Chapter 19: The Sect Leader’s Pregnancy Care Record

After returning to the Fuguang Sect, naturally, one had to do rebellious things.

Even if cultivators had profound cultivation, they could not change their natural appearance. Because they could not change it, those sanctimonious people said things like, “One’s body, hair, and skin are received from one’s parents,” and revered natural beauty.

There were no cultivators in the Hengxue Sect who dyed their hair, but the members of the Fuguang Sect loved dyeing theirs.

Meng Baixu went to the sand mountains of Guiye City to gather a kind of gray-pulp grass. He mashed it, filtered out the juice, made it into hair dye, and went to find Auntie Mingyue to dye his hair.

Wang Mingyue looked at the grayish bowl of paste. “Aiya, my little Sect Leader, what color are you dyeing it?”

Meng Baixu said, “Granny gray.”

Wang Mingyue lived in the Fuguang Sect and had good nutrition, so her hair was still black. She looked at Meng Baixu’s waist-length hair. It was clear from his hair that he had been very well nourished in the Hengxue Sect.

“Your Shizun raised you quite well.”

Wang Mingyue was honest. In her heart, there was not much distinction between righteous and evil. She spoke as she saw it. Wen Tingshu had raised her Sect Leader until he was rosy and beautiful, cheeks white with a hint of red, eyes black and bright.

Meng Baixu said, “He is no longer my Shizun.”

Wang Mingyue smoothly changed her wording. “That old thing raised you quite well.”

Meng Baixu: “…”

“Auntie, dye my hair.”

Wang Mingyue was somewhat reluctant to part with the Sect Leader’s black hair, but she still obediently dyed Meng Baixu’s hair an even smoky gray.

Meng Baixu touched his hair and looked in the mirror. He was no longer wearing white clothes, but a flamboyant red robe. It made his bright and gorgeous face look somewhat enchanting.

If he stood in front of Wen Tingshu now, would Shizun still recognize him?

Dyeing one’s hair was a rebellious act. Dyeing hair more often would help give birth to rebellious babies.

“Sect Leader!”

It was the voice of the Great Elder, He Shangxian.

Meng Baixu was a little nervous. Now that he had grown up, his height was already on par with the vice sect leader, the Left Protector, Wang Mingyue, and the others. Facing them no longer felt like facing elders.

But the Great Elder was different. The Great Elder was an old man.

He had not discussed his prodigal-child plan with the Great Elder. Would the Great Elder say he was being ridiculous?

He was not being ridiculous.

He Shangxian came in, appearing about sixty years old by mortal standards. His gaze went straight to Meng Baixu’s belly.

“How many months? Is it three months yet? Wen Tingshu simply isn’t human! Were you not eating enough in the Hengxue Sect? Why are you still this thin?”

He stroked his beard and said to Wang Mingyue, “There are still seven months until the saint babies are born. You must prepare infant swaddles and clothes. Forget it, forget it. I’ll send people to the mortal world to buy them.”

Wang Mingyue said, “Who told you it was three months?”

He Shangxian was shocked. “It isn’t?”

Wang Mingyue rolled her eyes. The Sect Leader had only been pregnant for about ten days.

He Shangxian’s eyes filled with disappointment. Ah, then he would still have to wait ten months before seeing the pair of saint babies.

Wen Tingshu was really too useless. The Sect Leader had only succeeded at the very last moment.

Ever since the little Sect Leader grew up, he no longer called him “Grandpa” in that milky voice, and life had become as lonely as snow.

Once a cultivator tried raising children, their life was ruined forever.

He had not expected the Sect Leader to go undercover once and bring back two saint babies!

Meng Baixu asked, “Elder, do you think what I did was right?”

He Shangxian said, “Sect Leader is wise.”

Meng Baixu let out a breath of relief.

He regarded He Shangxian as an elder and always felt that He Shangxian’s attitude was Meng Fuguang’s attitude.

Since Elder He also supported him, then his father would surely be proud of him too!

The Fuguang Sect was full of single evil men and evil women, and more or less all of them had participated in raising the Sect Leader. When they thought of what the Sect Leader looked like as a child, all of them secretly felt anticipation.

Because Meng Fuguang had sent Meng Baixu back directly, no one had ever seen Meng Fuguang carry a child for ten months. Therefore, when it came to taking care of the pregnant Sect Leader, everyone was somewhat at a loss. Fortunately, Wang Mingyue had experience and took full charge of the Sect Leader’s meals.

Wang Mingyue made a bowl of asparagus stewed chicken and walked around with it, but she could not find Meng Baixu. She caught a guard and asked, “Where is the Sect Leader?”

“The Sect Leader is in Donglai Pavilion.”

Donglai Pavilion was where the Fuguang Sect stored its classics. It recorded all kinds of secret realm information, the Fuguang Sect’s special bloodline, and some evil cultivator techniques and cultivation history.

The righteous path emphasized using history as a mirror, while demons always repeated the same mistakes.

Meng Baixu rescued the history books that had been used to prop up tables. Why did everyone refuse to read? No wonder the righteous path was so arrogant and rampant.

He spread the book open on the table and sat very straight, his back proper and handsome.

His newly dyed cloud-smoke-gray hair looked like a faint wisp of smoke, spread across his thin back and scattering at his slender waist, winding like flowing clouds.

If Zhongli Yun saw this, he would surely sigh that the master and disciple’s posture while reading was like looking into a mirror.

The Great Elder had never taught him history. Meng Baixu could not be like the Left Protector, listing the enemies’ treasures as if they were family heirlooms.

If he had recognized the spirit-devouring insect, the Heavenly Thunder Pearls, and the Heaven-and-Earth Longevity Ring back when he was at the bottom of the cold pond, he could have clung to Wen Tingshu and made him tell the origins of these things.

A firsthand account would definitely have been more detailed than the Left Protector’s.

During his three months on Hengxue Mountain, Wen Tingshu rarely mentioned the past. Even that time Meng Baixu accidentally asked about his parents, Wen Tingshu only said, “You would not know them.”

The more Meng Baixu thought about it, the angrier he became. He slapped the table angrily.

What did that old thing mean?

Did he think Meng Baixu was too young?

When Meng Baixu passed through the mortal world, he had noticed that old ladies at the village entrance talked with other seventy-year-olds, and laundry women by the river who were thirty talked with other thirty-year-olds.

Seventy-year-olds and thirty-year-olds had nothing to talk about.

A five-hundred-year-old and a twenty-year-old had even less to talk about.

Thinking carefully, on Hengxue Mountain, he had always been the one who talked more.

Next time they met, he would be mute.

He would no longer share everything with Wen Tingshu.

Wang Mingyue came in carrying the chicken soup. She had just put it down when she heard a slap on the table, and several drops of chicken soup even spilled out.

“What happened? Who provoked our little Sect Leader? For the children’s sake, let’s not lower ourselves to their level first. Drink the chicken soup first.”

The moment Meng Baixu heard “children,” his anger instantly vanished.

Hmph. Go ahead, Wen Tingshu, keep your mouth shut. This sect leader also has a huge matter he is hiding from you.

The fresh, fragrant aroma of chicken soup entered his nose. Meng Baixu took out a fresh meat naan from his qiankun pouch and dipped the somewhat hardened, cooled naan into the hot chicken soup. After absorbing the soup, the naan became soft.

Meng Baixu took a bite and muttered softly, “Auntie Mingyue, a hundred-year-old and a six-hundred-year-old should have something to talk about, right?”

For a mortal to live to one hundred was already extraordinary and worthy of great respect.

When he reached one hundred, the difference between him and six-hundred-year-old Wen Tingshu would not be that big.

Fortunately, the cultivation years were long.

He might as well go find Wen Tingshu when he turned one hundred.

Wang Mingyue said, “What hundred and six hundred? Sect Leader, what are you eating? Isn’t that cold naan? How can you eat cold things while pregnant? If you want to eat it, tell Auntie. Auntie will make it fresh for you.”

Meng Baixu said, “It’s not the same.”

Wang Mingyue said, “Auntie can make it exactly the same.”

Meng Baixu said, “This was made by Wen Tingshu.”

Wang Mingyue was puzzled. “Is there spiritual power in the naan?”

She was only a mortal. Even if you gave her ten years, she would not be able to understand whether there was any mystery in this ordinary-looking naan.

Meng Baixu: “…”

There was not.

Wang Mingyue asked, “There isn’t?”

“I just want to eat it cold.”

Meng Baixu broke apart the naan, which was as big as his face, wanting to soak half of it in the chicken soup.

With a dingling, something glittering gold fell out of the broken naan and rolled across the table.

Wang Mingyue’s eyes brightened. “So there are gold coins inside the naan.”

Meng Baixu picked up the round, thin gold coin.

Why had Wen Tingshu put this inside the naan?

Was he worried Meng Baixu would spend all his money on the road, and when he was hungry enough to eat the naan, he would discover the gold coin inside and be able to buy food and drink again?

Wen Tingshu did things in such an old-fashioned way.

Worrying for nothing. This sect leader could not spend all his money in eight lifetimes.

Wang Mingyue said, “Sect Master Wen has such original ideas. No wonder Sect Leader likes eating naan.”

The corner of Meng Baixu’s mouth hooked up. At least Wen Tingshu had helped this sect leader regain a little face.

***

Wen Tingshu entered seclusion and refused to be disturbed in order to control more puppets at the same time.

In the past, whenever Lanshe said he wanted to eat something, he could immediately send a puppet to the most authentic place in the mortal world to learn it. Sometimes, when Lanshe came back at noon and talked to him, it did not affect the puppet studying in the back kitchen of a restaurant how to remove fish bones.

But once there were too many puppets, and his main attention was outside, he could no longer care for his main body on Hengxue Mountain.

Wen Tingshu placed himself at the bottom of the cold pond.

His main body was like something frozen for ten thousand years, unmoving and unfed.

His puppets ran outside.

The puppet that blocked the sword had lost breath too early and had not managed to finish saying “don’t go.”

Wen Tingshu thought that at the very least, he had to say these words to Lanshe.

He did not care whether his disciple was the Fuguang Sect leader or not. Between them, there was no separation between righteous and evil. He would forever be Lanshe’s Shifu.

But he was the Hengxue Sect’s Sect Master. He could not say this before everyone under heaven and shake the righteous path’s beliefs.

At the very least, he should look at Lanshe’s life in the Fuguang Sect.

Back then, he had wanted Meng Baixu to follow Zhongli Yun and learn a little about managing the Hengxue Sect, but Meng Baixu had refused in every possible way. He was so young. How was he supposed to deal with a group of demons whose ages and seniority were all above his?

They were not good people. Otherwise, why would they have made their Sect Leader personally go undercover in the Hengxue Sect?

At the very least, he should support Lanshe once, who had established his own household at such a young age.

Meng Baixu had left by holding Xie Jing hostage, stirring up the Xie family’s feud. Wen Tingshu had already sent Zhongli Yun to negotiate with Xie Shouzhuo. Not all Xie family members could let go. If Meng Baixu encountered Xie family members seeking revenge, Wen Tingshu could still shamelessly use his identity as Xie Tongchen’s close friend to mediate.

But he could not leave Hengxue Mountain.

Before, it was for the cultivation continent. From now on, it was also for his disciple, who made a living through this.

Only if he sat steadily on Hengxue Mountain would the secret realms remain stable, and only then would Lanshe, who entered and exited the secret realms, be safe.

Wen Tingshu prided himself on being learned and knowledgeable, yet he did not even know Guiye City’s location.

He only vaguely remembered the direction Meng Fuguang fled after he defeated him back then.

After the sword-blocking puppet died, he immediately sent out several waves of puppets with spiritual power. This was the best chance he had to catch up to Lanshe. Unfortunately, Lanshe had set up an array in Xitai Village. Anything that approached would be reduced to ashes.

Wen Tingshu could only follow the direction of Guiye City in his memory and continue controlling puppets with spiritual power to search.

The cultivation world was so vast that with a mortal body, one could walk for three years and still not touch its borders.

One puppet with spiritual power was equal to a thousand ordinary puppets. It could ride a sword for a thousand li, and in the blink of an eye, spread across the Nine Provinces.

Lanshe was someone who could not stay idle. He would definitely go out to play.

Cultivators could not change their appearance. He would encounter him. He would see him.

This act would consume enormous spiritual power. Aside from leaving enough spiritual power to serve as the heavenly pillar, Wen Tingshu poured the rest without reservation into the puppets.

***

“Closed seclusion? Closed seclusion?”

After Zhongli Yun went back, the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong with Wen Tingshu.

If Wen Tingshu was the green mountain of the cultivation world, standing tall and unaging, and a calm, vast, all-embracing lake, then Meng Baixu was the snow that made the green mountain’s hair turn white, and the wind that made the still water ripple.

The great Sect Master’s black hair had gained a few white strands, and his usually unworried brows were also furrowed.

Would Wen Tingshu really let this go?

As the head most trusted by Wen Tingshu, Zhongli Yun knew of Wen Tingshu’s responsibility of using his body in place of the pillar, and he also knew that Wen Tingshu was skilled in the art of puppetry.

Wen Tingshu would definitely go look for Meng Baixu.

Zhongli Yun quickly returned and stood below the mountain gate, only to discover that Wen Tingshu had set a restriction. Even he could not enter.

“It seems you don’t want the Hengxue Sect either.”

Zhongli Yun sighed. If the Sect Master used spiritual power to shape puppets, once there was any disturbance on Hengxue Mountain that affected his main body and he could not retrieve spiritual power in time to protect himself, it would severely damage his yuan core.

Wen Tingshu knew this perfectly well, yet he insisted on acting against heaven.

After thinking about it, Zhongli Yun ordered all cultivators to reinforce an extra layer of array outside Hengxue Mountain to protect Hengxue Mountain from danger. He also changed Liu Xishi’s arrest warrant into a bounty.

Pulling out the radish would bring out the mud.

This was the only thing he could do for the Sect Master.

***

“That damned Zhongli Yun.”

Liu Xishi sighed. Why was the difference between people so huge?

The Sect Leader had gone undercover and nothing had happened to him, yet the Hengxue Sect was spending fifty thousand spirit stones to buy Liu Xishi’s whereabouts.

The Left Protector said, “Just stay honestly in Guiye City and nothing will happen.”

Liu Xishi said, “You still have the leisure to practice calligraphy. You look more and more like an orthodox cultivator to me. You need to be shocked a little.”

The Left Protector put down the brush. “There has to be someone in the entire Fuguang Sect who reads. If you do not read, you will easily be deceived by the righteous path.”

Liu Xishi said, “Say it. Why did you call me here?”

The Left Protector’s brows and eyes were tinged with worry. “Have you not noticed that the saint children in the Sect Leader’s belly require a terrifying amount of spiritual power?”

It was only because their Sect Leader had profound spiritual power. Otherwise…

Liu Xishi said, “Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes. The children of the Sect Leader and Sect Master Wen naturally—”

The Left Protector said, “The Fuguang Sect has never had twins.”

Liu Xishi fell silent for a moment. “You mean to advise the Sect Leader to abort one?”

The Left Protector said, “You go advise him.”

Liu Xishi said, “I already know the result without advising.”

Wen Tingshu’s children—there was no way the Sect Leader would abort them.

The Left Protector said, “Our cultivation is below the Sect Leader’s, so we cannot send spiritual power to assist him.”

Liu Xishi said, “Then are we supposed to find Wen Tingshu? Our Sect Leader cares about face. How about… giving the Sect Leader Fusang tree sap?”

Fusang was the legendary divine tree where the Golden Crow rose and set, supreme and extremely yang. Its sap could replenish innate deficiency.

There was only one in the world, and it was in Guiye City.

Twenty years ago, when Meng Fuguang transmitted the little Sect Leader to Guiye City, Meng Baixu had also carried a jade cicada on him.

This kind of token was often related to one’s origins, but in the entire cultivation world, no one had heard of any family whose totem was a cicada.

Meng Fuguang was deep and scheming, his mind strange and unpredictable. Trying to understand his meaning was harder than ascending to the heavens. The sect members thought bitterly for three days and nights, when suddenly, a cicada cried outside the window.

In Guiye City lived a kind of cicada. As larvae, they hid underground for twenty years. Once they broke through the soil, their cry amazed the world.

The sect members suddenly understood. So the great Sect Leader wanted them to be like cicadas, hiding underground and keeping a low profile.

Cicadas lived by drinking tree sap.

Inspired by this, the Left Protector cut some Fusang tree sap and fed it to the frail little Sect Leader. As expected, it suited him, and his body grew better by the day.

When Liu Xishi mentioned it, the Left Protector nodded approvingly. “Then you go get some.”

Liu Xishi: “…”

He had deliberately been waiting for Liu Xishi to say it.

A flock of divine birds roosted in the Fusang tree. They either pecked at one’s eyes or pecked at one’s butt, making a person extremely miserable.

The Left Protector said, “When the Sect Leader was born, you went to the Hengxue Sect to enjoy life. In the entire sect, you’re the only one who hasn’t been pecked.”

Liu Xishi said, “Who said I enjoyed life? There are three hardships in life: punting boats, forging iron, and grinding tofu.”

Half a day later.

Meng Baixu looked at the familiar bowl of pitch-black tree sap in front of him. The bitter taste left on his tongue seemed to make a comeback.

“Do I have to drink it?”

Wang Mingyue skillfully prepared candied fruit. “You have to.”

Meng Baixu wrinkled his nose. He was a mature adult now. For the sake of nourishing the pregnancy, he would drink it.

Meng Baixu poured it down in one gulp, then quickly took out a sugar bun Wen Tingshu had made and gnawed on it.

Wang Mingyue felt terribly distressed.

So whether mortal or cultivator, being pregnant with twins was extremely difficult. The Sect Leader was visibly growing thinner.

Thinness was only the outward sign. The Left Protector had said that the Sect Leader’s cultivation was also declining.

Their anticipation for the saint children cooled because of the Sect Leader’s weight loss. Even the Great Elder stopped speaking.

Meng Baixu said, “Auntie, no need to worry. After drinking this medicine, I feel my spiritual power has recovered a little.”

Wang Mingyue said, “Our Xu-bao has suffered. I even said good things about Wen Tingshu before.”

Meng Baixu said, “The sugar buns he made are delicious.”

Meng Baixu drank Fusang water for three months, and he also ate sugar buns for three months.

He had made Wen Tingshu prepare three months’ worth, and there really was three months’ worth.

His cultivation was repeatedly pulled back and forth along a warning line by the Fusang tree. Meng Baixu could clearly feel his spiritual power declining, but he did not care too much. He could just cultivate again later.

The more he lost, the less Wen Tingshu would lose.

One day in November, he reached into his qiankun pouch and did not find any sugar buns. There were only steamed buns, flower rolls, cornmeal buns, sesame naan…

Meng Baixu froze. At the same time, he suddenly realized that the loss of spiritual power inside his body had stopped and had even slowly recovered a little.

“Left Protector, I don’t need to drink Fusang tree sap anymore.”

The Left Protector felt his pulse and let out a heavy breath of relief. “Indeed.”

Now it was Wen Tingshu’s turn.

Meng Baixu tore at the skin of a bun.

Wen Tingshu’s cultivation was unfathomably deep. Recently, there had been no news of him either. He should be obediently staying in seclusion on Hengxue Mountain, right?

When the little cubs inherited spiritual power from Wen Tingshu, it would not be like inside Meng Baixu’s body, where they felt safe and slowly absorbed. Instead, it would be more like a one-time transaction.

After all, spiritual power was a cultivator’s foundation. Not every cultivator was willing to split spiritual power for the next generation. Once a cultivator noticed a little cub stealing spiritual power, the fetus might face a calamity of annihilation.

***

Year Yisi, November twenty-first.

Heavy snow fell in the central courtyard. Overnight, thousands upon thousands of trees turned white.