In the Illusory Realm, Ye Qingcheng Gave Birth to Someone Else's Child

The eighth day of the following month. An auspicious day for weddings.

In a small corner of the Hehuan Sect's outer sect, an incredibly shabby wedding was taking place.

There were no guests and no banquet, only two red candles and a jug of cloudy wine.

Ye Qingcheng wore a red wedding dress she had sewn herself. Although the fabric was coarse, it made her look more delicate and beautiful than a flower.

Wang Luo wore his patched long gown, a large red flower pinned to his chest, grinning from ear to ear.

"First bow to Heaven and Earth!"

"Second bow to the parents!"

"Husband and wife, bow to each other!"

The two bowed to one another, their eyes holding nothing but each other.

Meanwhile, thousands of meters high in the sky.

Ye Xuan stood on the clouds, holding a jug of the supreme spiritual wine, Drunken Immortal Brew.

He looked down at the newlyweds, watching the genuine, happy, and shy smile on Ye Qingcheng's face.

It was a scene he had fantasized about countless times.

Yet the main character was someone else.

"Wishing you... a hundred years of harmony."

Ye Xuan raised the wine jug, offered a distant toast to the couple below, and tilted his head back to drink deeply.

The strong liquor burned his throat, turning into scalding knives that tore through his sorrowful heart.

"Pfft!"

A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out, dyeing the clouds red.

Outside the Great Void Illusion.

The real Ye Qingcheng watched this scene, her eyes filled with extreme complexity.

She saw Ye Xuan spit blood; she saw his agony.

"Retribution... this is retribution."

She muttered to herself, her fingers trembling slightly. "Back when you and Su Rou got married, I watched from outside the window just like this. I also spat blood, and I also wanted to kill that woman..."

"But Ye Xuan, you are luckier than I was. Because that Wang Luo is a good man, while Su Rou... was a bitch who stole my man."

"But it doesn't matter... The more it hurts, the more you will understand my madness back then."

"Once you come out, we'll be even."

Over the next few years.

Ye Xuan acted as if he had gone mad.

No longer satisfied with ordinary dual cultivation, he began to practice forbidden demonic arts and frantically took on the sect's slaughter missions.

He led the disciples of the Hehuan Sect to fight across the lands, wiping out countless sects.

His methods grew increasingly cruel, his temperament ever more perverse.

Everyone feared him, respected him, and called him the Blood Hand Butcher.

Only late at night, when those stunning female cultivators tried to climb into his bed, he would violently kick them off.

"Get lost! All of you, get lost!"

He would curl up in the corner of the bed like a wounded beast, clutching the now-tattered sachet that Ye Qingcheng had sewn for him years ago.

Occasionally, he still couldn't resist going to the outer sect to take a look.

Even if it was just a glance from afar.

The current Ye Qingcheng had completely shed her youthful innocence, transforming into a woman full of worldly warmth.

She no longer cultivated, willing to be a mortal.

Wang Luo treated her very well. Though they were poor, they were exceptionally loving.

Every time Ye Xuan went, he would act like a thief, secretly leaving behind a large amount of resources.

Supreme-grade spirit stones, life-extending pills, youth-retaining pills...

But the next day, these items would be thrown untouched into the stinking ditch outside their yard.

Ye Qingcheng would rather dig for wild vegetables and mend clothes for others than use a single one of his spirit stones.

Once, unable to hold back any longer, Ye Xuan showed himself and stopped Wang Luo.

"Take it!" Ye Xuan forcefully shoved the storage bag into Wang Luo's arms, his eyes fierce. "Her body is weak and needs these pills to recover! Can a piece of trash like you afford them?!"

Wang Luo looked at him without fear, simply taking the storage bag out calmly and placing it on the ground.

"Elder Ye."

Wang Luo said indifferently, "Qingcheng said that although we are poor, we are not short of ambition. This is the Hehuan Sect, and without strength, our lives are indeed difficult. But we just want to live cleanly."

"Your things are too precious, and too... dirty. We cannot afford to use them."

"You..."

Ye Xuan was rendered speechless with anger. Looking at Wang Luo's demeanor of 'I may be poor but I am nobler than you,' he wished he could slap him to death with a single palm.

"Ye Xuan!"

Ye Qingcheng's cold shout came from inside the house. "Why are you harassing my husband again? Get lost!"

Ye Xuan glanced at the woman inside who was glaring at him coldly, his heart filled with bitterness.

"Fine... I'll get lost."

He fled in panic.

A dignified Nascent Soul elder had suffered a crushing defeat in front of two Qi Condensation handy-workers.

Another spring arrived.

On this day, Ye Xuan was in secluded cultivation in his cave dwelling, attempting to break through to the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

Inner demons ran rampant, and he nearly suffered qi deviation.

Just as he forcefully suppressed his turbulent qi and blood and walked out of the cave to get some fresh air, he encountered Wang Luo on a small path in the outer sect, happily walking back with a wild pheasant in hand.

When Wang Luo saw Ye Xuan, this time, he didn't avoid him or show a cold face.

Instead, his face beamed with an unconcealable, almost showy ecstasy.

"Oh, isn't this Elder Ye?"

Wang Luo stopped, straightened his back, and looked at Ye Xuan with a smile.

Ye Xuan frowned, initially not wanting to pay attention, but Wang Luo's next words exploded like a clap of thunder.

"Let me tell Elder Ye some good news."

Wang Luo patted his chest and said loudly:

"Qingcheng is pregnant! I'm going to be a father!"

Boom!

Ye Xuan's footsteps halted abruptly.

The world seemed to stand still at this moment.

Pregnant?

Qingcheng is pregnant?

The child... belongs to this piece of trash?

Ye Xuan slowly turned around, his face terrifyingly pale, staring at Wang Luo with hollow eyes.

Wang Luo seemed to thoroughly enjoy the thrill of striking down this lofty elder, and continued to twist the knife:

"Hehe, the doctor said her pulse is very stable. Qingcheng said her greatest wish in this life is to bear my children, even if giving birth costs her some of her lifespan, she is perfectly willing."

"Oh my, Elder Ye, your cultivation reaches the heavens and you have countless Dao companions, you must have quite a few heirs by now, right? Oh, wait, I heard that those who practice plucking and nourishing arts have a hard time producing offspring... What a pity."

Pfft.

An invisible blade plunged straight into Ye Xuan's heart.

Ye Xuan stood frozen in place, not saying a word.

Did his heart ache?

It hurt to the extreme, to the point where he had actually grown numb.

"Elder Ye?" Seeing him silent, Wang Luo smugly waved the wild pheasant in his hand. "I won't disturb your busy schedule anymore. I need to go back and stew some chicken soup for Qingcheng to nourish her body. She's eating for two now, she's very precious."

Ye Xuan watched Wang Luo's smug back. His hands, hidden in his sleeves, clenched tightly, his nails piercing his palms as blood dripped onto the ground.

Kill him.

Kill him!

If I just kill him and get rid of that child, Qingcheng will be in pain, and she will come back to me...

Just like how Ye Qingcheng killed Su Rou and her child back then!

A tyrannical demonic aura gathered in his eyes.

But ultimately, he relaxed his hands.

"Huu..."

Ye Xuan let out a breath of foul air, pulling his lips into a smile uglier than crying, and said to Wang Luo's back with an incredibly hoarse voice:

"Con... gratulations."

Those two words drained the strength of his entire life.

Ten months of pregnancy, one day of childbirth.

It was a night of howling wind and heavy snow.

The small courtyard in the outer sect was brightly lit.

"Ah!"

Ye Qingcheng's agonized scream tore through the night sky.

Ye Xuan stood beneath an old locust tree outside the yard, his body covered in a thick layer of snow.

Like a sculpture, he stood motionless for three whole hours.

He was listening.

Listening to the woman he loved deeply, giving birth to another man's child.

Every scream of agony was like a whip lashing against his body.

Inside the house, Wang Luo paced in and out anxiously, carrying out basin after basin of bloody water.

Push! Qingcheng! Push!

Waaah!

Finally, the loud and clear cry of an infant pierced through the wind and snow.

The baby was born.

Ye Xuan's entire body trembled, and his tense figure instantly collapsed.

He leaned against the tree trunk, panting heavily. It felt as if a piece of his heart had been brutally carved out, leaving behind a hollow void.

Before long, Wang Luo's ecstatic, wild laughter echoed from within the house:

He is born! It is a boy! I have a son! I am going to be a father! Hahahaha!

Immediately following was Ye Qingcheng's weak yet deeply maternal voice:

Husband... hurry, bring the child to me so I can see him...

Qingcheng, you have worked so hard. Look, his eyes and brows look just like mine!

Mm... it is good that he takes after you, honest and dutiful. Whatever happens, he must not turn out like... certain people.

The wind and snow carried this conversation straight into Ye Xuan's ears.

Pfft!

Clutching his chest, Ye Xuan spat out a mouthful of heart-blood. It sprayed across the pure white snow, a shocking and gruesome sight.

He slowly slid down to sit on the ground, his tears flowing silently.

It was over.

It was completely over.

Just then, the sound of the couple discussing a name drifted from the house.

Husband, give the child a name.

Mm... let me think. I hope that in the future, he can soar like a dragon and never be bullied by others. Let us call him... Wang Teng.

Wang Teng... Teng'er... Ye Qingcheng murmured the name tenderly. Alright, Wang Teng it is.

Boom!

Hearing the name Wang Teng, Ye Xuan's pupils violently contracted. He felt as if he had been struck by five bolts of lightning!

The gates of his memory were violently smashed open.

In that brief period of time when they were still in love.

Ye Qingcheng had once nestled in his embrace, longing for the future:

Brother Ye Xuan, if we have a son in the future, let us name him Ye Teng, okay? I hope he can ride the clouds and mount the mist, living free and unfettered.

Alright, Ye Teng it is.

Ye Teng... Wang Teng.

The exact same name.

Yet leading to completely different lives.