When the chain seal within Jiang Chen's spiritual sea awakened, the realm of his divine consciousness could surge three to fivefold in an instant.
Things that had been hazy and indistinct became crystal clear in a flash.
The nine images were no different.
At first, when Jiang Chen had been contemplating the nine images, they had seemed vaguely familiar yet elusive, as though he understood them but didn't.
However, this chain seal granted his divine consciousness a tremendous additional boost, causing the power of his mind to skyrocket in an instant.
"This… this diagram really is a labyrinth. It's a Nine Palace Maze Formation."
Jiang Chen finally saw through the trick.
He had assumed these were merely nine ordinary images. He never expected that the nine images were actually a combination—a single, unified whole.
Though eight of the images appeared different from one another, the differences amounted to nothing more than the distinction between life and death.
Of the Nine-Palace Maze Formation diagram, only one image contained a path of survival. The other eight were all dead ends. Once the Nine-Palace Maze Formation diagram formed its labyrinth, eight of the images would lead to nothing but death.
The one image that stood apart from the rest was the sole way out of the entire formation.
"So that's how it is! So that's how it is!"
Relying on his powerful divine sense, Jiang Chen had finally grasped the true mystery behind these nine images. With that realization, his confidence surged.
Once the overall pattern of dead ends had been mapped out in his mind, Jiang Chen was no longer groping blindly. There was no longer any need to examine each image one by one. If he had tried to find the answer solely by comparing the visual differences between the patterns, he would have discovered virtually no flaws at all.
Because the patterns in these nine images were nearly identical — as if they had all been carved from the same mold.
However, once Jiang Chen understood the mystery of the nine images and the overall pattern of dead paths fell into place, the dead ends became far more vivid and distinguishable during his visualization.
"Eight deaths and one life... This Nine-Palace Maze Formation diagram truly is unfathomably profound."
Jiang Chen was no longer relying on observation alone. He now combined visualization with logical deduction, working through both simultaneously.
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck his mind. His Evil Golden Eye locked firmly onto one particular image — one that was filled with a kind of subtle, profound logic that set it apart from the rest.
“It’s this one!”
A flash of inspiration struck, a feeling indescribably profound and perfectly flawless.
Jiang Chen knew this sudden spark of insight was never wrong. In the Martial Dao, this was actually a form of enlightenment.
“Senior, I already have the answer.”
As he spoke, his body transformed into a streak of light and shot toward the image he had selected.
In the next instant, Jiang Chen’s body, now a beam of light, passed straight through the image.
Boom!
The moment he passed through, the scenery before his eyes underwent a drastic transformation.
The nine images completely vanished once more. In their place, the scene before him reverted to what it had been when he first entered the Third Palace.
As if everything that had just transpired had never happened at all.
Jiang Chen gazed at the scenery all around him, his heart filled with admiration: "Good heavens, all those incredibly realistic scenes just now — every single one of them was nothing but an illusion, a mirage. This Nine Palace Maze Formation diagram really is extraordinary. It makes you question whether anything was ever real at all!"
Jiang Chen felt as though he were caught in a dream, and this sensation of dreams and reality intertwining only deepened his respect for Senior Marquis Hong. When it came to this domain, the man's mastery was truly astonishing.
Jiang Chen knew that among martial cultivators, there existed a particular group who devoted themselves specifically to the practice of illusion arts. In that field, their mastery was especially formidable.
Of course, the so-called illusion arts did not mean that everything was purely fictitious. Rather, it involved wielding Divine Abilities in the space between the real and the illusory, causing people to lose themselves between the two.
Without a doubt, Senior Marquis Hong was unquestionably a powerhouse in this domain.
Marquis Hong's voice rang out from the void, tinged with genuine surprise: "Jiang Chen, I'm beginning to understand why you were able to make it all the way to the Third Palace."
Jiang Chen replied modestly: "This junior's luck has always been rather good."
"Hmph. When I praise you, you should accept it graciously. What's with all this false modesty?" Marquis Hong snorted coldly. "From ancient times to the present, the number of people who have earned a single word of praise from me can be counted on one hand."
Jiang Chen chuckled but refrained from further modesty. Instead, he asked: "Senior, I've already passed the first trial. May I ask what the second trial will be?"
For Jiang Chen, the first trial, while not without its difficulties, had not been all that grueling.
In truth, this was precisely what surprised Marquis Hong the most.
His Nine Palaces Enchantment Diagram had actually been arranged with extraordinary cunning. If the challenger were foolish enough to compare each image one by one in painstaking detail,
they might spend ten or even eight years without necessarily finding the correct answer.
After all, in the ancient era, the Nine Palaces Enchantment Diagram had been a formidable tool with which Marquis Hong had inflicted devastating losses on many of his opponents.
Countless people had been trapped within the Nine Palaces Enchantment Diagram, left to waste away and die a slow, wretched death.