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

"If you want to keep yelling at me in these dusty ruins, just stab me to death with your sword first, so I won't have to suffer in this divine fire for so long."

Faced with Gu Qinghan's interrogation that seemed to want to devour her, Jiang Yining calmly suppressed the surging Buddhist yang energy within her body into the depths of the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree. Then, leaning against the cold stone wall, her body naturally slid down.

Before Gu Qinghan could speak again, she tightly covered her lips, and after a violent cough, a large mouthful of dark, blackish residual blood deliberately spilled from between her fingers.

The face, which had originally been flushed, had lost all color, appearing more fragile and pale than paper, perfectly embodying the illusion of a candle flickering in the wind.

"You crazy woman, how did you manage to injure your meridians again? Who gave you permission to force yourself to exert yourself at this time?"

Gu Qinghan looked at the glaring black blood, rushed forward in three steps, and scooped the swaying Jiang Yining into his arms.

In a panic, he frantically pulled out the Heavenly Fragrance Life-Sustaining Grass that he had just risked his life to bring back from the far north ice plains from his storage ring. Without even bothering to purify it, he directly used the pure Yang True Essence in his palm to forcibly refine it into a ball of pure medicinal liquid, and without hesitation poured it into her parched lips and teeth.

"Those lousy pills you left behind are no match for the mutation of the laws of the divine realm. If I hadn't risked damaging my foundation to draw out the poisonous fire, April would be dead by now. And you, as soon as you come back, you point your sword at my savior."

Using the act of swallowing the medicine, Jiang Yining shifted most of her weight into his arms, and with a few words, turned a potentially deadly situation into a moral blackmail.

"I knew those old fogies who chant Buddhist prayers were up to no good. They dare to try and fool you with such a dangerous formation. Do they really think our Pill Tower is just for show?"

Gu Qinghan's murderous intent was completely extinguished by her weak accusations, leaving him only with self-blame and lingering fear, and he completely forgot his original intention to kill.

He carefully rested his chin on the top of her cold hair, his voice hoarse, and even the arms holding her were trembling involuntarily.

"It's all my fault, I'm late. Don't say anything, I'll use my true energy to stabilize your heart meridian. Whatever compensation you want, I'll grant it to you."

Gu Qinghan lowered his stance to coax her while wrapping the cloak around her thin body, trying to drive away the non-existent chill.

Fan Chenxin stood silently before Wu Bao's bed, his tattered monk's robe unable to conceal the newly bleeding marks of his vows on his shoulders and back.

With his lifeless eyes, he quietly watched Gu Qinghan holding Jiang Yining tightly in his arms, watching her comfortably enjoy another man's pampering and favoritism.

He was the one who had just risked his life to pull her back from the brink of death, but now he could only act like an outsider who couldn't see the light of day, not even qualified to go forward and wipe the blood from the corner of her lips. The bitter jealousy burned so intensely that he couldn't even muster the strength to chant the Heart-Cleansing Mantra.

A crisp sound of abacus beads clicking echoed outside the solemn stone chamber.

Jiang Jingzhi crawled in from the pile of broken stones at some point, her small body holding a glittering abacus in her hands. She seriously fiddled with it, making a clicking sound, which directly broke the deadlock of the undercurrent in the secret room.

"Abbot Kongwen, have you seen this clearly? This Dragon-Slaying Stone was placed there by your Great Thunderclap Temple. Although it was my father, Father Gu, who shattered it, it was ultimately to save my mother. We need to settle this score properly."

Sibao, with her delicate, pretty face upturned, stretched out her chubby little hand towards Abbot Kongwen, whose face was ashen outside, and pulled out a roll of densely written bills from her pocket.

"My mother's medical expenses are five million top-grade spirit stones, my sister's mental distress caused by the shock is also five million top-grade spirit stones, plus the fact that your Great Thunderclap Temple's poor security allowed the remnants of the Divine Realm to infiltrate the formation, so I'll fine you another ten million top-grade spirit stones. It's not unreasonable to make it twenty million top-grade spirit stones, is it?"

Si Bao recited a string of astronomical figures in perfect pronunciation, his shrewd and calculating appearance exactly like Jiang Yining's.

"You brat, stop your nonsense! That Dragon-Slaying Stone is the treasure of our temple, passed down for thousands of years. You not only destroyed the treasure but also dared to extort money from our Buddhist community."

Abbot Kongwen was so angry at Sibao's unreasonable way of calculating that he could no longer even chant Amitabha Buddha's name properly, and the prayer beads in his hand were deformed from being squeezed so tightly.

"What the abbot meant was that my mother's life was worth less than a broken stone like yours. You keep talking about compassion all day long, but it turns out you can't even part with a few broken stones."

Sibao's eyes darted around, and he ran to Gu Qinghan's feet with the contract in hand, tugging at his clothes.

"Father Gu, don't worry about hugging Mother. This old monk is trying to renege on his debt. Quickly draw your sword and strip off his purple-gold cassock to pay off the debt, and then burn down their scripture pavilion."

Si Bao was stirring things up, completely ignoring the murderous glares of those monastic monks.

Gu Qinghan was both amused and exasperated by Si Bao's sudden interruption, and her extremely tense emotions involuntarily relaxed a bit.

"You little money-grubber, stay out of the way for now. After your father finishes smoothing your mother's meridians, I'll go and empty that old bald monk's library and give it to you as New Year's money."

Gu Qinghan freed one hand to rub Sibao's head, then focused all her attention on Jiang Yining's injuries.

He slowly probed Jiang Yining's wrist with his pure Yang True Essence, attempting to repair the meridians that had been severed by the poisonous fire.

As soon as his true energy entered his dantian, it was as if he had hit a wall of bronze and iron.

In an instant, Gu Qinghan's usually unfathomable eyes surged with a monstrous aura, and her originally gentle pure yang true energy almost went out of control.

He could sense with absolute clarity that deep within Jiang Yining's seemingly damaged and weak Dao foundation, there was not only no remnant of divine domain poisonous fire, but also a domineering and extremely pure Buddhist Mahayana Yang Qi.

That yang energy had completely merged with her Myriad Spirits Divine Tree, something that no healing formation could achieve.

This is clearly a mark left after undergoing dual cultivation of spirit and body and the infusion of primordial yang.

Gu Qinghan pressed his warm fingertips against her pulse point, his peach blossom eyes churning with a storm capable of destroying everything: "Ningning, who exactly transferred this yang energy within you?"