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

Early morning. The door to the top floor of the Dan Tower was pushed open forcefully.

Gu Qinghan emerged. He had changed into a brand-new moon-white robe, his hair meticulously combed. His face once again wore that icy mask. It was as if the vulnerable, out-of-control, nearly insane man from last night had never existed.

Behind him followed two metal golems powered by arrays. The golems carried a huge black jade bathtub and placed it steadily in the center of the room.

"Water," Gu Qinghan uttered a single word.

The puppet activated a mechanism on the wall. A gush of scalding hot water gushed out and poured into the bath. Instantly, the entire room was filled with thick white steam.

Gu Qinghan walked to the workbench and skillfully opened several drawers. He grabbed handfuls of medicinal herbs of various colors and threw them into the bathtub without a second thought.

Seven-star grass, thousand-year-old bone-rotting vine, red-chain snake venom sac...

As the medicinal herbs were added, the originally clear spring water quickly turned into a viscous, dark green. Fist-sized bubbles continuously rose to the surface, releasing a pungent yet strangely sweet aroma when they burst.

"Come here." Gu Qinghan turned his head and looked at Jiang Yining, who was huddled in the corner.

Jiang Yining leaned against the corner of the wall, her face as pale as paper. Three consecutive days of "inhumane" testing, plus being choked last night, left her looking exactly like a person on the verge of death.

She leaned against the wall and stood up shakily. She had just taken one step.

thump.

Her legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground, letting out a muffled groan of pain.

If you're going to act, you have to go all the way. Since you have a broken body, you can't walk as fast as you can.

Gu Qinghan frowned. He looked at the woman slumped on the ground. Normally, he would have used his spiritual power to create a large hand and tossed the experimental subject into the pool like a chick. But for some reason, remembering the tears that had streamed down her face last night, and that phrase "poor thing," he withdrew his outstretched hand.

He strode over and looked down at her.

next second.

He bent down, slipped his hands under Jiang Yining's back and knees, and lifted her up in his arms.

The moment her body was lifted into the air, Jiang Yining froze. She had thought this germaphobic man would use a magic array to pull her over.

Gu Qinghan's chest was hard, and through the thin fabric, one could feel his extremely low yet steady body temperature. The cool, medicinal scent that had been emanating from him for years forcefully entered Jiang Yining's nostrils.

"Put me down... I can walk by myself..." Jiang Yining made a symbolic struggle, placing her hands on his chest.

"Shut up." Gu Qinghan glanced down at her coldly. His tone brooked no argument. "If you fall and die on the way, all my efforts over the past three days will have been wasted."

He carried Jiang Yining in his arms and walked a few steps to the edge of the black jade bath. Without any tenderness or mercy, he simply released her.

Pfft!

Jiang Yining, along with her clothes, was thrown directly into the scalding hot, dark green medicinal bath.

Water splashed everywhere. A few drops landed on Gu Qinghan's snow-white robe. He frowned and quickly evaporated them with his spiritual power.

"Cough cough cough..." Jiang Yining emerged from the water. She wiped the medicine off her face. Her hair was still wet and clung to her cheeks.

The moment I entered the water, an intense stinging sensation swept over my entire body. This pain was different from the fierce, intense pain of being struck by lightning or roasted by fire before; it felt like millions of ants were frantically burrowing into my bones through my open pores.

This is a "Marrow Cleansing and Bone Scraping Soup" specially made by Gu Qinghan to completely force out the trace of Shadow Poison remaining in her body, and at the same time to test the reaction of the Divine Tree.

Jiang Yining gritted her teeth, gripping the edge of the bathtub tightly. The veins on the back of her hands bulged, and her fingernails scraped against the black jade, making a harsh sound.

Gu Qinghan stood by the pool. He pulled out a blank jade slip and an array-engraving brush from his sleeve. His gaze, like two sharp swords, coldly and precisely scanned Jiang Yining's physical reactions.

"The medicine has entered the body for thirty breaths. There are signs of expansion in the meridians." He observed while quickly recording on the jade slip.

Her soaked clothes clung tightly to Jiang Yining's body, outlining her exquisitely perfect curves. Beneath the churning, dark green water, her fair skin glowed with an unnatural flush. In the misty steam, her expression of biting her lower lip and enduring pain conveyed a breathtakingly fragile beauty.

But there was no lust in Gu Qinghan's eyes. Only a fervent and meticulous approach to the unknown.

"Ugh..." Jiang Yining let out a muffled groan that she couldn't suppress. The water surface rippled violently.

Stimulated by the medicinal bath, the Divine Tree of All Spirits awoke once more. It frantically drew upon the medicinal power of the water. The two forces clashed within its meridians, triggering intense physiological spasms.

Jiang Yining's body went limp, and her head sank sharply underwater.

"Utterly useless." Gu Qinghan snorted.

He didn't use his spiritual power. Instead, he squatted down and rolled up his long, snow-white sleeves, revealing his forearms with extremely smooth muscle lines.

He plunged both hands directly into the scalding, dark green medicinal water. He grabbed Jiang Yining by the shoulders and forcibly pulled her out of the water.

The moment he touched her, Gu Qinghan froze for a second.

It's too slippery.

The medicinal bath was extremely hot, and Jiang Yining's skin was scalding. The delicate, soft touch, combined with the resistance of the water, traveled directly from his fingertips to his cerebral cortex.

For thousands of years, he had never touched a woman's skin directly with his bare hands. Even when taking a woman's pulse, he would do so through a silk thread or while wearing a sharkskin glove.

But now, he forgot to wear gloves.

Gu Qinghan's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason. He forced himself to focus on the experiment.

"Bear with it. The medicine's effects are congested in your Du meridian on your back. I'll help you move it away."

Gu Qinghan's voice remained icy. But if you listened carefully, there was a barely perceptible tension in the last syllable.

He supported Jiang Yining's chest and collarbone with one hand to prevent her from slipping down.

His other hand rested on her back. Immortal spiritual energy flowed from his palm, forcefully pressing down on the acupoints on her back.

Jiang Yining was pulled into his arms, her cheek almost pressed against the crook of his neck.

The moment the medicine took effect, the stinging sensation transformed into an indescribable tingling numbness. It felt like a faint electric current shooting up the spine and straight to the brain.

"Ah..." Jiang Yining couldn't help but let out a soft moan. Her body involuntarily went limp.

Her breath sprayed onto the skin on Gu Qinghan's neck.

Gu Qinghan's massage hands suddenly stopped.

He looked down. He saw Jiang Yining's flushed face so close to his. The cinnabar birthmark between her brows, bathed in the steam, looked so red it seemed about to bleed. Her eyes were glistening with tears, and she was breathing heavily, her mouth slightly open. Because of the extreme pain and numbness, her hand instinctively gripped Gu Qinghan's arm tightly.

His fingernails dug into his flesh.

An indescribable heat suddenly rose from my lower abdomen, spreading throughout my limbs and bones.

Gu Qinghan's pupils contracted.

"Clatter".

The engraving brush he had been holding slipped from his fingers and fell into the dark green medicinal bath, sinking instantly.

He jerked his hands back, as if branded with a hot iron. He stood up and took two steps back.

Losing her support, Jiang Yining swayed and slipped back into the water. She struggled to hold onto the edge of the pool, gasping for breath, her eyes looking at Gu Qinghan with a somewhat dazed expression.

"Lord Tower Master... why did you stop pushing?" Her voice was soft and weak, with a hint of hoarseness from the medicinal bath.

Gu Qinghan looked at his soaked hands. His Adam's apple bobbed violently. He abruptly turned his back, his breathing extremely unsteady.

"The effects of the medicine... have dissipated." His voice was cold and hard, as if he were concealing something extremely terrifying. "Stay in there by yourself. Come out in an hour."

After saying that, he practically fled. He strode towards the door without even turning his head. With a bang, the door slammed shut again.

In the bathtub.

Jiang Yining listened to the footsteps outside the door fade into the distance. The bewildered and delicate expression on her face vanished instantly.

She leaned against the pool wall, raising her wet arm to look at the red marks on her wrist where Gu Qinghan had gripped her. A playful smile curled at the corner of her lips.

They were so scared they dropped their pens.

It seems this aloof and detached healer is not only a giant baby with childhood trauma, but also a pure-hearted virgin who has never even touched a woman.

Jiang Yining closed her eyes and sank her body deeper into the water. Within her dantian, the Myriad Spirit Divine Tree swayed its branches joyfully, frantically absorbing every last drop of this priceless medicinal bath.