Seeing Mary’s firm resolve, Qin Shilei didn’t push any further.
“Can I hold our daughter?”
Mary didn’t refuse this request.
As Qin Shilei took his daughter, he also gently embraced Mary.
Mary stirred slightly, then rested her head on Qin Shilei’s shoulder.
“Mary, did you name our daughter?”
“No.”
“Our daughter has an Eastern face. How about Qin Banxia?”
“Alright.”
“Mary, find a secret chamber. I want to set up a teleportation array here. If anything happens, you can come to me in Great Xia through the teleportation array anytime. I will also come to see you and our daughter frequently.”
“Mmm!” Mary responded softly, but showed no intention of leading Qin Shilei to a secret chamber. Instead, she slowly wrapped her arms around his waist.
After a while, Mary suddenly broke free from Qin Shilei’s embrace and walked towards the side door of the main hall.
Qin Shilei quickly followed and set up a teleportation array in the secret chamber she chose.
Mary, holding their daughter, said softly, “You should go.”
“Mmm.” Qin Shilei thought for a moment and said again, “I will arrange for some subordinates to help protect our daughter. I hope you won’t refuse.”
“Mmm.” Mary’s gaze remained fixed on her daughter.
Qin Shilei stepped forward again and refreshed several fixed attributes for Mary and their daughter.
“I’m leaving.”
With that, he turned and left the secret chamber.
Only then did Mary look up and watch Qin Shilei until he disappeared from her sight.
Half a day after leaving Calvia, Qin Shilei returned to Mary’s palace.
This time, he brought Han Hongyu, Xu Yuhong, and a hundred members of the Night Shadow organization.
Han Hongyu and the others were all Platinum experts, possessing Platinum-level pets.
Coupled with Mary, who had the Snow Spirit Horse, Qin Banxia’s defense measures were impenetrable for the next two years.
After Qin Shilei had arranged all this, he was confined by the three wives, An Qian and the other two, for a full three days.
“My three wives, could your husband get some rest?”
“Hmph, if you don’t get us pregnant, you’re not getting out of bed.”
“Why is it that after being together for over a year, there’s no sign of pregnancy, but after just one day with Mary, she’s already conceived? Did you do something?”
“I think he was more energetic with that woman.”
“It’s a misunderstanding! When have I not satisfied you?”
“Could it be our problem? We’ll go see Sister Xiaoxuan tomorrow.”
The three wives, An Qian and the others, considered themselves young and hadn’t paid much attention to their lack of pregnancy for over a year.
Now, seeing that their husband had a daughter, they panicked.
The next morning, the three wives sent for Su Xiaoxuan.
After diagnosis, pulse-taking, and even a full range of Western medical examinations,
“My three sisters, your bodies are perfectly fine,” Su Xiaoxuan stated with certainty.
“Then why haven’t we conceived yet?” Zhang Xiaoli asked with concern.
“Perhaps the timing of your previous intimate encounters was not right, or perhaps your strength is too great, making conception less easy.”
Su Xiaoxuan explained methodically.
“That’s not right. Mary was a Gold Six-star when she conceived, so how is that possible?” Zhang Xiaoli retorted.
“Mary is with Prince Qin An?” Su Xiaoxuan’s eyes lit up with gossip.
“Ah, if you know, then keep it to yourself,” Zhang Xiaoli said after a moment of thought, seeing no need to hide it.
“Hmph, how can a foreign woman have all the honor!”
Su Xiaoxuan exclaimed indignantly, “Don’t worry, my three sisters, I will use all my skills to help you. You will definitely conceive soon.”
From then on, Qin Shilei’s arduous life began.
Two large bowls of traditional Chinese medicine soup daily, and half an hour of acupuncture each time.
Qin Shilei initially refused vehemently, “Our bodies are all fine, there’s no need for such torment. As long as we try more, you will surely conceive.”
But as soon as he finished speaking, An Qian and the others began to cry, “You don’t want us to have your children, you won’t even drink some herbal medicine, but we drank it with you.”
Qin Shilei had no choice but to accept the treatment.
Every other day, he had to spend one to two hours traveling through the teleportation array to Calvia to accompany his daughter.
Fortunately, the Qin An Royal Palace was vast and wealthy, as the nearly one hundred thousand crystal cores per teleportation were not something ordinary people could afford.
Now, less than a month remained until Platinum experts from other worlds could enter Blue Star.
In response, the Qin An Royal Palace convened several meetings to discuss defense strategies.
This included not only the defense within Great Xia but also the territories that had been opened up in recent months.
The lack of high-end strength meant they couldn't possibly guard every city.
Excluding the forces of the Demonic Sect and the Righteous Alliance, Qin Shilei now had nearly four hundred Platinum experts under his command, as well as over a hundred Gold experts with Platinum pets.
These individuals were organized into groups of thirty-two, with each unit responsible for a defense zone of two thousand kilometers.
Before dispatching these men, Qin Shilei had a trump card to teach them.
Eight Formations Diagram (Orange): A formation diagram crafted by the formation master Zhuge Xuanji. Once activated, it would instantly deploy the Eight Formations Diagram, capable of trapping and killing enemies.
Qin Shilei had refreshed and fixed an excellent attribute for this Eight Formations Diagram.
Eight Formations Diagram Manual (Orange): The Eight Formations Diagram could freely switch between its diagrammatic form and its manual form. When converted into a manual, it could be used for studying the deployment methods of the Eight Formations Diagram.
Originally just an orange-grade item, the Eight Formations Diagram, after having its attribute fixed, transformed into a formation technique manual.
Qin Shilei immediately organized his subordinates to study this formation technique manual.
As an orange-grade formation technique manual, the Eight Formations Diagram would normally require extremely high talent and prolonged study and exploration to master.
However, with the support of a massive amount of enlightenment tea, none of this was a problem.
Within a single day, the evolutionary beings at the Platinum level and above had mastered the basic formation techniques obtained from the Demonic Sect and the Righteous Alliance.
Another ten days were spent comprehending the Eight Formations Diagram.
Following that, they practiced deploying the Eight Formations Diagram in groups of eight, skillfully manipulating and transforming the formations.
At this point, five hundred simplified formation plates were also refined simultaneously.
Outside Hope City.
Zhang Qiang, Xie Haimei, Xia Yunyan, and six others stood at eight different positions.
As they channeled their vital energy into the formation plates in their hands, a mist suddenly appeared out of thin air around the eight of them, quickly engulfing an area of several kilometers.
“I’m here.”
Qin Shilei flashed into the mist.
As soon as he entered the mist, a sword energy attacked him from the front.
Qin Shilei raised his sword and unleashed his own sword energy, shattering the incoming attack.
At this moment, several more attacks rained down on him from behind and the sides.
There were arrows, saber energy, sword energy, and even ice cones and fireballs.
Qin Shilei’s Great Que Sword transformed into a series of afterimages, deflecting each attack.
He then identified a direction and flew rapidly towards it, but was unable to escape the mist’s coverage.
He tried launching area-of-effect attacks like the Devouring Thunder. Although the mist weakened, it did not dissipate.
Qin Shilei, with his cultivation suppressed, tested the formation for a full half hour before emerging from the Life Gate.