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

The golden light in Sibaotian's eyes suddenly intensified, and following Jingtan's gaze before her death, it precisely locked onto the owner of the string of Buddhist beads.

"The disciplinary monk of the Disciplinary Hall, Huizhen." Sibao's voice was soft but clear. The beads on the abacus moved rapidly between his fingers. "There are a total of 108 prayer beads on my wrist. The spiritual energy fluctuation frequency of the 47th and 92nd beads is exactly the same as that of the high-dimensional law powder in the incense shop's warehouse."

The monks by the pond all turned to look at the middle-aged monk standing behind Xuan Bei.

Huizhen's expression changed, but she quickly regained her composure, clasped her hands in a respectful gesture, and addressed Xuanbei.

"Master, this woman colluded with outsiders to pollute the Merit Pool first, and now she's framing Buddhist disciples. My Buddhist beads are ritual implements uniformly bestowed by the Disciplinary Hall; how can I allow a three-year-old child to spout such nonsense?"

He turned to the monks watching and raised his voice a few decibels.

"Did any of you fellow disciples witness what this humble monk did? On the contrary, this woman has caused Buddhist disciples to break their vows since entering the temple, and the strange changes at the Merit Pool also occurred after she moved in. Who is the real source of this trouble?"

The young monks' gazes indeed became hesitant, and their expressions toward Jiang Yining became complicated.

Xuanbei stood still without speaking, his old eyes scanning back and forth between Huizhen and Jiang Yining.

Having just been slapped in the face by the Pure Karma Incense incident, and then witnessing firsthand the bloodshed of Fan Chenxin protecting the relics at the bottom of the pool, he dared not rashly take sides again.

Jiang Yining walked out of the pool, her soaked clothes clinging to her body, but her purple-gold eyes remained calm as if nothing had happened. She didn't even glance at Huizhen.

"Sibao, bring out the account books."

"It's all ready." Sibao pulled out a thick account book from his pocket, turned to the page with the red label that had been inserted beforehand, and walked to the monks to spread it out and show it to them.

"Article 1: Jingtan has been running the incense shop for twenty years. Huizhen was in charge of inspecting and storing the incense. She signed a total of 417 times. Among the 123 signed receipts in the last three years, 61 batches of the incense powder had ingredients that differed from the original recipe in the temple regulations."

The Four Treasures turn a page.

"Secondly, the time when these 61 batches of abnormal incense powder were put into storage coincides perfectly with the timeline of the increase in the concentration of dark gold dust at the bottom of the Merit Pool, with a 97% overlap in the fluctuation curves."

Turn the page.

"Thirdly, Huizhen patrols the back mountain at night on the 3rd and 17th of each month, which coincides with Jingtan's activity of diving into the bottom of the Merit Pool. This happens every one of the twenty-three months without exception."

Sibao closed the account book, raised her delicate little face to look at Huizhen, her golden pupils reflecting the other's gradually greening complexion.

"What's the probability of this being a coincidence? Shall I use my Heavenly Destiny Chart to calculate it for you, Chief?"

The monks' gazes completely shifted away from Jiang Yining and fell on Huizhen with a clear scrutiny.

Huizhen's dough twitched slightly.

"Forgery!" he roared suddenly. "How can a child's ledger be used as evidence? This woman..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Buddhist prayer beads on his wrist exploded.

One hundred and eight beads shattered into countless dark gold fragments, which condensed in mid-air to form a miniature magic array that shot directly toward the Five Treasures.

Gu Qinghan reacted faster than anyone else. With one arm, she gathered the five treasures into her bosom, while with the other hand, she drew her sword. The pure Yang sword intent transformed into a wall of light, scattering all the dark gold fragments.

At the same moment, Feng Liuyun's Nirvana True Fire burned through the outer circle of the magic array, and the scarlet flames bound Huizhen's limbs like chains.

Fan Chenxin, soaking wet, stood up from the pool, dragging his back covered in blood and shattered Buddha bones, and stood in front of Jiang Yining.

The stray wisp of dark gold dust that slipped through the net struck his back, causing his entire body to shudder violently, and he spat out a mouthful of blood onto the stone steps by the pool.

"Fan Chenxin!" Jiang Yining held his arm, her fingers touching cold, wet blood.

"It's alright." Fan Chenxin steadied himself by supporting himself on his knees, glanced at her sideways, and even slightly curved the corners of his pale mouth. "Please continue, benefactor."

Jiang Yining released his arm and turned to face Huizhen.

The purple-gold vines of the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree emerged from her sleeve, passed through the gaps in Feng Liuyun's flames, and precisely pierced the core of the magical artifact in Huizhen's chest. Instead of killing him, she extracted the remnant of the divine realm's parasitic dust along with fragments of twenty years of memories.

Dark golden fragments of memory unfolded in mid-air, transforming into a scene visible to everyone.

In the scene, Huizhen kneels before a high-dimensional rift, with a dark golden eye hanging above his head. A voice says to him: "Help me open the foundation of Buddhism, and I will grant you ascension to the true realm of the Buddha Kingdom."

In the scene, Huizhen opens the back door of the Merit Pool late at night and lures Jingtan to the bottom of the pool.

The method Huizhen used to tamper with the formula for the Purification Incense Array in the video was three months earlier than Xuanbei thought he had done it himself.

All the monks stared at the scene in the sky, and silence spread throughout their faces.

Xuanbei's staff slipped from his hand, striking the stone steps with a dull thud. His withered body hunched over as if something had been pulled from it.

"This old monk..." He turned to Jiang Yining, his cloudy old eyes filled with shame and complex emotions, "It was the Discipline Hall's oversight that implicated you and your daughter."

Jiang Yining's expression was indifferent; she didn't accept his apology and only asked one question.

"In three days, during the unrestricted Dharma debate, I will be seeking the right to use the ancient Buddha's relics. Does the head monk have any objections?"

"No objection." Xuan Bei closed his eyes and replied in a deep voice. After a pause, he added, "But Fan Chenxin is not allowed to enter the side courtyard before the debate. His state of mind has... needs time to recover."

Jiang Yining did not argue about this point and nodded.

Fan Chenxin stood three steps behind her, the pool water still dripping from the hem of his monk's robe, mixed with a pale pinkish hue of blood.

He heard Xuanbei's prohibition, but did not object. He simply took off the newly strung Bodhi prayer beads from his neck, picked out a bead, and handed it to Jiang Yining.

"This one, I nurtured with Buddha's light for three days, and placed in the Five Treasures Soul-Protecting Array as a guide, is more stable than the pond water."

His hand was placed between the two of them, and the moonlight shone on the warm, lustrous Bodhi bead, giving it a soft golden glow.

Gu Qinghan stood three zhang away, holding the five treasures. His frosty eyes fell on the bead, on the hand that Fan Chenxin had handed over, and on Jiang Yining's outstretched hand.

Feng Liuyun, with a blade of grass she'd somehow found dangling from her mouth, leaned against a stone pillar by the pond, her peach-blossom eyes narrowed as she drawled out her words.

"Oh, Master, you've given away all your personal keepsakes. One after the other, Sister Ning has more and more odds and ends."

Gu Qinghan ignored Feng Liuyun's sarcastic remarks and focused her gaze solely on Jiang Yining's hand as she received the beads.

When Jiang Yining accepted the Bodhi bead, a crack silently appeared in the sword talisman in Gu Qinghan's palm.