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

After the heavy stone that broke the dragon fell, the side hall was divided into a stone chamber where no light could be seen. The agarwood in the corner burned bitterly, and the heat mixed with the medicinal smell stuck to the throat, making even breathing taste scorching.

Fan Chenxin removed his blood-soaked monk's robe and stood bare-chested before the warm jade couch. His shoulders and back were taut and distinct from years of discipline and practice, with old wounds running across his flesh and new cracks revealing the pale gold of his Buddha bone beneath the skin.

He raised his hand to form a mudra, and the light of Mahayana Buddhism spread from his palm, lifting a warm white jade lotus platform in mid-air. The lotus petals lit up in circles, and the light fell on the nine fox tails curled up by the Five Treasures.

"Take a nap in April, and the pain will be gone when you wake up."

Fan Chenxin bent down and carried the five treasures, who were struggling due to the surging poisonous fire, to the edge of the lotus platform. She then used Buddhist light to weave a soul-protecting barrier around her.

Then, he picked up Jiang Yining along with the brocade quilt.

The poisonous fire had already burned through the meridians she had managed to stabilize. The person in her arms was burning hot, her eyelashes were covered in cold sweat, and there were traces of purplish-gold blood on her lips.

Fan Chenxin carried her to the center of the lotus platform. The ancient Buddha relic hanging above sensed the Buddha light of the same origin and cast down a beam of golden light, enveloping the two of them and the lotus platform together.

As Jiang Yining touched his cold chest amidst the pain, the dark golden poisonous fire surging within her immediately rushed towards that pure Buddhist energy.

Driven by her survival instincts, she clung to his waist and back, wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her burning face in the side of his neck, and her breath made the veins in his throat throb.

"Gu Qinghan, you quack doctor! The medicine you gave me is completely useless. I feel so hot, like my bones are being burned out."

Hearing the complaints about calling the wrong name, Fan Chen felt another sharp pain in his heart, a pain that seeped out from the old cracks, carrying an indescribable bitterness.

"He's not in now."

Fan Chenxin supported her shoulder, which was about to slip off, and pulled her hands, which were scratching her wounds, back under the edge of the quilt. His voice was hoarse from the heat.

"The one who is watching over you and April right now is this humble monk."

Jiang Yining briefly opened her eyes; her purple-gold pupils were scorched by the poisonous fire, but she still instinctively recognized his presence.

"May your Buddha-light protect April, my heart, be filled with compassion."

She spoke haltingly, her breath coming in short gasps, her palm gripping his wrist.

"Don't cross the line."

Those two words made Fan Chen pause for a moment.

Below the lotus platform, dark gold poisonous patterns climbed along the array track, the five treasures emitted faint fox cries within the barrier, and the golden light of the ancient Buddha relic also began to shift.

If this drags on any longer, both mother and daughter will be dragged into the abyss of consciousness by the remnants of the divine realm's poison.

"This humble monk understands."

Fan Chenxin bit the tip of her tongue, using the Buddha's blood as a guide, and hovered her palms half an inch above her brow and heart. The Buddha's light poured down from between her palm lines, advancing along her damaged meridians into the depths of her Dao foundation.

The golden power of will was too domineering. As soon as it entered her meridians, it collided with the origin of chaos. Jiang Yining was in so much pain that her back arched and the brocade quilt slipped halfway off her shoulders.

Fan Chenxin closed her eyes, reached out and tucked the corner of the blanket back under her collarbone, the back of her hand brushing against the Pure Yang Sword Mark left by Gu Qinghan.

The sword imprint faded in color as it was washed away by the Buddha's light, and the traces of its former master receded from his palm. His breathing became erratic, and he was pulled back to the center of the formation by Wu Bao's cries.

"Master, didn't you say that monks are detached from worldly desires?"

Jiang Yining regained a moment of clarity amidst the excruciating pain; her voice was terribly hoarse, but the corners of her lips still held her usual sneer.

"Looking at you now, where is the tranquility of Buddhism?"

Fan Chenxin looked down at her, sweat dripping from his forehead onto her collarbone, where it was evaporated into fine white vapor by the Buddhist flames.

"This humble monk has long been immersed in the mortal world."

His throat bobbed, and the Buddhist light in his palm sank three more points, forcefully blocking a wave of high-dimensional backlash for her.

"You are my calamity."

Jiang Yining hissed softly and tightened her grip on his wrist.

"Stop saying things that could cause misunderstandings and focus on saving lives."

"it is good."

With that single word, Fan Chenxin pressed all his distracting thoughts, along with the old Buddhist chant, into his heart. The shattered Buddha bone on his back glowed with golden patterns, and the power of the ancient Buddha's relic poured into him along his spine, then split into two paths through his palm.

The flames entered Jiang Yining's depleted heart meridian, transforming into a golden stream of fire that forced out the dark gold poisonous insects entrenched deep within her Dao foundation one by one.

Another path followed the blood ties between mother and daughter, entering the five treasures' bodies at the edge of the lotus platform, gradually removing the divine imprint remaining deep within the little girl's soul.

The dark gold poisonous insects emitted a tiny, sharp cry as they were burned by the Buddha's fire. The demon-subduing patterns on the stone chamber walls lit up, and the bitter smell of the agarwood was dispelled, leaving only golden light and purple-gold wood energy intertwined on the lotus platform.

Behind Jiang Yining, the phantom of the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree appeared, and the vine shadows passed through the Buddhist light of Fan Chenxin, climbing up the ancient Buddha relic along his arm.

The two primordial energies repeatedly swirl beneath the relic, first tearing at each other, then being drawn together by the fox cries of the Five Treasures into a single life-saving spiritual vein.

The lotus platform could not withstand the force, and the base made a series of fine cracking sounds, with white jade powder falling from the edges of the lotus petals.

At the same moment, Fan Chenxin's Buddha bone also broke open in three places, and blood flowed down the old precept marks on his back, dripping onto the lotus platform, where it was immediately engulfed by golden flames.

He did not back down.

Jiang Yining looked up and saw that his shoulders and back were trembling, the red mole between his eyebrows was shining with sweat, and his voice was so soft that it was barely a whisper.

"Fan Chenxin, if you can't hold on, step back now."

"What happens after you step back?"

Fan Chenxin leaned closer, and the Buddha's light steadily protected her and Wu Bao in the center of the lotus platform, but her gaze remained fixed on her pale face.

"Are you asking me to risk my life again?"

Jiang Yining remained silent for a moment, then tugged at the corner of her lips.

"You've learned to talk back, haven't you?"

"This is probably more than just what I've learned."

He paused for a moment after saying those words, then lowered his eyes and continued to guide his will, leaving no room for that inappropriate thought.

The white jade lotus platform trembled more and more violently, and the dark gold remnant incantation inside the ancient Buddha relic was finally forced to the core, curling up into a blood-stained talisman nail.

Wu Bao let out a final cry within the barrier, and all nine fox tails simultaneously emitted a moon-white halo.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jiang Yining summoned the Soul-Devouring Vine. The vine's shadow emerged from her palm, directly wrapping around the talisman nail and dragging it into the area where the Buddhist light was strongest.

Fan Chenxin raised his palms together, and the ancient Buddha relic descended with the final power of his vows.

The talisman nail was engulfed by the golden flames, the dark gold poison gas dissipated on the lotus platform, the red lotus mark between Wu Bao's eyebrows returned to crimson, and his breathing finally stabilized.

The stone chamber was so quiet that only their breathing could be heard.

Jiang Yining exhausted her last bit of chaotic life force, her body went limp, her forehead pressed against Fan Chenxin's chest, unable to even find the strength to lift her hand.

Fan Chenxin wrapped her tightly from shoulders to ankles with a brocade quilt, her movements restrained and somewhat clumsy, but she covered every inch of skin exposed to the cold air.

He looked down at her for a long time, finally letting his forehead lightly touch the top of her sweaty hair.

"Benefactor Jiang, it seems this humble monk's Buddhist practice is truly beyond repair."

After he finished speaking, he was about to use his remaining spiritual power to clean up the bloodstains when a loud noise that shattered the clouds came from outside the side hall.

Gu Qinghan, who had just retrieved the Heavenly Fragrance Life-Sustaining Grass from the far north ice plains, stood in front of the Broken Dragon Stone, his body still covered in snow and frost. The broken sword, white with frost, hung in his hand. The destructive sword intent of the early stage of the Dao Inquiry Realm spread out, carving a deep trench in the blue stone square of the Great Thunder Sound Temple.

"You old bald monk Kongwen, you dare to lock her and that useless Buddhist disciple in the same secret room? Do you really think my sword can't cut down all of you hypocrites?"

Gu Qinghan unleashed wave after wave of pure Yang true energy at the Dragon-Slaying Stone, causing cracks to creep from the bottom to the top of the stone. The disciplinary monks guarding outside were forced to retreat repeatedly by the sword energy.

Inside the secret chamber, Fan Chenxin heard the familiar Pure Yang Sword Intent approaching, but her face remained calm.

Instead, he held Jiang Yining in his arms even tighter, pressing the edge of the quilt against her shoulder, a hint of stubbornness, hardened by the world, surfacing in his handsome features.

A seventh crack appeared on the broken dragon stone, and Gu Qinghan's voice transmission passed through the stone wall, each word carrying frost and killing intent.

"The Heart of the Brahma".

"If you dare touch a single hair on her head, I will slaughter your entire family."