The Ming Family

“Little Master!”

After settling the man, Ming Ran ran out to Song Yao’s side.

Her brow was furrowed deeply, her face filled with shock and confusion. “Did you see that just now? He’s really a man! How can a man get pregnant?!”

Having lived three lifetimes, Song Yao had never seen anything like this either.

She glanced outside. “Are those cultivators from your Ming family?”

“Yes, they’re my father and mother’s disciples,” Ming Ran replied.

“Since they’re guarding this place, they should know quite a bit,” Song Yao said. “Let’s go ask them.”

“Alright.”

The two of them walked out the door, and several cultivators immediately bowed respectfully to Ming Ran. “Young Mistress.”

Ming Ran gave a slight nod in acknowledgement and went straight to the point. “I haven’t had the chance to go home yet. Tell me first, what on earth has been happening in Wuzhou City lately?”

The cultivators’ faces instantly turned pale, their expressions filled with hesitation and dread. “You don’t know, Young Mistress... Ever since that Antong Shrine was inexplicably built outside the city a month and a half ago, bizarre things have been happening in Wuzhou City!”

“Tell us the details,” Song Yao said, curious.

The cultivator’s voice trembled as he lowered his head in fear. “That Antong Shrine appeared outside the city overnight out of thin air. Earlier, the family head wanted to investigate the situation. Who would have thought that when he and Master Huachao went there together, they were ambushed? Both were severely wounded and remain unconscious to this day, bedridden and unable to recover.”

Ming Ran’s face paled. “Who ambushed them? Demons?”

“We don’t know. The family head was worried that the place was too dangerous, so he only went with Master Huachao and didn’t let us follow.”

The cultivator’s lips trembled as if recalling the scene. “Later that night, when neither the family head nor Master Huachao returned, all of us went out to search. We found them about a kilometer away from the shrine.”

“They looked like they had been mauled by wild beasts. They were unconscious, covered in wounds from head to toe, and seemed to have been poisoned as well...”

Even Song Yao was somewhat surprised by this.

She had heard of Ming Ran’s parents’ reputations before.

Senior Ming was a successor of the Seven Continents Twelve Swords and ranked around two hundredth on the Heavenly Revelation Board, while Daoist Huachao had created her own sword formula, ranking even slightly higher than Senior Ming.

When the two of them joined forces, they were definitely not opponents that ordinary demons could easily injure.

Was the demon in the Antong Shrine really that powerful?

Ming Ran clenched her fists until her palms turned white, but she knew that panicking wouldn’t help right now. Forcing herself to stay calm, she asked, “And then?”

The cultivator said, “After everyone brought the family head and Master Huachao back home, we discovered that all the young children in the household had vanished.”

Song Yao sighed. “A classic diversion?”

Ming Ran, who considered herself quite mentally resilient, almost fainted. “Was no one watching them?”

The cultivator looked troubled. “At that time, it was already late at night when everyone went out to search. The children were all asleep in their respective rooms, and by the time we returned, they had all vanished into thin air.”

“Did Little Mantou sleep alone too?” asked Ming Ran.

Little Mantou was her second uncle’s child, not even a year old yet and unable to walk. Her second uncle and aunt doted on her immensely, holding her close all day long. It was impossible for them to leave her alone at night.

“Little Mantou was sleeping in the Second Elder’s room. When we went to check, the Second Elder had also been poisoned and knocked unconscious. He still hasn’t woken up.”

Ming Ran was completely shaken now. Song Yao supported her and offered some kind comfort, “Look on the bright side. At least they’re still alive. It’s not a total massacre.”

Ming Ran replied, “...Thanks, I feel much better.”

She massaged her temples. “Then what’s the situation here?”

“It’s still because of that Antong Shrine,” the cultivator said, horror in his eyes.

“With the household in utter chaos, no one had the energy to manage external affairs. Only the Second Elder went to investigate the shrine to see if these events were related to it, but he found nothing. Due to the severe shortage of manpower, we didn’t send anyone to tear down the shrine.”

“Later, some commoners discovered that the shrine was dedicated to the Child-Protecting Goddess. Some newlywed couples in the city went to pray for offspring. As a result, the very day after they prayed, they were diagnosed with pregnancies.”

“Once this news got out, an endless stream of commoners flocked to pray for children. And indeed, just as they said, as long as one offered incense and worshipped sincerely, they would successfully conceive within a few days.”

Song Yao and Ming Ran exchanged a glance, both sharing a bad premonition.

Sure enough, the cultivator continued, “But the bizarre thing is, the children conceived through these prayers grow at an incredibly rapid pace. In less than a month, their bellies swell up as if they’re in their tenth month of pregnancy.”

“And it’s not just the women whose bellies grew. Even the men who went to offer incense and worship together ended up pregnant!”

Song Yao realized something. “...So the so-called plague isn’t an illness at all, but pregnancy? Wait a minute, didn’t you all just go inside to worship earlier?”

Ming Ran’s eyelids twitched twice. Before she could fall into despair, the cultivator quickly added, “No, if you only offer incense without making a wish to conceive, you won’t get pregnant.”

Ming Ran let out a massive sigh of relief, feeling cold sweat drenching her back.

The cultivator explained, “Furthermore, ever since the first couple who prayed gave birth a few days ago, a barrier appeared outside the city, and we can’t get out. There are very few medical cultivators in the city, and midwives and doctors are also in short supply. Fearing there would be no one to help when people give birth, and also worried that they might give birth to ghostly fetuses, the Second Elder had us guard this place to make it easier to care for them.”

After the birth of the child, the demon realm opened up.

One didn’t even need to think to know where the root of the problem lay.

Song Yao asked, “Where are the children? Is there anything unusual about them?”

The cultivator replied, “The couple gave birth to one each, a boy and a girl. The Second Elder examined them and found nothing wrong, except that they are slightly larger than normal infants and eat a lot more. They are currently at the couple’s home.”

Song Yao thought to herself that the Ming family was far too carefree.

They were trapped inside a demon realm, yet they let those obviously abnormal infants return home to be raised by their parents. Weren’t they afraid of something going wrong?

She asked indifferently, “Why haven’t you tried to find a way to break out of the demon realm?”

“We tried, but we all failed. Moreover, something has infiltrated the city. It attacks the commoners and our Ming family at night. With so many injured or dead, we simply don’t have the energy to worry about anything else...”

Although the Ming family ruled Wuzhou City, they were not a major sect like the Nine Saints Hall after all. Facing such a chaotic mess of troubles, there was indeed very little they could do.

Yet, Song Yao still felt that something was amiss, though she couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason.

In the inner room from earlier, midwives and doctors hurried in and out carrying water. The man’s painful screams grew increasingly shrill and desperate: “It hurts! It hurts so much! I’m not giving birth anymore! Are you trying to kill me with this pain?!”

Perhaps triggered by his screams, one person after another in the courtyard began clutching their lower bellies and crying out in pain: “No, I... I can’t hold it in either. I’m about to give birth too...”

“Help! Help! My stomach hurts so much!”

“Ah, I’m bleeding! Doctor! Doctor, please check if I’m bleeding!!!”