Chapter 226: CH. 226 | News About An Yue Pregnancy

"W-What? Pregnant?"

The word hit Lin Tian like a physical thing, and for a moment he simply stood there, letting it settle into him.

"I couldn’t detect it directly, not with any technique or formation I know. What I have is a prediction, based on the pattern of things," Ji Xue said, her voice calm and measured, "Come here. Let me show you both what I mean."

Lin Tian and Wu Yue crossed the main hall together, their footsteps quiet against the stone floor, until they stood on either side of the altar where An Yue still lay.

She hadn’t stirred. Her chest rose and fell slowly, evenly, the picture of someone deeply, peacefully unconscious rather than someone in danger.

That alone eased some of the tension coiled in Lin Tian’s shoulders.

Ji Xue folded her hands in front of her and explained her reasoning carefully, the way a physician might walk a worried family through a diagnosis, laying out each piece before drawing a conclusion.

"I found no illness in her. Everything in her body is functioning exactly as it should, arguably better than it should. That in itself told me something. If there were something wrong, I would have found it by now."

She paused, glancing briefly at Lin Tian before continuing.

"Counting the days since your wedding, and I have to assume the two of you have already engaged in dual cultivation together by now, it’s entirely plausible that what we’re seeing in An Yue is the result of pregnancy."

"But I want to be honest with you both. This is a early guess, not a confirmed diagnosis. To know for certain, we’d likely need to wait another two or three months, long enough for the signs to become undeniable," Ji Xue said.

Lin Tian turned the information over in his mind. He and An Yue had indeed practiced dual cultivation in the days following their wedding, and given the nature of what they’d shared together, the odds of conception were far from small.

Still, some part of him hadn’t expected news like this to arrive bundled together with her breakthrough to Nascent Soul, two enormous changes in her life landing on the same afternoon.

"Is there any faster way to confirm it? Some technique, some formation, anything?" Lin Tian asked, unable to keep a note of urgency out of his voice.

Ji Xue shook her head gently, "The Lingxian Sect’s library simply doesn’t hold much on this subject. Truthfully, it might be best if I go out and bring one back myself. Mortal healers understand pregnancy and its early signs far better than any cultivator technique I know of."

"Send one of your disciples for that instead. I’d rather you stay here, at your hall, in case anyone needs you," Lin Tian said.

Ji Xue considered this for only a moment before clasping her hands together and bowing her head in agreement.

With that settled, she took her leave of the two of them, walking out of the main hall and back toward her own domain, leaving Lin Tian and Wu Yue standing together in the quiet of the hall, An Yue still resting peacefully between them.

Wu Yue was the first to break the silence, a teasing lilt creeping into her voice as she crossed her arms and looked down at the sleeping woman on the altar.

"Sounds like we might be welcoming a Young Master into this sect before too long," she said, unable to hide the amusement dancing at the corner of her mouth.

"I hope he doesn’t grow up arrogant, the way so many Young Masters seem to," Lin Tian replied, though there was no real worry in his tone, just the reflexive caution of a man already thinking ahead to fatherhood.

"That depends entirely on how you and An Yue choose to raise him," Wu Yue said simply.

"You’re right about that," Lin Tian admitted, a faint smile touching his lips despite himself.

He lowered himself down beside the altar, sitting cross legged next to An Yue, and reached out to brush a few loose strands of hair away from her forehead.

The morning light filtering through the hall’s high windows caught her face just so, illuminating features that had grown so familiar to him, and yet in this moment felt new all over again, softened by the possibility of what might be growing inside her.

Wu Yue’s expression shifted, the teasing falling away as practical concerns took its place.

"If An Yue truly is pregnant, we need to think seriously about scaling back her responsibilities. We can’t let her keep managing the Technique and Weapon Hall the way she has been, not for a while," Wu Yue said.

"You’re right," Lin Tian agreed without hesitation, "The demands of running that hall, the disputes to settle, the techniques to oversee, all of it would exhaust her. That kind of strain wouldn’t be good for the pregnancy, not in the early months especially."

He turned his head, meeting Wu Yue’s eyes with a look that had settled into something more focused, more deliberate.

"Go to Tianxun Peak. Find someone suitable to fill the role of Deputy Hall Master there."

"Among her core disciples, there has to be someone with real talent, someone who already understands techniques and weapon craft deeply. Choose from among them."

Wu Yue allowed herself a small, thoughtful smile, glancing once more at An Yue’s sleeping form before returning her attention fully to Lin Tian.

Something in his suggestion sparked a thought of her own, one tied to an event already taking shape on the sect’s calendar.

"There’s the inner disciple tournament coming up soon, the one where outer disciples compete for a chance to be promoted into the inner circle," she said.

"We could borrow that same format. Use a tournament to decide who becomes Deputy Hall Master as well."

"Anyone who wants the position at the Technique and Weapon Hall could fight for it directly. It would suit that hall especially well, since strength and combat skill are the very foundation of what they teach there."

"What do you think of the idea?" she asked, watching him closely.

Lin Tian mulled it over, and the more he considered it, the more sense it made.

A tournament would let the sect surface its most capable cultivators naturally, without favoritism or guesswork, placing the right people into positions where their strength could actually matter.

The idea also stirred something further in his mind. He realized that none of the sect’s halls currently had a deputy at all, no one to step in and keep things running smoothly if a Hall Master were ever unavailable, injured, or anything bad.

To close that gap before it ever became a real problem, he decided the same approach should apply sect wide.

"Not just the Technique and Weapon Hall," Lin Tian said, rising to his feet, his gaze still lingering on An Yue as he spoke, "Every hall in this sect should hold the same kind of tournament."

Wu Yue tilted her head slightly, "So you mean to hold a Deputy Hall Master tournament across all of them?"

"That’s exactly what I mean," Lin Tian confirmed.

"You’re certain you’re comfortable with that? It’s a significant undertaking."

Wu Yue shook her head slowly, a gesture that answered the question before she even spoke, and in truth she’d already begun picturing how such an event might unfold.

To her mind, it was an excellent step toward organizing the Lingxian Sect properly, giving it the kind of clear hierarchy that would let it endure and grow for generations.

Deputy Hall Masters could shoulder the administrative burden and day to day responsibilities, freeing the Hall Masters themselves to focus on cultivation, teaching, and the bigger picture.

"Not at all. If anything, it’s a wonderful opportunity, it would push disciples to deepen their understanding of their own halls, to really master what they claim to represent," Wu Yue said.

"Good. I’m glad we see this the same way," Lin Tian said, satisfaction evident in his voice.

"Go and inform the other Hall Masters of the plan. I need some time alone with her," he added, nodding toward An Yue.

Wu Yue accepted the instruction without question. In the next instant, she vanished from the hall in a blur of motion, setting off to visit each mountain peak of the sect in turn.

Inside the main hall, silence settled once more, broken only by the soft rhythm of An Yue’s breathing. Lin Tian remained seated beside her, his hand wrapped gently around hers, his eyes never leaving her face.

A quiet joy had begun to bloom in his chest, one he hadn’t expected to feel so strongly. If the news of her pregnancy turned out to be true, it would mean he was going to become a father, something he had never once imagined for himself.

This felt like a turning point, a moment worth holding onto, and Lin Tian had no intention of letting it slip past him unnoticed or unappreciated, even if it meant simply sitting here, quietly, watching over her while she slept.

As he studied her face, he felt her fingers twitch faintly against his palm. Her eyelids fluttered, then opened slowly, and the very first thing she saw, blurred at first and then sharpening into focus, was him.

"My husband?" An Yue murmured, her voice thick with sleep.

"How are you feeling, Yue’er?" Lin Tian asked gently, leaning closer.

"Just a little weak. Nothing more than that," she answered, already trying to push herself upright.

Lin Tian moved quickly to support her, his arm sliding behind her back to help ease her into a sitting position.

She glanced around the room, blinking in mild confusion at finding herself inside the sect’s main hall rather than the pavilion on Tianxun Peak where she’d last remembered being.

Concern flickered across her face almost immediately, her thoughts jumping to the disciples she’d left behind.

"They’re fine," Lin Tian reassured her before she could even voice the question, "Wu Yue is with them right now."

"Alright then," An Yue said, visibly relaxing at that.

"Yue’er?" Lin Tian said softly, and her eyes drifted back to meet his.

"Yes, my husband?"

"Did you notice anything unusual while you were in closed door cultivation? Any strange symptoms, however small?" he asked, choosing his words carefully.

An Yue paused, thinking back, "Now that you mention it, yes. I felt a bit nauseous at times, and weaker than I expected to feel. Thankfully, I managed to keep my focus and push through it."

So it’s true, then. Those symptoms line up with what an early pregnancy would look like.

"Why are you asking?" An Yue said, studying his expression.

"Ji Xue came while you were unconscious. She examined you thoroughly, and she told us she couldn’t find any illness in you at all," Lin Tian explained.

"But she did have another theory. About us. About what’s happened since the wedding, since we began dual cultivating together."

An Yue’s eyes widened, understanding dawning across her features.

Her hands moved on their own, settling over her stomach, fingers pressing gently, almost reverently, against the fabric there, as if she could somehow feel the truth of it beneath her palms.

A wide, trembling smile broke across her face, and her eyes filled with tears as she lifted her gaze back to her husband.

"A-Am I... going to be a mother?" she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper, caught somewhere between disbelief and overwhelming joy.

"Congratulations, Yue’er," Lin Tian said, his voice soft, full of a warmth she’d rarely heard from him before, "We’re both going to be parents."