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

chill.

It was even more biting than the north wind in the far north ice field.

An extremely obscure divine thought, like a giant eye looking down on ants from the clouds, swept across the entire Dan City without warning.

That divine thought was devoid of any emotion, containing only a pure, superior scrutiny.

Wherever it passed, all was silent.

Even the spiritual energy in the air seemed to freeze instantly, solidifying into countless invisible ice crystals.

The top floor of the Dan Tower.

Jiang Yining was playing with the purple-gold token when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her fingertip.

The token slipped from his hand and fell onto the glass platform with a crisp "clink".

She suddenly curled up, her jaw chattering uncontrollably, making a soft "clucking" sound.

The red mole between his eyebrows dimmed instantly.

The Shadow Poison within his body, like a pack of vicious dogs that had caught the scent of their master, broke free from the suppression of the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree and launched a frenzied counterattack.

The cold that seeped from the depths of her bones instantly covered her eyelashes with a fine layer of white frost.

"The Protoss..."

She squeezed out those three words through gritted teeth, her voice broken and incoherent.

next second.

A burning hot embrace held her tightly.

Gu Qinghan didn't give her any time to react.

He strode over, roughly tearing open the spotless medicinal robe and wrapping it directly around Jiang Yining, whose body was covered in ice shards.

"Don't move."

He growled in her ear.

His voice carried a hint of panic that he himself was unaware of.

boom!

A pure white flame erupted from Gu Qinghan's body.

That was his natal flame—the Nine Nether Ice Flame.

Despite its name containing the word "ice," it is actually extremely hot and can burn all evil and malevolent things in the world.

He was like a walking human furnace, forcibly using his body heat and alchemical fire to fight against the extreme cold from the higher-dimensional rules.

"Lord Tower Master..."

Jiang Yining pressed her entire body against his chest, and could clearly hear his rapid heartbeat.

Boom, boom, boom.

It was urgent and heavy, like beating a drum.

"Shut up."

Gu Qinghan cupped the back of her head with his hand, pressing her face against his warm neck to prevent her from looking up.

"That's a spiritual scan from someone at the Spirit Awakening Realm. Don't look, don't think, don't sense."

He was trembling.

It wasn't because of the cold, but because of a kind of anger at having one's territory violated.

Jiang Yining sensed it.

This man, who is a germaphobe and usually won't let anyone even touch the hem of his clothes, is now holding her with a force that seems to want to meld her into his very bones.

That possessiveness was so intense, it was like a tangible chain, binding her tightly.

"This is my patient."

Gu Qinghan's eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at a point in the void.

"No one can take it from me."

His voice was extremely low, like a roar coming from deep within his throat.

I don't know how much time has passed; perhaps it was just a moment, or perhaps half a century.

That terrifying divine thought finally retreated from Dan City like the receding tide.

Jiang Yining exhaled a long breath of white air, feeling as if she had come back to life.

She moved her somewhat stiff fingers, her fingertips accidentally brushing against Gu Qinghan's collarbone.

There was a thin layer of sweat there, scalding hot.

Gu Qinghan froze, as if burned by hot coals, and abruptly released his grip.

He awkwardly took two steps back to create some distance.

"Shadow Poison Resonance".

He turned his back, quickly straightened his disheveled clothes, and his voice returned to its usual cool tone, but the red mark on his ears just wouldn't fade.

"It seems that conventional methods are no longer sufficient to suppress the situation."

He walked to the control panel, grabbed an engraving pen, and quickly wrote something on the blank jade slip.

The force applied to the pen tip was so great that it almost sliced ​​through the hard jade.

"I want to refine the Nine Suns Melting Snow Pill."

Gu Qinghan turned around abruptly, his pale gray eyes fixed intently on Jiang Yining, as if two flames were burning within them.

"This is the only Grade 7 Divine Pill that can completely eradicate the Shadow Poison from your body. I have gathered all the medicinal materials, and I am only missing the last ingredient."

Jiang Yining raised an eyebrow: "What?"

"The blood of ultimate strength and yang".

Gu Qinghan uttered those six words without the slightest hesitation.

He raised his right hand, his slender fingertips condensing energy into a blade.

puff!

A soft sound.

Blood splattered.

He actually cut open his own heart right in front of Jiang Yining!

"Tower Master!"

Jiang Yining was genuinely shocked this time and abruptly sat up from the glass platform.

That madman!

Gu Qinghan remained expressionless, as if the deep, bone-revealing wound was not on his own body.

He manipulated his spiritual power, carefully drawing out a drop of golden-red essence blood from the deepest part of his beating heart.

The moment that drop of blood appeared, the temperature in the entire laboratory instantly increased several times over.

A strange fragrance filled the air; it was the essence of a virgin's body cultivated for thousands of years using the "Haotian Pure Yang Technique," the purest yang energy in the world.

"I am of pure Yang constitution, this drop of my heart's blood is enough."

Gu Qinghan's face was ashen, but a somewhat eerie smile curled at the corner of her lips.

He flicked the drop of blood essence into the alchemy furnace.

He turned to look at Jiang Yining, his eyes filled with barely suppressed fervor.

"Come here. It's your turn to work on your sacred tree."

Jiang Yining looked at the drop of golden blood churning in the alchemy furnace, and her throat involuntarily bobbed.

So fragrant.

The Myriad Spirits Divine Tree within her body was practically going mad, waving all its branches and screaming "Hungry, hungry, hungry" wildly in her dantian.

"The Tower Master is truly..."

Jiang Yining walked over, her fingertips lightly touching the scorching hot furnace wall, a meaningful smile playing on her lips.

"They're really willing to spend a fortune."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Gu Qinghan formed hand seals, and the Nine Nether Ice Flame surged forth, enveloping the entire alchemy furnace.

"I'm going to refine a peerless divine pill that's completely free of any impurities. If you dare to slack off, I'll throw you in as firewood."

Jiang Yining closed her eyes.

The roots of the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree silently probed into the alchemy furnace along her fingertips.

It did not touch that precious drop of heart's blood.

Instead, it acted like a greedy cleaner, frantically devouring the black erysipelas fumes produced when various medicinal herbs melted.

Swallow.

Purification.

Feeding back.

A wisp of purplish-gold life force quietly seeped into the pill that was taking shape, following the roots.

Gu Qinghan was completely unaware of this.

He was completely focused on controlling the heat, watching the pill become more and more rounded and its color more and more golden. The fervor in his eyes was almost scorching.

"It's done..."

He muttered to himself.

Just then.

Jiang Yining suddenly opened her eyes and lightly flicked her finger on the alchemy furnace.

hum!

The alchemy furnace shook violently.

An extremely rich fragrance of elixir rose into the sky, even attracting auspicious clouds and strange phenomena above the Pill Tower!

"Nine patterns! It's a top-grade nine-pattern item!"

Gu Qinghan was so excited that her hands were trembling.

He slapped open the furnace lid, and a golden pill surrounded by a layer of pink mist shot into the sky, which he caught steadily in his palm.

"Is this something forged from your blood?"

Jiang Yining leaned closer, her nose almost touching his palm, and took a deep breath.

"So sweet."

She wasn't talking about elixirs.

Gu Qinghan's palm suddenly recoiled, as if he had been burned by her breath.

The supreme-grade elixir was burning hot in his palm.

He wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the pink mist swirling around the pill looked a little... improper.