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

Off the coast of Abandoned Star Island.

The raging star tide was like a colossal silver wall stretching to the heavens and earth, sealing off the entire island's edge. Countless starlight transformed into sharp blades, slicing wildly across the sea surface, emitting a teeth-grinding shriek.

The Broken Starship was violently tossed about in the raging waves, and the dark red seaweed on its surface, which was used to conceal its presence, was being cruelly peeled away layer by layer by the Star Tide.

"The surface shipping lanes are locked down." Su Chenzhou gripped the rudder with one hand, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. Without hesitation, he slammed the rudder down hard, and with his other hand, he slammed it onto the core of the control array.

"Boom—"

The array patterns on the entire Broken Star Ship suddenly reversed, and the bow plunged downwards with a dull thud as it broke through the water. It abandoned any possibility of reaching the shore on the surface and plunged headlong into the dark and cold underwater harbor.

The water pressure suddenly increased.

The cabin was dimly lit. Jiang Yining leaned against the cabin wall, using the life force of the Myriad Spirit Tree to forcefully suppress the nausea and dizziness churning in her stomach.

Her gaze swept quickly across the cramped cabin. Just as the Broken Starship began to sink and tilt violently, a loose hidden compartment in the corner overturned, scattering a pile of objects tightly wrapped in waterproof tarpaulin.

It was an exquisitely crafted birthing instrument, its blades gleaming with a cold, eerie light. Scattered nearby were dozens of neatly bundled sachets of stabilizing herbs, exuding a strong aroma of hidden vein sand and analgesic herbs.

Jiang Yining's pupils contracted slightly.

These items could not have been gathered on a whim in a place like Ash Bone Harbor. The wear and tear on each item and the proportions of the medicine packets indicated that the ship's owner had been making long-term preparations for a soon-to-be-born pregnancy.

"You've been investigating the whereabouts of the Guixu Furnace for a long time." Jiang Yining raised her foot and gently tapped the oilcloth bag full of birthing instruments with the tip of her shoe. Her voice was clear, cold, and resolute. "From the very beginning, when you picked me up on the boat in the underground river, it wasn't something you did on a whim."

Su Chenzhou steadied the boat on the turbulent seabed and turned around.

He didn't look at the tools scattered on the ground, but instead stared straight into Jiang Yining's penetrating eyes.

"I won't ask about your past, nor how many Protoss blood debts you bear." Jiang Yining ignited a wisp of purplish-gold flame at her fingertips, toying with the blazing energy. "I only need to know your true purpose. Tell the truth, and this deal can continue. If you dare to lie to me even half a word, I'll blow up this ship right now, and we'll all feed the sea monsters together."

The air inside the cabin became extremely viscous.

Su Chenzhou looked at the purple-gold flame at her fingertips, which exuded an aura of destruction, and finally slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

"I need to save someone."

He walked to the hidden compartment and picked up the birthing instruments from the ground one by one, his movements so skilled they were alarming.

"An old acquaintance." Su Chenzhou's voice carried an unyielding chill. "Those bastards from the Star Spirit Clan turned her into a 'furnace vessel' to hold Star Essence. Her body has been riddled with holes by the spiritual embryo and could collapse at any moment."

He raised his head, a suppressed killing intent churning in his dark eyes: "The Guixu Furnace is the only key in the Canglan Realm that can suppress that domineering fetal aura and pull her back from the brink of death. I will use this furnace to save her life."

Half of the cards have been revealed.

Jiang Yining stared at him intently, her mind racing as she weighed the pros and cons.

The spiritual embryo within her, a fusion of Haotian's pure yang, semi-saint's ultimate yin, and the origin of chaos, was a hundred times more domineering than the star marrow spiritual embryo Su Chenzhou had mentioned. What she wanted was the birthing array from the "Record of the Returning Void Pregnancy Array" and those three core resources; as for that so-called old friend, he had nothing to do with her.

"What I want is a birth certificate, not your old flame."

Without wasting words, Jiang Yining slammed her bargaining chip onto the table: "Let's be frank. I'll help you open the second floor of the Bronze Warehouse and retrieve the portion you want. In exchange, you must build me a temporary birthing room on Abandoned Star Island that can completely isolate me from the secrets of heaven and be undetectable by anyone."

Su Chenzhou stared at her, seemingly assessing the weight of her words.

A moment later, a sharp smile curved his lips, and he decisively extended his hand: "Deal. Our interests are tied together. Anyone who dares to renege will be utterly destroyed."

The two men clapped their hands together in mid-air, the crisp sound echoing throughout the cabin.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

"Snap—!"

Suddenly, the rock strata of the underwater harbor fractured violently, and a terrifying deep-sea current smashed through the defensive array surrounding the ship. The air pressure inside the cabin instantly became unbalanced.

The Broken Star Boat suddenly tilted sharply to the left, and a feeling of weightlessness swept over it like a tsunami.

Jiang Yining was carrying a heavy spiritual fetus in her womb, and her center of gravity was already unstable. She was violently thrown against the cabin wall covered with metal spikes by this brute force!

"Watch out!"

Su Chenzhou let out a sharp shout and pounced out like a black cheetah.

He didn't have time to use any magic. Relying entirely on the explosive power of his physical body, he slammed his broad, hard back into the metal spikes just before Jiang Yining hit the bulkhead!

With a few muffled "thuds," the sharp spikes pierced through his black cloak and embedded themselves in his flesh.

Jiang Yining fell heavily into his strong arms.

Su Chenzhou spread his large hands, one hand firmly supporting Jiang Yining's lower back, while the palm of his other hand tightly protected her slightly protruding abdomen, completely enveloping her between his chest and the cabin wall.

The immense impact brought the two extremely close together.

Jiang Yining's nose bumped directly into Su Chenzhou's chin, their lips were almost touching by a piece of paper, and their rapid, hot breaths could be clearly sprayed onto each other's cheeks.

Su Chenzhou's heavy breathing carried a faint smell of blood and sandalwood, and his extremely dark eyes were fixed on her, inches away.

Blood streamed down his back, yet he didn't even flinch. Maintaining this extremely ambiguous and dangerous posture, he asked in a hoarse voice, "This time, is it considered saving my life?"

Jiang Yining could feel the heat of his palm coming through the fabric; it was frighteningly hot.

She didn't avoid his gaze, nor did she even disrupt her breathing rhythm, and calmly uttered three words.

"Put it in the book first."

After saying that, she suddenly pushed open Su Chenzhou's chest and used the leverage to stand up.

The ship was still rocking violently. In the undercurrent, a dozen scavenging sea monsters covered in green scales and emitting a foul stench were frantically tearing at the hull through the gaps in the broken array, trying to rush into the cabin and plunder flesh and blood.

"You're asking for it." Jiang Yining's eyes turned cold.

Her fingers flew across the screen, forming a hand seal: "Moye, clear the area!"

The broken mechanical puppet's eyes flashed red light, and the storage box on its chest suddenly opened.

"roar--!"

A terrifying residual energy from the semi-saint level Nine Yin Candle Dragon was unleashed by Mo Xie through the mechanical amplification array without reservation!

Those were the spoils Jiang Yining collected after slaying the Candle Dragon in the Ghost Realm's underground. This ferocious beastly aura, carrying the oppressive power of an absolute superior's bloodline, was practically a dimensional attack in the seabed, a place teeming with monstrous beasts.

The scavenging sea monsters, who were frantically gnawing at the ship's hull, stopped abruptly. They instinctively felt a tremor from the depths of their souls—the extreme fear of encountering an apex predator.

With a few piercing screams, more than a dozen sea monsters were so frightened that they lost control of their bladders in the water, their scales stood on end, and they frantically turned and plunged into the deep sea, not daring to look back.

Su Chenzhou leaned against the blood-soaked cabin wall, staring at the mechanical puppet that exuded the pressure of a half-saint, his pupils contracting violently.

The remnants of the Candle Dragon's energy?

This woman not only understands the Returning Void Production Array, but she can also casually pull out the power of such a ferocious beast. The secrets she holds are far greater and more dangerous than he imagined.

But he simply wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, suppressing the urge to ask further questions.

Because he knew that if you asked too many questions about certain cards, your life would be cut short.

Using this intimidating force, the Broken Star Boat successfully broke through the shackles of the undercurrent and slowly rose to the surface of the sea.

Ahead, the outline of Abandoned Star Island, shrouded in perpetual black mist, finally came into view.

However, just as the ship was about to dock, Su Chenzhou suddenly stopped in his tracks.

A team of twelve people had appeared on the black rocks on the shore at some unknown time.

They didn't display any powerful aura, nor did they wear the conspicuous silver armor of the Protoss, nor did they resemble the ragged scavengers around them. These twelve were all dressed in black and red striped outfits, their positioning extremely deliberate, subtly blocking all possible escape routes for the Starbreaker.

The man in the lead was bald, and his face was covered with crisscrossing scars.

He dragged a strangely shaped longsword backwards. The blade was as wide as a door panel, and three black coffin nails, each the size of an infant's fist, were embedded in the back of the blade. With each step he took, the coffin nails struck the back of the blade, producing a chilling death knell-like sound.

The moment Su Chenzhou saw the knife, the nonchalance and calmness on his face vanished completely, and for the first time, his expression truly sank to the bottom.

"What?" Jiang Yining sensed the change in his aura, her fingertips secretly gripping a burst talisman. "A Star Spirit Clan guard?"

"More troublesome than the Protoss."

Su Chenzhou's voice was low and deep, carrying an unyielding chill: "Those are debt collectors from the 'Sinking Coffin Society.' They specialize in collecting old debts between me and the Returning Void Furnace."

Before he could finish speaking...

The thick fog that never dissipated over Abandoned Star Island suddenly emitted a piercing, tearing sound.

A pale white blade of light, hundreds of feet long, swept down from the sky, cleaving the thick fog in two with unparalleled ferocity.