Shu Jianyue breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn’t understand it—she wasn’t undergoing Dujie or doing anything out of line, so why did the lightning come striking down at her?
Looking down at the babies in her arms, she recalled that thunder had also rumbled outside earlier when she mentioned stepping on the sun and the moon.
“My two little treasures, the lightning outside couldn’t have been summoned by you two, right?”
“Ah, ah…” Yuchuan kicked his little legs and cried out.
Shu Jianyue placed them inside the tent and left the space by herself. Looking out, she saw that the dark clouds had completely dispersed, leaving a clear and sunny sky.
After pondering for a moment, she went back into the space and carried Yuchuan out. Not long after she brought him out, dark clouds began gathering in the sky once more. Shu Jianyue looked down at the babe in her arms.
“Do you have a lightning-attracting physique or something? The thunder earlier really was caused by you.”
“Son, think of a way to put away this lightning of yours! Your mother is only at the ninth stage of Lianqi; I can’t hold it back!” It wasn’t as though she could keep him inside the space forever.
“Ah, ah…” Yuchuan’s little hand wriggled out from the swaddling blanket and grabbed toward the sky.
“Mother… want heavenly lightning…”
Hearing these words while trying to dodge the lightning, Shu Jianyue stumbled and nearly fell flat on the ground.
Looking down at Yuchuan in her arms, her eyebrows arched high. What in the world was her son?
He had barely been born, and he already knew how to send mental transmissions!
Shu Jianyue looked up at the sky. Judging by the density of those dark clouds, they probably wouldn’t scatter anytime soon.
“Son, do you really want to let this heavenly lightning strike you?” Such a tiny, tender little baby—wouldn’t he be blasted to pieces by the heavenly lightning?
“Mother… want heavenly lightning…” Yuchuan grabbed at the air again.
Shu Jianyue looked at the sky, then saw him reaching out continuously.
In the end, she had no choice but to “spoil” him.
Shu Jianyue placed him on the mountain peak and stepped aside to watch.
If anything went wrong, she would quickly rescue him and throw him into the Lingquan to soak.
Yet, what she witnessed was that little brat Yuchuan actually grabbing the heavenly lightning and stuffing it straight into his mouth!
At this moment, she was utterly convinced: her son was definitely not an ordinary mortal.
And whoever had gotten the original host pregnant with these two babies was even less of a normal human. With the child being like this, how could the father be normal?
“Son, you’re eating this… does your little sister want to eat it too?”
Yuchuan had no intention of paying her any mind at all, fully absorbed in gnawing on the heavenly lightning.
Shu Jianyue spread out her mental power to scan the surroundings. Confirming no one was nearby, she immediately entered the space and carried Yanxi out. “Xixi, your brother is eating heavenly lightning. Do you want some?”
Yanxi took one look, yawned, closed her eyes, and went right back to sleep. The rumbling rolls of thunder didn’t disturb her in the slightest.
Well, fortunately, her daughter only had exceptional physical strength; everything else was still normal.
Just as she placed Yanxi back into the space, she saw people heading in this direction.
“Son, stop eating, someone’s coming.” Shu Jianyue put on her mask, disregarded the heavenly lightning, stepped forward to scoop up Yuchuan, and prepared to leave. To her dismay, the newcomers were no slower, immediately barring her path.
Shu Jianyue looked at them. There was one cultivator at the third stage of Jindan, one man at the fifth stage of Zhuji, one young woman at the second stage of Zhuji, and another at the seventh stage of Lianqi.
The Zhuji stage ones were manageable, but even if she could fight above her level, she couldn’t leap past a Jindan realm cultivator.
Zhou Rong, at the third stage of Jindan, narrowed his eyes as he looked at the child in her arms. The baby looked like a newborn, yet Zhou Rong was certain his eyes hadn’t deceived him—that bolt of heavenly lightning had struck the child square on, yet the child appeared completely unharmed now.
Therefore, he was definitely no ordinary mortal infant.
To be able to take human form at such an age, he had to be at the level of a divine beast.
Looking toward Shu Jianyue, Zhou Rong immediately raised his guard when he realized he couldn’t see through her cultivation. “Young lady, is this your child?”
Shu Jianyue narrowed her eyes at him, releasing the slaughterous aura she had honed in the apocalypse. “What if he is? What if he isn’t?”
Seeing this, Zhou Rong’s eyes narrowed slightly. Such a murderous aura was not something an ordinary person could project. Just who was she?
At such a young age, yet he couldn’t see through her cultivation. Either she possessed a Lingqi at or above the Tianpin rank, or her cultivation was higher than his.
However, he knew all the cultivators on this continent whose cultivation surpassed his own, and she was certainly not among them. Thus, she undoubtedly possessed a Tianpin Lingqi.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Zhou Rong looked at her with an unfathomable demeanor. “Young lady, this old man intends to accept this child as a disciple. Would you agree?”
Shu Jianyue tied Yuchuan securely to her chest just in case. “What do you think?”
He actually wanted to snatch her son!
Lu Shuixian, standing behind Zhou Rong, snapped, “Where did this wild wench come from? The Venerable showing willingness to accept him as a disciple is giving him face. Don’t be ungrateful!”
Shu Jianyue glanced at her and gave a light chuckle. “A mere Jindan cultivator daring to falsely style himself a Venerable—how laughable.” Even if she couldn’t win the fight, she wouldn’t lose in momentum.
“A slip of a girl certainly has a big mouth.” Zhou Rong was now somewhat uncertain.
The strongest cultivator in this Dongyuan Dalu was merely at the Yuanying realm, and Jindan cultivators were by default revered as Venerables. Yet her words made it seem as though Jindan cultivators were no better than ants in her eyes!
Zhu Su, standing to Zhou Rong’s left, said coldly, “Master, there is no need to waste words with her. This disciple suspects she stole the child from somewhere. Otherwise, how could a mere slip of a girl have a child?”
These words instantly dispelled Zhou Rong’s reservations.
Shu Jianyue looked at him and sneered, “You dress like a gentleman, but speak like a beast.” As she spoke, she drew out the Fushen Teng. It seemed a fight was inevitable today.
If she couldn’t beat the Jindan cultivator, she would just run.
Looking at the Fushen Teng in her hand, Zhou Rong revealed a look of greed. “What Su’er says makes sense. Young lady, put the child down quickly, or don’t blame this old man for being impolite.”
Shu Jianyue laughed aloud. “If you want to snatch someone, just say so. A Jindan cultivator acting no better than a common human trafficker.”
“I’d like to see if your teeth are as sharp as your tongue.” Before his words had even faded, Zhu Su summoned his sword and attacked.
Shu Jianyue immediately moved to meet him. “This young lady would love to see if your face is as thick as a city wall.”
She had already mastered the first layer of the Fuhuan Shenbian. Combined with the Qianxi Fuling Jue and her combat experience from her previous life, fighting him across cultivation realms was entirely feasible.
The two exchanged blows back and forth. Shu Jianyue’s whip moved like a swimming dragon, simultaneously parrying Zhu Su’s attacks while looping around to strike at him.
Shu Jianyue fought with increasing ferocity—a habit carried over from the apocalypse. When facing zombies, failing to be ruthless toward them meant being ruthless toward oneself.
Zhu Su’s face grew darker the longer they fought, as his Xuanpin Lingyi already had several tears torn into it.
Seeing the whip about to strike his body again, he whirled around to dodge, his face turning pale with fury.
Pulling out a Baoyanfu, he flung it straight at her.
Shu Jianyue instantly channeled the Qianxi Fuling Jue to envelop it, then whipped it back at Zhu Su. “Back to you!”
However, just as she prepared to evade the remaining blast of the Baoyanfu, a palm from Zhou Rong struck heavily against her back.
Shu Jianyue couldn’t hold back a mouthful of old blood, nearly fainting from the sheer pain. Before she could react, Zhou Rong reached out to snatch Yuchuan from her embrace.
Shu Jianyue flashed back instantly to dodge, yet he still managed to tear the cloth wrapping.
Terrified, she pulled Yuchuan tight against her chest, the movement wrenching her shoulder blade so violently that cold sweat broke out on her brow. “A Jindan cultivator actually launching a sneak attack—utterly shameless!”
Zhou Rong couldn’t care less about her mocking sneers now. His sole objective was to seize the child in her arms and the Lingqi on her person.