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

The dark red flames suddenly closed in behind them.

The noise of the streets and alleys, along with the brick walls of the North Post Station, were kept outside the fire gate.

The air in the center of the array was so hot it distorted vision.

Jiang Siyue huddled in the center of the stone platform, her nine fox tails tightly wrapped around the injured fire spirit falcon.

The third round of ancestral fire hung above the child's head, like a crimson guillotine that could fall at any moment.

As soon as Jiang Yining took a step forward, two thick blood chains suddenly shot out from the stone bricks beneath her feet.

A snake-like appendage bit into Jiang Siyue's ankle.

Another one flew straight through the air and precisely wrapped around Jiang Yining's still-healing right hand.

The moment the blood chain tightened, the old wound burst open completely along the dark red iron ring.

Warm blood flowed along the rough seams of the lock into the scalding hot stone platform.

The blood evaporated into a wisp of pungent red smoke the moment it touched the stone surface.

She didn't break free; instead, the purple-gold fake branch in her hand steadily moved forward half an inch.

"Pei Henian, since you recognize the blood pact between mother and daughter, you should have seen clearly that I came in alone."

A massive projection descended from above the fire well.

Pei Henian looked down at her from his high position, and the nine fire chains under his palm lit up with a dazzling red light one by one.

"Only you came in, but the aura hidden within you is more than one."

The old man's withered lips curled into a mocking smile.

"You deliberately provoked me to open the fire gate, and then sealed off four branches of the ancestral fire along the way. Do you really think I'm blind?"

The city's protective water mirror projected the scene inside the formation onto the city without reservation.

The several fire corridors that Jiang Yining walked through were clearly reflected in the air, with the branches leading to a pharmacy, a house, and two crowded courtyards.

Each time a branch vein is closed, the flame patterns on the nearby roof tiles are completely extinguished.

A warrior holding a crossbow on North Street quietly lowered the arrowhead.

"If she intended to detonate the city's defensive formation, why bother blocking the fire routes leading to the houses?"

The other man, clutching the reward notice, also stopped and did not approach the North Station any further.

"The Pei family elders said she held the entire city hostage, but after she entered the formation, she only protected ordinary people."

Han Que stood beside the water mirror platform, the edges of the city defense token in his hand burning hot.

Chu Ling Shuang dragged the crimson hammer step by step up the high platform and slammed the array diagrams of the eight sealed branches directly in front of him.

"Look carefully, Jiang Yining shut down all the fire paths that could easily cause injury."

Chu Ling Shuang raised her hand and pointed to the water mirror.

"If she really wanted to use the people to pressure you, she would have poured the entire fire vein into South Street by now."

Han Que stared at the array patterns that were gradually fading away, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

He finally turned his head and gave orders to the city defense troops behind him.

"Evacuate the residents within the four streets. The city's crossbowmen are not allowed to attack Jiang Yining."

The wind on the city tower blew across Han Que's graying temples.

"After she entered the fire gate, she did not use the fire road to threaten anyone in the city."

Within the array, Pei Henian slowly pressed down one finger.

Three enormous fire wheels rose from the wellhead, the heat almost scorching Jiang Yining's long hair.

"If you want to win people's hearts with a few good deeds, you'll have to wait until you walk out of this inferno alive."

Pei Henian stared at the fake branch.

"Put the main branch of the sacred tree into the first test wheel, otherwise the blood chain on the child's foot will tighten another inch."

The blood chain wrapped around Jiang Siyue's ankle suddenly tightened inward.

The faint crackling sound of flesh being burned was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent array.

The child curled up in pain, his eyes red and swollen, but he didn't shed a single tear.

"Mother, don't give him the real tree root; he can hold on for April."

The child's innocent voice trembled with suppressed emotion.

Jiang Yining felt as if her heart had been struck hard by a blunt instrument, and the blood chain on her right wrist twitched in response.

She staggered toward the stone platform, but was pulled back to her original position by the iron chains.

The rough iron ring had carved a deep, bloody gash into her wrist bone.

Her shoulders and back slammed heavily against the pillar of fire behind her, instantly burning several charred holes in her dark outer robe.

Unable to suppress her panic any longer, she looked up at the projection high above her.

"Pei Henian, she's only two years old. You can come at me!"

Jiang Yining's voice trembled slightly, almost deliberately.

"You can have the main branch; remove the chain of fire from her heart!"

"After verifying the facts, I will naturally release the person."

Jiang Yining bit her lower lip so hard she almost tasted blood.

With trembling hands, she raised the purple-gold false branch and sent it into the first wheel of fire.

The moment the fake branch touched the flame, an extremely faint fluctuation of spiritual energy emanated from the depths of the formation.

Pei Yunji lay prostrate outside the fire well, his green wooden cane resting between two scorching hot stones.

Instead of using his inner seal, he placed his palm on the old mark of the Twin Meridians Returning to Origin Lock that had once bound the two of them.

A deep, slightly hoarse voice followed the invisible blood pact and drilled directly into Jiang Yining's mind.

"The first layer is tracing the source of the internal printing."

Pei Yunji's voice carried the sultry heat of the earth.

"Release the elder's blood from the Blood Seal to make the two Pei bloodlines conceal each other."

That visceral, chilling sensation crept up her spine as Jiang Yining's thumb subtly pressed into the base of the artificial branch.

The dark red bloodline hidden in the hollow root bone quietly seeped out.

The first fiery wheel immediately turned towards the Elder's Ancestral Blood, like a wolf smelling blood.

The inner imprint film left by Pei Yunji slipped past the wheel's center.

Pei Henian was completely unaware of the undercurrents at the bottom of the formation; he only saw a clear clan mark emerge from the fire-testing wheel.

"We've passed the bloodline layer; the second layer tests our vitality."

Pei Henian let out a cold laugh.

"If it is a fake branch that was temporarily made, the green wood energy will wither and die instantly when it enters the fire wheel."

In the city's underground, Lou Xiaotian fiercely drove the Overlord Spear into the main vein of the Green Wood.

He gripped the gun barrel tightly with both hands, the veins on the back of his hands bulging like writhing dragons.

The last remaining aura of the green wood in the gun was silently sent into the fire gate along the city bricks.

He did not activate the life-protecting blood pact on his chest, but instead guarded that life force with all his might.

Fan Chenxin stood outside the array wall, holding the Inquiry Buddha Lamp. The lamp flame clearly reflected the blood-soaked bandage on Lou Xiaotian's shoulder.

"Your wound has reopened; can you still stabilize the Green Wood Qi?"

Fan Chenxin's fingers tightened slightly as she held the prayer beads.

"Jiang Yining only allows me to use the power stored in the gun; I will not use the source."

Lou Xiaotian did not turn around; his voice was cold and hard.

"If you are worried that the path will break, then guard the Buddha lamp well and do not let the spirit of April leave the lamplight."

"I'm protecting the children, and I'll also catch Jiang Yining for her."

Fan Chenxin lowered her eyelashes, and a dark golden Buddhist light flowed in her eyes.

"You just need to stabilize the roots; you don't need to prove anything to me."

Lou Xiaotian snorted coldly and pressed the tip of his spear even deeper into the city brick.

"Today, each of us will stay in one place and wait for the mother and daughter to return before we discuss other matters."

The second fiery wheel greedily swallowed the false branch.

A rich, vibrant green bursts forth from within the branches, and two young, purple-gold leaves unfurl and sway in the firelight.

Pei Henian activated the flames three times in succession, but only a small ring of the edge of the leaf was scorched, and the internal veins remained as fresh as ever.

"The Primordial Green Wood Source is actually willing to nurture your roots; the young master of the Lou family is truly willing to invest."

Pei Henian's tone was filled with undisguised jealousy.

Jiang Yining stared at her daughter under the fire chain, gently patting her right arm through her sleeve with her left hand.

Three strokes slightly faster, two strokes slower.

Upon seeing this familiar movement, Jiang Siyue immediately pulled her tail, which was about to burst out of the fox shield, back into her arms.

This is the rhythm her mother used to lull her to sleep during thunderstorms, from when she was little until now.

The third time signifies that Mother is by your side.

The two strikes represent gathering your strength and not being afraid.

"Mother, April wants to hug the big red chicken and sleep for a while."

The little girl curled up obediently in a ball.

"Hold it tight, your mother will come to get you soon."

After Jiang Siyue completely withdrew her fox breath, the ancestral fire lost its demonic power supply, and the flames in the fire well visibly decreased by half a foot.

Pei Henian turned his head sharply and raised his hand to suppress the fire chain.

"You are not allowed to recall the Nine-Tails; the core of the formation needs your bloodline to fuel the fire!"

Jiang Yining pretended to lunge at the stone platform again, and the blood chain tightened its grip on her wrists even more.

"She can't hold on any longer, how much longer are you going to keep burning her?"

The panic and despair in her eyes fell into Pei Henian's eyes, and even her rapid breathing couldn't reveal a single flaw.

But the thin vine hidden in the sleeve, which held the mother and daughter together, pressed against the wrist pulse, and the heartbeats it transmitted were frighteningly steady.

Pei Yunji, at the bottom of the formation, continued to descend along the Earth Fire Well and found two blood seals side by side.

One belonged to Pei Henian, and the other was engraved with the Mu family's fire pattern. The two seals were connected by a blood pact to share the ancestral fire.

"The Mu family has authority over the formation, and the one holding the seal should be Mu Chongshan."

Pei Yunji's voice came from the blood pact once again.

"He can mobilize half of the ancestral fire, and he can also destroy the Water Mirror from outside the city."

Jiang Yining used the gesture of wiping the cold sweat from her forehead to send the instructions to the fake branch.

"Don't touch the shared blood seal. First, find the passage for the Mu family to enter the bottom of the formation."

She took a deep breath.

"If the water mirror is destroyed, no one will see what Pei Henian has done."

Pei Yunji's response came quickly.

"I've found the entrance; the Mu family is making their move outside the city walls."

Within the array, the third fire wheel crashed down onto the base of the false branch.

In this round of inspection of the main branch's ownership, the flames bypassed the vitality of the green wood and headed straight for Jiang Yining's dantian.

She had already swallowed the blood of Pei Henian's elder ancestors, and the same bloodline pattern remained in the Blood Tracking Seal.

The fire-testing wheel probed into the meridians along the purple-gold vine, and the aura it detected perfectly matched the Pei family's ancestral blood.

The four large characters "Guiyuan Divine Tree" slowly emerged from the center of the fire wheel.

Pei Henian finally put away the three fire wheels, and the ancestral fire in his palm transformed into a dark red nail.

"The ownership of the main branch of the sacred tree is correct. Once I peel away its origin, you and the child will suffer less."

"If you dare break your promise, I'll burn this stump along with you!"

"Once you enter the core of the ancestral fire, you will no longer have a say in who the main branch belongs to."

Pei Henian snatched the fake branch from a distance and forcefully shoved it into the center of the fire well.

The entire city's fire veins were drawn in, and raging flames poured into the roots and bones from all directions, attempting to forcibly strip the sacred tree of its life force.

Jiang Yining slowly lowered her left hand, and the purple-gold vines hidden in her sleeve completely released their restraints.

The hollow rhizome did not wither; instead, two young leaves at the root tip burrowed into the fire well and bit into the dark red bloodstains that issued the lockdown order.

The first false order was dragged out of the flames by the vine leaves.

Pei Henian's projection then distorted, revealing that half of his arm was missing.

He looked down in shock at the purple-gold roots that were expanding wildly in the fire well.

"Jiang Yining, why is this piece of root you brought devouring my ancestral fire?!"