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

The night in the desolate abyss was a bit chilly.

The bonfire was still burning, but the lively crowd had already dispersed.

Da Bao and Er Bao had already been coaxed to sleep by Steward Zhao, leaving only Ji Lingxiao and Bai Ze sitting by the fire.

Ji Lingxiao was wiping the Duan Nian Sword with a piece of fine silk, his movements as focused as if he were caressing a lover's hand.

Bai Ze, holding a wine jar, hummed a Qingqiu tune with drunken eyes, his tail idly sweeping the dust off the ground.

"Why has Old Chu been gone for so long?"

Bai Ze hiccuped, and mumbled, "Was it all the way to Java to find Ningning?"

Ji Lingxiao paused in his movements, his brows furrowing slightly.

He also felt that it had taken too long.

Just as I was about to get up to take a look, a white figure emerged from the darkness.

Chu Jinglan was still dressed in an elegant long robe, but the folding fan that he always carried was gone.

His face appeared remarkably calm in the firelight, a calmness bordering on deathly stillness.

"Where is Yi Ning?" Ji Lingxiao asked.

"Going to sleep."

Chu Jinglan picked up a jar of strong liquor that was still unopened next to him and broke the clay seal: "I'm very tired, I'm sleeping soundly."

After saying that, he tilted his head back and poured the contents of the jar down in one gulp.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh.

The spicy liquor poured down my throat, as if trying to extinguish the fire in my heart, or perhaps to make it burn even brighter.

Ji Lingxiao and Bai Ze were both stunned.

Having known each other for so long, this was the first time they had seen this Confucian and Taoist semi-sage, who was supposed to "not speak while eating or sleeping" and drink tea in three sips, gulp it down like a boorish street urchin.

"Hey, you pedant, what's gotten into you?"

Bai Ze sobered up slightly, his fox-like eyes narrowing slightly: "Could it be that Ningning kicked you out?"

Chu Jinglan put down the wine jar and wiped the water stains from the corner of his mouth.

He didn't answer, but turned to look at Ji Lingxiao. His eyes, which were always full of wisdom and calculation, were now bloodshot.

"Old Ji".

He suddenly spoke, his voice a little hoarse: "If one day you have to share your sword with someone else, would you be willing?"

Ji Lingxiao's face darkened, and a murderous aura instantly emanated from him: "As long as the sword is here, I am here; if the sword dies, I die."

For a swordsman, his sword is more important than his wife—it's his lifeblood.

"yes……"

Chu Jinglan gave a bitter laugh and took another swig of wine: "If I can't even share a sword, how can I share a person?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Lingxiao and Bai Ze's expressions changed simultaneously.

They're not fools.

Chu Jinglan's unusual behavior, coupled with that inexplicable remark, made the answer quite clear.

Ji Lingxiao tightened his grip on the sword, his knuckles cracking.

He abruptly stood up, his gaze flashing like lightning towards the backyard: "Is that Situ Kong?"

Only that guy wasn't there.

"sit down."

Chu Jinglan grabbed his hem with surprising strength.

"You want me to sit down?" Ji Lingxiao looked at him in disbelief. "He's inside..."

"What he was doing in there was Ningning's tacit approval."

Chu Jinglan raised his head, his eyes cold and desperate: "What were you doing there? Catching her in adultery? Who are you to her?"

"The child's father? Is he even useful?"

Ji Lingxiao stood frozen in place.

These words were like a heavy hammer blow, shattering his pride as a Sword Master.

Yes.

He had no official title or exclusive rights in front of Jiang Yining.

"Damn it!"

Bai Ze smashed the wine jar in his hand, his handsome face twisted with jealousy.

"That blind man! That green tea b*tch! What makes him so special? Just because he knows how to play the victim? I can do that too! I'm going to break his legs tomorrow!"

Save your breath.

Chu Jinglan sneered: "The more you make a scene, the more Ningning will protect him."

Bai Ze choked, so angry that his tail fur stood on end.

"So, you're just going to put up with it?"

Ji Lingxiao sat down again, but this time, he planted his sword in the soil beside him, burying it three-tenths of an inch deep.

"Otherwise what?"

Chu Jinglan handed him the wine jar: "Kill him??"

"This is the price."

Chu Jinglan looked at the flickering flames, his voice so soft it was as if he were talking to himself.

"If you want to stay in this house, if you want to protect her, you have to swallow that damned possessiveness whole."

"Even if it rots inside your intestines, it must not be exposed."

Ji Lingxiao remained silent for a long time.

He took the wine jar, tilted his head back, and took a big gulp.

Spicy to the throat, bitter to the heart.

"Good wine." The Sword Master's voice trembled slightly.

That night, the three top experts of the Desolate Abyss, big shots who would fight each other whenever they met, did not fight for the first time in history.

They sat around the campfire, drinking from one jar after another.

Without using spiritual power to expel the alcohol fumes, they simply let the alcohol numb their nerves.

As he finished drinking, Bai Ze revealed his true form: a giant nine-tailed white fox lying on the ground, crying and pawing at the earth with his claws, "Waaah... Ningning... my Ningning..."

Ji Lingxiao, clutching his sword, leaned against a rock, staring unfocusedly at the sky, muttering, "Supreme detachment... what a load of rubbish about detachment..."

Chu Jinglan, this Confucian and Taoist semi-saint, drank the most, yet sat the straightest.

However, his once righteous spirit now exuded an indescribable sense of despondency and desolation.

……

The next morning.

The first ray of sunlight streamed into the room.

Jiang Yining opened her eyes, feeling sore all over as if she had been run over by a car.

It wasn't just because of the previous lightning tribulation, but also because of that man who acted like a mad dog last night.

"Good morning, my wife."

A magnified handsome face appeared before my eyes.

Situ Kong, looking quite energetic, propped his head up and lay down on his side next to her.

Although her face was still somewhat pale, her peach blossom eyes were bright and lively, showing no trace of the life-or-death state she had been in the previous night.

It seems that it really was "absorbing yin to replenish yang".

Jiang Yining rolled her eyes at him, wanting to kick him off the bed, but she knew he was just putting on a brave face.

"Take a few days off, and let me know if you need any medication."

"As long as my wife comes to heal my wounds every day, I will recover soon."

Situ Kong wasn't wearing shoes either; he was barefoot, humming a little tune as he started getting dressed.

"By the way, my wife."

He fastened his belt, turned around, and gave Jiang Yining a bright smile.

Seeing his shrewd, capable, and radiant appearance, Jiang Yining couldn't help but twitch her lips.

really.

Men are creatures whose fighting power explodes once a certain need is satisfied.

She rubbed her temples and got up to wash up.

As soon as I pushed open the door, I saw three men sitting like statues by the stone table in the courtyard.

Ji Lingxiao, Chu Jinglan, Bai Ze.

All three had noticeable dark circles under their eyes, and the smell of alcohol still lingered on them.

Upon seeing Jiang Yining emerge, all three of them turned their gazes toward her.

That look in her eyes was so complex that it made Jiang Yining's heart skip a beat.

There was resentment, forbearance, and also... a kind of compromise that seemed to have been reached after a consensus was achieved.

"morning……"

Jiang Yining greeted him somewhat guiltily.

"Good morning," Chu Jinglan said first, his voice a little hoarse.

He stood up, his gaze sweeping over Situ Kong, who walked out with a beaming smile behind Jiang Yining, and his eye twitched slightly.

But he didn't say anything.

He simply took a storage bag out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

"This is the warm jade you requested. I had it transported from the far north overnight."

"I'm going to teach Erbao a lesson."

After saying that, he turned and left, his back view looking somewhat desolate.

Ji Lingxiao also stood up and drew his sword from the ground: "I'll go weed the spirit field."

Bai Ze glanced at the two of them, then at Jiang Yining, and finally glared fiercely at Situ Kong: "I'm going to work too!"

Jiang Yining was completely bewildered as she watched the three men flee.

What's going on here?

……

In the days that followed, Ji Lingxiao and his two companions experienced firsthand what it meant to be a crying child who gets fed.

Situ Kong was seriously injured for some unknown reason, and Jiang Yining took care of him every day, constantly finding various excuses to keep her company.

Jiang Yining even asked them to work together to help Situ Kong recover his cultivation.

Unbeknownst to them, Jiang Yining was calculating that Situ Kong's fortune-telling ability would be extremely useful, and hoped that he could recover as soon as possible.

Chu Jinglan and the others could no longer tolerate it. When Situ Kong's cultivation had recovered to the Nascent Soul stage, they secretly took advantage of Jiang Yining's absence to trap and interrogate him.

"Situ Kong, why did your cultivation suddenly plummet?!"

Bai Ze was so angry that he unleashed all nine tails, wishing he could take turns whipping that blind bastard.

"I think you're faking it! You deliberately hurt yourself so Ningning will soften her heart and take your place!"