Chapter 53: Qian Daoliu Grows a Brain?
After that confrontation, three days passed. When Qian Xunji opened his eyes, he could still smell a faint herbal fragrance permeating the room. The air felt more humid than usual; beneath him, much of the bed was damp.
Smack. Smack.
He patted the backside—almost perfectly shaped and pearly as mutton-fat jade—of the beauty curled in his arms. "Don't sleep anymore. The sun's already up. We should go acquire your seventh ring."
Ah Yin sleepily opened her lovely eyes; the moment she sat up, she realized her whole body was limp and powerless. "Can't I sleep a bit longer?"
Grumbling, she regretted preparing medicinal baths to reinforce Qian Xunji's constitution—he'd become far stronger in every way.
"Your spirit's rested enough, but your body hasn't recovered. With a bit of cultivation, you'll feel better, right? Your Blue Silver Emperor's healing ability is only slightly weaker than a same-level Nine Heart Flowering Apple."
Hearing that, Ah Yin retrieved clothes from her storage soul tool. The ones she wore earlier still lay on the floor, now reduced to scraps. After taking the whale glue, Qian Xunji had wasted no time letting hormones take over. As for saving clothes, neither of them was concerned about a spare set.
Qian Xunji changed into fresh attire and opened the window to admire the coastal view.
Moments later, Ah Yin abruptly sprang upright, a look of shock and delight on her face.
"You're already fully recovered? We really slept quite a while," Qian Xunji said, not turning around. "If you're feeling fine, let's go get that seventh spirit ring."
"Actually… I can't get my seventh ring."
"Why?" Qian Xunji turned to see Ah Yin rubbing her lower abdomen.
Suddenly, a realization dawned on him. "Ah Yin, you…"
She nodded, maternal warmth radiating in her eyes. "I sense a small life inside me."
Since Ah Yin had reached maturity, she needed to hunt soul beasts for those last three rings. But the process of absorbing a ring heavily taxes the body, and the fetus would likewise be impacted. A fragile fetus couldn't withstand that torment and would almost certainly perish.
"Then let's return to the Wuhun Hall. If Father knows you're pregnant, he won't dare do anything."
Qian Xunji felt relieved. Indeed, the reason he took Ah Yin traveling until she hit maturity, instead of returning straightaway, was to wait until she became pregnant. Though she no longer emitted a soul beast aura once fully mature, and the Acacia Vermillion masked what little remained, Qian Xunji still feared Qian Daoliu's reaction if he discovered her real identity. Even Qian Xunji at rank 95 couldn't stop an Extreme Douluo if he decided to execute Ah Yin. But if she carried the old man's future grandchild, Qian Daoliu surely wouldn't kill them both.
Why all this caution? Could Qian Xunji's cleverness or glib tongue not persuade Qian Daoliu?
He wasn't so sure. After all, Bibi Dong had slaughtered Qian Daoliu's grandson, viciously abused his granddaughter, and Qian Daoliu had stayed silent for over thirty years, feeling "guilty" toward Bibi Dong, wanting Qian Renxue to reconcile with her mother. Who knew how his mind worked?
Ah Yin frowned. "What do you mean? Your father—what might he do?"
"You'll see. Once we're back in the Hall, leave it all to me." Qian Xunji took her hand and rose into the air, leaving via the window toward the Wuhun Hall.
One day later, deep within the Wuhun Hall's Consecration Palace…
Qian Daoliu sensed Qian Xunji's angelic presence—significantly stronger than a year ago. He nodded in approval. At least Qian Xunji hadn't just indulged in women these past months; apparently, he had cultivated diligently. Still, Qian Daoliu was puzzled. Qian Xunji had only just hit 95 before leaving; in one year, with time spent traveling, reaching the peak of 95 seemed extremely fast. But his attention soon drifted to the smaller presence beside Qian Xunji, exuding some life-essence aura.
He left the Consecration Palace, intending to meet his future daughter-in-law in person.
A minute later, in a remote corridor of the Pope's Palace, the atmosphere was stifling. Qian Daoliu, meeting Ah Yin at close range, saw through her shape-shifted soul beast identity at once, now that she was beyond the effect of the Acacia Vermillion. So her full maturity form and its aura concealment were pointless against Qian Daoliu's keen eye. The Acacia Vermillion merely masked "soul beast aura," not her identity.
"Jier, give me an explanation."
Qian Daoliu's gaze flitted coldly over Ah Yin. She trembled, powerless before an Extreme Douluo. Even in her prime as a hundred-thousand-year beast, she'd be no match.
Qian Xunji stepped in front, shielding her. "Father, Ah Yin's indeed a soul beast that's taken human form—but she's matured and is now truly human."
"Rubbish! Once a beast, always a beast. 'Matured form'? 'Human'? No human leaves behind a spirit ring and spirit bone when they die. Such feeble trickery might fool lesser soul masters, but not me!" Qian Daoliu snapped.
"It's for the future of our Six-Winged Angel line!" Qian Xunji insisted.
"The future, you say? Enlighten me. How is defiling our line with a soul beast for its future?" Qian Daoliu barked in anger and derision. If the Divine Ancestor found out, he might well revoke Qian Xunji's martial soul and unleash divine judgment—and Qian Daoliu wouldn't hesitate.
"Father, that's where your blame lies too."
"My fault?"
"If Mother had been more talented, I wouldn't have such limited aptitude. I had to try something else."
Qian Daoliu fell silent. On the matter of maternal affection, he'd always felt he'd failed Qian Xunji. Indeed, Xunji's mother had only possessed rank 7 innate power. After giving birth to him, she was drained by the Six-Winged Angel, dying soon after. But there was nothing he could have done—these decades had only produced that one fairly talented, angel-suited female, from whom Qian Xunji was born. No other choice existed.
"Jier, stand aside. Ten years ago, maybe I'd have hesitated, but not now," Qian Daoliu said icily.
In his view, Ah Yin had to die. Even if the hundred-thousand-year ring was wasted, the scandal of mixing the angelic line with a soul beast was intolerable. As for Qian Xunji's future spouse, if the Hall or the continent in the next twenty years produced no suitable partner, the best he could do was pick from the Elders. Even if those women were… well, unremarkable, so be it.
"Why not now? Something happened ten years ago?" Qian Xunji asked, puzzled.
"Celestial herbs."
Qian Xunji's eyes narrowed—he'd overlooked that. Qian Daoliu had grown a brain. With the discovery of immortal herbs, they could nourish a suitable woman's innate potential, no longer requiring a soul beast mother for the child.
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