...

The character of a wife after transformation and before transformation is worlds apart. One is as gentle as water and never argues, while the other is as cold as ice, with a temper that’s unusually irritable.

Under her gaze, even someone with Wang Shouzhe’s mental state and strength couldn’t help but feel a subtle apprehension. The combat power she displayed earlier, though still somewhat lacking compared to the Celestial Human Realm, might already be among the very best in the local Spirit Platform Realm cultivators.

Compared to Ancestor Longyan or even Beichen Ancestor, she was no less formidable. Hence, upon seeing the situation, Ancestor Longyan didn’t even try to mediate. She left under the pretense of having something to do, leaving the young couple to solve their problems on their own. First, she couldn’t mediate it. Second, she’d been tricked and suffered losses before.

With Wang Shouzhe’s confidence, he also felt that his chances of defeating the transformed Liua Ruolan were less than thirty percent. A wave of helplessness rose in his heart. Could it be that today he was really going to get a beating from his wife?

"Wang Shouzhe, what are you looking around for?" Liua Ruolan said coldly, "Could it be that you want to run away?"

This?

Suddenly!

A bright idea flashed across Wang Shouzhe’s mind.

Right, with her previous temperament, if she really wanted to pick a fight with me, she would have already drawn her sword and attacked. How could she be like this, speaking harshly?

At that moment, Wang Shouzhe regained his composure and spoke to her gently, "Wife, that was a last resort in a moment of urgency. If you’re really angry, why not punch me to vent your anger?"

"Hmph!" Liua Ruolan’s eyes turned cold, "Remember, you’re not allowed to take concubines, especially not Liua Ruolei. Even if she agrees, you can’t. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude."

"This..." Wang Shouzhe was at a loss for words and said honestly, "Rest assured, wife, I have no such intention."

Only then did her expression improve slightly. She glanced up and down at Wang Shouzhe, "And what about the things you said just now..."

"I absolutely didn’t mean it." Wang Shouzhe’s expression turned serious, vigorously shaking his head like a rattle, "I just wanted to provoke you earlier, spoke nonsense..."

"I agree."

"Bec..." Wang Shouzhe swallowed the word he was about to say, looking dumbfounded at the transformed Liua Ruolan.

"What are you still standing there for?" Liua Ruolan, full of authority, grabbed Wang Shouzhe and drifted down towards Falling Eagle Gorge, landing on a small black awning boat docked at the port.

The small boat moved without oars, propelled by profound qi, speeding towards the center of Anjiang like a speedboat.

Before long.

The boat began to rock violently.

From inside came the faint voice of Wang Shouzhe, "Wife, what are you doing?"

Then soon, the boat rocked even more fiercely. In the wave-ridden Anjiang, it floated like a leaf, drifting back and forth.

...

A little while later!

Huangfu Family’s Main Residence in Changning.

The patriarch Huangfu Jinhuan was in a good mood, even specially drinking some spirit wine today, lying somewhat tipsily in the master’s chair.

Two young concubines of decent status in purple served by his side, one helping to massage his legs and shoulders, the other offering tea and water. These two concubines, both had lower grade cultivation talent.

Yet their status was not high, even if they had children with Huangfu Jinhuan, they would be illegitimate, their status far less than the direct lineage, not even as high as the direct vein.

Today, the ancestor went out on business, all tasks were arranged and managed entirely by him, with absolute assurance that there would be no issues.

The ancestor was a grand Celestial Human Realm cultivator, in this small Changning Guard, though not all-powerful, he could almost do whatever he wished. With him acting, how could things not succeed?

Changning Huangfu Family, will surely usher in a brand new era.

And he, Huangfu Jinhuan, as the patriarch of the direct lineage, will also gain his opportunity, possessing the qualification to rush for the Celestial Human Realm. You must know that previously, while maintaining the family situation, it could barely support one Celestial Human Seed.

And who should serve as the Celestial Human Seed isn’t just about talent, but also luck. Each Celestial Human transition cycle lasts about two hundred years. The further one’s birth is from this cycle point, the lesser the opportunity.

The reason is simple, just one word: "Poverty"!

To nurture a Celestial Human Realm cultivator requires an enormous amount of resources. Just the resources for the initial sprint are not what an ordinary cultivator can enjoy. To advance to the Celestial Human Realm requires that Immortal Ascension Pill for breakthrough, which is an astronomical cost of several hundred thousand Qian Gold.

Even for a Celestial Human family, it takes a long time to accumulate those hundreds of thousands of Qian Gold. Don’t be fooled by the extensive family assets and seemingly abundant income of a Celestial Human family, but maintaining the current situation already has hefty annual expenses.

There are more than a dozen Spirit Platform Realm cultivators in the family, whose annual support is a huge expenditure. In addition, there is a need to nurture the younger generation successors to keep the Celestial Human family thriving.

A Celestial Human family that can endure cannot rely solely on the ancestor, the entire family up and down, inside and out, is a massive and functioning whole.

No matter how capable the ancestor is, one person can’t hold up everything!

Most of the time, the ancestor is just a mascot placed there for worship, even to awe opponents.

Thus, although the Changning Huangfu Family occupies half the sky of Changning Guard, appearing glamorous on the outside, pulling together tens of thousands of Qian Gold in one go still requires pooling from various places.

This is still the current situation. In the decades after Ancestor Hua Ye completed the Celestial Human transition, it was the Huangfu Family’s poorest phase. Any surplus each year had to be used to pay off various mortgages and loans.

From this, one can see that the development of a family absolutely cannot leave the support of resources. And where do the resources come from? It’s still dependent on economic income.

If the economy is not enough, no matter how good the talent is, even with natural two-layer bloodline awakening, cultivation progress will be very slow, and over time, one will become just like everyone else.

There are countless commoners throughout Daqian; hasn’t any of them ever given birth to a child with excellent talent?

Of course, there have been!

But the vast majority of them never even had the chance to step onto the Spirit Testing Platform, ultimately spending their lives aimlessly in the lower echelons.

"Wang Family, oh Wang Family, letting the foreign cement industry fall into your hands is like letting a Treasure Pearl gather dust." Huangfu Jinhuan’s eyes flickered unpredictably, his heart excitedly and vigorously stirred, "Only in the hands of our Celestial Person Huangfu Family can it realize its greater function. By then, our Huangfu Family shall rise..."

He hadn’t even finished speaking.

A figure shot rapidly from the sky outside, with a "boom," it crashed into the residence, shattering a house. The sound was as loud as a meteor crashing down.

"What’s going on?"

Huangfu Jinhuan was startled, quickly rushing out, joining the night watch Household Generals to the scene of the incident.

Then, he was dumbfounded.

What fell like a meteor was actually the Huangfu Family’s Dinghai Needle—Ancestor Hua Ye. At this moment, Ancestor Hua Ye was as wretched as could be, veins bulging all over his body, in immense pain, as strands of exotic Sword Qi, sharp as blades, roamed through his organs.

"Ancestor, Ancestor, what happened to you?"

"Jinhuan, this time we are defeated! Ping’an Wang Family, Changning Xu Family, Wang Shouzhe, may you all die a miserable death!" Huangfu Huaye roared like a mad beast.

Huangfu Jinhuan was stupefied, how could it fail, how could it!

After a long while, he finally reacted, hurriedly shouting to the Household Generals, "Quick, quickly help Ancestor back, call for the tributor physician."

The Ancestor’s state was dire, the injuries severe, even Huangfu Jinhuan was panicking. All along, the Ancestor had been the mainstay of the Huangfu Family, the Dinghai Needle in everyone’s mind.

But now that the Ancestor was in trouble, it was like the sky had fallen for the Huangfu Family.

...

In Anjiang.

A small boat was docked beside Anjiang, by a hidden little pier.

Wang Shouzhe, in tattered clothes, gazed complexly at the equally disheveled Liua Ruolan.

She tidied up a bit as if nothing had happened, then coldly warned Wang Shouzhe, "Don’t let her know about this."

Wang Shouzhe, of course, knew whom she was referring to. His lips moved slightly, but he didn’t retort.

"Next time you need me, just call for Liua Ruoling." She said domineeringly, "You don’t have to say any more nonsense."

Liua Ruoling?

Wang Shouzhe was speechless and bitter; there’s even a name now, is this a dual personality or a twin soul?

Is it because of that Innate Dao Embryo?

According to Ancestor Xuanfu, that Innate Daoist Embryo Spirit Species was obtained from the relics of the Divine Martial Dynasty, something she acquired tagging along with her master on high-level instance adventures.

The Divine Martial Dynasty sounds prestigious; its various items are quite formidable and it’s an advanced civilization.

But the more time passed, the more Wang Shouzhe found problems in that dynasty.

The things they developed were bizarre. Just like his Bloodthirsty Vine, extremely wicked.

And the Wedding Robe Blood Gu that his nephew Wang Zongchang was afflicted with, even though it ultimately changed his bloodline nature and fate, that Wedding Robe Blood Gu always seemed evil.

That Divine Martial Dynasty was so malevolent that its downfall might be tied to its internal reasons.

In the future, he had to be cautious when dealing with items from the Divine Martial Dynasty.

Amid Wang Shouzhe’s wild thoughts, the blue glint in Liua Ruolan’s eyes faded, and her hair color magically reverted to black. She looked around bewilderedly, then noticed her own disheveled clothes, and glanced at Wang Shouzhe, who was similarly in a state of disarray.

"Husband, what just happened to me?" Liua Ruolan asked curiously.

"You were too exhausted and fell asleep," Wang Shouzhe calmly replied while fixing his clothes, "so I brought you back."

"Husband, even though we’re married, you can’t just do strange things while I’m asleep, right?" Liua Ruolan gave Wang Shouzhe a peculiar look, seemingly displeased.

It’s not that I did strange things to you; actually, it’s you who did...

Forget it! 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Wang Shouzhe hastily shouted, "Liua Ruoling." At this moment, it was hard to explain.

Then, her gaze once again turned into a cold, light blue state, staring at Wang Shouzhe, "What do you want?"

"I was just testing..." Wang Shouzhe exclaimed in surprise, "It seems to work quite well; never mind, nothing’s happening, let’s clean up the scene and you can go back."

"..." Liua Ruoling, "Wang Shouzhe, you’re courting death!"

Then, the boat began to sway violently again, as if it would fall apart at any moment.

...