After leaving the interdimensional battlefield, Lu Sheng had been trying to contact Dong Qingxue, who was far away in the Yamu Star Region, using his communicator. However, the distance spanned hundreds of star sectors and countless light-years. He had only just now managed to connect via video call.
Dong Qingxue's face appeared on the communicator. Lu Sheng's eyes instantly softened.
The person in the video call was quite different from the one he remembered. She had her hair simply tied in a bun, and wore loose, homey clothes, the style of planet Azure. But it was still noticeable that she was more plump than before. The most obvious change was her belly, round and high. And she also possessed a maternal radiance that she had never had before.
Colonel Qingxue could once wield dozens of spirit-spikes, battling relentlessly for days and nights amidst hordes of Alien Beasts without flinching even as thick layers of dried blood crusted her body. Now, she had shed all traces of that fierce edge, transforming completely into the image of a delicate young woman.
"Have I gained a lot of weight?"
Qingxue's first reaction upon seeing Sheng was to touch her cheek with a slightly helpless expression.
"No, you're still the same as before." He said without blinking, "You're even more beautiful than before."
"Don't try to fool me."
Even the strong-willed Qingxue couldn't escape the body image anxiety that most pregnant woman experience.
"I know I've gained a lot of weight. Wanwan came to see me a few days ago and said she almost didn't recognize me."
"Wanwan? Lin Wanwan?!" Lu Sheng blinked, barely managing to recall the name.
"Hmm." Dong Qingxue nodded. "The daughter of Martial Saint Lin Zhengyue."
"Martial Saint Lin Zhengyue..." Lu Sheng murmured the name, his eyes filled with a touch of melancholy as he murmured, "Such an old name, I'd almost forgotten it."
"Do you remember Martial Saint Tan Zhongyu?" Dong Qingxue seemed suddenly intrigued. "He broke through. He became the first Martial Saint of planet Azure to break through to level 10. And Harold, the Martial Saint who followed you for a while. He has entered the Council of the Yamu Star Region, arguably making him the most successful Martial Saint of planet Azure. He visited a while ago, but I didn't see him."
Qingxue almost incessantly recounted stories about old acquaintances from the azure planet. Sheng listened quietly, occasionally interjecting to match her enthusiasm. He found pregnancy truly a wondrous thing. It seemed that the nurturing of a new life, probably affecting the hormonal changes in the mother's body, could cause a significant alteration in a woman's personality.
Qingxue used to be known as an ice queen. She would never use two words if she could express herself clearly in one. Now, however, she was as talkative as his mother, Zheng Yufen. Was his mother also a taciturn, aloof beauty when she was young, only becoming more talkative after giving birth to him? Lu Sheng thought to himself.
Suddenly, he heard Dong Qingxue say, "Oh, by the way, while you were away, someone else came to visit us. You'd never guess who it was."
"Who?" Lu Sheng asked.
Then he heard Qingxue softly utter a name: "Liu Qiming."
"Buzz—"
Lu Sheng's body trembled slightly, his heart churning. Liu Qiming. The name of his childhood friend, buried deep within his memory, was heard again after so long. It felt like being hit by the sudden burst of aroma from a centuries-old bottle of wine.
"He... why is he here?" Lu Sheng didn't know what to ask.
Qingxue said softly, "He's enlisted again. Before enlisting, he found out where we lived and came specifically to see you. He didn't know you had left a long time ago."
"He's joined the army again." Lu Sheng wanted to laugh, but his eyes stung.
"This kid's really addicted to being a soldier...did he leave me any messages?"
Dong Qingxue thought for a moment, picked up a phone from the side, found a video, and showed it to Lu Sheng. He saw a sharp-eyed, angular young man with a slight stubble appear on the screen. That man smiled at him, revealing a set of pearly white teeth, and waved. He only said one sentence: "If you have a chance when you come back, let's have a drink together."
Lu Sheng stared at the person on the screen, almost unrecognizable yet incredibly familiar. He smiled slightly and said softly, "Okay."
Qingxue put down her phone and said gently, "You don't need to worry too much about him. He's already reached level 7 of martial arts. He didn't go to any particularly dangerous place..."
"Level 7? This kid's already a grandmaster?" Lu Sheng was slightly surprised.
Dong Qingxue nodded and said, "Even an ordinary person on Azure Star had at least two injections of gene optimization fluid. Many people's martial arts have been completely unlocked. Your sister Qinghe is almost at level 9."
"So fast?!" Lu Sheng was genuinely surprised this time. Who would have thought that the little girl who used to always follow him around would now be almost a Martial Saint?
"Yes, it's fast." Dong Qingxue sighed softly, lowering her head to touch her belly, and said with some emotion, "In the past year or so, my cultivation has hardly changed."
Finally, Lu Sheng's gaze fell on Dong Qingxue's belly. Through the illusory image in the video, he seemed to be able to feel the tiny life growing inside, connected to him by blood. A strange ripple stirred within him.
Lu Sheng said softly, "How much longer did the doctor say he'd have to stay in your belly?"
"It'll probably take another year or so." Dong Qingxue's tone softened, her gaze towards her belly filled with tenderness and affection.
The two remained silent, quietly enjoying this moment of peace that belonged entirely to their "family of three." After what seemed like an eternity, Dong Qingxue suddenly realized something and said, "Wait a minute, I'll go call Mom, Dad, and Qinghe over."
Lu Sheng hummed in agreement, watching Dong Qingxue awkwardly get up, but before she completely left the video screen...
"Click", the image disappeared.
"Damn it!" Lu Sheng almost threw a punch, his face turning incredibly grim. The signal had been cut off. Normally, it wouldn't have been a problem, but he was now countless light-years away. Who knew when he could reconnect with his family?
"Forget it."
Lu Sheng tried several times, confirming that the video call couldn't be reconnected, then slowly exhaled and gave up.
"Once I get to the Hunting Bow, I'll see if there's a more advanced communication method. As the most advanced and prosperous place in the entire galaxy, their technology should be capable of Inter-Regional instant communication."
Lu Sheng could only console himself with this thought. He picked up the now-cold coffee in front of him and drank it all in one gulp. Then he took out a large number of high-grade energy crystals from his storage bracelet and began absorbing their energy for his daily cultivation of the Stellar Dao.
In four cosmic months, the number of Immortal Cells in his body had increased by more than 500,000. The growth rate didn't seem slow, but compared to the limit of one hundred million Immortal Cells that the Level 12 Stellar Immortal Martial Supreme Body could withstand [according to the Dream Space universe Origin's power], this number was insignificant.
Lu Sheng could only hope that after arriving at the Celestial Throne academy of the Hunting Bow, he could find a larger, purer, and more easily absorbed energy source."
If he couldn't find it, then he could only secretly find a secluded place and use immortal techniques to absorb cosmic energy, or directly devour stellar energy to improve himself.
He was cultivating when a visitor signal came through. He opened the visitor list, and before him appeared a young man with slightly dark skin and green hair. Anon Turing.
Lu Sheng's eyes flickered slightly, showing no surprise, and he controlled the door to let him in. Over the past four months, Anon had often come to chat with him. Sheng was already used to such proactive visits.
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Translation notes by dhoo
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In the first half of this story, back on planet Azure, the strongest martial artists were level 9. They were called Martial Saints and there was only a couple dozen of them. Among them were, sexy Lin Zhengyue whose daughter visited Qingxue, stern Tan Zhongyu who is now level 10, and smart Harold who has now entered the Star Region's Council. Zhengyue's daughter Lin Wanwan played an important role at some point. Together with Dong Qingxue and Qingxue's brother Dong Shengyi, Wanwan took the risk to go deep into an "abyssal crack" to collect samples of Alien Beasts. That was scary.
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another year or so
Doctors warned them a few chapters before the beginning of the Battlefeld story arc (chapter #530) that due to Sheng's extraordinary strength, this pregnancy would last a while, though everything should be fine, especally since Qingxue is also a strong martial artist.