Many children, many blessings: Stealing the offspring of powerful figures to cultivate immortality.

The fire in the dilapidated temple crackled and popped until the last piece of dry wood burned out and turned to ashes.

The rain stopped.

The first rays of morning light filtered through the holes in the dilapidated roof, carrying the fresh scent of earth. When Jiang Yining awoke, she found herself covered with Chu Jinglan's large, dark robe, still warm from his body and faintly scented with ambergris.

She moved slightly, and the man beside her immediately opened his eyes.

The phoenix eyes behind the glasses no longer held their usual coldness and calculation, but only a calm focus. He reached out and brushed aside a strand of damp hair that had slipped down her temple; his fingertips were warm.

"Awake?" His voice was lower than usual, with a hint of hoarseness.

Jiang Yining's cheeks flushed. She nodded and pulled her outer robe tighter. Memories of last night flooded her mind uncontrollably, making her afraid to look him in the eye.

"We..." she began, but didn't know what to say.

"From now on, you're mine." Chu Jinglan interrupted her, his tone leaving no room for argument. He helped her up, letting her lean against him. "I'll talk to Chu Shuwen. You don't need to go back to that house anymore."

Jiang Yining leaned against his strong chest, listening to his powerful heartbeat. The voice of Shenmu in her mind was as quiet as if it had never existed. An unprecedented sense of security enveloped her.

However, this peace lasted for less than fifteen minutes.

Outside the temple, the sound of rapid and chaotic hoofbeats approached from afar, breaking the tranquility of the early morning.

Chu Jinglan's body tensed instantly. He shielded Jiang Yining behind him, stood up, and looked coldly at the temple gate.

Dozens of armored soldiers surrounded the dilapidated temple, led by Marquis Anping. Beside him, Ruan Linlang rode a tall horse, his face full of vengeful satisfaction.

"Your Highness the Regent has quite the refined taste." Marquis Anping dismounted, a long sword in his hand. "To actually bring his nephew's wife to this desolate wilderness for a tryst. If this gets out, what will become of the royal family's reputation?"

"Lord Anping, you've led your troops to surround me. Are you planning a rebellion?" Chu Jinglan completely shielded Jiang Yining behind him, his voice calm yet carrying an impending storm.

"I dare not call this rebellion," Ruan Linlang giggled, taking a bow from her horse. "My father is only here to 'purge the court of evil spirits' because he is worried that Your Highness is bewitched by this vixen. Your Highness, if you hand over this woman now, we will immediately withdraw our troops, and we will pretend that today's events never happened."

Chu Jinglan narrowed his eyes slightly behind his glasses.

He didn't waste any more words and took action immediately.

As a Confucian and Taoist semi-saint, even in this small illusion, his power to make his words lawful is enough to crush these ordinary people.

"wind!"

As he uttered the word, a fierce wind suddenly arose from the ground, causing the soldiers to stagger and lose their sight.

"Bind!"

Invisible threads emerged from the ground and bound Anping Hou's feet, rendering him unable to move.

Chu Jinglan put one hand behind his back, took Jiang Yining's hand with the other, and strode outside: "Let's go."

Just as the two were about to step out of the temple gate, Ruan Linlang, who had been drawing her bow and arrow, flashed a mad and resentful look in her eyes.

She wasn't aiming for Jiang Yining, but for Chu Jinglan's back.

"call out--!"

A jet-black arrow, whistling through the air, cut through the obstruction of the gale and headed straight for Chu Jinglan!

The arrowhead glowed with a ghostly blue light, clearly indicating that it was made of highly poisonous substance.

By the time Chu Jinglan realized the danger, it was too late.

He could dodge, but Jiang Yining, who was beside him, would inevitably be exposed to another wave of attacks.

Just as he was preparing to take the arrow head-on, a slender figure suddenly rushed out from behind him and stood in front of him.

"Pfft!"

The sound of an arrow piercing flesh was dull and unsettling.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

Chu Jinglan lowered his head and looked at the small face on his chest that had instantly lost all color.

Jiang Yining's body slumped against him, the black arrow lodged in her chest, blood rapidly staining her white clothes.

"fine……"

She looked at him, blood gushing from her mouth, the light in her eyes rapidly fading.

"No……"

Chu Jinglan caught her falling body, but the word "no" was stuck in his throat and he couldn't utter it.

It felt like my heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand and then crushed.

He knelt down, holding her in his arms, frantically trying to stop the bleeding from the wound, but the warm, viscous blood kept seeping out from between his fingers.

"Don't be afraid... I'll save you... I'll definitely save you..."

Chu Jinglan was incoherent, feeling panic and helplessness for the first time.

Jiang Yining raised her hand, seemingly wanting to touch his face, but it fell limply halfway down.

"Bang."

The jade bracelet on her wrist slipped off, fell to the ground, and shattered into several pieces.

The world shattered along with it.

Centered on Chu Jinglan, everything—the sky, the earth, the soldiers in the distance, the ferocious Ruan Linlang—was like a mirror, covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

"Click...click..."

collapse.

……

Chu Jinglan's body trembled violently, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, which splashed onto the violently fluctuating landscape map in front of him.

The landscape on the scroll became completely blurred, turning into a chaotic white light.

"No--!"

A heart-wrenching scream rang out from his mouth; it was not a sound from a hallucination, but the most real pain deep within his soul.

"Bang!"

The radiance of the Landscape Painting suddenly diminished, and the scroll fell from mid-air, returning to its ancient and simple appearance.

Jiang Yining opened her eyes instantly.

As the confusion of amnesia faded, everything from the illusion flooded into her mind like a tide, finally settling on Chu Jinglan's despairing and broken eyes as he held her "corpse."

[Hungry...so hungry...hurry...now!]

Within his dantian, the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree emitted an unprecedented, almost frantic urging.

Jiang Yining did not hesitate for a moment.

She looked at the man in front of her, who was still immersed in the excruciating pain of his soul being torn apart, his eyes closed and his face deathly pale.

He suffered severe backlash from the collapse of the illusion.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Jiang Yining immediately sat down cross-legged and formed a hand seal.

"suck!"

She let out a low shout, and the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree in her dantian instantly swelled up. Countless transparent roots spread out from her body, passed through the void, and precisely pierced into the pale golden halo around Chu Jinglan!

If a powerful being were here at this moment, they would witness a horrifying scene.

Countless unseen roots, like greedy gluttons, frantically drained Chu Jinglan's leaking essence and spirit.

The majestic imperial dragon energy, as vast as the ocean, transformed into golden torrents, which were devoured by the Myriad Spirit Divine Tree and then transformed into the purest life energy, flowing into Jiang Yining's limbs and bones!

The last trace of Dao injury left in her body by Lin Qingxue's sword energy vanished instantly under the scouring of this energy.

The parched dantian was quickly filled, and the bottleneck of the early stage of foundation building was broken!

Mid-stage Foundation Establishment!

Peak of the mid-stage Foundation Building!

Only when her cultivation was stable at the late Foundation Establishment stage, just one step away from the Golden Core stage, did the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree let out a satisfied burp and slowly retract its roots.

Jiang Yining opened her eyes, and a flash of purple-gold light disappeared in her eyes.

She stood up and felt an unprecedented power within her.

She glanced at Chu Jinglan on the ground; his face had turned from deathly pale to ashen, and his breath had weakened considerably.

Without the slightest hesitation, she picked up her still unconscious son, Jiang Lei, walked to the desk, picked up a pen, and wrote a few words on a piece of white paper.

After doing all this, she walked to the unconscious Chu Shuwen and took out a money pouch and several silver notes from his arms.

Then, without looking back, she pushed open the door and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

I don't know how much time passed.

Chu Jinglan's fingers twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes.

The pain from the illusion still lingered deep within his soul, causing him to feel waves of throbbing pain in his heart.

"Yining..."

He spoke instinctively, his voice terribly hoarse.

However, all that answered him was deathly silence.

Chu Jinglan propped himself up and sat up, looking around.

The quiet room was completely empty.

Chu Shuwen was still lying on the ground unconscious, and the woman who made him lose control, caused him heartache, and was someone he would do anything to protect was gone.

She disappeared along with her child.

A strong sense of unease rose in Chu Jinglan's heart.

He tried to circulate the spiritual energy in his body, but found that his dantian was empty and his meridians were sluggish.

His cultivation level... actually dropped to the Integration stage!

At that moment, his gaze fell on the lone white sheet of paper on the table.

He staggered over and picked up the paper.

There was only one line of text on it, the handwriting was neat and beautiful, but it carried a chilling indifference.

"Thank you for the gift, Imperial Tutor."

"puff--!"

Chu Jinglan could no longer suppress his surging blood and qi, and spat out another mouthful of blood onto the paper, staining the ink a deep crimson.

He stared at the words, stunned at first, and then a surge of anger, feeling deceived and used, exploded from the bottom of his heart!

"Jiang, Yi, Ning!"

He pronounced the name slowly and deliberately, and the paper in his hand turned to dust as he tightened his grip.

He turned around, kicked open the door to the meditation room, and gave the first order he had given to the guards who rushed over after hearing the commotion.

That voice was so cold it felt like it could freeze a person's bones.

"By my decree, seal off the entire city! Issue an arrest warrant; throughout the entire territory, dig three feet into the ground, and bring that woman back to me!"