Chapter 5

In a stroke of fate Ming Yongnian encountered the odd bud of lotus. In such circumstances he would've given this bud to Wu Jinjing, as the woman was fond of collecting all sorts of spiritual plants. Aside from the woman's more questionable hobbies. Yet something compelled the immortal to bring the bud of lotus flower with him to this cave while he was recovering.

He tried probing the bud with his spiritual energy to see what was inside it. He saw nothing or to be more precise the something inside of the bud had yet to take form.

Thus as he was recovering and watching, and waiting, for the bud to bloom, he broke through his bottleneck. He had reached true immortality, he thought it would be more climactic. Perhaps Jiang Xiaotong had fed him too many of those epic cultivation stories from his world. Because he felt much like any time he had ascended. Indeed he felt his strength raised exponentially, but the feeling was nothing new that he had not felt.

Which brought him to this stalemate situation. Staring at the bud.

He thought of bringing Wu Jinjing over to… dissect this bud of lotus flower. He felt his abdomen clenched at the thought, so he threw away such plans.

Ming Yongnian closed his eyes to meditate again, just when he thought there would be no changes, there were movements coming from the bud.

Eyes widened in alarm, the immortal stood abruptly. Straightening the creases on his robes with a simple flick. The man stared intently at the moving bud.

Tiny hands came out of the flower bud, Ming Yongnian was never as astound as he was now in his entire long life. Obviously even a chicken knows a chick will be born from an egg. How could tiny baby arms come out of a lotus bud? Was it even a baby, or was it a new type of beast?

More and more movements came from the baby trapped inside the buds. The immortal stood by watching the entire scene unmoving.

"Ah!" A chubby baby was revealed to the world.

Something inside Ming Yongnian felt a premonition, a premonition which consists of the instantaneous knowledge that something or someone had opened a gap in the world itself.

Ming Yongnian requires no third eye to see that this child was his own, his body and soul said so, it must be true. Lastly the spiritual energy this baby was emitting was the same as his, though it was mixed with someone else's, someone he was familiar with. This was enough proof that he had somehow brought this baby into this world.

The immortal narrowed his eyes, he did not recall sensing the lotus bud as a spiritual foetus. He would have known if it was. He would have been careful not to wield his spiritual energy around, in the presence of a spiritual foetus. How did this spiritual foetus come into being? How did he not sense it?

He who was the strongest in this era should have felt the existence of a spiritual foetus from a great distance. How could other cultivators not know the existence of this spiritual foetus, when most — if not all — cultivators would attune their senses to sense a spiritual foetus. For centuries, just to sire a perfect copy of themselves. A child that could grow as strong as them. Or potentially stronger.

A small voice whispered in Ming Yongnian's heart, this was what Jiang Xiaotong would call being robbed dry.

"Ah?"

Lips pressed into a thin line, eyes narrowed, brows pinched together. He was overflowing with emotions that were not his. After many years of cultivation Ming Yongnian had a firm grasp of his emotions, he could tell with a glance that these emotions were not his.

Eyes landed on the baby who met his eyes head on.

"Ah! Ah?"

These emotions seemed to be this child's…

"Ah! Ah!"

Ming Yongnian stood still, eyes remained in contact with the baby's.

"Ah!"

"Ah?"

"Ahhh!"

The immortal was not sure as to how to handle a baby, one could hand him a sword to weild and he could part the ocean with it, but hand him a baby and his hands will stiffened.

A storm of emotions built up inside Ming Yongnian, it was the baby's, his mind supplied. The corners of the baby's eyes were tinged with redness.

The baby's mouth wrinkled and a bellowing cries escaped the baby's tiny cries.

Ming Yongnian grimace, how could a tiny mouth let out such ear splitting scream, this scream was worse than Luo Huifang's screaming ghost.

In the passing he had seen how sect members who had children of their own carried their child to stop their cries. The immortal made a split second decision, his hands wrapped around the baby and lifted the child up, making sure the child remained a distance away from himself.

Ear splitting scream stopped, replaced with tiny sobbs, tears still poured from the small tear ducts like pearls.

Ming Yongnian felt discomfort in the same place his hands were holding the baby. This should be what the baby was feeling, it was very uncomfortable. He adjusted the way he was holding the baby, recalling the way that sect member had carried their child. Ming Yongnian tried to copy them.

If he recalled it correctly that person had held their child by the buttocks and supported their backs. Ming Yongnian adjusted his hold several times until he felt no discomfort. To think that one day in his life after becoming an immortal he would learn how to hold a child, in the most comfortable way possible…

Mentally tired he felt the baby's stare, their eyes met again.

This child was looking at himself a little dumbly if Ming Yongnian had to say so himself. A twinge of irritation flashed through his mind. That was not his emotions, it was this baby's, what was this child upset about again, forget it.

For now he should think of what to do next, he didn't know how to keep a baby alive. He tried to reach into his space storage for a cloth, but came empty handed. It had escaped him for a moment that he had donated his possessions. After several thoughts he came to the conclusion that it was best to ask those nine, sworn siblings of his.