Chapter 444: You're Already Three Months Pregnant

Yuan Gang asked, "Aren't you afraid Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion will turn around and use Xiao Tianzhen to threaten you?"

"Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion has an enormous establishment behind it. Do you really think they'd stake their entire sect and fight me to the death?" Niu Youdao opened his eyes and glanced sideways at him.

He guessed that Yuan Gang was spouting this nonsense because he could not bear the thought of what would happen.

Sure enough, Yuan Gang said, "Master Dao, can't you think of another way? Besides, while you hold this leverage, you have Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion by its weak point."

Niu Youdao asked in return, "Monkey, you've spent so many years living in the jianghu. You should understand the principle yourself. When the disparity in strength is too great, you don't have the qualifications to break your word. The moment I break my promise, Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion will never trust me again. Even now, with Tianyu Sect in front of me, I still don't dare show myself lightly. If I provoke Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion as well, you can imagine what kind of situation I'll be in afterward."

At this point, he could not help sighing again. "Monkey, that little bastard isn't a good thing either. Sooner or later he'll repay kindness with enmity and turn against his own mother. Hai Ruyue refuses to surrender power. Mother and son are bound to turn on each other eventually. I can't save them. No one can. You need to understand something: a chaotic Jinzhou is bad for Nanzhou!"

In Jinzhou's provincial capital, several dozen cultivators escorted a carriage through the city. They traveled all the way to the gates of the Provincial Inspector's Residence before stopping. The carriage curtain lifted. Xiao Tianzhen climbed out. Hai Ruyue had already been waiting at the entrance. The moment she saw him, a cry of mingled grief and joy burst from her.

"Zhen'er!"

Li Wuhua watched in silence as Hai Ruyue gathered up her skirts and ran down the steps. He did not stop her. Previously, Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion had already placed Hai Ruyue under house arrest. She was not permitted to take even one step beyond these gates. Steward Zhu Shun's eyes filled with tears. Pain covered his face as he shook his head.

"Mother!" Xiao Tianzhen, now off the carriage, cupped his hands and bowed properly.

Hai Ruyue no longer cared about etiquette. She threw her arms around her son. It looked as though a mother missing her child had simply been overcome with joy at his return.

In reality, she whispered beside his ear, "You shouldn't have come back. You truly shouldn't have come back!"

Xiao Tianzhen did not understand the deeper meaning of those words. He did not know the truth behind his recovery from illness. He raised his head and looked at Hai Ruyue. A trace of resentment flashed through his eyes and vanished at once. After briefly easing the ache of separation, Hai Ruyue took her son's hand and led him up the steps.

At that exact moment, something tore through the air with a sharp whistle and shot straight toward Li Wuhua, who stood on the steps. Li Wuhua thrust out an empty palm. The incoming object instantly stopped in midair beneath the eaves. He focused on it. It was a token. The moment he recognized it, Li Wuhua's expression changed drastically. His fingers clenched. The token flew into his hand.

He immediately lowered his sleeve to conceal it, while his gaze snapped toward the direction from which it had come. Across the street, two people stood on a rooftop. Everyone nearby turned to look. Hai Ruyue and her son stopped on the steps and looked back as well. One of the figures was a slovenly old man.

His gray-white hair was not arranged in a topknot. It hung loose down his back, casually tied behind him with a single silk ribbon. The other was a handsome young man with the same hairstyle. He wore robes as white as snow. His skin was fair, his expression mild and composed, his bearing elegant and unrestrained. A bamboo basket was strapped to his back.

The two floated down from the rooftop and landed not far away, then walked over at an unhurried pace. A row of guards immediately moved forward to block them.

"Who are you?"

The two stopped. The old man's stiff features made it obvious that he wore a false face. He ignored the guards in front of him and stared directly at Li Wuhua on the steps. His voice was dark and heavy.

"Do you intend to stop me?"

Li Wuhua's throat moved. In the end, he slowly lifted one hand and signaled the men blocking the way. The guards separated to either side and let the strangers pass. Old and young resumed walking side by side. When they reached the foot of the steps, the young man stopped. The old man continued upward alone, walking straight toward Hai Ruyue and Xiao Tianzhen. The strange scene made mother and son nervous.

It was obvious that even Li Wuhua was wary of this man. They quickly moved farther up the steps and retreated beneath the eaves.

Hai Ruyue asked Li Wuhua, "Who is he?"

Li Wuhua said nothing. His eyes remained on the old man steadily climbing the steps. The old man continued toward Hai Ruyue and Xiao Tianzhen. At last, Li Wuhua had no choice but to flash forward and block the old man's path. He cupped his hands.

"May I ask what brings Your Excellency here?"

The old man repeated in that same gloomy tone, "Do you intend to stop me?"

Li Wuhua replied, "This is not a place just anyone can trespass into. Who exactly is Your Excellency?"

"Who I am isn't important. It's enough that you recognize that token."

"You seem to be some elder of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion, don't you? Don't tell me you can't even recognize Qingyuanzi's Sect Leader Token."

The other Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion disciples nearby were surprised. Qingyuanzi had been the previous Sect Leader of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion and had already passed away. But wasn't the Sect Leader Token now in the hands of the current Sect Leader? What did this old man mean? The ordinary disciples of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion could not understand. Li Wuhua looked around at the reactions of his fellow disciples. They did not know. He did.

The token in the current Sect Leader's possession had been remade afterward. The original token was connected to an old secret and had been given away—or, more accurately, demanded by someone and taken.

Because the matter touched upon Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion's reputation, it was not something anyone below the sect's senior ranks would ever be allowed to know.

Li Wuhua said, "I don't understand what you're talking about."

The old man replied, "You mean Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion intends to go back on its word?"

Li Wuhua hurriedly said, "Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion is a respected orthodox sect. Naturally, we keep our word. But at the very least, I must confirm Your Excellency's identity and purpose. Wouldn't you agree?"

The old man raised one hand and pointed at Xiao Tianzhen.

"That is Xiao Tianzhen, Provincial Inspector of Jinzhou?"

Xiao Tianzhen grew frightened. Why did it feel as though this man had come specifically for him? Hai Ruyue instinctively tightened her grip around her son's hand. She had never seen Li Wuhua behave so cautiously toward an outsider before. Li Wuhua looked back at Xiao Tianzhen, then turned again and nodded.

"Correct."

The old man said, "I heard my disciple cured his Heavenly Yin Damaged Meridians. Is that true?"

Everyone present who knew the rumors was stunned. People had always said the Ghost Doctor's disciple cured the young lord's incurable illness. Could this old man be the legendary Ghost Doctor Hei Li? Li Wuhua groaned inwardly. Could the old monster truly have come himself? In fact, the moment he saw the token, he had already guessed at the man's identity. He had simply not dared confirm it.

And while the man himself had not acknowledged his identity, Li Wuhua could hardly ask outright whether he was the Ghost Doctor. Now, however, he was seventy or eighty percent certain. Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion had previously been deceived by Hai Ruyue and truly believed the Ghost Doctor's disciple had cured Xiao Tianzhen. Who could have known Niu Youdao was the one secretly manipulating everything? Still less had they imagined that the lie would somehow become real.

The rumor had actually drawn out the Ghost Doctor himself, a man as elusive as a divine dragon whose head was seen but never its tail, someone impossible to find even when people desperately wanted to. The old man's question put Li Wuhua in an extremely awkward position.

Admit it?

There had never been any such thing. They could deceive anyone else, but there was no possible way to deceive the Ghost Doctor himself.

Deny it?

He still did not dare reveal the truth. He could hardly say Xiao Tianzhen had been cured with the Scarlet Yang Vermilion Fruit stolen from Ice and Snow Pavilion. All Li Wuhua could do was answer tactfully.

"A rumor. Nothing of the sort happened."

The old man's voice remained dark. "Move aside. I only want to take his pulse."

Li Wuhua looked deeply troubled. He was afraid the man might do something reckless. Yet he hardly dared stop him either. If this truly was the Ghost Doctor, angering him could bring consequences even the whole of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion could not bear. The old man did not care whether Li Wuhua agreed. He raised one hand, swept Li Wuhua aside, and continued up the steps. Hai Ruyue and Xiao Tianzhen recoiled in fear, retreating step by step.

Li Wuhua and the other Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion disciples immediately surrounded the old man, watching him carefully. Mother and son retreated until there was nowhere left to go. A wall beside the doorway stopped them. At that instant, the old man had already reached out and caught Xiao Tianzhen by the wrist. Several fingers settled over his pulse. After a brief silence, the old man released the wrist. Then he pinched open Xiao Tianzhen's mouth and looked inside.

After that, he lifted one of Xiao Tianzhen's eyelids and examined his eye. When he finished, the old man caught Xiao Tianzhen's wrist again and simply began leading him away. Li Wuhua immediately reached out to stop them.

"What does Your Excellency mean by this?"

The old man said, "Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion owes me one life. I've come to collect the debt."

"The token is returned to you. I'm taking this boy with me. From this moment onward, Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion and I owe each other nothing."

"Move aside!"

Li Wuhua's face tightened. "I cannot make that decision. I must report this to the sect before anything can be decided."

"That's your affair. It has nothing to do with me."

"I'll say this once more: move aside."

"There will not be a third time."

Li Wuhua's expression twitched. Seeing that even Li Wuhua did not dare forcibly stop the man, Xiao Tianzhen finally became truly frightened.

"Mother!"

Hai Ruyue immediately stepped forward and pleaded, "Old Sir, I have only this one son. Please spare him. Name any other condition you wish. As long as it is within my power, I will satisfy it!"

"Your son?" The old man turned his head and studied her face from side to side.

"There is another son in your belly."

Everyone around them was baffled by the remark. Hai Ruyue, however, felt her heart hammer violently.

She hurriedly said, "Old Sir is joking. My son is the Provincial Inspector of Jinzhou. He cannot simply leave with someone. Please choose another condition."

"This old man still has enough eyesight for that much."

"You are already three months pregnant. It is a male fetus, and the child is normal."

"Once he's born, simply have another person become whatever Provincial Inspector you please."

"If the child you give birth to isn't a son, I'll return this son to you."

Hai Ruyue's face instantly filled with panic. Everyone around them looked at one another. Li Wuhua stared at Hai Ruyue in shock, his expression changing again and again.

"Mother!" Xiao Tianzhen cried out.

The old man dragged him away just like that. No one stopped him. Everyone looked toward Li Wuhua for guidance. Li Wuhua, however, was staring at Hai Ruyue. Hai Ruyue tried to rush toward her son, but Li Wuhua pressed one hand onto her shoulder and held her in place. With his other hand, he caught her wrist and checked her pulse. After only a brief examination, he discovered the old man's words were true. Hai Ruyue really was pregnant.

Li Wuhua's face darkened completely.

"Young Master!"

Zhu Shun rushed down the steps, trying to seize Xiao Tianzhen back. The old man dragging Xiao Tianzhen away swept one broad sleeve behind him.

Bang!

Zhu Shun was blasted backward through the air. Li Wuhua turned to look. The old man's ability to see Hai Ruyue's condition with one glance only made his identity even more convincing. Li Wuhua dared not stop him again.

"Carriage!" the old man said as he descended the steps.

The young man who had been waiting quietly below immediately turned toward the carriage at the gate. With a gentle manner, he asked the trembling driver to step down, then took hold of the reins himself. Xiao Tianzhen, who had already been rendered unable to make a sound, was thrown into the carriage. The old man climbed in after him.

The young man seated himself at the front, cracked the whip, and simply drove away in the Provincial Inspector's own carriage... The carriage traveled through the streets. Pedestrians moved aside in both directions. Ahead, two young men riding tall horses also guided their mounts out of the way. One of the riders caught sight of the young man driving the carriage and seemed surprised.

He raised a hand and called, "Brother Tan!"

The young man driving the carriage showed no reaction whatsoever. He simply passed them without slowing.

The other rider asked curiously, "Brother Cheng, you know that man? You have friends in Jinzhou?"

The first rider turned in the saddle and watched the carriage depart. He raised one hand and scratched his head, then looked back with a self-mocking smile.

"The driver looked a lot like an old friend of mine from Beizhou. But I must have been mistaken."

"That old friend of mine is nothing but a pedantic bookworm. He doesn't have anything like that man's bearing."

"It's nothing. Let's go!"

[End of Chapter 444]