451: Chapter 451 Shock! I'm pregnant!

Great Xia Imperial Capital, Fengming Hall.

In the days following Su Chen's departure, it seemed as if nothing had changed.

That Nine Heavens Divine Ship, which had once blotted out the sun, was merely a page hastily turned in the long history of the Imperial Capital.

Ji Hongxue remained the same Ji Hongxue.

The sole Dominator of the Great Xia Divine Dynasty, the Iron-Blooded Empress who shouldered the fate of billions of subjects.

Vermilion administrative approvals piled up like mountains.

Great matters of state surged in like a tide, passing through her hands to transform into unquestionable imperial edicts that flew toward the four corners of the Divine Dynasty's territory.

She seemed more diligent and focused than ever before.

It was as if only these endless political affairs could fill the hollow gap torn in her heart by a certain man's departure.

"Your Majesty, the Yao Race in the northern border is restless. The King of Zhenbei has submitted a memorial requesting an additional three hundred thousand troops and the allocation of three thousand Demon-Breaking Crossbows."

"Granted."

Ji Hongxue's voice was as cold as ice, devoid of any warmth.

"Furthermore, allocate ten million High-Grade Spirit Stones from the national treasury and dispatch them to the northern border immediately."

"Tell the King of Zhenbei that I do not want reports of victory."

"I only want the northern border to be free of Yao trouble for the next thirty years!"

Every word carried the murderous aura of iron hooves and golden spears.

The female official standing in attendance below the hall received the order and was about to bow and withdraw.

"Wait."

Ji Hongxue suddenly spoke.

Her jade-like hand, holding the vermilion brush, paused slightly in the air.

The female official's heart tightened, and she hastily lowered her head. "Does Your Majesty have further instructions?"

Ji Hongxue, however, fell silent.

Her phoenix eyes, deep as an eternal night, moved away from the memorials for the first time, looking out the window at the azure sky partitioned by the palace walls.

Within her gaze, a trace of confusion leaked out—one she hadn't even noticed herself.

That bastard... where is he now?

Is the path of Ascension going smoothly?

Has he... been provoking other women out there again?

This thought, like a poison-tipped vine, sprouted without warning from the deepest part of her heart, causing her knuckles gripping the brush to tighten suddenly, turning a shade of pale.

"It is nothing. You may withdraw."

She retracted her gaze, her voice once again covered by that layer of hard ice.

However, at the very moment she raised her brush to write the word 'Granted', an unprecedented sense of dizziness seized her Divine Soul without warning!

The world spun!

The Dragon Desk, the memorials, and the palace before her eyes all began to distort, turning into blurred double images.

Following that, her stomach churned violently, and a strong sense of nausea rushed straight to her throat!

"Ugh..."

Ji Hongxue let out a muffled groan, instinctively supporting herself against the Purple-Gold Dragon Desk in front of her to prevent her discomposure from being seen by others.

What was happening? Her brow instantly knotted into a cold, hard scowl.

She bore the Golden Dragon of the Dynasty's national fortune; her imperial body had long been impervious to all harmful arts.

This kind of weakness, which only common mortals experienced, should not and absolutely could not appear in her!

Was it poison?

Or some bizarre curse she had never heard of?

As an emperor, any slight abnormality in the body could shake the foundation of the state!

In an instant, Ji Hongxue's gaze became sharp as a blade, and a bone-chilling killing intent radiated from her body, causing the temperature in Fengming Hall to plummet!

"Someone, come!"

"Summon the Head of the Imperial Hospital, Zhang Zhiwen. Tell him to crawl here and see me!"

...

Fifteen minutes later.

Zhang Zhiwen, Head of the Imperial Hospital, practically crawled into Fengming Hall using both hands and feet, his old face deathly pale.

"Your... Your humble servant Zhang Zhiwen, kowtows to Your Majesty!"

He knelt prostrate on the ground, shaking like a leaf.

The sky had fallen!

Her Majesty the Empress was actually indisposed?!

As an imperial physician who usually treated the headaches and fevers of the harem concubines, his greatest role was normally to be a mascot, but now he had been summoned by the Empress with the word "crawl"!

This wasn't an appointment to see a patient; this was a death sentence!

"Rise."

Atop the Dragon Throne, Ji Hongxue's voice betrayed no emotion.

"Come here and check my pulse."

"As... you command."

Imperial Physician Zhang rose tremblingly and, shivering, lightly placed three fingers upon that fair wrist which held the world and commanded the clouds and rain.

It was cold to the touch, like divine jade.

He dared not have any stray thoughts. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he cautiously sent a wisp of weak Qi into the Empress's body.

There was no poisoning.

Her Meridians were like dragons, her blood and Qi like an ocean.

Her Divine Soul was as stable as a Primordial Divine Mountain.

This... this was healthier than the strongest Primeval Vicious Beast!

Imperial Physician Zhang's cold sweat had already soaked through his official uniform. If he couldn't find the cause of the illness, his head would roll today!

"Well?"

Ji Hongxue's icy voice was like a sword hanging over his head.

"In... in response to Your Majesty..." Zhang said with a sob in his voice, "Your Majesty's body... is healthy and robust. This servant is dull-witted and truly... truly..."

The cold light in Ji Hongxue's phoenix eyes grew more intense. Just as Imperial Physician Zhang felt his Divine Soul was about to be frozen and was preparing to state his last words.

That wisp of probing Qi suddenly touched an extremely weak but distinctly different and strange fluctuation near the Empress's abdominal Dantian.

That was not a life aura belonging to the Empress.

It was a brand new, independent pulse!

It was weak, yet incredibly powerful.

Every beat seemed to resonate with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, syncing with the rhythm of the sun, moon, and stars!

Gradually, that strange pulsating rhythm converged in his mind, finally transforming into a soul-shaking... Dragon's roar!

Boom—!

Imperial Physician Zhang's mind felt as if a sun had been detonated on the spot!

His whole body was as if struck by lightning. He snapped his eyes open, and from those cloudy old eyes burst forth a divine light of ten thousand feet, mixed with extreme shock, horror, wild joy, and endless fear!

Thud!

He fell to the ground once more!

No, this time it was a full prostration, his forehead pressed hard against the cold gold bricks. Because of extreme excitement and fear, his body twitched violently!

"Ma... Your Majesty!"

His voice was so excited it completely changed pitch, becoming sharp and piercing.

"Cong... Congratulations, Your Majesty! Heaven blesses our Great Xia!"

"Your Majesty, you... this is not an illness! This is..."

He got stuck; he found that no words in the world could describe that Supreme aura that stood above all living beings!

"This is... the Dragon pulse secretly forming, the Phoenix body is pregnant!!!"

When the word "pregnant" was roared out by Imperial Physician Zhang with all his strength.

The entire Fengming Hall became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

Time seemed to be completely frozen at this moment.

Ji Hongxue's stunning face, which was forever covered in ten thousand years of frost, completely froze.

She slowly lowered her head.

Those phoenix eyes, which had once made countless heroes and peerless overlords dare not look directly at her, fell upon her own flat lower abdomen, which lacked even a hint of excess fat.

In her gaze was an unprecedented blankness, and a trace of... panic that even she herself could not understand.