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

Lou Xiaotian stood outside the broken stone gate, the green vine on his chest shining brightly.

Jiang Yining did not allow anyone to continue watching that life-threatening bridge.

She stepped back half a step from Fan Chen's embrace, personally tightened the green wooden robe, and then tightly tied the black outer robe back to her waist.

"Seal the stone gate first, then we can talk about who deserves this life."

Lou Xiaotian inserted the Overlord Spear into the door slot.

Ancient greenwood roots spread along the gun barrel, quickly filling the gap created by the scout's impact.

"My life is naturally in my own hands. But when it comes down to choosing only one person, I won't watch you die."

Lou Xiaotian answered decisively.

Jiang Yining walked straight up to him and raised her hand to press down on the shiny green vine on his chest.

"If you truly valued your life, you wouldn't be ready to make decisions for me the moment you open your mouth."

Jiang Yining's cool fingertips touched his burning chest. "The death contract is something forcibly left by the ancient tomb, not an opportunity for you to express your feelings."

Lou Xiaotian lowered his eyes.

Her hand pressed against his chest, and the cool touch made his newly scabbed wound itch again.

He could even smell the Buddhist aura emanating from her, which made his heart ache, yet he also felt a sweet joy in it.

"I didn't use my death as a bargaining chip to please you; I just didn't want you to suffer the pain of being shot."

"I don't want you to have your root soul forcibly swapped either, which is why we need to find a solution now."

Jiang Yining moved her fingertips along the edge of the vine, reinforcing the loosened vine locks one by one. "If you use that 'you can only choose one person' argument to shut me down again, I will assume that you have given up thinking."

Lou Xiaotian raised his hand and placed it on the outside of her hand, not wanting to press too hard.

"I will continue to find a way, and I will also protect myself according to your rules. It's just that this lifeline is beyond my control, and you can't put all the blame on me."

Fan Chenxin walked out of the stone chamber carrying a blood-stained black knife.

The wounds on his palms, scalded by the soul fire, were still bleeding.

"It's true that we can't entirely blame him for this. The Protective Root Pact is a rule of the Cenjin Ancient Tomb. However, he knowingly stepped into the main path despite his depleted source, and the old story of concealing his injuries hasn't faded yet."

Fan Chenxin didn't hold back and brought up old grievances.

Lou Xiaotian glanced at his injured palm.

"You just tried to kill a gun with your bare hands, it seems you don't care about yourself much more than I do."

"I have protected the entire area where Ning'er allowed the examination, and I intervened to stop the gunfire to prevent the Life Bridge from reviving."

Fan Chenxin retorted.

"If you want to compare who is better at getting injured, I can have the magic vines hoist both of you outside the tomb."

Jiang Yining withdrew her hand, and at the same time, the purple-gold vines moved out and wrapped around the wrists of the two people.

The two vines suddenly snapped shut.

Fan Chenxin and Lou Xiaotian were forced to stumble forward half a step and immediately shut their mouths.

Jiang Siyue peeked out from behind the stone platform, holding the Fire Spirit Falcon.

Half a string of Buddhist prayer beads was still hanging from the sharp beak of the Fire Spirit Falcon.

It nodded vigorously upon hearing this, and the silver bead hit its forehead again.

Lou Xiaotian bent down to remove the beaded thread from it, and casually hid the previously bent spear tassel in his palm.

Jiang Siyue, with her sharp eyes, spotted the deformed metal ring.

"Did Uncle Zhonghua fold the spear tassel into a crescent moon because he overheard Uncle Fan checking the vines for Mother?"

Lou Xiaotian paused.

"The tassel on the gun was just bent by accident when I was blocking the door, not because I was eavesdropping on what was going on inside."

"But it still has Uncle Hua's fingerprints on it."

Jiang Siyue carefully compared them.

Fan Chenxin tossed the Buddhist bead covered in bird saliva to Lou Xiaotian.

"If you're really feeling unwell, you can use this bead to calm yourself down; at least you won't have to keep messing with the tassel."

Lou Xiaotian reached out and caught the prayer beads.

He held the bead in his palm and twirled it twice.

"The tranquility bead you used was swallowed by a bird, and now you're using it to comfort me. That's quite sincere."

Jiang Yining ignored their bickering, picked up Jiang Siyue and placed her on the stone platform, then held down the Fire Spirit Falcon that was still trying to snatch the bead.

"Come and check the scout's broken armor. This thing can help us test the detection range of the Pei-slaying spear."

Pei Yunji stood on the right side of the stone chamber, his long sword pressing down on the broken spear tip left behind by the Xuanjia scout.

He laid out the broken pieces of glass one by one, and placed the tip of the gun in the very center.

"After this scout entered the stone chamber, it did not attack me, but instead directly targeted the silver leaf at Jiang Yining's waist. This indicates that the ancestral blood that Pei Henian sent into the silver leaf has temporarily overshadowed my young master's bloodline."

Jiang Yining walked to his side.

The Myriad Spirits Divine Tree drew out a wisp of dark silver energy, which hovered three inches away from the tip of the spear.

The tip of the black iron spear immediately rotated on its own, its blade pointing unhesitatingly at her heart.

Lou Xiaotian's life bridge light up, but the tip of his spear hesitated for a moment.

Pei Yunji used the scabbard to press down the tip of the spear.

"It can sense the protective pact and also determine the other target after the root soul exchange. Jiang Yining is currently the primary target, while Lou Xiaotian will become the secondary target after the death pact is activated."

Fan Chenxin squatted on the other side of the broken mirror.

"If we extract the Pei clan's aura from her body and then insert it into the fragments of the Xuanjia armor, could we create a fake bloodline target?"

"It can only fool one scout, not the entire Pei-slaying Spear Formation."

Pei Yunji pointed to the terrain of the main tomb, which was faintly visible in the lens.

Jiang Yining did not retract the wisp of dark silver aura, but instead had the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree divide it into three streams.

The first stream fell into the fragments of the Xuanjia armor, the second stream wrapped around the broken spear tip, and the third stream stopped in the shattered lens.

The gun tip first pointed at the fragment, then turned to the lens, and finally slowly pointed back at Jiang Yining.

She swallowed the three streams of ancestral blood back into the silver leaf.

"It pauses every time it identifies a false target, and this interval is enough for us to change our position."

Lou Xiaotian understood her plan.

"You're planning to bring a decoy into the gunfire, then use the pause to slip through the outer perimeter?"

"It's not safe enough yet. At least we need to hide the bridge of fate between you two for now."

Jiang Yining took out the root-protecting bell and placed the bell core close to the green vine between the two of them.

The ancient patterns on the bell lit up in concentric circles.

Lou Xiaotian's life bridge on his chest shrank, becoming as thin as a hair.

Fan Chenxin raised her hand to stop Jiang Yining.

"The Root-Protecting Bell is merely concealing its form; the connection between the Root and Soul has not truly weakened. If you continue to activate it, Silver Leaf might mistakenly believe that the Life Bridge is about to break, thus triggering the position swap prematurely."

Jiang Yining immediately stopped.

"Since we can't directly weaken the Bridge of Fate, we can only change the location from which the ancient tomb can see it."

Pei Yunji pushed a broken lens over.

"The trace mirror can replicate the same path, and we can also use it to replicate a fake life bridge."

Lou Xiaotian stared at the lens that once reflected the kiss mark, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Fan Chenxin flipped the lens over, covering the unbearable images underneath.

"This time, we'll only examine the heart pulse."

Upon hearing the summons, the Fire Falcon's rounded body pressed precisely against the center of the lens.

A blurry, fake bridge appeared beneath the mirror, its aura almost identical to the real Bridge of Fate.

Pei Yunji moved the tip of the Xuanjia spear closer.

The spearhead first pointed at Jiang Yining, then slowly turned and landed on the lens that was being held by the Fire Spirit Falcon.

"The first layer of bloodline identification was fooled."

Jiang Yining put away the protective bell and calmly assigned tasks, "Pei Yunji, with the glasses on, will lead the way. Fan Chenxin will be responsible for cutting off the power supply to the spear formation. Lou Xiaotian must stay within three steps of me and not allow the Bridge of Life to be stretched by the tomb wall."

Fan Chenxin straightened Jiang Yining's slipped outer robe collar and brushed her fingertips against the side of her neck.

"If the Root-Slaying Spear crosses the mirror image, I will slay the spear spirit first. You just need to suppress the blood of the elders in the silver leaf."

Pei Yunji wrapped the lens with cloth and lifted it up along with the Fire Spirit Falcon that was still sitting on it.

Jiang Siyue took Jiang Yining's hand, and the aura of the nine-tailed fox quietly covered the hem of their clothes.

Just as everyone was ready, the roots of the green wood sealing the stone door snapped one after another.

A long spear of black iron slowly pierced through the crack in the door.

The spear tip carved a line of dark silver ancient characters on the gray-white stone bricks.

The sound of dozens of armored guards overlapping each other came from outside the stone gate.

"Jiang Yining, immediately enter the battle and be executed."