The Aloof Immortal Venerable is Pregnant with My Fox Cub - Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Tan Qingxuan gently touched her lower abdomen, feeling a tiny spiritual fetus nestled there, like a newly sprouted tender shoot, taking root within her body.

This spiritual fetus shared the same origin with her; it was indeed her child, very young. Sensing its mother’s investigation, it was like a delicate small animal extending soft feelers to bond with its mother’s spiritual energy.

Tan Qingxuan had never had such an experience and was momentarily unsure of what to do.

In the demon world, two female demons cultivating together might become pregnant and give birth, but human cultivators were different from demon cultivators. Even two cultivators, a man and a woman, wouldn’t easily conceive offspring.

Especially high-ranking cultivators, who already occupied too much of the world’s fortune and destiny, and were favored by nature, were destined not to have children.

She possessed a natural sword bone and immortal blood, just half a step from ascension. Cang Ran also had a supreme fire spirit root and was already at the Soul Condensation stage of cultivation. Whether due to the difference in cultivation methods between human and demon cultivators or the difficulty of bloodline fusion, it was extremely unlikely for them to have a child.

Therefore, during the time they cultivated together, she indulged Cang Ran often, knowing that since Cang Ran was with a human cultivator, she might never have children in this life, which she pitied.

Perhaps during their dual cultivation, the spiritual energies in their bodies converged. Maybe all the conditions were just right, and she actually conceived a spiritual fetus.

This child should not have existed. Since it chose to be in her womb, its fate would likely be noble. The Heavenly Dao has its own law of gain and loss; when the cup is full, it overflows. Just now, when she took the Vitality Nurturing Elixir, she immediately spat it out. This spiritual fetus was probably very unstable.

It would be very easy for her to abort this child now. If she hadn’t loved Cang Ran so much before, she definitely wouldn’t have kept it.

But this was her and Cang Ran’s child together, carrying a part of Cang Ran’s essence. It was extremely rare, and she was reluctant to part with it; she had already developed some affection for this child.

“Senior Sister, what’s wrong? Is there some discomfort in your abdomen?” Song Zhen asked when she saw her Senior Sister hadn’t spoken for a long time.

Tan Qingxuan looked at Song Zhen’s concerned eyes in front of her, lowered her gaze, and called out softly: “Junior Sister.”

She paused. The shadow of her thick, long eyelashes fell on her eyelids, casting a shade. Her usually unreachable, perfect profile looked a little frail and sorrowful.

Song Zhen had already been worried seeing Tan Qingxuan looking thinner recently. She was hundreds of years older than Tan Qingxuan. Although she joined the sect later and was technically the Junior Sister, she had always felt older than Tan Qingxuan and had always looked after her. Now, she saw that Tan Qingxuan seemed to be in a difficult situation.

A hidden worry surfaced in her heart. She moved closer to Tan Qingxuan and said gently: “Senior Sister, just tell me. Whatever I can do, I will definitely do for you.”

Tan Qingxuan slowly said: “I am pregnant with Cang Ran’s child. I’ve checked the child just now. It’s unstable. I trouble Junior Sister to help me refine some medicine for fetal preservation.”

Song Zhen was completely stunned: “A child?”

She quickly grabbed Tan Qingxuan’s hand, took her pulse, and was greatly alarmed after confirming the presence of a spiritual fetus: “There really is a spiritual fetus! How could this happen?”

Song Zhen said solemnly to Tan Qingxuan: “Senior Sister, you are a reincarnation of a Deity, with immortal bones. Cang Ran is a Great Demon at the Soul Condensation stage. If this spiritual fetus cannot fuse the blood and essence of both of you in the womb, it’s very easy to miscarry. Even if we manage to keep it, the child born might be of mediocre aptitude and find it difficult to pursue the Dao.”

Tan Qingxuan already knew this, but this child was hard-won. She and Cang Ran might only have this one child in this life. If she gave up the child now, how would she face Cang Ran in the future?

Tan Qingxuan’s expression was firm: “Junior Sister, I want to keep this child. The child is still in the womb. I will find a way for the child to survive and ensure a safe birth. Even if she struggles to achieve much later, Cang Ran and I will love her very much.”

Song Zhen’s gaze fell upon Tan Qingxuan’s lower abdomen. Deep down, she didn’t want her Senior Sister to suffer too much because of this child. She had already explained the pros and cons to her Senior Sister, yet her Senior Sister chose to keep the child. She could only obey and think of a solution for her Senior Sister.

Song Zhen considered for a moment, then sighed deeply: “Since this is the case, I will first go to the sect’s treasure vault to get some spiritual herbs to refine soothing and nourishing medicine for Senior Sister. However, this spiritual fetus is unique. Ordinary fetal preservation medicine should be ineffective for it. My family has been practitioners of medicine for generations. There is an ancestral secret realm that contains ten-thousand-year-old immortal herbs with a miraculous effect on nurturing the fetus. I will personally go and harvest the herbs later.”

“However, even if the fetal preservation medicine is successfully refined, it can only help Senior Sister carry the child steadily. Whether this child can successfully integrate its bloodlines later still requires destiny. If I return, I will search through the ancient records in the ancestral collection to see if there are any other methods.”

Tan Qingxuan had heard Song Zhen mention the ancestral secret realm before. That place was fraught with danger. Even the ancestors of the Song family found it difficult to return safely. Tan Qingxuan was naturally moved that her Junior Sister was willing to go to such lengths for her.

She held Song Zhen’s hand: “The common people are more important. The child is still small and shares the same origin with my body. It shouldn’t have problems for the time being. Let’s solve the problem of the demonic elixir first and repel the invading demons and devils.”

Song Zhen held her Senior Sister’s hand back: “Okay, I will return to the sect to research first. Once I have results, I will give them to Senior Sister, and then immediately set off for the secret realm. However, while I’m not by Senior Sister’s side, I will have Mingyue and Muyu come over to take care of Senior Sister’s daily needs.”

Seeing Tan Qingxuan’s slight frown, Song Zhen advised: “Muyu is Senior Sister’s head disciple. Not living in the Fuyao Palace but in the Cuiwei Palace will cause gossip among the disciples inside and outside the sect. Although Senior Sister teaches her cultivation methods daily, keeping her close will foster a deeper bond and prevent discord between master and disciple later.”

Tan Qingxuan thought of Yun Muyu. The reason she hadn’t let Yun Muyu live in the Fuyao Palace initially was fear of Cang Ran being upset when she returned. Having an extra person in her and Cang Ran’s shared residence would be inconvenient. Placing her in her Junior Sister’s Cuiwei Palace was a good way for her to live with Lin Mingyue and have someone mentor her.

In any case, she was her fated disciple. Tan Qingxuan nodded: “Very well. Since she is my disciple, it should be so. Her coming with Mingyue this time will also allow these young ones to experience some hardship.”

When Yun Muyu first arrived at the sect, many disciples were extremely jealous that she could directly become Immortal Venerable Qingxuan’s head disciple.

Song Zhen had also heard one or two things from Lin Mingyue about Yun Muyu being bullied in private. She privately speculated that it was because Yun Muyu didn’t live in the Fuyao Palace, leading everyone to doubt the position of Immortal Venerable Qingxuan’s head disciple.

She remembered that when she first entered the sect, she was a rogue cultivator. At that time, when Master Fu Qing accepted her as a disciple, it also drew a lot of jealousy. Fortunately, the master-disciple relationship was amiable, and her Senior Sister often looked out for her, allowing her to gradually gain a firm footing in the sect. Now, it was her turn to help the younger generation.

Seeing that everything was arranged, Song Zhen bowed to Tan Qingxuan and hurriedly left the Wenjian Pavilion.

Tan Qingxuan’s hand gently rested on her lower abdomen. She looked at the jade chain used for daily communication with Cang Ran. When Cang Ran sent a letter, she should have already reached the secret realm. If she knew they had a child, she would definitely be distracted.

She would only tell Cang Ran about this matter after she emerged from the secret realm. Having an easily angered red fox at home was already a headache. If a little fox was added, the Fuyao Palace might never have peace again.

Thinking of this, Tan Qingxuan couldn’t help but smile slightly. If the child could be born safely in the future, she hoped the child would resemble Cang Ran more. Even if she was a little mischievous, she would be delighted.

She hugged the pillow Cang Ran gave her. Although it wasn’t as soft as Cang Ran’s body, it carried Cang Ran’s scent. A few days ago, she didn’t understand why she was so attached to it. Now, it seemed the little cub in her belly was also missing its fox mother.

Cang Ran stood in the crater, absorbing all the fire spiritual energy gushing out from the air. Her entire fox fur was as dazzling as a flame. With the surrounding spiritual fire, she condensed a long sword made of fire.

Her cultivation at the seventh stage of the Soul Condensation realm was fully unleashed upon the long sword. She slashed towards the sea of fire. The long arc of firelight sliced through, unstoppable. A straight, wide path was carved out of the dense, terrifying sea of fire, leading directly to the secret realm.

The surrounding sea of fire piled up like waves. The faint blue entrance to the secret realm was fully open. The vegetation that had peeked out of the entrance and was enveloped by fire snakes gave off a smell of scorching.

Cang Ran traversed the path she had sliced open. Her whole body was baked by the heat, and the moisture was quickly evaporated. The little hedgehog followed closely at her feet, and Hua Chao flew low over the area, entering the secret realm with them simultaneously.

The scene before them abruptly changed. The scorching high-temperature flames disappeared. Under their feet was scorched yellow sand. The sky was covered with dense black clouds. Closest to them were the footprints left by a giant beast. Icy-cold giant white bones were buried in the yellow sand, and even the fierce wind carried a sorrowful whine.

This secret realm was called the Divine Sword Tomb. Cang Ran had thought she would drop directly into the area for selecting swords, like the male protagonist, but she didn’t expect to have to walk a distance.

“Wow, Ranran, come look at this bone! It looks like it was left behind by a bird race ancestor!” Hua Chao flew down. Her wings kicked up a cloud of yellow sand, completely exposing the white bone underneath, and she pointed it out to Cang Ran.

The little hedgehog was too close and was sprinkled with sand by Hua Chao. She quickly shook her body, shaking off all the sand. She took a small floral cloth from her storage bracelet and covered her head.

Cang Ran had been extremely hot from the intense heat earlier. She took a large gulp of spiritual wine. Following the direction Hua Chao pointed, she looked. The white bone had an extremely long beak. The skeleton on its body was like that of a giant beast, and its wings were about six meters long. She had never seen such a huge bird in the demon world.

Cang Ran couldn’t help but look up and exclaim: “It certainly looks like a bird, but I wonder what kind of bird?”

Hua Chao’s eyes were full of excitement: “I think it must be an ancient bird race. I can already feel the surging aura! Hurry up and come look with me.”

Cang Ran was currently standing in front of the deep pit stomped by the giant beast and had to take a detour. She envied the bird race’s ability to fly at this moment.

The giant beast’s claws had split the ground. When Cang Ran flew to Hua Chao’s side on her sword, Hua Chao was extending her wing to stroke the white bone.

Cang Ran also touched it and found that the white bone wasn’t cold. It felt like a living thing. A warm sensation came from beneath the paw pad, as if flesh and blood were wrapped around the bone, and warm blood was flowing over it.

The wind in the secret realm was an icy, chilling north wind, like a steel knife scraping bone. Logically, the remaining beast bones should also be cold. After such a long period of time, it shouldn’t be preserved so completely. At the very least, there should be signs of the skeleton being scattered by the cold wind.

Cang Ran sensed something was wrong. Just as she was about to retreat, her peripheral vision caught a fiery red, sun-like rune on top of the skeleton’s head. The sky was densely covered with black clouds, but that rune slowly rotated. A steady stream of heat energy emanated from the rune.

Cang Ran warned: “Hua Chao, did you see the rune on the skeleton? Let’s retreat first. I have a bad feeling about this.”

Hua Chao was currently sensing the aura of the ancient bird race on the white bone, trying to learn more profound techniques from the ancient bird race. She said to Cang Ran: “It’s fine. I am a descendant of a divine bird and can divine good and bad fortune. This secret realm will not be dangerous for us. You can also try to study these beast skeletons.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the skeleton moved. The massive bone wings, carrying a cold gleam, slashed towards Hua Chao and Cang Ran simultaneously. The two demons dodged to the side. The little hedgehog was so scared that she immediately shrunk one size and buried herself deep in the sand pile.

Cang Ran shifted into her human form and raised her spiritual sword to stab at the skeleton. When the sharp, hard skeleton collided with the spiritual sword, it sounded like cutting into raw iron, emitting a grating, teeth-aching sound.

The spiritual sword was of Heavenly Grade quality, unparalleled in sharpness, yet it only left a shallow mark. This showed that the ancient demon race had already refined their physical bodies into divine weapons even at the Bone Refining stage. The collision of the two created an unshakeable feeling.

Since she started carrying Ba Shi (the name of her sword), she had never experienced the feeling of cutting iron like mud; all she encountered were strong enemies.

Cang Ran’s arm was numb from the shock. She had no choice but to use the sword technique Tan Qingxuan had taught her. She had been diligently practicing it during this time and had completely mastered the first layer of sword intent, developing her own sword energy. Now was the perfect time to use the sword energy to break through.

Hua Chao also took out the crane bone flute from her waist. She played it towards the skeleton, circulating her demon technique. With the flute music, blades of faint green sound condensed, slashing towards the skeleton.

The skeleton, under the repeated attacks of the two high-level Great Demons, finally moved slightly slower, but it still rushed towards them with an unstoppable momentum. The giant wing was about to smash into the place where the little hedgehog had just hidden.

Cang Ran quickly reached out her long arm, instantly picked up the little hedgehog’s floral cloth scarf, tied the little hedgehog to her body, and at the same time, stepped forward, turned her wrist, drew her long sword, and unleashed four or five cold, sharp sword energies.

One of the sword energies struck the rune. The contained powerful demon energy collided, generating ripples of shockwaves and swirling a gust of wind from the surrounding sand.

Cang Ran realized that the rune was at work and immediately said to Hua Chao: “Hua Chao, I’ll deal with it down here. You try to find a way from above to remove the bone fragment with the rune on its head.”

The skeleton was enormous. When it descended, it was like blotting out the sky. Cang Ran, fighting it with her long sword, appeared extremely tiny. She could only temporarily engage with it to provide an opportunity for Hua Chao.

Birds are agile and good at flying, making surprise attacks from above easy. Hua Chao had her advantages. Under Cang Ran’s cover, she used the crane bone flute and quickly cracked the bone around the rune.

The pale white bone made a cracking sound. Sharp bird claws grabbed the bone with the rune, and in one go, the bone fragment was pried off.

The beast bone, having lost the effect of the rune, immediately scattered all over the ground and turned into dust when the wind blew.

Cang Ran steadied herself and performed a sword flourish. She was already drenched in sweat after fighting the skeleton.

The little hedgehog was carried by the Great King. She was dizzy from the extreme speed of movement just now and was lying faint in the floral cloth package.

Cang Ran moved closer to Hua Chao to look at the rune on the white bone fragment. It was still flowing and fluctuating.

Hua Chao held the bone fragment for only half a second before jumping up: “So hot, so hot! My feathers are going to be burned!”

The smell of scorched feathers already permeated the air. Hua Chao’s wings were practically cooked. She didn’t care about the rune bone fragment, flicked it out with a claw, turned into a little fat chick, and flapped her wings, flying around erratically.

Cang Ran quickly caught it with her spiritual sword. After absorbing the fire-attribute spiritual energy on it, the heat on the bone fragment dissipated. She then held it in her palm and beckoned to Hua Chao: “It’s fine. It shouldn’t be hot anymore. Come back quickly.”

Hua Chao flew around several times. Only after the pain in her wings subsided did she finally stop and circle around Cang Ran to look at the bone fragment.

Cang Ran asked Hua Chao: “Did you feel anything different?”

Hua Chao shook her head: “I can’t tell for now. I can only feel the aura of the ancient bird race. Why don’t we try to find other beast bones that look similar and analyze them together?”

Cang Ran nodded. She first put away the rune bone fragment and searched forward with Hua Chao. They found some scattered white bones, but none were complete skeletons, and none had the same rune bone fragment as the first one.

They searched together for several days before finding a second beast skeleton containing the same energy. They quickly removed the bone fragment and rune the moment they saw it, and the previous situation didn’t reoccur.

When the two rune bone fragments overlapped, the fiery red runes on them began to flow and converge like water. The shape of the rune changed, resembling an incomplete blueprint, and a faint black mist appeared on the bone fragments, showing a clear directional indicator.

Cang Ran and Hua Chao both realized that this might be the true direction to the core of this secret realm, the central location of the Divine Sword Tomb.

Hua Chao sat by the stream, looking at the rune bone fragments in front of her: “Following this direction, we should be able to find the remaining rune bone fragments. Let’s rest for a bit. The little hedgehog and I will go catch some fish to eat.”

Cang Ran nodded. They had been busy for several days without rest. While Hua Chao was fishing, she lowered her head to check her communication artifact.

In the days since entering the secret realm, she had sent letters to Tan Qingxuan every day, but for some unknown reason, Tan Qingxuan’s replies were scarce. She used to receive a reply daily, but recently she could only see one reply every three days.

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