If he hadn't misheard, that sound was coming from his wife's belly.
Though Fang Yubai's cultivation wasn't particularly high, he had at least reached the Separation-Union Realm. Ordinary people might not have caught such a faint sound, but how could he miss it?
Moreover, he was intimately familiar with it.
Before the child in the womb had fallen into danger, he had countless times pressed his ear against his wife's belly to listen to the stirring of that new life — it was precisely this soft, faint heartbeat.
"Silence!" Fang Yubai suddenly barked.
The maidservants who had been wailing endlessly and the old nanny weeping silently all fell quiet, not daring to make another sound.
Beside the bed, Fang Yubai looked up at his wife. Whether it was a trick of the light or not, he felt that her face — previously pale as paper — now held the faintest trace of color.
Thud…
Another faint sound emanated from his wife's belly.
Trembling, Fang Yubai slowly lowered himself, pressing his ear gently against his wife's stomach, waiting with a heart full of tension and trepidation.
Thud…
Thud… thud… thud…
The feeble heartbeat was a sign that the child in the womb was reviving. At first it was somewhat erratic, but gradually it steadied into a normal rhythm. Fang Yubai even felt that the heartbeat was stronger and more vigorous than what he had heard before.
Suddenly, his wife's belly bulged sharply. Fang Yubai felt a tiny foot kick him square in the cheek through the skin — the force was light, but it nearly sent him leaping to his feet.
"Ah!" Fang Yubai's eyes went wide, his face a picture of utter disbelief. He hastily seized his wife's wrist and probed her carefully with his spiritual sense.
After a moment, tears streamed down the old man's weathered face. "Heaven has eyes! Heaven has eyes!"
The maidservants and the old nanny exchanged bewildered glances, not understanding what had just happened.
Half an hour later, Zhong Xiuxiu slowly rose. The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was Fang Yubai sitting at the bedside.
"You're awake, my lady!" Fang Yubai exclaimed with delight. Though his earlier examination had confirmed she was out of danger, only now, seeing her open her eyes and regain consciousness, did he truly breathe easy.
Zhong Xiuxiu stared blankly at her husband. Her muddled thoughts gradually sharpened. Her eyes reddened, and tears traced down her cheeks. "My lord, the child… how is the child?"
Even though she knew there was a nine-in-ten chance the child was gone, she couldn't help but ask — she needed a definitive answer.
Fang Yubai patted the back of her hand and said with a gentle smile, "Don't worry, my lady. The child is fine."
Zhong Xiuxiu clearly didn't believe him, weeping like rain-pelted blossoms. "My lord, don't try to comfort me. I… I can bear it."
Fang Yubai chuckled. "I'm not trying to comfort you. The child truly is unharmed. You have cultivation of your own — if you don't believe me, simply check for yourself."
Seeing that her husband didn't appear to be joking, Zhong Xiuxiu cautiously circulated her own power and carefully examined her body. One look was all it took to genuinely startle her.
The child in her womb was indeed unharmed. Not only that, Zhong Xiuxiu even felt that the child's vitality was more robust than before.
How was this possible?
She clearly remembered that her belly had ached terribly today, and the child had gone still for a long time. Before she lost consciousness, she had even bled.
She had already steeled herself to lose the child. She never expected reality to deliver such a tremendous surprise.
"My lord, am I dreaming?" Zhong Xiuxiu still couldn't quite believe it.
"You're not dreaming. Not dreaming at all. Everything is perfectly fine," Fang Yubai reassured her.
Zhong Xiuxiu couldn't hold back her tears again. This time she wept with all her heart, the accumulated worry of so many days finally releasing at once. The pent-up emotions poured forth, and though she was crying bitterly, both body and mind felt immeasurably relieved.
"Don't cry, don't cry — you mustn't upset the pregnancy," Fang Yubai said helplessly, dabbing at her tears.
Zhong Xiuxiu kept nodding, yet the tears would not stop. It took a long while before she finally fell quiet. Gently, she stroked her belly, bit her lip, and said softly, "My lord, the child is hungry."
Fang Yubai blinked, then burst into hearty laughter. "Wait a moment, my lady. I'll have the kitchen send something up."
With that, he went out to make arrangements.
News of the Fang family's unborn child returning from the brink spread quickly. They said that day a thunderclap had shattered a clear sky — lightning flashed and thunder rolled as strange phenomena soared overhead.
The story was told with vivid detail. Everyone at the estate declared that the ancestors of the Fang family had accumulated great virtue, and Heaven itself could not bear to let the Fang bloodline end, so it had pulled the child back from the gates of the underworld.
Those who believed were filled with awe and reverence. Those who didn't simply dismissed it as a rural tall tale, paying it no mind.
After all, the child was still in the womb. Whether it had truly returned from death — aside from the Fang couple themselves, no one could say for certain. However, the thunderclap from a clear sky that day was entirely real, and it had shaken the entire Void World.
The Void Dojo and the various major sects had dispatched people to investigate in all directions, but nothing came of it, and the matter was eventually dropped.
Zhong Xiuxiu's belly grew larger with each passing day. Strangely enough, after that day the child's vitality never weakened again. Even Zhong Xiuxiu herself, who had grown gaunt, gradually began to fill out and regain her plumpness.