**Chapter 563: Crane Delivers Child**
Zhou Xing Tian Yu, Immortal Calendar 2114, Winter Solstice.
A sudden, unexpected snowfall had, in a short time, painted the over a hundred mountain peaks of the Xuan Xing Sect a pristine white. As the silver moon rose from the horizon, the mountain paths became eerily quiet; even the disciples who usually enjoyed flying their swords out for drinks in the middle of the night had vanished.
However, a Three-Bay House on the mountainside of Tianyun Peak was now bustling with people.
The pill attendants, summoned from Moon Spring Peak by Xiao Yunluo, entered and exited the main door of the east wing room one after another, carrying basins of steaming water.
“Faster, faster! Add some Spirit Stones to the brazier in the courtyard…”
“Go get some Blood Coagulating Pills.”
“We need gauze too! We’re almost out of gauze…”
…
Ye Anping, clad in a red brocade robe, stood in the center of the courtyard, his heart pounding with anxiety as he watched the attendants rushing back and forth with basins of water and other items by the wing room door.
In the evening, he had been, as usual, roasting a chicken for Feng Yu Die in the courtyard.
Suddenly, a scream erupted from within the wing room. Immediately after, Xiao Tian burst through the wall, shouting:
“Anping, Yu Die is going into labor!!”
Upon hearing this, Ye Anping’s mind went blank.
No matter how he thought about it, he never expected his daughter to come so soon.
After all, it had only been 190 days since he diagnosed Feng Yu Die with a pregnancy. Even accounting for the 40 days a woman might not feel well during pregnancy, it only came to 230 days.
This was undoubtedly a premature birth.
It was the worst-case scenario among all the possibilities he had considered.
Feng Yu Die was a Nascent Soul cultivator and possessed the Spring Aspect Spirit. Giving birth for her would be akin to a hard fall; although it would certainly be painful, it would only be pain, and the risk of death from difficult labor was almost nil.
But the baby was different.
A baby born to a Nascent Soul cultivator was not much different from a mortal baby.
A premature infant had a high probability of dying at birth.
If this baby were to die.
He might be sad for about ten days, and then he would likely get over it.
But this was only for him. What about Feng Yu Die?
If Feng Yu Die knew her first child had died, how would she react?
“Senior Brother, don’t worry.”
Pei Lian Xue’s voice came from beside him.
Pei Lian Xue walked up to Ye Anping, gently rubbed his brow with her index finger, and softly comforted him.
“Senior Brother, Second and the baby will be fine. Go inside and have a cup of hot tea. I’ll stay here and keep watch…”
Seeing a trace of worry on his junior sister’s usually expressionless face, Ye Anping closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. He glanced at the attendants who were carefully navigating around him to enter and exit the wing room, then nodded.
“En… that’s right, standing here won’t help anything. Yun Luo and my mother are inside. We’ll have to rely on them…”
Ye Anping sighed, gently took his junior sister’s hand, and walked back into the main house of the Three-Bay House with her.
However, as soon as he entered, he heard Yun Jiujiu’s unusually loud curse from the heated brick bed in the southeast corner of the room.
“Damn it! Third Sister, what the hell did you do in your past life? Why is it that wherever you go, something goes wrong? If I had known, my sister and I shouldn’t have brought you along!”
Yun Yiyi picked up her teacup and took a sip, interrupting.
“Alright, Jiujiu. This has nothing to do with Third Sister… Didn’t we just arrive at Xuan Xing Sect last night? Calm down. Young Master Xiao and Madam Kong are helping with the delivery, there won’t be any problems.”
Yun Xi’s face was filled with guilt, completely devoid of her usual arrogant demeanor of “my fate is determined by me, not by heaven.” She was dejected, hunched over, and complained in a small voice.
“…I was supposed to stay behind… You insisted on dragging me along.”
“Hiss—Ah—”
Yun Jiujiu sighed heavily. Suddenly, she spotted Ye Anping entering the room and quickly stood up, asking.
“Brother-in-law!!! How’s the one without a birdie? How is she?!”
Ye Anping shook his head slightly. “Still don’t know.”
Then, he couldn’t help but glance at Yun Xi.
Seeing Ye Anping looking at her, Yun Xi’s neck immediately shrank further down, as if afraid he would blame her for this. She apologized in a small voice.
“Brother-in-law… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come.”
“It has nothing to do with you, don’t overthink things.”
Yun Xi sniffled and replied softly.
“Thank you, Brother-in-law…”
Ye Anping motioned for her to stop apologizing, then looked at the other side of the room where Mo Chi Ling and Gu Mingxin were sitting together. Gu Mingxin seemed to be getting bored waiting and was leaning precariously, on the verge of falling asleep.
Mo Chi Ling saw Ye Anping looking over and raised her hand, tapping Gu Mingxin’s head with a bamboo skewer.
*Tap tap—*
“Huh?” Gu Mingxin blinked, looked around, and said with a lick of his lips, “What’s wrong?! Is she born yet?”
“*Hoo…*”
Mo Chi Ling said with some helplessness.
“Not yet.”
“Wake me up when she’s born, I’m so sleepy~”
Ye Anping didn’t go to talk to them, but turned to head towards Li Longling and Tong Zilan. Ye Ao, Liang Zhu, and Liang Ating were also sitting at a table, drinking tea and waiting.
Seeing his father’s expression was even more worried than his own, he walked over and called out.
“Father, don’t worry. Everything will be fine…”
“Hiss—You kid, your own wife is having a premature birth, and you’re not worried at all?”
“Yu Die is a Nascent Soul cultivator, nothing will go wrong.”
“What about the baby?”
“It’ll be fine too. Even if there’s a problem, I have Pills prepared, it won’t be a disaster.”
Although Ye Anping said this, he had no idea what Pills could be effective in such a situation. Neither the Heavenly Scroll of the Dao nor the Tian Mo Book Scroll mentioned anything. He was only saying this to comfort Ye Ao.
Li Longling, however, could tell that he was just trying to console him.
Having lost her eyesight for twenty years, she had long been accustomed to discerning subtle emotional changes from others’ tone. Even though her eyes had been healed, she could still hear the worry in Ye Anping’s heart.
“Sect Master Ye, Anping has already said that. Don’t you believe your son?”
“…It’s not that I don’t believe him, I know this kid is capable, but…” Ye Ao sighed, then looked at the red-crowned crane in the corner eating fish and asked, “Ping’er, you specifically asked me to bring this crane over. What are you planning to do with it?”
“Roast it later to nourish Yu Die and the mother and daughter, of course?”
?
Ye Ao was taken aback and gasped.
“Hiss—This crane is worth eighty-eight million…”
“Eighty-eight million? What’s wrong with nourishing our granddaughter? Spirit Cranes are highly nutritious.”
Hearing this, the red-crowned crane, which had been happily eating fish, immediately turned its head with a ferocious glare. However, at a glance from Pei Lian Xue beside Ye Anping, it was immediately so frightened that it lowered its head, as if to say, “Be gentle later…”
At this point, Ye Ao also reacted.
“Granddaughter? It’s a girl?”
“It should be.”
“What do you mean ‘it should be’…”
At least Xiao Tian had peeked into Feng Yu Die’s belly last month and confirmed there was no birdie…
Ye Anping shrugged ambiguously and then went to take a seat.
He intended to pour himself a cup of hot tea, but as he reached out, Liang Zhu across the table proactively picked up the teapot and poured him a cup.
“Thanks, Brother Liang.”
“…Heh.”
The fine snow continued to fall outside the window. Ye Anping sipped the hot tea while gazing at the full moon in the sky.
Until the full moon had traversed about ten degrees across the sky.
Suddenly, the cry of an infant echoed from the neighboring wing room.
“Wah ah ah ah—”
The sound was like a startled swan, seemingly able to penetrate the wind and snow.
Even through several walls, it reached the ears of everyone in the main house without obstruction.
!!
Everyone suddenly fell silent, turning their heads in unison to look at the east wing room through the window.
A flicker of ecstasy appeared in Ye Anping’s usually calm eyes.
Since they could hear the crying, it meant!!
“Anping!! Mother and daughter are safe!!!”
Xiao Yunluo’s voice came from outside the main house, and the infant’s cries grew clearer.
Xiao Yunluo, dressed in a purple winter skirt, cradled the swaddled little bundle, stepped over the threshold, looked around, and then walked directly towards Ye Anping.
Seeing Ye Anping’s overjoyed eyes, she smiled and handed over the infant in her arms.
“Anping…”
“Wah ah ah—”
Perhaps sensing her father’s presence?
As Ye Anping extended his arms to receive the swaddled baby, the wailing female infant instantly stopped crying. She opened a pair of mismatched eyes, one purple and one gold, and stared intently at Ye Anping’s face, blinking in a daze.
Unlike the wrinkled and somewhat ugly babies Ye Anping had seen before, this infant, though with only a few strands of hair on her head, was fair-skinned and adorable, wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Was it because she was born to a cultivator?
Ye Anping wasn’t too sure, but in any case, she looked very healthy…
“Father, was I like this when I was born?”
Ye Ao also leaned in, staring at his granddaughter for a long time. His aged eyebrows furrowed like two caterpillars. He looked at Xiao Yunluo with clear doubt and asked.
“Young Master Xiao, was she just born?”
“Ah… yes, Madam Kong and I saw her come out with our own eyes…”
“Hiss—”
Ye Ao took a deep breath and looked back at the girl in the swaddle with a solemn expression, clearly feeling as if he had seen something monstrous.
It seemed that even for a child born to a cultivator, this appearance was abnormal…
Ye Anping muttered to himself, but looking at the girl in his arms, he didn’t pay it much mind. Instead, he said, “Father, don’t look at her like that. No matter what, she’s my daughter, your granddaughter. Her appearance doesn’t matter…”
Ye Ao was stunned for a moment, seemingly relieved. He said,
“That’s right. After all, she’s your daughter…”
Yun Jiujiu and Yun Yiyi and the others also gathered around.
“Brother-in-law, what is it? Let me see too…”
“Anping, let me hold her too!”
“I… I also…” Yun Xi trailed off, then swallowed her words. “Forget it, I won’t hold her… Sigh—”
Yun Jiujiu took the infant from Ye Anping’s arms, looked down at her, and immediately pursed her lips, laughing.
“I’m your auntie!!”
*Slap—*
Yun Yiyi smacked her on the back of the head, then snatched the infant from her and hugged her. She scolded,
“Jiujiu! She was just born, what are you saying… Give her to me! I don’t care if you swear normally, but you need to restrain yourself now. What ‘auntie’!”
“Oh dear…”
Li Longling and Gu Mingxin also came closer behind Yun Yiyi, peeking their heads over her shoulder to examine the infant closely.
Her large, clear eyes, a fusion of Ye Anping’s and Feng Yu Die’s eye colors, one purple and one gold, seemed somewhat confused as they looked at the faces of so many women. She slightly pursed her lips, as if asking:
Who among you is my mother?
And just as Li Longling held her briefly and returned her to Ye Anping’s arms…
“Pa-pa~~”
An unclear speech instantly made everyone present hold their breath, their eyes widening as they stared at her again in shock.
This time, even Ye Anping couldn’t maintain his composure. He took a sharp breath, puffing out his chest.
“???”
“Pa-pa! Pa-pa~~ Pa-pa~~~ Ahhh…”
“…”
After a long while, Ye Anping finally revealed a helpless smile. He lowered his head and gently sniffed the top of his daughter’s forehead, chuckling.
“You can call me already? You’re going to be extraordinary, my little girl.”
“Pa-pa!!” Perhaps sensing that her father was praising her, the infant shouted even louder. “Pa-pa!! Pa-pa!!”
“Alright, alright, Daddy will take you to see your mommy…”
Ye Anping no longer treated her as a newborn. With a tone he’d use to coax a three-year-old, he replied, then took out a bamboo basket from his storage bag, placed her inside, and brought it to the red-crowned crane eating fish in the corner.
?
The red-crowned crane looked at the infant in the bamboo basket, its eyes instantly filled with confusion.
“Here, carry her.”
“…”
Pei Lian Xue, who had remained silent, saw that it wasn’t obeying and her eyes showed a hint of killing intent. The red-crowned crane trembled all over and quickly obeyed Ye Anping, taking the bamboo basket in its beak. Ye Anping then grabbed it by the neck and walked out of the main house towards the east wing room.
Ye Anping pushed open the door and entered the room, dragging the red-crowned crane with him.
The pill attendants had mostly finished tidying up around the bed. Kong Yulan was washing her hands in a basin of bloody hot water. Seeing Ye Anping dragging a crane in, she was clearly taken aback.
“Ping’er, what are you doing?”
“Nothing. How is Yu Die?”
“A bit dazed, she needs to rest. She’s lying down.”
“Mm…”
Ye Anping nodded, tugged on the red-crowned crane’s neck, and led it around the screen separating the bed, walking to the bedside.
Feng Yu Die was lying flat on the bed, covered with a thick quilt. Her face was slightly pale, her cheeks a little sunken, and she was staring blankly at the ceiling, as if she hadn’t eaten roasted chicken for months.
As Ye Anping approached, she still seemed to be recovering from the aftermath of childbirth.
It wasn’t until Ye Anping called her name that she slowly turned her head to look at him.
“Yu Die…”
“Ah…”
Ye Anping smiled dotingly at her vacant expression, then took the bamboo basket from the red-crowned crane’s beak, lifted the swaddled baby, and gently placed it next to Feng Yu Die’s cheek. “Yu Die, the immortal crane brought us a child…”
“…”
Feng Yu Die turned her head to look at the infant by her ear. It was as if her soul had finally returned to her body. She suddenly let out a chuckle, looked triumphantly back at Ye Anping, and said in a weak but mocking tone.
“I told you long ago that the baby was carried by an immortal crane… Young Master Ye, you big liar… Hehe…”
…
(End of Book)
Author’s Notes
Actually, the last chapter originally had over three thousand words.
The content of those last three thousand words was about little Ye coaxing Yu Die to sleep, then returning to his room to rest, only to be tied up and brought back to the house by the waiting ladies for procreation.
However, after much thought, I felt it was better to end it with Yu Die’s line.
It has a bit of an O. Henry ending.
So, I deleted the last three thousand words.
The title of the book is “The Cannon Fodder Nonetheless Raised the Passerby Junior Sister into a Peerless Invincible Woman.”
By doing this, the ending focuses on Yu Die, which might seem like a deviation from the main theme?
But Old K doesn’t think it’s a big problem.
By the end of the Taibai Sect arc, the Junior Sister was already a true Peerless Invincible Woman.
…
As for the subsequent plot.
It would be endless daily life and cultivation.
After a period of rest, Ye Anping would also begin to clear out the original game’s “side quests.”
After all, a game is a game. Players’ time in the game world does not flow except when they are completing the main storyline.
This led to situations like playing cards for a while before saving someone, or going to a tavern to play cards while a wife was dying…
But this world is not a game.
Except for the times he was consolidating his Core Formation and Nascent Soul, Anping was mostly either on his way to complete the main quest or in the process of doing so. Therefore, he only completed the Moon Shadow Sword Sect side quest.
Although Old K could continue writing, it would be a completely different book.
Everyone who appeared from the beginning of this book has accompanied Xiao Ye to this day of completion, either as foreshadowing or as assistance. None of them were suddenly abandoned by Old K.
If he were to continue writing, many of the previous characters would have to be discarded.
…
Next, regarding “Ye Wan’er”—
The Immortal Thief Ye Wan’er first appeared in the Central Domain Imperial Sect chapter.
In Old K’s original outline, she was supposed to be active in an arc specifically about the “Demon Race.”
However, Old K ultimately deleted that arc, which is why she didn’t have any particularly outstanding moments in the entire book, or rather, it was difficult for readers to remember her.
As for why Old K deleted that arc?
—The main reason was that I realized writing a Demon Race arc would be too drawn out.
Perhaps that arc could have better developed Hu Mu and Xue Tian Qiao.
But if it were actually written,
The overall pacing of the book would become very strange—this was something I could foresee.
Online novels require daily updates. When I was preparing to write the Demon Race arc, I realized that the overall outline for that arc was flawed. It was during the book’s growth period, and I couldn’t take seven or eight days off to rewrite the outline.
So, I had no choice but to choose the lesser of two evils and delete the entire outline for that arc to ensure the book’s overall coherence.
Let me say it again!!
—Old K never writes filler content.
There will likely be a few more extra chapters.
These will serve to fill in a few plot holes that were difficult to address in the main text.
1. 【Years later, Xiao Ye’s sons and daughters’ daily lives. (The Junior Sister gave birth to twins, one boy and one girl; Feng Yu Die had a daughter; Xiao Tian and Xue E acted as nannies for the three children)…】
2. 【Ten years later, the situation in the Northern Region’s Hantian Kingdom, and An Ping’s reunion with the Xu sisters.】
3. 【A hundred years later, Yun Jiujiu returns from her travels and comes to Hundred Lotus Sect to borrow a birdie from Xiao Ye.】
——-
This book started on October 30, 2022, and the main story concluded on December 28, 2023, spanning a total of 424 days and 1.9 million characters.
Old K averaged 4481 characters per day. While not exceptionally diligent, it’s certainly not lazy either.
Admittedly, this book does have its flaws.
But Old K is not a naturally talented author and cannot achieve perfection. I can only strive for the best and learn from mistakes.
Authors grow from fearless calves venturing into the unknown to seasoned individuals.
Through learning and accumulating experience, they understand what to write to make it good, and what plots or characters should not be written.
This book is like that. Old K has been growing throughout the serialization process.
Despite my best efforts, some plots are still unsatisfactory.
However, online novels that are unsatisfactory are not like test questions you can simply mark with an ‘X’ to correct.
While revisions are fine before publication, changing things after publication is the most taboo thing for online novels.
While you readers follow the updates, Old K is constantly improving and gaining experience.
As the saying goes, 【Continuous Progress】.
The next book should at least not be worse than the previous one.
As for the new book, please bear with me a little longer.
Old K needs to summarize the issues with this book and then take a break before conceptualizing a new book. It will likely be around February at the earliest.
It will probably still be a fantasy novel, but it will definitely be more detailed than this one.
Old K will announce it in the group then~~
— — —
As of December 28, 2023.
The average subscription for this book is 20,000, and the highest subscription is 47,000.
In other words, over 20,000 readers have fully subscribed to this book.
Thank you very much for your support!!
See you in the extra chapters~~
See you in the next book~~
Pineapple Hedgehog Exchange Group 797836282
