The high priest took out a knife, and the saintess brought him water. Alvin was like a lamb to the slaughter.
As his older sister, the clan chief frowned, seemingly lost in thought. Her face didn't show any reluctance; perhaps that's how those in power should remain expressionless.
Under Alvin's gaze, Jiang Shuyin could not remain a bystander. Her healing spells drilled into his body one by one, the light almost turning his skin and hair green.
"It doesn't hurt as much anymore." He gave a bleak smile, his lips dry.
The fleshy mass on her belly visibly sagged down, eventually reaching the bone suture. The most difficult part was for the egg to stretch open the bone suture. If the fetus couldn't stretch open on its own, the high priest would need to use a knife to remove it from the bone.
Even after the bones are removed, the mother can still live, but she will no longer be able to conceive again. However, if the eggs themselves have opened the sutures in the bones, the sutures can be closed slowly after three or five ocean currents have passed, allowing the mother to continue giving birth.
"Drink the holy water." The high priest, seeing that it was about time, instructed the saintess to take the water to Alvin.
The saintess presented it with both hands, her eyes moist: "Alvin, will you listen to me?"
Alvin was moved and reached out to take it.
"Drink this water so that the child can be born safely," the saintess advised. "Listen to me and drink the water."
The two seemed to be speaking in riddles.
The clan chief and the high priest were both watching closely. Did this water have some special effect?
Drinking water causes the stomach to swell, which in turn compresses the uterus and causes it to descend. Water itself only has a slight numbing and analgesic effect.
Over there, Alvin seemed to have been persuaded as well. He picked up the water, tilted his head back, and swallowed it. The holy water did not mix with the seawater and rolled into his throat like water flowing on a lotus leaf.
The effect was immediate; Alvin was in even more pain: "It hurts so much... I might as well just die."
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he looked at the high priest: "No... I gave birth... Ah... Ah..." Jiang Shuyin's heart tightened as she heard this, and she took a step forward, walking past the high priest and the other two.
Under Alvin's wide, trembling gaze, he gripped his cold, bony hand tightly: "Fool, if you have any backbone, you'll live. If you die, how can you be at peace knowing your child is in someone else's hands?"
Alvin looked at his sister. The chieftain's eyes were obscure. When she lowered her eyes and opened them again, her gaze was completely different.
As the holy water took effect and relieved his pain, Alvin regained his ability to think. His sister had always cared for him, so why wouldn't she be good to the children?
The Merfolk haven't had any newborns in a long time, and this is their new generation after moving to the new world. Alvin doesn't believe the children will be neglected.
Xiao Yin was probably trying to provoke him.
Alvin smiled, but as soon as his lips curled up, another sharp, intense pain shot through his tailbone. He groaned, his stomach jerking high before falling back down.
The high priest turned him over to his side and had the saintess help support him, as the high priest was going to the back to deliver the baby: "The sutures are about three fingers dilated."
The saint said to Alvin, "You don't have to get stabbed anymore."
Alvin cried with tears in his eyes, "It hurts so much..." The saintess spoke in a tone of exasperation, "Who told you to give birth? It's too late to regret it now."
"I have no regrets."
"You're just being stubborn."
The clan leader could no longer stand still, pacing back and forth, her gaze fixed on the high priest's hand. She had longed for the birth of a newborn merman for decades, and her dream was finally about to come true.
"Stomach, stomach, stomach... hiss—" Alvin's face twitched and contorted in pain. There was little Jiang Shuyin could do but hold his hand tightly and continuously transfer the healing into his body.
The torn wounds were healed, and the body, drained of energy and vitality, was infused with new life. However, this body had not stored energy for a long time, and the life force was squeezed out as soon as it entered.
The high priest waited for a long time, but the birth canal was only dilated to three centimeters, so she switched positions with the saintess and pushed her belly from the front: "Bear with it."
"Huh?" Before Alvin could react, the pain in his stomach answered him first: "It hurts—is it still not out? I really can't take it anymore, High Priest, please just cut me, I beg you."
The high priest ignored him. Things had come to this point; even if he were killed and dissected, the child would suffer. It was better to give birth in one go: "You should persuade him to push harder." This was said to Jiang Shuyin.
Upon hearing this, Alvin focused on moving his body closer to Jiang Shu, using her as a safe haven, hiding his head inside her body.
Jiang Shuyin reached out and patted his back, saying, "Don't be afraid...don't be afraid..."
Seeing that neither of them were cooperating, the high priest looked at the clan chief, who coughed lightly and said, "Alvin, put in the effort, don't make things difficult for the high priest."
Alvin buried his head even deeper, using only the muscles below his chest to forcefully push the eggs out of his belly.
"Very good, five fingers' width, just half a finger's width more and it will be ready to lay." The high priest took the container for the eggs out of his spatial storage.
This was the most painful moment; the egg inside his belly was stuck in the narrowest part of his body, making Alvin feel awkward and unable to move forward or backward. He grabbed the saintess's hand: "Push harder, it hurts..."
The saintess glanced at the high priestess, and seeing that she did not object, she did as Alvin said.
A sharp pain pierced through some barrier, her belly churned, and then it was empty. Several eggs, larger than a fist, slid down her birth canal. Before Jiang Shu could even show them, the high priest took them away and showed them to the clan leader first: "There are nine in total, and five of them show male characteristics."
The clan chief then smiled and said, "Good, the Merfolk have established themselves in the new world."
With these five male-oriented fish eggs, she could then guide them to become male merfolk, just as she had raised her younger brother Alvin, and encourage them to mate and have children with female members of her tribe. In that case, the prosperity of the merfolk would be within reach.
Jiang Shuyin sensed something was wrong; the faint breathing around her neck seemed to have stopped.
With her head heavy and limp on her shoulder, Jiang Shuyin felt a sudden pang of pain in her heart, and her vision blurred abruptly: "Alvin?"
He tentatively called out, "Don't play dead."
Upon hearing this, the saintess reached into his chest, and the mermaid's heart stopped beating.
After a moment of stunned silence, he said, "Alvin is gone, back to the embrace of the sea god."
The high priest and the clan chief turned their heads, their smiles still lingering, and nodded.
The clan chief nudged the high priest: "You go first." She then went to her younger brother's side: "You're such a worry."
The saintess inquired, "Can Alvin be sent to the Hall of Heroes? Nine children; he has made a contribution to the Merfolk, hasn't he?"
The clan chief glanced at her: "When he was alive, we supported him with the Heart of the Ocean. He only contributed the vessel for these nine children."
The saintess quickly lowered her head.
The clan chief, however, quickly compromised: "Fine, he is my own brother after all. Cleanse him of the filth so as not to defile the ancestors of the Hall of Heroes."
Shortly after the birth, the clan chief and the high priest hurriedly left with the child.
Only the saintess, Alvin, and the lifeless body remained in the side hall. The flesh on her belly was extremely loose, and the fetus inside had suddenly left. Although the belly skin had some elasticity, it was limited and would need time to shrink back little by little. Unfortunately, the dead did not have this function; without the circulation of blood and flesh to nourish it, the skin would eventually age.
If there were no insects to eat it, probably only a skeleton and a skin would be left.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com