Chapter 228: I’m Pregnant
After leaving the spiritual sea, Xiang Yu made his way to his herb garden to begin farming some farming exp. The sight that greeted him brought a satisfied smile to his face—the ninth and eighth grade herbs had matured beautifully thanks to his farming profession boost. They had bloomed beautifully and had a twinge of spiritual energy that made them glow slightly.
He carefully harvested each mature herb. After storing the valuable herbs in his spatial ring, he expanded his cultivation area and planted fresh seeds.
The other herbs at various stages of growth also received his attention. He checked their soil composition, adjusted their spiritual energy exposure, and made sure each plant had optimal growing conditions. With his seventh-grade farming knowledge, he could sense exactly what each herb needed to thrive. And if something went over his head, he could always use his second grade appraisal.
Moving to the spirit beast enclosure, Xiang Yu examined his spirit beasts. While there weren’t any immediately visible changes from yesterday’s acceleration boost, subtle improvements were definitely occurring. The female junglefowl had increased their egg production considerably—instead of the usual two or three eggs, they were now laying five to six per day. The spirit boars also seemed more energetic, and their spiritual energy felt denser.
He wondered if the acceleration effect also reduced pregnancy time seeing as it affected the egg laying efficiency. If that was the case, he might actually witness the next generation of spirit boars in his lifetime.
After completing his farm work within the designated time, Xiang Yu transitioned to alchemy. He began with the routine low-level pills for the sect’s disciples. At his current mastery level, producing these basic medicines was almost laughably easy. He could produce batches of up to twenty pills simultaneously with nearly perfect success rates—the few failures were mainly due to damaged ingredients rather than any error on his part.
Once the low-level orders were complete, he moved on to refining high-grade pills for the five major sects. These commissions required significantly more concentration and precision, but were still well within his capabilities.
Unfortunately, he still lacked the proper herbs needed to test his fourth-grade alchemy abilities. Unlike blacksmithing, where he could create the necessary materials through alloy fusion, he would first need the herbs to plant and then he’d have to wait for god knows how long so they could mature. Even with the help of his growth acceleration skill, it would still be a long time.
Speaking of blacksmithing, something caught his eye as he glanced at his alchemy furnace. The equipment looked... quite shabby, honestly. This was the same furnace his martial aunt had given him when he first started practicing alchemy, and comparing it to his current status felt almost embarrassing. High-level alchemists used high-level furnaces, many with special effects that improved success rates and enhanced pill quality.
It was definitely time for an upgrade.
A smile spread across Xiang Yu’s face as he completed the last batch of pills. He wasn’t going to settle for just any ordinary improvement—he was going all out.
That’s right, he was going to craft another pseudo-divine level artifact.
...
Xiang Yu carefully selected his materials and began the complex process of creating the specialized resources needed for his furnace creation. Although the procedure remained quite challenging, having successfully completed it once before gave him a significant advantage. This time, the metal fusion process flowed much more smoothly.
However, unlike the rings he had crafted previously, the furnace demanded substantially more raw materials due to its massive size. The sheer volume of spirit metals required was staggering.
Hours passed as Xiang Yu worked tirelessly at his forge. The rhythmic hammering echoed through the cave as he shaped, heated, cooled, and reheated the spirit metals. By the time he finished producing all the necessary materials, he had consumed his entire allocated blacksmithing time for the day.
As he surveyed the now-complete pile of fourth-grade spirit metal, Xiang Yu’s heart ached slightly. The cost had been astronomical—he had nearly bankrupted himself creating these materials. The rare spirit metals he had traded from the five major sects were now almost completely depleted. Unless absolutely necessary, he really needed to stop pursuing such extravagant projects. The resource consumption was simply unsustainable.
Despite his eagerness to begin crafting the furnace immediately, Xiang Yu forced himself to pause. He had spent all of yesterday’s blacksmithing time creating the wedding rings, and today’s entire session on materials. This meant he was falling behind on his agreed-upon weapon deliveries to the five major sects.
Reluctantly, he decided to postpone the furnace construction and focus on fulfilling his trading obligations. He could always adjust his schedule, perhaps moving blacksmithing to before alchemy tomorrow so he could have the furnace ready for a test drive. As for his runesmithing practice, which he was supposed to be doing now, he would simply push it to after lunch.
As Xiang Yu began refining the required weapons, another thought struck him. Perhaps it wasn’t just his furnace that needed upgrading, even his blacksmithing tools could use an upgrade. His current tools were becoming more and more unusable as the materials he interacted with got better and better. The only problem was that he lacked materials.
By lunchtime, Xiang Yu had successfully completed all the required weapons. The ones for the other sects were mostly low-level spiritual weapons, which posed no challenge given his abilities. He had even managed to craft twenty mid-level spiritual weapons—ten of which he fed to the spirit vein while keeping ten for the sect’s use.
The sect elders already possessed weapons of this level, so these extras would serve as rewards for outstanding disciples or be stored for future needs. Xiang Yu carefully collected all the weapons, both for the sect and for trading, along with the pills he had refined earlier, organizing everything into clearly labeled spatial rings.
Taking the completed orders with him, he made his way to prepare lunch for everyone.
During the meal, all four of them were present. As they ate, Xiang Yu couldn’t help but notice that his martial aunt and master seemed unusually bright and energetic. They also kept sneaking glances at each other before quickly looking away, their behavior reminiscent of shy high school students. It was quite puzzling—weren’t they supposed to be more comfortable with each other now that they were officially husband and wife? Why did they seem to have regressed?
"Martial aunt, did something good happen?" Li Yao asked.
"How did you know?" Elder Huang responded, placing her palms against her flushed cheeks.
"It’s written all over your face," Xiang Yu thought to himself, though he remained silent.
"Well," Elder Huang said, her voice filled with joy, "I’m pregnant."
Xiang Yu nearly choked on his drink, his eyes immediately darting to his master, who wore an unmistakably smug expression. "This old dog actually..."
"Congratulations!" both Li Yao and Xiang Yu said simultaneously, their voices filled with genuine happiness for the couple.
Elder Guo scooted closer to Xiang Yu’s side, his expression becoming somewhat pleading. "Disciple..." he began hesitantly.
"No way! I don’t have any more!" Xiang Yu declared resolutely, immediately understanding what his master was asking for. "You still want to bully martial aunt even when she’s pregnant?"
"Brat! Who is your master here?" Elder Guo protested, starting sternly but his tone quickly deflating. "You only care about your martial aunt. With her strength, how could someone like me possibly bully her? I just want to protect myself!"
Xiang Yu considered this, realizing it actually sounded quite reasonable. His master was indeed in a rather pitiful position. With a resigned sigh, he retrieved a bottle of yang-nourishing pills from his sleeve and handed it over.
Elder Guo accepted the pills with tears in his eyes, and Xiang Yu saluted him internally. The master’s sacrifice would never be forgotten.
Li Yao and Elder Huang, who had been chatting together, suddenly noticed the two men staring at each other with the solemnity of soldiers preparing for battle.
"What’s up with them?" Li Yao asked.
"Just men being men," Elder Huang said dismissively, waving her hand. "Let them be."
...
Author’s Corner
I tried my best to develop relations and take it slow. Idk if i did a good job at that. After the next reset and Li Yao’s breakthrough, we’ll jump into action and start expanding the map.