Two months passed quickly. During this time, battle reports from the front lines continued to arrive. Sui Xiaohang did not go to the battlefield; his workload was immense, and he refined pills with high intensity every day.
However, as he remained at the Five Elements Hall, he often received news from the battlefield.
Most of this news came from his young alchemy assistant, Feng Silu, who would tell him about it when she was bored and browsing the internal forums of the Five Elements Hall.
The Bitter Sea battlefield had internet access. Many disciples of the Five Elements Hall, after ending their battles, would go to the forums to blow off steam. After all, the front-line base was currently in intense combat, and there were no good relaxation or entertainment activities. Thus, everyone could only engage in casual chatter.
After all, the current front-line main base had gathered all the Bitter Sea bases. Its area was unimaginably vast, even half the size of the Immortal Realm Continent and many times larger than the Leifeng Continent.
Without browsing the internet, the southern defense lines would have no idea what was happening in the north, and the western defense lines would have no clue how cruel the situation was in the east.
Wan Lei, naturally, had no time to look at this information. Only when Sui Xiaohang visited him in his leisure time to chat would he casually mention the battles in the Ghost Realm's Bitter Sea.
Three months.
Wan Lei had ascended one-tenth of the Tong Sheng Stairway. This was the result of his relentless effort without any relaxation.
This process was extremely monotonous. His only diversions were when Sui Xiaohang and Feng Silu visited him, chatted with him, and when Fang Xiaoyu occasionally brought some delicious food for Wan Lei to taste.
Of course, Fang Xiaoyu's cooking skills were truly indescribable.
Wan Lei always pretended to be surprised and exclaim, "So delicious!" while chewing as if he were eating weeds.
As it happened, one day Wan Lei was condensing the Tong Sheng Stairway with his Saintly Way when Fang Xiaoyu flew up from below.
"Husband, I steamed some buns today. Do you want to try them?"
Fang Xiaoyu, with a cheerful smile, held out a plate of green-tinged buns to Wan Lei.
"You... call these buns?"
Wan Lei looked at the plate of strange items in front of him. Except for being green, they were identical in shape to steamed buns and varied in size.
"Why aren't they buns? I ground mung beans into flour, mixed it with flour, and then steamed them. Aren't they mung bean-filled buns?"
"Shouldn't these be called mung bean steamed buns?"
"Are you going to eat them or not?"
Fang Xiaoyu pouted her small lips.
Wan Lei quickly picked up a bun and took a bite.
"Mmm, delicious, so delicious."
"Hmph, you're just pretending. I'm never bringing you food again."
That would be great. I could finally achieve sainthood in peace.
However, Wan Lei dared not say this aloud. He could only say euphemistically,
"Wife, I know you mean well, you're afraid I'm bored. But you've heard about the war on the front lines. A main god has already died, and countless righteous soldiers have perished.
We bear heavy responsibilities. We need to achieve sainthood as quickly as possible.
It's not that I'm criticizing you, but look at you now. You're eating and drinking every day without comprehending the Saintly Way. When will you be able to descend the Tong Sheng Stairway? Look, you've gained weight; your stomach is bulging."
After speaking, Wan Lei carefully watched Fang Xiaoyu's expression, knowing that her next words might be you're scolding me or you dislike that I'm fat.
However, Fang Xiaoyu did not say that.
"I'm already a Half-Saint. How could I gain weight?"
"But your stomach has..."
"If my stomach is big, are there no other possibilities? Is it definitely because I've gained weight?"
"Then there are other possibilities..."
Suddenly, Wan Lei's expression changed drastically. He thought of another possibility.
Immediately, he released his divine sense and scanned Fang Xiaoyu's stomach, clearly seeing a small, bun-sized...
embryo.
Wan Lei stammered, utterly dumbfounded,
"Wife... you're pregnant? This... this..."
"Yes, I'm pregnant. I'm going to have a baby."
Fang Xiaoyu nodded calmly.
"I... Hahaha, I'm going to be a father? I'm going to be a dad? This... you've known about such a big thing for so long, why didn't you tell me? I... let's go, let's find a midwife."
Wan Lei grabbed Fang Xiaoyu and was about to go down. Fang Xiaoyu stopped him with a hand.
"Calm down. You cannot leave here now, under any circumstances. Besides, it's only three months old; it hasn't even fully formed yet, and it's hard to tell the gender. It'll be at least half a year before it's born. Why are you looking for a midwife so early?"
"But... we still need to make preparations in advance."
Wan Lei was both delighted and nervous.
"It's alright, you don't need to worry about the childbirth. I can handle it myself.
As you know, I comprehend the Way of Life. The final step in perfecting the Saintly Way requires me to personally create a life. Don't you think I need the food and drinks every day? It's all for nutrition, alright?
Moreover, it's inside my belly. I feel its changes all the time, and my comprehension of the Way of Life has also advanced by leaps and bounds. When I successfully give birth to it, the Saintly Way will be perfected naturally, and the Tong Sheng Stairway will descend."
Hearing this, the joy on Wan Lei's face froze.
"If our child knew that his mother gave birth to him to comprehend the Saintly Way, not because she truly wanted him, he would surely be very sad.
Also, when we returned that day, you were so proactive. I thought you genuinely wanted to... that. Turns out you were just looking for someone to help you conceive."
Wan Lei crouched down, dejected.
"Otherwise, do you have any other purpose?"
"No, I think having a child shouldn't be so hasty. Not like this. You should have told me in advance that you were using childbirth to comprehend the Saintly Way.
Now, look at this. I've already ascended so far. If I go down now, all my efforts will be in vain, and the war on the other side cannot be delayed."
"Oh, alright, I told you I can do it myself. If it were normal times, I would definitely have you accompany me in childbirth. But now that the decisive battle has begun, you need to achieve sainthood as quickly as possible, so I didn't tell you.
Alright, you just stop overthinking and focus on comprehending the Saintly Way. Also, I'm not giving birth solely for the sake of comprehending the Saintly Way; it's just that I've long wanted a child belonging to the two of us.
However, I never made up my mind.
Now that the decisive battle has begun, both of us need to rush to the battlefield. But life on the battlefield is precarious; neither of us can guarantee survival.
Regardless of whether one of us dies, the child can become a memento and a reliance for the survivor.
Even if both of us die, this child can continue our bloodline.
In this world, there will still be traces of our existence."