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

The dark gold blade struck the gray-white barrier once more, and a large amount of rubble immediately collapsed from the ruins above.

Fan Chenxin was forced back two steps by the recoil, and the wound on his right arm reopened, with blood dripping into the cracks in the brickwork along the black knife.

He didn't look down to check, but instead pressed the Buddha's blood into the blade, preparing to strike the same spot again.

"If you make one more cut, this space will completely collapse."

Lou Xiaotian swept in from behind the broken wall, his Overlord Spear blocking the barrier.

The gun and the black knife collided with a piercing clang, and the bricks beneath their feet shattered simultaneously.

Fan Chenxin exerted force with his wrist, and the black blade pressed against the Overlord Spear as it continued to advance.

"Get out of the way, she was swept away from here, I can still feel the scent of her clothes."

"That rag has already been tainted by the spatial turbulence. If you chase after it and bombard it for half a day, you'll only end up sending yourself into another rift."

"I will go in as long as the crack leads to her."

Lou Xiaotian pressed his right palm against the gun barrel, and the Azure Wood Qi wrapped around Fan Chenxin's arm along the blade.

"If you fall into a dead end, who will shield her from the enemies inside? Do you think you're the only one who wants to find her immediately?"

Fan Chenxin raised her bloodstained eyes.

His usually calm expression had lost its composure; his black hair was stuck to his forehead with blood and sweat, and the fresh wound under his cheekbone was still bleeding.

"I don't have time to do your slow calculations. Her meridians were just injured by the spatial turbulence, and her foundation at the Qi Condensation Realm is not yet stable. If she falls into the beast's lair, half a day is enough for something to happen to her."

"So you should stop and decide which way to go."

Lou Xiaotian suddenly withdrew his Overlord Spear and, taking advantage of the forward momentum of Lou Xiaotian's sword strike, slammed a palm down on Lou Xiaotian's shoulder.

The Azure Wood Qi flowed along the damaged meridians, forcibly suppressing the restless Buddha blood back into the Qi Sea.

Fan Chenxin swayed his feet and grabbed Lou Xiaotian's wrist with his other hand.

"If you dare to stop me, I'll cripple your hands first."

"You're practically useless yourself now, what do you think you can use to cripple my hand?"

Lou Xiaotian did not break free, but continued to press the power of the green wood into his heart meridian.

"Look around carefully. There are seventeen spatial nodes in this ruin, twelve of which have collapsed. Every time you break through a layer of the barrier, the remaining nodes will shift. Once all the passages are misaligned, even if she leaves a trace, we won't be able to find the correct entrance."

Fan Chenxin tightened her grip on his fingers, and Lou Xiaotian's wrist bones soon made a soft cracking sound.

"You'd better find the right entrance, or I won't wait any longer."

"Give me half an hour, and I will trace the path into the depths of this secret realm along the earth's veins. You mark the spatial nodes with the Buddha's blood, and we will be able to eliminate all dead ends."

"Half an hour is too long, I'll only give you half an hour."

"Then stop threatening me and come over here to seal the ley line crack for me."

Lou Xiaotian withdrew his wrist and plunged the Overlord Spear into the center of the ruins.

Dozens of green roots burrowed into the ground from the end of the spear, spreading outwards along the cracks in the rubble.

Fan Chenxin suppressed the surging blood in his chest and slashed the remaining stone pillars one by one with the black blade.

The dark gold Buddhist patterns landed beside each spatial rift, penetrating inward when they encountered a stable node, and extinguishing on the spot when they encountered a dead end.

"The Buddhist patterns in the southeast direction are still extending, which may lead to the middle level of the secret realm."

"The middle-layer ley lines have been broken into three sections. If Jiang Yining falls from there, her aura will not completely disappear."

Lou Xiaotian knelt down on one knee, his fingertips quickly drawing a blue line on the broken bricks.

"Both ley lines on the west side are flowing backwards, and their ends should connect to the spatial storm. There is also a hidden ley line on the north side, but it is too deep for the roots of the greenwood to reach the bottom for the time being."

Fan Chenxin pressed his palm against the crack on the north side, and dark gold Buddha blood seeped in through his fingers.

"There is a very faint wood-related aura here, similar to the Myriad Spirits Divine Wood within her body."

"A large number of wood-type beasts live deep within the secret realm, and it is not possible to determine if it is her based on her aura alone."

"She still carries my Buddhist blood in her veins; if I get close enough, I will definitely be able to recognize her."

Lou Xiaotian looked up at his white knuckles.

"You can't sense her because she's too far away, or has that Buddhist bloodline been sealed off?"

Fan Chenxin did not answer immediately.

This guess is worse than falling into the lair of strange beasts; the person who can seal the Buddha's blood must be at least one major realm higher in cultivation than them.

He reinjected the air pressure into the north side crack.

"No matter who sealed her, I will personally break through that barrier."

"Once we find the location, you can cut it however you like. Now, let's mark the remaining four nodes."

The two stopped arguing.

Green wood roots measure the earth's veins along the ground, while dark gold Buddhist patterns pin down the spatial nodes segment by segment.

The route on the broken bricks became more and more complete, until finally only three forks remained leading to the depths of the secret realm.

Suddenly, a loud thud came from above the ruins as a heavy hammer struck the stone wall.

"Are the two inside still alive? If they are, give me an answer!"

Chu Ling Shuang's voice pierced through the spatial rift, followed by Wu Bao's tearful cries.

"Uncle Chenxin, Uncle Zhonghua, April has found you!"

Fan Chenxin suddenly looked up, and the dark gold blade light cleaved through the rubble pressing against the outer layer of the crack.

The crimson hammer smashed in from the other side. Chu Ling Shuang, carrying the Five Treasures, crashed through the gap and fell into the ruins along with the hammer.

Lou Xiaotian reached out and caught Wu Bao, who was about to fall.

"Why did you enter the secret realm in April? Didn't your Aunt Chu leave you outside?"

Wu Bao's eyes were red from crying, but the red lotus mark between his eyebrows was burning hot.

"April could always sense her mother; she was deep, deep underground. Aunt Chu said that you two silly uncles had gone the wrong way, so she brought April here to guide us."

Chu Ling Shuang shouldered the heavy hammer and kicked away the falling rocks behind her.

"The entrance was almost blown up by those lunatics from the Mu family. I had to guard it for half a day before I could pry the crack open again. This little one is crying so hard that her fox ears won't go back in. If I keep stopping her, she'll crawl in by herself."

Fan Chenxin knelt down in front of Wu Bao and held her slender shoulders with both hands.

"April just said that Mother is in the underworld. Can you sense how she is now?"

Wu Bao's nose was red, and he reached out to press his painful brow.

"Mother is in pain, even more so than when the poisonous fire of the Divine Realm burned her last time. Someone is pulling on the tree inside Mother's body, but Mother refuses to give in, and that person keeps pulling."

Fan Chenxin's pupils suddenly contracted, and dark golden blood and energy burst forth from his shoulders and back.

The broken bricks underfoot were shattered into powder, and the Buddhist patterns that had just stabilized around them shook at the same time.

The wounds on his arms reopened, and the blood droplets were burned into red mist by the violent blood and qi before they even hit the ground.

"Anyone who dares to touch her sacred tree, I'll make sure they don't even have a soul left behind."

Lou Xiaotian slapped his shoulder, forcing the Green Wood Origin into the rampaging Buddha Blood.

"If you cripple yourself now, who will save her?"

"Take your hand away, I can control my own qi and blood."

"If you can truly control it, this ruin will not continue to sink."

Lou Xiaotian pressed his five fingers into his shoulder bone, his voice icy cold.

"She's waiting for someone to come to her, yet you're preparing to shatter your own meridians first. Fan Chenxin, do you want to save her, or do you want her to be released from her cage and then collect your corpse?"

Fan Chen's chest heaved violently as the dark golden Buddha blood continued to pound against the green wood seal.

Wu Bao stretched out her little hands and tightly hugged his bloodstained fingers.

"Uncle Chenxin, don't break down. Mother will be angry if she sees you injured. Uncle Zhonghua is injured too. You both need to go and pick up Mother."

Fan Chenxin closed her eyes and forced herself to slowly inhale a breath of cold air.

He retracted the raging Buddha blood into his Qi Sea inch by inch, and the dark gold patterns among the broken stones finally stopped shaking.

"Uncle won't break. April, tell me now, which direction is your mother in?"

Wu Bao jumped down from Lou Xiaotian's arms and bit his finger until it bled.

The bloodline of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox flowed out from the wound, and a drop of bright red blood hung in mid-air, gradually stretching into the shape of a long arrow.

The crimson arrow swayed back and forth between the three forks in the road, eventually pointing to the unfathomable dark vein to the north.

Lou Xiaotian immediately withdrew his ground route and used his Overlord Spear to pierce through the northern barrier.

"The blood arrow can only point the way; it's uncertain whether there's a complete passage below. Fan Chenxin, protect Siyue; I'll go ahead and scout the way."

"Your heart meridian has not yet fully recovered. If a storm of qi appears ahead, you will not be able to withstand the first wave of impact."

Fan Chenxin picked up Wubao and let the child rest on her uninjured shoulder.

"I will pave the way with the blood of Buddha, and you will use the roots of green wood to secure the crack behind us. We will take turns, and neither of us is allowed to chase after it alone."

Lou Xiaotian glanced at him and tied a green vine around Fan Chenxin's waist.

"If you lose control again, I'll drag you back. Once you see her, you can explain it to her yourself."

Chu Ling Shuang stood behind the crevice, carrying a heavy hammer, and used her crimson qi to block the falling rocks.

"Stop arguing about who's more likely to die. I'll cover the retreat, but the entrance can only hold out for half an hour at most. Signal me immediately once you find a foothold, or I'll smash the whole road open with a sledgehammer."

A blood-red arrow suddenly rushed into the dark vein on the north side, and Wu Bao hurriedly patted Fan Chenxin on the shoulder.

"Mother's breath is getting weaker; let's go get her now."

Fan Chenxin hugged the child tightly, and the black blade cleaved through the last layer of spatial barrier.

Lou Xiaotian followed closely behind with his spear, while Chu Ling Shuang, dragging a heavy hammer, leaped into the closing crevice.

Wu Bao nestled on Fan Chenxin's shoulder, earnestly extending her little finger stained with blood.

"In April, I'll take my uncles to find my mother, but they have to promise me that once we find her, she won't be left alone again."

On the morning of the third day, there was not a ray of light inside the Guiyuan Boling Hall.

Just as a thin scab formed on the wound on Jiang Yining's wrist, four dark silver chains rose up from under the stone bricks once more.

The clasp adhered to the skin but did not tighten immediately. The array patterns around the blood pool were also different from the previous two days, with the crimson light becoming softer and slower.

She looked up at Pei Yunji on the high platform.

"Today's situation seems much milder. Has Young Master Pei finally decided to spare the life of his vessel?"