"Don't you like big ones?" Yiyi looked at him with puffed cheeks.

Lu Ye's expression turned serious: "It's all just baseless rumors!"

On his shoulder, Amber let out a couple of grunts, as if it had something to say.

"You keep quiet!"

Amber obediently lay down.

After some idle chatter, Yiyi suddenly showed a worried expression: "This time... is it dangerous?"

The previous events couldn't be kept secret, so the Nine Provinces cultivators who were training on the Unparalleled Continent were also aware of the general situation. They knew that within the next six months, a group of strong enemies would attack. Asking them to return to Nine Provinces was a means of protection.

"Not dangerous at all!" Lu Ye pinched Yiyi's cheeks, the feel as good as ever, and said with full confidence, "If they dare to come, I'll make sure they don't leave alive!"

Yiyi clearly didn't believe him. After years of being together, how could she not know Lu Ye's character? She pursed her lips and said, "Make sure to protect yourself."

Lu Ye nodded repeatedly: "I know, with my one body and three lives, I definitely cherish my life!"

As they spoke, he suddenly remembered something and took out an item from the storage ring to hand to Yiyi.

Yiyi accepted it, puzzled: "What is this?"

"Million Souls Banner." Lu Ye explained the various mysteries of this banner, and upon hearing it, Yiyi immediately showed an expression of disgust and hatred. Not to mention she was a Spiritual Body herself; any normal cultivator would have no fondness for such an evil object.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Yiyi asked.

"Take it back to the Nine Provinces, find a deserted place, and call out Number Nine. This is from Lu Ye. Just leave it there without worrying about it," Lu Ye instructed.

The soul bodies sealed within the Million Souls Banner had already lost their corporal forms, making them difficult for Lu Ye to handle. Destroying it would lead to the extinction of those souls, and carrying it around was of no use. He initially planned to entrust it to Number Nine back in Nine Provinces, where Tianyuan City's secret realm, filled with soul bodies, might accommodate them. Now that Yiyi was returning, he thought she might as well deliver it.

Yiyi seemed thoughtful and obediently nodded.

An hour later, Yiyi reluctantly bid farewell to Lu Ye and, with Amber in tow, walked into the Jiuwu Grand Hall.

Li Baxian and the others weren't in a hurry to return; they were still out hunting down the Corpse Race, clearly planning to leave this world at the very last moment of the time limit, so Lu Ye didn't see them.

This was also the choice of many Nine Provinces cultivators. After all, no one knew if they'd have another chance to come to the Unparalleled Continent in the future, so they naturally wanted to make the most of it.

Just as he was about to leave, his gaze shifted, looking towards a spot in the crowd bustling towards the Jiuwu Grand Hall.

In the bustling crowd, a gentle woman stood quietly, looking at him from afar, with a faint smile lingering on her lips.

As their eyes met, Lu Ye also smiled.

But in the next moment, his expression turned to one of shock, his gaze moving down from the woman's pretty face to what she was holding in her arms.

Breathing suddenly quickened, and his body instinctively moved. In a flash, he stood in front of the woman.

Lu Ye's gaze was fixed on the swaddling cloth in her arms, where a fair-skinned baby was peacefully sleeping with eyes closed, looking so tenderly delicate that it seemed as if water could drip from it. Not knowing what it dreamed of, its little mouth kept twitching, revealing a smile.

Lu Ye suddenly felt a bit parched, looking up at Hua Ci, then down at the baby, doing so a few times before finally taking a deep breath to steady his mind.

"Boy or girl?" Even when facing life and death, his voice was now trembling.

"A girl," Hua Ci replied with a slight smile.

Lu Ye nodded stupefiedly, repeatedly saying, "A girl is good, a girl is good..."

After repeating it several times, he held his breath and drew a little closer to the swaddling cloth for a closer look. He could clearly see the fine white fluff on the child's face, the small nose, the faint eyebrows, the softly moving little lips...

"Looks like you," Lu Ye said, watching the child, his voice so soft and gentle for fear of being even slightly too loud.

"Does she?" Hua Ci chuckled softly, shaking her head: "Not much like me."

Lu Ye grinned: "Then she must look like me!" Suddenly his face turned serious: "No, no, a girl should look like you, pretty and lovely."

Hua Ci's eyes curved with joy, clearly in a great mood, the first time Lu Ye had complimented her so. She held the swaddling cloth forward a bit: "Want to hold her?"

Lu Ye extended a trembling hand, but just as he was about to touch the swaddling cloth, he drew it back, hurriedly storing the Boulder Mountain Saber hanging from his waist into the storage ring, and then vanished.

Hua Ci was mystified.

Several breaths later, Lu Ye flew back, now dressed in clean clothes. He rubbed his hands together, reaching towards Hua Ci.

The moment he held the child, Lu Ye felt as if he held the entire world, a deeply complex, indescribable emotion welling up from inside.

His big hands spread open, supporting the tiny swaddling cloth from above and below, not daring to use even an ounce of force, savoring the vitality of the little life in his arms, a smile blooming on his face like a flower.

"She smells so good," Lu Ye said softly.

Hua Ci said, "All babies smell like this, it's the scent of milk."

Lu Ye suddenly realized, vaguely feeling like something was amiss but couldn't pinpoint what.

Perhaps due to being held by someone new, the baby who had been peacefully sleeping suddenly twitched its little mouth and started crying.

Lu Ye was instantly on high alert, not knowing what to do, looked to Hua Ci for help: "What's wrong? Did I hurt her?"

Hua Ci looked down at the baby, equally puzzled: "I don't know, why is she crying?"

Lu Ye was dumbfounded, thinking, I asked you, and you're asking me back, so who should I ask?

He was a bit flustered and guessed, "Is she hungry?"

Hua Ci nodded, "She must be hungry."

"Then quickly feed her," Lu Ye hurriedly passed the child to Hua Ci, feeling a pang of reluctance, as if handing over his most precious treasure, as if his heart had been cut with a knife.

Hua Ci took the child and turned to hand her to a nearby woman. The woman skillfully cradled the child, bowed apologetically to Lu Ye, and flew off, evidently to find a quiet place to nurse the child.

Lu Ye watched the woman's departing figure, then looked at Hua Ci, a bit dumbfounded, "This... why did you..."

"What's wrong?" Hua Ci blinked her innocent big eyes.

"The child!" Lu Ye said.

"It's her child; she went to feed her!"

Lu Ye's body shook, and he froze in place, as if his psyche had been pulled out by the Million Souls Banner, his head slowly drooping down.

A bolt from the blue!

No wonder he had felt a strange sensation just now!

Only now did he finally realize!

The child... was too young!

He had been at the Constellation Early Stage for almost two years now, in other words, the last time he saw Hua Ci was two years ago. A woman's pregnancy lasts ten months; if that really were his child, the child wouldn't be that small, more than a year old at least.

But the child in the swaddle was at most about three months old.

However, at that moment, how could he think about so much? All his attention was drawn the instant he saw the child.

No wonder Hua Ci said the child didn't look like her!

How could she look like her?

"What's wrong?" Hua Ci looked at Lu Ye in confusion and suddenly realized, "You didn't think that child..."

Lu Ye suddenly looked up, glaring at her angrily.

Hua Ci covered her mouth, "You really thought that child..."

"Heh..." Lu Ye forced out a stiff smile and grabbed Hua Ci's arm, soaring into the sky.

A moment later, in Hua Ci's former cultivation place, in that heavy coffin, Lu Ye slammed down hard with his hand, "Why did you hold her if she's not your child?"

"I thought she was cute, just wanted to hold her casually..."

"You malicious woman, you came just to tease me!"

"I didn't!"

"Still so stubborn!"

This time, Lu Ye was truly angry, and he gave Hua Ci a fierce scolding. It could be said he spared no mercy, reprimanding her until she was thoroughly convinced, only then did he let her go.

Leading Hua Ci back to the Jiuwu Grand Hall, as they were about to part, Hua Ci spoke, "You need to think of a nice name, for a girl."

"What do you mean?" Lu Ye glanced at her sideways.

Hua Ci raised her hand, touching her small belly, and said leisurely, "You'll need it next time we meet."

"Stop it!" Lu Ye would no longer believe this woman.

"You never know?" Hua Ci smiled without saying anything else, her figure slowly disappearing down the passageway leading underground.

Watching her leave, Lu Ye couldn't help but feel a sense of something missing.

Though it had been a misunderstanding, after all, he really needed to think of some nice names just in case they were needed in the future.

After pondering for a while, Lu Ye left the grand hall and flew into the air.

In an instant, he was out of the Unparalleled Continent, arriving at the near-empty space.

Out of the Nine Provinces' nine constellations, apart from him, all others were scattered nearby. Although, according to the information Lu Ye had obtained, if the enemy were to come, it would take about half a year, but precautions still needed to be in place.

After greeting the others, he found a position, pulled over a Meteorite, and sat cross-legged on it, silently waiting.

Time passed, and less than two months later, Nian Yuexian returned, bringing with her the eight constellations of the Nine Provinces.

She didn't stop, continuing on to the direction of the Nine Provinces.

Logically, this would be the best time to have someone else take over her duties since relying on just one person for such transportation was too arduous. However, the others had no experience piloting a starboat, and since Nian Yuexian had already made a round trip between the two realms and was familiar with the route, it was most appropriate for her to continue transporting the constellations.

After another two months, the second batch of constellations arrived at the Unparalleled Continent.

Meanwhile, in the depths of stellar space, a starboat more luxurious than the Silver Fish was rapidly heading towards the Unparalleled Continent.

This starboat was even larger than Su Yuqing's, capable of carrying at least a hundred cultivators.

However, at that moment, there were not so many cultivators on the starboat, a total of about twenty people, half in the Constellation Early Stage, with the remaining seven in the mid-stage, and three in the Late Stage.

This starboat had set out from the Qingli Dao World, hurrying towards the Unparalleled Continent.