EHRPS CH184

Tu Tianba had no idea how terrifying and ethically detached his words sounded, completely shocking both the man and the Pill Fetus inside the man’s belly.

Especially the Pill Fetus.

A piercing wave of murderous intent pierced through flesh and blood, accurately blanketing it, bringing a sense of crisis that could not be resisted. Extreme panic forced it to seek shelter from its mother body.

Thus, like a true infant, it gently waved its newly grown hands and limbs, attempting to evoke the mother body’s pity.

However, the next instant.

Tu Tianba glanced at the man’s abdomen again.

The Pill Fetus instantly quieted down like a chicken, hurriedly curling up its hands and feet while tucking its head away, not daring to move a muscle.

Therefore, A-Hui’s focus lingered on that brief fetal movement for only a fraction of a second before his mind involuntarily replayed the complaint the youth had just blurted out…

It could only be described as world-shocking.

Want, want to be given birth to by himself?

How do you give birth??

How can you… give birth?!

The man’s expression froze slightly, his pupils slightly scattered. His Adam’s apple rolled unconsciously, as if swallowing back the shock that rushed to his lips, yet tightening his otherwise smooth jawline into a cyan-jade sharpness.

Following that, A-Hui retrospectively reviewed the expression the youth wore when complaining—full of grievances, his eyes looking as if they had caught a fierce fire that burned intensely, spreading all the way from his abdomen to his face. When speaking, his expression was utterly focused.

The main point was, his eyeballs weren’t rolling around erratically.

A-Hui: “…”

Tu Tianba waited for a moment without receiving a reply. He watched as the man’s fingers gripping the edge of the bed suddenly tightened, his knuckles turning slightly white, pulling the bedsheets into fine creases.

The next instant.

The man straightened his neck to look over, his gaze carrying a trace of wretchedness, his entire body resembling the final bit of stubbornness of a bamboo branch outlined by meticulous brushwork before being bent flat by a torrential storm. His tone was hesitant,

“…You were just joking, right?”

Watching him, Tu Tianba felt an inexplicable twitch in his lower abdomen. An indescribable feeling.

He liked the man’s beauty, and he liked looking at his flustered, at-a-loss expression. A certain mischievous streak seemed to have been triggered, and he couldn’t pull it back.

“Hehe.”

Tu Tianba chuckled twice involuntarily.

Little did he know, A-Hui had been stared at by those large, round black eyes for so long, and hearing this chuckle that seemed to bubble over with bad intentions, he felt even more astonished.

His breath hitched, and he couldn’t help but pursue the question:

“…You were joking, right?”

Tu Tianba’s thoughts shifted, suddenly realizing what the other was worrying about. Yet he deliberately hemmed and hawed for a good while before sighing and saying,

“Of course I was joking.”

His sigh was exceptionally sincere and lifelike, without a single drop of insincerity.

Tu Tianba was no fool. He felt his calculation was shrewd, and he even openly and boldly confessed to the man:

“If I had you give birth to me all over again, you’d definitely lose your life. Even if you didn’t kick the bucket, by the time I turned into an infant, how could I still dual cultivate with you?”

“Hmph, there’s no way I could wait that long…!”

But if they maintained the status quo, not only could he dual cultivate with the man as soon as possible, but he could also obtain the mission reward, which was rebuilding his physical body.

Even an idiot would know how to choose!

Inside the system space.

The white orb once again executed a tactical backward lean, traumatized by the lunatic host’s explanation. The deep underlying meaning behind it was filled with an inhuman quality, closer to primal bestiality.

So…

The host only abandoned the idea because the choice’s resulting outcome wasn’t worth it, rather than because the act itself made no sense?

Terrifying to the core. You couldn’t think about it too deeply—was this the distortion of human nature or the loss of morality?

Is this the gold content of a Demon Lord in the cultivation world?

In contrast, A-Hui—

Compared to that jaw-dropping speech about reproduction, the man now found the words “dual cultivation” sounding so utterly mundane and ordinary, actually generating a bit of peace of mind for him.

Too bizarre.

Tilting his head, Tu Tianba heard the man let out a soft breath and skillfully lean in to eat mouths. While eating right there, he couldn’t help but mock,

“Turns out you’re afraid of this.”

During the speech, he reached out to flick the chain bone on the man’s ear. The chain caused the pearl pendant to sway gently.

“Wow, why are you so cowardly?”

“Relax, I won’t let it stay in your belly for too long, and I won’t stuff myself in either, so you don’t need to be scared.”

After waiting a moment, A-Hui finally pushed his face away. His lips were already red and glossy. Enduring it for a moment, he ultimately couldn’t hold it back and said in a low voice:

“…Who told you to always say these nonsense words, making them sound just like the real thing.”

The flesh on Tu Tianba’s cheeks was squished into a bunch, distorting those round apricot eyes as he half-squinted. “It’s not nonsense.”

He explained in earnest:

“I am really in a rush to dual cultivate!”

A-Hui had been lectured by him day in and day out, long growing used to it and remaining calm on the surface without any hidden embarrassment. Instead, he tentatively asked a question:

“If I’m not willing, what will you do?”

Hearing this, Tu Tianba was utterly shocked: “Why?!!”

A-Hui further explained: “I lost my memory and don’t remember anything clearly. Why don’t we wait until I…”

A hundred percent unwilling, Tu Tianba immediately stiffened his neck and interrupted, “Excuses, all excuses! What waiting for later, I want it right now!”

“I want to dual cultivate you right now!”

A-Hui: “…”

Tu Tianba slipped up his words by a mile, then nimbly steered it back: “Pleh, my mouth was too fast, I mean I want to dual cultivate with you right now!”

Honestly speaking, having figured out the youth’s temperament, A-Hui now deeply doubted whether their relationship was truly what the other claimed. Yet the inexplicable sense of guilt deep in his heart had nowhere to be explained…

And in his subconscious, he didn’t want to draw a clear line with the youth either, as if doing so would trigger something very bad to happen, sending a faint tremor through his heart.

Besides,

A-Hui gazed at the youth who had his face pushed away yet didn’t dodge or evade—one second blinking angrily, the next complaining that his face felt numb from being touched—

His heart instantly softened.

…Forget it.

We’ll deal with it when the time comes.

At least he wouldn’t force it.

Just as the man was gathering his robes back together, the competition jade token that Tu Tianba had casually tossed on the table earlier suddenly flashed with a warm, pristine glow.

Following that, that pristine glow morphed into the Wondrous Immortal Sect’s double-petaled green lotus, floating in mid-air and blooming layer by layer. The petals scattered like stardust, shattering into countless points of light.

But soon, the points of light condensed into a line of seal-script golden characters—

“Si time, third quarter [around 10:15 AM], Fairy Spirit Square.”

By the time Tu Tianba turned back to see those words, the writing dispersed like ripples in water, the points of light turning into mist and flowing back into the jade token.

The first match of the Immortal Sect Grand Competition was about to begin.

Seizing the time, Tu Tianba gave the man a fierce round of eating mouths before shrinking him down with a miniaturization spell and stuffing him into his newly forged magical artifact, swaggering away with him.

Yongge City was surging with crowds, and cultivators were countless.

Treating everyone else as if they didn’t exist, as completely unaware of the gazes cast his way, Tu Tianba walked all the way to the Fairy Spirit Square, where a familiar face crossed his path right in the center of the square.

That aged, veteran cut-sleeve.

Today, he was actually dressed respectably like a normal person.

Hmph, unlike himself, covered from head to toe in gifted items laden with his Dao Companion’s heart’s blood, plus his Dao Companion.

Refreshed and high-spirited, Tu Tianba walked up.

Xu Que froze for a moment, unable to hold back a nosy question,

“Little medical cultivator, you plan to enter the Immortal Sect Grand Competition like this? Isn’t it a bit too flashy?”

“Later, I’ll be teleporting you into the Wondrous Immortal Sect’s back mountain. The Sect Master and all the elders of the Wondrous Immortal Sect are there, alongside elders and disciples from major sects. During the trials, everyone will be observing the situation in the forest through the water mirror. You…”

Tu Tianba: “?”

What kind of nonsense is he barking?

Right at that moment.

The man’s voice suddenly rang in his ear, his tone upright and gentle, tinged with helpless resignation,

“I told you to take some off. Hanging so many ropes and knots all over your body, don’t you find it cumbersome?”

How could Tu Tianba possibly find it too much?

He even felt it wasn’t enough!

·

Wondrous Immortal Sect, Huashi Stage.

Fu Yuesheng stood on the stage, wearing the attire of an Wondrous Immortal Sect inner sect disciple—unlike other disciples, he was draped in accessories from head to toe, mostly expensive magical artifacts, with a small portion bought simply because they looked pretty.

The other junior and senior brothers around him were chatting in low voices about the exam questions, mutually inquiring about the medical and poison mental cultivation methods they had recently acquired.

Listening in, Fu Yuesheng had the mind to chime in with a few words.

But the moment he got close, everyone quieted down, turning instead to greet and exchange pleasantries with him.

It wasn’t that they were giving him the cold shoulder.

Every single one of his senior and junior brothers greeted him with smiling faces, warmly inquiring about his health and reminding him that poisonous miasmas surrounded the back mountain dense forest, filled with hidden dangers…

Yet Fu Yuesheng still sensed a familiar feeling of not being truly accepted.

Smilingly responding with a few words, he unconsciously took two steps back and cast his gaze elsewhere.

The Huashi Stage was a high mountain platform. Tens of thousands of white jade bricks gleamed with a faint cyan radiance, their intaglio double-petaled lotus patterns lifelike, spiritual energy surging through the carved lines.

Above the Huashi Stage stood a higher viewing platform.

Sect Master Fu Xuanwei stood in the center of the platform, her benevolent, merciful appearance featuring white hair and youthful skin.

Surrounding her were the seven elders of the Wondrous Immortal Sect, alongside elders from other allied sects.

Behind each sect’s elder stood a contingent of young disciples, presumably brought along to watch the medical faction trials.

Fu Yuesheng craned his neck to look for a while, failing to find the figure of that wretched old man Xu Que, and secretly curled his lips.

Shifting his gaze, he saw on the other side of the viewing platform a water mirror resembling a heavenly dome, which was a high-tier magical artifact of the sect.

At this moment, the mirror’s surface was shrouded in mist and hadn’t been activated yet.

Behind the water mirror lay a dense forest of towering trees.

That was precisely the location for today’s medical sect trials.

Suddenly, Fu Yuesheng’s peripheral vision caught the golden light of a teleportation array flashing at the edge of the Huashi Stage—he hurriedly turned to look over—

The array could only accommodate two people.

For the sake of the Ten Thousand Dharmas Sect’s face, Xu Que—dressed properly and solemnly—stood in the center of the array, accompanied by a familiar black-clad youth at his side.

The youth stood with a lazy posture, sporting a high ponytail, with several small braids woven into his temples, the red threads vaguely visible.

Around his neck also hung a red string, tethering a colorful spiral shell below it. The string was neither too long nor too short, leaving the spiral shell hanging right in front of his chest.

Further down,

one could see the youth’s belt uniformly hung with a circle of rope knots woven from red string, resembling a string of firecrackers. His two wrists were stacked with an unknown number of crimson string bracelets, piled all the way to the middle of his forearms…

Compared to the blue-and-white disciples of the Wondrous Immortal Sect, the youth was a striking, jarring mix of red and black, looking somewhat unconventional and out of place.

Fu Yuesheng hesitated for a fraction of a second, then bit his lip, clinking and clanking as he walked over, offering a quiet greeting,

“…We meet again.”

Pausing for a moment, before he could figure out what to say next, he heard the youth exceptionally impolitely reach out a hand toward him and demand righteously:

“I almost forgot, return my spirit stone.”

“Didn’t you say you were treating me to food last time? If I paid for it, how could it possibly count as you treating me?”

This was too blunt, utterly devoid of any etiquette.

The problem was, Fu Yuesheng actually brought it.

Pulling that top-tier spirit stone left behind by the youth out of his Qiankun pouch, he handed it back into the other’s palm,

“Oh, here you go.”

Adding in a very quiet voice,

“…Sorry about last time, I talked too much.”

Tu Tianba took the spirit stone, giving it a quick glance to confirm it was indeed the exact one he had tossed out last time. His mood inexplicably improved by several notches.

Moreover, the inexplicable, nameless frustration and anger that had surged up inside him back then had also long since dissipated.

Suddenly remembering something, Tu Tianba cast a serious look at Fu Yuesheng before him. “You…”

Interrupting himself with a casual glance toward the middle-aged man beside him, he asked the young cultivator even more bluntly,

“Have you eaten his mouth?”

In an instant, Fu Yuesheng flushed red.

Xu Que choked, hastily interjecting:

“Hey, you…”

Tu Tianba ignored him, only staring at Fu Yuesheng’s lip-pursing, head-shaking motion, listening to the tinkling pendant rings in his hair chime like wind chimes.

The moment the ringing stopped, Tu Tianba proudly puffed out his chest, his face flashing with an inexplicable sense of pride.

“—Ha.”

__

Author’s Note:

PS: This arc mainly focuses on Xiaoming and A-Hui’s romantic emotional line. There are actually no child-raising plots here. Strictly speaking, it doesn’t count as child-bearing either (he just has extremely tenacious vitality and didn’t completely bite the dust).

PSS: Xiaoming is the only baby of this arc, a priceless baby (feed).

PSSS: Xiaoming is a terrifyingly deep, yet little fool. That terrifying birth talk from the previous chapter counts as the same category of mental pollution as his weird chuckling and laughing. But after saying that, A-Hui already feels that clothes and dual cultivation aren’t that explosive anymore. You can’t think too deeply about whether this guy said it on purpose. Because Xiaoming isn’t a real kid, his subconscious has a rather dark side to it—surviving until now proves everything. And Xiaoming’s XP should already be very obvious (…). Rest assured, this is a comedy arc, primarily romance.

PSSSS: Xiaoming and Xiao Fu can be considered a duo of crouching dragons and phoenixes friendship (…), but Xiao Fu is truly a naive, sweet white flower, while Xiaoming is a sweet black-bellied flower.