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

The elder opened the window.

By the moonlight, one could see that the delicately carved little dumpling's pointed fox ears were drooping, clearly indicating that it had been woken up and was quite unhappy.

The nine large tails behind it bristled, like nine white feather dusters, dancing wildly in the air.

The little guy opened his eyes, his golden vertical pupils veiled with a layer of mist, staring blankly at the two men outside the window who looked like wooden stakes.

Her little mouth pursed.

"Wow--"

Before the cry had even finished, the Grand Elder knelt down with a thud.

The sound of his knee hitting the ground was incredibly crisp.

"Your Highness! This old minister deserves to die!"

The Grand Elder had lost all his former prestige as a Nascent Soul cultivator, fearing that the little ancestor would dislike him.

Ye Wuhen sheathed his sword, looked at the old fox kneeling on the ground weeping bitterly, and curled his lips in schadenfreude.

He turned around, leaned half his body in through the window, and skillfully extended a finger to gently poke Wu Bao's puffed-up little face.

"Sweetie, don't cry. This old man is ugly, did he scare you?"

Ye Wuhen's voice was so gentle it could melt your heart, but when he turned to look at the Grand Elder, it turned sinister: "Did you hear me? Get lost! If you scare my daughter to tears again, I'll pluck all your fox fur and use it as a scarf."

Wu Bao sobbed twice, then stretched out her two chubby little hands and hugged Ye Wuhen's calloused finger, rubbing her face against it.

The Grand Elder knelt on the ground, his heart breaking at the sight.

That's their prince from Qingqiu! How could they possibly recognize a thief as their father?!

"I'm not leaving!"

The elder gritted his teeth, abandoning all shame, and pulled out a pile of glittering, top-grade spirit stones from his robes. He crawled two steps on his knees and pushed them to the foot of the window, gazing longingly at the Five Treasures.

"This old minister is not leaving! This old minister will stay here and guard! No one will be able to harm His Highness!"

He raised his head, forcing a fawning smile—more like a grimace—on his swollen face: "Night Demon Lord, could you... could you share this gatekeeper's job with me?"

The night wind outside the window swirled a few withered leaves, which landed on the pile of top-grade spirit stones.

The elder's shout of "Give me half!" was incredibly moving.

Before Ye Wuhen could even make a sarcastic remark, the other swaddled baby, who had been as quiet as a chicken in the room, suddenly stirred.

Jiang Jingzhi, who had been sleeping like a dummy, suddenly opened her tightly closed eyes when she heard the crisp "clinking" sound of the spirit stones colliding.

Those were a pair of extremely clear, light gray eyes, devoid of the innocence of an infant, but instead revealing a scrutinizing quality.

With great effort, he stretched out a tiny, lotus-root-like hand from his swaddling clothes. Instead of reaching for his mother's warm embrace, he pointed precisely and persistently at the pile of glittering spirit stones outside the window.

"ah."

Short, powerful, and purposeful.

Jiang Yining raised an eyebrow, looking down at the little old man in her arms: "Want it?"

Sibao blinked, grabbed at the air with her little hand, and pointed again.

"That's what your Uncle Ye extorted from you." Jiang Yining ruthlessly shattered the baby's fantasy.

Sibao's little hands froze in mid-air.

The next second, he withdrew his hand expressionlessly, closed his eyes, turned his head to the side, and restarted his "meditation" mode.

His disdainful look made it seem as if he wasn't the one who had just reached out for money.

"..."

Upon hearing the news, Situ Kong, who was peeking through the door frame, was so excited that he trembled all over. Ignoring Ye Wuhen's sarcastic remarks beside him, he stumbled into the house.

"This 'money-is-no-object' attitude... cough, this pragmatic nature is definitely typical of my son, Situ Kong!"

He pulled out a large pile of magical treasures from his pocket.

Tortoise shells, copper coins, compasses, and even the "Sky-Gazing Mirror" passed down for thousands of years by the Tianji Pavilion.

"Come here, son, see which one you like?"

With a fatherly smile, Situ Kong spread the items out in front of Si Bao.

"This is the wealth your father has accumulated over half his life. As long as you call him 'Father,' all of this is yours!"

Si Bao didn't even lift his eyelids.

"You don't like it?" Situ Kong grew anxious and pulled out another handful of thousand-year-old talisman paper imbued with Daoist principles. "How about this? Excellent material for drawing talismans!"

Sibao remained unmoved, even yawning, as if he found the person noisy.

Ye Wuhen leaned against the window, toying with the demonic blade in his hand, and sneered, "Situ the Charlatan, save your breath. Your son just glanced at even the top-grade spirit stones; do you think he'd even look at these rubbish?"

"And he's only been born, how can you let him talk?"

"What do you know! This is the essence of Tao! It's profound knowledge!"

Situ Kong retorted, "This child clearly possesses the Heavenly Mystery Dao Body, so how come he has no reaction to the Heavenly Mystery Magic Artifact?"

"Erbao," Jiang Yining suddenly spoke.

Awakened by the noise, Chu An Yan, who was sitting watching the play, asked, "Mother, what's wrong?"

"Can I borrow your abacus?"

Chu Anyan hesitated for a moment, but still obediently handed over what she had taken out of her storage bag.

Jiang Yining took the abacus, made of pure gold and inlaid with various gemstones, and gently shook it near Sibao's ear.

wow-

A crisp sound of metal and jade clashing together.

Sibao's ears twitched.

Jiang Yining swayed again.

wow-

Si Bao opened his eyes. For the first time, a glimmer of light appeared in those indifferent eyes.

He reached out and grabbed the abacus, which was bigger than his face, holding it tightly to his chest. The corners of his mouth even turned up in a barely perceptible arc.

Situ Kong: "..."

Ye Wuhen burst into laughter: "Hahahaha! Good! What a fine young master of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion! He didn't pick anything for the first birthday celebration, he only picked up accounts! Situ Kong, you have a worthy successor! This is simply a reincarnation of a little money-grubber!"

Situ Kong clutched his chest, heartbroken yet secretly proud: "Nonsense! This is called... this is called knowing how to manage a business!"

"Those who follow the Heavenly Secrets lineage are punished by Heaven for revealing its secrets. What's wrong with making more money to buy medicine? My son, this is a far-sighted plan!"

To prove the bond between father and son, Situ Kong leaned closer, attempting to take the abacus from his son's arms and replace it with his own magical artifact: "Son, the abacus is just an external object. Let's look at this tortoise shell..."

Snapped.

Si Bao slapped Situ Kong's hand without any hesitation.

It wasn't very forceful, but it was extremely insulting.

Immediately afterwards, the little guy not only didn't let go, but turned around and faced his father with his backside, expressing the attitude of "don't touch me" with the back of his head.

"puff--"

A few suppressed laughs.

Da Bao Jiang Lei commented with a serious expression: "Fourth brother, you have a lot of principles."

Erbao Chu Anyan's eyes lit up, as if he had seen a future business partner: "With your hand speed, Fourth Brother, you'll definitely be able to count money fast in the future."

Jiang Yining looked at the room full of lively characters and a smile appeared on her lips.

She reached out and poked Sibao's cheek: "Since you took your second brother's abacus, you have to pay up. You're penniless right now, so this debt will be on your father's side."

As she spoke, she looked at Situ Kong and pulled a thick account book out of her sleeve.

"Sect Master Situ, since you've acknowledged him as your son..."

Jiang Yining opened the ledger, her tone so gentle it sent chills down one's spine: "Pregnancy nutrition expenses, compensation for emotional distress, compensation for lost work time during childbirth... rounding down the difference, the total is 80 million spirit stones."

Situ Kong's smile froze.

He glanced at his own son, who was clutching the abacus tightly, and then at Ye Wuhen and Da Bao and Er Bao, who were watching him intently.

"Give!"

Situ Kong gritted his teeth, tears welling in his eyes, and pulled out his storage bag: "As long as my son acknowledges me, I'll give him everything I own!"

When Sibao heard the word "give", his ears twitched again.

He slowly turned his head, looked at the storage bag that Situ Kong handed him, and finally showed his first smile since birth to this cheap father.

Although it was a faint smile, she did smile.

Situ Kong: "He laughed! My son laughed!!"

Ye Wuhen rolled his eyes and said to the Grand Elder of Qingqiu, "See? You should learn from this in the future."

The elder kneeling outside the window trembled, clutching his storage ring tightly.

This desolate abyss is terrifying.

Even breastfeeding babies are so expensive!