After Marrying the Disabled Demon Lord as a Substitute, I Ran Away with His Child - Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Zhu Jiechou didn’t take Zuo Siqiu’s words to heart at all. In fact, he was incredibly understanding. “I know this matter shouldn’t be leaked. If Xuan Mo knew I’d given him a ‘green hat,’ Little Junior Sister’s life would surely be difficult. But wait for Senior Brother; I will definitely rescue you from the Xuan Cloud Sect and let you live a life of freedom and happiness.”

Zuo Siqiu was beyond bewildered!

She was utterly stumped as to how this person could suddenly change into a completely different human being. She didn’t sense any danger or killing intent from Zhu Jiechou, but what was with that dense aura of love and guilt?

Suddenly, Zuo Siqiu remembered that when she was feeding the “Dragon Passion Pill” to the Divine Dragon, she noticed one pill was missing. Could I have accidentally fed it to Zhu Jiechou?

Zuo Siqiu: “…” Is this actually happening?

Because he ate that mysterious passion pill, Zhu Jiechou was acting like a madman, claiming he’d cuckolded Xuan Mo. Zuo Siqiu had a headache; she didn’t dare imagine how furious Xuan Mo would be if he found out.

She decided not to go down the mountain anymore and turned to head back to the Xuan Cloud Sect.

But Zhu Jiechou blocked her. “Little Junior Sister, you haven’t promised me yet—will you come with me?”

Zuo Siqiu didn’t dare confront him head-on. Currently, it was just her and the big rooster; she was no match for Zhu Jiechou. After thinking for a moment, she said ambiguously, “Go finish what you need to do first, then come find me. If you take me away now, you’re just leading me to my death.”

Zhu Jiechou quickly took a step forward and grabbed her wrist. “How could I let you die? You are my most beloved Little Junior Sister, I…”

He suddenly froze mid-sentence, his eyes widening in shock. Then, his fingers clamped tightly onto Zuo Siqiu’s pulse point as he stared at her in disbelief.

As a modern person, Zuo Siqiu wasn’t as sensitive about protecting her “pulse gate” as the locals. She actually thought Zhu Jiechou was taking her pulse to announce she had a terminal illness.

To her surprise, Zhu Jiechou’s shock turned into pure joy. “You’re pregnant with my child!”

Zuo Siqiu: “???” Zuo Siqiu: “!!!”

Zuo Siqiu never expected Zhu Jiechou to say such a thing; her mind was a stampede of ten thousand “grass mud horses” (expletive). She had been avoiding this issue entirely, unwilling to think about it, yet Zhu Jiechou had seen right through it and blurted it out.

The shock caught her completely off guard!

Looking at Zhu Jiechou’s certain expression, Zuo Siqiu herself was dazed. The child definitely couldn’t be Zhu Jiechou’s; they’d had zero intimate contact. But if it wasn’t his, whose was it?

Zuo Siqiu felt a chill. Could it really be Xuan Mo’s? But she and Xuan Mo hadn’t done “those things” either. Or was it that in this cultivation world, one could get pregnant just by dreaming?

What kind of insane settings did the original author write?!

Zuo Siqiu immediately shook off Zhu Jiechou, took a step back, and said warily, “Don’t talk nonsense! There is nothing between us!”

Zhu Jiechou was practically insane with joy! His Little Junior Sister was carrying his child! The Zhu family line would continue!

Seeing her wary gaze, he nodded in agreement. “Right, this cannot be spoken of. I don’t have enough strength to protect you yet, so we can’t let the secret out. Little Junior Sister, wait for me. I will definitely rescue you from the Xuan Cloud Sect so you can focus on the pregnancy!”

Zuo Siqiu’s heart was full of rage. Ignoring everything else, she snapped, “Focus on your head! Just get the hell away from me!”

“Right, right, I’m going!” Zhu Jiechou no longer looked sinister; the smile on his face was that of a man delighted to be a father.

Zuo Siqiu was having an internal breakdown. What is wrong with this world?

However, after walking a few steps, Zhu Jiechou returned. He pulled a bracelet off his wrist and handed it to Zuo Siqiu. “Little Junior Sister, I’ve already broken the seal on this bracelet. I know you must be having a hard time in the Xuan Cloud Sect. This bracelet is full of good things I’ve saved up. Take it; we can’t let you or the child suffer.”

Zuo Siqiu picked up the chicken and wanted to throw it at him. “I told you to get lost!”

The rooster: “Cluck cluck cluck!” (Don’t throw me out!)

Zhu Jiechou didn’t hesitate; he tossed the bracelet to Zuo Siqiu and sprinted away like the wind. Before disappearing, he left one last line: “Little Junior Sister, don’t be angry. You must take care of your health and don’t disturb the fetal qi!”

Zuo Siqiu was almost driven to tears by anger. She wasn’t pregnant! She had no “X-life,” no relations with any man. How could she be pregnant? That Zhu Jiechou must have made a mistake.

She felt anxious, panicked, and scared, her eyes and nose turning slightly red. Then she bent down, picked up the bracelet, and scanned it with her divine sense. She froze. “So… so rich.”

No matter how hard life is or how rocky fate may be, you still have to pick up the money.

Zuo Siqiu put the storage bracelet on her other wrist and walked back to the Xuan Cloud Sect, exhausted. Once back, she found a random disciple to deliver the pills to the Black Store for her. Then she sat at the entrance of Xuan Mo’s cave dwelling, clutching the rooster. One moment she was dazed, thinking about the “tiny life” in her belly; the next, she was slowly sorting through the treasures Zhu Jiechou gave her, planning for the future baby’s “formula money.”

Unbeknownst to her, the rooster in her arms, which had just recently gained intelligence, was rolling its tiny black eyes.

…

Zhu Jiechou hadn’t been in such a rush before, but now that he knew he had a son on the way, he couldn’t let the pregnant Zuo Siqiu stay in the Xuan Cloud Sect for long. Once the baby bump appeared and Xuan Mo discovered the “green hat,” his sister and child would be in mortal danger.

Besides increasing his own strength, he had to find a way to restrain Xuan Mo. He flipped through his master’s storage artifacts and, a few days later, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

It turned out his master dared to refine those pills because he had a demonic cultivator nearing ascension backing him and that cultivator was Xuan Mo’s father.

Driven by the will of a “happy father,” Zhu Jiechou followed his master’s records through the dangerous Demon Realm to find that man. The man was surrounded by thousands of rotting corpses, with only a deathly pale face visible. Sensing someone’s arrival, he opened his eyes; his pitch-black pupils held no light as he stared expressionlessly. “Who are you?”

Fear naturally rose in Zhu Jiechou’s heart, but at the thought of protecting Zuo Siqiu and the child, he steeled himself. “I am Bi Mu’s disciple. Bi Mu is dead.”

The man let out a raspy chuckle. “I wondered why he hadn’t come to see me lately. So he’s dead.” His gaze fell on Zhu Jiechou. “And what do you want?”

“I want to complete my master’s deal with you,” Zhu Jiechou said. “I know you are Xuan Mo’s father. You want to use your son’s body as a pill primer to refine an Ascension Pill. Coincidentally, I also need to use my sister Bi Zhian’s body as a primer. But because of my sister’s interference, the person Xuan Mo married isn’t Bi Zhian. With my strength alone, I can’t make Xuan Mo marry her again. You know that if they don’t marry and dual-cultivate, neither of us will get the pill.”

The man in the corpses laughed again. “You have guts. Xuan Mo agreed to marry your sister last time because your master gave him a pill to save his life; it had nothing to do with me. Why do you think I can make him marry her again?”

“I assumed you would have a way,” Zhu Jiechou replied.

The man fell silent for a moment. “With Bi Mu dead, things are indeed harder. Are you sure you can refine the Ascension Pill?”

“Of course,” Zhu Jiechou said.

The man smiled. “Then go back and wait for news.”

Zhu Jiechou left the Demon Realm, exhausted once more. But he knew he couldn’t put all his hopes on that man. He had to handle things with Bi Zhian as well. He swallowed several pills to recover and hurried to the former location of the Bixia Sect to find her.

Since leaving the secret realm, Bi Zhian had stayed by Long Xiaotian’s side. Her life had always been smooth sailing until she nearly died in the mist of the secret realm, leaving her in a constant state of anxiety.

When her Eldest Senior Brother was about to leave with Zuo Mudong and the others, she grabbed his sleeve, eyes full of tears. “Eldest Senior Brother, are you leaving me too? Where will I go alone? Father’s status is unknown, Second Senior Brother is missing, and the Bixia Sect is gone. Where do I go?”

Her fragile appearance was heart-wrenching. Long Xiaotian had no choice but to take her back to the Minghuang Sect, the sect formed by the former “furnaces” on the ruins of the Bixia Sect.

However, Bi Zhian was not welcomed by the disciples there. “It’s not that she’s Bi Mu’s daughter; it’s that when her father did those horrific things in the secret realm, she kept defending him. Why should we accept someone like her?”

Long Xiaotian felt terrible. He knew the harm Bi Mu had caused and that Bi Zhian’s behavior had been inappropriate, but he couldn’t discard their years of friendship. He was in a difficult position.

Finally, Zuo Mudong suggested, “You can settle her outside the Minghuang Sect. That way she’s close enough for protection, but the disciples won’t complain.”

Bi Zhian didn’t understand why her Eldest Senior Brother treated her this way. Looking at the simple cave dwelling, she asked, “Eldest Senior Brother, you’ve helped them enough. Why stay here? Do you know what people are saying? They say you’re staying with these furnaces not to help them, but because you’re entangled with them. I’m not angry you made me live here, but it hurts me to see you sacrifice so much for no reputation… they don’t even appreciate your efforts, or they wouldn’t treat your former junior sister like this.”

Long Xiaotian felt a conflict in his heart. “I’m not here for a reputation. I’m here to atone for Master’s sins and repay him for years of guidance.”

Bi Zhian was shocked. “But Father is missing. I failed to find the treasures to heal him. He’s already been punished. What more is there to atone for?”

Long Xiaotian closed his eyes. “Sister, do you really think Master being injured is enough? Do you think the lives he took were so cheap that they didn’t matter because they were weak? Does Heaven judge things the way you do?”

His words were like a dagger to Bi Zhian’s pride. She took a step back, a tragic smile on her lips. “Brother, you were the person I respected most, the only one I secretly loved. I thought I was special to you, but I’m not even equal to those furnaces in your heart. Why should I stay here and suffer these looks? We’ll meet again if fate allows.”

Long Xiaotian was stunned to hear her confession. It was what he had always wanted. He had secretly loved her too. But now there was a vast chasm between them that couldn’t be filled.

Bi Zhian’s departure left a hole in his heart. He couldn’t help but wonder: Why couldn’t she be more like Little Junior Sister? If it were Zuo Siqiu, she would have worked with him to help these women. She would have understood that they were the ones who deserved sympathy.

But Bi Zhian was not Zuo Siqiu. Bi Zhian was “kind,” but her kindness extended even to villains, making her unable to distinguish right from wrong. Meanwhile, Little Junior Sister, even in a demonic sect, had brought people to save these women and stood against a Divine Beast.

Long Xiaotian sighed and returned to the sect.

After leaving, Bi Zhian wandered aimlessly, feeling like a homeless ghost. At least the furnaces had each other. Fortunately, her Second Senior Brother eventually found her.

When Zhu Jiechou saw her, he noticed she was in a bad state. He felt a pang of something, but then he thought: The sister who let Little Junior Sister marry in her place doesn’t deserve my pity!

Instead of the comfort she expected, Bi Zhian heard something absurd from him.

“Third Sister, you should marry Xuan Mo as soon as possible,” Zhu Jiechou said.

Bi Zhian was stunned. Her Second Senior Brother loved her. Why would he ask her to marry Xuan Mo? Hadn’t he kidnapped Zuo Siqiu to marry the Demon Venerable in her place originally?

Zhu Jiechou gave his reason: “We got nothing from the secret realm. All the treasures are in the Xuan Cloud Sect. To save the Master, we must infiltrate them. The best way is for you to marry Xuan Mo, dual-cultivated, and make him love you so he gives you everything. I believe you can do it. After all, even Little Junior Sister could… and you’ve always been better than her.”

He stumbled over the last part of his sentence. Deep down, he didn’t believe it at all. No one was better than his Little Junior Sister. It was only natural that Xuan Mo would be obsessed with her.

But Bi Zhian didn’t notice the change in his tone. She was drawn to the idea. Xuan Mo—the man who could defeat a Divine Dragon was supposed to be her husband. She knew Zuo Siqiu had gained immense resources after marrying into the sect. She’d heard that Xuan Mo gave her all the alchemy materials and his own storage bracelet.

If it had been her…

Bi Zhian looked at her own dim storage bracelet and her recent destitute life. She pictured Xuan Mo’s cold but handsome face. Though he was in a wheelchair, his aura surpassed any cultivator she had ever seen. He could even defeat her father.

She didn’t make Zhu Jiechou wait long. “I am willing to marry the Xuan Cloud Sect Leader, Xuan Mo.”

She looked at him with a tragic smile. “It seems I cannot escape this fate. If I’d known, you wouldn’t have harmed Little Junior Sister back then.”