Last time Chen Xu heard of a man getting pregnant, it was in a past life.

Journey to the West, Women's Country.

The Tang Monk and his disciples drank the water from the Mother and Child River, and thus became pregnant.

That was a mythological story from a past life, a novelist's wild and imaginative fancy.

But because the story of the Women's Country focused on romantic entanglements, as a reader, Chen Xu in his previous life found it curious and amusing, not frightening or terrifying.

Unlike the present scene, where these villagers, with bellies as big as drums, were staring with wide eyes, thumping as they ran on the hillside—

They held farming tools, shouting angrily, their bellies so large they quivered, and through the silhouette of their coarse hemp clothes, he could vaguely see what seemed like the limbs of a baby waving and stirring inside.

At the same time, Chen Xu used his extraordinary sixth sense to keenly perceive that these people simultaneously had two heartbeats.

One heartbeat roared and resounded, while the other was weak and slow.

So, these villagers indeed had a pregnancy in their bellies, and it was not Chen Xu's illusion!

Even more shocking was that these villagers, whose voices roared like thunder and appeared utterly healthy, were in fact the ones with the weak, slow heartbeat.

Conversely, the fetuses in their bellies had strong, vigorous heartbeats.

The eerie contrast, the peculiar villagers, the mysterious village...

All left one with an acute awareness that this place must harbor great horror and crisis.

And the Spiritual Cicada Jade Robe once gave guidance; the little hedgehog Wei Yuan was trapped here!

Chen Xu's heart was momentarily filled with various emotions, except fear.

He was no longer the Chen Xu who did not understand cultivation; he no longer felt fear from mere fright.

Calmly hiding in the treetop, he watched the villagers below, like angry ants, rush into the forest, searching everywhere for the "little brat" they mentioned.

A gentle breeze surrounded him, an ambiguous yet transparent mist subtly enveloped him and the child nearby.

An invisible thin mist separated him from the child beside him, making it seem they were "nestled" together, but in reality, if Chen Xu wished, they could simultaneously occupy two "spaces."

This intangible and elusive phenomenon was precisely the "Flowers Are Not Flowers, Mist Is Not Mist" concept Chen Xu had recently been contemplating and mastering.

Chen Xu was remarkably patient, not forgetting what his true purpose was.

Everything was prioritized around Wei Yuan's safety; this place was too strange. Being a real, live person himself, it would be too conspicuous. It was better to stand still and let the Puppet Daoist Soldier find Wei Yuan first.

The Puppet Daoist Soldier had already followed the "East Two" fork, silently descending the hillside, crossing fields and ditches, entering the village from the east head.

Everything the Daoist Soldier saw and heard along the way was as vivid to Chen Xu as if he had seen it himself.

He divided his attention, patiently waiting on the treetop, while directing the Daoist Soldier to delve deeper into the village.

Utilizing the eyes of the Daoist Soldier, he carefully observed everything around, imprinting all the peculiarities seen by the Daoist Soldier in his mind.

This village was strange; most oddly, there were many elderly, few children, and almost no women to be seen.

Of course, there were also many young adults.

Most young adults had run up the hillside to chase the child beside Chen Xu, but because Chen Xu silently cast a spell, even though the villagers turned the small hillside upside down, they found nothing.

Some quick-witted villagers looked up at the trees or shook them vigorously, attempting to shake something out.

Of course, it was all in vain.

These villagers, although each strange in their own way, were essentially still mere mortals, incapable of seeing through Chen Xu's spell.

On the treetop, the child nestled beside Chen Xu had been filled with terror, anxiously flustered.

However, half a quarter of an hour passed, and not a single villager searching the woods could look up and find him.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and the villagers gradually grew more frantically angry.

After yet another half-quarter of an hour, the furious, restless villagers were like ants thrown into a hot pan, unable to do anything but rush around in agitation.

The child on the treetop couldn't help but relax, especially when he saw one of the big-bellied villagers misstep in anger, suddenly kicking a rock, then crashing to the ground with a thud—

Thud!

The villager fell forward onto the ground.

As a result, the fall caused his large belly to land on the ground before his limbs could touch down.

"Ah!"

The fallen villager immediately let out a heart-wrenching scream.

His huge belly was like a round ball, with one end on the ground and the other end propping his whole body up.

His limbs couldn't touch the ground, only flailing instinctively in the air.

At first glance, it looked like an overturned turtle struggling helplessly on the ground.

"Pfft..." The child on the treetop couldn't hold back any longer, emitting a chuckle with a "pfft."

This chuckle did not elicit much reaction from others, but the child himself got startled first.

He hurriedly covered his mouth, his eyes darting downward in fear, then anxiously looked at Chen Xu beside him.

Yet he saw Chen Xu had no intention of reprimanding him, while below... the other villagers were gathering around the big-bellied villager, seemingly none of them hearing his chuckle from the treetop.

Below, people were urgently saying, "Man Cang, what happened to you?"

"Oh dear, he fell on his belly, quick, help him up!"

"This is bad, can't lift him, so heavy, Man Cang, why are you so heavy?"

Villagers grabbed his hands, others his feet.

But while pulling, they all tacitly avoided Man Cang's belly, none chose to hold or push him from his belly.

Such pulling and tugging, of course, made lifting him hard.

The child on the treetop momentarily forgot fear, instinctively craning to watch the commotion below, and he edged closer to Chen Xu, whispering to him:

"Big brother, don't you think they're a bit silly? How can they lift someone like that? Hope they don't end up hurting him... Ah!"

Before he finished speaking, another change occurred below.

It turned out that the people pulling Man Cang, each exerting force and then panicking, directly lifted him off the ground with limbs outstretched.

The next moment, a series of tearing sounds were heard.

Rip!

Somehow, Man Cang's limbs were pulled apart in this manner!

"Ahhh—"

Piercing screams echoed below.

Dozens of people crowded together, dragging two severed arms and two severed legs, stumbling backward in four directions.

Thud, thud, thud!

"Oh, it hurts!"

Everyone fell in disarray.

At the center of the incident, Man Cang lay on the ground in a nearly quartered, gruesome state.

But at that moment, he was not yet dead.

His screams were the most wretched and agonizing.

He howled, while two bloody little hands emerged from his belly, suddenly piercing through his swollen stomach, reaching out.

"Ah!" The child named Ah Sheng on the treetop couldn't hold back any longer.

He screamed in terror, hurriedly curling into Chen Xu's arms.

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