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

"The genealogy says that our ancestors used a broken branch they found on an ancient battlefield to save the clan from a bloodline disease."

"Because that bloodline depletion disease is simply retribution they brought upon themselves!"

Cen Jin suddenly raised his armored arm, and the image on the military flag abruptly changed.

Dozens of Pei family members were tied to stone pillars.

Dark silver flames burned from their bones, and their flesh withered away at a visible speed.

Pei Yunji watched that scene, silently drew his longsword, and without hesitation cut open his fingertip.

Blood dripped down, and grayish-white, withered lines quickly appeared at the edges.

He did not try to hide this ugly defect.

"It turns out that the ancestral bloodline that the Pei family is so proud of is actually a hole that can never be filled."

Pei Yunji's voice was hoarse, yet it carried an almost cruel clarity.

Jiang Yining stared at the withered lines on his fingertips.

She had initially thought this man was just a young master caught up in his family's power struggles, but his current open and vulnerable demeanor made her scrutinize him more.

Jiang Siyue peeked out from behind Jiang Yining and raised the wet Fire Spirit Falcon in her arms.

"Grandpa, since you know who the bad guys are, why don't you go out and fight them yourself?"

Cen Jin looked down at the soul fire flickering inside the breastplate.

"Because I died long ago, all that remains here is a lingering obsession with guarding the tomb."

Jiang Yining steered the conversation back on track.

"I want to break the Bloodstained Seal. What does the general require in exchange?"

Cen Jin turned the military flag, revealing a tomb door behind the military tent, engraved with a totem of a kneeling beast.

"The blood pool in the main tomb contains the blood essence of ancient beasts, which can awaken the divine tree and wash away most of the ancestral blood."

His soul fire then pointed to the wreckage of a broken ancient ship in the corner.

"If this interdimensional ancient ship can activate the array slots, it can tear open a spatial rift for you to leave the Martial Spirit Realm."

"Once the Blood Pool is activated, the Pei family ancestral hall will be able to sense its exact location."

Cen Jin's empty gaze swept over everyone.

"Pei Henian will definitely personally seal off the exits. Even if you take the items, you may not be able to take them with you."

Chu Ling Shuang hoisted the heavy hammer onto her shoulder and sneered.

"The outer iron shell can't stop the elder. We have to empty it before the old thief arrives."

Jiang Yining tapped her fingers lightly on the wooden table, causing the silver leaf on her waist to throb even more violently.

She stepped over the wooden table and shoved the bronze seal back into Cen Jin's iron hand.

"You've harbored resentment for three thousand years. Today, come with me and demand it back from the Pei family, with interest."

Cen Jin closed his iron fingers, causing the seal within the soul fire to erupt with a dazzling light.

The armored guards outside the military tent turned around in unison, their thousands of spears pointing directly at the path they had come from.

The moment the blood pool array patterns in the main tomb lit up.

Above the secret passage, a massive projection of a blood-red order crashed down.

Pei Henian's sinister figure stood in the center of the dark red ancestral fire.

The stone steps leading to the site were completely blocked by the dark silver fire line, and even the air was sucked away.

"Jiang Yining, if you dare step into the main tomb, I will ensure that you and that bastard child die a gruesome death!"

A terrifying, semi-saintly pressure descended upon them.

Almost at the same instant.

Fan Chenxin blocked her path with his sword, unleashing a furious slash of dark golden Buddhist light.

Lou Xiaotian pointed his Overlord Spear at the ground, and the Azure Wood Qi transformed into a giant shield to protect the top of her head.

Pei Yunji drew his sword and pointed it directly at the projection, the young master's ancestral blood burning away on the blade.

The three men shielded her in the safest, most vulnerable corner.

Jiang Yining stood in the gap created by the three people, without retreating.

She stared at the swirling fire patterns beneath Pei Henian's feet, then touched the burning Bloodstained Mark on her side.

The tomb bricks that the projection stepped on showed no cracks, and the soul lamps in the military tent were not affected by the aura of the demigod.

The thing that truly bore the pressure was connected to the Blood-Chasing Seal at one end and drilled into the Fire Pivot on the top of the tomb at the other end; Pei Henian's true form was still in the ancestral hall.

Cen Jin pressed the bronze seal into her palm, and the soul fire within the iron armor was reduced slightly.

"The seal can mobilize the guards in the tomb, but you only have one chance to rewrite the military orders. If you write even half a wrong array pattern, the Xuanjia guards will kill the person holding the seal first."

Jiang Yining ran her fingertip across the bottom of the seal and felt nine burnt grooves.

"Military orders require blood, enemy blood, and the military flag to serve as witnesses. The blood of the elder ancestor that Pei Henian sent saved me the trouble of finding enemy blood."

Pei Henian raised his palm and pressed down, and dark red flames rushed along the four walls of the military tent.

"With your crumbling Qi Sea at the Qi Condensation Realm, you dare to touch Cen Jin's Seal? Hand over the Divine Wood, and this elder might grant this bastard a complete corpse."

Jiang Siyue hugged the Fire Spirit Falcon tightly, burying her face behind its crimson feathers.

Lou Xiaotian raised his gun to block a line of fire. The wooden shield was burned through two layers, but he still stood guard in front of the child.

"What kind of half-saint skill is it to scold children? If you really have the ability, then let your true form come in and die."

Pei Henian's projection turned towards Jiang Siyue, and the ancestral fire in his palm condensed into a thin needle.

Fan Chenxin stepped aside to block the mother and daughter, and his black knife slashed upwards, slicing the fire needle in two.

His injured palm split open again, and blood flowed down the hilt of the knife into his sleeve.

"If you reach out to the children again, I will cut through the fire and into your ancestral hall."

"A Buddhist outcast who destroyed the Path of Ruthlessness has no right to act so presumptuously in the Pei family's ancestral tomb."

The ancestral fire suddenly intensified, and Fan Chenxin's feet sank half an inch into the tomb bricks.

Jiang Yining reached out and pressed against his lower back. The purple-gold wood energy clung to his clothes, supporting his blood and qi, but preventing the Buddhist energy from entering his meridians.

"Brahma's Heart, the blade's light recedes to three feet, severing only the outer connection between the projection and the Fire Pivot."

She turned to Lou Xiaotian, her demonic vines already wrapped around his spear wrist.

"Lou Xiaotian, protect Siyue, and seal the exit of the military tent for me. Do not use the Blood Pact of Protection without permission."

Lou Xiaotian shook off the approaching wave of fire, and pressed the butt of his spear half a foot deeper into the ground.

"I'll guard the exit, and I won't risk my life to change your decision. Within ten breaths, nothing from outside can get in."

Pei Yunji cut open his palm, and Dark Silver Ancestral Blood dripped down the sword's edge.

The fire at the top of the tomb, drawn by the young master's bloodline, caused several fire lines to change direction and wrap around his heart.

"My young master's ancestral blood can divert the fire, so you can take the opportunity to rewrite the military orders."

The purple-gold demonic vine shot out from Jiang Yining's sleeve, wrapping around the sword's edge and his palm, and the wound was then sealed by the wood energy.

Pei Yunji tried to draw his sword, but the tip of the vine was already pressed against the center of the ancestral mark.

"I asked you to analyze the weaknesses, not to hang yourself on the Fire Pivot. The three of you buy me ten breaths. Whoever dares to burn their source energy will have their Qi Sea sealed first."

Pei Yunji looked at the purple-gold vine that was wrapped around his wrist and gave up on continuing to bleed him.

"Every three jumps of the Blood Seal, the projection replenishes its power from the Fire Core. You must finish writing the military order before the ninth jump ends."

"Enough for me to put his ancestral blood into the military flag."

Jiang Yining tore open the fabric at her waist and pressed her fingertips into the edge of the bloodstain.

The dark silver leaf veins were stimulated and contracted deep into her dantian.

The Divine Tree of Myriad Spirits stretched out its slender roots, biting into a strand of ancestral blood belonging to Pei Henian, and pulling it away along the leaf stalk.

The bloodline was half an inch away from her body when a new crack appeared on her right main vein.

Lou Xiaotian sensed the life-protecting blood pact heating up and took a half-inch step forward, immediately causing the demonic vines wrapped around his spear wrist to tighten.

"Jiang Yining, your main meridian is bleeding. Let my Green Wood Qi support your wrist meridian first."

"Hold your position and don't use healing as an excuse to get closer to me. Once the military orders are revised, I will naturally let you treat your wounds."

Lou Xiaotian did not refute, but the roots of the green tree circled around the floor tiles to her feet, only supporting a corner of the collapsed military tent, without touching her meridians.

As the fifth jump landed, Pei Henian's projection reached out and grabbed the bronze general's seal.

Fan Chenxin took a step forward, and the black blade sliced ​​into the ancestral fire from below.

The blade light collided with the semi-saint's pressure, and the wound on his palm was charred black by the soul fire, but his stance holding the blade remained steady.

"Ning'er, you only have a few breaths left before your hand has to stop here."

"How many more strikes can you deliver? This elder would like to test them myself."