Qiuye led his group, rushing in first.

Outside the door, more people he had brought were battling against the beast spirits from Huang Yu Pavilion.

Seeing Qiuye arrive, Hua Ying immediately picked up the child Mu Yunjin had just delivered, wrapped it simply, and held it in her arms.

Mu Yunjin lay there, glancing at the people at the door. Her heart, which had just calmed, began to race again.

“Hua Ying, take the child and leave first,” Mu Yunjin transmitted a secret message to Hua Ying before she could even ask if it was a boy or a girl.

Hua Ying felt apprehensive and hesitated.

“Run toward the hot spring pool. There’s a mechanism on the pool wall—a new secret passage Chu Li installed. You can escape that way,” Mu Yunjin said.

Hua Ying frowned, looking at the tiny child in her arms, and silently nodded to Mu Yunjin.

“Daoist Master, the person is right here,” Qingmeng glanced at Daoist Qiuye, her tone mocking.

…

…

Qiuye looked toward Mu Yunjin, but before he could speak, his peripheral vision caught Hua Ying’s unusual movement. His eyes narrowed as he extended his hand, a fierce light flashing from his palm.

Hua Ying was struck by the harsh light, her body becoming unsteady and about to fall.

At the same time, the child in her arms was pulled away by a suction force.

The next second, the child fell into Qiuye’s hands.

“Wah, wah…” The infant’s cries rang out again.

Seeing this, Mu Yunjin instinctively tried to sit up, but her body was as soft as cotton, completely devoid of strength.

“Oh my, this little darling…” Qiuye looked down at the child who, being premature, was only half the size of a full-term baby.

After a pause, Qiuye looked further down, then turned to Mu Yunjin, “What good fortune—it’s a boy.”

A boy…

Mu Yunjin lay there, at this moment capable of nothing beyond glaring at Qiuye.

This was helplessness and despair she had never experienced before.

The child she had risked her life to deliver was in the hands of villains, and she was powerless.

Seeing the child taken by Qiuye, Hua Ying wanted to step forward to retrieve him, but Qiuye reacted first, holding the child up in the air. “If you dare come closer, I’ll smash this little thing to death!”

Hua Ying didn’t dare move.

“Mu Yunjin, as long as you hand over East Lin Country’s military orders, South Court Country’s Snow Soul Pill, and the Divine Mandate, I will be merciful and let you see this little darling,” Qiuye smiled at Mu Yunjin.

No one knew how badly he wanted to kill this witch, Mu Yunjin, the moment he entered, but with more important items still not obtained, he couldn’t act rashly.

Mu Yunjin tensed her face, surprised by Qiuye’s mention of the Snow Soul Pill—this item wasn’t in her possession.

Gradually, Mu Yunjin felt the pain in her body slowly disappearing.

“Let me see the child first,” Mu Yunjin spoke.

Qiuye sneered, “In your barely surviving state, are you qualified to negotiate with me?”

“Qualified or not, don’t you already know?” Mu Yunjin retorted.

Losing the battle but not losing face had always been her style.

Qiuye grew irritated, glancing at the time, then carrying Mu Yunjin’s child toward her bed. Before he got close, another voice sounded from the door.

“Stop!”

The speaker was Chu Qing.

Chu Qing walked in slowly, approached Qiuye, and took Mu Yunjin’s child from his hands. Looking down at the baby, she gave a cold sneer.

“Indeed, Chu Li’s offspring look just like him.”

Then, she extended her hand, lightly placing it on the child’s delicate neck. “Mu Yunjin, think carefully. If I apply just a bit of force with my finger, your precious son’s head will be twisted off…”

It must be said that Mu Yunjin was truly frightened by Chu Qing’s words.

But she knew that even if she handed over the military orders, these people wouldn’t spare her or the child…

At this moment, Mu Yunjin was filled with rage.

“Three…” Chu Qing began counting down.

Hua Ying had been severely injured by that palm strike earlier; now she felt several bones were broken, making her unable to move.

Qiqi, hit by Qingmeng’s poison powder, was in complete darkness, continuously shedding bloody tears—she could hear but couldn’t see.

Qu Xinyao clutched her belly, her body emanating waves of cold. These people before her were beyond her ability to fight.

Outside, Elder Wind Xuan was severely injured, leaning against a wall, breathing softly, his vision blurred.

Lei Yan and Xiu Mei had sustained injuries of varying severity and were now fighting desperately alongside other beast spirits against the large number of people outside.

And Mu Yunjin, having just gone through premature labor, was depleted of energy, her limbs trembling slightly, unable even to get out of bed.

At this moment, no one could help her.

“Two…” Chu Qing continued.

Mu Yunjin stared at the tiny body in Chu Qing’s hands, her eyes gradually reddening.

“One…”

Chu Qing released her grip.

In that moment of falling, Mu Yunjin suddenly lunged toward the child like a madwoman, disregarding the blood still flowing inside her body. Using the last of her strength, she flew to catch the child who was only a short distance from the ground.

“Wah, wah…” The child, frightened, cried continuously.

Mu Yunjin held the child tightly in her arms, looking down at his face—delicately carved, indeed looking exactly like Chu Li.

After falling into Mu Yunjin’s embrace, the child’s cries instantly stopped.

After holding him for a while, Mu Yunjin suddenly felt a stream of spiritual energy flowing into her body through her wrist.

Mu Yunjin could hardly believe it.

Gradually, the weakness and trembling in Mu Yunjin’s body slowly disappeared, and her energy began to recover bit by bit.

Seeing that Mu Yunjin had saved the child in time, Chu Qing and the others made to come over and snatch him away. Mu Yunjin, with her strength partially recovered, controlled her thoughts to summon the red phoenix.

“The witch is summoning the fire phoenix, kill her quickly!” Qiuye was the first to notice Mu Yunjin’s strange behavior and shouted.

Then, Qiuye, Chu Qing, and Qingmeng simultaneously mobilized their inner strength, striking at Mu Yunjin.

Almost at the same time, from behind the three, came a palm force as powerful as a breaking bamboo. The palm wind came so suddenly and rapidly that they had no time to react.

The three took the full brunt of the palm strike.

“Bang…”

With the collapse of the room’s wall, the three were directly struck outside.

Mu Yunjin looked up, and upon seeing who stood at the door, her eyes revealed shock, instantly filling with tears.

At the door stood Chu Li, covered in blood.

Meeting Mu Yunjin’s gaze, Chu Li pressed his lips tightly, frowning, and slowly stepped into the room, gradually approaching Mu Yunjin.

Though they had only been apart for a short while, why did they both look as if they had walked through hell?

“Chu Li, you…” As Chu Li approached, Mu Yunjin choked up, looking at him, seeing his unstable gait and knowing he was seriously injured.

Before she could continue, Chu Li slowly knelt before her, his bloodied hand lightly touching her cheek, his gaze fixed on her face, silent for a long time.

Mu Yunjin could feel Chu Li’s trembling hands and the thousands of emotions he was now suppressing.

Just as she was about to tell him that their child had been born, Chu Li suddenly could no longer hold on and fainted, closing his eyes.

Before fainting, his lips uttered two words—

“Huan’er…”

Mu Yunjin froze in place.

…

One and a half hours earlier.

After Chu Li flew out of the room, through the faint light scattered by the lanterns in the courtyard, he could see a familiar figure standing on the roof.

Black-robed Feng Lan.

Chu Li wasn’t surprised that this person hadn’t died, only surprised that he had come directly to Prince Ning’s residence.

Feng Lan, seemingly unaware that Chu Li was standing behind him, spoke to a black-clad figure nearby, “The antidote is in my hands. Mu Yunjin must die tonight.”

As he spoke, he turned around to see the grim-faced Chu Li behind him.

Almost instinctively, Feng Lan flew away to escape.

Whenever something concerning Mu Yunjin arose, Chu Li completely lost his rationality, especially after hearing the word “antidote” just now.

So with narrowed eyes, he pursued in the direction Feng Lan had fled.

Besides Chu Li, Huang Yan, Ding Xian, and Song Chun, sensing something wrong, also rushed out, following in the direction Chu Li had left.

After they departed, Qingmeng walked out of her room, her face revealing a smile of success.

When Chu Li chased to the outskirts of the city, black-robed Feng Lan suddenly stopped, standing alone by a small stream.

Upon seeing Chu Li, the black-robed figure slowly turned around, lips revealing a faint smile, “Long time no see, Your Highness Prince Ning.”

“Hand it over,” Chu Li said deeply.

The black-robed figure naturally knew what Chu Li meant, and responded unhurriedly, “It’s useless now. Mu Yunjin has been taking slow-acting poison for over two months. The poison has already penetrated her bloodstream.”

“Tonight is the moment her belly will rupture in a hemorrhage.”

“No, perhaps it’s happening right now,” the black-robed figure raised the corner of his lips.

Chu Li suddenly realized he had been tricked and was about to leave without another word, but just as he was about to depart, a large group of black-clad figures suddenly emerged from all directions.

Nearby, Huang Yan also sighed, “What a tactic of drawing the tiger away from the mountain—we were careless.”

“But with Elder Wind Xuan there, he should be able to hold out for a while,” Huang Yan said.

Huang Yan’s words didn’t ease Chu Li’s tension. He had calculated a thousand times but hadn’t anticipated these people would act so quickly.

He had thought they would continue plotting for a while longer.

Now that these people had made the first move, the only option was to kill them!

Chu Li instantly became bloodthirsty. Although waves of black-clad figures jumped out from all around, none could withstand a single strike from Chu Li.

“Look at Prince Ning, becoming so crazed for a woman…” the black-robed figure sighed lightly from the side.

At these words, Chu Li, who was fighting, suddenly trembled, as if he heard a voice in his ear—

“Si Qing, how could you fall so low for a woman…”

The black-clad figures facing him didn’t know why Chu Li had suddenly stopped attacking and dared not approach him for a moment.

But black-robed Feng Lan seized this opportunity and struck at Chu Li with his palm.

Chu Li, completely unprepared, was hit and retreated several steps.

Yet he still showed no intention of counterattacking.

Nearby, Huang Yan, Ding Xian, and the others were greatly alarmed, not knowing what had happened to Chu Li—how he suddenly stood there taking hits.

What they didn’t know was that at this moment, thousands of fragments of memory were frantically piecing together in Chu Li’s mind, gradually forming a complete picture.

“Lord Nether God, do you like me? You’re always hovering around me…”

“My lord, I quite like you, but it’s just like, nothing special…”

“Brother Qing, in the future, just wait for me under the Mortal Life Tree when you’re free. When I have time, I’ll come find you, alright?”

“Si Qing, in this life, even if I’m ground to dust, I want to be with you.”

As Chu Li recalled these scenes from the past, a tear slid from his eye…

Huan’er, I’ve returned.