Chapter 275: What Was Born Wasn’t Human
Hearing him say that, Yu An frowned subtly.
’He can’t just be spouting nonsense,’ she thought. ’Feng Xuan entered with me, so will I meet him in the next Illusion Realm?’
With a sense of unease, Yu An discovered her surroundings had changed. A green lawn had reappeared beneath her feet.
But unlike last time, the green underfoot didn’t seem to be grass, but moss.
It was slippery, and Yu An quickly steadied herself.
Since she hadn’t been immediately pulled into the next Illusion Realm, she crouched down and rolled a bit of the moss between her fingers.
’Hmm, a familiar scent. I feel like I’ve smelled this somewhere before.’
Yu An was sure she had smelled it recently, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember where.
As her thoughts churned, the surrounding scenery began to shift. In the next moment, Yu An found herself standing before a quaint, traditional residence.
She froze for a moment. ’This isn’t architecture from the Beastman Continent or the Beast God Continent,’ she quickly concluded, ’but it does look a bit like buildings from the Endless Land.’
"Help! Somebody, quick! The lady’s about to give birth!"
Just as Yu An was debating whether to enter the courtyard, a woman’s shout erupted from within. Immediately after, two figures came running from a short distance away.
"Young lady, slow down! I... this old man can’t run like this!"
Yu An looked over to see a girl who looked about seventeen or eighteen, dragging a white-bearded old man as she ran toward the residence.
The girl cried out anxiously as she ran, "We can’t! Didn’t you hear my lady is giving birth?"
"Doctor Chen, please, hurry up! My lady can’t wait!"
They quickly arrived in front of Yu An. She had intended to move out of the way, but to her surprise, the two of them passed right through her body!
Startled, Yu An looked down at herself and realized her body seemed more translucent than theirs.
’Since the Illusion Realm is only showing me this residence, I might as well go inside and take a look. They can’t see me anyway.’
As soon as she stepped inside, the shouts grew clearer. A middle-aged woman, who appeared to be a matron, was ordering the maids about.
A woman’s screams echoed from the room from time to time, sounding utterly agonizing. In Yu An’s memory, female Beastmen had never suffered so much when giving birth to their cubs.
’And these people don’t seem to be Beastmen.’ Yu An mulled it over for a moment. ’This must be the Upper Realm.’
’Does this family, or more specifically, the woman in labor, have some connection to me?’
Yu An peeked through a crack in the window. The face of the woman giving birth inside was twisted in pain. She had never seen her before.
’I have nothing better to do anyway,’ she thought, so she found a small corner to wait in. ’Truth be told, I could stand right in the middle of the path and it wouldn’t stop the maids from passing through.’
Aside from her own few little cubs, Yu An had never witnessed another birth. Plus, after she had her Zaizai, she had quickly used her superpower to heal herself. This was the first time she had ever seen basins of bloody water being carried out, one after another.
Just as she was hesitating whether to lend a hand, Doctor Chen’s solemn voice suddenly came from the room.
"The lady is in obstructed labor! She’s completely exhausted. Go inform the head of your household and ask whether to save the mother or the child!"
Before the matron could even react, Yu An shot to her feet.
She strode straight into the room—not that anyone could stop her. Ignoring the few panicked people inside, she went directly to the woman’s bed.
Fortunately, her superpower worked. A warm energy traveled through the woman’s entire body. Although the woman didn’t understand what was happening to her, she knew her strength had returned.
Doctor Chen, as if he had witnessed a miracle, quickly changed his tune. "The lady has her strength back! Make way, I will perform acupuncture on her!"
Yu An wasn’t a professional physician, so she stopped after transferring just a bit of her superpower. She didn’t leave, instead watching from a short distance away in case of any other complications.
’Well, I suppose that’s my good deed for the day.’
Thankfully, with the support of that bit of superpower, the woman didn’t become exhausted again. Following a baby’s first cry, the room was instantly filled with commotion.
Yu An couldn’t help but want to see if it was a boy or a girl, so she stood up and peered over.
"The baby’s born! It’s a... AHHH!"
The midwife’s joyful voice stopped abruptly, followed by a series of screams and the THUD THUD of bodies hitting the floor. The room instantly descended into chaos!
Yu An was dumbfounded. ’What in the world did she just give birth to?’
’Is the baby just a bit ugly?’
’But surely it’s not so ugly that people scream and faint on sight!’
The infant was surrounded by a crowd, so Yu An couldn’t see. She took a few quick steps forward to get a look—
Yu An fell silent.
’No wonder they fainted. She hadn’t given birth to a human!’
The matron who was managing the situation was also stunned, but she was holding up better than the others, cradling the newborn "infant" and doing her best not to pass out.
But her hands and legs were trembling uncontrollably, as if she would collapse to her knees at any moment.
’Her... Her Patriarch and the lady are clearly human, so why would she give birth to a tiger cub?!’
The lady had fainted. Just when the matron didn’t know what to do, a deep, resonant voice suddenly came from outside.
"Has my wife given birth? Quick, bring him out for me to see!"
’It’s the Patriarch!’
The matron clamped her mouth shut, terrified that making a sound would draw the Patriarch’s suspicion. But she was only a servant; how could she possibly dare to deceive the Patriarch?!
’Besides, so many people saw the lady give birth to a monster. There’s no way I can hide it!’
’Oh well, I’ve only served the lady for a few months. It’s not worth getting dragged down for the sake of others.’
Yu An’s attention was fixed on the tiger cub in the matron’s arms. Staring at the coat of white fluff on its body, she ventured a bold guess—
’This is Feng Xuan!’
’Feng Xuan is the Guardian of the White Tiger Divine Hall, a being from the Upper Realm. He couldn’t have just sprung from a rock; he must have had parents before he became a Guardian.’
’Could it be... that the people inside and outside this room are Feng Xuan’s parents?’
Yu An wasn’t certain, but she decided to watch and see what happened.
The truth will always come out. The calls from outside grew more insistent, clearly impatient. The matron steeled herself, wrapped the tiger cub in its swaddling clothes, and carried it outside.
The other maids didn’t dare to follow, afraid of being caught in the crossfire of his anger.
Yu An hurried to follow. ’If this really is Feng Xuan, I can’t let that Patriarch outside kill him!’
Patriarch Feng saw that no one was coming out and was about to order someone to go in and see, when the matron emerged holding a swaddled bundle.
She was trembling with fear and didn’t dare hand the bundle over. Patriarch Feng’s brow furrowed, and he ordered his attendant to snatch it away.
The attendant grabbed the bundle and was about to present it to Patriarch Feng, a string of auspicious phrases already on the tip of his tongue. But then he glanced down, and the words caught in his throat.
Seeing the man’s expression as if he’d seen a ghost, Patriarch Feng frowned and took a look himself.
!!!
He handled the shock even worse than his attendant, stumbling back a step in fright. "What is this!"
"It’s... it’s the child the lady gave birth to, Patriarch. He... he was born looking like this!"
The matron didn’t dare hide anything and recounted the whole affair from beginning to end.
"Utter nonsense!"
Patriarch Feng was enraged. "I am human, and my wife is human! How could we give birth to a monster!"
"Where is my wife? I need to get to the bottom of this!"
Without a single glance at the tiger cub in the bundle, he stormed furiously into the room. Yu An summoned Lu Lu, telling it to make sure no one harmed the little cub she suspected was Feng Xuan, then followed the Patriarch inside.
As soon as she entered, she saw Patriarch Feng ignoring the woman’s postpartum weakness, grabbing her by the hair and interrogating her.
"Speak! Why did you give birth to a monster?! And my auspicious son? Where is he?!"