for Xia Yi was the baby’s food.

As Gu Wen Zhu had said before, gers only produced very little milk, but how could that be enough?

Everything was in such a rush and they did not prepare well. Xia Yi had already made up his heart to lift up his clothes for the baby, sacrificing his breasts. However, the baby still was sucking with a reddened face, not satisfied and was not full. At the end, he swung his little hands and legs and started to cry with closed eyes.

“Host. Host. Please drink one more bowl of crucian carp soup.” 179 urged.

“I just had one ten minutes ago. Drinking this kind of soup everyday makes me have to run to the lavatory four times an hour.” Speaking of drinking soup, Xia Yi began to feel nauseous. Hearing the baby’s cry, Xia Yi started to be annoyed. “My container was only this big. I can’t become a goat even if I drink this much soup.” 

How I missed the two goats at our house.

A few apprentices had gone with their magical items to find goats. Gu Wen Zhu was stewing some soup with soy beans and pig’s feet.

Xia Yi patted the baby to comfort him, “Good baby. Your uncles are going out to find you something to eat. Please do not cry.”

The baby looked at Xia Yi with wide eyes. His pink little mouth was moving, wanting more. His eyes were like Xia Yi’s, big and round but the color of his eyes was like Gu Wen Zhu’s, as dark as the obsidian stones. Looking at those dark eyes glittering, Xia Yi felt painful. He picked up a bowl of soup on the table to drink it with his head up.

Crucian carp soup. Oh Crucian carp soup. With my love towards my son, can you please turn bad quickly?

“Baa.” At this moment, a sound of the goat rang from the yard.

Xia Yi was astonished. He held the baby to go out, “Son. Your uncles have brought you your food.”

Pushing the door open, two white goats in his yard entered his vision. However, he did not see the apprentices of the sect. He only saw Jie Shang taking the leash of a goat and holding three little goats in his arms.

Two larger goats struggled to walk towards the chilli peppers to eat them. Three little goats were hustling in his arms. Jie Shang had to keep his stance and his image; it was hard to do so.

Ciang Yi was standing beside him with a big pack. That pack was wrapped in a piece of blue colored cloth with white flowers on it. Xia Yi could tell that it was from his home.

A leg of a pair of baby trousers was out from the pack. Xia Yi could tell that it was the one sewn by Gu Wen Zhu.

“Fathers. You are back?” Seeing them, Xia Yi was surprised.

Gu Wen Zhu walked out from the kitchen when he heard noises. He swiftly went to take the pack and the goats, saving Ciang Yi and Jie Shang from them.

“Baby. Baby. Your grandfather’s baby.” Jie Shang could not wait and dashed forward, he took the baby from Xia Yi carefully. He and Ciang Yi happily looked at the baby.

“Look at these little hands and feet. How tough. It’s just like when Ze Yuan was small.”

“Look at how fair he is. He’s like Lan.”

The baby was in Jie Shang’s arms and he did not cry. He only looked at them with round and curious eyes snd saliva bubbles came out from his mouth.

Jie Sheng held the baby skillfully. He supported his soft neck with one hand, looking like a very experienced nanny. Ciang Yi felt bad and looked at Jie Shang gently.

Jie Sheng felt that Ciang Yi was staring at him and he thought he wanted to play with the baby, so he offered him the baby, “Do you want to hold him?”

“Can I?” Ciang Yi turned to look at the baby. He was looking enthusiastic and nervous at the same time.

Jie Shang found that hilarious, “Why can’t you? You are his grandmother.”

Right after his words, he saw the awkwardness on Ciang Yi’s face. Ciang Yi’s face was red instantly, making that cold face more lively.

Jie Shang could not help but feel his heart pounding fast, he leaned closer to Ciang Yi and asked, “Or, do you want to have another one?”

Troubled, Ciang Yi glanced at him, “It’s not long after Yi’s labor. Now you want one more from him?”

Seeing Jie Shang smiling without saying a thing, Ciang Yi instantly knew what was going on with Jie Shang’s peach eyes mocking him. His face became more red. He stared at him fiercely but did not say anything to object him.

Jie Shang knew Ciang Yi well, so he did not push any further. He only placed the baby into his arms and kissed that little cheek, “You can play with your little uncle and little aunt when you are growing up. You know that?”

When Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu were out after tying the goats and putting the things in various places, they saw Ciang Yi’s nervous face and holding the baby stiffly as if he was facing a strong enemy.

Jie Shang stood in front of him, not far away. A ginko tree was behind him, his arms crossed and staring with smiling eyes.

“Yi. Come and take the baby.” Seeing the two, Ciang Yi called for help, “Jie Shang won’t.”

Gu WenZhu resignedly looked at his dad who was enjoying the scene, and he picked up the soft baby from Ciang Yi.

Ciang Yi swung his stiff arms, stared at Jie Shang both embarrassingly and angrily, and walked towards Xia Yi.

Xia Yi saw that Ciang Yi was standing in front of him wanting to say something but did not, so he asked, confused, “Leader?”

“Didn’t I say it before? That your parents had their memories erased by my powers?” Ciang Yi responded.

Xia Yi’s heart pounced faster when he heard the topic.

Ciang Yi continued, “That was because we were worried that your spirit would vanish, but now that you are well, I can restore their memories.”

“Can, can you?” Xia Yi stuttered.

Ciang Yi smiled without anyone noticing, lifting the end of his lips a little bit, his eyes seemed softer, “Of course.”

Gu Wen Zhu came with the baby in his arms, and he smiled encouragingly, “Tomorrow I shall go and pick up my father and mother-in-law and let my father undo the spell.”

“Okay.” Xia Yi felt something in his throat. He replied with a strong nod.

At this moment, the front door was pushed open, Cheng Ming peeked inside. He saw that everyone was inside and quickly smiled, “Tian Ji prepared food in the dining room. All the apprentices are waiting. Leader. Demonic leader. Let me lead the way.”

There was a feast in the sect for celebrating Ciang Yi coming out from the enchanted zone and the baby being one month old. Therefore, everyone was excited with Cheng Ming. Gu Wen Zhu was at the end of the line, holding the baby.

“Mingie. Where are we going?” Xia Yi did not feel right. They were going to the back of the mountain.

Cheng Ming replied loudly, “We are going to the dining room beside the square.”

Is this the way to the square? Cheng Ming was too wrong for Xia Yi to correct.

In the end, Ciang Yi led the way and everyone was on the right path again. Xia Yi was walking and he felt his hand being held by a larger one, both warm and dry. Gu Wen Zhu, holding the baby, holding his hand, was smiling.

A breeze of wind passed by, bringing a waft of bamboo scent with it.

Xia Yi grabbed the hand back tightly, listening to the baby mumbling, everything was silent in his heart.