A Bit Out of Practice

Furthermore...

She was now completely certain that the Ming Ran next door was absolutely an impostor.

And she was extremely anxious about these two children.

It seemed these children couldn't absorb the impostor's essence yet, only that of outsiders like them, which was why the baby didn't cry in her arms.

Looking at it this way, Cheng Yue should be a normal person.

No, wait.

She couldn't be entirely sure.

She still needed to test her.

She stood up, holding the baby by its collar, and cast a spell to silently open the window.

A figure suddenly leaped up, slipping through the window and into her room like a monkey. “Little Master!!”

It was another Ming Ran.

Looking at this face, Song Yao felt her vision go dark. She summoned the Bishui Sword, feeling a bit hesitant.

Her soul was already incomplete, and her brain didn't work all that well to begin with, yet they just had to test her with this “real-versus-fake” routine.

Should she just skip the beating around the bush and kill them both, regardless of who was real and who was fake?

Once they were down to their last breath, they would surely tell the truth.

Ming Ran shuddered in fright and quickly pressed down on Song Yao's hand as she drew her sword. “Little Master, Little Master! I'm the real one! I'm the one who's been with you all along. You just taught me swordplay today, and you even gave me a pear. I'm really the real one!!”

Song Yao grabbed the baby and threw it into her arms.

She caught it in a panic.

It didn't cry.

Song Yao grabbed the baby back and threw it onto the floor.

This time, it cried, its wails loud enough to shake the heavens.

Ming Ran: “!!!”

Before she could speak in her shock, the door was pounded on once again.

A voice identical to hers came from outside. “Little Master, why is the baby crying again? Are you two alright? Say something!”

Inside the room, Ming Ran quickly hid behind a pillar, goosebumps breaking out all over her body.

Through the thin door panel, she could almost picture the person outside, who possessed a figure identical to hers.

It was far too bizarre.

Song Yao had already picked the baby up from the floor. “It's nothing. I just put him on the bed.”

The person outside still seemed uneasy and repeatedly urged, “You must take good care of this child! Don't make him cry again.”

Song Yao: “Rest assured.”

Once the person outside had walked far away, Ming Ran crept out from behind the pillar. “What on earth is going on? Why is there someone who looks exactly like me... Little Master, why did you feed him a Qi-Replenishing Pill?”

“It's inhumane to test pills on human children out in the open.”

Song Yao smiled at her, her eyes curving into crescents. “But these little demon babies probably have very resilient life forces. It would be a waste not to test it on him.”

Ming Ran: “...”

Hiss.

Why did she feel like...

The demons might not even be as terrifying as the Little Master...

The pill was too large, causing the ball of flesh in the swaddling clothes to kick its legs as it swallowed.

While waiting for the pill to take effect, Song Yao asked, “Where did you go just now?”

“Didn't I go with my Eldest Aunt to find my parents? I accidentally overheard her saying there wasn't enough nourishment and that they needed to capture more people. I knew something was wrong, so I rushed back to find you.”

Ming Ran's expression was dramatic. “But then I saw you standing there talking to another me, so I didn't dare show myself! What is going on?!”

Nourishment?

Song Yao pondered for a moment, and a general idea began to form in her mind.

The Child-Protecting Goddess outside the city claimed she could bestow children, but in reality, she placed demon fetuses inside the bellies of the commoners who came to pray for children, using them as nourishment to gestate the offspring.

Once the children were born, they required even more nourishment, which was why that couple had been drained into shriveled corpses.

The fake Ming Ran had taken the baby to find new nutrients for them.

She just didn't know how many normal people were actually left in Wuzhou City and the Ming family.

Or perhaps everyone was like the fake Ming Ran, serving the Child-Protecting Goddess and these children.

What a pain.

Since there was a fake Ming Ran, would there also be a fake Cheng Yue, a fake Jiang Jin, a fake Ning Zhou...

Song Yao massaged her temples, filled with regret.

Deeply, utterly regretful.

If she had known the demons here were so cunning and annoying, she would have been better off staying at the sect for the exams.

Comparing the Teaching Elder to the Child-Protecting Goddess...

Well, the Teaching Elder was still a bit more terrifying.

Ming Ran opened her mouth. “No wonder I felt Eldest Aunt and Second Uncle were a bit strange. Could they all be...”

“It's highly possible.”

As they spoke, the baby she was holding by the collar suddenly began to squirm.

Song Yao looked down. Having consumed the Qi-Replenishing Pill, his head seemed to have grown even larger. His pale, chubby body had turned bright red, and his mouth was puckered in extreme discomfort.

It appeared that even demons suffered from side effects.

Song Yao stuffed the baby back to Ming Ran, pulled out a small notebook from her spatial pouch, and began recording meticulously by the candlelight.

Clutching the baby, Ming Ran choked up for a moment. “...Little Master, is now really the time to be taking notes?”

Weren't they discussing serious matters?

Wasn't danger lurking everywhere outside?

Song Yao didn't even raise her head. “Of course. I'm a pill cultivator. If I don't record this, what else am I supposed to do? It's not like I know how to fight and kill.”

Ming Ran: “...”

Fine.

She waited for a bit, then couldn't help but say, “But many people over at Caopu Hall are giving birth right now. With so many demon infants being born, shouldn't we do something about it?”

Song Yao's hand paused. She lifted her head, her eyes sparkling brightly in the flickering candlelight.

Seeing the excitement in her eyes, Ming Ran got a bad feeling. She swallowed hard. “Wait, what... what do you want to do? Don't be rash.”

Song Yao wrapped herself in her cloak and patted her on the shoulder. “Wait for me here with the child. I'll be right back.”

So many people giving birth.

So many demon infants.

An excellent pill cultivator had to seize every single opportunity to test pills.

Her figure vanished out the window in an instant. Holding the squirming baby, Ming Ran felt an inexplicable sense of abandonment.

It felt incredibly desolate.

Then, she looked down at the baby. Watching the flush slowly fade from his cheeks, a strange softness actually welled up in her heart.

So cute.

I really want to protect him forever...

Her grip on the baby tightened involuntarily. Suddenly, Song Yao returned, her head poking back through the window. “Ming Ran?”

Ming Ran snapped her head up, looking at her in confusion. “Little Master, what's wrong?”

Song Yao's cold, aloof face looked incredibly well-behaved right now, and her voice was softer and gentler than usual.

She looked at Ming Ran, asking for her input: “Can I burn your house down?”

Ming Ran: “?”

She was completely jolted awake now. Glancing at the baby in her arms, alarm bells rang loudly in her mind.

What was that just now?!

She had actually thought of herself as the child's mother, and even wanted to feed him her own blood and flesh.

This child could affect a person's mind!

Wait.

What did the Little Master just say?

Her eyelids twitched. “Burn... burn whose house?”

“Yours.”

Song Yao explained, “There are a bit too many people at Caopu Hall. I need to draw some of them back.”

Ming Ran: “...”

Burn her own home?

If Father woke up to this, he would probably lose his mind...

Weighing the pros and cons, she nodded with extreme difficulty.

In an instant, ten Fire-Driving Talismans appeared in Song Yao's hand. She turned and eagerly walked toward the center of the Ming estate. “I'm a bit out of practice. It's been a while since I set a fire.