Wen Jingshu's tower-climbing journey was a rollercoaster of emotions—one moment exhausting, the next heartwarming, then frustrating, and finally mentally draining. The spectators outside were just as utterly bewildered.
“Doesn't the illusion start from the sixty-first floor? Miss Fuyan is only sixteen. What kind of obsession could she possibly have to take a whole hour to come out?”
“Don't you think her speed on the sixtieth floor was too fast? The battle against the four beasts took only fifteen minutes! What kind of concept is that! Back then, the Ancestor took forty-five minutes!”
“Huh? Why did she slow down again on the seventy-eighth floor? I remember that floor is a duel against a phantom, right? I cleared that one very quickly back then.”
“You cleared it quickly because you barely have any ability! How long could it possibly take to fight a piece of trash?”
“...Your words are really cutting.”
“Just the truth.”
Ten days flashed by in an instant. For Wen Jingshu, fighting against herself made every day feel like a year.
She had never realized before that her own fighting style was so underhanded!
Were the angles of her sneak attacks always that bizarre?
Wen Jingshu was exhausted, Wen Jingshu remained silent, and Wen Jingshu desperately searched for flaws, forcefully breaking through her own fighting style!
She finally passed the ninetieth floor. Fighting against a version of herself that possessed the mutated wood immortal root had almost made her spit blood in frustration.
On this floor, as long as she didn't deliver a fatal blow to the phantom, its Innate Immaculate Spirit Body and wood immortal root would circulate frantically. In almost three breaths, the phantom would be up and jumping around again.
Relying on sheer willpower, she ground it down again and again, finally wearing it out to its death.
Wen Jingshu lay on the ground, gasping for air. At this moment, she just wanted to close her eyes and sleep.
She hoped the ninety-first floor wouldn't be another phantom!
When she opened her eyes again, four items appeared before her: a cauldron, a talisman brush, a hammer, and a stone, corresponding to the paths of alchemy, talismans, smithing, and formations.
Wen Jingshu breathed a sigh of relief.
Among the four auxiliary arts, Wen Jingshu had no reason to hesitate. She reached out and grabbed the cauldron and the talisman brush.
She thought she would proceed to the next stage after making her choice.
To her surprise, nothing happened after she selected those two. It seemed she needed to interact with all four auxiliary arts.
Wen Jingshu only had a passing understanding of smithing and formations.
After all, in her past life as an auxiliary cultivator, she had been dirt poor. When her weapons broke, she could only find ways to repair them herself. Unable to afford formation plates, she could only fumble around and figure things out on her own.
She had never delved deeply into either of these two paths. Could it be that she also possessed astonishing talent in them?
Looking at the hammer and stone before her, Wen Jingshu's heart pounded.
What if her talent in these two areas was also heaven-defying?
She couldn't possibly cultivate all four paths simultaneously, could she?
With these thoughts in mind, Wen Jingshu reached out to touch the hammer and the stone. The four items swayed gently in midair, and then the hammer and stone gradually faded away, leaving only the cauldron and the talisman brush.
Clearly, Wen Jingshu's talent points were strictly in alchemy and drawing talismans.
Wen Jingshu clicked her tongue. It was a bit of a pity that she couldn't become an all-around genius.
However, even if she had talent in smithing and formations, she wouldn't have the energy to sustain those paths anyway.
Unless she ascended to immortality one day and had plenty of time to study them.
Wen Jingshu pulled back her stray thoughts. She watched as the cauldron slowly descended before her, while a phantom projection appeared beside it, briefly demonstrating the steps of alchemy.
Seeing this, Wen Jingshu confidently followed the steps. Unsurprisingly, with the boost from her wood immortal root, she achieved a Grade A-plus in the path of alchemy.
Next was the talisman art. The only reason she could draw talismans so smoothly now was entirely because she possessed the thousand-year drawing experience of her past life as a talisman cultivator, Wen Jingshu.
As for whether she actually had natural talent in this field, Wen Jingshu did not have much confidence.
Watching the talisman brush trace a complex rune in midair, Wen Jingshu closed her eyes and visualized the process in her mind several times. She then carefully picked up the talisman brush and began to draw in the air as well.
As the rune gradually took shape, she achieved a Grade A-plus in the path of talismans as well!
Wen Jingshu was highly satisfied with this result.
The final stage of the Trial Tower was to test one's talent in the four auxiliary arts. Once Wen Jingshu's results for the four auxiliary arts were determined, her final result for clearing the tower was also calculated.
Outside the Trial Tower, Wen Jingshu's name slowly surpassed Wang Ruofu's—who was actually Wen Shuyi—and landed in third place.
From the moment Wen Jingshu entered to when she came out, she had taken the exact same amount of time as her sister: eleven days.
Just as everyone thought Wen Jingshu would stop at third place, her name climbed bit by bit, finally resting in second place.
“Miss Fuyan is second!”
“Heavens, the top three spots on the Heavenly Pride Board haven't changed in so many years, yet today I'm actually witnessing a shake-up with my own eyes!”
“Wait, Miss Fuyan's name hasn't turned gold yet! Her name is still moving!”
“What does that mean? Could Miss Fuyan's aptitude be even higher than the Ancestor's?”
“Look! Miss Fuyan's name is approaching the Ancestor's name!”
Everyone held their breath as they watched this change. The name Wang Xuzhi had been hanging at the top of the Heavenly Pride Board for nearly ten thousand years!
Generation after generation of geniuses had looked up to her name, yet not a single person had been able to surpass it.
And now, a direct descendant lady who had suddenly returned from the outside world had burst onto the scene. First, she had entered a state of sudden enlightenment for half a month upon returning to the Wang family, and now she had directly claimed the top spot of the Trial Tower!
When Wen Jingshu stepped out of the tower, the first thing she saw was a massive crowd of people gathered outside.
Upon seeing Wen Jingshu, they began to shout fanatically:
“Miss Fuyan, you are first on the Heavenly Pride Board!”
“Miss Fuyan, from this day forward, you are my idol!”
Hearing their shouts, Wen Jingshu subconsciously looked up at the Heavenly Pride Board, only to find her name... was indeed exceptionally large and bright.
Her time to clear the tower was actually a few days longer than Wang Xuzhi's. The reason she was able to claim the top spot was likely because she had achieved a Grade A-plus in both paths.
The Heavenly Dao was fair. For countless years in the cultivation world, cultivators of the four auxiliary arts would only choose one path to focus on.
People like Wen Jingshu, who possessed top-tier talent in both alchemy and talismans, were extremely rare, not to mention that she put a great deal of effort into both and had neglected neither.
Of course, only Wen Jingshu knew just how hard she had to grind behind the scenes.
Seeing her name at the very top, Wen Jingshu felt deeply emotional, but she did not let it get to her head.
As the saying went, the cultivation world never lacked geniuses; what it lacked were geniuses who could survive, geniuses with steadfast Dao Hearts, and geniuses with immense luck.
Natural talent and aptitude were merely the starting line. How far one could go in the future ultimately depended on one's own fortune.
The Ancestor of the Wang family, Wang Xuzhi, was the most classic example of this.
Nevertheless, Wen Jingshu had gained quite a lot from this tower-climbing expedition.
First, her Sword Heart had reached grand completion. Second, her combat capability had broken out of its previous comfort zone, becoming more cautious and well-rounded.
Upon returning to the Tranquil Garden, Wen Jingshu immediately went into closed-door cultivation for four months.
If she hadn't been keeping in mind the need to secure a slot for the Thunder Region Forbidden Land in the Clan Ranking Tournament, Wen Jingshu felt she could have stayed in seclusion for another year.
Wen Jingshu had gone into seclusion right at the peak of her popularity. Even after four months had passed, the hype around her had only grown.
Upon hearing that Wen Jingshu had emerged from seclusion, Wang Chenliu hastily called her to the main hall.
“Shushu, you have truly given us an immense surprise!”
In their generation, the emergence of a cultivator with a perfect mutated lightning spiritual root and another with a perfect mutated ice spiritual root had already placed the Wang family at the center of public attention.
Who could have expected that Wen Jingshu would possess a perfect heavenly lightning spiritual root, and even directly climb to the very top of the Heavenly Pride Board!
Producing three top-tier geniuses in a single generation was both an opportunity and a challenge for the Wang family!
Rate on N.U.
