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

Jiang Yining's eyes turned cold, and she grabbed the trembling gun barrel with her other hand.

The Divine Tree of Myriad Spirits flowed upstream against the flow of the Black Iron, swallowing a wisp of domineering gunfire.

Lou Xiaotian raised his spear to hold down the end, while Fan Chenxin swung his knife from inside the door and severed the spear shaft.

The stone gate finally closed perfectly.

The broken gun that had fallen to the ground still seemed to have eyes, its tip scraping against the stone bricks with a harsh, screeching sound.

It tried to follow the scent of blood and continue to burrow into the silver leaf around Jiang Yining's waist.

Pei Yunji used the scabbard to firmly press down on the spear tip.

He looked up at the black stone platform in the center of the stone chamber, which was covered with broken weapons.

"This is a genuine weapon-cleansing stone; it can absorb the blood and grime that clings to weapons."

"The guards outside have lost sight of their target and will need at least half an hour to re-identify it."

Jiang Yining sat cross-legged beside the stone platform, her face as pale as paper.

She reached her fingertips toward her waist, and the Divine Tree of Myriad Spirits carefully avoided the heart of the leaf.

"The silver leaf is intertwined with my ancestral root; forcibly pulling it out will tear apart my Qi Sea."

She gasped for breath, a fine layer of cold sweat beading on her forehead.

"We can only use a wisp of ancestral blood as a fake target, and keep the other half to keep Pei Henian in check."

Pei Yunji squatted opposite her, the ancestral mark of the young master condensing on his fingertip, but he didn't dare to touch her.

Jiang Yining gritted her teeth, her purple-gold wood energy enveloping the dark silver thread, pulling it out little by little.

This kind of peeling is tantamount to stripping away tendons and skin.

The old wound on her wrist was aggravated, and it reopened along the lock mark, with blood dripping onto the stone platform.

Fan Chenxin could no longer bear to watch and strode forward.

"Let me let a wisp of Buddhist energy enter and suppress it for you."

His palm hovered half an inch to her waist, and the dark golden Buddha light was almost out of control.

Jiang Yining suddenly raised her hand, her two slender fingers clamping his wrist without any hesitation.

The fingertips were icy cold, yet they exuded an undeniable strength.

"Do I need to repeat the rules I just set?"

"Once the Buddha's breath enters Ye Xin's heart, Pei Henian will be able to trace it back to him. Step aside."

Fan Chenxin's jaw tightened, and a dark fire of jealousy and heartache surged in his eyes.

He reached out to grasp her hand, but ultimately forced himself to pull it back.

He forced the Buddha's light back into his dantian, causing his chest to churn with qi and blood.

Lou Xiaotian didn't have many reservations and sat down directly on her right.

He spread his large hand and steadily supported her still bleeding wrist.

"My green wood energy only travels through the wrist meridian and never near the waist and abdomen."

He took out a clean medicated cloth and placed it under her skin.

He broke down Qingmu's vital energy into extremely fine threads, slowly nourishing her along her meridians.

Lou Xiaotian had large fingers, with calluses on the fingertips from years of holding guns.

Through the thin medical cloth, the warmth of his palm flowed continuously, almost burning hot.

His gaze was uncontrollably drawn to her collarbone, which trembled slightly from the pain.

Beneath that slender, white neck, the blue vine patterns were faintly visible.

Lou Xiaotian's Adam's apple bobbed, and he breathed very softly, afraid of disturbing her.

Fan Chenxin stood aside, staring at the two people's clasped hands, the veins on the back of his hand holding the knife bulging.

This torment of being able to look but not touch almost drove this Buddhist disciple, who cultivated the path of ruthlessness, insane.

Jiang Siyue squatted down next to the three of them, completely unaware of the sticky undercurrent between the adults.

She counted the accounts with her chubby little hands in a childish voice.

"Uncle Fan used a drop of Buddha's blood, Uncle Zhonghua kept thirty-six strands of his black hair, and Uncle Heiyi gave a drop of silver blood."

"Once Mother recovers, I'll find lots and lots of spiritual fruits for you in April."

Children's innocent words tore a crack in this deadly battlefield.

Fan Chenxin narrowed her eyes and glanced coldly at Lou Xiaotian.

"When did you leave thirty-six strands of your hair with her?"

"These were left over from when I was healing in the herb garden. Miss Jiang wanted to study qi and blood, and she determined the quantity."

Lou Xiaotian didn't even raise his head, his movements remaining gentle.

"If you were willing to cut off pieces of your own flesh for her to study, you could definitely get more than I could."

Jiang Yining was getting a headache from their noise. She had just drawn half of her ancestral blood when she immediately raised her hand to interrupt them.

"Anyone who utters another word can go to the door and carry the stone door for Chu Ling Shuang."

The two immediately shut up.

In a corner, taking advantage of everyone's inattention, Fire Falcon plunged headfirst into Pei Yunji's medicine box.

It tilted its head back and swallowed a Meridian Cultivation Pill whole.

The next second, crimson flames shot out directly from its sharp beak.

The fire falcon, burned by the medicine, darted wildly across the ground, its tail feathers leaving a long trail of sparks on the stone bricks.

"It swallowed a Nirvana Realm pill; if we don't lure it out quickly, it will explode."

Pei Yunji reached out to grab it.

Chu Ling Shuang reacted quickly, smashing through the left wall with a single blow.

Cold groundwater gushed into the stone chamber.

She grabbed the Firefly by the wing and shoved the fat bird directly into the bucket of cold water.

White smoke billowed from the water's surface, and the Fire Spirit Falcon was kicking wildly with only its two claws outside.

Jiang Yining ignored the farce and sealed the extracted wisp of ancestral blood into the lens.

She then applied another layer of purple-gold wood energy and attached it to the cleaned broken spear.

The broken spear immediately sprouted wood grain, emitting the same aura as the silver leaf.

She threw the broken spear out the door through the observation hole.

The armored guards outside all turned around and knelt down on one knee around the broken spear, completely fooled by the decoy.

Jiang Yining picked up the general's seal and pressed it into the groove in the center of the washing stone.

The black stone platform suddenly cracked open, revealing a dark staircase soaked in the stench of blood.

"Let's go in and ask Cen Jin whose tree the Pei family stole back then."

The stone steps in the secret passage were soaked with sticky, dark red water stains.

As Cen Jin moved the seal a foot closer, one of the blue-white soul lamps on the wall would light up faintly.

Jiang Yining walked at the front, and the silver leaves on her waist, nourished by the blood energy from the earth, began to radiate heat again.

Lou Xiaotian and Fan Chenxin flanked her, protecting her completely.

Their breaths mingled in the narrow passageway, neither willing to give an inch.

Pei Yunji walked alone at the back, the blood of the young master's ancestral blood sealed tightly in his heart meridian, and the blood identification arrays along the way were not triggered.

At the end of the secret passage, a military tent, mostly burned down, came into view.

Broken armor plates covered the ground, with a lone wooden workbench in the center.

A figure in a pair of bare, dark armor sat behind a desk, holding a charred military flag in his hand.

The bluish-white soul flames flickered in the gaps of the armor, gradually piecing together Cen Jin's towering afterimage.

Cen Jin's gaze first fell on the seal in Jiang Yining's hand, then suddenly pierced her dantian.

"The remnant branch of the guardian tree has actually sprouted a third ancestral root."

The voice was ancient and hollow, filled with endless sorrow.

"Three thousand years have passed, and the Pei family, these thieves, still haven't given up their greedy thoughts."

Jiang Yining placed the seal on the wooden table, and a purple-gold leaf shadow appeared between her fingertips.

"Why would this tree become the ancestral relic that the Pei family has been searching for for three thousand years?"

Cen Jin unfurled the tattered military flag.

On the flag, an ancient tree that once blocked out the sky had long been burned to death by fire, leaving only its roots to hold the city below.

"The Pei family's ancestors cultivated blood magic and urgently needed spiritual objects to repair their physical bodies."

"They cut off the main branch of the sacred tree, brought it back to their clan, and refined it into their own bloodline. This is how the so-called Nirvana Ancestral Blood came to be."

Pei Yunji stood at the edge of the military tent, the ancestral mark on the back of his hand trembling slightly because of this past event.