You're just a single demon beast? I have a whole army of beast tamers!

Qin Shou remained silent for a moment, then finally nodded.

The woman surnamed Shen didn't say much, but took out a pale red elixir and swallowed it.

Qin Shou recognized it; it was the Immortal Nourishing Pill.

That night, the attic was so quiet that only the chirping of insects outside the courtyard could be heard.

This was the first time Qin Shou had shared a room with a woman surnamed Shen. He was less decisive and ruthless than usual, and instead felt a little awkward and uneasy.

The woman surnamed Shen was more composed than him, but late into the night, she muttered under her breath, "Why are you acting like you're refining the first batch of elixirs? You're being overly cautious."

"I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it," Qin Shou replied dryly.

"Stop talking nonsense." She turned her head away, her ears slightly red.

Before dawn the next day, she left during a shift change.

She did not appear in public for the next ten months.

On the surface, Qin Shou acted as usual, refining pills during the day and cultivating at night. However, every half month, he would go to a desolate mountain outside the city to retrieve a few insignificant spiritual herbs, in reality to investigate the secret messages she sent back.

Seven days before his delivery, he indeed received a telepathic message from Konoha:

"The time is approaching, and a great phenomenon will occur. Come to Black Stone Valley immediately."

That night, Qin Shou found an excuse to go out of the city to gather herbs.

He first used his ability to walk through the void to sneak into the night, and changed his aura several times until he was sure that no one was following him, before heading straight for the Black Rock Abandoned Valley.

The valley was filled with jagged rocks, and the woman surnamed Shen was already waiting in a hidden stone cave. Her face was pale, her fetal energy was extremely strong, and the green light emanating from her body was getting stronger and stronger.

"You've arrived." She looked up at Qin Shou, her tone no longer cold as usual. "Release your immortal abode, quickly."

Qin Shou dared not be negligent and took out Zhenyuan Immortal Mansion.

The immortal abode transformed into a three-zhang-tall blue-gray palace. He helped her into it, and then stored her and the immortal abode into his gourd space.

He then sat cross-legged and activated the laws of heaven, turning the heavenly secrets inside and outside the immortal palace into chaos.

The Zhenyuan Cauldron above their heads slowly rotated, enveloping the entire immortal palace in a hazy, gray light curtain.

A short while later, a very soft cry was heard.

Qin Shou turned his head and saw that the baby girl in the arms of the woman surnamed Shen was pure white, with a faint blue leaf pattern on her forehead.

Three inches above his head, a phantom image of a green tree slowly rotated, instantly enriching the spiritual energy in the room.

"Wood Spirit Sacred Body".

The woman surnamed Shen said wearily, "Purer than any generation of the Shen family."

Qin Shou approached and looked down at the baby girl.

She had stopped crying and was looking at him curiously with her dark, blurry eyes.

Qin Shou reached out and gently touched her forehead, a feeling of inexplicable tenderness welling up in his heart.

The Sacred Body, second only to the Dao Body, is destined to make one a Golden Immortal.

"Let's call him Qin Jiuqing."

He whispered, "Qing represents wood, and Jiu represents the generational name."

"Okay." The woman surnamed Shen smiled faintly, but Qin Shou remembered it for a long time.

......

The Qin beast stayed in the gourd space for two days.

In the past two days, he first set up nine layers of restrictions outside the immortal mansion.

Each layer of restriction is guided by a different law. The outermost layer uses the law of heavenly secrets to confuse heavenly secrets. The three middle layers are formed by the laws of water, wood, and earth respectively. Further inside, the laws of space and the laws of illusion alternately conceal the barrier.

In the innermost layer, he almost exhausted one-tenth of his immortal spiritual power to carve a small isolation array around the immortal mansion, firmly locking the baby girl's wood spirit energy within the array and preventing any leakage.

After doing all this, he returned to the immortal abode.

Shen Liuli was leaning against a soft couch, and Qin Jiuqing in her arms was already asleep.

The blue leaf-like pattern between the baby girl's eyebrows was no longer shiny, but it could still be faintly seen.

The spiritual energy inside the immortal abode was denser than outside, making even her breathing seem exceptionally long and deep.

"Continue to stall the Shui family under the pretext of seclusion."

Qin Shou walked to the bedside and whispered, "It's perfectly normal for a Tribulation Transcending cultivator to go into seclusion for 180 years."

You have been staying in the immortal abode these days, recuperating from your injuries and guiding her growth.

"I have set up a protective barrier inside the immortal abode, so it will not be detected by anyone in the short term."

Shen Liuli looked up at him, her eyes much gentler than before:

"Okay, I'll do whatever you say."

"No need for such formalities," Qin Shou said. "We're already Daoist partners, there's no need for thanks."

She paused for a moment, then gave a soft "hmm".

After a moment, she added, "Okay. By the way, my name is Shen Liuli."

Qin Shou paused, turning back to look at her.

She seemed a little uncomfortable, looking away and gazing at her daughter in her arms, a faint blush showing on the tips of her ears.

"I've got it." Qin Shou said these three words and turned to leave the Immortal Abode.

It was already past midnight when we returned to the villa.

Qin Shou did not immediately enter meditation. Instead, he stood under the old locust tree in the courtyard and spread his divine sense to scan the surroundings again.

After confirming that there was nothing amiss, he exhaled a sigh of relief and pushed open the door to return to the quiet room.

Since that night, Shen Liuli has not shown her face again. Only from time to time, she sends out a message or two from the gourd space, informing Qin Jiuqing that he has grown a few inches and may have been able to open his eyes and recognize people.

Sometimes, when the night is deep and quiet, Qin Beast will use his divine sense to enter the space and take a look.

The baby girl gradually grew plump and fair, and the blue leaf pattern between her eyebrows became fainter and fainter. She was able to fall asleep peacefully with the wisp of breath he had left in the immortal mansion.

At the same time, the Shui family finally realized that Shen Liuli had returned.

At first, only two deacons from a collateral branch came to the door, saying that the clan leader invited Miss Shen to come over and have a talk.

A sign hanging at Shen Liuli's door read, "Unfinished seclusion, no visitors allowed," and there was no sound.

The two deacons assumed she was still recovering from her injuries and dared not force their way in.

But a few days later, the person who came was replaced by a member of the inner circle, and his attitude became much tougher.

"Miss Shen, we are also acting under orders."

"If you don't come out for a day, we won't be able to explain ourselves for a day."

A middle-aged female cultivator stood at the door, her voice neither too loud nor too soft, yet carrying an air of undeniable authority.

Shen Liuli returned indoors and uttered from her immortal abode, "I am in seclusion."

The female cultivator wasn't angry. She simply ordered two spies to be left outside the courtyard gate before leaving with her people.

They only needed to confirm that Shen Liuli was still at the Shui family's residence.

When Qin Shou heard about this, he was refining elixirs in the alchemy hall.

Shui Qingli's expression wasn't good, and she sat to the side and said in a low voice:

"The people from the Ten Thousand Demons Sect have sent word that the Shui family must hand over the Shen family's orphaned daughter."

Although the clan did not agree, they dared not make any definitive statements.

The elders are already discussing whether to send her away if they cannot protect her.

"Send them away?" Qin Shou's subordinate paused.

"That's just the worst-case scenario."

Shui Qingli sighed, "The waters of the Three Immortal Realms run deeper than you and I can imagine."

This celestial realm is home to three immortal islands, each guarded by a Golden Immortal.

Beneath the Three Immortal Islands, numerous Xuanxian (mystical immortal) forces exist, among which the Wanmo Xuanzong (Ten Thousand Demons Mystic Sect) alone has more than ten Xuanxian members on the surface.

The Shui family is merely one of the Xuanxian families. Without utilizing the five-family alliance, they are indeed too powerful to offend on their own.

Qin Shou silently put the medicinal liquid back into the furnace without saying a word.

He knew perfectly well that the Shui family's willingness to take in Shen Liuli was never due to any past relationship.

What they valued was nothing more than the Wood Spirit bloodline.

If the other party pushes too hard, the Shui family may use her as a bargaining chip at any time.

It was called "sending away," but in reality, it was abandoning a pawn.

"What did Miss Shen say herself?" he asked.

"He didn't say anything."

Shui Qingli said, "It only has a sign that says 'Closed-door Cultivation' hanging up."

The clan chief sent people to ask several times, but they couldn't get them to move.

But the more she acted this way, the harder it became to explain to her clan.