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

"If I had restrained myself even slightly more just now, you would have considered it as crossing the line."

"Since I already reminded you, you immediately withdrew your strength. This is fundamentally different from you knowingly doing the wrong thing."

Fan Chenxin lowered her eyelashes, her gaze sweeping over her pale yet still beautiful face, which was pale from her injuries.

The dim light in the medicine room fell on the red mole between her eyebrows, like a speck of cinnabar in the snow.

His Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he pulled over a clean cloth and gently wiped away the remaining bloodstains on her waist.

Even through the medicated cloth, my fingertips could still touch her cool yet delicate skin.

Her slender waist, so delicate it could be encircled by a single hand, exuded a fragile and alluring beauty in the dim light, causing his hand, which was gripping the sash, to pause involuntarily.

The belt of his inner robe was burned in half by the silver fire, so he had to tear off a belt from his dark outer robe.

He wrapped the dark black belt around her slender waist, and his breath filled her with the faint, refreshing scent of wood.

"Ning'er, when I saw you wearing Pei Yunji's robes and with his silver leaf tattooed on your waist, I was indeed driven mad with jealousy."

I know what I'm doing.

"But what I fear most is not that he once touched you. I fear that if I had arrived even a moment later, you would have had no choice but to rely on a dangerous person who once tried to take away your sacred tree."

Fan Chenxin neatly straightened the end of her sash, and her hand hovered respectfully at her waist.

Even his fingertips showed a tense restraint, not going any further.

"Each of you is capable of different things. You split open the three mountain gates to deliver April safely to my side, and you also used up your Buddha bone to seal the silver leaf for me. That is enough."

Jiang Yining grasped his large, scarred hand in return, her fingertips gently tracing his protruding knuckles.

With a little effort, she pulled the tall man to sit down in front of her.

Her clear, sharp gaze pierced straight into his dark, swirling eyes.

"I would never abandon anyone who would risk their life for me just because of a desperate, life-saving encounter."

"We certainly wouldn't be so bored as to categorize the injuries you've suffered into different levels of status."

If you need a casual word of favoritism from me to feel at ease right now, I'm sorry, I really can't give that right now.

"I, Fan Chenxin, never tell lies."

Fan Chenxin took the initiative, enveloping her slightly cool hand in his palm.

He carefully avoided the gruesome lock wound on his wrist, only holding the soft, warm hand firmly.

The dim light reflected in his dark golden pupils, which held a greedy longing that seemed ready to burst forth.

He suppressed that longing beneath his stoic exterior.

Suddenly, a dull thud as the stone door moved broke the silence of the inner room.

Pei Yunji carried the blood-dripping longsword and stepped into the medicine room, treading on the fallen green branches and twigs.

His dark sleeves were torn down to his elbows, revealing his pale forearms.

Two deep, bone-revealing knife wounds have been added to the ancestral markings on his shoulder, and his face is covered in frost.

Only her long hair, tied behind her head, remained perfectly styled, exuding a cool and aloof air, like a solitary pine tree on a high cliff that could not be climbed or broken.

The empty medicine bottle flew straight towards him and was caught firmly between his two slender fingers.

He casually put the medicine bottle back on the shelf.

The Fire Spirit Falcon, carrying the stolen sash in its beak, arrogantly flew past his shoulder, its claws even attempting to snatch the tassel from the sword at his waist.

Pei Yunji stopped the hairy beast with a precise movement without even turning his head.

"You stole my hair ornament and now you're stealing my sash? You feathered beast, are you planning to loot all the spiritual materials in the ancestral hall?"

Jiang Siyue nimbly jumped off the bird's back and ran to take the medicine bottle from his hand.

"Uncle in black, you're injured. Did you chase away all the bad guys outside?"

"The guards of the medicine corridor have temporarily retreated to the second gate, and I have also sealed off half of Pei Henian's ancestral hall fire hub."

Pei Yunji's gaze fell on Jiang Yining.

Seeing that although she was pale, her expression remained calm and composed, a crack quietly appeared in the hidden ice in his heart.

He took out an exquisitely crafted silver medicine box from his storage ring.

He walked steadily past Fan Chenxin and handed the medicine box to her first.

"These are the Ancestral Hall's Meridian Repairing Pills. One pill repairs the Qi Sea, and two pills protect the main meridian. Their medicinal properties will not conflict with your Myriad Spirit Divine Wood."

Jiang Yining skillfully opened the medicine box, checked the aura, and then decisively took out a pill and swallowed it.

"This debt will be included in the cost of our cooperation. I will repay you in full after we leave the ancestral temple."

"You calculate every single bottle of medicine you take from me so meticulously, yet you've never asked how you're going to repay me for that silver leaf you possess."

"That silver leaf was forcibly left to me by your Pei family's ancestral formation. If you really want me to repay it, you might as well compensate me for the six days of soul-stripping and bone-deep suffering I endured."

Pei Yunji did not respond upon hearing this.

His deep, icy gaze passed over the wide, dark robe and landed directly on her slender waist.

She was still wearing his inner robe, but a glaring knot had been tied around her waist by someone else.

Without warning, the dark silver ancestral pattern lit up inch by inch along the back of his hand.

The shared bloodline penetrated the fabric without hindrance, causing a brief disruption to his Nirvana Realm aura.

The newly branded dark gold lotus petal on the silver leaf was reflected intensely into his ancestral veins.

His finger bones suddenly turned bluish-white, and the edge of the silver medicine box was squeezed so hard that it sank into his palm.

His face, however, remained aloof and cold.

"In the end, you covered that silver leaf with Buddha's relics."

Fan Chenxin took a step forward and used her slender fingers to lift Jiang Yining's loose sash.

He slowly and deliberately tied the last perfect knot for her.

"I only performed the technique after Ning'er gave her permission."

He tilted his head slightly, his cool fingertips brushing lightly against the fabric at her waist.

His tone was calm, yet it revealed an absolute possessiveness.

"The Buddha's seal remained only on the outermost layer of the leaf, without touching Young Master Pei's precious ancestral blood at all."

"My evaluation is only of the duration of your formation; it has nothing to do with where you want to leave this lotus seal."

Jiang Yining watched coldly, and at the right moment raised her hand to interrupt the undercurrent of conflict between the two men.

"How long can the Buddha's Seal last? Enough with the nonsense, let's get straight to the conclusion."

Pei Yunji then slowly withdrew his hand, and the dazzling dark silver ancestral pattern disappeared into his wrist.

"His pitiful Buddhist seal won't be able to suppress Silver Leaf until tomorrow. If you want to live, you'll eventually have to use my blood to continue the formation."