Chapter 74 The Strange Phenomenon of the Female Tree: A Mortal's Blind Loyalty to a God.
oh.
It's a common plot in storybooks where a promiscuous young woman becomes pregnant out of wedlock, and the entire clan interrogates her about the identity of her lover.
It seems she's pregnant.
Lou Yan initially thought it was none of her business, so she stood on tiptoe and looked around, trying to find the doctor through the dense crowd.
His gaze inadvertently fell on the bound boy, and he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, his tailbone throbbing twice.
etc!
Who's pregnant again?!
Lou Yan swallowed hard, no longer caring about who he was looking for, and turned to look at them with a look of panic in his eyes.
The boy, bound to the rack, was pale and had red, swollen eyes, clearly having cried.
Looking further down, his waist and abdomen, bound by the rope, bulged slightly, and...
He is somewhat similar to Heng Qichun.
Seeing that the clan chief was losing patience, he raised his hand to use the torch in his hand to set fire to the straw under the rack.
Lou Yan exclaimed in surprise, not having time to think too much, and immediately cast a wind spell.
A strong wind immediately swept around, overturning all the straw under the rack and sending it flying. The flames on the torch flickered, nearly burning the torchbearer's hand.
Fortunately, everyone's attention was focused on the bound boy, and no one noticed that the strange wind was caused by Lou Yan.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lou Yan pushed through the crowd and squeezed in, going around to the rack and barely managing to shield the frail-looking boy behind her. "Wait, wait!"
"What wrong did he do that you want to burn him alive?!"
The torch in the clan chief's hand had been blown out by the gust of wind. He frowned, then simply threw away the wooden stick in his hand before squinting at the person blocking his way. "Young Master Lou, what are you doing here?"
Lou Yan exhaled through his nose, intending to curse the person for being unable to distinguish right from wrong, but his wolfish mind suddenly started working at that moment.
There might be some hidden story behind this, and if we speak too harshly, it might harm this young boy.
He smiled, trying his best to appear gentle and humble, "My Daoist partner and I came up the mountain to express our gratitude to the Mother of Nine Sons for bestowing us children."
The reason was barely acceptable, and the clan chief did not press the matter further. He simply sighed and said, "Young Master Lou's intentions are very kind, but it's a pity that you've come at an inopportune time. Some trivial matters have arisen in the mountains, and I am currently dealing with them."
Lou Yan turned her head and glanced at the boy, feigning surprise. She pointed at him and deliberately put on a hesitant expression, asking, "What... what's going on? Is it convenient to talk about it?"
The clan chief fell silent, seemingly driven to despair by this matter.
At the stalemate, someone finally stepped forward. It was Wang Sheng. "Young Master Lou, please calm down."
Standing beside him was Dr. Chen, whom Lou Yan had come to find. Presumably, it was Dr. Chen who diagnosed the young man's pregnancy.
Lou Yan was afraid that he would call himself his elder brother in front of so many people, so he pursed his lips and glared at him, which made Wang Sheng shudder.
“The people of Nüqi Mountain do not marry outsiders. If the mountain people want to have a child, they can only pray to the Nine-Child Mother.” Wang Sheng explained, “But Meng Yuan is not married yet, has no partner, and has never prayed to the Nine-Child Mother. Yet a fertile pearl belonging to him suddenly appeared on the Nüqi tree. Isn’t that too strange?”
“We suspect… he must have met someone outside, which is why an extra fertile pearl appeared on the female tree.”
The implication was that they had concluded that Meng Yuan's pregnancy was due to an extramarital affair, and had nothing to do with the birth of the child by the mother of the nine sons.
The crowd readily accepted Wang Sheng's statement, and the area in front of the temple descended into chaos.
"Hey!" Lou Yan opened her mouth to stop her, wanting to say that outside, men can't have children no matter what.
But before he could speak, the boy bound to the rack spoke up on his own initiative.
“I didn’t…” Meng Yuan cried as she argued, “I have never left Nüqi Mountain, let alone know anyone outside.”
He had probably said these words countless times, and his voice was hoarse from speaking. The villagers present were clearly not happy about it, and someone immediately stood up to criticize him.
"She was already heavily pregnant and still tried to hide it from everyone. If it weren't for Dr. Chen's diagnosis, that bastard child would have been born!"
“I really don’t know…” Meng Yuan’s eyes reddened with tears. “I just felt nauseous and vomited. I thought I was just sick!”
absurd.
That feeling came back again.
Lou Yan only realized at this moment just how isolated Nüqi Mountain had become. The mountain people had not left the mountain for thousands of years. They not only sought offspring through the Nine-Child Mother, but they even believed that... men could have children.
Over the centuries, he and Heng Qichun were probably the only two outsiders to have stepped into this place.
The torches were not completely extinguished. In the flickering light, the mountain people argued more and more fiercely, all convinced that Meng Yuan had committed adultery and broken the centuries-old customs of Nüqi Mountain.
Immediately, someone threw out their torch, and the flames climbed up Meng Yuan's robe, exploding into a spray of eerie sparks.
Lou Yan, who was closest at the time, decisively kicked over the flimsy torture rack and pulled Meng Yuan out just as the flames burned through the ropes.
The boy's face was flushed red from the fire, and the hem of his robe had been burned off, revealing a pair of knees covered in burns.
It looks rather creepy.
Lou Yan, being thick-skinned, quickly extinguished the small spark on the child's trouser leg and steadied the swaying child. "Are you alright?"
Meng Yuan coughed softly, instinctively supporting her lower abdomen with her hand. After the unfamiliar pain subsided, she shook her head with teary eyes, "No...it's nothing, thank you for your help."
Lou Yan wasn't used to being addressed like that, and turned her head away uncomfortably, only to meet the clan leader's eyes, which were filled with a hint of anger.
"Well……"
Lou Yan only opened his mouth, but he heard him ask, "What does Young Master Lou mean by this?"
The usually composed old man was somewhat impatient. "I kindly took you in to stay here temporarily, why are you interfering in the affairs of our mountains?"
Lou Yan was never one to be grateful for others' kindness. Hearing this, he raised an eyebrow slightly and said matter-of-factly, "Of course, it's because I'm unhappy with what's going on in your mountains."
"You!" The mountain people behind him could no longer contain themselves and were about to step forward to argue with Lou Yan.
Fortunately, Wang Sheng was a righteous man. Remembering that he was Lou Yan's older brother, he quickly reached out and stopped those people.
Before a fight even broke out, people rushed up the mountain in a panic.
"Chieftain, something terrible has happened!" The newcomer gasped for breath, "The Female Tree... a new gestation pearl has appeared on the Female Tree!"
"What?!" The clan leader's expression suddenly changed. His gaze swept back and forth between Lou Yan and Meng Yuan, who was being supported by Lou Yan. His tone was grave. "Take Meng Yuan with you. Let's go and see!"
Lou Yan was about to say something more when a young man named Meng Yuan tugged at his sleeve and said, "My benefactor, in front of the Nine Sons Temple, don't offend the clan chief for my sake."
Lou Yan frowned slightly.
He lived two lifetimes, and including the period after his body was incapacitated, his soul had no place to reside, which lasted for more than two hundred years.
Only at this moment did he see, for the first time in his life, a mortal's blind loyalty to a god in the eyes of others.
They were so foolish that even when they were about to be burned at the stake, they still wanted to save face for the gods.
The clan chief and his entourage had already quickly descended the mountain, while two other villagers kept urging Meng Yuan to hurry up.
Lou Yan turned his head to look amidst the noisy urging.
Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, and mountain mists rising from the mountains obscured most of the view.
The golden bricks and tiles of the temple eaves were hidden beneath the layer of white snow. The old wooden beams were eroded by the snowmelt and faintly smelled of fish. A bird's cry could be heard in the distance.
—The Nine Sons Temple, which has stood for over a thousand years, is located there.
By the time we descended the mountain, the snow had gradually become a vast expanse of white.
The snowflakes fell incessantly, and the remaining snow on the stone steps was now covered with a new layer of snow. It was inevitable that ordinary people without any spiritual power would slip on the snow.
Lou Yan walked at the back, coldly watching the person in front of her fall over on the icy stone steps, without offering any help.
Then he saw Meng Yuan, whose legs were still injured, step forward and help him up.
Lou Yan crossed his arms and sneered, letting the child be pushed aside and stagger to his feet. He said sarcastically, "They don't appreciate your kindness at all, yet you still rush to help them."
Meng Yuan choked on her lips, her face still flushed from the fire, her young cheeks still red.
“I lost my father at a young age and was raised by the elders in the mountains. I must repay such kindness.”
Lou Yan was surprised for a moment, never expecting there to be such a reason behind it.
He scrutinized the disheveled and bloated boy, and couldn't help but emphasize, "But they were just trying to kill you!"
“Kindness is kindness, and resentment is resentment,” Meng Yuan said. “To speak of revenge before repaying kindness is not the behavior of a gentleman.”
The child seemed well-educated, speaking fluently and logically in just a few sentences, which successfully elicited a sneer from Lou Yan.
What utter nonsense!
Does that mean that when Heng Qichun raised his sword to kill him in his previous life, he had to repay the kindness of his master who had taken him in and raised him?
Thinking of Heng Qichun, Lou Yan's expression became more serious. She didn't speak to Meng Yuan again along the way. When she looked up again, the huge female tree was already in front of her.
Despite the persistent snowfall, the lush branches continued to grow, recklessly obscuring the entire mountain range.
Lou Yan squinted through the crowd in front of him and, sure enough, saw two newly formed gestation pearls in the direction the crowd was pointing and discussing.
One of them was slightly smaller than Heng Qichun's, so it should be Meng Yuan's. The other one was only the size of a jujube, and it was the newly formed one that the mountain people were talking about.
That's strange.
If I remember correctly, the clan chief told Wang Sheng that the Nine-Child Mother would only bestow one pregnancy pearl per month. Now that three have been formed, what does that mean?
Lou Yan, being an outsider, was able to think of this, so the clan chief was naturally even more worried than him.
The old man, over sixty years old, had never seen anything like this before. He stood with his hands behind his back under the female tree for a long time before letting out a heavy sigh.
"Dr. Chen," he turned to the old doctor next to Wang Sheng and said, "I would like to trouble you to take the pulses of the mountain people present."
"No matter what, we must find out who the third gestational pearl is today."
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