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

The atmosphere inside the reception hall of the Xuan Yin Palace had plummeted to freezing point.

Dozens of guards clad in purple-gold armor stood on either side. They were once desperate criminals who had tasted blood on the black market, but now they had submitted to Jiang Yining, each exuding a chilling aura. Yet, at this moment, these fierce guards could only grit their teeth and glare angrily at the few uninvited guests in the center of the hall who seemed oblivious to their own mortality.

"Bang!"

A deep, muffled bang exploded in the center of the hall.

The leading demon general had a pair of unsettling golden vertical pupils. His face was full of arrogance. He raised his foot and kicked the heavy black iron box filled with top-grade star essence stones in front of him to the ground.

Brilliant, top-grade star essence stones poured out like a torrential rain, crashing onto the black jade floor tiles with a crisp, resounding clang. An intensely dense spiritual energy instantly permeated the air, but no one in the hall paid it a second glance.

"This is the 'intelligent alchemy furnace' that your Abandoned Star Island created?" The demon general sneered, raising his chin high and almost pointing his nose at Jiang Yining, who was sitting high in the main seat. "It's so-so, barely worthy of our demon realm's approval."

He stomped roughly on a top-grade star stone, his golden vertical pupils flashing with extreme arrogance and greed.

"Our demon realm has our eye on these pill-refining furnaces that can automatically form pills without requiring spiritual energy or precise timing. I'm making this clear today: the demon realm will take all of them—these pill-refining furnaces, along with those worthless blueprints and array cores!"

The demon general's voice echoed through the hall like muffled thunder, carrying an undisguised threat: "From today onwards, all manufacturing technology is exclusively owned by my demon realm. If I discover that you dare to sell this to anyone else, or that any outsider dares to touch this technology..."

He suddenly drew his long sword from his waist, the blade pointing straight at the roof of the palace. "A million-strong army from the demon realm will raze this wretched island to the ground!"

Upon hearing this, the purple-gold guards on both sides of the main hall erupted in uproar.

"presumptuous!"

"You arrogant beast, don't you even know whose territory this is!"

"Dare to yell at our lord? I'll chop you to pieces!"

The clanging of weapons being drawn filled the air. Dozens of guards, exuding murderous intent, awaited only the command from the woman on the throne. They would pounce without hesitation and chop this arrogant demon general into mincemeat.

In the main seat, Jiang Yi sat quietly in a large black jade armchair.

Mo Xie stood expressionlessly to her side, like a lifeless steel sculpture. The mechanical eye, emitting a ghostly glow, was rapidly rotating, silently scanning the energy fluctuations of the special envoys below, clearly analyzing the trajectory of their demonic power.

Jiang Yining ignored the tense situation below. She casually leaned back in her chair, subtly shifting her gaze to give Mo Xie an extremely cryptic look.

Mo Xie understood instantly.

A faint grinding sound emanated from the mechanical hands hanging at his sides. The mechanical fingertips silently split open, releasing several tiny, hair-thin engraving needles inscribed with top-tier array patterns.

While everyone's attention was drawn to the arrogant demon general, Mo Xie used a smart alchemy furnace in front of him as cover, his fingertips darting into the base of the furnace with lightning speed.

There was no leakage of spiritual energy, and it did not attract anyone's attention.

In just two breaths.

Mo Xie then forcibly engraved a complex and extremely difficult-to-detect reverse listening array pattern deep within the core fire control hub of the batch of intelligent alchemy furnaces that were about to be delivered.

After doing all this, he casually withdrew his finger, which remained standing in the same spot like a lifeless lump of iron.

At that moment, in the shadow of a thick, coiled dragon pillar on the left side of the main hall, the air was undergoing a terrifying distortion.

Gu Qinghan, dressed in white, had half his body hidden in the darkness. His usually cold eyes were now surging with a terrifying killing intent.

Seeing the arrogant and domineering manner of those demon cultivators in front of Jiang Yining, Gu Qinghan felt that the pure Yang fire in his chest was about to burn away all his reason.

His hand gripped the hilt of the Chunyang sword tightly.

"Click click click..."

The sturdy sword hilt cracked under his grip. Extreme heat spread from his toes outwards, and the surrounding black jade floor tiles even began to glow red and melt.

How could he, the tower master of the Pill Tower and a top expert at the peak of the Dao Inquiry Realm, tolerate his woman being humiliated like this by these few low-level demon cultivators?

Gu Qinghan stepped out of the shadows, preparing to draw his sword and use the most violent pure yang true fire to burn these arrogant demon cultivators into a pile of ashes without leaving a trace.

Just as he was about to draw his sword, at the critical moment...

A cool, soft hand reached out from the side without warning and pressed subtly against the back of his taut hand.

Gu Qinghan's body suddenly stiffened.

That familiar, fresh scent of herbs instantly filled his nostrils. Jiang Yining had already stepped down from the main seat at some point, and as she passed by him, she gently covered his murderous intent with her fair hand.

She turned her head slightly, her purple-gold eyes calmly glancing at Gu Qinghan.

His eyes held an undeniable air of restraint.

Gu Qinghan's breath hitched. He felt the cool touch on the back of his hand and forcefully swallowed back the pure Yang true fire that had already surged to his throat. He gritted his teeth and loosened his grip on the sword, but his eyes remained fixed on the demon cultivators as if they were cold corpses.

Jiang Yining withdrew her hand, and in doing so, she suppressed the powerful and domineering pressure of the Profound Light Realm within her body.

She walked slowly to the center of the hall, her long, curled eyelashes slightly lowered. When she raised her eyes again, the aura of a ruler who held the power of life and death had vanished completely.

Instead, she appeared as a beautiful female cultivator, weak and helpless, as if she had been forced into a corner by powerful forces.

"General..." Jiang Yining gently bit her full lower lip, speaking in a voice that was both cold and tinged with grievance and helplessness, "The demon realm is powerful and well-equipped, while we, the abandoned star islanders, are just unfortunate people struggling to survive in the cracks. This buyout demand is really putting us in a very difficult position."

She was slender and delicate. Standing in front of the group of burly demon cultivators, she was like a flower on a high mountain swaying precariously in a storm, pitiful yet breathtakingly beautiful.

When the demon general saw Jiang Yining's appearance, the greed and lust in his eyes surged instantly.

He originally thought the new master of Abandoned Star Island would be some kind of ruthless character, but he never expected her to be such a weak and easily bullied beauty.

"Enough nonsense! The demon realm taking a liking to your things is your good fortune!" The demon general pressed his advantage, stepping forward and brazenly roaming over Jiang Yining's perfect curves. "Obey this buyout contract, and the demon realm will naturally protect you from now on. Otherwise, this day next year will be the anniversary of Abandoned Star Island's demise!"

The guards on both sides of the hall were furious, their eyes bloodshot and their fists clenched so tightly they cracked. They couldn't understand why their lord, who could crush a Protoss fleet with his bare hands, would be so subservient to these few demon cultivators.

Only Gu Qinghan, standing in the shadows, watched Jiang Yining's practiced, delicate posture, and his eye twitched violently. He knew that this woman was about to start digging a pit to bury someone again.

Jiang Yining clasped her hands together in front of her, her shoulders trembling slightly, as if she was trying her best to suppress the fear and grievances in her heart.

She engaged in an extreme tug-of-war with this arrogant demon general.

"Since the demon realm insists on buying it out... we, Abandoned Star Island, dare not disobey." Jiang Yining sighed, her eyes slightly red. "But this batch of alchemy furnaces has consumed countless efforts of ours. If we buy it out directly, my brothers might not even be able to eat."

On the surface, she always yields and appears weak and easily bullied, but in reality, every seemingly compromising clause hides a sinister trap.

"We can hand over all the manufacturing technology. However, to ensure the success rate of the pills, the energy hub of the core formation must use top-grade fire crystals, a specialty of the demon realm, as a consumable. Moreover..." Jiang Yining glanced timidly at the demon general, "For each batch of top-grade pills produced, Abandoned Star Island must take 30% of the net profit as subsequent technical maintenance fees. Otherwise, we will not be responsible if the formation is overloaded and damaged."

The demon envoy was completely bewitched by her stunning beauty and submissive demeanor.

In his view, this woman had been terrified by the infamous reputation of the demon realm, and the conditions she proposed were nothing more than a desperate attempt to squeeze out as much pitiful profit as possible.

There are plenty of Fire Crystal Demon Realms. As for that 30% profit cut? Once we get the technology, who will care about the life or death of a mere Abandoned Star Island?

"Hahahaha! You're smart to know what's good for you!" The demon general laughed arrogantly, waving his hand. "Fine! I agree!"

He not only agreed without hesitation to prepay twice the black market price of top-grade star crystals, but also readily pressed his bloody handprint on the contract, which contained countless fatal loopholes and had extremely harsh subsequent profit sharing.

With the softest, most helpless tone and the most pitiful demeanor, Jiang Yining stabbed the demon royal family in the back without shedding a drop of blood.

Once this contract takes effect, as long as the demon realm continues to use these intelligent alchemy furnaces, Abandoned Star Island will be able to continuously and frantically drain the demon realm's lifeblood. And the so-called "technical maintenance" is nothing more than a self-destruct switch that can completely paralyze the alchemy furnaces at any time.

At the last moment before the transaction was about to end, Jiang Yining put away the contract and revealed a look of admiration in her eyes.

"General, you act with such generosity; surely the leader of the demon realm must be an unparalleled hero?" she probed indirectly, her tone filled with awe for the powerful.

Having obtained the contract, the demon general was in a state of extreme arrogance and boasted without thinking, "Of course! Our supreme ruler of the demon realm, His Majesty Dragon Emperor Ao Lin, is an invincible being in the Middle Realm!"

He talked on and on, beaming with pride, completely oblivious to the glint of shrewdness in Jiang Yining's eyes.

In just a few words, Jiang Yining managed to extract the details of the Demon Realm's Supreme Being from this idiotic envoy.

This Dragon Emperor Ao Lin not only controls the largest and richest mineral vein in the Middle Realm, making him incredibly wealthy, but he is also naturally philandering and domineering, and has a great fondness for collecting the most beautiful women in the world.

"I see..." Jiang Yining lowered her head slightly, concealing the cold smile on her lips.

The transaction was completed, and the demon realm envoys happily loaded all the intelligent alchemy furnaces implanted with listening arrays into their top-grade storage magic treasures.

They stood tall and proud, their faces beaming with smugness, thinking they had gained an incredible advantage. Not only had they acquired groundbreaking alchemy technology, but they had also severely suppressed the arrogance of Abandoned Star Island.

"Let's go! Refine more good things in the future, and the demon realm will have plenty of bones for you to gnaw on!" The demon general laughed arrogantly.

They returned laden with spoils, tearing through space to return to the demon realm, completely unaware that an invisible spy had already infiltrated the heavily guarded Dragon Palace, accompanied by the alchemy furnace.