"Gu— Gu Gu Qing..."
He Ni's eyes went wide. Beneath the mystic light that concealed her face, her expression was full of panic.
Gu Qing laughed in angry disbelief. In a single step, he was before her. He gripped her shoulders and said through clenched teeth, "You, He Ni—back in Liu Village, we were all lovey-dovey, and you called me husband so sweetly. Now it's just Gu Qing?"
He Ni grew even more flustered, her words coming out stumbling: "How— how did you get to the Immortal Realm?"
She stared hard at Gu Qing, looking him over and over again, still finding it hard to believe that he had come to the Immortal Realm—and was at the fourth tier of the Heavenly God Realm, no less.
He Ni began to suspect that the Gu Qing before her wasn't really Gu Qing, or that he had been possessed.
After all, who ascended to the Immortal Realm within a few decades?
And even if one had ascended, a few decades wouldn't be enough time to convert immortal energy. How could he possibly have broken through to the Heavenly God Realm?
Unless, like her, he was a reincarnated great power.
He Ni's eyes shimmered with divine light, as if she could see straight through to Gu Qing's divine soul.
Gu Qing gave a certain part of her a light smack.
The elasticity was as good as ever—no, actually better than before—no, wait, he was here to settle accounts with He Ni.
This was not the time to be thinking about such nonsense.
"You were planning to keep the child and leave the father behind. If I hadn't come, were you going to make sure our child never knew who I was, hmm?" Gu Qing demanded.
He Ni's attempt to probe him was forcibly interrupted. Her exquisitely cold face instantly flushed crimson, shame and panic surging through her.
Before she could think further, hearing Gu Qing's words, He Ni panicked even more and blurted out without thinking, "I didn't! I'm not! You're wronging me!"
Though she didn't know how Gu Qing had cultivated to the Heavenly God Realm, the man before her was undoubtedly Gu Qing.
Caught red-handed while running away pregnant, He Ni was panic-stricken.
She couldn't fathom how Gu Qing had found out.
Had Yang Dieyi told him?
That didn't make sense—she had never told Yang Dieyi she planned to keep the child and leave the father.
Had Yang Dieyi guessed?
Was Gu Qing's appearance in the Immortal Realm also Yang Dieyi's doing?
At this thought, He Ni burned with hatred for Yang Dieyi's meddling.
She had taught Liu Ruyan sword arts and given her treasures to restore her foundation, hoping that Yang Dieyi would also look after Gu Qing a little.
She never expected Yang Dieyi to ruin her plans.
He Ni seethed inwardly. When she had the chance, she would definitely get payback.
But right now, the most pressing matter was—what should she do?
Should she keep running?
Gu Qing sneered, his gaze dropping to He Ni's flat stomach. Under his divine sense, there was indeed an infant inside.
Radiance of the Great Dao filled the womb, suffused with the Laws of the Primordial Yellow Great Dao—the phenomenon was staggering.
Inside, a chubby white baby girl of about three years of age was sleeping soundly. With every breath, she inhaled and exhaled the essence of the Great Dao. The phenomenon was even more extraordinary than that of an immortal infant.
Seeing this, He Ni snapped back to her senses and immediately set up a restriction, preventing Gu Qing from peering further and preventing her daughter from waking up and seeing Gu Qing.
Gu Qing's face was expressionless. "Where did the baby in your belly come from?"
Her red lips were silenced. He Ni was kissed into a daze.
Releasing the soft and pliant He Ni, amusement crept into Gu Qing's eyes. She was still as pure and flawless as ever—one kiss and she forgot everything.
He Ni possessed a flawless sword heart and a pure spirit. She seemed decisive in killing, but in truth, her nature was innocent and gentle.
A meaningful smile spread across Gu Qing's face. "I suggest you think carefully before you answer."
Meeting Gu Qing's threatening gaze, He Ni mumbled, "She's yours."
After saying it, He Ni wailed inwardly. She was the invincible Sword Immortal Emperor!
An existence before whom ten thousand immortals bowed, who could shatter the heavens with a flick of her fingers—yet here she was, being bullied like this.
No—she refused to be bullied like this anymore.
She wanted to run away pregnant. She wanted to live a beautiful life with just her and her daughter.
Cultivating on one hand, picking up treasures on the other.
But before she could speak, her red lips were sealed again.
Just as He Ni felt she could barely breathe, Gu Qing scooped up her soft, dazed body.
He summoned the Space-Time Shuttle, fed Primordial Yellow Mother Qi into it, set a random direction, and let it fly on autopilot.
He carried her into a room and gave her a thorough lesson.
It wasn't until He Ni promised over and over again that she would never run away pregnant again that Gu Qing finally let her go.
"The True Spirit World."
Gu Qing curiously took her storage ring.
Actually, this wasn't a storage ring at all—it was a True Spirit World ring. The space inside was an entire True Spirit World.
This was the first time Gu Qing had seen an artificially crafted world ring. He was quite intrigued.
He wondered if he could forge one himself.
Gu Qing activated his Dao Pupils and scanned its construction through the restriction array patterns.
After examining it for a long while, Gu Qing shook his head. Forging it was easy enough, but the World Stones required were not easy to find.
That was a supreme treasure—rare in the entire world.
Gu Qing's gaze fell on He Ni's collection. A massive pile of magical treasures, divine irons, immortal gold, and precious ores had been tossed aside and piled into a mountain.
Besides that, there were numerous precious immortal medicines.
When he saw a hundred drops of Time Marrow and five Time Stones inside, his eyes lit up.
"So much Time Marrow! How did you find so much?"
He Ni seemed not to hear Gu Qing's words. She stared blankly at the ceiling, her mind full of one question: how did things turn out like this?
This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
None of this matched what her fellow immortal friends had described about keeping the child and leaving the father.
Gu Qing thought for a moment, then took everything He Ni didn't need. Rather than letting it gather dust in her storage ring, he might as well take it and put it all to good use.
On top of that, Gu Qing took fifty drops of Time Marrow and two Time Stones.
He then loaded several hundred trillion wisps of Primordial Yellow Mother Qi into the ring for her.
Having done all this, Gu Qing reached out and pinched He Ni's soft cheek.
"I've given you some Primordial Yellow Mother Qi."
"Hurry up and get ready. Wake our daughter—I want to give Yan'er a treasure."
At the mention of her daughter, He Ni's limp and weakened body instantly recovered its strength, and she quickly dressed herself.
But wait—what did Gu Qing mean by Primordial Yellow Mother Qi?
Was it the same Primordial Yellow Mother Qi she knew?
He Ni's divine sense swept over it once, and her body trembled. It really was Primordial Yellow Mother Qi.
When she had been an Immortal Emperor, she had never managed to find any Primordial Yellow Mother Qi—yet Gu Qing had actually obtained some.
"Don't just stand there. Hurry and wake our daughter."
"Baby, baby, your daddy's here."
Yan'er stirred groggily awake. Hearing He Ni's words, she blinked in confusion and said in her milky voice, "Didn't Mommy say I don't have a daddy?"
He Ni covered her face.
She felt like the absolute worst cautionary tale of keeping the child and leaving the father.
Getting caught by Gu Qing was bad enough, but she couldn't even fight back.
Gu Qing pinched He Ni's cheek again, his smile deeply meaningful: "Darling, did you really tell Yan'er that?"
"Baby, you misunderstood. What Mommy meant was that your father is in the mortal realm, not in the Immortal Realm. But you do have a father."
"Oh, I see."
Yan'er listened in a daze, half-understanding. Instinctively, she felt that this wasn't what Mommy had said before.
But she also instinctively believed that Mommy wouldn't lie to her. Maybe she really had misunderstood.
So that meant—she did have a father?!
"Daddy!" Yan'er's childish voice was brimming with joy.
"Mm, what a good girl." Gu Qing couldn't be bothered to hold a grudge against He Ni anymore. He chatted with his daughter with great enthusiasm.
Watching this, He Ni felt a pang of jealousy. Baby was supposed to be hers alone.
But she didn't dare say anything, so she quietly watched the father and daughter interact.
As she listened, a warm smile unconsciously crept onto He Ni's face.
Having Gu Qing around was actually… not bad.
At the very least, Gu Qing was a very devoted father, coaxing their precious daughter into giggling fits.
He was even better at entertaining their daughter than she was.
Seeing that his daughter was getting sleepy, Gu Qing brought the conversation to a timely halt and took out the Return-to-Origin Sword. "Yan'er, this is the Return-to-Origin Sword. Do you like it?"
If Yan'er didn't like the Return-to-Origin Sword, he would gift her the Profound Heaven Sword instead.
Both swords were top-grade Innate Spirit Treasures—unmatched in battle and endlessly versatile.
They were perfectly suited to be their daughter's natal supreme treasures.
Gu Qing was actually feeling a little grateful now that his daughter hadn't been born yet—there was still time to accumulate resources for her.
After all, while in the womb, an infant was in the innate Great Dao fetal state—like a piece of unblemished jade.
If she had an Innate Spirit Treasure as a natal companion, she could absorb its innate divine Dao rhyme and indestructible Laws to reshape her foundational essence.
"I love it!" The moment Yan'er saw the Return-to-Origin Sword, she adored it.
She loved beautiful, elegant swords.
He Ni, meanwhile, stared in shock at the Return-to-Origin Sword in Gu Qing's hand.
A top-grade Innate Spirit Treasure—judging by the myriad Dao-rhyme of all Daos returning to one that flowed from it, it was not inferior to her Heaven and Earth Sword in the slightest.
She could hardly believe it. How could a minor cultivator like Gu Qing possess such a supreme treasure?
Could Gu Qing also be a reincarnated Immortal Emperor?
Or even a primordial innate great god from the dawn of creation?
He Ni dismissed the thought.
Gu Qing couldn't possibly be an ancient old monster.
Having been so intimately involved with him for so long, she was absolutely certain: Gu Qing was just a big boy full of bad ideas, bursting with youthful vitality.
There wasn't a trace of the brooding solemnity of an ancient old monster about him.
He Ni thought and thought but couldn't figure it out. She gave up and decided to just let it be.
"Then Daddy will give it to you. From now on, you can hold it while you sleep, okay?"
Hearing his daughter's delighted response, Gu Qing removed his divine soul mark and handed the Return-to-Origin Sword to He Ni, gesturing for her to place it in the womb and help Yan'er bind to the sword.
But Gu Qing was overthinking things. The moment He Ni took the Return-to-Origin Sword, it flew on its own into the womb and automatically acknowledged Yan'er as its master.
People chose treasures, but treasures also chose their masters.
Clearly, Yan'er and the Return-to-Origin Sword were a perfect match.
"My daughter has the makings of an Immortal Emperor."
Seeing this, He Ni said with immense pride.
"Mm." Gu Qing grunted in acknowledgment, his arms around He Ni's waist, his eyes thoughtful.
He used to feel that he had more Innate Spirit Treasures than he could ever use. But now, it seemed, they were nowhere near enough.
His women each needed at least one. His daughter needed one too. The more, the better.
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