Wang Nian hugged a book and tiptoed toward the study.
Behind her, Chen Ruan followed all the way. "Little Nian, studying again?"
"Are you done being annoying?" Fourteen-year-old Wang Nian wrinkled her nose. "Do you think everyone is a salted fish like you?"
"Salted... salted fish?" Chen Ruan's eyes widened as he clutched his chest. "How could you tarnish my innocence out of thin air?"
"Pah, pah, pah! What innocence?" Wang Nian wrinkled her nose. "I saw it with my own eyes! Two years! You've been at the great perfection of Core Formation for two years! Still no Primordial Spirit after two whole years—if that doesn't make you a salted fish, what does?"
In this age, attaining a Primordial Spirit had long ceased to be difficult.
More than a year ago, for reasons unknown, the Immortal Alliance had suddenly halted all interstellar travel for civilian use.
Communications among Shenzhou, Hometown, and the three other colonial planets that had emerged only within the past decade had all been abruptly cut off.
It was not merely civilian star shuttles.
All Path Beacon Magical Items had been shut down. Contact between the five planets had been completely severed. The Conquest Envoys who had not been recalled in time could only pray for their own fortunes.
For a time, everyone was gripped by panic.
Fortunately, the gods of society created by the Immortal Alliance had already begun operating, and humanity's governance had visibly improved. Though panic spread, at least no great chaos erupted.
And then...
Then everyone grew used to it.
Battles billions upon billions of light-years away, involving several Limits of Dao Integration and the most crucial part of the universe's history, simply did not feel real to cultivators at this level.
Even though the final battle beyond the distant river of stars