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

"Want to go over there?" Su Chenzhou sneered, a cold black light flashing as his black iron ruler slammed into a scavenger's head. "Did you ask me?"

Blood splattered, and brains splattered. The scavenger didn't even have time to scream before he was sent flying like a broken sack, knocking over a large group of his companions behind him.

Before the broken bridge, a fierce wind carried the stench of decay and rot. Su Chenzhou held an iron ruler upside down in one hand, his wide black cloak fluttering in the wind. Alone, with only a ruler, he single-handedly kept the scavenging group from Graybone Wharf and the relentless Protoss pursuers at bay outside the bronze warehouse gate.

"Su Chenzhou! Are you fucking insane?!" The one-eyed burly man leading the scavenging group slammed his heavy halberd into the ground, his eyes gleaming with greed and ferocity. "A bounty of ten thousand high-grade star crystals! Can you swallow that all by yourself? Get out of here, we'll split this woman equally!"

"Splitting it evenly?" Su Chenzhou's lips curled into a mocking smile. He pulled out a rusty black iron token from his pocket and held it high.

"Severed Star Voyage Contract, crossing the boundary means death." Su Chenzhou's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears. "This is an old rule set by Graybone Port. You bunch of money-grubbing fools, have you even forgotten the rules?"

Upon seeing the black iron token, the desperate scavengers of the scavenging group visibly stirred, their steps abruptly halting.

In the brief moment of their hesitation, the Protoss silver-armored guards surged in from behind. The leading commander's eyes blazed with murderous intent, his silver longsword pointed directly at Su Chenzhou: "Anyone who obstructs the Protoss's work will be killed without mercy!"

"Good timing." A hint of madness flashed in Su Chenzhou's eyes.

He had no intention of fighting these people head-on. He suddenly raised the iron ruler in his hand high, but instead of chopping at the crowd, he slammed it down with tremendous force onto the edge of the broken bridge beneath his feet!

"Boom—!"

The already crumbling bridge collapsed instantly under this attack. Countless rubble mixed with black mist fell into the abyss, and beneath the broken bridge, the Soul Devouring Tide, which had been lurking in the shadows, surged forward like an enraged beast, spreading its black net.

"Soul Devouring Tide! Retreat!" The one-eyed giant's expression changed drastically.

But it was too late. Su Chenzhou's attack was extremely precise; the collapsed bridge surface perfectly blocked the Protoss guards' retreat, forcing them to crash headlong into the scavenger group's formation. The pure stellar energy emanating from the Protoss was a deadly temptation for the Devouring Tide below the bridge.

In an instant, the black tide of spirit devoured the Star Guardians' silver armor. The Star Spirits, desperate to survive, slashed wildly, using the scavenging group as human shields. The desperate scavengers, unable to tolerate this humiliation, turned on the Star Spirits, retaliating with deadly force to seize Star Essence and save their own lives.

The two sides instantly clashed, limbs and severed bodies flew everywhere, and blood stained the black mist.

Su Chenzhou stood on the remaining bridge pier, coldly watching the bloody scene of dogs fighting below. He didn't seek to kill all these people, but only to completely disrupt the situation and give Jiang Yining more time to search the warehouse.

Inside the old bronze warehouse, it was pitch black.

Jiang Yining didn't hide in a corner as Su Chenzhou had suggested. A faint purple-gold light shone from her fingertips, and the roots of the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree, like sensitive tentacles, rapidly spread along the cold warehouse walls, frantically sensing the secrets hidden in this darkness.

The Guixu Furnace stood silently in the center, its ancient runes radiating an oppressive aura. Jiang Yining did not touch the furnace, because the roots of the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree sensed an unusual fluctuation in a hidden compartment at the bottom of the furnace.

She slapped the hidden compartment open and pulled out a dusty, tattered jade slip.

The Record of Pregnancy in the Ruins.

Jiang Yining's breath hitched, and she quickly opened the jade slip. The moment her divine sense probed into it, a large amount of obscure information flooded into her mind. She quickly skimmed over the complex ancient array diagrams, her gaze fixed on the last few pages concerning the core conditions of "safe production".

"To give birth to a primordial spirit embryo using this formation, three things are needed," Jiang Yining murmured. "Star marrow navel stone, to stabilize the embryonic breathing; warm breast milk, to balance yin and yang; and the Four Symbols stabilizing formation, to isolate it from heavenly tribulations."

Three key resources, none of which can be missing!

The spiritual embryo within her was far too domineering, merging Gu Qinghan's pure Yang energy, Yu Luofeng's semi-saintly Yin energy, and the chaotic origin she had just absorbed. Without the assistance of these three elements, the day this little one was born would likely have been the day her meridians shattered and her soul annihilated!

A ruthless glint flashed in Jiang Yining's eyes. She quickly memorized the coordinates for obtaining these three items and the methods for activating them.

After she finished doing all this, a ball of purple-gold flame instantly ignited in her palm.

"laugh--"

The entire "Record of the Returning Void Pregnancy Array" instantly turned to ashes in her hands. This unparalleled secret, capable of igniting a frenzy among cultivators throughout the entire Canglan Realm, must not be left for future generations to follow. As for the secret of the strange wood and spiritual embryo within her, it must remain hidden.

Just as the jade slip was burned, a dull thud came from outside the warehouse door.

"Bang!"

Su Chenzhou's body crashed into the cabin like a kite with a broken string, his back slamming heavily against the base of the Guixu Furnace. His face was ashen, and his black cloak was completely soaked in blood.

A star arrow, gleaming with a chilling silver light, pierced through his right shoulder blade! Protoss runes were frantically swirling around the wound, attempting to shred his meridians.

"Damn it..." Su Chenzhou gritted his teeth and tried to stand up by supporting himself with one hand, but the restriction attached to the star arrow was extremely domineering, which made his body go limp and he almost fell down again.

Jiang Yining's expression changed slightly. She took a few steps to his side and grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't move! This arrow is barbed and has a homing rune; pulling it out recklessly will cripple your right hand!"

"Those mad dogs outside will break in soon..." Su Chenzhou panted heavily, veins bulging on his forehead. "Get them out of there for me, I can fight them a little longer."

"Shut up." Jiang Yining's voice was cold and unyielding.

She knelt directly on one knee before Su Chenzhou, instantly closing the distance between them. Jiang Yining made no attempt to hide, practically pressing herself against his chest. Her left hand pressed against Su Chenzhou's hard chest, while her right hand formed a knife shape, her fingertips gleaming with a dazzling purple-gold light.

"Bear with it."

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Yining's fingertips had already mercilessly pierced into the flesh of his shoulder!

"Hiss—" Su Chenzhou tensed up suddenly, and a suppressed groan escaped from his throat.

Jiang Yining's movements were extremely fast and ruthless. Her fingers precisely searched between Su Chenzhou's bones, forcefully gripping the barb of the star arrow. The runes on the star arrow were stimulated, bursting forth with a strong electric current, instantly charring her fingernails black.

But she didn't even frown.

The two were extremely close. Jiang Yining lowered her head, her warm breath spraying unimpeded onto Su Chenzhou's neck. The delicate fragrance of a woman mixed with a faint smell of blood forcefully entered Su Chenzhou's nostrils.

Su Chenzhou's body, which had been tense from the excruciating pain, paused strangely for a moment when he felt the warmth of the soft hand on his chest. He lowered his eyes, his dark pupils locking onto the face so close to his.

"Every time you save someone, you get this close?" Su Chenzhou suddenly grabbed Jiang Yining's wrist, which was pressed against his chest, and held it tightly. His voice was terribly hoarse, with a dangerous aggressiveness.

Jiang Yining didn't stop moving. With a "plop," she ripped the blood-stained star arrow, along with the barb, out of his shoulder bone!

Blood splattered instantly onto her cheeks.

"If you can still breathe, stop talking nonsense." Jiang Yining flung away the Star Arrow and forcefully shoved a wisp of life force from the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree into his wound. "I only care about your life or death, not your innocence."

The purplish-gold life force entered the body, domineeringly devouring all the star spirit runes around the wound, and the bleeding stopped instantly.

Su Chenzhou leaned against the furnace wall, gazing at her cold and resolute profile, a deep, strange light flashing in his eyes. This woman was ruthless and vicious.

The bleeding from his shoulder bone had barely stopped when Su Chenzhou gripped the iron ruler tightly again, a cold smile curling his pale lips: "Don't rush to distance yourself. Your life is spared; now it's time to settle accounts. I've already brought you in Jiucang. What were you burning inside? You must share half of the information you obtained with me."

Jiang Yining slowly stood up, looking down at him with an expressionless face.

"That booklet contains information about the hidden production array of the Guixu Furnace," she said casually, half-truthfully. "This furnace itself is defective and requires a specific array to suppress the embryonic breathing. As for the strange wood devouring the power of the star spirit, I have no control over that either."

She held onto the three most crucial pieces of information tightly, not missing a single word.

Su Chenzhou narrowed his eyes, staring into them for a few seconds, seemingly trying to discern the truth in her words. But before he could press further, a deafening sword cry suddenly echoed from the black mist outside the warehouse!

"boom--!"

A terrifying, icy blue sword light descended from the sky, cleaving the remaining broken bridge in two! The scavenging group and Star Spirit Guard who were still struggling were instantly frozen into ice sculptures by this sword power of the Dao Inquiry Realm, and then exploded into ice shards all over the sky!

Dressed in white, Gu Qinghan resembled a god of war descending to earth, the Nine Nether Ice Flame longsword in his hand still dripping with icy water. He followed the pattern of the Star Arrow, leading two spies from the Pill Tower, and finally arrived at Gray Bone Mound.

On the other side, a cold wind howled and ghostly energy surged.

Yu Luofeng crushed the head of a traitorous general from the Ghost Realm with a single stomp, his dark golden vertical pupils filled with ferocious killing intent. He had just extracted a crucial piece of information from this traitor—the scavenging group had been frantically searching for the so-called "production furnace warehouse" in this area!

"Ning'er..." Yu Luofeng licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the pressure of a half-saint exploded out, turning into a black meteor that rushed straight toward the direction of Gray Bone Mound.

Inside the old warehouse, Jiang Yining's eyelids twitched suddenly. She sensed the extremely familiar and violent auras of Gu Qinghan and Yu Luofeng.

Those two lunatics chased too fast!

"We can't stay in Grey Bone Wharf any longer." Jiang Yining turned to Su Chenzhou, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Before tonight, you must take me to a new base that can completely cut off their deductions and tracking!"

Su Chenzhou gripped the iron ruler tightly, listening to the increasingly terrifying sword cries outside, and remained silent for a moment.

He turned his head, his dark eyes fixed on Jiang Yining, and uttered only three words.

"Abandoned Star Island".