12: Pregnancy symptoms can't be hidden! Elder Situ flipped the table!

Cold Plum Courtyard, Luo Yan's small room.

The morning sun filtered through the window lattice, casting mottled light and shadows.

Luo Yan sat before the dressing table, looking at her slightly pale but mostly recovered face in the bronze mirror, a gentle smile playing on her lips.

She gently stroked her still-flat lower abdomen, feeling the steady and vibrant pulse deep within her Bloodline, her heart filled with sweetness and anticipation.

The cyan-white Medicinal Pill, wrapped in strange thunder patterns, that her husband had quietly placed by her pillow last night, had emitted a comforting warmth that allowed her to sleep soundly all night.

"Yaner, do you feel better?" Jiang Linfeng walked in carrying a steaming bowl of rice porridge that emitted a faint medicinal fragrance.

This was spiritual rice he had specifically requested from the Outer Sect dining hall, boiled with a bit of crushed Spirit-Calming Flower, meant for gentle nourishment.

"Mm! Much better! My husband's Medicinal Pill is truly amazing!" Luo Yan turned around, took the bowl, and drank it in small sips, her eyes curving into crescents. "It's warm and very comfortable."

Jiang Linfeng watched her satisfied expression, feeling slightly relieved.

With the Source Spirit Body continuously nourishing her, plus the medicinal power of the mutated qi nurturing pill, Luo Yan's body was recovering quickly, and the fetus was becoming increasingly stable.

However, Elder Situ and Old Man Zhong were always swords hanging over their heads.

[Ding! Bloodline resonance stable! Offspring potential: High Grade B stable (Ice Wood Spirit Root natural affinity continues to increase)!]

[Hint: Partner Luo Yan's pregnancy symptoms will significantly increase within three days (scent sensitivity, morning retching, etc.). Please prepare countermeasures in advance!]

Pregnancy symptoms increasing? Jiang Linfeng frowned slightly.

Cold Plum Courtyard had many eyes and ears, and Senior Sister Yun Shuang was sharp-minded; this was not good news!

He had to find a way quickly!

Just then—

Knock, knock, knock!

A knock sounded at the door, neither light nor heavy, carrying an unquestionable authority.

"Is Junior Sister Luo Yan in? Elder Situ requests your presence." A somewhat rigid voice came from outside; it was a deacon Disciple from Elder Situ's side.

Jiang Linfeng and Luo Yan exchanged a glance, their hearts sinking simultaneously!

Elder Situ?! He had found them so quickly?!

"Please... please wait a moment!" Luo Yan put down the bowl in a panic and tidied her clothes.

Jiang Linfeng took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, stepped forward, and opened the door.

A cold-faced young man wearing Inner Sect deacon attire stood outside.

His sharp gaze swept over Jiang Linfeng, who was opening the door wearing Menial Worker attire. A trace of imperceptible contempt flashed in his eyes before falling on Luo Yan: "Junior Sister Luo, Elder Situ is waiting in the Pill Room side hall. Please come with me."

"Yes... yes." Luo Yan replied nervously, subconsciously looking at Jiang Linfeng.

"I... I will go too!" Jiang Linfeng immediately bowed, a "fearful" smile plastered on his face, "I... I must serve my wife!"

The deacon Disciple frowned and was about to scold him, but recalling that Elder Situ had not explicitly stated only Luo Yan, and catching sight of Luo Yan's dependent look, he finally just snorted: "Follow! Don't get in the way!"

Pill Room side hall.

Sandalwood smoke curled, and the medicinal fragrance was rich.

Elder Situ sat upright in the main seat, his complexion still wearing a sickly pallor, his right arm in a splint, but those hawk-like eyes were as sharp as ever, as if they could see through people's hearts.

On the small table in front of him lay an open jade box containing that thunder pattern qi nurturing pill with faint markings, as well as a small, dark-colored, hard piece of medicinal dreg!

Old Man Zhong sat hunched on a low stool below, clutching his purple clay teapot, sipping it intermittently, his turbid eyes half-closed as if dozing.

Luo Yan and Jiang Linfeng walked into the side hall led by the deacon Disciple.

Luo Yan saluted nervously: "Disciple Luo Yan pays respects to Elder Situ and Old Man Zhong."

Jiang Linfeng bent his waist even lower to the ground: "This Menial Worker, Jiang Linfeng, pays respects to the Elder and Old Man Zhong!"

"Mm." Elder Situ responded faintly, his gaze like a tangible probe sweeping over Luo Yan, pausing for a moment on her lower abdomen before landing on Jiang Linfeng with scrutiny and inquiry.

"Luo Yan, do you recognize this item?" Elder Situ pointed to the Medicinal Pill and dregs in the jade box, his voice flat and waveless.

Luo Yan looked at the thunder pattern qi nurturing pill, a flash of surprise in her eyes.

She recognized it as very similar to what her husband had given her last night, then looked at the medicinal dreg, and shook her head blankly: "Disciple... Disciple does not know."

"Oh?" Elder Situ raised an eyebrow, turning his gaze to Jiang Linfeng, "And you? Menial Worker Jiang Linfeng? Do you... recognize these medicinal dregs?"

Here it comes! Alarm bells rang in Jiang Linfeng's heart!

He squeezed out "blankness" and "fear" on his face: "Back... back to the Elder! This... this Menial Worker recognizes it! Isn't this... isn't this just the unwanted waste from the medicinal dreg yard? I... I even went to clean it up yesterday!"

"Waste?" A cold arc curled at the corner of Elder Situ's mouth. You recognize it quite clearly!

"Then tell this old man, why would this 'waste' contain the medicinal essence of 'ice heart lotus' and 'xuan yang fruit'?!"

"These two Spirit Medicine types have been extinct for a hundred years! The Pill Formula is even lost! The medicinal dreg yard... when did it ever have such 'waste'?!"

His voice suddenly rose, like a thunderclap!

A terrifying pressure instantly filled the entire side hall!

Luo Yan turned pale with fright, her body trembling slightly!

Even Old Man Zhong, who was "dozing" nearby, slightly opened his turbid eyes.

Jiang Linfeng "thumped" to his knees, kowtowing like pounding garlic, "Elder, please calm your anger! Elder, please calm your anger!"

"I... I really don't know! I'm just a Menial Worker who chops wood and carries water!"

"Where would I understand anything about Spirit Medicine properties! I... I just saw that pile of dregs was a bit darker... and harder... thinking... thinking maybe the porridge boiled from it would be thicker... so... so I picked up a bit... I deserve to die! I deserve to die!"

While "wailing," he frantically operated his Breath Concealment Art, suppressing his Qi to the lowest point, his body "shivering," perfectly acting the part of a terrified bottom-tier Menial Worker.

"Boil porridge?" Elder Situ's eyes grew colder, "Boiling porridge can produce a mutated qi nurturing pill that triggers a pill tribulation?! Jiang Linfeng! Do you really take this old man for a three-year-old child that can be fooled at will?!"

He slammed the table!

Bang!

The sandalwood table shattered in response! Wood chips flew! That thunder pattern qi nurturing pill and the medicinal dreg fragments were sent flying!

"Speak! What evil art did you use?! Where did you learn your Alchemy?! And where did these dregs of lost Medicinal Pill types come from?!"

Elder Situ's beard and hair stood on end, Sword Qi erupting! The air in the entire side hall seemed to freeze!

The pressure erupting from his heavily injured body was still terrifying!

Luo Yan was startled by this sudden outburst and screamed, her face turning as white as paper!

She subconsciously took a step back, but was stimulated by that sharp Sword Qi pressure, causing her stomach to churn violently!

"Ugh—!"

A sound of suppressed retching suddenly rang out in the deathly silent side hall! It was exceptionally jarring!

Luo Yan covered her mouth abruptly, but an intense feeling of nausea surged like a tide!

She bent over, her body trembling violently, her face turning from white to green in an instant, and fine cold sweat seeped from her forehead!

Pregnancy symptoms! Under the stimulation of Elder Situ's raging pressure and the pungent medicinal fragrance, it erupted ahead of time! And it came fiercely!

"Yaner!" Jiang Linfeng was terrified! He could no longer care about acting, springing up from the ground to catch the swaying Luo Yan!

He operated his Source Spirit Body frantically, pouring gentle Spiritual Qi into her body as if it were free, trying to suppress that violent pregnancy reaction!

Elder Situ's roar came to an abrupt halt! He was like a rooster whose neck had been throttled, his raging expression frozen on his face, looking in disbelief at Luo Yan, who was bent over retching and in agony!

Then he looked at Jiang Linfeng, who had just erupted with astonishing speed, though he quickly became "weak" again!

Retching?! Such a violent reaction?! And that speed the Menial Worker had just displayed?!

A thought struck Elder Situ's mind like lightning! Combining it with Luo Yan's subconscious action of protecting her lower abdomen, as well as Yun Shuang's vague report earlier...

"You... you are pregnant?!" Elder Situ's voice carried a trace of trembling and shock! It was not a question, but a shriek of near-certainty!

In the side hall, there was dead silence!

Luo Yan's retching sounds continued intermittently, Jiang Linfeng's grip on her arm tightened slightly, and a flash of sharp cold light crossed the depths of his eyes!

Old Man Zhong's hand holding the teapot also paused, his turbid eyes opening completely, flashing with a complex light.

Elder Situ stared fixedly at Luo Yan's painfully curled-up figure, then suddenly looked at Jiang Linfeng!

That look was full of shock, anger, disbelief, and... a trace of extreme rage at being fooled!

"Good! Good! Good!" Elder Situ said "good" three times, his voice icy and bone-chilling, every word seemingly squeezed from between his teeth, "This old man truly underestimated you two! An Outer Sect Disciple! A lowly Menial Worker! Daring to engage in such illicit acts within the Sect! And even attempting to cover it up with ghost-playing Alchemy tricks?!"

He suddenly pointed at Jiang Linfeng, his Sword Qi like tangible ice picks, locking onto him: "Jiang Linfeng! Who exactly are you?! Infiltrating my Qingyun Sect and approaching Luo Yan, what is your scheme?! Where did this strange Alchemy and that so-called 'luck' come from?! Speak!!!"

Terrifying Killing Intent flooded Jiang Linfeng and Luo Yan like a tide!

This time, Elder Situ was truly enraged!

He even developed the intent to kill! He felt he had been played in circles by this pair of "dog lovers"! What good luck? What old medicinal dregs? It was all bullshit! This was clearly a meticulously planned conspiracy! This Menial Worker definitely had a problem!

"Elder! It's not like that! You've misunderstood!" Luo Yan endured the nausea, tears streaming down her face, struggling to explain, "My husband... he... he isn't..."

"Shut up!" Elder Situ interrupted sharply, his eyes like knives, "I wasn't asking you!"

He took a step forward, his remaining left hand pointing like a sword! A refined, extreme blue Sword Qi instantly formed at his fingertip!

It exuded a terrifying aura that could cut through everything! Pointing straight at Jiang Linfeng's glabella!

"If you don't tell the truth, I will kill you, this pest, right now!"

The cold Killing Intent was palpable! Jiang Linfeng's pupils contracted sharply! He could feel that Elder Situ was truly going to kill this time! Under heavy injury, this old guy's reason had been burned away by rage and suspicion!

Resist? Expose his strength? The consequences would be unimaginable!

Continue to pretend? I'm afraid my head will roll in the next second!

At the critical moment!

Just at this moment of life and death—

Hum—!!!

An indescribable, vast, star-sea-like pressure descended without warning!

It instantly enveloped the entire Pill Room side hall! Elder Situ's sharp Sword Qi was extinguished instantly like a candle flame in the face of this pressure!

He groaned, his complexion turning even paler, staggering back a step, looking up at the roof in shock!

Old Man Zhong also stood up abruptly, his turbid eyes erupting with unprecedented brilliance!

This pressure... was not directed at anyone, yet it carried a supreme will! It was as if it were the Incarnation of the Law of heaven and earth! Majestic! Ancient! Irresistible!

Following that—

Rumble, rumble, rumble!!!

Above the entire Qingyun Sect, continuous muffled thunder sounded without warning!

It was not the violence of tribulation lightning, but a low, majestic declaration that seemed to come from ancient times!

In the sky, there were no clouds for ten thousand miles, yet countless points of light appeared out of thin air! Like stars falling! These points of light quickly gathered, aligned, and combined!

In the eyes of everyone, terrified to the extreme!

Above the Qingyun Sect!

Directly above Elder Situ's Pill Room!

An incomparably huge, incomparably clear... phantom of a pill pattern! Slowly condensed and took shape!

That pill pattern was complex and profound, like a brand of the Dao! It was cyan-white in its entirety, with strands of agile, leaping silver thunder patterns wrapped around its surface!

It was exactly the same as the patterns on the mutated thunder pattern qi nurturing pill that Jiang Linfeng had refined... just magnified a billion times! Stretching across the firmament!

The pill pattern phantom rotated slowly, emitting endless vitality of vegetation and the aura of pure thunder Law! The Spiritual Qi of the entire Qingyun Sect boiled because of it!

Countless old monsters in seclusion were awakened! The Disciples stared blankly at the celestial phenomenon in the sky!

"Heaven... heaven descending pill pattern?! Resonance of the Dao?!"

"This... this is the legendary Alchemy phenomenon?! It only appears when a peerless Medicinal Pill containing the principles of heaven and earth is refined!"

"Who is it?! Which Alchemy giant is refining pills in my Qingyun Sect?!"

Exclamations and discussions instantly swept through the entire Sect!

Inside the Pill Room side hall.

Elder Situ stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning, looking up at the roof, as if he could see through the roof to the celestial phenomenon, then suddenly looked down, staring fixedly at the thunder pattern qi nurturing pill that had been shaken to the ground by him! Then he looked at the dark medicinal dregs beside it!

On his face, rage, Killing Intent, shock, and blankness... various emotions intertwined crazily! Finally, it turned into a blank slate!

A mutated pill that triggered a pill tribulation...

Medicinal dregs containing the essence of lost pills...

Now... it had triggered the legendary heaven-descending pill pattern?! Resonance of the Dao?!

This... this f*ck...

What level of Medicinal Pill is this?!

And what level of Alchemist is this?!

He turned his head abruptly, his gaze like burning fire, nailing Jiang Linfeng, who was supporting Luo Yan and wearing a similarly "shocked and blank" (this time he was genuinely a bit confused) expression!

This kid... what exactly did he refine?!