"We saved the mother, but the child..."
Futu Yun stood frozen for three full breaths before turning his head with painful stiffness. "What did you say?"
"See for yourself." Futu Xuan stepped aside and slowly exhaled.
Futu Yun stepped forward and placed his hand over Qing Yanjing's heart, slowly probing inside with his spiritual energy and Divine Soul.
Then he froze completely, as though his entire body had suddenly turned rigid, and remained that way for a long, long time.
With Qing Yanjing's cultivation, she could never have become pregnant unless she had wanted to.
And given her position, she had no reason to conceive this child.
A sharp smack rang out as the hand Futu Yun had placed over Qing Yanjing's heart was knocked away.
Qing Yanjing's face was still deathly pale, but her eyes had turned ice-cold. "I've made a spectacle of myself before you all."
"I caused the death of one of your sons, but you killed my son as well. We're even now."
Her voice was soft and gentle, yet carried a desolation that wrung the heart.
With that, she returned to her position and resumed channeling spiritual energy into the great array.
No one could say whether her grief at that moment came from Mu Chen's death,
or from the loss of the unborn child she had conceived with Futu Yun.
High in the sky, a weathered Demon-Subduing Ancient Spear took shape once more.
With a sharp whistle, it plunged from the heavens, stabbing viciously toward the breach in the spiritual net.
A shrill demonic howl rose from deep underground, and a plume of demonic smoke shot into the sky.
The smoke twisted into an enormous skull and collided violently with the descending Demon-Subduing Ancient Spear.
The thunderous impact resounded through heaven and earth, and