A Pure, Innocent, and Untainted Heart

‘My head feels fuzzy and my limbs have no strength at all.
What’s wrong with me?’

Wen Wugou struggled to open his eyes.
Everything in his vision was unusually blurry.
He could vaguely see figures moving around, but the flickering light made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

“Buzz… whiiine…”

A bout of ringing filled his ears.

In a daze, he seemed to be able to tell that he was lying on a bed inside a small room.
There were two people by the bed, one big and one small.

“Buzz…”

Another wave of ringing.
The two of them seemed to be arguing about something.
He occasionally caught words like “adulterer” and “cuckold” and the like.

Wen Wugou wanted to sit up, but he could barely muster any strength at all.
Even using all his might, he only managed to see his own tender, chubby little arms and legs.

So small.

‘What am I…?’

‘Have I been reincarnated?’

‘This is bad.
I didn’t even get a single sip of Meng Po Soup.’

‘Don’t tell me I’m going to have to start this life remembering everything from infancy…’

After a while, his vision finally began to clear a little.

Wen Wugou carefully examined his surroundings.

It was a small bamboo hut.
There was very little furniture inside, almost none at all.
Even the dressing table had hardly any powder or cosmetics on it.

‘Uh… looks like the family I was reborn into is pretty poor…’

‘Well, whatever.’

‘As the saying goes, a child doesn’t mind if his mother is ugly, and a dog doesn’t mind if its home is poor.
At worst, I’ll just have to work a bit harder in this life.’

‘Besides, even though my previous eight lives were all in wealthy families, I never really enjoyed many carefree days anyway.’

‘Eh?
This woman’s figure seems pretty good.
Graceful curves, a slender willow waist.
Could she be my mother in this life?’

As he was thinking that, a pair of soft little hands suddenly lifted him up.
Then he felt something very soft.
Right after that, a powerful springy pressure came from that softness.
Those little hands were surprisingly strong, pressing his entire body firmly into that soft embrace.

“What the hell… what is this?”

Wen Wugou did not even have time to see what it was.
All he knew was that everything went dark in front of his eyes.

“I gave birth to this.
This is my child!”

Miaomiao looked extremely serious.
Her nostrils flared slightly and her chin was raised high.
There was stubbornness in her expression, and even a faint hint of threat.

Luo Bingyan was about to go mad.
Just now, she had very seriously, very carefully, and very patiently explained the entire process of how babies were made to Miaomiao.
She had practically been one step away from taking off her clothes and demonstrating it personally.
But unfortunately, Miaomiao had only heard the very last sentence.

“Children are always a piece of their mother’s own flesh…”

After hearing that, Miaomiao became even more convinced.

“I can feel that a part of my body is missing!”

Miaomiao stared straight into Luo Bingyan’s eyes.
Pure.
Clear.

“You’re not a sword.
How do you know that swords don’t give birth like this?”

Miaomiao explained her own reasoning.

“That… actually sounds kind of reasonable… no, wait, no!
Miaomiao, think about it again.
Could it be that when you were separated from me, you were… uh… by some sword or something?
I’ll go dismantle it!”

Luo Bingyan’s words were already completely incoherent.
A thousand years.
She had guarded that flower for a thousand years, and now it had been plucked just like that.
Regret.
Pure regret.

“Go out.
Stop making noise.”

Miaomiao glared coldly at Luo Bingyan.

Luo Bingyan started trembling all over.

Miaomiao yelled at me…

She yells every day, but why does this one feel so devastating?

Luo Bingyan was utterly heartbroken.
It felt as if tens of thousands of ants were tearing at her heart.
At the same time, she felt as if her head was covered in endless green grass, with countless grass-mud horses bouncing around wildly on top of it.

She cast a resentful glance at the baby in Miaomiao’s arms.
Since things had already come to this, what else could she do…

“I’ll go make you some soup.
You just gave birth, you need to nourish your body…”

As she spoke, Luo Bingyan’s eyes brimmed with tears.
Her back was hunched as if she were carrying a cauldron.
Dragging along two completely innocent “ingredients,” she walked out of the room in a daze.

An autumn wind blew by, carrying a few fallen leaves with it…

‘What the hell?!
That deceptively youthful little girl is my mother?
Which shameless beast did this?!’

With the body of a baby, Wen Wugou’s hearing still had not fully adapted to the environment.
But he could still piece together a bit about his own background from some of the words.

Finally, he felt fresh air enter his nostrils.
Only then did he realize he was a little farther away from that girl, and he could finally see her clearly.

Light, gently curved eyebrows.
Clear, lively big eyes.
Small cherry-like lips.
A delicate, straight nose as if carved from jade.

Her soft, chubby face still carried a hint of baby fat.
She was clearly a beauty in the making.

It was just that she seemed a bit poor.
She did not even have a full set of clothes, only a blanket draped over her body.

But if you looked closely again—
Two peaks rose on her chest.

Thinking about it carefully, maybe this was not such a loss after all.

Miaomiao just stood there blankly, staring at Wen Wugou for a long time.
Her little face kept turning left and right.
Her eyes drifted.
Her feet shifted restlessly.

‘Hey, this little girl is clearly super nervous about being a mom for the first time.
Doesn’t anyone know how to teach her?’

Wen Wugou looked at Miaomiao with worry.
But right now, there was absolutely nothing he could do to help.

Miaomiao also noticed Wen Wugou’s gaze and felt a trace of unease from it.
Now she became even more flustered.
In one motion, she stuffed Wen Wugou back into her arms and hurried out to find Luo Bingyan.

At a critical moment like this, the only person Miaomiao could look for was Luo Bingyan.

“Huo huo, swish swish, scrape scrape…”

The sound of sharpening a knife finally reached the little fox’s ears.

A-wu shook her head.
She was still a little dizzy.
Thinking back carefully, she and A-miao had just arrived on this island.
This was their destination.

Originally, the fox and the tiger had been happy that they were about to complete their mission.
But who would have thought that the moment they landed, they would be knocked out by a powerful divine sense.

What on earth had happened?

A-wu tried to turn over, only to discover in horror that her hands and feet were all tied to a wooden pole.
Not far away, A-miao was in the same situation.

“Huo huo, swish swish, scrape scrape…”

“W-what is that sound…?”

A-wu instinctively felt that something was very wrong.

She lifted her head and looked around.
Although everything she saw was upside down, she could still make out that not far away, a woman was holding a short knife and repeatedly sharpening it against a rough stone.

Beside her was a fire rack.
On it sat a brand-new large pot.
Steam was pouring out of it.
It was clearly already boiling.

D-don’t tell me…

“Waaah… help!
A-miao, save me!
Waaah… Aunt Bai, come save A-wu!”

“Wuuuh…”

A-wu’s eyes filled with tears.
Her small body twisted nonstop.
Her heart pounded so hard that her whole body rose and fell.
She was so nervous that she had completely forgotten to use her spiritual power.

Normally, Luo Bingyan was extremely lazy and could lie in the bamboo hut for a whole month without moving.
If it were not for Miaomiao, she would never have bothered with this kind of thing.

She had been feeling inexplicably sad and venting her feelings by sharpening the knife.
Her mood had finally started to improve a little.

Then she suddenly heard crying beside her.
The “waaah waaah” sounded like a child’s.
Her anger immediately surged up, and she stood up with the knife in hand.

Seeing this, A-wu struggled even more desperately.

“No… don’t… let me go… waaah…”

When Luo Bingyan heard that sound again, her eyes instantly turned red, as if bloodshot.

“I’ll chop you, you noisy little crybaby!”

As she spoke, her spiritual energy burst out.
Like a bull that had seen red, she charged straight toward the little fox.

“Eek!!!”

A-wu was so frightened that all her fur stood on end like a hedgehog.

Seeing the blade about to come down, at that instant A-wu felt as if her heart had already stopped.
Her mind went completely blank.

“Roar!”

A tiger’s roar rang out.
A-miao finally woke up.

Luo Bingyan froze for a moment, then immediately changed direction.

“You stupid cat, how dare you make noise!”

A-miao was also badly frightened by Luo Bingyan’s presence.
All the fur on his body stood on end, exactly like A-wu just now.

But A-miao was much calmer.
He swung his waist rapidly and shook his head nonstop.
Finally, he managed to bite onto the storage pouch stuck around his neck.
Then he yanked it off with all his strength and flung it onto the ground in front of Luo Bingyan using every bit of power he had.
The whole movement was done in one smooth motion, clean and decisive.

“Pa!”

The rest would be up to fate.

“Hm?
This is…?”

Seeing Luo Bingyan’s attention drawn to the storage pouch, A-miao knew they were probably safe this time.
He finally let out the breath he had been holding.

“A Heavenly Fox mark?”

Luo Bingyan toyed with the pouch in her hand.
On it was a fox pattern embroidered with silver thread, sitting and gazing at the sky.
It was exquisitely made.

“Bai sent you?”

Luo Bingyan asked, her eyes never leaving the pouch.

“Roar.”

A-miao hurriedly stopped himself and nodded repeatedly.

Luo Bingyan took out what was inside the pouch.
There was a box.

Before the box could even be fully revealed, Luo Bingyan stuffed it into her own storage pouch.

Then she took out a book.

“Heh~ Bai really understands me…”

She sat there in front of A-miao and started flipping through it.

A-miao had no idea what it was and did not dare to ask.

“Eh?
It’s not a manuscript to send to the Flower Fairy magazine?”

“This is… Heavenly Fox Dual Cultivation Manual!”

“A dual cultivation technique?
Did Bai succeed in comprehending it?”

Luo Bingyan slowly flipped through the pages.
Her face grew redder and redder, and her eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.
From time to time, she even let out strange little chuckles.

“Why is it always one male and one female?
Isn’t there anything else?”

She finally came back to her senses, feeling a bit dissatisfied.
Although these words and illustrations were extremely vivid, and she was indeed interested in handsome men, she still wanted to try things with Miaomiao first.
If not, then Bai would do too.

“Pa!”

Luo Bingyan threw the book onto the ground with a disappointed look.
She put her hands on her hips, her expression full of inner struggle.

Footsteps came from behind her.

She hurriedly picked up the book and stuffed it into her storage pouch, then turned around with her eyes looking up at the sky, as if nothing at all had happened.

“What should we do about the child?”

It was Miaomiao.
She looked very worried.
Fortunately, the baby in her arms was very well-behaved and did not cry or fuss.

Hm?
Not crying?

Could it be…?

“Miaomiao, give him to me.”

Luo Bingyan said quickly.

Miaomiao hesitated for a moment, then handed the baby over.

Luo Bingyan grabbed Wen Wugou by one leg and held him upside down in midair.

In Miaomiao’s arms, Wen Wugou had almost been suffocated.
He had just managed to breathe in a bit of fresh air again.

“Pia~”

A crisp sound rang out.

A sharp pain followed.

‘What the hell, that hurts like crazy!’

Wen Wugou screamed in his heart.
Unfortunately, with the body of a baby, he could not even speak properly, and all that came out was the same kind of wailing cry as any other infant.

“Waaah… waaah…”

“Haa…”

Luo Bingyan let out a sigh of relief.
Good.
A normal baby.

Good thing she had seen the Pavilion Master Lu from the Scripture Pavilion deal with newborns before.

Seeing the baby cry so miserably, Miaomiao was extremely worried.

Hm?
It’s a boy?

Luo Bingyan reached out and flicked lightly.

“Oh—!”

Wen Wugou was so stimulated that he did not even know whether he should be crying or not.
In any case, he just kept wailing.

‘Meng Po Soup… Meng Po Soup… I really regret not catching you back then…’

Right now, Wen Wugou truly felt like he wanted to die.

‘Me, a dignified Grand Unity Golden Immortal, eight lives a virgin, never even having held a girl’s hand… and now I’m being played with like this.’

‘Heaven, just strike me dead already.
End this life.
I swear I’ll never violate the heavenly laws again…’

“Miaomiao, what do you want to name him?
How about Haohao?”

Luo Bingyan was still holding Wen Wugou upside down so casually, the smile at the corner of her eyes never fading.

Seeing that the baby was still crying, Miaomiao snatched him back from Luo Bingyan and carefully checked him over before finally relaxing.

The Palace Master Luo, who had only just started to feel better, exploded again.

“You little brat!
You dare fight me for attention at such a young age!”

Luo Bingyan thought of the Heavenly Fox Dual Cultivation Manual still lying in her storage pouch.
She stroked her chin, and a slight curve appeared at the corner of her lips.

“Hmph.
You little brat.
I’ll make sure to raise you properly.
When you’re eighteen, I’ll use this method on you and drain you dry.
I’ll make sure you’re tormented every day and every night!”

“What should we name him?”

Miaomiao asked again.

“Dog—”

Luo Bingyan almost blurted it out, then quickly changed her words.

“Hehe.
Pure and without blemish.
Let’s call him Wugou.”