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

The people from the Divine Realm have already caught up with her to Tianyan City. The Key to Breaking Boundaries that Di Xuanqing is looking for is still inside her body. Every time the child in her womb grows, the amount of the Law of Annihilation required increases.

Her cultivation level was only at the early stage of the Void Realm.

Not enough, far from enough.

The door was pushed open a crack from the outside.

There was no knocking, only a wisp of warm air carrying a faint woody scent drifted in before she could hear it.

Yun Zhongce leaned against the door frame.

He had somehow broken free of the vines, changed into clean casual clothes, and his wet hair was still dripping wet, clinging to his face in strands.

There was no folding fan, no laughter; her peach blossom eyes reflected a flickering lamp at the end of the corridor.

He walked in.

He held in his hands a light blue cloak that he had found somewhere, still warm from being heated by the fireplace.

The footsteps were so light that they barely made a sound on the wooden floor.

He walked behind her, bent down, unfolded the cloak, and slowly draped it over her shoulders.

His hands circled loosely around her from behind, without touching her body, but simply gathered the two corners of the cloak and crossed them in front of her chest.

His chin rested an inch above her ear, his warm breath brushing against her hair.

"A-Ning."

The voice was so soft it sounded like a sigh squeezed from the deepest part of the throat.

Jiang Yining did not move.

"I, Yun Zhongce, have been scheming my whole life."

His voice was very low, as if afraid of disturbing the moonlight outside the window, "Gold and silver pass through hands without leaving fingerprints, and people's hearts pass through eyes without being stained by dust. The people of Tianyan City say that my treasure-gathering bone is born to recognize only spirit stones and not people."

He gathered the two corners of the cloak slightly around her chest.

"But this time, I gave my heart."

The moon outside the window was half-hidden by a thin cloud, and the room became dark.

Jiang Yining lowered her eyes and looked at his fingers draped over his cloak. The knuckles were distinct and the nails were neatly trimmed. They were the hands of someone who had lived a life of luxury.

These hands shielded her from a spear of law today.

She spoke.

The sound was very flat, so flat that you couldn't hear any ripples.

"Your heart is too expensive; I can't afford it."

Yun Zhongcehuan tightened his arms around her for a moment, then loosened them again.

He slowly straightened up and took a step back.

Moonlight peeked out from behind the clouds again, illuminating his face. Jiang Yining saw his expression in the reflection of the glass window.

He's laughing.

She was smiling, just like every time she had been rejected before.

But this time, the light in those peach blossom eyes was even fainter than the ink bamboo painted on the folding fan.

"It's okay if you can't afford it."

He turned and walked towards the door, but stopped at the threshold and looked at his shadow on the ground.

"When it comes to buying on credit, I, Yun Zhongce, am an expert."

The door closed behind him.

The sound of his footsteps gradually receding into the corridor echoed, his heel tumbling on the third step.

Jiang Yining leaned back in her chair and pulled the cloak over her shoulders tighter.

The warm fragrance above hasn't dissipated yet.

A dull thud came from the next room, as if someone had smashed an empty wine jug against the wall.

Then came Xie Wuwang's hoarse and muffled voice, which sounded like he was gritting his teeth even through two walls.

"Sneaking into someone else's room in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, believe me or not I'll hang you on the city gate tower to dry tomorrow."

After Xie Wuwang woke up, he didn't say a complete sentence to Yun Zhongce for two days.

His daily routine consisted of following behind Jiang Yining, carrying an empty wine jug and acting as a human roadblock.

As long as Yun Zhongce gets within three steps of Jiang Yining, he's like a snake whose tail has been stepped on; the murderous intent emanating from his entire body makes even the servants in the corridor walk close to the wall.

But Yun Zhongce changed his tactics.

He stopped giving away spirit stones and spiritual materials, and he barely even showed off that ink bamboo folding fan anymore.

On the first morning, Jiang Yining opened the door and found a bowl of hot porridge on the low table by the door.

Three red dates were added to the porridge, which was cooked until thick and had a thin layer of spiritual energy floating on top.

There was no post, and no signature.

Xie Wuwang poked his head out from next door, stared at the bowl of porridge for a couple of moments, his face clearly saying: What does this have to do with me?

"You didn't put it there?"

"Do I look like someone who would cook porridge?"

Jiang Yining picked up the bowl and smelled it. It was red date porridge, which nourished blood and qi, and had a mild medicinal effect, which was beneficial for stabilizing the meridians during pregnancy.

She drank it.

The next day, I wore a pair of cotton-soled shoes with warm herbal fleece lining, and the size was exactly right.

On the third day, there was a small, delicate spirit fire heater, burning a slow fire mixed with high-quality spirit stone powder, which could keep the bed warm all night long if placed by the bedside.

There were no posts, no signatures, and no free folding fans with crooked tree drawings.

But every day when Jiang Yining was repairing the array in the workshop, a cup of spiritual spring tea at just the right temperature would always appear on the corner of the table, and she never saw who put it there.

"Yun Zhongce's methods are becoming increasingly insidious."

Xie Wuwang slumped in his usual spot behind the bookshelf, holding a book upside down in his hand, chewing on a piece of dried meat, his gaze fixed on the steaming cup of tea by the door with a gloomy expression.

How do you know it was him?

"In this shabby place, besides him, who else has the time to serve you tea and water?"

"Perhaps it's Qian Yong."

"Qian Yong even knows what temperature of tea you drink?"

Jiang Yining glanced down at the teacup; it was about 70% warm, just the temperature she was used to.

She didn't respond to that question, but picked up her teacup and took a sip.

Xie Wuwang slammed the book on the table.

That evening, a golden pillar of light suddenly rose from the direction of the Tianyan City Lord's Mansion.

A beam of light pierced through the clouds, carrying a powerful pressure of law that sent chills down the spines of all the cultivators in the city, and shot straight into the sky.

Jiang Yining paused on her way back to the inn.

The Divine Tree of Myriad Spirits suddenly contracted inward within the dantian, its purple-gold branches and leaves completely enveloping the lower abdomen.

Xie Wuwang had already blocked her way, his left hand forming a half-formed black blade of annihilation, his dark purple eyes fixed on the direction of the pillar of light.

"The decree of the shrine."

Yun Zhongce strode over from the side alley, having changed back into his black battle robe, the array plate in his hand buzzing.

All traces of his former nonchalance had vanished, and his peach blossom eyes were now as cold as two polished jade stones.

"The imperial edict from Emperor Xuanqing has just reached the City Lord's Mansion, and my men have made a copy."

He handed a talisman to Jiang Yining.

The edict contained only two lines of text.

A nationwide manhunt is hereby issued. Anyone caught smuggling in with a different kind of law will be killed on sight. Anyone who takes their spirit bones will be rewarded with a golden elixir.

Anyone who harbors or protects such a person shall have their entire family executed.

Xie Wuwang glanced at the talisman and chuckled.

"I killed seven of his people in the Xuan Tian Realm, and he has the nerve to only offer a Golden Immortal Pill as a reward."

"This decree ostensibly targets those who smuggle in alien laws, but it's actually aimed at the Myriad Spirit Divine Tree."

Yun Zhongce's voice was very low, completely different from his usual coaxing tone, "Di Xuanqing has been searching for the Key to Breaking the Boundary for tens of thousands of years. Now that the news of the God General's destruction has been sent back to the Divine Palace, he must have confirmed that the Myriad Spirit Divine Tree is near Tianyan City."

"What should we do then? Run?"

Xie Wuwang turned to look at Jiang Yining, his tone carrying a roguish air of self-righteousness.

"Tell me a direction, and I'll lead you out of here."

"Fight our way out?"

Yun Zhongce walked up to him, arms crossed. "Tianyan City has seven exits, and the guards at each one have been replaced by people from the City Lord's Mansion. With the decree issued, all cultivators entering or leaving the city must undergo verification by the Soul-Illuminating Mirror. What's the difference between you leading her through the gates and holding up a lantern to tell the people of the Divine Palace, 'I'm here'?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"have."

Yun Zhongce took out a white jade identity slip from his sleeve, flicked it with his fingertip, and a line of light characters appeared on the surface of the jade slip.

Xuanxuzi, a third-class retainer of the Tianyan Chamber of Commerce, is a local cultivator with a wood-type spiritual root and is in the early stage of the Void Realm.

"I gave her an identity, a third-class honorific rank, which is neither high nor low. There are thousands of people in Tianyan City who use this title, and she is the most inconspicuous among them."

Xie Wuwang stared at the jade slip for three breaths, then his expression darkened.

"When did you start preparing?"

"yesterday."

"We hadn't received the imperial edict yet yesterday."

"That's why I'm more useful than you."

Yun Zhongce handed the jade slip to Jiang Yining, a slight smile curving his lips. "You foresaw this in advance. What can you do? Business people are just more perceptive than those who fight and kill."

Xie Wuwang's molars made a grinding sound.

Jiang Yining took the jade slip and scanned it with her divine sense.

The spiritual root base, cultivation fluctuations, blood and qi characteristics, and even the frequency of meridian operation have all been adjusted. When the Soul-Illuminating Mirror scans it, it looks exactly the same as the real thing.

"It's very well done."

"certainly."

Yun Zhongce placed his hands on the edge of the table, tilted his head to look at her, and said, "What I do for others is business, what I do for you is craftsmanship."

Xie Wuwang picked up the wine pot and was about to smash it over.

Jiang Yining used a vine to wrap around the pot, pulled it away, and placed it on top of the cabinet.

"Have you had enough? We haven't finished talking about the important stuff."

She put the jade slip into her sleeve and looked at the two of them.

"The decree has been issued. The longer we stay in Tianyan City, the more dangerous it will be. We can't abandon the project halfway through its construction, but I need time."

How much time do you need?

The strategy was devised in the clouds.

"After half a month, the Guiyuan Retracing Road was completed, and I collected the final payment and left."

"Half a month."

He chewed on the number for a moment, then nodded. "I'll send out all the people in the intelligence network tonight. Every little thing related to the Divine Palace, inside and outside the city, will pass through my hands before reaching your ears."

He glanced at Xie Wuwang.

"You handle the fighting, I'll handle the intelligence. Clear division of labor, don't interfere."

Xie Wuwang glared back.

Their eyes met for three breaths in the air.

Jiang Yining looked down at the wanted edict on the table, her fingers unconsciously tracing the area below her waistband.

half a month.

That's enough.

In the evening, the candlelight in the small study behind the inn was dim.

Yun Zhongce was hunched over his desk revising the detailed parameters of the second version of the identity jade slip. His folding fan was lying beside him, and his brows were furrowed, a rare sight. Under the candlelight, his peach blossom eyes lost their usual frivolity, leaving only a focused gaze.

Footsteps came from the doorway.

Jiang Yining walked in carrying a cup of tea.

Yun Zhongce looked up, and their eyes met in mid-air.

The candlelight flickered, illuminating half of his face in light and the other half in shadow.

Jiang Yining placed the teacup beside him.

He reached out to take it, but his fingertips, as they touched the cup, curved and slid from the porcelain surface into her palm, giving it a light, gentle hook.

The flick was incredibly fast, like a ripple left by a fish tail on the water's surface. By the time she reacted, the teacup had already landed steadily in his hand.

Yun Zhongce looked up, the candlelight illuminating his peach blossom eyes with exceptional clarity.

"Ah Ning, for you, I even lied to the Xuan Tian Divine Palace."

His voice still had that same nonchalant tone, but the look in his eyes was different.

"Aren't you going to give me some kind of reward?"

boom.

The study door was kicked open from the outside, the hinges broke in half, and the whole door was wobbling and tilting inside the frame.

Xie Wuwang stood at the door, the Annihilation Black Blade condensed in his palm, his face filled with killing intent.

"A reward? I'll give you a reward right now: I'll send you to the Western Paradise."

Yun Zhongce raised the teacup to his lips and took a sip, glancing at Xie Wuwang through the rising steam.

"This tea was brought to me by Aning. If you're going to kick the door down, at least wait until I've finished drinking it."

Xie Wuwang's blade grew three inches longer.