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The baby's cries, like the first rays of dawn, briefly dispelled the gloom in the room, only to be quickly replaced by a heavier sense of resolve.
Xuanyuan Tianyi's command to "set up the formation" froze the atmosphere, which had eased slightly due to the birth of the new life. Yin'er's hands, holding the swaddling clothes, trembled slightly. Looking at the patriarch's pale yet unusually calm face, tears blurred her vision again. She knew what was about to happen, her heart filled with grief and fear, yet she dared not disobey in the slightest.
Jiang Yuan took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and nodded to Yin'er. Yin'er understood, and with tears in her eyes, she held the newborn Nianchen and walked out of the room, turning back every few steps. Zhao Zhen and the others who were waiting outside immediately surrounded them. Seeing the tiny infant, they were all filled with mixed emotions, a mixture of joy and sorrow, yet their hearts were heavy with worry because of what was about to happen inside the room.
Inside the room, only Xuan Yuantianyi, Jiang Yuan, and Leng Moyan, who had entered the room at some point and was now standing quietly in the corner, remained.
"Have you made up your mind?" Leng Moyan asked, her voice devoid of emotion, but her bewitching eyes were fixed on Xuan Yuantianyi.
Xuanyuan Tianyi did not answer, but struggled to get up from the delivery bed. Her body was extremely weak, and the recent childbirth had almost exhausted her last bit of strength. At this moment, even standing was difficult.
Jiang Yuan stepped forward to help, but Leng Moyan beat him to it. He reached out and took Xuan Yuantianyi's arm, finding it icy cold to the touch, almost devoid of human warmth. He frowned almost imperceptibly, but said nothing, simply supporting her steadily.
"Set up the 'Seven Stars Soul-Guiding Array'." Xuan Yuan Tianyi stood up with Leng Moyan's help, his gaze sweeping over the room's layout. His voice was weak, "With Zhan Zhao at the center, I will occupy the Yao Guang position."
Without further hesitation, Jiang Yuan immediately took out seven ancient-looking bronze lamps and a box of silver powder shimmering with faint starlight from his seemingly small medicine box. He maneuvered his wheelchair with swift and precise movements, arranging the lamps around the bed where Zhan Zhao was lying according to the orientation of the Big Dipper, and outlining the connecting energy trajectories between the lamps with the starlight powder.
Leng Moyan helped Xuan Yuantianyi to the end of the couch corresponding to the Yao Guang star position. That was the core where the array's spiritual power gathered and was output, and also the place where the backlash was most intense.
“Sit down,” Leng Moyan said.
Xuan Yuan Tianyi slowly sat down cross-legged as instructed, her body swaying slightly, almost unable to maintain her posture. Leng Moyan placed one hand on her shoulder, and a gentle yet powerful force instantly surged into her nearly depleted meridians, temporarily stabilizing her swaying body.
"I can only stabilize your physical form and protect your heart meridian," Leng Moyan said in a deep voice. "The return of the star soul to its origin will disrupt the balance of Yin and Yang. You will have to bear all the dangers involved. Once it begins, there will be no turning back."
Xuanyuan Tianyi glanced at him, his eyes calm and unwavering, as if he had long since disregarded life and death. "Let's begin."
Seeing that everything was ready, Jiang Yuan took a deep breath and flicked seven sparks from his fingertips, precisely igniting the seven bronze lamps. The flames emitted a ghostly blue light, like the cold glow of the starry sky.
The moment the seven lamps lit up, the air in the entire room seemed to freeze. An invisible, immense force began to slowly gather, using the Seven Star Array as a medium, causing the dust particles in the air to suspend and tremble in the invisible force field.
Xuanyuan Tianyi laboriously raised her hands, forming an extremely complex and ancient hand seal. She closed her eyes and began to chant a low and obscure incantation. The incantation seemed to come from the primordial era, each syllable carrying a soul-stirring power.
As the incantation was chanted, a faint yet incredibly pure golden aura began to emanate from her body. At the same time, the eerie blue flames of the Seven Star Lamp suddenly surged upwards, mingling with her golden aura.
Jiang Yuan watched the array's operation and Xuan Yuan Tianyi's condition with bated breath. He saw that, with the mobilization of spiritual energy, blood gushed from Xuan Yuan Tianyi's lower body, which had just given birth, staining the bedding beneath her. Her face became visibly more translucent, as if it would vanish completely at any moment.
Leng Moyan's hand on her shoulder tightened slightly, and more divine power surged in, forcibly locking in her life force that was about to dissipate and protecting the last bit of spiritual light in her heart meridian from being extinguished.
"Using my blood as a guide..." Xuan Yuan Tianyi's voice suddenly rose, carrying a sacrificial resolve. She bit her tongue hard, spitting out a mouthful of heart blood containing primordial essence, which turned into a cloud of blood mist, hovering in front of her.
Her hand seals changed again, and the blood mist seemed to be guided, splitting off a thin thread of blood that shot precisely toward the umbilical cord not far away.
The umbilical cord touched the bloodline and instantly turned to ashes, leaving only a faint trace of bloodline energy that was the same as Zhan Zhao's. This energy was drawn by Xuan Yuan Tianyi with immense magical power and merged into the main blood mist.
"Use my soul as fuel..." The incantation changed again, and Xuan Yuan Tianyi's body began to tremble violently. The blood mist that had fused with the blood of her closest relatives suddenly burst out with dazzling light! Within the light, the phantom images of her three souls and seven spirits could be vaguely seen, like moths to a flame, actively throwing themselves into the blood light!
Burning! She is burning her very soul!
"I call upon your scattered souls... to return to your place!" She almost roared out the last incantation!
The crimson orb of light, which contained her bloodline, soul essence, and the aura of her child's closest relatives, crashed into Zhan Zhao's cold body on the bed like a meteor, with an indomitable and life-or-death momentum!
"boom--!"
An invisible roar exploded deep within everyone's soul!
The eerie blue flames of the Seven Star Lamp instantly surged to the roof, illuminating the entire room as if it were daytime! A massive energy storm erupted from Zhan Zhao's center, instantly reducing the tables and chairs in the room to dust!
The blast wave pushed Jiang Yuan backward several steps, wheelchair and all, before he could barely regain his balance. He stared intently at the center of the formation, his hands gripping the armrests of his wheelchair tightly.
Leng Moyan's body shone with a brilliant blue light, forming a protective shield that enveloped Xuan Yuan Tianyi and himself, resisting the violent energy impact. He could clearly feel that Xuan Yuan Tianyi's life force and soul power were draining away at an alarming rate, like a river bursting its banks and surging into Zhan Zhao's body.
On the bed, Zhan Zhao's body, which had been cold, stiff, and lifeless, suddenly convulsed violently the moment the blood-red orb entered! The black energy on the wound on his chest, which had been corroded by the evil poison, surged wildly, fiercely resisting the surging vitality, and emitting a "sizzling" burning sound!
His face, initially deathly pale, gradually flushed with a faint, unnatural red. A weak, almost imperceptible pulse began to beat again on the side of his neck! Though still weak, it was no longer lifeless!
Xuanyuan Tianyi unleashed a spark of soul fire, and within moments, Zhan Zhao's three souls and seven spirits, glowing with a faint, eerie light, appeared one after another in the room under the guidance of the soul fire. At that moment, with a flick of Xuanyuan Tianyi's finger, the three souls and seven spirits slowly disappeared into Zhan Zhao's body along with the soul fire.
Defying fate is underway!
However, the price paid was enormous. After completing the final step, Xuan Yuan Tianyi felt as if all her bones had been removed, and she collapsed forward limply. The golden aura around her completely dissipated, her face became as transparent as glass, and her breathing became so weak that it almost stopped. Only a faint glimmer of light between her brows stubbornly flickered under the protection of Leng Moyan's divine power.
She succeeded, using herself as a medium to forcibly snatch Zhan Zhao's life back from the underworld.
Leng Moyan caught her limp body and looked at her face, which seemed to be in a deep sleep. A trace of regret flashed in his eyes: In the end, you still couldn't escape these two brothers, whether in your past life or this one.
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