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

Pei Henian was nailed to the stone pillar of the city gate, and his maniacal laughter echoed clearly throughout the entire moat along the fifty-four dark gold lamp lines.

"You destroyed half of the light array; the other half has already been connected to the hearts of 100,000 people."

The moment the words fell, the fifty-four flickering lamps that had been unearthed from the ground suddenly blazed brightly.

The lamplight no longer chased after the sacred tree or the fox's breath, but instead focused precisely on the chests of the 100,000 people who had just evacuated the city gates.

The dark silver flames that had just been extinguished resurfaced.

Each lamp corresponds to nearly two thousand Heart Fire Blood Curses.

Under the illumination of the Buddha's bones in the heart of the Brahma Dust, the dark golden lamplight transformed into one hundred and eight clear illusory images.

The people of the city felt a sense of relief as the scorching blood curse that had lingered for so long was slowly pulled from their hearts by a gentle yet irresistible hand.

Each time a blood curse is completely stripped away and merges into the lamp array, the relic fire around Fan Chenxin's body shines a little brighter.

His figure, sitting cross-legged in the center of the lamp, would then become slightly blurred.

First, the left arm hanging at the knee, the charred Buddha bone dissolved inch by inch in the lamp flame, transforming into the lamp wall of the fifty-fifth bone lamp.

Next came his legs; the hem of his monk's robe collapsed as the Buddha's relics burned, as if they had never had any physical support.

The Heartfire Blood Curse of the entire city was being stripped away from the innocent at a visible speed, and then all of it was converging on him alone.

This was a grand yet cruel sacrifice.

A Buddha's bone, imbued with merit, can save the lives of 100,000 people.

"The Heart of Brahma!"

Jiang Yining's voice trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly.

She tore through the last barrier of ancestral fire in front of her and rushed towards the sea of ​​relic fire without regard for anything else.

She pushed the third ancestral root of the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree to its limit, and purple-gold vines spread out, attempting to completely engulf the sea of ​​fire and forcibly devour it.

However, just as the vines were about to touch the array of lights, a layer of gentle golden Sanskrit rose from the edge of the sea of ​​fire, transforming into an indestructible barrier.

Scriptures for protecting life.

It was a restriction he had set up long ago, specifically to stop her.

He anticipated her arrival and knew she would recklessly use the sacred tree, so he sealed off her path to save him in advance.

"You're using the formation I taught you to defend against me?"

Jiang Yining's eyes were forced red by the firelight. She raised her hand, and the lotus flower under her collarbone lit up in response.

She actually intended to use this lotus pact of shared life and death to forcibly share the burden of the relic lamp array's fire.

"return!"

Lou Xiaotian's roar came from outside the formation, carrying a hint of suppressed pain.

Pei Yunji's face also darkened, and he forcibly severed her connection with the nearest bone lamp using his inner seal.

"The Sanskrit text for protecting life that he left behind is connected to the root of the lamp array. If you forcibly break the array, Lianqi will first guide the fire of discipline back to your sacred tree ancestral root."

Jiang Yining certainly knew.

But she refused to stand idly by.

With the sacred tree blocked, she withdrew her vines and focused all her attention on the lotus of shared karma.

Instead of trying to share the burden of the fire of discipline, she condensed her soul into the finest purple-gold thread and, along the connection of the lotus contract, fiercely pierced towards Fan Chenxin's gradually fading heart meridian.

"If you do not let me share the fire, I will bind your heart and lock away your last wisp of spirit."

Her voice, transmitted through the lotus tantra, clearly entered Fan Chenxin's sea of ​​consciousness.

"If you want to burn all the Buddha's relics, you'll have to ask me first if I agree to your soul being scattered."

Fan Chenxin's figure trembled slightly in the fire.

He never expected that she would use such a self-destructive method to force him to stay.

The purple-gold threads, carrying her body heat and determination, tightly bound his primordial spirit, which was about to leave his body.

Lou Xiaotian watched this scene, his knuckles turning white from gripping the Overlord Spear so tightly.

The life-protecting blood pact on his chest was burning hot, and the old wound that Jiang Yining had just pressed down seemed to be showing signs of reopening.

In the end, he did not choose to burn his own essence, but instead threw the Overlord Spear with all his might.

Instead of attacking the lamp array, the spear transformed into a streak of light, hovering above the projection of Fan Chenxin's soul, emanating a gentle aura of green wood.

"Monk, I'm not trying to save you."

Lou Xiaotian's voice was hoarse, yet exceptionally clear.

"I just don't want to see her sacrifice her very being for someone she can't keep. Use my gun as an anchor point to steady your mind and prevent her from wasting her energy."

The Overlord Spear is his natal magic weapon, which is connected to his soul.

Using a gun as an anchor is tantamount to using one's own soul to share the impact of Fan Chenxin's soul disintegrating.

With each vibration of the gun, Lou Xiaotian's old heart injury would be torn apart a little more.

He just gritted his teeth and forced back the metallic taste that rose to his throat.

On the other side, Pei Yunji's expression was also extremely solemn.

He looked at the burning ancestral fire, which was interspersed with countless dark silver blood patterns belonging to the Pei family.

"The reason he burned so quickly is partly because the blood curse of my Pei family is too insidious."

Pei Yunji's voice was devoid of emotion. Using the remaining inner layer of the ancestral seal as a guide, he began to actively peel away the Pei clan blood patterns that were entangled in the ancestral fire.

It was a meticulous and mentally taxing process.

Like a master surgeon, he precisely pulled each "fuse" belonging to the Pei family from the raging flames, reducing Fan Chenxin's burning speed by at least 30%.

Two men who had recently considered each other mortal enemies now suppressed all their jealousy and resentment and used their own methods to save the same rival in love.

Because they all knew that this was Jiang Yining's choice.

They can fight over it, they can snatch it away, but they cannot disrespect the person she most wants to keep at this moment.

"Mother..."

Holding the Fire Spirit Falcon whose left wing was fixed, Jiang Siyue, with Chu Ling Shuang's protection, walked to the edge of the lamp array.

The scorching flames were kept three feet away by Chu Ling Shuang's powerful hammer strike.

The little girl looked at Uncle Fan, whose figure was growing fainter and fainter in the sea of ​​fire, and then at her mother, whose face was pale outside the formation. Her eyes immediately reddened.

She remembered her mother's rules and did not release her nine-tailed fox blood.

She carefully took out the half of the spirit fruit she hadn't been able to eat and the last old Buddhist bead covered in the saliva of the fire spirit falcon from her storage bag.

She gently placed the two items into the lotus light her mother had left beside her, and with her purest intentions, pushed them toward the center of the sea of ​​fire.

"Uncle Fan, I'm coming to see you in April."

The child's innocent consciousness, carrying an undeniable stubbornness, repeatedly tested Fan Chenxin's defenses.

"You haven't finished eating your spiritual fruit yet, and your prayer beads are still here. I brought them in April."

"You promised to come back and help April string new beads, you can't become a lamp."

"The lamp has no hands, so it can't play with April anymore, and it can't touch April's head anymore."

Above the sky, a void rift was torn open by a grand chant.

The figure of Abbot Faji appeared across the boundary, accompanied by a hundred elders from the Great Thunderclap Temple.

"Amitabha."

Faji's gaze fell on Fan Chenxin in the center of the sea of ​​fire, filled with regret, but even more so with approval.

"Da Leiyin Temple acknowledges this act of protecting life. Fan Chenxin, although you are no longer a Buddhist disciple, you are practicing the most difficult Bodhisattva path in Buddhism."

"We are here to recite the 'Guardian of Life' for you, to stabilize your spirit, and to help you complete this journey."

The immense power of the scriptures transformed into a golden canopy, enveloping the lamp array and allowing Fan Chenxin's nearly disintegrated primordial spirit to solidify once more.

However, Buddhist scriptures can only stabilize the primordial spirit, but cannot replace his burning Buddha bones.

This was more like a solemn farewell than a timely rescue.

The ten thousand flames of the heart finally detached themselves at this moment.

Within Tianhuang City, no one suffers from the blood curse anymore.

The 108 relic lamps were fully formed and floated behind Fan Chenxin, burning away the last trace of his flesh and blood.

His body was completely transparent.

Only a blurry outline remained, standing at the edge of the sea of ​​fire.

He slowly turned around, and through the thick flames, gazed deeply back at the woman who refused to give up on him.

He raised his almost invisible hand.

The old Buddhist beads that Jiang Yining had given him, which had been swallowed countless times by the Fire Spirit Falcon, condensed from the origin of his soul and slowly flew towards Jiang Yining.

The moment the beads fell into her palm, the icy touch sent a shiver down her spine.

Jiang Yining gripped the prayer beads tightly, her fingernails digging deep into her palms.

She saw that the lotus flower of shared karma beneath her collarbone had a tiny crack burned into its surface under the scorching firelight.

That was a sign that the Lotus Pact was about to break down.

A voice, utterly exhausted yet still gentle, traveled through Lian Qi into her sea of ​​consciousness.

"Yining, the wick is down to its last inch. If you go any further, I will sever the Lotus of Shared Karma."