Chapter 224

Pan Yun: "Don't you think his walking posture is strange? His accent isn't northern, nor is it southern Jiangnan—he's pretending to be Fujianese, but he's bad at it."

Seeing Miao Zhen: "He thinks he's clever, but just by his facial features, I can tell he's a fugitive with many lives on his hands. When I calculated further, I realized he isn't even a subject of Great Ming."

Seeing Miao Zhen said: "At first I thought he might be from a northern tribe, but when he said his name was Song Bei, I did a quick divination and found his homeland lies to the east, not the north—I guessed he's either Korean or Japanese. My junior aunt saw through him the moment she laid eyes on him—he's a Japanese pirate."

Seeing Miao He: "Nobody told me."

Pan Yun patted her head: "Think—since we first saw him, how many quiet moments have we had alone together to talk?"

Seeing Miao He thought: Before eating together, the man wasn't important;

after eating together, we've been busy nonstop—there truly was no time for a proper conversation.

Seeing Miao He set aside her worries and asked: "We're only three—can we fight against so many of them?"

Pan Yun: "He can't beat me, but your concern is valid. Let's go buy some herbs for poison-making at the pharmacy. Add them to what we already have, divide it up, and when the fight comes, use poison whenever you can—they're all pirates and Japanese pirates with blood on their hands; no need for mercy."

Seeing Miao He and Seeing Miao Zhen both agreed at once.

The three hurried to the pharmacy before it closed to buy herbs for poison-making.

The Shopkeeper's brow twitched with every herb name they named—twitched again with each one—hesitantly instructing the apprentice to fetch them.

Mainly because they wanted so much—it would bring in a lot of money—and the Shopkeeper didn't want to miss this opportunity.

But he still had to ask, so as he wrapped the herbs, he said: "Why are you three Misses buying so many herbs? All of these are poisonous."

Pan Yun: "To make poison."

Shopkeeper: …

His hand froze—he suddenly didn't want to sell to them anymore. Sure, it was profitable, but he might end up in jail by accident.

Pan Yun saw his hesitation and said: "Shopkeeper, look at our Daoist robes."

The Shopkeeper snapped back to his senses and smiled: "Ah, so you're Daoist Priests! Are you making poison to brew medicinal pills for your own use?"

"Something like that," Pan Yun said. "Our sect recently invented a poison cultivation art that enhances cultivation—so we need large quantities of poison."

The Shopkeeper exhaled and neatly wrapped the herbs for them.

Whether true or false, this excuse would hold up under official inquiry.

They said it—he believed it.

The Shopkeeper packed them a large amount of herbs. After Seeing Miao Zhen paid, the three left carrying the herbs—and stepped outside to find the sky already dim, darkness coming soon.

Seeing Miao Zhen checked the direction and said: "Junior aunt, let's take a shortcut—through this alley, turn the corner, and we'll reach the side gate of Peaceful Inn."

From there, up the second floor, we'll reach our room quickly.

Pan Yun agreed.

The three took the shortcut through the narrow alley.

Neither alley was long; after turning, half a block ahead was the side gate of Peaceful Inn.

Just as they were about to turn, a piercing scream came from the courtyard to their left.

Pan Xiaohei's fur stood on end; he let out a sharp "Miaow!" and arched his back.

Pan Yun and the others instantly turned to the left courtyard, where a loud shout rang out: "Stop screaming! Why won't you understand? Save your strength—you're screaming now, how will you push when the time comes?"

"Mother, I'm in so much pain—I can't hold on—"

"You have to hold on! Who doesn't suffer like this in childbirth?"

Pan Yun frowned, displeased—she smelled blood.

Pan Xiaohei smelled death—he mewed anxiously: "The person inside won't survive."

Seeing Miao Zhen was already forming hand seals to read the qi; after a moment, she frowned: "Vitality is faint—she'll likely die with the child."

Seeing Miao He knocked on the door: "A physician must fight heaven for life."

Pan Yun: "Is cultivation any different?"

Seeing Miao He knocked politely—no one answered—so Pan Yun pulled her back and kicked the door open.

Everyone was inside the room; even as the door crashed open, none noticed—they were all too tense.

Pan Yun strode in boldly, heading straight for the birthing chamber.

Inside, the midwife was drenched in sweat, pushed for a long time, then gave up: "No use—this baby won't turn. Quickly send for a Physician."

"Send for a Physician? This family can barely afford meals! Mother, use more force—they say you can reverse the fetal position! My daughter ate less, her belly isn't big—she'll turn easily!"

"Each case is different. Your daughter's belly is small, but so is her frame, and she's terrified of pain. Look—just a few tries and she can't bear it. How can you turn her? Send for a Physician now!"

The middle-aged woman beside her quickly added: "In-laws, please send for a Physician!"

The other woman stamped her foot: "Where's the money?!" The middle-aged woman replied: "Send for the Physician first—when Yuan returns, he'll pay. In-laws, rest assured, you won't lose a single coin."

Hearing this, the woman reluctantly turned to leave: "Fine, wait here—I'll go get the Physician."

She turned—and saw three figures standing at the door. She screamed, staggered backward, and fell to the ground: "Oh my god! Ghosts! Ghosts—"

Pan Yun clasped her hands and chanted: "Fusheng Wuliang Tianzun. This Daoist sees someone undergoing Tribulation Crossing—come to save a life."

The woman on the ground finally realized: "Oh—you're a Daoist Priest? Do you want money?"

The pale-faced middle-aged woman beside her had already recovered; she rose quickly: "Daoist Priest, save us! Please save my daughter-in-law—"

As Pan Yun and Seeing Miao He stepped in, the woman caught sight of them by the dim light—and her voice faltered: This… they're too young.

But Pan Yun and Seeing Miao He had already passed her, heading for the bedside.

The midwife, who had been soothing the laboring woman, saw them and scoffed: "Where did these beggar-nuns come from? This is a matter of life and death—get out!"

Pan Yun patted her shoulder and smiled: "Calm down."

The midwife instantly felt refreshed—her anxiety eased.

!. Read

Seeing Miao He had already pushed past her to the bedside, quickly examined the woman, and said: "Her uterus is too small—turning the baby from outside won't work. Only internal rotation can work, but she's malnourished and feels pain far more intensely than normal—she may not survive childbirth even if the child lives. One must be saved, not both."

Pan Yun frowned.

Miaohe asked the woman on the bed, "Do you want to save the child, or save yourself?"

The sixteen- or seventeen-year-old mother was stunned, forgetting her pain for a moment.

The middle-aged woman sitting on the floor leapt up and shouted, "Save the mother, save the mother!"

After shouting, she doubted them: "You're not lying to me, are you? How could it be this serious? I've given birth to six children, all smoothly— isn't giving birth just giving birth? Doesn't every woman know how?"

The other middle-aged woman also came to her senses and hurriedly said, "Mother-in-law, people are different. Xiao Lian is small and delicate, so childbirth is harder for her."

She winced and looked at Miaohe, asking, "If we save the mother, how exactly do we do it?"

Miaohe: "If we don't consider the child's life, extracting it becomes much easier."

The midwife beside her nodded vigorously: "Yes, my hands aren't large, but even I could pull the child out— but doing it this way would injure the child, and if we're not careful, the child will die. So…"

"Save… save the child?" Xiao Lian, her eyes red, stared at them, her hand resting on her belly. "Mother-in-law, Mother— this is my child, the one I carried for ten months…"

Her mother slapped her hand hard. "You're foolish. If you die, you're truly dead. You can have more children later."

Her mother-in-law nodded: "Yes, Xiao Lian, your own safety comes first. This child isn't meant for our family— perhaps the fate isn't there yet. Save yourself first. When the time is right, he might come again."

Pan Yun frowned and asked Miaohe, "What if I protect her heart meridian and reduce her pain?"

Miaohe: "How?"

Pan Yun said: "Use Yuan energy to block the pain signals. I can't eliminate it entirely, but I can cut it by more than half."

Miaohe frowned. "I've never delivered a baby before, but theoretically, this would raise the success rate of saving both mother and child by at least sixty percent."

The midwife, though she didn't understand Yuan energy, understood "cutting pain by more than half," and immediately said: "Master Daoist, if you can reduce her pain, I have a seventy percent chance of delivering the child— but I'll need this young Daoist's hands."

Miaohe: "You want me to turn the baby?"

Midwife: "Yes. Right now, from inside out, she can't turn at all— because the pain is too intense. Every time I touch her, she can't bear it; her muscles are rigid. If she's this tense, she won't even deliver a normally positioned baby, let alone turn the fetus."

Miaohe said: "I can also insert labor-acupuncture needles. I've studied labor-acupuncture."

The midwife couldn't help muttering, "Amitabha," then immediately corrected herself: "Fusheng Wuliang Tianzun, may the Dao Ancestor protect us. Thank heaven we met you tonight. Then, let's begin now— her amniotic fluid has leaked so much, if we don't deliver soon, the child will suffocate."

Pan Yun nodded to Miaohe. Miaohe immediately adjusted the mother into a better birthing posture. Then Pan Yun formed a hand seal and slowly drew Yuan energy from her Upper Dantian, whooshing it into the mother's body.

Under her inner vision, Xiao Lian's internal condition lay bare before her. She swiftly located the heart and stabilized it, then found the pain nerves connecting to the uterus, wrapping them in Yuan energy to numb them…

Meanwhile, Miaohe was inserting the labor-acupuncture needles.

The mother's tense abdomen gradually relaxed; her pain rapidly diminished, and her emotions calmed.

Under Miaohe's inner vision, the fetus inside the uterus also grew less tense and less resistant.

The midwife told Miaohe to wash her hands and taught her how to rotate the baby nearly a full turn to correct its position.

Miaohe listened, astonished, watching the midwife.

She could see clearly: the fetus's head lay across her upper left side, its feet positioned one above and one below—one foot pressing upward, the other downward.

She hadn't expected the midwife to know this too.

She knew skilled midwives could feel the fetal position, but she hadn't known they could feel it this clearly— it was nearly indistinguishable from inner vision.

Under the midwife's guidance and rhythm, Miaohe slowly turned the baby. The mother, her pain blocked, remained within tolerable limits and no longer bled excessively from pain or panic.

Good night

(End of Chapter)