Chapter 0066

“What happened?”

“Congratulations on successfully casting a True Blessing.” the pink hair girl said sarcastically.    

“Thank you.  Thank you very much.” the young mother leaped up and hugged Tempest.  Her joy was a dazzling sight to behold, changing the pale pallor of her skin a gentle peach hue, making the already beautiful woman more boisterous and unfettered. 

“You are welcome.”

“May I make another request?” the young mother asked while holding Tempest’s hand like one would her lover. 

Tempest immediately removes her hands out of the young mother’s grasp because as she said before, she had no interest in women no matter how beautiful they may be.

“What is your request?” Tempest helped the young mother out this much, she might as well help some more.

“Can you name my son?”

Tempest thought about the name appearing in her mind as the Blessing was formed.  It was a good name as any. Tempest completely ignored the last name when she said, “Nick, short for Nicholas Br-.”

“Nick it is.” the young mother interrupted Tempest.  The other occupant in the room caught on to the young mother’s action.  Tempest thought the young mother was too excited so she interrupted her.  Ah well, Bravon sounds weird and Kataigida was her name. She didn’t know how it got stuck with the Nicholas and Bravon, but no way was she giving her last name to a baby.  What would that make her? A mother?

“You got your Blessing, now get out.” the pink-haired girl interrupts their happy conversation with her grouchy comment.   

“Hey, I paid for room and board.” Tempest protested.

Tempest had seen the exasperated expression of the faces of many ‘concerned' teachers, friends, and family to know it means “I am trying to help you but you are too stupid to realize it.”  Tempest realized the pink-haired girl was doing this for their benefits but she doesn’t understand the underlying reasons.

The pink-haired girl turns towards Tempest in a huff.  She realized before she can get rid of the young mother, she had to separate her from the naive little girl.  The pink hair girl realized for the first time why cultivators never lift a finger to help stupid mortals. You will on be dragged down by the death seeking idiot if you try to save them.

“It’s you who need the room and board more than the young mother over there.  I have you seen yourself in the mirror lately? Better yet, have you smelled yourself?  I thought by now you’d realize you reek worse than a field fertilized with the dung of a Three Horned Cow.” the pink hair girl turned on to Tempest.

Now that she mentions it, Tempest realizes she reeked more than a ... a field fertilized with the dung of a Three Horned Cow, whatever the animal is.  

There is a reason why Hollywood doesn’t go into the actual birthing room when they are filming a birth scene.  Rephrase that, there is a reason why Hollywood doesn’t go back into the birthing room, back in the day.  TV nowadays has no moral limit.  They will show anything as long as there is money to be earned or famed to be gained.  Look at the Kardashians!

Giving birth is a messy experience.  First, there the amniotic experiences.  Amniotic fluids gushed out when Tempest cut into the young mother’s womb.  It didn’t give Tempest a face full of 9-month-old dirty water, but it did soak her pants through.  

The birth was as traumatic and heartwarming as TV made it out to be… if the baby belonged to Tempest.  Tempest hand the ugly baby over to the pink hair girl to be cleaned. Babies have a film of stuff covering them when they are firstborn.  Generally, the midwife would clean off the baby then hand the child back to the mother.  

While the pink-haired girl handles the baby, Tempest had to handle the aftermath, or as Tempest calls it, the dirty blood bath.  Placenta, blood and whatever it is came out and got over Tempest’s clothes.

How Tempest didn’t realize she stinks to the high heaven or was covered in grime worse than a janitor cleaning the toilets, she doesn’t know, but now that someone mentioned it, Tempest wants a bath.  Right now.  

“Where is the nearest bathhouse?” Tempest asked the pink hair girl, desperation coloring her voice is a displeasing tone.  She began to feel like a thousand ants climbing all over her body.  

“To all the germaphobe, OCD, or any person suffering from anxiety that I’ve always looked down upon in the past, I offer my utmost apology.  I always thought it was a mind over matter issue, but I realize anxieties can not be overcome by developing strong willpower.” Tempest offered the apologies to all the people who suffer from her snobbish actions in the past.  Just because can handle her hallucination well, she thought everyone can be like her and overcome their psychosis. She realized she never handles her hallucination well at all. It is like the saying, the insane think they are the only sane person on Earth.    

The pink-haired girl's smile was smug as she can be as she issued the order, “Kaia, take the young girl to the bathhouse.”

Tempest was in a rush cleanse herself that she took no notice of anything else but the direction the plain girl was heading.  She’s going to stick to the girl like glue until she sees a bathtub much to the plain girl’s distress because Tempest was dirty!

 

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Once Tempest was out of sight, the pink-haired girl turns towards the mother, openly showing the disgust she held back when Tempest was in the room.  Normally, the corpse cleaner didn’t involve herself into other’s affair, but she felt a kindred spirit with Tempest and was distressed when the young mother took advantage of the naive little girl and she went along with it!

“Don’t you feel bad for taking advantage of the naive little girl?”

“I did what I must for my son’s future.  I will not short change her in any way. I will raise my son to honor her more than he would honor me for her kindness today.”  The young mother truly meant what she said. If she didn’t have the True Blessing Tempest bestowed on her son today, she knew they would be hunted down and killed before he had a chance to become powerful.  

The young mother may look young but she’s over 3000 years old, young for her kind as a half human half spirit.  Most did not know this but spirits can take on human form.  

There are two methods they may do so.  The first is a heart cultivator earning the love of a spirit and causing it to be willing to fuse with the cultivator when the take they tribulation to become a celestial. The second method is similar to forming a clone; they are connected yet they can act independently.

Both methods are rare.  Spirits rarely leave their world to serve their cultivators.  Hence, a human spirit hybrid is rare and sought after as elixir materials.  Human spirit hybrid contains the tangibility of a human and the power of the spirits.  Their essence can be refined into a pill that can raise the cultivation of a cultivator by a large realm.  

The young mother covered her tracks and hid well ever since she realize she was pregnant over 100 years ago.  

Still, those determined used every method to track her down.  They intend to refine both her and her child! She couldn’t let that happened, so she lowered her self-respect and dignity and pretend to be a poor woman contracted to a brothel to give birth to the child.  

The birth of a human spirit hybrid leaves telltale clues, which was why the young mother asked for a Blessing.  A regular blessing can mask the child’s aura long enough for her to run and hide.  

She didn’t realize she’d luck into a True Blessing.  A True Blessing and a regular Blessing is as different as heaven and earth.  A True Blessing gives the child a name and completely masks his nature. To the outside world, he’s just another human.  No one would ever be able to refine her child or extract the power of the spirit from her child unless they knew his true name.  If they tried without knowing his true name, then they would suffer a backlash and the celestial tribulation would descend upon them immediately.  

This is also the reason why she interrupted the naive little girl from telling her son’s full name to her.  

The young mother is more than grateful towards the naive little girl.  She knew her son and the naive little girl would meet in the future. The nature of the True Blessing will create an attraction, causing the two to meet each other at least once in their life.  At the time, she’d hope her son would treat his benefactor in a befitting manner.  

“Your kind is always like that.” the pink-haired girl sneered, putting an emphasis on kind to alert the young mother of her suspicions, then turn to tidy the room.

“My kind?”  Wariness entered the young mother’s heart, but she immediately tamped it down.  The young mother can tell the corpse cleaner had no ill intent. If she wants to harm her, she would have done so when she was giving birth instead of waiting until now.  

“Prostitutes always ask for a Blessing for their children, hoping against hope their child is one of few lucky ones.”  Lies come easily to the corpse cleaner, but she wasn’t lying to the young mother but to anyone trying to investigate the matter.

There are spells or techniques that can allow a cultivator to read the memories of another person.  The pink hair girl doesn’t know what technique will be used on her if the particulars of their current situation were leaked.  She’d rather move in a more circumspect manner if possible and leave little evidence to incriminate her. 

The young mother instantly understood the situation and the pink hair girl’s position.  She won’t talk about the birth, but she wouldn’t lend a hand to help the young mother if she was questioned.  She also tried to tell the young mother with her demeanor to leave as fast as she could.   

The sound of the knife Tempest used to cut into the young mother’s womb fell to the floor, startling the occupants of the room.

Nick started crying.  The young mother turned to soothe her son while the pink hair girl put the knife on the table beside the bed then went back to tidying the room.  

When the pink hair girl had her back turned towards the young mother, she grabbed the knifed and knocked the pink hair girl out cold.  It is best to follow the script the pink hair girl set up.  

She immediately bundles her son up, grabs some warm clothes and the 10 silver left by the naive little girl and ran as fast as she could. 

The young mother rain aimlessly, trying to find a safe place to hide.  She didn’t want to follow the plan she set up before her son’s birth because her plans, while good, can be deduced by others.  Fate, on the other hand, is harder to pry into.

“Whoa!  Watch where you are going.” a blond hair woman with caramel skin exclaimed while steadying the young mother.

“I’m sorry.” the young mother apologized timidly while clutching her son. 

“It’s fine.  There is no harm done.”

“What do you mean, no harm done?  Look at your sword.” an insensitive redhead pointed out.  

A massive woman joined the duo.  She pulled out the sword from the scabbard attached to the back of the caramel skin woman and examined it.  “As much as I hate to admit it, the sly merchant is right. Your sword is cracked.”

“I… I… I didn’t do it.” the young mother stammered out.  While she did bump into the caramel skin woman from behind, she didn’t attempt anything.  

“I knew the sneaky merchant was up to something!” a black hair amber eyes woman exclaimed with conviction.

“That sneaky merchant you’re talking about is a long term partner of mine.” the redhead protested not because of camaraderie but because he didn’t want to be deemed guilty by association.

The amber eyes woman sneered, “Birds of a feather flocks together.”

“You wished to become one of those birds circling around me.  Aria Se Jivock sent you with me to learn how to scheme.  Well, here an example of one now. Learn from it.”

“Like hell I would!”

The caramel skin woman kicked the amber-eyed woman, “You must be craftier than a fox to outwit your enemies.  Learn from the sly merchant or this trip will be wasted. You can’t become strong by being naive and innocent.  It will only drag you and the people who love you down.”

“But…”

“No excuses.  Now go scam the girl and her son into the following us to the Mysterious Wasteland.”

“Why would I do that?” the amber-eyed woman protested.  

“Do you want to do all the miscellaneous chores for the caravan?”

When put into that perspective, dragging a down and out mother with them didn’t seem so bad. 

The amber-eyed woman turned towards the young mother and began her intimidation tactics.  “You clumsy idiot, this pure meteorite iron sword cost 100 gold. Even if we sell you and your child, we wouldn’t repay the cost of the sword.”

“But…”

“No buts!  We’re being magnanimous by allowing you to work off your debts.  Learn to be grateful.” the amber-eyed woman grabbed the woman by the back of her clothes and glared down at the timid girl before her.   

The young mother acted like she couldn’t stand the intimidating aura and sobbed, “I’ll work hard to pay back the debt, so don’t hurt me or my son.”

No one bought the act of the young mother aside from the amber-eyed girl, but they didn’t fuss over her reasoning as they desired a servant more than maintaining their morals.  

The sly merchant was a harsh taskmaster and with another person joining their group it would lighten the load off the regular members.  Though one would wonder what the sly merchant did to make the girls abandon their morals so easily.  

The amber-eyed girl puffed up her chest, looking tall and proud of herself for acquiring a good servant.  No wonder people like to bully the weak. They get high off the power of subjecting people to their will. Thus the re-education of one innocent woman to a scheming shrew began.