……

Almost instantly, Wang Lici wanted to surrender. She didn’t want to play anymore, this was too much for her.

A Spirit Realm demonic puppet.

Just hearing the name made Wang Lici’s legs tremble, draining all her strength.

The Spirit Realm demonic puppet, with its cruel and ruthless eyes, was sizing up Wang Lici, step by step, as if toying with its prey.

Its intelligence was clearly superior to that of a Qi Refining Realm demonic puppet, retaining much more wisdom.

“I, I, I, I surr…” Before Wang Lici could finish her surrender, she heard Wang Shouzhe shouting from below, “Lici, you are not allowed to surrender. No matter what, try to gauge its strength first.”

Gauge its strength? My ass!

Tears streamed down Wang Lici’s face, and she felt an urge to curse. What was there to gauge about a Spirit Realm demon?

She simply couldn’t beat it.

Fourth Uncle, if you’re so capable, why don’t you fight it yourself? This is a monster on the same level as the Ancestors of various families.

Having lived under the protection of the Ancestor for a long time, Wang Lici had a natural reverence for the Spirit Realm, and she was already 80% intimidated before the fight even started.

“One year.” Wang Shouzhe shouted, “As long as you fight, regardless of winning or losing. You can do whatever you want for this year, eat whatever you want.”

“Really?” Wang Lici suddenly perked up, as if she had gathered some courage, “Then let’s give it a try.”

As soon as her words fell.

The demonic puppet rushed towards Wang Lici with a “whoosh”, its speed was incredibly fast.

Such speed, Wang Shouzhe’s pupils contracted, according to his estimation, the speed of this demonic puppet was at least 30-40% faster than his. If encountered in the wild, even escaping would be difficult.

Its claws were even more robust and sharp, sweeping towards Wang Lici with a gust of wind, as if it could shred even iron.

However, Wang Lici, after all, was a double-bloodline awakener, and she barely managed to block with her shield.

“Clang!” A loud noise.

Wang Lici staggered back three or four steps, and four claw marks appeared on her heavy shield, each about an inch deep, almost piercing through the shield.

It was also quite strong.

Wang Shouzhe caught every detail, his mind spinning rapidly, assessing the strength of this Spirit Realm demonic puppet.

“Huh? It doesn’t seem to be that strong.” Wang Lici was also somewhat surprised, she had originally thought that she would be sent flying with one hit. Suddenly, she became much more spirited, swinging her heavy hammer and charging at the demonic puppet.

“Clang, clang, clang.”

In less than ten moves, she was sent flying by the demonic puppet, and several claw marks appeared on her heavy armor, with blood seeping out.

“Fourth Uncle, Fourth Uncle, I can’t hold on anymore.” Wang Lici cried, “This big guy is too fierce.”

“Hold on, you can do it.” Wang Shouzhe said, “If you surrender without my permission, I will confiscate all your spirit food, and then arrange for Shou Yong and Shou Lian to eat in front of you every day.”

“For a year.”

That’s too cruel!

Wang Lici couldn’t believe the scene, it was like the end of the world. She couldn’t even hold on for a day, let alone a year.

“As long as you can injure it, I will take you to the Commandery City, and you can choose whatever you want to eat.” Wang Shouzhe said, giving her a carrot after the stick.

Commandery City?

Wang Lici suddenly perked up, she had heard that the place was extremely prosperous, with all kinds of delicious food, and she had never been there before.

She knew that Fourth Uncle would never lie to her.

Then Wang Lici’s mind was filled with images of delicious food in Commandery City, and she charged at the demonic puppet with her heavy hammer, shouting.

I, Miss Lici, will fight you to the end!

Her strength seemed to have increased by a third.

“Clang, clang.” She started to fight hard against the demonic puppet.

Wang Shouzhe kept estimating the strength of the demonic puppet. The longer the fight dragged on, the clearer his concept became.

It wasn’t particularly strong.

It was probably about the same as when Elder Xie Han had just advanced to the Spirit Realm and had stabilized for a while.

But even so, this was not something a normal Qi Refining Realm could handle. Ordinary three or four Qi Refining Realm peak practitioners were not a match for the Spirit Realm.

However, since the Spirit Artifact had brought out a Spirit Realm demonic puppet, it meant that the Spirit Realm demon was not unbeatable, at least a Qi Refining Realm could do it.

Even if everyone couldn’t beat it this time, they could accumulate experience for the future.

“Swish, swish, swish.”

The demonic puppet, with its claws flying, was like a butcher, tearing and shredding Wang Lici’s heavy armor bit by bit. The wounds on Wang Lici’s body were getting more and more, and she looked very miserable.

It seemed to be toying with its prey.

Wang Shouzhe had almost finished his estimation, and he was about to call a stop for fear that Lici would be in danger, when suddenly.

Wang Lici got angry: “Damn demon, why won’t you let me hit you?”

Fourth Uncle said that she had to injure it to go to Commandery City to eat delicious food.

“Miss Lici is going to explode.”

“She’s exploding.”

Huh? Wang Shouzhe immediately stopped his action, thinking, could it be that Lici also hid her strength?

But Wang Lici’s explosion didn’t come out, she was actually sent flying by the demonic puppet with a heavy blow. Her heavy armor was all gone, revealing her bloody body.

“Damn it. Those two girls, Wang Luojing and Wang Luoqiu, become very powerful when they explode.” Wang Lici was indignant, “I, Lici, am the boss, you stupid demon, how dare you underestimate me.”

As she spoke, the demonic puppet charged at her again.

“Lici, forget it, surrender quickly.” Wang Shouzhe hurriedly shouted, “Fourth Uncle, I’ll take you to eat delicious food.”

“Ah!” Wang Lici roared in anger, “You dare to underestimate me, I’m going to eat you.”

At this point, Wang Lici was engulfed in anger.

A heart-pounding and powerful aura spread from her body, as if a terrifying beast was about to break out.

“Roar~”

With a deafening roar, an invisible energy condensed behind Wang Lici, forming a terrifying beast over ten feet tall. It looked fierce, with a huge mouth and a big belly, as if it could swallow everything.The energy was rather sparse, causing the terrifying beast to appear only faintly. Even so, the demonic puppet paused its movements, a hint of fear showing in its cold eyes.

It was clear that its intelligence had not been completely wiped out, retaining many of its instincts.

“Dharma phantom?” Ancestor Ruhong exclaimed, “Even many cultivators at the Heavenly Human Realm can’t condense a Dharma phantom, can they?”

“You’re making a fuss over nothing,” Ancestor Xuanfu retorted, “It’s normal for some geniuses with particularly strong bloodline talents to condense a Dharma phantom at the Qi Refining Realm. It mainly depends on the concentration of the bloodline.”

Ancestor Long Yan also added, “There are two direct disciples in the academy who, I heard, have also condensed a Dharma phantom at the Qi Refining Realm. I just didn’t expect that Lici could also achieve this.”

Upon hearing this, all the ancestors were filled with envy. Didn’t this mean that Wang Lici had the potential of a direct disciple of the academy? And not every direct disciple could condense a Dharma phantom at the Qi Refining Realm, could they?

This child’s path to becoming a Heavenly Human seemed to be smooth sailing.

“Forgive my ignorance, but what is that child’s Dharma phantom?” Ancestor Ruhong asked, “Could Sister Xuanfu enlighten me?”

Sister Xuanfu?

Wang Shouzhe was slightly taken aback. Right, he remembered that Ancestor Ruhong looked a bit old because he entered the Spiritual Platform Realm rather late. In fact, he was several years younger than Ancestor Xuanfu.

Ancestor Xuanfu glared at Ancestor Ruhong with a furious look. You old coot, are you deliberately trying to annoy me?

But who could blame her when she was indeed older?

Ancestor Xuanfu coldly said, “There are many bloodlines in the world, each with various mutations. How could I know them all? But judging from the looks of it, it seems to be some kind of devouring talent.”

They didn’t pay much attention to the Spiritual Platform Realm demonic puppet. After all, it was just a demon that had just entered the Spiritual Platform Realm, anyone could defeat it.

While they were talking, Wang Lici had already pounced on it, engaging in a fierce battle with the demonic puppet. The fight was intense.

She even beat the demonic puppet quite badly.

However, her vigor didn’t last long. As the energy of her bloodline was continuously consumed, the phantom of the strange beast behind her gradually dimmed, seemingly unable to maintain its form.

“She is still only at the Qi Refining Realm after all,” Ancestor Ruhong lamented, “It’s already not easy to condense a Dharma phantom, let alone defeating a Spiritual Platform Realm opponent.”

As Wang Lici’s Dharma phantom went from dim to collapsing, she finally lost the battle and regained some of her sanity. Seeing that the situation was not good, she quickly shouted, “I surrender.”

With her surrender, the demonic puppet, despite its unwillingness, had to stop its movements. It glared at Wang Lici resentfully as its body gradually disappeared.

At the same time, Wang Shouzhe had already rushed up and held Wang Lici in his arms.

He poured his azure spiritual energy into her body to heal her.

“Fourth Uncle, I hurt it, did you see?” Wang Lici said weakly.

“I saw, I saw. You did very well this time,” Wang Shouzhe quickly replied, “I promise I won’t go back on my word. After this, I’ll take you to the Commandery City for some good food.”

“Hehehe.” Wang Lici’s mind was filled with thoughts of delicious food, and she even laughed out a “pig sound”. She had never eaten the food in the Commandery City before, and just thinking about it made her mouth water.

After Wang Shouzhe brought her back, Wang Luoqiu, Wang Luoqing and the other younger generation all gathered around her, showing their concern. Especially Luoqing and Luoqiu, they told her that her performance this time had opened their eyes.

“But we definitely won’t lose to you. When we reach the peak of the Qi Refining Realm, we will definitely defeat that demonic puppet.”

The two of them seemed to have found a goal to strive for.

“Husband, is it my turn now?” Liu Ruolan asked after comforting Wang Lici.

“It’s getting late and the visibility is not good,” Wang Shouzhe said, “Let’s rest for the night and continue tomorrow.”

With Wang Shouzhe’s arrangement, everyone set up camp in the canyon.

That night, Wang Shouzhe took Luoqing’s bottle of primary bloodline enhancement liquid and entered a state of seclusion. Last time, he spent 250,000 to buy a Marrow Cleansing Pill. With that pill, he reached the middle-grade A-level aptitude, but he still couldn’t awaken his second bloodline.

This was his last attempt at the Qi Refining Realm.

He swallowed the primary bloodline enhancement liquid, a bitter taste rushing into his lungs. But then a cool sensation spread throughout his body.

He didn’t dare to delay any longer and quickly entered a state of cultivation.

Two hours later, when he opened his eyes, a look of joy appeared on his face. Many black stains seeped out of his pores, obviously a sign of his bloodline evolution.

He could clearly feel that his bloodline was filled with a powerful aura.

Second bloodline awakening.

This almost brought tears to his eyes.

Eight years, he had been waiting for this moment for eight years.

He didn’t know how much money he had spent, how many connections he had made, and how many paths he had taken, but he finally achieved the second bloodline awakening.

And now he knew that he had most likely entered the top-grade aptitude, although it was probably only top-grade D-level, it was no different from Wang Lici.

He didn’t squander his aptitude like the big girl, he was more diligent than anyone else, even after getting married, he didn’t delay his cultivation.

“From today on, I am also a genius,” Wang Shouzhe was extremely excited, “Even if I go to the academy, I can compete for the status of a direct disciple.”

Of course, it was impossible for him to go to school, it just represented that he had reached that level.

Back then, although he passed the preliminary selection of the academy, whether they wanted him or not was still a question. Now that he had directly reached the top-grade D-level, he could compete with the top geniuses of Longzuo Commandery.

And he firmly believed that with his abilities, he would eventually suppress all the geniuses.

“Congratulations, husband, on your second bloodline awakening,” Liu Ruolan came over and said with a smile, “From now on, you are among the ranks of geniuses.”

Upon seeing Liu Ruolan, Wang Shouzhe felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, his fiery excitement vanished without a trace. He had only just barely reached the second awakening of his bloodline, similar to Wang Lici.

He was still a bit behind his wife, Liu Ruolan, and the gap was not small.

He should just wash up and go to bed, they still had to run a dungeon tomorrow.

……

The next day!

Dawn was breaking.

It seemed to herald the arrival of another beautiful day.

Everyone gathered together again.

Among all the young people, only Wang Shouzhe and Liu Ruolan had not yet undergone the trial.

Just as Wang Shouzhe was about to step forward, Liu Ruolan pulled him back, “My lord, as the head of the clan, you should be the last to go. I’ll go first.”

“Alright, my lady, be careful. It doesn’t matter if you can’t beat it,” Wang Shouzhe said indulgently, “Don’t get hurt, it would break my heart.”

Ancestor Xuanfu stared at Wang Shouzhe, what did he mean by it doesn’t matter if she can’t beat it? Even that girl Lici had passed three stages.

“Mm, my lord, I’ll listen to you,” Liu Ruolan obediently said, holding a sword and walking towards the trial platform, she gently said to the Spirit Artifact, I want to take the trial.

Her demeanor was very much like a gentle and dignified lady of a big family, teaching her husband and children, where was the slightest hint of the pride of a peerless genius?

Today, it seemed like they were not here for the trial, but to enjoy the autumn moon with her husband.

Seeing this, Ancestor Xuanfu couldn’t help but sigh. It was not easy to get a predestined spirit seed.

And this was the result…

“As you wish, commoner.”

With the voice of the Spirit Artifact falling, a fierce-looking demon puppet appeared, charging towards Liu Ruolan with a murderous aura.

……