In a high-level martial arts game, a wife is given to you at the start.

Lin Qiye's unease grew stronger in the days that followed.

It was an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible sense of unease, like a faint, almost imperceptible fishy smell in the air, which vanished without a trace when one tried to discern it. He couldn't pinpoint the source of this feeling, but he trusted his intuition—after merging with the Candle's legacy, his perception had risen to a level beyond the comprehension of ordinary people, enabling him to detect those extremely faint abnormal fluctuations in the flow of primal energy.

He had tried several times to leave the mansion alone after his morning cultivation and walk around the main streets of the arena. His gaze swept over the gladiators, deacons, merchants, and passersby—everyone's expression and behavior were normal, with no obvious abnormalities. But that faint sense of unease still lingered, like a fine thorn pricking deep within his consciousness, not painful, yet impossible to ignore.

After returning to his residence, he sat in meditation in his secluded cultivation chamber for an hour, pushing his senses to their limits in an attempt to pinpoint the source of the strange sensation. His perception traveled through the walls of the cultivation chamber, across the outer walls of the residence, through the streets and buildings of the core area, extending all the way to the outermost area of ​​the arena. He sensed countless fluctuations of primal energy—some strong, some weak, some stable, some chaotic, some from cultivators, some from ordinary people. These fluctuations intertwined, forming a complex and chaotic energy network.

Amidst these fluctuations, he noticed something extremely subtle and unusual.

It was a difference similar to "frequency." Like a few notes in the same piece of music with extremely slight pitch deviations, imperceptible to the average person, but immediately noticeable to a well-trained musician. Those enveloped by this strange feeling had an extremely faint, almost imperceptible fluorescent blue "background" in their energy fluctuations, as if they had been stained with an invisible color.

But the underlying color was too faint, so faint that Lin Qiye couldn't be sure whether it was a real perception or his own illusion.

He opened his eyes and shook his head.

Perhaps he was overthinking it. After merging with the Candle's inheritance, his perception had increased too rapidly, and he wasn't yet used to this new level of perception, resulting in some false signals. He decided to put this matter aside for the time being and focus on the more important matters at hand—stabilizing his realm, digesting Yin He's memories, and dealing with the documents and intelligence constantly being sent by the Overwatch Council.

However, the day after he decided to stop investigating that strange feeling, something unexpected happened at his residence.

Qingyin is pregnant.

Luo Sheng told him this news.

That evening, Lin Qiye emerged from his cultivation chamber and encountered Luo Sheng in the inner courtyard of the second courtyard. Luo Sheng sat on a stone bench with a cup of tea that had gone cold in front of her. Her expression was calm, but her eyes held a complex emotion that Lin Qiye had never seen before—not anger, not sadness, but a calm that lay between helplessness and acceptance, as if she had finally confirmed a reality she did not want to face.

"Qingyin is pregnant." Luo Sheng said this in a calm tone, as if she were just saying that the weather was nice today. "She came to see me this afternoon, saying that she had been feeling nauseous and had a poor appetite lately. I took her pulse and confirmed it."

Lin Qiye was stunned for a moment.

This reaction wasn't feigned; he genuinely hadn't expected it. He had indeed had Qingyin serve him that very night after accepting the ten maids—this was another purpose Shangguan Lin had in sending them, something he was fully aware of and hadn't refused. But only once, and more than half a month ago—he hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

"Is it confirmed?" he asked again.

"It's confirmed." Luo Sheng picked up the now-cold tea, took a sip, put the cup down, looked up at him, and asked, "What are you planning to do?"

Lin Qiye was silent for a moment, then sat down opposite her: "Since she's carrying my child, keep it. She'll be treated the same as everyone else; she'll get the necessary supplements and rest as needed."

Luo Sheng looked at him, her gaze lingering on his face for a long time, as if confirming whether his words were sincere. Then she slowly nodded, stood up, turned and walked deeper into the inner courtyard. After a few steps, she stopped, without turning back, her voice very soft: "Lin Qiye, I've known for a long time that your women will only increase. But could you... at least make them conceive a little slower?"

The days that followed unfolded like a scroll being pulled at an accelerated pace, moving forward at a speed far exceeding his expectations.

After the news of Qingyin's pregnancy spread, two other maids also confirmed their pregnancies within the next two weeks. Then came the third, the fourth—in less than two months, all ten maids had become pregnant.

As the maids became pregnant one by one, the wives began to show the same signs.

The first one was the Barbarian Princess.

One morning while practicing boxing, she suddenly felt nauseous and leaned against a rockery, dry heaving for a while. Qingyin, who rushed over after hearing her groaning, diagnosed her with pregnancy. The Barbarian Princess was stunned for a moment, then grinned, patted her belly, and said, "Alright, another one!"

Five days after Manji confirmed her pregnancy, Shuang'er suddenly felt dizzy in the cultivation room. She was studying an ancient array diagram borrowed from the Array Master Guild when her vision went black, and she almost fell off her chair. She was caught by a maid who was helping to organize the materials. When Lin Qiye arrived, Shuang'er had already regained consciousness and was sitting in a chair. Her face was a little pale, but her eyes were still clear.

She looked at Lin Qiye, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "I'm pregnant too."

Lin Qiye nodded without saying anything more, but simply asked a maid to call Qingyin over so that Shuang'er could have a thorough examination.

Luo Sheng was the last to confirm.

One evening, she was sitting on a stone bench in the second courtyard when she suddenly felt a very faint but unusually clear throbbing in her lower abdomen. She knew that feeling all too well—she had given birth to two children and the sensation of life taking root within her was etched into her very being. She lowered her head, looked at her flat stomach, remained silent for a long time, and then sighed softly.

She didn't tell Lin Qiye, but went back to her room, closed the door, and sat on the bed for a long time.

The next morning, while having breakfast, she told Lin Qiye the news in an extremely calm tone.

"I'm pregnant too."

Lin Qiye showed a delighted expression.