Chapter 643
Madam Zhou looks particularly beautiful when she is mixing medicine.
She ground the dried evening primrose into powder, operating the medicine mill with one arm, but smoothly. Her disabled left leg stepped on the hemp rope that fixed the medicine mill, and the rhythm of her right knuckles tapping the edge of the mill wheel was in accordance with the five-tone rhythm. Nangong Wan was so fascinated by it that he suddenly felt the fetus in her belly moving gently with the rhythm.
"Try this." Madam Zhou handed over a cup of amber medicinal tea, "with honey."
Nangong Wan took a sip, her eyes slightly brightened: "Sweet?"
"Good medicine doesn't have to taste bitter." Madam Zhou's smile spread, and suddenly she saw Fu Shaoping standing outside the curtain, and immediately said seriously: "Master Fu, it's time to change the medicine."
When changing Fu Shaoping's dressing, Madam Zhou gasped.
The wound across her back was glowing with black air, clearly caused by a demon cultivator. She hesitated for a moment, then took out a faded brocade bag from her bosom: "This is the dragon scale powder left by my father."
Fu Shaoping held her wrist and said, "Keep it for emergency."
Madam Zhou sprinkled the powder stubbornly: "A doctor is like a loving parent." Her fingers were as steady as a rock when bandaging the leg, but sweat oozed from her forehead - every time she used her spiritual eyes, the pain in her leg would be aggravated.
One night there was a heavy rain, and Nangong Wan asked Madam Zhou to stay in the side room.
Under the candlelight, Miss Zhou was sewing a baby swaddling cloth. The traces of the silver needles were actually a hidden formation. Nangong Wan suddenly asked: "Miss Zhou's legs?"
"When I was seven years old, I saved a child from drowning and was bitten by a water monster." She spoke calmly as if she was talking about someone else, "The child later became a swordsman."
Nangong Wan handed over a plate of sweet-scented osmanthus candy: "What about now?"
"He died in the battle to eliminate the demon last year." Madam Zhou held the candy on the tip of her tongue and suddenly smiled, "So I asked Master Fu to teach me swordsmanship - someone has to continue to eliminate the demons."
Amid the sound of rain, Nangong Wan saw the candlelight reflected in her eyes, which was shockingly bright.
During the last treatment, Madam Zhou took out a piece of warm green jade.
"Hold it in your mouth to give birth." She placed the jade token engraved with runes in Nangong Wan's palm, "I used thirty years of my life as a token to ask the Green Emperor for this life force."
Fu Shaoping's face turned pale: "You!"
"It's worth it." Madam Zhou limped towards the gate, her back straight, "This is the future master of demon slayer."
In the morning light, the copper bell on her medicine box jingled, startling a tree of sparrows.
The flickering candlelight made Fu Shaoping's figure look slender. He sat cross-legged in front of the jade table, with the black iron sword lying across his knees. The sword reflected the flickering flames, and the cold light flowed like water. He stroked the sword's spine with his fingertips and chanted the ancient spell in a low voice. With each word, a dark golden rune appeared on the sword, as thin as a hair but containing a great spiritual power.
"This 'Spiritual Suppression Mark' requires essence and blood as a guide." He suddenly spoke in a low voice, "It is taken from the third volume of the Xuantian Sword Canon."
Madam Zhou sat by the window, and her fingertips paused slightly when she heard the words. The moonlight shone through the window lattice, casting mottled shadows on her thin face. She kept sewing, and the green wood spirit flowed through the silver needle into the white soft cloth. Every time a needle fell, a little green light would light up on the cloth.
"Three hours." She murmured and suddenly raised her eyes, "What if the spiritual power is not stable by then?"
Fu Shaoping paused with his sword, and the candle flame popped into a spark.
Nangong Wan, who was lying on the couch, chuckled softly, and her fingertips brushed across her bulging belly. There were small lumps bulging regularly, as if someone was knocking on the door. She had changed into a loose moon-white nightgown today, and only had a wooden hairpin in her hair, but it made her skin look like cream.
"This child knows how to pick the right time to make trouble." Before she finished speaking, she suddenly gasped - her stomach began to churn violently, and a faint golden light appeared under her clothes.
Fu Shaoping instantly appeared in front of the couch, with a ball of gentle spiritual power condensed in his palm. But Madam Zhou was faster than him, and three silver needles flew through the air and accurately pierced the acupuncture points on Nangong Wan's wrist.
"It's fine." When Madam Zhou put away the needle, her sleeves revealed half of her scarred forearm. "It's just the tide of spiritual power." She glanced at Fu Shaoping's tense jaw and added, "It's a normal phenomenon."
Five days later, under the pear tree in the yard.
Fu Shaoping tapped the ground with the tip of his sword, drawing a complicated battle formation on the ground. Each mark was infiltrated with cinnabar, which was as dazzling as blood in the sunset. Madam Zhou limped around the battle formation, occasionally scattering a handful of green ash - it was powder made from the core of a hundred-year-old peach wood.
"Start the battle!"
With Fu Shaoping's low shout, thirty-six array patterns lit up at the same time. Suddenly, a strong wind blew, and the pear blossoms on the tree were torn off the branches and shattered into snow foam in the air. Nangong Wan stood at the center of the array, her black hair flying, and her nightgown rustling. The golden light in her abdomen surged, and it condensed into a vague phoenix shadow in front of her!
"Not good!" Madam Zhou suddenly stumbled to her knees, feeling a sharp pain in her left leg. She watched Nangong Wan's feet leave the ground, and her dress fluttered like a blooming white lotus.
A cold light flashed in Fu Shaoping's eyes, and he slashed down with the black iron sword. The moment the sword energy tore through the center of the formation, the blast wave blew all three people away. When Nangong Wan fell, the jade pendant on his waist cracked with a "click".
Madam Zhou ignored the blood on her legs and rushed to Nangong Wan to feel his pulse. The pulse under her fingertips was rapid and chaotic, like a frightened deer. She raised her head suddenly and met Fu Shaoping's bloodshot eyes.
"The Soul Gathering Formation will trigger the awakening of the bloodline." She swallowed the blood in her throat, "We have to use the Soul Locking Formation instead. But it requires..."
"Thousand-year-old cold iron." Fu Shaoping replied, wiping the blood from the corner of his lips with his thumb, "Bring it back tomorrow."
It was raining heavily at night, and Madam Zhou was checking the medicine drawer again and again under the lamp.
"I still need the Moonlight Dew." Her voice tightened, and her fingertips unconsciously rubbed the old wound on her left leg. It was a hideous tooth mark, which would ache slightly whenever it rained. At the bottom of the medicine drawer lay half a bottle of old stock, but it had lost its spirituality because it had been stored for too long.
The window frame was suddenly blown open by a strong wind.
Fu Shaoping stood in the rain, soaking wet, his black clothes clinging to his body, outlining his slender waistline. The jade bottle in his arms glowed with a faint blue light, and the cold air condensed into frost on the bottle.
"Cold marrow?" Madam Zhou's pupils shrank suddenly, "You went to the Cliff of Death?"
Fu Shaoping said nothing, and just put the jade bottle on the table. When he turned around, Madam Zhou saw a fresh bloodstain on the back of his neck - it was a wound caused by the ice of the cold pond, and it would be fatal if it was half an inch off.
Nangong Wan came over after hearing the noise and gasped when she saw this. She reached out to touch the jade bottle, but was stabbed by the cold air. Fu Shaoping immediately grabbed her wrist, and the temperature of his palm was surprisingly hot.
"Is it worth it?" Nangong Wan asked softly, with tears in her eyes.
Fu Shaoping looked down at her, and suddenly reached out to pluck a petal that had gotten stuck in her hair. "You asked for the child's name." He said in a hoarse voice, "I thought of one."
Amid the sound of rain, Madam Zhou quietly retreated and closed the door behind her.
In front of the stove, Madam Zhou suddenly fell down.
The medicine spoon fell to the ground with a clang, and rolled into the stove, burning red. She grabbed her left knee tightly, and her knuckles turned white from the force. The old wound felt like thousands of steel needles were stirring, and the pain made her eyes go black. "Sister Zhou!" Nangong Wan rushed in with a bulging belly, and her embroidered shoes almost stepped on the charcoal fire.
Madam Zhou wanted to speak, but she bit her tongue. In the smell of blood, she saw Nangong Wan's white hands handing her a handkerchief - those hands should not have touched women's water, but at this moment, they firmly supported her shoulders.
"Cold marrow. Use low heat." Madam Zhou squeezed out the words from between her teeth.
Nangong Wan took over the medicine pot without saying a word, and her movements were surprisingly skillful. She hummed a little tune while stirring the medicine juice, which was the tea-picking ballad from Fu Shaoping's hometown. Madam Zhou vaguely remembered that this seemingly delicate lady had also crossed the northern snowfield alone in the past.
The door curtain suddenly lifted. Fu Shaoping stood at the intersection of light and shadow, the red pill in his hand made his eyebrows and eyes look bloodshot.
"Fire Dragon Pill" Madam Zhou struggled to get up, "It's too expensive"
Fu Shaoping stuffed the pill directly into her mouth: "If you can't stand steadily tomorrow..." He paused and said something serious, "My son will be left without a mother."
When the morning star rises, the delivery room has become an iron wall.
Fu Shaoping used his sword as a pen to carve out three nested formations on the ground. The outermost Soul Locking Formation glowed green, the middle Soul Calming Formation was dark gold, and the innermost Yuan Gathering Formation was red as blood. Every time he completed one, his face turned paler - these formations consumed his own essence and blood.
Madam Zhou was checking the silver needles for the seventh time. Her legs still hurt, but she could walk freely. At the bottom of the medicine box, the runes on the jade spirit contract were dazzlingly bright - that was the life-saving talisman she had exchanged for thirty years of her life.
Nangong Wan was lying on a specially made delivery bed. The bed was made of thousand-year-old agarwood and covered with seven layers of soft silk, each layer embroidered with a different calming array. She held the green jade tightly in her hand and suddenly smiled at the two busy people, "Do you think this child will be able to call mom and dad when he is born?"
Fu Shaoping paused as he was carving the formation.
Madam Zhou burst out laughing, and her eyes turned red as she laughed. She turned around to prepare the last dose of pregnancy-preserving medicine, and heard Fu Shaoping whisper behind her, "Call Fu Linyuan."
When the morning light penetrated the window paper, Nangong Wan suddenly clenched the mattress. Sweat broke out on her forehead, but she still managed to wink at her husband: "Linyuan. What a good name."
The moment the first ray of sunlight shone into the delivery room, a clear baby cry broke the dawn.
Fu Shaoping stood under the eaves, looking at the newly planted dragon blood tree in the yard.
"You need Tianlong grass for the third bath." He suddenly spoke, his voice as low as the sound of a sword, "There is one in Lailong Mountain."
The embroidery frame in Nangong Wan's hand fell on her knees with a "pop". She looked up, the morning light shining through the window screen, reflecting the sparkling water in her eyes: "Do I have to go in person?"
Fu Shaoping turned around, his black robe fluttering slightly in the wind. He walked to his wife, knelt on one knee, and gently placed his palm on her bulging belly: "For our child, we should use the best."
The little guy in the belly seemed to sense his father's breath and suddenly kicked. Nangong Wan gasped, but saw Fu Shaoping's cold eyebrows softened rarely, and his fingertips lightly touched that place.
"I will be back within three days." When he stood up, the jade pendant on his waist collided with the scabbard, making a clear sound.
Madam Zhou was drying herbs in the backyard. She heard footsteps and didn't even turn around: "The Tianlong grass in Lailong Mountain grows on the cliffs, accompanied by seven-step snakes."
Fu Shaoping took out a brocade bag from his sleeve and handed it over: "If you don't come back in three days."
"Puh, puh, puh!" Madam Zhou snatched the brocade bag, and her coarse cloth sleeve brushed against Fu Shaoping's wrist bone, revealing an unhealed scar underneath - it was left when the cold marrow was taken. She paused, and her voice suddenly lowered: "I will take good care of her."
Fu Shaoping nodded, turned around and went to the weapon rack to take a pair of black iron wrist guards. This was specially made for him by Nangong Wan after she became pregnant, and the inner layer was engraved with a calming formation.
Nangong Wan came over holding a dark blue cloak: "The night dew is heavy in the mountains." She stood on tiptoe to tie the ribbon around his neck, and suddenly whispered in his ear: "If you come back injured." There was a rare fierceness in her voice, "I will take the child back to Xuanjian Pavilion."
Fu Shaoping's eyes darkened, and he suddenly grabbed the back of her head and kissed her deeply. This kiss was sharp with the scent of ambergris, mixed with the sweet scent of the osmanthus hair oil she often used, and he didn't let go until Nangong Wan was out of breath.
"Wait for me." He bit her lips lightly, and when he turned around, his black cloak raised a sharp arc.
The fog on Lailong Mountain never dissipates all year round.
Fu Shaoping walked into the mountain in the morning dew, crushing several poisonous mushrooms with his boots. His left hand was always on the hilt of the sword - this mountain was notorious for the rampant monsters, and even the herbalists dared only move around the periphery.
At noon, he stopped in front of a cliff. There were a few golden grass leaves dotted on the cliff, shining like dragon scales in the sun. It was the Tianlong grass.
Just as he was about to leap up, he heard a rustling sound behind him. Fu Shaoping frowned slightly, and his right hand had already pressed on the hilt of the sword.
A seven-step snake as thick as a bowl swam out from the bushes, staring at him with its golden vertical pupils. What was even more troublesome was that there were three human-faced spiders following behind the snake - this kind of monster liked to eat Tianlong grass the most and had always lived in symbiosis with the seven-step snake.
Fu Shaoping sneered and unsheathed his black iron sword. The sword shone like snow, and in an instant it cut off the forelimbs of the first human-faced spider that pounced on it. The smelly green body fluid splashed on the grass leaves, corroding them into wisps of white smoke.
The seven-step snake took the opportunity to spring up, its venomous fangs heading straight for his throat!
At the moment when the sword and the snake's fang collided, Fu Shaoping suddenly changed his tactics. He took out a jade bottle from his arms with his left hand and accurately caught the venom dripping from the snake's fangs - this was another important medicinal ingredient in the Sanxi Ritual.
The seven-step snake was furious at the pain, and its tail swept across. Fu Shaoping leaped up, tapped the snake's head with his toes, and used the force to pounce on the cliff.
Just when he was about to reach the Tianlong grass, the entire cliff suddenly shook!
A snake tail as thick as a bucket broke out of the ground, and the sound of scales rubbing against each other made people's teeth ache. Fu Shaoping twisted his body in the air, and the black iron sword drew a string of sparks on the rock wall before he stabilized his body.
Two golden pupils as big as lanterns slowly lit up in the thick fog - it was the Seven-Step Snake King!
The fishy smell of the snake's tongue blew towards me.
Fu Shaoping suddenly sheathed his sword and took out a jade pendant from his waist - it was Nangong Wan's personal item, and her scent still lingered on it.
The snake king paused, a hint of hesitation flashing in his golden eyes.
Now! Fu Shaoping made a lightning-fast move, and the scabbard accurately hit the snake king's seven inches. While the giant snake was curling up in pain, he flew over and picked three Tianlong grasses, and put them into the jade box with roots and soil.
When he went down the mountain, there was a wound on his left arm so deep that the bone could be seen, but the jade box in his arms was intact.
As dusk fell, Fu Shaoping stepped onto the last ridge of Lailong Mountain. In the distance, Nangong Wan was leaning against the door, the lantern in his hand swaying in the night.
He touched the jade box, and the corners of his cold lips rose slightly.
(End of this chapter)