(This is a slow-burn, coming-of-age epic. Some things in the early chapters may be unclear, but they will be explained in later chapters, and everything will make logical sense.)
(If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment. The author will be sure to check it~ Please don't drop the book. Thank you~)
The ceiling of the Pope's bedchamber was painted with a mural of the Six-Winged Angel. Dawn shone through the stained-glass windows, casting a halo of colorful light over the birthing bed.
Bibi Dong's pale fingertips clutched the gold-embroidered bed curtains, and her sweat-damp black hair clung to her neck.
Two wet nurses knelt on either side of the cradle, each holding a swaddled infant wrapped in brocade embroidered with the Angel Crest.
"Twins..." Qian Xunji brushed the faintly golden cheek of the baby girl on the left. "The Angel Bloodline hasn't had twins in a thousand years."
As if answering his touch, the baby girl suddenly let out a clear, ringing cry.
Just then, a distant bell tolled from the direction of the Worship Hall. The Holy Bell hanging from the eaves rang out, startling the White Feather Sparrows perched outside the window into flight.
Qian Daoliu's golden robes swept over the threshold as he entered with the six Consecrators to see the twins.
"Let me see the children."
The moment Qian Daoliu took the baby girl, the Angel God Statue in Douluo Hall suddenly began to shine.
Countless feathers of light drifted down from the sky, pierced through the ceiling, and wove a dazzling cocoon of light around the baby girl. Qian Xunji dropped to one knee in excitement. "Father, it's a divine miracle!"
Bibi Dong suddenly broke into a violent fit of coughing, and crimson blood bloomed across her handkerchief.
She looked toward the baby boy in the arms of the wet nurse on the right. The child was so quiet he seemed not to exist at all; even his breathing was as faint as the morning mist.
"Have you named them?" Qian Daoliu's voice seemed to come from the clouds.
"Please bestow a name upon them, Father."
Golden light gathered at Qian Daoliu's fingertips as he traced the Angel Mark on the baby girl's forehead. "Born bathed in holy light, she shall bear the name of a thousand peaks. From this day on, her name is Qian Renxue."
The sudden crash of breaking porcelain rang through the bedchamber.
Everyone turned. Guang Ling stood beside an overturned tea table, his moon-white robe spattered with spilled tea.
In his arms was the baby boy, whom he had taken at some point. His ice-blue eyes narrowed slightly. When the baby had cried moments earlier, Guang Ling had clearly seen frost gather on the child's eyelashes.
"Fifth Consecrator seems to have taken a liking to children," Azure Luan said with a light laugh. "Why not let Guang Ling name the little one?"
Golden Crocodile was recording Qian Renxue's birth date. At that, his pen paused. "Twins should share the Angel's holy name. According to the family tree, he ought to be called Qian Ren—"
"Call him Qian Lingche," Guang Ling suddenly said. The baby in his arms grabbed a lock of his silver hair, his eyes reflecting the feathers of light drifting down from the ceiling.
"I'll raise him."
At last, Qian Daoliu's gaze fell on the baby boy for the first time.
The child was stuffing Guang Ling's hair into his mouth. Compared with Qian Renxue, who was surrounded by golden light, he was as ordinary as a mote of dust in a corner of the temple.
Qian Daoliu looked up at the feathers of light drifting toward Qian Renxue, and understood.
"Do as you wish."
As Qian Daoliu and the others escorted Qian Renxue to the Holy Spring for her baptism, Guang Ling looked down at the baby beginning to yawn.
The wet nurses had already left with the crowd, and the warm cow's milk on the table had gone cold.
He conjured an ice flower at his fingertip to amuse the child, then suddenly noticed the baby's stomach rumbling.
"Looks like I'll have to find you something to eat." The Fifth Consecrator wrapped the swaddling clothes snugly in his cloak and stepped out of the bedchamber, nearly colliding with the midwife hurrying back.
"Fifth Consecrator!" The midwife hurriedly knelt and bowed her head. "I'll take the young master to the wet nurse right away..."
"Everyone over there is preparing for the Holy Spring ceremony, aren't they?" Guang Ling glimpsed a yellow-robed maid hurrying past at the end of the corridor, carrying a golden basin. "Take me to the kitchen."
The midwife led the way in trepidation, watching the mighty Fifth Consecrator of the Worship Hall head for the kitchen.
When Guang Ling warmed the goat's milk himself and poured it into a milk bottle, the cook returning to the kitchen was so startled that she dropped a jar of Frost Sugar.
This was the Fifth Consecrator, a figure of great stature in Spirit Hall whose face people rarely got to see. And yet, here he was, doing such a menial task.
"My lord, please allow me to serve you..."
"Leave." Guang Ling tested the temperature. It was still a little hot, so he released a wisp of Soul Power, and a layer of frost formed over the milk bottle.
Qian Lingche's eyes suddenly widened, and he flailed his little hands toward the sparkling crystals.
He had barely taken a few sips when twelve salvos of ceremonial cannons thundered outside the window.
Guang Ling lifted the gauze curtain and saw the Cardinals carrying sacred artifacts toward Douluo Hall. Qian Renxue's swaddling clothes slowly rose within a pillar of light.
The baby in his arms suddenly gave a milky burp, and the white breath he exhaled formed a snowflake no bigger than a fingernail.
"Want to watch the ceremony too?" Guang Ling leaped onto the kitchen roof, and ice spread across the tiles to form a staircase.
Qian Lingche's eyes reflected the golden clouds filling the sky, but he reached out and caught a piece of velvet drifting down—the ornament had fallen from Qian Renxue's cradle.
When the last trace of holy light faded, Guang Ling noticed the child shivering in the night wind.
He took out an outer robe embroidered with frost patterns and wrapped it around the baby. Just then, a kittenish whimper came from his arms.
"Caught a chill?" The Fifth Consecrator breathed out icy mist, forming a protective barrier.
Since this was his first time caring for a baby, Guang Ling completely forgot that the barrier he had made with his ice-attribute Soul Power would only make the surroundings colder.
Strangely, however, once the temperature dropped, Qian Lingche immediately stopped fussing. Frost flowers even bloomed wherever his fingertips passed.
On the way back to the Worship Hall, Guang Ling encountered a Cardinal bowing beneath the corridor.
The Cardinal spoke with just the right note of reverence. "Fifth Consecrator, should I notify the Pope Palace to arrange for a wet nurse?"
"Find a Snow Silkworm Quilt made in the Far North and send it to my bedchamber. Then find two wet nurses."
"As you command." The Cardinal lowered his head even further. "However, the Grand Elder just gave an order. They're only preparing the Saintess's first-birthday banquet..."
The Ice Crystal glimmered with a faint blue light under the moon. Guang Ling drew the sleeping baby closer to his chest. "Have three qian of Polar Blue Lotus prepared as well."
Two days later, when Guang Ling kicked open the doors of the Medicine Hall, the physician on duty tumbled off the bed and scrambled to his knees.
"Your Eminence! I'll prepare a calming decoction right away..."
"Dissolve a Snow Soul Pill in warm water," the Fifth Consecrator said, ice crystals clinging to his brows. "Then add two drops of Cold Marrow Fluid."
Cold sweat beaded on the physician's forehead. "But the Young Master hasn't awakened his Martial Soul yet. The medicinal effects may be too strong..."
"Do I need to teach you how to prepare medicine?"
When the seventeenth sweep of Soul Power passed through the baby's obstructed meridians, the flush finally faded from the little face in Guang Ling's arms.
Looking at the heavy snow outside the window, Guang Ling remembered seeing Qian Renxue surrounded by everyone that morning when he passed the Worship Hall. He couldn't help feeling sorry for the Qian Lingche in his arms.
Just then, a chubby little hand grasped his fingertip.
He lowered his gaze to the baby in his arms and said nothing, but the curve of his lips revealed exactly how he felt.