“Is that so? I recall there being a bolt of tender yellow satin left over. Should we use it to make a bellyband for our little prince? We can embroider a pattern of mulberry flowers on it using silver thread…”
002. Black and White Twins (Part 1)
Whenever he opened his eyes, Qi Fei would gaze affectionately at the other fetus. Once, however, perhaps because he had turned around unconsciously while asleep, when he opened his eyes, he found himself staring directly at the other’s lower body.
Thus, Qi Fei discovered with a hint of disappointment that his companion was not a little sister, but a little brother. Fortunately, after giving it some thought, Qi Fei decided a little brother was just as good. Such a quiet baby, even if a boy, was bound to be very well-behaved.
Yet as time went on, Qi Fei grew increasingly worried. Although measuring things against himself might not be entirely logical, how could a little fetus never move at all? No matter how he poked with his hand or gave gentle kicks with his foot, the other side offered no reaction whatsoever. Could my little brother be paralyzed?
The mere thought filled Qi Fei with deep concern! Being blind in his past life had brought him so much agony; if this adorable fetus couldn’t move at all, how pitiful would that be?
Sprewell was actually conscious; he knew his soul had migrated into the body of an unborn child. Two divine sparks had accompanied him into the fetus’s mind as well, lying quietly dormant. Inside the maternal womb, one could absorb the purest elemental magical power of all attributes, so Sprewell had maintained a state of cultivation ever since he regained consciousness. To be reborn, and to start all the way from a fetus in the womb—what an unimaginably rare opportunity!
Naturally, Sprewell was also aware that he had a twin. At first, this sibling had been quite quiet, but as he practiced his cultivation, a small fraction of magic leaked into the sibling’s body, causing the other to wake up abruptly like a sleeping person jolted awake, starting to move nonstop. One moment it was poking his face, the next it was kicking him with its foot, or even wrapping its arms around him inside the already cramped placenta.
Little did Sprewell know that the lively fetus had already mentally decided that he was disabled, and was currently filled with immense sympathy and heartache for him.
They coexisted peacefully like this for a long time, so long that Qi Fei had begun to wonder if they weren’t inside a womb anymore, until a sudden crisis arrived, forcing the two of them to be born a few days early.
The two inside the placenta remained as they had always been: one perpetually keeping its eyes closed and remaining completely motionless, while the other kept its eyes wide open, intently studying the other. Qi Fei could picture his brother’s features with his eyes closed.
Just as Qi Fei was about to perseverantly continue poking Sprewell’s face, the entire placenta wrapping around him shook violently.
Dizzy and disoriented from the jolt, Qi Fei hurriedly turned his head to look at Sprewell. Fortunately, there was no reaction at all which, to Qi Fei, meant total normalcy.
Before he could even let out a sigh of relief, he felt the membrane wrapping around him begin to twitch and spasm. Qi Fei thought, Are we about to be born? And then, he saw those eyes. He couldn’t recognize colors, but he felt they were extraordinary.
Sprewell calculated mentally and figured the birth date was about right, which explained why the placenta reacted so violently. Opening his eyes, he saw the lively fetus staring straight at him with a pair of pale golden pupils. Then he noticed its white hair, which practically enveloped its entire body. The longer the hair at birth, the greater the innate talent. It seemed this brother of his possessed extraordinary potential as well.
Sprewell knew the body he had obtained through reincarnation was exceptionally good. Given time, once the right moment arrived and this vessel grew strong enough, he would be able to surpass his former strength. The pursuit of power had always been his sole interest, and thinking of the heights he would reach in the future, he felt quite satisfied.
There was only one problem: tragedy often strikes when joy reaches its peak.
Qi Fei was thinking that he could finally be born into a warm family with a well-behaved little brother waiting for him; meanwhile, Sprewell was pondering what to keep in mind for future cultivation and roughly when he could recover his previous strength. At that exact moment, from outside the constantly twitching and compressing placenta, a serpentine thing leaking black smoke burrowed inside.
It carried an unmistakable aura of darkness and ice.
Sprewell recognized what it was at a single glance: the soul of a dark elf. When dark elves died, their souls could never return to the Elven Tree to attain reincarnation. These dark elf souls would quickly dissipate, but if a necromancer collected them before they faded, extracted the darkest essence, and refined it, they could produce a dark elf soul-spirit.
Yet why would such a thing exist here? Elves were rarely seen, dark elves even more so, not to mention necromancers, whom everyone feared and avoided.
Given his current fragile state, being entangled by this thing would reduce him to a cripple even if he survived. Moreover, the person launching this malicious attack was clearly targeting the unborn children. Just as Sprewell was wondering what to do, Qi Fei saw the bizarre entity drawing closer and closer to Sprewell. In a rush of panic, he lashed out with a forceful kick.
003. Black and White Twins (Part 2)
For a soft, floppy fetus, that kick could be considered fast, accurate, and ruthless! Yet that pitch-black entity didn’t fly off as Qi Fei had imagined or at least stop there. Instead, the moment it made contact with his leg, it simply vanished.
Qi Fei had the sudden urge to rub his eyes: Did I see wrong just now?
Sprewell’s brilliant mind stalled for a moment, momentarily forgetting that this was his first time encountering a situation involving a fetus in the womb. Thus, he similarly failed to consider that the fetus likely understood nothing and had simply made that movement by sheer coincidence. However, he quickly realized this and let out a sigh of relief inwardly. Looking with a trace of regret at the oblivious fetus, he thought that in less than a minute…
Qi Fei reached out to touch Sprewell’s face and even smiled at him. If he could speak, he undoubtedly would have uttered comforting words like, “Don’t be afraid, Big Brother will protect you.”
However, the smile squeezed out across his fetal face hadn’t lasted long before a sudden surge of bone-chilling frost invaded his limbs and bones. This soft, infant-like body instantly stiffened.
He couldn’t describe the intensity of that cold; he only felt as though the tips of his hair might already have frozen into tiny ice crystals. He could no longer feel the warmth of the maternal body, nor could he feel the warmth of the fetus opposite him. As for his own body, every single inch felt as though it were turning to solid ice, leaving behind nothing but biting cold.
Being a body that couldn’t even be truly counted as an infant yet, Qi Fei lost consciousness before long.
From beginning to end, he never saw the trace of a distorted expression flash across Sprewell’s face.
In truth, despite sharing the closest possible blood ties with the fetus in the womb, Sprewell hadn’t felt much of anything toward it. Yet just then, he had suddenly experienced a very strange sensation this fetus was not ordinary. Its actions just now had been genuinely meaningful. Or rather, it had tried to protect him.
This feeling was subtle.
Sprewell had been born into an aristocratic family; his emotional detachment, coupled with his monstrous cultivation talent, had kept everyone at a distance. He was the pride of his clan, having attained the ranks of Junior Archmage and Junior Martial Master right upon reaching adulthood. There were simply too many things and people depending on him for protection his family, his reputation. Countless individuals attached themselves to him, as though maintaining even the slightest connection could buy them favor, solely because he “might” pitch in a small favor out of consideration for that person.
Yet this soft, helpless fetus right before him had actually wanted to protect him.
With that thought, Sprewell did something that he would look back on with immense gratitude every time he remembered it.
During these past days, his divine spark had already established a certain link with his current body. He couldn’t fully command it, nor could he utilize even one percent of its power. But that was already enough.
004. Black and White Twins (Part 3)
Inside and outside Xueyi Wright’s belly, chaos reigned.
Although it was only a few days off from the date predicted by the physician, going into labor so abruptly threw every single maid in Zhaoxue Palace into a panic. Mia, in particular, nearly lost the soul she had managed to steady when she saw the sheer amount of blood staining Xueyi Wright’s skirt.
She pinched her own thigh, desperately ordering herself to stay calm, but it was useless.
“Swish…” A water sphere descended, splashing straight across her face and body. Mia stood there dazed, staring blankly at the person standing before her as he extended a hand and pushed her aside. “Stop getting in the way. Where’s My Lady?”
Only then did Mia wipe her face, remembering that this was their youngest healer, Rhoden. Although light-attribute magic possessed the greatest healing efficacy, alas, people capable of light magic were pitifully scarce. Even within the Chuyun imperial palace, there were only two light mages, and one of them wasn’t particularly reliable.
“Hey!” Mia grabbed Rhoden’s sleeve. “Where is Master Avilla?”
Rhoden turned his head, glanced at his restrained sleeve, and replied, “The Moon King is feeling unwell, and His Majesty commanded Avilla…”