The courtyard lay desolate.
Only the wind stirred the withered leaves.
As a True Person of Mystic Heaven Grotto-Heaven, Wu Shisan considered his horizons to be lofty enough to tower above the rest. In his lifetime, he had seen far too many so-called geniuses.
Wang Canglan, hailed as the Eastern Territory's foremost prodigy, had entered the late Tower-Ascending Realm at merely one thousand three hundred and seventy-five years old, leaving the world astonished as though witnessing a celestial being.
Then there was that little monster hidden within Xuanming Palace, who had advanced with unstoppable force all the way, utterly unreasonable.
Even Wu Shisan himself.
Was he not a prodigy in his own right?
Yet the sight before him was simply absurd.
How many days had it been?
This girl had only entered the Tower-Ascending Realm a few days ago... less than a year ago, either way.
Moreover, when ordinary cultivators reached this realm, which one of them did not tread as if on thin ice, terrified that one wrong step would doom them beyond redemption?
No matter how swiftly they broke through, they still needed years or even decades to temper themselves and stabilize their realm.
But her?
She even thought it was too slow and had come asking why she could not directly reach perfection.
Did this even count as cultivation?
Wu Shisan's mouth twitched. After a long while, he stammered, "Y-you... tell me, then. What exactly is your current condition?"
Jiang Yuechu did not hide it.
"My spiritual energy is overflowing, yet it feels as though I've fallen into a swamp... as if something is stopping me from taking the next step."
The girl's brows furrowed slightly, clearly puzzled by this.
By the nature of the Heaven-Swallowing Technique, as long as there was enough essence, she could keep