Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Is the Fertility Stone Broken?

Rona Lei Shi pricked her finger and dripped a bead of blood onto Fertility Stone.

The stone flashed with dazzling brightness, then quickly dimmed.

Grom smiled. “Congratulations. High-grade fertility.”

“Thank you, tribal shaman,” Rona said.

She’d tested before, so the result didn’t surprise her. Still, when she turned to look at Su Yan, something tightened in her expression.

Ever since she’d first seen Su Yan, she’d felt wary—like a small thorn beneath the skin.

Grom’s gaze fell on Su Yan next. “Su Yan Mi Lu Te registered only two days ago. That surprised me. Today I finally see you in person—such a pretty female. Come, good miss. Let this old woman see your fertility.”

Su Yan walked forward.

Her clothes didn’t fit properly, shifting with every step. Eyes followed her—too curious, too hungry, too openly lewd. Heat rose in her face, and anger curled in her stomach.

She stopped in front of Fertility Stone, then asked, “If someone is already pregnant, can Fertility Stone detect it?”

Grom’s eyes sharpened. Her gaze dropped to Su Yan’s belly. “You… are pregnant?”

Su Yan’s heart skipped.

She didn’t know what the shaman would do if she confirmed it. She couldn’t afford surprises.

“I’m just curious,” she said evenly.

After a moment, Grom’s expression eased. “Fertility Stone tests fertility. Pregnancy doesn’t affect the result.”

“Understood.”

Su Yan took a bone needle from the pouch at her waist and pricked her finger.

A bead of dark-red blood fell onto Fertility Stone.

Nothing happened.

Su Yan froze.

Grom blinked hard, rubbed at her eyes as if they’d betrayed her, and leaned closer.

Still nothing.

“How is that possible?” Grom muttered, shock breaking through her composure. “Even low-grade fertility—even a male—would produce some reaction.”

The crowd stirred. Whispers rose, spreading like wind through dry grass.

“Is the Fertility Stone broken?” Lin Lang called out.

It wasn’t impossible. Stones could crack. They could fail.

Grom’s jaw tightened. She swapped in another Fertility Stone immediately.

Su Yan dripped blood again.

Still nothing.

Not even the faintest spark.

Su Yan’s mind flashed to one thing.

Her soul.

She wasn’t truly this little white mouse -person. She’d arrived in this body from somewhere else.

Could that be why?

Grom straightened, eyes cooling. “In that case, we can only treat you as low-grade fertility for now.”

Su Yan’s expression darkened. “You couldn’t test me at all. How can you declare I’m low grade?”

From below the platform, Little Luo called softly, panicked, “Su Yan—don’t talk back to the tribal shaman!”

Su Yan ignored him, gaze steady on Grom. “If there’s no reaction, maybe it’s because I’m the highest kind of fertility—the kind that conceives the moment I touch someone. Maybe I’m beyond what Fertility Stone can measure.”

A hush fell.

Grom’s eyes cooled further, a thin edge of irritation appearing. She wasn’t used to being questioned—especially not by a female.

Yet after a beat, she said, “That possibility… is not nonexistent.”

Su Yan pressed on, voice calm but firm. “Then my fertility grade should be pending. Judge me by what happens from here on—by the children I bear. Isn’t that more convincing?”

Grom studied her for a long moment. “Where did you grow up?”

“The Senyu Beast Forest,” Su Yan said. “I had eight brothers. They all died. My mother died too.”

Grom’s eyes widened. “What? Your mother gave birth to nine in one litter?”

The crowd rippled again.

Across all beastman clans, the largest litter ever recorded was seven.

“Yes,” Su Yan said simply.

Shock spread through the temple like a wave.

Some males muttered—rare cases where a fetus was too strong, devouring its brothers and sisters in the womb, leaving only one born.

Su Yan’s voice hardened with conviction. “I was my mother’s only daughter. I will inherit her body—her ability to give birth.”