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

The humid steam in Lingquan Cave lingers for a long time.

The luminous pearl embedded in the dome cast a layer of cold, blue light, illuminating the clear pool in the center, which rippled with countless tiny waves.

Jiang Yining changed into a clean purple and gold patterned long dress, her jet-black hair casually tied back with a sandalwood hairpin, and sat sideways on a white jade platform by the spring.

Xie Wuwang leaned against the shadow of the rock wall three steps away.

He bent his left leg, placed his right hand on his knee, and loosely held the black iron pot that could never be filled with murky, strong liquor.

The black fabric on his left arm was slashed into several tattered strips by a sharp blade, and dark purple poisonous patterns, like living creatures, snaked up his forearm, past the elbow, and all the way to the messy, open collar.

Water droplets dripped from the tips of the inverted stalactites, splashing onto the water's surface and creating shallow ripples.

Jiang Yining took out the Qingling Spring Water, Jade Bone Regenerating Ointment, and several rolls of unblemished white gauze from her storage ring and neatly arranged them on the edge of the stone platform.

Jiang Yining broke the silence in the cave, her tone flat and without any inflection: "Come here."

Xie Wuwang didn't even lift his eyelids, his rough thumb repeatedly rubbing the edge of the wine pot: "I'm not going."

Jiang Yining glanced at the faint black blood seeping from his shoulder: "The poisonous markings have already spread to your collarbone. Are you planning to leave this arm crippled?"

Xie Wuwang let out a low sneer, finally raising his eyelids. His dark purple pupils churned with lingering resentment and bitterness: "So what if it's crippled? Anyway, there are people eager to shield you from spears, people rushing to untangle your tangled mess, and people bringing you tea and medicine morning and night. Whether my rotten arm is good or bad, it won't stop you from gaining a few more loyal helpers."

Jiang Yining looked down at him, her fingertips lightly tracing a line in the air.

Two purple-gold magic vines, shimmering with a pale golden light, emerged from the cracks in the rocks and wrapped around Xie Wuwang's waist and wrists.

Xie Wuwang's body was slightly disturbed by the laws of destruction, but after recognizing that familiar purple-gold light, he abruptly dissipated the blade light that was about to be unleashed at his fingertips.

The vines contracted slightly, pulling the tall man from the shadows to the front of the white jade platform.

Xie Wuwang was forced to kneel down beside the stone platform by the force, and was forced to look up at her face.

His sharply defined face was full of untamed spirit, and the corners of his eyes were red from the aftermath of a fierce battle, making him look like a trapped beast that had been deprived of its food but had nowhere to vent its anger.

Jiang Yining didn't meet his gaze, but instead rolled up her sleeves and tore off the tattered fabric that was stuck to his arm with blood and flesh.

The charred, everted flesh was completely exposed to the cold light.

The deadly poison of annihilation and the golden light of the remaining laws of the Divine Palace were still locked in a fierce battle deep within the wound, so deep that bone was visible.

With a silk handkerchief soaked in the spiritual spring water, she gently and steadily wiped away the festering, foul blood from the edges.

Jiang Yining whispered without looking up, "If it hurts, just utter a sound."

Xie Wuwang gritted his teeth and said in a hard voice, "I won't die, it won't hurt."

Jiang Yining took the Jade Bone Ointment and applied the cool, medicinally fragrant mud to his wounds. She then channeled the gentle vitality of the Myriad Spirit Divine Wood into his fingertips, forcibly sealing off the rampant and rebellious poisonous energy: "Your skin and flesh are rotten like this, yet you're still so stubborn."

Xie Wuwang gazed at her drooping eyelashes and the soft purple light dancing between her fingers. The pent-up anger in his chest, which had been building up for so long, quietly melted into an indescribable soreness.

He leaned forward.

His broad forehead rested heavily on her shoulder, burying most of his face in the soft fabric of her neck.

Jiang Yining paused slightly as she bandaged him, her fingertips brushing against his earlobe, but she ultimately did not reach out to push him away.

Xie Wuwang buried his face in her neck and shoulder, his voice muffled by the layers of fabric: "I was the one who found you in the Black Sea first."

He wrapped his arms around her waist, his grip tightening inch by inch: "When the Thousand Threads afflicted you, why didn't you even call my name?"

Xie Wuwang closed his eyes, his hot breath washing over the delicate skin of her neck: "I'm guarding outside the secret passage. Even through this Dragon-Slaying Stone, if you just shout, I'll risk my meridians to shatter it into pieces. You'd rather let that money-grubbing fox touch you than trust me even once?"

Jiang Yining deftly tied the white gauze in her hand into a tight knot, her expression remaining calm: "The Thousand Threads Entanglement is specifically designed to counter the essence of plants and trees. If you were to enter, you would only be drained of your life force by the Myriad Spirits Divine Tree, its laws of destruction providing no relief whatsoever. Moreover, your Annihilation Poison is about to take effect; are you planning to explode and die with me in the Spirit Spring?"

Xie Wuwang turned his head, his eyes red-rimmed, and looked at her: "It's better to die from an explosion than to die listening to the noise outside the door. Do you know that when I heard the sound of water outside, I wished I could detonate the Wuwang Sea and fill the entire city?"

Looking at his stubborn and unruly appearance, Jiang Yining sighed inwardly.

She raised her hand to brush away a stray strand of hair from his forehead, her fingertips tracing his tense cheek: "Thank you, Ferryman. On that wrecked ship in the Boundless Sea, who was it that first grabbed my wrist and wouldn't let go?"

Xie Wuwang's Adam's apple bobbed, and a dark layer appeared on his earlobes.

He was about to retort when Jiang Yining's expression suddenly changed.

The originally docile and dormant fetal energy in his lower abdomen was suddenly stirred up by Xie Wuwang's close proximity to his bloodline and his turbulent emotions, causing a violent resonance.

Two domineering laws from the same source collided and tore at each other at the edge of the Qi Sea, causing the blood and Qi throughout the body to churn violently.

Jiang Yining turned her face away, raised her hand to support herself on the stone platform, frowned and dry heaved.

Xie Wuwang was pushed and swayed. Seeing her pale face and cold sweat, the grievance and anger in his eyes instantly shattered into panic.

Xie Wuwang reached out and held her shoulders: "What's wrong? Is the lingering poison from the Thousand Threads still there, or did you damage the roots of the Divine Tree while removing the poison for me?"

Jiang Yining raised her hand to stop him from getting closer, her stomach churning so badly that she couldn't even speak.

Xie Wuwang could no longer care about anything else. He placed his fingertips on her wrist pulse point and probed her Qi Sea with a wisp of pure divine sense.

The moment his divine sense touched the edge of his dantian, his entire body froze on the spot.

Deep within the vast and magnificent purple-gold vitality of the Divine Tree of Ten Thousand Spirits, a small yet powerful aura of life force is hidden.

That aura, swirling with pure and flawless laws of annihilation and destruction, was joyfully absorbing the life force of the divine tree.

Even at the moment it sensed his divine sense approaching, the ball of spiritual light trembled almost imperceptibly, conveying a trace of extremely intimate attachment.

That is the inextricable mark of shared blood and destiny.

Xie Wuwang's hand, which was resting on her wrist, began to tremble violently.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze shifting to Jiang Yining's flat stomach before returning to her face in a daze.

Xie Wuwang's lips trembled, and after several attempts, he managed to squeeze out broken words: "You...you're pregnant?"

His eyes welled up with tears, and even his breathing became cautious: "Is...it's my own flesh and blood?"

Jiang Yining calmed her surging blood and looked at the man who was usually decisive and ruthless but was now at a loss. She glanced at him helplessly.

Jiang Yining withdrew her wrist, saying irritably, "Otherwise what? Besides your domineering and unreasonable Fallen Immortal Body of Annihilation, whose bloodline can take root in the Divine Tree's essence?"

Xie Wuwang held his breath.

He sat there, stunned, as if a million thunderbolts were exploding in his mind, creating towering waves.

Xie Wuwang muttered to himself in a daze, "I'm going to be a father..."

He tentatively reached out to touch her lower abdomen, his fingertips hovering in mid-air before retracting, afraid that the bloody killing intent emanating from him would disturb that faint life force.

At the corner of the stone steps outside the secret passage to the cave.

Yun Zhongce, dressed in a moon-white and dark gold brocade robe, leaned calmly against the cold, green rock wall.

He was holding his folding fan, which was wrinkled and crumpled from being soaked in the spiritual spring, in his palm.

Qian Yong stood three steps behind, watching the crimson blood dripping from between the young master's fingers onto the ground, and whispered in fear, "Young master, your palm has been pierced by the fan bone..."

The jade frame of the folding fan had already broken inch by inch under the hidden force, and the sharp shards pierced deep into the flesh of the palm, with fresh blood trickling down.

Yun Zhongce didn't look down to examine his wound. The usual nonchalance vanished from his slightly upturned peach blossom eyes, leaving only a deep, dark abyss: "Too talkative."

He loosened his fingers, letting the priceless folding fan's remains fall into the dust.

Yun Zhongce murmured the name softly: "Xie Wuwang".

He raised his hand and slowly wiped the bloodstains from his palm with a snow-white handkerchief, a cold sneer curling at the corner of his mouth: "So what if we met first? So what if we're connected by blood?"

He tossed the handkerchief onto the broken fan: "It's hard to say who holds the bargaining chips until the deal is finalized."

Yun Zhongce straightened his neatly pressed cuffs and instructed, "Qian Yong."

Qian Yong quickly bowed and said, "Your subordinate is here."

Yun Zhongce's gaze swept over the tightly closed stone door: "Take the three-thousand-year-old nine-leaf purple fungus from the Chamber of Commerce's warehouse, as well as the box of sealed Earth Vein Soul-Soothing Essence. Also, find all the best nurturing vein records in the city and deliver them here within half an hour."

Qian Yong hesitated: "Young Master, is that Zizhi meant for the General Association...?"

Yun Zhongce gave him a cold glance: "I told you to go, so go."

Qian Yong dared not say anything more and hurriedly accepted the order and left.

Inside the cave, Xie Wuwang's bewilderment had not yet faded.

He remained kneeling on one knee, his gaze fixed on Jiang Yining's waist.

Xie Wuwang asked softly, "How long? I mean... how long has it been inside?"

Jiang Yining straightened her clothes: "Counting from the Sea of ​​Nothingness, it hasn't even been a month."

Xie Wuwang suddenly stood up and paced impatiently in place: "The law of annihilation is too intense and will burn your meridians. No, I have to draw out the source and let it absorb my divine soul power."

Having said that, he gathered true essence in his palm and was about to cut his own heart meridian.

Jiang Yining twitched her fingertips slightly, and a vine lashed her wrist away.

Jiang Yining said coldly, "Put the knife away. The poison of annihilation in your body hasn't been completely cleared yet. Are you trying to use this filthy source to subdue the child because you think the child is too docile?"

Xie Wuwang was scolded, but instead of being angry, he was pleased, and a rare gentle smile appeared on his face.

Xie Wuwang rubbed his palms together: "Right, we can't release the tainted blood. I need to go find immortal crystals and bring you all the spiritual items in Tianyan City that can nourish your vital energy."

Jiang Yining called out to him, "Xie Wuwang."

Xie Wuwang stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her.

Jiang Yining looked directly into his eyes: "I don't need you to go crazy, nor do I need you to loot the city. If you can't even protect your own life, how can you protect us, mother and child?"

Xie Wuwang trembled, and the bloodshot in his eyes deepened.

He nodded emphatically and agreed in a hoarse voice: "Alright, I'll listen to you. I won't act recklessly. If anyone dares to harm you even a little, I will crush their soul and feed it to the ferocious beasts of the Boundless Sea."