Tianchi is a good material for making 'clothes'.

Yan Huanyue was assigned to a small courtyard with three rooms, and the other two rooms in the courtyard were also occupied.

When Uncle Ge brought in a woman with an unfamiliar face, the other women living in the other two rooms also came out to greet him.

One of them was accompanied by a three-year-old child who was lame, had a crooked mouth, and a hunched posture.

The child, holding his pregnant mother's hand, limped over and gave Yan Huanyue a friendly grin, with a string of drool dripping from the corner of his crooked mouth.

Uncle Ge pointed at the child and said to Yan Huanyue, "Look, if you're not good enough, you'll give birth to one like this. The family that made the betrothal won't want it, and the charity hall isn't a clinic that can treat people. In the end, you'll have to raise it yourself."

The child's biological mother smiled obsequiously at Uncle Ge, anxiously and awkwardly stroking her slightly protruding belly.

The family didn't want her, and her husband wouldn't allow her to raise the child and waste money. They've come over and made a scene twice.

Although it wasn't her but rather a child born through her womb, and everyone said it wasn't her real child, the child clearly grew out of her womb.

Once the child is born, the so-called "real" parents who have made a commitment can refuse to accept the child without any mercy if they are not satisfied with it.

But she couldn't. She had truly carried the child for ten months, and she felt heartbroken. So she herself couldn't figure out how to define this matter.

All she knew was that deep down she couldn't bear to abandon the child and let it fend for itself.

Therefore, she could only keep him secretly behind her husband's family's back, hiding him when her husband's family came to collect money.

Yan Huanyue casually replied with a "yes" to Uncle Ge's words.

Uncle Ge pointed to the room and said, "There's a picture of Guanyin giving a child hanging in the room. Remember to kowtow to it every day and ask for her blessing."

Yan Huanyue simply nodded silently, much like an ordinary woman who lacked knowledge and opinions, and who only knew how to meekly follow the crowd when faced with problems. Wherever others kicked her, she would roll in that direction.

He has a handsome face.

Uncle Ge shook his head. This kind of person, even when being drained dry, still can't tell what's sucking her dry, yet she always has a strange sense of self-consistency, always thinking that suffering a loss is a blessing and that keeping the peace is such a far-sighted wisdom.

My neck is a bit sore.

Uncle Ge scratched his neck, leaving four dark red marks on his dark skin.

He said to Yan Huanyue, "Three hundred coins a month is not expensive, and there's no rush to pay. I'll collect the room fee after the baby in your belly is born. Go and get ready."

After saying that, he scratched his increasingly itchy neck, turned around and went out, wondering if he had been bitten by a poisonous mosquito, and prepared to go home and apply some garlic to treat it.

Yan Huanyue watched him leave the courtyard. As soon as Uncle Ge left, the women in the courtyard came up to Yan Huanyue and asked about her background.

When they asked her questions, Yan Huanyue would only lower her head and smile bitterly or nod silently.

Amidst everyone's chatter, they all came to the same conclusion as the old woman guarding the gate: she had become pregnant after marriage, was kicked out of her home, and had no choice but to come here to make a living.

Yan Huanyue listened to their conversation, and after a while, she invited them to her room to warm up.

As Uncle Ge had said, there was indeed a picture of Guanyin giving a child hanging in the room, as well as a picture of the God of Wealth, and other simple furniture.

Yan Huanyue wiped the small stools and bed, invited everyone to sit down, and said with a smile, "We're new here, so there's nothing to offer."

Knowing that she had been kicked out of her home and had no savings, the group didn't care much for her food or drink. They just stayed there to rest during her pregnancy and did nothing else. Their daily conversations were always the same few things.

The arrival of a new person sparked everyone's interest, and they chatted about this and that, sharing old stories with the newcomer, which was also a source of novelty in the long period of loneliness.

After listening to them talk for a while, someone happened to mention that they had a dream about their baby last night, and were woken up by the baby kicking their belly. Yan Huanyue took this opportunity to ask with a smile:

"I've heard these babies are very different. I've only heard that they're stuck to the belly, but I really don't know the specifics. Can they survive if they're stuck to the belly?"

Hearing her say that, one of the women lifted her clothes and said, "Just like that, it will grow by itself without me having to do anything to it, simply sticking it here."

Yan Huanyue looked closely and saw a pool of murky water wrapped in a thin, transparent amniotic sac. In the water was a formed fleshy fetus with eyes like black beans.

Its blood vessels are faintly visible, connecting to a fleshy red placenta.

The placenta was like a round paper cover clinging to the woman's flat belly, quite unlike a typical intrauterine pregnancy.

Yan Huanyue couldn't help but ask, "Don't you feel anything at all? Has your health deteriorated recently?"

The woman laughed and said, "I really don't feel anything. As long as it eats and drinks every day and absorbs the life force of living people, it's fine. It just can't run around or jump around. I'm afraid that this thin skin won't be able to withstand the strain. If I don't take good care of it, it might break one day when I'm not paying attention, and I'll have to pay for it."

The others quickly took the opportunity to lift their clothes and check each other's bodies to see if any of the babies in the amniotic fluid were missing fingers or were motionless.

Like someone who had contracted smallpox, huge yellow pustules appeared on everyone's bellies. The skin was so thin it was completely transparent, and the swelling made them shiny and swollen, as if they could explode and spray out at the slightest touch.

Yan Huanyue gently placed her hand on one of the thin membranes of the placenta. Her spiritual senses slowly spread out, and she sensed that the child inside was producing countless fine, dense blood vessels that pierced straight into the woman's skin, absorbing her flesh and blood.

A worm the size of a fingernail was hiding inside her abdomen, crawling around.

Given the current situation, this woman has been drained of most of her vital energy and blood, and she probably won't live more than five years.

But she couldn't even feel that she was actually nurturing this child with a blood and energy demand nearly a hundred times higher than that of a normal child.

She didn't even sense the real blood connection between them, assuming that the placenta was completely separate from her.

Yan Huanyue withdrew her hand, gently pulling down her clothes to cover the seemingly peaceful and serene placenta, which revealed strangeness in every way.

She turned to the sick child and smiled, "May I shake your hand?"

The child, drooling, happily extended his hand and mumbled, "Shake hands...shake hands..."

Yan Huanyue gently held his hand with her right hand and stroked the top of his head with her left hand.

This child seemed different from ordinary children, but... Yan Huanyue found it difficult to describe the difference accurately.

She stroked the child's head again and said, "Good child."

The Spirit Sensing Technique circled once more.

Is this difference due to a physical illness?

But that doesn't seem to be the main reason either.

Yan Huanyue felt that his blood was stronger than that of an ordinary adult, and his bones were as strong as an adult's, but in many other aspects he was indeed a three-year-old child, and he looked thin and listless.

It could also be explained that some people are naturally strong.

But considering that these children absorb a hundred times more blood and energy from their mothers than ordinary children, it's understandable that their bones and blood vessels would grow in this way.

In short, it is even more abnormal than abnormal.

Ever since Pei Xuanzhi vomited after taking bitter medicine, Yan Huanyue has carried one or two pieces of candy with her.

She took one and gave it to the child, then turned to his mother and tentatively said, "This child looks thin; he should eat more."

The child's mother said, "He looks thin, but he's never full. When he's hungry, he throws a tantrum. Once, when I was hungry and the food wasn't served in time, he pounced on me and bit my arm, leaving a big bloody mark. My stupid son is really a complete idiot."

The child ate the candy with great satisfaction, leaving sugar syrup clinging to his not-so-clean clothes.

Another woman standing nearby took out a handkerchief and wiped his clothes, laughing, "He's just a kid, it's normal for him to be anxious. When my younger brother was little, he was also very rough with his little hands, and he could hurt people when he grabbed them."

Yan Huanyue stood to the side with her hands hanging down, thinking about how Pei Xuanzhi, who also looked thin and frail, ate his meals as if he were taking poison, which was infuriating.

Xuanzhi was born with poor health, so his frame was thin. This shows that even if a child was born to a demoness, he would not be like this child, who, despite being weak and having bone diseases, was born with exceptionally strong bones and blood.

What else could it be?

Yan Huanyue thought of a possibility, and her heart instantly turned cold.

She pretended to want to see the newborn babies, and the women said that there were only two newborn babies that had not yet been taken by customers who had placed orders. Since they were free, they took her out to visit other people's homes.

Yan Huanyue had seen two children in two village houses not far away. These two infants had grown quite large, with bones and blood vessels even stronger than the three-year-old child who had been ill earlier.

The women here had no idea that the placenta attached to their bellies by the charity was filled with children that had been carefully "crafted." They were being drained dry by these strange children, yet they remained oblivious.

Yan Huanyue asked, "Does the charity provide you with meals?"

The new mother, who was washing clothes nearby, wrung out a garment and said, "Never mind, but you don't need to worry about this. The food at the charity is pretty good. Once I have money after giving birth, I can make up for the food expenses."

How come this charity makes money from everything? It makes money off them, and then it tries to make money off their food, clothing, and shelter.

"Does this kind of child need to eat anything extra?"

Another woman explained, "They will take some pills given by the charity, mainly to strengthen bones and protect the lower back, because the baby is getting bigger and the lower back will hurt."

Yan Huanyue asked curiously, "Really? Let me see, I think I can eat it."

Someone, joining in the fun, gave her one and said, "Your child probably won't have this much trouble."

Yan Huanyue sniffed the pill and swallowed it.

This is a low-quality Qi-tonifying and blood-nourishing pill, made mostly from scraps. It wouldn't be very useful for Yan Huanyue, but for ordinary people, it would be too much of a supplement.

No wonder they were all drained of energy, yet they didn't look exhausted at all.

Yan Huanyue excused herself, saying she still needed to pack her things, and left. She walked and stopped along the way, secretly looking around.

She couldn't sense any demonic or monster aura in this place, nor could she detect the aura of any evil cultivators.

She arrived here by accident, yet she didn't detect any strange aura. Could it be that the other party could constantly expend spiritual energy to conceal their presence?

She set up a spell that put everyone in the streets and villages to sleep.

He wandered back to the vicinity of the charity hall, leaped into it, and used a hand seal to push each of the adults into a deep sleep.

They went to several side rooms and looked at the children in the cradles one by one. Like the two children from before, they were all born with exceptional bone and blood characteristics.

The children here don't drink breast milk; they're fed rice cereal laced with medicine. Yan Huan, the postpartum woman, sat there for a while, and the children, with no one to feed them, cried loudly from hunger.

She carried the warm rice porridge from the stove to the cradle, and quietly looked at the unusually large baby in the cradle. The baby, only a month old, actually sat up and cried out to her because of the aroma of the food.

Yan Huanyue fed all the children once and then put them into a deep sleep.

This place is very close to Tingnan, and she must immediately inform the people stationed there so that more people can come and deal with it.

She searched everywhere in the charity hall for Lü Aolan, but couldn't find her. When she left the charity hall, she saw her carrying a large bunch of flowers and running happily back to the charity hall.

Yan Huanyue immediately called out, "Aolan! Come with me to find the kite and go home."

Lü Aolan was overjoyed and the sturdy girl skipped over to Yan Huanyue's side, "Are you calling me?"

Yan Huanyue asked, "Don't you miss your parents? They've been looking for you and are waiting for you to come back so they can have a good meal."

Lu Aolan's big eyes immediately welled up with tears, which dripped down her face. With red eyes, she choked out, "They said my parents think I'm stupid and don't want me anymore."

"How could that be?" Yan Huanyue smiled gently and said, "Your parents would never be able to bear not having you."

Lu Aolan was so charmed by her that she burst a snot bubble, and then happily dragged her home.

Lu Aolan had been well-fed since childhood and was unusually strong. Yan Huanyue was pulled a little, so she stopped her with her hand and said with a smile, "Wait a moment, I'll take you flying around like a kite before we go back, okay?"

Lu Aolan was shocked and curious, but after being carried on the flying sword by Yan Huanyue, she screamed in terror, saying that she was about to fall to her death.

Yan Huanyue took her hand and smiled, "It's alright, don't be afraid..."

"Why aren't you afraid? Are you just too cowardly?"

Yan Huanyue felt a sharp pain and immediately rolled over to dodge the silver hairpin aimed at her abdomen. However, Lü Aolan leaped up and struck her directly with a palm.

Yan Huanyue made a hand seal to recall her longsword, then leaped a considerable distance away. Blood dripped from her left abdomen, and with a swift movement of her right hand, she grasped a gleaming, cold-looking horizontal blade.

She looked at the woman who was standing with her hands behind her back in mid-air and said in a low voice, "Borrowing clothes? No wonder the head of the charity hall kept her by his side. It turns out it was because of you."

Lü Aolan laughed and said, "Isn't it because you sect cancers are pushing us too hard that we have to hide all traces and don't even dare to completely possess someone's body?"

As she spoke, she opened her arms, feeling the intense midday sun and waves of heat, and said with a smile:

"These Heavenly Fools are born with the best 'clothes'. In the earliest days, the people of Xuanjiang used these Heavenly Fools to summon demons, not paper figures. However, the number of Heavenly Fools was too small, and their constitution might not be able to withstand the long-term existence of demon spirits, so they had to make do with paper figures instead."

"This body, though mentally challenged, has a good innate foundation and was well cared for by its parents. It's practically a natural material for making 'clothes'."

Yan Huanyue held a horizontal sword in one hand and covered her left abdomen wound with the other. She felt waves of pain in her abdominal flesh. She didn't apply any medicine, but the bleeding stopped quickly.

Without further ado, she drew her sword and charged straight at Lü Aolan. Lü Aolan then focused her energy on attacking her, but Yan Huanyue did not engage.

Instead, he dragged Lü Aolan around in circles, feigning and deceiving her, before finding a loophole and taking advantage of her unpreparedness to directly stick a yellow talisman between her eyebrows.

Therefore, we must first tightly restrain this unknown thing inside Lü Aolan's body to prevent it from escaping and going back to report us.

She applied some medicine to her wounds, made a hand seal, summoned her flying sword, and headed straight for Tingnan with Lü Aolan, whose body was stiff, eyes were closed, and breathing was shallow.

Halfway through, she only felt a slight itch in the area on her left abdomen where she had been pricked, but since she had applied medicine, she didn't pay much attention to it.

As she leaped into Tingnan on her sword, dusk approached and the sun had set. It was only then, in a fleeting glance, that she was startled to realize that her lower abdomen had swollen so much in just two or three hours that her skirt was slightly bulging...