Pregnant with the Immortal Venerable's Child After Divorce - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: How Dare You Hide Such an Important Thing…

Ying Yunxian was very confused.

His spiritual beast was not an ordinary little dog only capable of guarding a home. If the person approaching posed no threat, it would give a warning; if the person was a threat, it would attack, unless the opponent’s cultivation was so high that it could completely suppress the spiritual beast’s senses.

However, there hadn’t been anyone like that in the Seven Stars Sect recently, so how did the person sneak in without a sound?

He cautiously grabbed Yan Zhu, about to tell him to be careful, only to see Yan Zhu wave his hand and reassure him: “It’s fine.”

Ying Yunxian didn’t know, but Yan Zhu could somewhat guess.

The two walked out together and saw a person standing outside, dressed in black with a gloomy expression, looking like a ghost crawling out of hell.

“I knew it was you,” Yan Zhu said. “Why are you following me in the middle of the night? Kong Fu.”

Kong Fu did not answer, only pointing not far away, where Qi Ran’yin and A Fu were also standing. Both of their expressions were also a bit strange.

Yan Zhu immediately felt deflated.

He had tried so desperately to hide it for only a few days; he wondered what the point was.

He glanced at Ying Yunxian: “A Fu has an artifact on him that conceals his aura, an item belonging to Little Senior Brother. It’s normal that your spiritual beast didn’t detect it. It’s fine, I’ll handle it, you carry on.”

He said, pulling Kong Fu along, and went to call the other two, but A Fu didn’t move.

He stood in place, looking at Yan Zhu and uttering something, his voice very low, too low to discern any emotion, like a monologue that drifted to Yan Zhu’s ear: “Is it true?”

Yan Zhu helplessly said: “Let’s go back and talk.”

A Fu still didn’t move. He looked at Ying Yunxian, but before he could speak, Yan Zhu interrupted: “Don’t make me say it a second time.” After saying that, perhaps feeling his tone was too harsh, Yan Zhu softened his voice slightly, “We’ll talk properly when we get back. Let’s go.”

A Fu reluctantly followed.

…

Upon returning to their residence, Qi Ran’yin immediately rushed up to him, asking with a solemn expression: “What does ‘getting rid of the child’ mean?”

Yan Zhu raised his hand, preparing to set up a barrier, but Kong Fu was quicker and set up several layers first.

Seeing the three of them with glum faces, Yan Zhu actually laughed: “It means what it says. I’m pregnant.”

Although he had just heard it, Qi Ran’yin still felt dizzy hearing the confirmation: “You’ve already decided to separate from him, how could you let something like this happen?!”

Yan Zhu had no choice but to explain the situation.

Qi Ran’yin felt stifled after hearing it: “I told you before, don’t grow all those messy spiritual plants! If you do, you need to classify them properly! You just wouldn’t listen!!”

“I properly set up restrictions,” Yan Zhu folded his arms. “Accidents happen in everything, just like how I didn’t anticipate you secretly following me!”

“It’s only because you wouldn’t tell us,” Qi Ran’yin said angrily. “It’s a good thing we followed! How dare you hide such an important thing?!”

Yan Zhu, however, still had an indifferent attitude: “I don’t plan to give birth, so what’s important about it?”

Although Qi Ran’yin didn’t know the specifics, he could guess most of it and was so angry he stamped his feet: “How is it not important?! Of course, your body is the priority! If there’s no way to deal with it, then give birth! Are you afraid you can’t afford to raise him?”

Yan Zhu smiled upon hearing that: “Of course, I’m afraid. My cultivation is so low, and I don’t earn much money. When he grows up, if he cultivates, it will be a bottomless pit. I certainly can’t afford to raise him.”

“The Descending Snow Celestial Venerable definitely won’t ignore it. That bit of resources is nothing to him,” Qi Ran’yin said. “If he is really that ungrateful, there’s still me. I’ll help you raise him.”

“Exactly, if that doesn’t work, he can follow me,” Kong Fu also said. “Having a godson or goddaughter is also great.”

Yan Zhu still just smiled: “It hasn’t even taken shape yet, and you’ve all already made plans.”

“Otherwise?” Qi Ran’yin frowned. “If this matter were that easy to handle, you would have resolved it on the spot. Now that we’ve found out, you were definitely going to take random medicine, right?!”

He was actually completely right.

Yan Zhu looked at him guiltily: “No, I wasn’t.”

“You…”

“I’ve said it already. I won’t mess around anymore. Yunxian will handle everything,” Yan Zhu’s tone was gentle, but his attitude remained very firm.

Qi Ran’yin had known him for many years and knew that although Yan Zhu was good-tempered and easy to talk to, he was actually incredibly stubborn deep down. Once he made up his mind, nothing anyone said would help. What made it worse was that his emotions were very stable; he wouldn’t shout or loudly refute, which meant that when facing him, one couldn’t even argue with a too-excited voice or attitude. They could only suppress their temper and talk to him.

But talking was pointless.

Knowing that continuing to persuade would be like hitting a wall, Qi Ran’yin could only give up and turn his attention to Kong Fu, who was standing by the window with his arms crossed.

But Kong Fu only gave a vague acknowledgment.

Truthfully, he hoped Yan Zhu would never be entangled with Wen Sucheng again, and a child would inevitably tie the two together. Therefore, if possible, he did not wish for Yan Zhu to keep the child and had no intention of arguing for it.

Qi Ran’yin could only turn his attention to A Fu.

But A Fu, who was usually very concerned about Yan Zhu’s affairs, was very quiet at the moment. He sat by the window, staring outside, his expression serious and cold, seemingly overlapping with Qi Ran’yin’s impression of Wen Sucheng.

“A Fu,” Qi Ran’yin called out. When he turned around, he said, “Try to persuade your Master.”

But A Fu only lowered his head and said nothing.

Qi Ran’yin left in frustration.

Yan Zhu looked at Kong Fu: “You should head back too.”

Kong Fu glanced at the person by the window. Seeing that he wasn’t moving and Yan Zhu wasn’t urging him, he didn’t press the matter, only saying, “I’ll leave the barrier here.”

Then he also left.

…

Only then did Yan Zhu walk over and sit next to A Fu, reaching out to touch his head, a faint smile spreading across his face: “What’s wrong? You’ve been gloomy since we got back.”

A Fu still kept his head down and didn’t answer. The moonlight streamed through the window and scattered over him, like a layer of silvery-white frost, making him look very cold.

Like snow.

It was then that Yan Zhu once again felt that A Fu was truly very much like Wen Sucheng.

“You also want to persuade me to keep the child?” Yan Zhu asked him.

A Fu looked at him: “Why doesn’t Master want to?”

“I can’t afford to raise him,” Yan Zhu chuckled.

A Fu did not answer, staring fixedly at the person in front of him, his eyes filled with stubbornness. The intense emotion instantly wiped away that feeling of similarity to Wen Sucheng.

The smile on Yan Zhu’s face also faded a little: “I won’t keep it.”

“Why?” A Fu asked.

“Why?” Yan Zhu seemed to be repeating his words, but his tone was not questioning like A Fu’s, but rather perplexed, even unbelievable: “Why do all of you talk about having a child as if it’s picking up a kitten to take home?”

A Fu was startled.

Yan Zhu continued: “Am I the kind of person who would make rash decisions just because I separated from Little Senior Brother?”

A Fu hesitated upon hearing this: “Yes.”

Although Yan Zhu was mostly well-behaved and wouldn’t do anything excessive, he sometimes threw a childish tantrum and stubbornly, against all advice, did things he shouldn’t.

“You’re becoming less and less adorable,” Yan Zhu sighed. “I’m not trying to spite Little Senior Brother; I genuinely don’t want it.”

“Why?” A Fu asked again. Thinking of Yan Zhu’s earlier words, he hesitated: “Senior Martial Brother will definitely give him the best resources. If he wishes, he could become as powerful as Senior Martial Brother, become the strongest swordsman, become the next Sect Master of the Bright Heart Sect. The disciples will also worship him.”

His speech was somewhat slow as he spoke, his voice even getting quieter. He was talking about something very impressive, yet somehow conveyed a sense of shame.

Yan Zhu listened quietly. When he heard about becoming the next Celestial Venerable, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Become the next Wen Sucheng, and then what?” Yan Zhu asked him.

A Fu was stumped by the question.

Yes, and then what?

Does the world need that many Wen Suchengs?

“And then he’ll continue to be the Sect Master of the Bright Heart Sect,” Yan Zhu looked at A Fu, his eyes curving into a beautiful arc. His thin lips parted, uttering words that were colder than the moonlight: “A Fu, my mother didn’t give birth to me so that I could give birth to the next Sect Master of the Bright Heart Sect.”

A Fu’s face instantly turned pale. He quickly shook his head, stammering: “I-I didn’t mean that, Master, please don’t misunderstand.”

Seeing him like this, Yan Zhu asked: “It seems you know about my mother.”

A Fu pursed his lips and fell silent.

“What do you know about her?” Yan Zhu asked. “That she was a very good person?”

A Fu explained: “I’ve only heard that she and the Sect Master were very… very loving, but she passed away from illness. I didn’t mean to bring up Master’s painful memories.”

“Only that?” Yan Zhu said. “Did no one tell you that she became ill because she gave birth to me?”

A Fu was silent again, but without him saying anything, Yan Zhu knew he had definitely heard.

This was no secret. The elders of the sect all knew, and they passed the story down to the next generation, one generation after another, as if it were some remarkable secret of the sect.

Yan Zhu reached out and stroked A Fu’s hair, saying softly: “I don’t want another child. Having you is enough.”

A Fu’s hands immediately clenched.

For a moment, he wanted to reveal his identity, wanted to tell Yan Zhu that A Fu was not their child, and that the only child they had was the one in his belly. He also wanted to ask him, as Wen Sucheng, if he could keep the child.

But he couldn’t. Yan Zhu might listen to A Fu for a few words, but if he changed his identity, Yan Zhu might run away.

Yan Zhu looked at his stubborn, lowered head and guessed that he still couldn’t accept it. He said somewhat helplessly: “A Fu, I never thought about how powerful you could become.”

A Fu looked up at him.

“When I first found you, I only wanted you to survive,” Yan Zhu recalled the time he first found A Fu, and a slight smile involuntarily appeared on his lips. “You were truly tiny back then, and even your breathing was faint. I had to check on you every hour, afraid that you would die when I wasn’t looking. Later, when Little Senior Brother took you away, I even cried secretly for a long time.”

A Fu would not know these things, but Wen Sucheng did.

He also remembered that time.

The day Yan Zhu brought the little cat back, he knew the kitten wouldn’t survive, but Yan Zhu didn’t seem to think so. He found a soft pillow for the kitten, covered it with a small blanket, prepared milk and elixirs, dissolved them, and fed them to the kitten little by little, hoping it would get better.

But facts proved that Wen Sucheng was right. The little cat died that night, passing away shortly after Yan Zhu checked on it and lay back down in bed.

It wasn’t because Yan Zhu didn’t take proper care of it; it was simply its fate.

Wen Sucheng had initially thought that Yan Zhu would be sad when he woke up and found out, but he would quickly get over it. He didn’t need to intervene.

But when he thought of Yan Zhu feeding the kitten milk, he hesitated. Then, on an impulse, he cast a small spell on the kitten’s corpse, sealing a wisp of a lingering soul floating nearby inside the little cat’s body.

He thought that after a few days, when Yan Zhu saw that the kitten hadn’t improved, its eventual death would not make him so sad.

After all, he had tried his best, hadn’t he?

But Yan Zhu became more serious and more caring day by day toward the kitten. When he was at a loss, he even came to him for help.

That was one of the few requests Yan Zhu had made of him. Wen Sucheng didn’t want to disappoint him, but the kitten was already dead. Even if Wen Sucheng was omnipotent, he couldn’t resurrect a dead kitten, nor could he keep the residual soul sealed in the cat corpse indefinitely. It would be discovered sooner or later.

The best solution, then, was to give Yan Zhu a new cat.

One that was exactly the same.

It wasn’t easy to find, but he could create one using a Divine Consciousness Clone (分神 – a portion of one’s soul/consciousness).

When Yan Zhu saw the lively kitten, the smile on his face was as brilliant as the sun. It was in that moment that Wen Sucheng decided he had to keep this a secret forever.

He wasn’t good at making Yan Zhu happy, and neither was the kitten.

But the kitten was fluffy, and Yan Zhu’s mood would improve when he saw it. He didn’t need to do anything special; that was enough.

However, the lifespan of the kitten was limited. Wen Sucheng could only pretend that the kitten was diligently cultivating.

And a diligently cultivating kitten had to learn to take on a human form (化形). Once it did, it could apprentice under Yan Zhu and logically learn the sword from him. This way, the Divine Consciousness Clone could also protect Yan Zhu when they went out.

“I actually didn’t intend for you to become very powerful by learning from Little Senior Brother,” Yan Zhu said. “I initially thought that as long as the little cat ate and played happily every day, that would be enough, even with a short lifespan. But you took on a human form, and for a while, there were frequent reports of demon cultivators being attacked outside. I heard that some people wanted to form contracts with demon cultivators to raise them as spiritual beasts. I was worried something would happen to you, so I sent you to Little Senior Brother, hoping you would at least learn some self-defense skills.”

A Fu said: “I learned very well. I can protect Master.”

Yan Zhu smiled: “Yes, you learned very well, but I still wish you were like an ordinary little cat, just eating and playing happily every day. It’s okay not to be powerful; it’s okay not to be a remarkable swordsman. That’s my selfish desire, which is why I didn’t let you formally apprentice under Little Senior Brother back then.”

A Fu was stunned. He had thought that Yan Zhu did that simply because he liked kittens.

He vaguely understood Yan Zhu’s meaning. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Yan Zhu say: “Raising a child is not just about money.”

If he were truly to have a child, he hoped that child could grow up happily, like a free bird, going wherever they wanted and doing whatever they wished.

Not becoming Wen Sucheng, nor becoming him.

…

It seems that the conversation has brought up deep-seated emotional issues for Yan Zhu regarding his own mother and his feelings about A Fu, which is actually Wen Sucheng’s clone.