Ch-8:Coincidence or not?

The two were unaware of the great disturbance their actions would cause in the grand scheme of things...

The events that occurred here didn't cause any commotion or ruckus in the Academy as no one was aware of them but they did cause quite some issues elsewhere.

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Somewhere far away, in a hidden land, a man with fiery orange hair and eyes was looking into the cyan eyes of the woman in his arms as he waved his hands around her smooth shiny deep blue hair lovingly.

"I can't speak of that matter and you very well know that if not for that, I wouldn't be able to be with you." said the man.

"Trust me, darling, I know very well but she's my daughter too. I want to know..." said the woman in a grumpy tone.

"I told you that nothing bad will happen to her and she can't be forced but that's all I can say about this" said the man as they continued what they were doing.

'How do I tell you that the first pre-condition for the contract to work is if they feel that way towards each other, otherwise they can be with others...' thought the man as he remembered a certain meeting.

As if to play a joke on him, someone knocked on their abode's door at this exact moment much to the two's displeasure.

Before they could say anything, they felt a strong aura arrive at the door making both gulp their saliva.

Comparing this aura to anyone's would be a joke as this aura could only be compared to less than 100 cultivators across the entire territory of The Arcane Empire.

Both of them went to the door and bowed hurriedly as soon as they opened the door towards the guest.

"We greet the Ancestor" echoed the two together.

"Hmm. There were fluctuations in the bloodline formation. You know the meaning of that, right?" asked the woman with a kind smile.

"This..." the man immediately looked to his side at his wife who at the moment was checking her body using her energy senses.

"It's not me" she blurted out the next second seeing the two stare at her feeling distraught as she got some alone time with her husband just a few hours ago after so long...

One might ask why did the Ancestor not check her using her own powers but the answer to that comes from their family's origin and history.

Their oldest traceable origin is from a female cultivator making them respect females highly as they are always born rarely in their bloodline and every single one of them is immensely talented.

"This... I only came here last after checking every female in our clan..." said the Ancestor.

"Wait... What about Lia? Did you check her too?" The woman's motherly instincts made her ignore any respect as she went less than 1 meter away from the Ancestor and shouted in her face.

Before the man could ask for forgiveness or anything as he saw his wife doing what brought him cold sweat, their Ancestor looked at the expression of his wife and answered "She hasn't left the Academy in the past 3 months and isn't she too young to be pregnant? She should be around 17..."

Just as the woman was about to heave a sigh of relief, her husband immediately asked a crucial question.

"Wh-when did the formation show a reaction?" as the man stuttered to ask this, the Ancestor closed her eyes.

"Approximately 3 months back only did it fluctuate indicating someone got pregnant in our clan..." She opened her eyes wide at the end of her words and closed her mouth shut.

"This... Could it be a coincidence?" As the man said that doubtful of his own words, he saw his wife slump on the floor unable to stand as the Ancestor left.

"We need to confirm it. We can only wait for her to step out according to the agreement but she's the only one left..." spoke the Ancestor as she disappeared.

No one heard her though but it wasn't her fault as Lia's mother was too shocked to care about other things and Lia's father was lost in his thoughts.

'No no no... it can't be... I read the contract... The only possibility is both of them liking each other. No way, would my daughter like such trash?...' As countless thoughts flashed through his mind, one fact was revealed.

The so-called soul-binding contract that bound Raon and Lia as each other's fiancé had a pre-condition which was simply that they needed to have certain feelings towards each other and be willing to marry else the rest of the contract wouldn't activate, thus being rendered ineffective.

The rest of the contract simply stated that they couldn't cheat on each other or harm each other or betray each other.

It wasn't very complicated as the two had to be willing to sign the contract and the fact that it was signed when they were babies made it possible because they didn't even have consciousness let alone willingness.

One thing that no one knew was the fact that it wouldn't matter as the contract never really bound their souls.

Elena, Raon's mother, had sacrificed a part of her soul as a medium to stop the contract as her motherly side wouldn't allow her to force children with each other against their will.

The first pre-condition that Lia's father thought about was added after Elena met him and talked things through.

It was her way of getting rid of the contract and messing it up before it was placed and her gamble worked but in the end, the two in question still got together one way or another...

Lia's father carried the slumped form of his wife in his arms back to their abode to console her and spend some time together.

Back at the academy, Raon and Lia didn't get to meet at all for the next 1 year as she didn't leave seclusion for even a moment.

As time passed by, under the 'intense' consolation of Lia's mother, a month later she got pregnant, and the news spread.

For her though, it was not something she was happy about as her own child might be younger than her grandchild borne of Lia.

Even without anyone confirming, she was sure that Lia was the one who got pregnant as Lia was the only one unchecked and the time also matched the two events well together.

Without any surprises, Lia gave birth to a child 9 months later in the seclusion chamber without anyone knowing.

She had already broken through one stage when she entered seclusion and after giving birth to their child, she forced another breakthrough.

She reached the peak of her realm and still felt distraught about it as she would be forced to enter the hidden land with other Inner District disciples.

This was the one that the celebration banquet was being held last year as it had a cultivation limit and the peak stage of her realm was the exact limit leaving her no choice but to enter it.

She didn't want to leave her newborn child but she couldn't force her breakthrough to the next realm as she might die trying.

She could have consolidated and stabilized her breakthrough using pills but they are used for realm breakthroughs, so she wanted to use it to enter the next realm.

Unfortunately, it took her 3 months to just stabilize her cultivation let alone increase it, she couldn't even hope to reach a breakthrough.

Earlier, Lia didn't want to tell Raon but who could she trust with this secret except for the father of the child?

She left the seclusion chamber and used several secret techniques and artifacts to head out and keep her child in an isolated place.

No one knew about this place except Raon as she had led him here once to tell him of her biggest discovery.

It was far away from the academy but a hidden teleport formation only 10 minutes away from the academy brought them there.

She had found a natural formation that could slow down time but the host, that is her, needs to die for it to work at a much higher speed.

Lia was smart enough to know that such a formation would bring tons of danger to the ones who knew but due to the soul contract she told Raon... or that is what she wanted to believe.

As she returned to the academy, she directly headed to Raon's residence and he was there as she barged into his room unannounced.

For Raon, who had not seen Lia for an entire year and had already factored Lia into his plans, it was a happy thing.

Yet, he could notice the subtle change from Lia's demeanor every time but he got no chance to say anything as she came next to him.

For the next 1 hour, they did what any couple would do after meeting after so long, mate or copulate or simply have sex.

However, suddenly Raon stopped and looked into her eyes as he saw her trying to return her gaze but also avert it.

Them being cultivators, he truly could not tell that she gave birth as their bodies were naturally stronger due to the tempering of the cultivation energies.

"Say, what's on your mind?" asked Raon as he took her beautiful visage and etched it into his memories.

She hesitated to say anything as her eyes darted around the entire room while he patiently and silently waited for her to speak.

"Say, what if I tell you I got pregnant?" asked the girl looking away yet sneaking glances to see his reaction.

"Is that so?" the boy muttered as he also looked outside without any change in expression.

"That's it? You're not asking anything?" asked the girl, now confused by his sudden calmness.

"It's not like we were unaware when we did it the next morning or anything. It was obvious that you might get pregnant but you decided to do what you want so I didn't interfere at all" said Raon.

"You're the father, you know? Rather I think it's good that you are like this" said Lia.

"So, what did you decide? You must have come to a decision that you're talking about it" asked Raon.

"Yes. Before that, you know I am going to enter the hidden land discovered last year and we are leaving this week" said Lia as Raon just nodded.

"So, want to meet our child?" asked Lia while Raon jolted in shock and nodded with a somber expression as Lia smiled for the first time he had seen since entering the Academy.

The charm of his girl just increased manifold by her simple smile and her giddy gait as he absentmindedly followed her and ended up at her secret place.

She held his hand as she led him inside deep into the core where their child was being held in place by the formation.

This was the place where the formation affected the surroundings and even passively, it slowed time to a certain degree.

The time flow in this room was 2-3 times slower than outside.

"How is she?" asked Lia as her expression turned soft to that of any mother with their kid.

"She? She's beautiful just like you. Did you name her yet?" said Raon as a rare smile donned his face.

"Altair. I want to name her Ighost as females are rare in our clan" said Lia as she held her daughter and caressed her face lovingly.

"What a lovely name. Altair Lia Ighost sounds much better to me" said Raon as he carefully held his daughter for the first time.

As the two stayed there for quite some, Altair woke up and started crying as both of them smiled at her sweet voice.

Lia took off her top as she held Altair and breastfed her while looking at her adorable daughter gently.

This was also one of the reasons Raon didn't seem surprised when she told him she was pregnant because she didn't let him do anything to her breasts.

Even if she was a cultivator, she could still lactate unintentionally if she wasn't careful, and avoiding any stimulation was for the better.

While Raon was looking at Lia feeding Altair casually, most of the cultivators wouldn't do so as many females would be too ashamed while males would find it awkward.

Yet, the two concerned seemed completely unbothered about the scene as a comforting silence pervaded their surroundings except for Altair's sound much to the two's happiness and joy.

"I'll feed her one last time before leaving. I just hope I can be back before she cries for more even in the slowed time" said Lia as she set her clothes in place and let Raon hold Altair.

"I can't feed her like you but I can substitute it using rank-2 stones" said Raon as the two continued to discuss things but falling into silence every now and then.

The two secretly returned to their residences and after spending three days together, both of them finally left for her hidden place to feed Altair one last time before she departed for the hidden land.

After the two spent their time together with Altair and she fed her one last time before leaving, they returned via different routes to their destinations as Raon promised her that he'd take care of Altair without anyone knowing of her existence.

Everyone was surprised to see her surpass two stages and reach the peak stage of her cultivation realm as her speed was a bit too fast but they believed that it was because of her accumulation over the years.

But how could it be so easy...