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

"Mother, do not light up the third Returning Realm Array. The people of the Divine Realm are borrowing our blood, waiting for you to open the gate."

Si Bao's voice came through the Heavenly Eye, so anxious that his breathing became disordered. Jiang Yining's hand, which was on the Star Chart Bone Plate, stopped in mid-air, and the lightning at her fingertips dissipated.

"The fox blood of April has been targeted by the array pattern. The array pattern traces back along the mother and daughter blood vines. Once the Returning Realm Array is activated, they can use the ancient boat as a coordinate."

"Mother, it's so cold in April."

Jiang Siyue's sob came from the other end of her bloodline. Nine fox tails uncontrollably emerged from behind her, the tips of which were covered with a thin layer of dark red frost. The fire spirit falcon huddled in her arms, its cries becoming weak and feeble.

Jiang Yining looked up at the ancient boat. The originally silver-white Returning Realm Array slots had only lit up for half a breath, and the array patterns had been dyed a dazzling dark red, as if a blood worm had crawled into the gaps in the bone plates.

She crushed the star map bone plate. As the fragments fell to the ground, a thin crack appeared above the ancient boat, and a pressure far surpassing that of the Martial Spirit Realm pressed down, causing the dark river in the tomb chamber to churn to both sides.

"The array slot doesn't lock April's lifeline."

Jiang Yining sent her divine sense into the Mother and Daughter Blood Vine and immediately saw a dark red thread extending from the array groove and wrapping around the outermost branch of the blood vine.

"It borrowed the external blood vine. Once the Gate of Return to the Realm is fully opened, it will follow this vine to find April and the Divine Tree."

Lou Xiaotian raised the Overlord Spear, and the green wood energy on the spearhead rushed towards the bloodline. As soon as the spear tip touched the array pattern, it was repelled by a high-dimensional force, and a gash appeared in his tiger's mouth.

"I'll cut it down."

"Step back."

Jiang Yining clenched her five fingers, and the purple-gold demonic vines sprang up from the ground, wrapping around Lou Xiaotian's waist and dragging him away from the ancient boat. Pei Yunji was about to use his inner seal to suppress the attack when his wrist was also entangled by the vines.

"Jiang Yining, what are you going to do?"

"I'll change your coordinates for you."

Her gaze fell on Jiang Siyue on the shore, and her tone softened for a moment: "Siyue, tuck your tail in and close your eyes. Mother will only cut the outer vine; it won't harm your lifeblood."

Jiang Siyue hugged the Fire Spirit Falcon tightly, tears clinging to her eyelashes: "Will Mother come back?"

"meeting."

Jiang Yining readily agreed, and the lightning in her hand immediately condensed into a thin blade, slicing inch by inch along the outer branches of the Mother and Daughter Blood Vine.

As the blade fell, it felt as if her chest had been ripped open from the middle, and a scorch mark immediately appeared on the lotus of shared karma beneath her collarbone. The third ancestral root in her dantian also trembled.

The bloodline between Jiang Siyue's eyebrows lost its support, and the dark red light suddenly dimmed, abruptly severing the clear connection between mother and daughter.

"Mother!"

"Pei Yunji, protect her."

Jiang Yining flicked her wrist, and the purple-gold vines wrapped around Jiang Siyue and the fire spirit falcon, flying towards the shore. The vines formed a thick wooden cage in mid-air, and when they landed, they were supported by the green wood array patterns on the shore, preventing the children from being hit.

Lou Xiaotian and Pei Yunji were thrown to the other side, and the two of them crashed into the stone wall at the same time. Just as they were about to get up, the wooden vines flipped up from the ground and trapped them together.

"Jiang Yining, you left April here, intending to lure the Divine Realm away yourself?"

Lou Xiaotian swung his spear at the wooden prison, but the spearhead was entangled by vines as soon as it got close. He looked up at the ancient boat, his eyes filled with suppressed anger.

"My people, Jiang Yining's people, are not for the Divine Realm to take, nor are they for you to shield me from."

Jiang Yining clenched her palms, and the last strand of external blood vine peeled off from her heart. Fresh blood flowed down her clothes, and the dark red lines in the ancient ship array immediately lost their coordinates for April.

A pale, giant hand emerged halfway from the void rift, first reaching for the wooden prison on the shore. The lingering fox breath at the tip of Jiang Siyue's tail became its last clue.

Jiang Yining raised her hand, and the purple-gold essence from the depths of the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree flowed through her meridians to her fingertips. She placed that wisp of essence on her brow, and the aura of the divine tree immediately overwhelmed the remaining fox breath.

The pale giant hand paused in mid-air for a moment, then changed direction, its five fingers reaching down towards Jiang Yining on the ancient boat.

"Look carefully, grab me."

She stepped onto the ancient ship, and lightning from her palm struck the core array eye. The spirit wood hull, which had been dormant for many years, lit up with purple array patterns, and the entire ancient ship crashed into the boundary wall of the Martial Spirit Realm.

"Mother, come back!"

Jiang Siyue rushed to the edge of the wooden cell, her nine tails slapping against the vines, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Jiang Yining glanced back at her, her voice carrying through the tomb: "Follow Uncle Pei, listen to Aunt Chu, and Mother will find you."

Lou Xiaotian broke free of a vine lock and charged towards the closing boundary wall: "Jiang Yining, you come back here!"

Pei Yunji hugged Jiang Siyue tightly. The inner ancestral seal was so bright that it was blinding, but he still couldn't find a gap before the boundary closed.

The ancient boat crashed through the boundary, dragging the pale giant hand into the violent spatial passage. The tomb chamber of the Martial Spirit Realm, the underground river, and the figures of several people on the shore rapidly shrank within the crack.

Jiang Yining stood at the bow of the ship, her long hair behind her shoulders being swirled by the spatial turbulence, and the wound from which she had just severed the blood vine felt cold.

She didn't look back for long before pressing her divine sense into the array patterns on the ship's hull, dodging the oncoming silver spatial blade.

There was no up or down in the spatial passage. The ancient boat was like a withered leaf being tossed about by the wind, sometimes flipping over, sometimes being cleaved in two by sharp blades. The pale giant hand still gripped the stern, its five fingers slowly closing in.

Jiang Yining activated the Purple-Gold Demon Vine, its tip piercing into the giant hand's palm, drawing out high-dimensional power along the gaps in the runes.

The pale giant hand suddenly tightened, crushing a large section of the ancient boat's stern. The demonic vines were also shaken and cracked inch by inch, with the purple-gold sap splashing into the turbulent flow and immediately turning into tiny specks of light.

"If you want to catch me, come with me down this road first."

She sent the last wisp of lightning spiritual power into the bottom of the ship, and the ancient boat suddenly accelerated, its hull creating a brief gap in the spatial blade.

The next moment, the ship broke apart from the middle, and all the array materials and spirit wood fragments were swept into the darkness at the same time. The pale giant hand was also pulled aside by the turbulent current.

Jiang Yining lost her footing and fell downwards. Her robes were ripped open by the spatial blade, and her shoulders, back, and legs were covered in bloody gashes.

Her spiritual energy in her dantian was almost depleted, and she could only protect her heart meridian with her hands, letting her body tumble in the boundless turbulent currents.

The dark wooden box fell out of the storage bag, its lid was pried open by the wind blade, and the old Buddhist beads left by Fan Chenxin rolled into her palm.

The prayer beads were stained with her blood, and a dark golden light seeped out from the holes, spreading a thin film along her chest and several vital points.

The spatial blade struck the light membrane, its sharp edge sliding smoothly to both sides without cutting into her body.

Jiang Yining clutched the Buddhist prayer beads in her hand, her breathing becoming intermittent due to the turbulent air, yet a hint of coldness appeared on her lips.

"God Realm, I've remembered the debt you owe me."

As soon as she uttered those words, her body passed through the end of the turbulent current and crashed heavily into a patch of black seawater.

The icy seawater rushed into her mouth and nose, and its corrosive power seeped into her bones through her wounds. Jiang Yining only had time to protect the Yin Wood Box before being dragged deeper into the black tide.

It was so quiet all around that you couldn't hear the wind, except for a slow ripple coming from underwater.

In the darkness, someone chuckled softly.

"Another one fell down looking for trouble."