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

The sound of the bell from the Great Thunder Temple shattered the morning mist, and the white jade lotus platform was already crowded with people.

Jiang Yining wore a very simple smoky blue dress today, and the pressure of her mid-stage half-saint was completely contained within her body. She held the Five Treasures, whose heart meridian had just been stabilized by the Bodhi Bead, in her arms.

The bead that was originally hanging around Fan Chenxin's neck was now emitting a soft golden light, forming an indestructible soul-protecting array eye next to the red lotus mark between Wu Bao's eyebrows.

The atmosphere in the audience was tense from the very beginning, like a fully drawn bow.

Gu Qinghan stood three steps away from Jiang Yining, his frosty eyes almost burning a hole in the Bodhi bead.

The veins on the back of his hand, which was gripping the hilt of the broken sword, were faintly bulging. The pure Yang sword intent condensed into visible frost around him, yet he stubbornly refrained from making any rash moves.

Feng Liuyun leaned lazily against the white marble pillar on the other side, twirling a cluster of scarlet Nirvana True Fire at her fingertips, her peach blossom eyes glancing sideways at the disciplinary monks who held their staffs as if facing a formidable enemy.

Today marks the early commencement of the Unobstructed Principles of Legal Proceedings.

Abbot Kongwen of the Great Thunderclap Temple personally presided over the central area, while Xuanbei led hundreds of eminent monks from the Disciplinary Hall to attend. The outer perimeter was filled with believers and visiting cultivators who had come from the Bitter Sea Town.

This setup clearly indicates that they intend to conduct a public trial and exert pressure on her.

Xuanbei leaned on his newly replaced monk's staff without speaking, but the head elder of the disciplinary hall standing next to him was the first to launch an attack.

"Benefactor Jiang," the elder's voice boomed, carrying the oppressive spiritual power of a Heavenly Monarch Realm expert, directly confronting the stage, "The Ancient Buddha Relic is the most precious treasure of our Great Thunderclap Temple. You possess extremely Yin ghost energy and true dragon blood energy, and are entangled with demonic cultivators and monsters, burdened by emotional debts and heavy sins of killing. What right does such a karmic body have to touch this supreme sacred object?"

Jiang Yining touched Wu Bao's fluffy fox ears without even lifting her eyelids.

"The Four Treasures".

"Here I am, Mother." Sibao emerged from behind Feng Liuyun, clutching the golden abacus, and pulled out a thick account book with a flick of her little hand.

Sibao's clear, childlike voice, amplified by spiritual energy, echoed throughout the entire square: "According to the trade records of Bitter Sea Town over the past three days, my mother's shops sold 12,000 bottles of top-grade healing elixir to rogue cultivators at low prices, repaired over 300 protective formations for rogue cultivators, and distributed 15,000 detoxification pills free of charge."

The little guy turned a page of the bill, his eyes revealing the shrewdness and arrogance unique to the Heavenly Mystery Dao Body.

"You Buddhists preach the salvation of all sentient beings. My mother's life, saved with real money, is it less meritorious than what you accumulate by sitting on your prayer mats chanting scriptures every day?"

The Discipline Elder's face turned ashen as he pointed at the Four Treasures and angrily rebuked them.

"You ignorant brat, how dare you use such vulgar things to measure merit in this sacred Buddhist sanctuary!"

"What's wrong with money?" Si Bao retorted, fiddling with the abacus beads. "Without my mother's spirit stones, the defensive formations around your Bitter Sea Town would have been torn to shreds by the remnants of the Star Abyss long ago. You're eating our food and then smashing our bowl—is this your mercy?"

The cultivators from Bitter Sea Town who had been listening from the sidelines could no longer contain themselves upon hearing this.

A rogue cultivator with a severed left arm was the first to step forward and shout loudly.

"The Qianbao Chamber of Commerce previously monopolized drug prices. If it weren't for Senior Jiang's intervention to open up trade routes, we would have died in the mouths of the Star Abyss monsters long ago."

"Indeed, how can a sacred Buddhist sanctuary stand idly by and watch someone die, even stopping a young child poisoned to death!"

The collective support of the crowd coalesced into an invisible force of collective will, which actually managed to force open a gap in the solemn and deadly magic array formed by the Discipline Hall.

Several young monastics, annoyed, tried to step forward to maintain order, but as soon as they raised their staffs, they were forced back three steps by an extremely cold sword intent.

Gu Qinghan's pure Yang sword intent silently rolled over the white jade slab, leaving a deep, unfathomable frost mark in front of the monks' toes.

"Whoever crosses this sword mark will die." Gu Qinghan's voice was flat, yet it carried a sense of oppression that made one feel as if they had fallen into an ice cave.

Feng Liuyun chuckled lightly, and the Nirvana True Fire at his fingertips split into several fire snakes, sealing off the entire edge of the debate platform and cutting off any possible escape route for the Dark Gold Remnants.

"Master Gu's sword aura is quite spirited, just don't scare my sister Ningning." Feng Liuyun deliberately dragged out his words in a provocative tone.

Gu Qinghan didn't even spare him a glance, only staring at the elder who tried to approach, as if he would chop off the other's head if he dared to make a move.

Behind the huge sandalwood screen in the main hall, Fan Chenxin, wearing a moon-white monk's robe, sat cross-legged on a futon.

The wound from the staff on his back had not yet healed, and the pain from the shattered Buddha bone was still clear with each breath, but his attention was entirely focused on the cold female voice outside the screen.

Originally, because he was confined and unable to see them, his mind was magnified infinitely in this isolation.

The Bodhi prayer beads in his hand spun extremely slowly, and he could even use the fluctuations of spiritual energy to sketch out her appearance standing on the stage at that moment.

Forced into silence, Xuanbei finally opened his eyes. Abbot Kongwen of the Great Thunderclap Temple slowly opened his eyes.

Kong Wen's gaze swept over the crowd and landed on Jiang Yining, his aged voice carrying an irresistible Buddhist and Taoist pressure.

"I understand why Benefactor Jiang is so eager to save his daughter."

Kong Wen slowly spoke, "But once the ancient Buddha relic draws out the laws of the divine realm, it will inevitably attract the attention of the divine realm and may even be directly destroyed. If you initiate the baptism, the ten-thousand-year foundation of the Great Thunderclap Temple will have to bear the karmic consequences of your destruction."

Everyone knows the consequences of offending the Divine Realm; it is a terrifying existence capable of annihilating the entire Canglan Realm.

"How can a woman like you bear such a profound and mysterious cause and effect?" Kong Wen's last question carried a heavy weight that struck straight to the soul.

Jiang Yining finally raised her head, her purple-gold eyes reflecting the boundless Buddhist light. At this moment, she released her semi-saintly aura without reservation, completely repelling Kong Wen's probing.

She didn't try to elicit sympathy, nor did she attempt to morally blackmail these old monks who only cared about profit and loss.

"I will save my child myself. If the divine realm dares to come, I will slay the gods."

Jiang Yining's words were like knives, devoid of any warmth: "I, Jiang Yining, will bear all the consequences of this. If the great formation breaks, I will fill the gap with my life. I will not trouble you masters to worry about it."

She took a step forward and looked directly into Kong Wen's eyes, which seemed to have seen all the vicissitudes of life.

"But I would like to ask the abbot in return: if the Buddhist community refuses to accept even a young child suffering from severe poisoning out of fear of karma, and even attempts to use so-called temple rules to cover up the cowardice in your bones, then do your mountain of golden Buddha statues deserve the incense offerings of the beings of the Canglan Realm?"

Upon hearing these words, Fan Chenxin, who was behind the screen, gripped the perfectly polished Bodhi bead tightly with her fingers.

The Buddha-mind Mirror in his sea of ​​consciousness emitted a clear cracking sound.

The crack spread completely along the mirror surface, tearing his ruthless Dao heart, which he had held fast for 120 years, to shreds.

He finally understood why he was willing to accept even the shattering of Buddha's relics, and why he was getting deeper and deeper into trouble with each transgression.

He was never attracted to her because of her endearing appearance, nor by the heaven-defying laws she displayed.

Rather, it was the raw vitality she possessed—the courage to stand up for the weak, the courage to trample all thunderbolts underfoot, and the courage to take responsibility for her decisions.

Kong Wen looked at the woman on the stage with her back straight and sighed deeply.

That sigh carried a hint of helplessness, as well as a sense of resignation to a predetermined fate.

"Amitabha." Kongwen put his hands together and said, "Since you have such a sense of responsibility, if I were to stop you, I would be going against the Buddha's will. I will lend you this relic."

Upon hearing this, the Four Treasures below the stage shook their heads smugly, and the cultivators of Bitter Sea Town also breathed a sigh of relief.

"However," Kong Wen suddenly changed the subject, his gaze sweeping intentionally or unintentionally toward the screen in the main hall, "the power of vows contained within this relic is violent, and its core has been contaminated by the remnants of the divine realm. The baptism process cannot tolerate the slightest mistake."

Jiang Yining frowned slightly, realizing the trap in the other person's words.

"There must be someone practicing Mahayana Buddhism to guide and protect the Dharma, in order to ensure that the power of the relics does not backfire and harm people." Kong Wen did not give her a chance to refuse, and his voice had already spread throughout the entire square, "Brahma Chenxin."

The breathing behind the screen paused noticeably for a moment.

"Now that you have planted the seed, you will take on the responsibility of guiding and protecting the Dharma. You must stay by her side at all times during the baptism until the remaining poison in the girl's body is completely eliminated."

Xuan Bei's face suddenly turned ugly. He wanted to speak up to stop him, but Kong Wen's sharp gaze forcefully suppressed his words.

The atmosphere in the audience plummeted to freezing point at that moment.

The Nirvana True Fire at Feng Liuyun's fingertips shot up half a zhang high, and the smile in her peach blossom eyes turned completely cold, making the surrounding air scorching hot.

Gu Qinghan took a step forward, her frosty eyes fixed on the sandalwood screen in the main hall that was slowly moving away.

The heavy screen was pushed aside by the monk in charge of receiving guests.

Fan Chenxin emerged from the Buddha's light, wearing a faded, moon-white monk's robe, his pale face bearing a serene calm.

His gaze swept over the crowd and landed precisely on Jiang Yining. In those eyes that were usually devoid of joy or sorrow, a deep sense of entanglement was now hidden.