As the indigo amniotic fluid flowed over my eyelashes, I touched the hollow eye sockets of the Liuli Skeleton. The moment the Umbilical Cord was inserted, time and space began to collapse—I saw my first life, my body pinned inside the Bronze Coffin, while Shen Yan's previous incarnation was using Silver Whistle to extract the soul of the fetus; in my third life, I became a Dye House Worker, pierced through the womb by a Prosthetic Limb while soaking Blood Silk; in my seventh life, as a Joyful Maid, I gasped my last breath beneath my master, while outside the window, a wheelchair rolled over a ground covered in Umbilical Cords...
"It's almost here!" The frenzied voice of the Second Mistress echoed from the blood moon. She tore open her chest to reveal the Peony Tattoo, exposing the Lotus Branding Mark left from when she assisted in childbirth. At the bottom of the Dye Vat, the Nine Bronze Coffins opened simultaneously, and Nine Corpses crawled out alongside my bones. Their Umbilical Cords intertwined into a lotus throne, lifting that Celadon Infant Corpse.
Suddenly, Shen Yan's Prosthetic Limb grew uncontrollably long, piercing through my uterine wall. In excruciating pain, I clearly saw blood seeping from the Sheng Chen engraved on his leg bone—that was precisely when I was taken by the Nurse twenty-five years ago to take the blame. The cries of the fetus resonated with the Bronze Friction Sound, and suddenly, spells appeared on the Blood Silk hanging from the beams of the Dye House.
"This is the true Twin Lotus." Shen Yan bit into the Vermilion Birthmark at my collarbone, droplets of blood falling onto the Celadon Infant Corpse's forehead. "You nurtured our shared child with resentment from Nine Reincarnations."
At that moment, a solar eclipse occurred over the blood moon. Er Jianzai suddenly turned her direction and pierced her own throat: "The Umbilical Cord I cut back then should be reattached now..." The blood mist spraying from her neck condensed into a lotus in midair as the Nine Lives Corpse began to converge toward the center.
Seizing the opportunity, I tore apart my Umbilical Cord and that of the Liuli Skeleton. When Qingtong collided with Bone China, memories burst forth like a dam breaking—Shen Yan had killed me in every life during the life exchange ritual, feeding my resentment to the Celadon Infant Corpse until the Tenth Generation gathered Ninety-Nine Souls.
"What makes you think this life is any different?" Shen Yan's severed limb tightened around my neck as Azure Bronze Runes crawled over where life stirred within me. "It's just one more ingredient..."
Suddenly, a sound of shattering porcelain echoed from beneath the Dye Vat. Inside the Tenth Gilded Porcelain Coffin, my Tenth Generation body was giving birth, and it was none other than the rotting Nurse assisting! The Bronze Scissors in her hand dripped with Black Blood as she aimed them at the Umbilical Cord—
In a critical moment, I bit down on my tongue and sprayed out blood mist. The Indigo Liquid suddenly boiled, transforming Nine Lives Corpse into a Bone China Blade. As it pierced Shen Yan's heart, his severed limb began to melt away, revealing half of a Twin Fish Jade Pendant hidden inside.
"So you knew all along..." Shen Yan's pupils reflected the patterns of the jade pendant—the very token used when swapping babies back then. His severed limb suddenly softened and transformed into writhing Umbilical Cords that entwined around me: "We are indeed bound by life exchange techniques as Twin Sons..."
As blood moon fell at that instant, Azure Bronze Runes shattered into stardust within ripples. My hand gripping the Umbilical Cord suddenly touched a cold mirror surface—reflected on the water's surface were Shen Yan's severed limb's Lotus Brand perfectly aligning with my leg's Birthmark, as if two halves of a Taiji Diagram finally came together.
When the last piece of Bone China was inserted into Shen Yan's forehead, a deafening sound of chains breaking echoed from beneath the Dye House. Twenty-Five Coffins opened simultaneously, revealing twenty-five pairs of Twin Sons covered in spells. Their necks intertwined and Umbilical Cords connected as they danced under the blood moon in a dance of rebirth.
I picked up the blood-stained Silver Scissors and cut off my Umbilical Cord with the Celadon Infant Corpse. As the first rays of dawn pierced through the Indigo Canopy, the Infant Corpse in my arms suddenly opened its eyes—within those Peach Blossom Eyes reflected our souls merging together: Shen Yan and I.
As the blood moon faded, the cries of a newborn echoed through the ruins of the Dye House. This child, born from the resentment of the Nine Reincarnations, had eyes that shimmered with the luster of Azure and Bone China.
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