"We'll carry out our ancestor's final wishes. The Adjudicator Elder will take full responsibility for raising Tang San, and everyone in Spirit Hall will give their full support. There must be no negligence."
At those words, the Titled Douluo present bowed and agreed in unison, though some still had reservations.
The weight of their ancestor Qian Chongguang's authority remained. The plans he had laid in life had never gone wrong, and no one dared defy his final wishes.
With the main business concluded, everyone was rising to leave when the hall doors were pushed open. A young girl in a maid's uniform rushed in, panting, her face bright red and her words tumbling over one another. "My lords! G-great news! Something big has happened! Word came from Chrysanthemum Douluo's mansion—Lord Yue Guan is about to give birth! Ghost Douluo is outside the delivery room and told me to hurry over with the news!"
The hall, moments from emptying, fell deathly silent.
Only after three full breaths did the uproar erupt.
"What did you say?! Give birth? Have a baby?!"
Falling Devil Douluo sprang to his feet. His Coiling Dragon Staff hit the floor with a clang, and he stared as if he had seen a ghost. "Yue Guan? Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan? Isn't he a man?! How can he give birth?!"
"Exactly! That's no joke!" Qianjun Douluo's eyes went wide. "Yue Guan and Gui Mei are both men. How did they manage to have a child? Did practicing their Martial Soul Fusion Skill change his sex?"
Guang Ling Douluo shot out of his chair, his bright eyes round with disbelief. "Absurd! Completely absurd! They vanished for days, and I thought they were on a secret mission. They went off to have a baby?!"
The Titled Douluo, all nearly a century old, talked over one another in shock and confusion. Even the usually steady Golden Crocodile Douluo frowned, plainly struggling to take in the unbelievable news.
Seeing the room descend into chaos, Bibi Dong gave a rare, helpless smile. She raised a hand to quiet them before explaining. "It's a long story. It began three years ago, while our ancestor was still alive."
"Three years ago, Elder Yue Guan came across a Union Immortal Ganoderma while carrying out a mission. This Immortal Ganoderma was unusual: it had both pure yang and pure yin properties. For people whose Martial Soul Fusion Skill had corresponding attributes, it could unleash its full medicinal power, perfect the balance of yin and yang between them, and push their skill beyond its former limits."
"Yue Guan's Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum is a pure yang Martial Soul, while Gui Mei's Ghost Martial Soul is pure yin. They were ideal for the Immortal Ganoderma. But because both had male bodies, their yin and yang could never fully merge. That was why their Martial Soul Fusion Skill had barely improved in years. Our ancestor examined the Immortal Ganoderma back then and said it could break their bottleneck."
Bibi Dong paused. Their faces were still full of disbelief. "After they took the Immortal Ganoderma together, its power surged through them. To achieve perfect Yin-Yang Complementarity, it corrected the mismatch between Yue Guan's soul and body. His soul had always leaned toward yin, at odds with his male body and pure yang Martial Soul. The Immortal Ganoderma reversed the yin and yang of his body, turning him into a woman and making him a perfect complement to Gui Mei."
"From then on, their yin and yang were fully aligned, and the power of their Polar Static Domain more than doubled. They no longer had to hide the feelings they'd shared for over sixty years, and the two of them became a couple. Later, Yue Guan discovered he was pregnant. They've always kept to themselves and didn't want complications, so they told no one. Even we only found out a few days ago."
When she finished, the hall fell silent again.
Everyone looked at one another, speechless.
They had seen countless Immortal Herbs that could strengthen cultivation or heal terrible wounds. Never had they imagined one could reverse a person's physical sex for the sake of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. Yet the more they thought about it, the more fitting it seemed. Everyone in Spirit Hall knew Yue Guan and Gui Mei were inseparable. They had faced life and death together for decades, their understanding of each other deeper than that of most married couples. Now their yin and yang were in harmony, and they had finally become partners. It was a happy ending.
"Come on, let's go see!" Guang Ling Douluo was the first to move. He grabbed his Guang Ling Divine Bow and dashed for the door. "I've lived this long and never seen what Gui Mei looks like as a father! And I have to see Yue Guan's child. The baby must be as good-looking as he is!"
Falling Devil Douluo and Qianjun Douluo joined the commotion, and the group surged out. Even the normally composed Golden Crocodile Douluo couldn't contain his curiosity. He shook his head and followed.
Meanwhile, at Chrysanthemum-Moon Mansion on the west side of Spirit Hall, everything was in disarray, though an anxious warmth hung over the place.
Gui Mei, the Ghost Douluo whose eerie presence usually kept everyone at a distance, had lost every trace of his God Slayer aura. He paced outside the delivery room like a man who had no idea what to do.
He had pulled his ghostly aura in completely. His face, usually so gloomy it could make children cry, was now taut with helpless worry. He stared at the closed door, his fingers clenched so tightly his knuckles had gone white.
Who would have imagined that this Titled Douluo, feared by Soul Masters across the continent, could look so flustered, like an inexperienced young man?
"Lord Ghost Douluo, please stop pacing. You're making the rest of us nervous."
A maid beside him tried to reassure him. "Lord Chrysanthemum Douluo is a level ninety-one Titled Douluo now. His body is far stronger than an ordinary person's, and Spirit Hall's best midwife is with him. He'll be all right."
Gui Mei stopped short. He opened his mouth to argue, then swallowed his words and gave a muffled "Mm."
But he could not stay still for even two seconds. He began pacing again, his heart beating faster than it had when three opponents of his own level had surrounded him and tried to kill him.
He had spent his life alone. When he was young, his mutated Martial Soul had been weak, and his family had looked down on him. After his Martial Soul Second Awakening, his clan had cast him out as a bad omen. He had nearly been branded an evil Soul Master.
Everyone feared his ghostly aura and kept their distance. Only Yue Guan had never shunned him. From their days as unknown young Soul Masters, they had struggled side by side until they became Titled Douluo, weathering everything together and facing life and death for more than forty years.
He had once thought that spending his whole life beside Yue Guan as his brother and partner would be happiness enough.
The truth was, he had loved Chrysanthemum Douluo even then. He had never dared ask for more, afraid that if he confessed, he would lose even their friendship.
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