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

As the first flame of the heart entered the relic pattern, Fan Chenxin's figure, left in the evacuation passage, began to dissipate from her shoulder. Jiang Yining reached out and only managed to grasp a wisp of Buddhist breath. The Heart-Questioning Buddha Lamp then fell to the ground, and the dark gold old post line that split from the lamp wick passed through the city bricks, pointing directly to the center of the city below.

"Fan Chenxin, you'd better still be able to hear me and hand over the real wick, or I will follow the Lotus of Shared Karma to you and personally destroy the end point you've hidden."

The old post road refused to open its entrance, so Jiang Yining pierced the Soul-Devouring Vine into the crack between the bricks. The roots of the vine rolled down along the abandoned fire road, and the entire ground was lifted to both sides, revealing a stone staircase covered with dust. The chanting coming from the end of the staircase grew weaker with each repetition.

When she stepped into the underground abandoned post station, fifty-four translucent bone lamps were revolving around Fan Chenxin, and another fifty-four unformed lamp positions were suspended on the outer layer. Fine ancestral fire from all over the city flowed into the bone lamps. He sat cross-legged in the center of the lamp core, his handsome brow bone illuminated by the lamp flame, his left arm hanging at his knee, and the cracked dark gold Buddha bone was turning into the relic lamp wall.

"Stop refining your bones and give me your hand. If you dare to hide your sleeves behind your back again, I will seal this entire abandoned post station under the roots of the divine tree."

Fan Chenxin opened his eyes and pressed down on the forming lamp wick with his right hand: "The Ten Thousand Heart Flames have already left the hearts of the people. If the lamp positions are broken at this time, the Ancestral Fire will chase after the Divine Tree and April again. You should leave first. I can finish refining the remaining lamp positions."

Jiang Yining approached the lamp wick and saw that his spiritual projection was much lighter than his physical body. The protective Sanskrit characters that were originally attached to the Buddha's bone were also mostly gone. When she pressed down on his left wrist, her fingertips did not touch the complete bone surface, but only a layer of warm light that was dissipating.

"For every lamp you refine, your divine soul diminishes. Once all 108 lamps are complete, all that will remain here is an empty Buddha skeleton. You call this arrangement giving me more options?"

"The Ancestral Fire only pursues the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree and the blood of the Nine-Tailed Fox. I used the Buddha bone, which was reshaped by the Merit Pool, to cut off the pursuit. This way, 100,000 people in the city can survive. I chose this path myself, and I will bear the consequences myself."

Jiang Yining raised her hand and grabbed the nearest outer lamp. The purple-gold vine leaves clung to the lamp wall and folded inward. The dark gold lamp patterns cracked into fragments of light under her palm, and the Lotus of Shared Karma pierced her heart meridian. Her shoulders and back lowered slightly, but her fingers still did not loosen.

"Your life isn't among the array materials, and it's not your place to use it to calculate the number of people. The ancient boat can still take away the ancestral fire, the third ancestral root hasn't been devoured yet, and Pei Yunji is also dismantling the Blood Curse Array's core. These paths haven't even been tried once yet, so what makes you think you can declare that all that's left for everyone is to die?"

Fan Chenxin stood up to stop them, but the second lamp had already been crushed by the demonic vine. Faji's Dharma image fell from above the lamp flame: "Benefactor Jiang, if you continue to destroy the lamps, the Gongye Lotus Assembly will suffer the backlash from the lamp array. If Fan Chenxin forcibly protects the Lotus Contract, the remaining Buddha bones will still be drawn away by the Abstinence Fire."

"Abbot Faji, please examine the lamp array for me. I will be responsible for dragging him out. If he dares to continue refining his bones, you shall press the Heart-Questioning Seal of the Discipline Hall onto his primordial spirit. Today, no one shall give him the chance to die alone."

The demonic vine split into fifty-four strands, piercing through the city bricks along the outer layer of the old post station nodes. Jiang Yining clenched her five fingers, and half of the lamp array broke off one after another. The shattered Buddhist flames were absorbed into the vine leaves by the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree. In order to prevent the abstinence fire from burning into her heart meridian along the lotus contract, Fan Chenxin could only withdraw the relic fire under his palm.

"Enough, Yi Ning, take the vine back. I've already stopped refining your bones. Your Shared Karma Lotus can't withstand the simultaneous collapse of fifty-four lamp positions."

"Since you know that my heart can ache, you should understand what the Lotus of Shared Karma will send back after you turn into relics. I will not accept a talking lamp, nor am I prepared to hold your Buddha relics and explain to April."

Fan Chenxin held her trembling wrist: "I have seen the poisonous fire of the Divine Realm enter April's body, and I have also seen you kneel on more than 90,000 stone steps for the sake of the child. The fire of 100,000 people is pressing on you and April. I cannot stand by and wait for you to burn away your third ancestral root."

"You can help me find my way, you can guard the formation for me, and you can even block the ancestral fire when it comes down, but you can't hide the fact that the ending is your own death. No matter how many times you save me, you can't earn the right to give up your life on your own."

Jiang Yining pressed the Lotus of Shared Karma into his left arm. The lotus pattern along the bone seam contained the scattered Buddhist fire. Just as Fan Chenxin was about to speak, she had already grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him. When their lips and teeth touched, the Lotus Pact sent her rapid and powerful heartbeat into his sea of ​​consciousness, one beat after another, forcing him to hear clearly that the person in his arms was still waiting for him to respond while he was alive.

Fan Chenxin tightened his right arm, pulling her into his embrace. The intimacy he had restrained for several days broke through the scriptures with this kiss. He kissed her urgently, but stopped before the lotus flower of shared karma could burn. He only pressed his forehead against the side of her neck, and his palm protected her old injury on her lower back through the fabric of her clothes.

"I heard your heartbeat and I understand that you need the living heart of Fan Chen, but if I watch the ancestral fire burn into your and April's heart meridians, the survivors will not be whole either."

"So let's put out the fire together. If you really want to protect me, use your intelligence to live. Don't hide your willingness to die in every word of obedience. The people I want can get hurt, can be jealous, and can make mistakes, but they can't turn themselves into tools."

The gate was pried open from the outside by the Overlord Spear. Lou Xiaotian, dragging his still-healing right shoulder, stood guard at the entrance. His gaze swept over the two embracing arms before he drove the butt of his spear into the remaining lamplight: "You can talk about your matter after the fire is extinguished. Right now, if this monk loses a piece of Buddha bone, the ancestral fire in the city will have one more entrance. I will guard the gate for you."

Pei Yunji used the inner ancestral seal to pry open the relic pattern on the back of the lamp array, revealing fifty-four unclosed primordial spirit lines: "If Fan Chenxin refines another inch of Buddha bone, the Heart-Questioning Buddha Lamp will determine the physical body as a relic container, and the primordial spirit sacrifice will open on its own. At that time, even the Lotus of Shared Karma will not be able to pull him back."

"Listen carefully, even Pei Yunji won't let you die, and Lou Xiaotian is even standing at the door suppressing his jealousy to guard you. If you continue to treat us as obstacles in your way, I will have Siyue personally reason with you."

Jiang Siyue, carrying the Fire Spirit Falcon whose left wing was secured, scurried into the room. Her fox ears were tucked into her hair, and she reached out to grab the hem of Fan Chenxin's monk's robe: "Uncle Fan promised to come back and pick out new Buddhist prayer beads, and said he'd let Siyue check every single one. If you turn into a lamp, and lamps don't have hands, how will you help Siyue string the beads?"

The Fire Spirit Falcon pecked at Fan Chenxin's shoes, then raised its injured wing to block the lamp wick. Jiang Siyue quickly hugged the fat bird back to her arms: "The Big Red Chicken also disagrees. It's injured but it still came to stop you. You can't be more disobedient than a bald-tailed bird."

Fan Chenxin knelt down and touched the child's head with his right hand: "Uncle Fan will stay and help you string the beads, and will not continue to refine the Buddha bone. You should go back to the outside of the lamp path with Aunt Chu first, and don't let the Ancestral Fire smell the fox breath."

Jiang Yining pulled him back into her arms and waited until his breathing stopped dissipating. Then she sealed his left arm and the lamp pattern on his chest with the Lotus of Shared Karma. She also had Lou Xiaotian seal the door and Pei Yunji guard the back door of the relic. Before leaving, she pressed her hand on Fan Chenxin's chest and noticed that his heartbeat was too regular. So she left a thin purple-gold vine to wrap around the lotus heart.

Suddenly, the ancestral fire in the city surged up the water mirror, forcing Jiang Yining to turn around and take over the main formation. Meanwhile, Fan Chenxin closed his eyes and sent the last inch of the relic lamp wick hidden in the powder of the old Buddhist beads into his heart. The Buddhist breath adhered to the purple-gold vine, covering the real heartbeat with the same rhythm.

"I promised not to refine my bones anymore, but I didn't promise not to light a lamp for you."