……

Fortunately, Liu Ruolan's anomaly didn't last long.

Just as Wang Shouzhe was feeling uneasy, the mystical "Sacred Diagram" that seemed to comprehend the essence of the Heavenly Dao gradually faded away, and the various anomalies dissipated into nothingness.

The radiant glow surrounding Liu Ruolan also gradually returned to her body.

She quickly resumed her usual appearance, graceful and dignified as the matriarch of the Wang Clan.

Seeing Wang Shouzhe's disheveled state, she hurriedly stepped forward to support him. "Husband, are you alright?"

"No worries, no worries." Wang Shouzhe finally calmed his mind a bit and looked Liu Ruolan up and down. "Do you know what just happened?"

"I vaguely remember something, but once I woke up, it all felt like a dream, becoming blurry." Liu Ruolan furrowed her brows, trying to recall the fading memories, as if trying to capture something. "Oh, in the 'dream,' I seemed to see the Holy Emperor of Shenwu, and it felt like I even fought with him. Vaguely, I also saw Lu Wei... Lu Wei was crying the whole time."

"The Holy Emperor who cultivated the Green Emperor Sacred Diagram? The Holy Emperor of our Shenwu Royal Dynasty?" Wang Shouzhe was somewhat taken aback. "Could it be that you..."

"Husband, could I also be a reincarnation of one of the Top Ten Wanted Criminals?" Liu Ruolan frowned deeply. "Otherwise, how would I know Weiwei, and why would I fight with the Holy Emperor?"

"Absolutely not!" Wang Shouzhe said firmly. "My wife is a celestial being who accidentally fell to the mortal world. How could she be a wanted criminal? Perhaps you saw Lu Wei being captured by the Holy Emperor... and your chivalrous heart led you to conflict with him."

"Actually, even if I were a wanted criminal, it wouldn't matter." Liu Ruolan was more open-minded than him, appearing indifferent. "I've come to realize that although the Holy Emperor of Shenwu has noble intentions for the human race, his personality can be a bit rigid at times."

"Wife, I have a few questions for you." Wang Shouzhe pondered for a moment before asking.

"Husband, are you worried that if I truly am a celestial being, once I remember who I am, I will abandon you and the children to return to the heavenly palace?" Liu Ruolan laughed, her eyes curving into crescents, seemingly recalling the poem Wang Shouzhe composed when he married her. "You always think too highly of me. Even if there is a celestial realm, and even if I am truly a celestial being, I wouldn't go back."

In an instant, Wang Shouzhe felt deeply moved and embraced Liu Ruolan's fragrant shoulders. "I knew it, my wife wouldn't bear to leave me and the children."

"Don't be so mushy." Liu Ruolan pushed Wang Shouzhe's hand away disdainfully. "Firstly, I can't bear to leave the children, and secondly, if I really left, wouldn't it benefit those who want to take my place?"

"Uh... can you still summon the Sacred Diagram from earlier?" Wang Shouzhe tactfully changed the subject.

"I can't, maybe I'm not strong enough yet. But the Sacred Diagram earlier seemed to condense into an intangible Primordial Water Codex." With a thought, a water-blue, mysterious codex appeared in Liu Ruolan's mind.

It seemed both real and unreal, as if it carried the endless divine charm of the Primordial Water Dao.

Just by sensing its aura, one could tell that the codex's grade was undoubtedly high.

"!!!" Wang Shouzhe was dumbfounded, his mindset slightly unbalanced. "Wife, don't be too much. Others risk their lives for a codex, and you can just condense one yourself."

"A codex is essentially a manifestation of a certain type of Dao law. If one has thoroughly comprehended and can easily master a branch of Dao law, they can naturally condense a codex to pass on to future generations." Liu Ruolan didn't think much of it and explained casually. "It's just a pity that there aren't suitable materials at the moment. Otherwise, I could create a suitable medium to imprint the Dao aura and cultivation insights from this Primordial Water Codex onto it, turning it into a true inheritance codex. There are quite a few children in our family who have awakened the Primordial Water bloodline."

"Leave the materials to me." Wang Shouzhe said excitedly. "It would be great if you could, like the Holy Emperor of Shenwu, evolve a few more codices related to Primordial Water. The children in the family would be blessed."

"Any more questions? Ask them quickly, then I need to go finish the assessment. Lu Wei and the daughters-in-law are still waiting for the card game." After discussing the most crucial matters, Liu Ruolan's mind had already wandered, her body still present, but her heart clearly at the card table.

"Earlier, the codex Qingying mentioned that Senior Sister Lu Wei and others went to ambush two Great Demon Lords from the outer region demons." Wang Shouzhe seized the moment to ask, "Did you participate in that? Do you remember anything?"

"No impression." Liu Ruolan thought seriously for a few moments before saying, "Maybe Lu Wei went with others, I can't recall anything."

After saying that, Liu Ruolan hurried off to complete the assessment.

With her abilities, she easily secured the top spot on the Hero List.

Unfortunately, both the high-grade and super prize pools had already been emptied, leaving Liu Ruolan without any prizes.

But this was expected. Wang Ningxi had originally calculated the unexpected surplus, and the treasure vault wasn't solely for the Wang Clan. It wasn't so coincidental that everyone would have a share.

However, understanding was one thing, but Wang Ningxi naturally wouldn't miss the chance to exploit the system. He had Spirit Artifact Ai Pan write an IOU again.

This time, Spirit Artifact Ai Pan, who was already accustomed to debt, signed it swiftly.

But Ai Pan didn't expect to regret it soon.

With ample IOUs in hand, Wang Ningxi began to frequently demand repayment. Whenever Spirit Artifact Ai Pan showed any sign of being unable to pay, he would call a meeting to have the clan members move things, taking whatever was good from the military academy.

Meanwhile, Wang Ningxi also requested Spirit Artifact Ai Pan to obscure the names on the Hero List.

Soon, the names of the Wang Clan members on the Hero List became blurred, as if covered by a mosaic.

A whole row of mosaics looked quite spectacular.

Wang Ningxi had a long-term perspective on this.

After all, this list was shared among the four major officer training academies, and the other three might have already fallen into the hands of the Demon Dynasty or the Immortal Dynasty.

Especially the Immortal Dynasty, Wang Ningxi suspected that the royal family had control over one of the training academies.

The reason was simple. The Immortal Emperor had once hinted to Wang Fugui to train well with Yun Mengyu, and when they reached the Celestial Realm, he would take them to a good place, where they might obtain some high-level rewards.

Considering that Fugui was already a Peerless Prodigy at the time, the Immortal Emperor's certainty suggested that the place had something highly beneficial for Fugui. And how many such places could there be?

Therefore, the instance the Immortal Emperor hinted at, even if not an officer training academy, was a similar place.

Considering that the royal families of the Immortal and Demon Dynasties might be able to see the Hero List, it was best to obscure the names with a mosaic.

After all, although the Wang Clan now had many Heavenly Sons and Daughters, the strongest among them, Ancestor Long Yan, was only at the eighth level of the Purple Mansion Realm, still in the development stage, with a weak risk resistance.

For now, it was safer for the Wang Clan to remain as low-key as possible.

……

With Liu Ruolan's leaderboard run complete, the top figures from the Wang Clan's first, second, and third sequences had all finished their leaderboard runs, leaving only some basic and intermediate rewards in the prize pool.

Wang Ningxi had naturally arranged the subsequent leaderboard runs.

This time, the participants were those ranked lower in the third sequence.

What does "lower" mean?

The details are complex, but in short, they are individuals who, even after using Bloodline Improvement Liquid, can only reach Peerless Prodigy B-grade.

This level of bloodline is a notch below the likes of the Little Demon Lord, so they are naturally ranked lower in the third sequence.

There are quite a few of these individuals, mainly represented by Wang Shihai and Prince An.

For example, Wang Shihai, who has not yet reached the Purple Mansion Realm and is a peak Celestial Realm figure with a great prodigy A-grade bloodline, only needs a combination of high-grade Bloodline Improvement Liquid, High-Grade Essence version, and Top-grade Bloodline Improvement Liquid to reach mid-upper Peerless C-grade.

Then, with some time to break through to the Purple Mansion Realm, he can easily pass the ordinary and elite assessment modes and inherit a common codex, reaching Peerless B-grade.

Others following a similar path include Wang Anrui, Wang Zongwen, Wu Yiluo, Wu Xue'ning, and others.

As for Prince An, Lu Xiaoxiao, Gongsun Yan, Liu Yuanhui, Chen Fangjie, Liu Xuanfu, and others from allied families, they follow a similar path. However, since they have already reached the Purple Mansion Realm, they use Extreme Improvement Essence Version and Extreme Improvement Essence instead, ultimately being fixed at Peerless B-grade.

For someone like Prince An, who has already advanced to the Purple Mansion Realm and only barely reached Peerless Prodigy after inheriting a codex, due to a low starting point, even using Extreme Improvement Essence and Extreme Improvement Essence Version may not be enough to reach Peerless B-grade, and an additional High-Grade Essence Version might be needed.

Besides those ranked lower in the third sequence, the fourth sequence's leaderboard activities gradually unfolded.

This group was quite large.

Since the goal was only to reach Peerless C-grade or D-grade, the threshold was very low, and the final count was about fifty or sixty people. Moreover, more than half of them were Celestial Realm cultivators.

Representatives from the royal family included Wu Shengjun, son of Prince An, and Wu Zhixing, who had a good relationship with Wu Xue'ning from a young age, as well as Princess Gongye Qingrui.

The Wang Clan had even more representatives, including the White-clothed Phoenix King Wang Ningyu, the Lonely Sword Saint Wang Anyuan, and members of the "Shou" generation like Wang Shouxin, Wang Shouyi, Wang Shounuo, Wang Shouming, Wang Shoucheng, and others, as well as two elders from the "Ding" generation, Wang Dingzu and Wang Dinghai, all on the list.

From the direct lineage, there were Wang Shouzhe's sisters, Wang Luoyi and Wang Luomiao, and Madam Gongsun Hui.

Shouzhe's daughters Wang Liyue, Wang Lijue, and son Wang Zongrui.

Additionally, there were some outstanding daughters-in-law in the family, such as Qian Yurou and the Zhao sisters.

Of course, the Wang Clan also took good care of allied families, as a strong alliance was truly strong.

Therefore, elders like Chen Ruhong, Ancestor Mang, Ancestor Zhisheng, and Ancestor Zhouxuan were all included.

And families like the Qian Clan, Xu Clan from Changning, Jinsha Xu Clan, Lei Clan, Longzuo Wang Clan, Yuwen Clan of Longzuo, Fang Clan of Longyuan, Great Gan Wang Clan, Monan Wang Clan, Zhao Clan of Great Gan, Gongye Clan of Great Gan, Shangguan Clan of Great Gan, Chen Clan of Great Gan, and so on, almost everyone had a share.

As long as time permitted, once this batch's qualifications improved, Great Gan would truly rise.

However, most of these people had not yet reached the Purple Mansion Realm and needed to enhance their bloodlines and spend time advancing to the Purple Mansion Realm before they could graduate.

With a fourth sequence, there was naturally a fifth sequence.

This group had even more targets, totaling over two hundred people.

Given the large number, their names won't be listed, but the goal was to improve their qualifications to great prodigy A or B-grade. They could slowly exploit available resources, accumulate points through academy tasks to gain opportunities for bloodline advancement, and after completing the assessment, they could also enjoy a free ride to the Divine Realm inheritance grounds.

For this group, the future limit of their cultivation was tentatively set at the Divine Realm. Of course, if they encountered special opportunities, that would be a different story.

This officer training academy seemed to have never been so lively since ancient times.

The busiest, of course, were Wang Shouzhe and Spirit Artifact Ai Pan. One was tirelessly improving people's bloodlines, while the other, besides constantly hosting assessments, had to endure Wang Ningxi's exploitation.

Everyone understood that under Wang Ningxi's relentless efforts, it wouldn't be long before this officer training academy and Spirit Artifact Ai Pan would bear the Wang surname.

……

While the Wang Clan members and numerous allied family members were bustling with assessments, Wang Shouzhe's family, aside from Wang Shouzhe himself, had no immediate tasks and began to study the rewards.

First and foremost was the immortal beast egg.

After a brief discussion, the ownership of the immortal beast egg was finally given to Wang Liyao.

Initially, Wang Shouzhe wanted to entrust it to his wife, Liu Ruolan, for nurturing. After all, according to Spirit Artifact Ai Pan, this immortal beast egg was a water-type Basalt egg, and there was no one more suitable than Liu Ruolan to raise it.

However, Liu Ruolan declined.

She spent most of her time within the family, occasionally taking action in the past, but ever since the Wang Clan gradually became a retirement home with a group of Void Realm experts in residence, she hadn't had the opportunity to act.

Raising another immortal beast didn't hold much meaning for her. In contrast, her eldest daughter, Wang Liyao, who spent most of her time outside, needed it more.

After all, the Li Fire Sparrow and the Primordial Water Basalt Xiao Jiu that Liyao had raised in her early years were now at the fifth and sixth stages, respectively, and could no longer keep up with Liyao's progress.

Naturally, Wang Shouzhe had no objections.

Thus, the task of hatching the immortal beast egg fell to Wang Liyao.

Seeing that the elders had reached a consensus, Wang Ningxi immediately took out the immortal beast Basalt egg temporarily stored with him.

Compared to the gigantic egg of Zongkun, which was several people tall, this egg was "miniature," being only about half a person's height. The eggshell was white and didn't seem very hard, with a shape similar to a long oval duck egg.

Ignoring other factors, just by its appearance, one would never associate it with a Basalt at first glance.

However, under the light, the surface of the eggshell shimmered with a faint golden glow. Upon closer inspection, the golden glow seemed to form some kind of mysterious golden pattern, appearing extremely enigmatic.

Amidst the shimmering golden glow, a heavy pressure emanated, as if warning those who coveted it.

Wang Liyao gently caressed the seemingly not-so-hard eggshell, her expression softening at the thought of a new life soon to emerge from it.

Without further delay, she shook her body, and a majestic aura surged from her.

In an instant.

Behind her, it was as if a vast ocean appeared, with the sound of flowing water echoing, vast and boundless, making one involuntarily feel their own insignificance.

Amidst the endless ocean, a massive azure phoenix bird spread its wings and let out a high-pitched cry.

It was a semi-mature phoenix bird, and although not fully grown, its feathers were already incredibly splendid, with each edge seemingly coated in a layer of iridescent light.

Compared to the lush green of the Yi Wood Qinghuang, its plumage had a bluish tint, more ethereal and lighter, like a divine bird in the sky, lofty and sacred.

Clearly, this was Wang Liyao's Dharma Aspect—Primordial Water Qinghuang.

After becoming a Heavenly Daughter, her Dharma Aspect had undergone some transformation, with her feathers becoming more splendid and her aura gaining an inexplicable sense of divinity and sanctity, making it a completely different bird from before.

With the enhancement of the Dharma Aspect, Wang Liyao's aura surged, and her profound energy swelled, causing her clothes to flutter slightly.

Seeing this, the younger members of the Wang Clan watching showed expressions of awe.

Meanwhile.

With a thought, Wang Liyao channeled her surging profound energy into the Basalt egg.

As if awakened from slumber, the golden patterns on the Basalt egg's surface suddenly lit up, and a powerful suction force erupted from the eggshell, devouring Wang Liyao's profound energy like a whale swallowing the sea.

As the light flowed, the aura emanating from the Basalt egg began to rise.

A powerful life force began to emerge from within the Basalt egg.

Wang Liyao felt a surge of joy and immediately increased the supply of profound energy.

Until half an incense stick later, the Basalt egg finally made a "crack" sound, and a crack appeared.

Wang Liyao's face immediately lit up with joy.

The surrounding people also held their breath, eyes wide open, focusing intently on the Basalt egg.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the crack gradually widened, turning into an opening, and soon, a small head pushed open the eggshell and crawled out.

It was a small, black creature.

Being newly born, its body was still covered in mucus, and it was small in size, looking round-headed and round-bodied, with many racial traits not yet fully developed.

What stood out was its carapace. The carapace was dark and glossy, as if cast from black iron, with distinct ridges resembling mountain peaks and golden patterns spreading across it, appearing mysterious and noble, very beautiful.

Moreover, the little Basalt exuded a vast Primordial Water aura, with dense water vapor naturally condensing around it.

Despite being newly born, it already had a faint aura of a water overlord.

"Truly worthy of being an immortal beast Basalt, even at this size, it already shows signs of being extraordinary." Wang Ningxi's eyes shone with excitement.

He had seen his great-grandfather Zongkun, and its ability to traverse space was truly awe-inspiring. Despite being only at the eighth stage, when it truly fought, even Void Realm experts might not be able to catch it, relying on its bloodline advantage.

In fact, relying on its bloodline advantage, great-grandfather Zongkun, even before reaching maturity, already had a large group of Dragon Whales as followers, destined to live a life of luxury.

This Basalt, being an immortal beast like Zongkun, would likely be very formidable in the future.

When it grows up, overturning rivers and seas and becoming a sea overlord would probably be no problem.

In Wang Ningxi's mind, he couldn't help but envision his great-aunt Wang Liyao riding the Basalt, traversing the four seas, majestic and awe-inspiring.

……