The woman surnamed Wu spoke with absolute conviction. Both her deductions and her supporting evidence fell within the bounds of what reasonably could have happened.
After hearing her out, Mo Chen could not help drawing in a sharp breath.
"As I recall, anyone who holds an elder's position in the Immortal Alliance's Transcendent Sects must be at the legendary nascent soul realm, right? If even a mighty cultivator of that realm could be trapped here, these restrictive wards really are something extraordinary."
But Mo Chen changed tack, cautiously asking the woman surnamed Wu, "Still, if its spiritual power has been draining away all along, why lament the wind and mourn the moon? Once its spiritual power weakens enough, couldn't you simply leave?"
"Haha, you look so young, fellow cultivator, yet you certainly have a whole repertoire of jokes. It would take at least several hundred years for this disk's spiritual power to run dry. Surely you don't expect me to condense a golden core here?"
"I failed to think it through and misjudged you, miss."
"No blame falls on those who don't know. You haven't been trapped here, so it's only natural that you wouldn't understand. Now that I've attacked the restrictive wards and forced the Spirit Chain inside me to reveal itself, you should believe me, shouldn't you?"
As she spoke, the woman surnamed Wu pointed out the thread shimmering with spiritual light to Mo Chen.
"Of course I believe you. But I would still like to observe these restrictive wards a while longer."
"Please, take your time." The woman surnamed Wu nodded courteously, then descended the wooden stairs.
Mo Chen was left alone on the second floor of the Spirit Ascension Tower.
Rather than hurry away, he took another two steps toward the disk and slowly released his