After much deliberation, Jiang Chen decided that the Six Palaces of Inheritance could wait. He would set them aside for now and revisit the matter once things had stabilized on this end.
Of course, Jiang Chen was also mulling over another question: could the Temporal Sigil be of any use here in the Myriad Abyss Island? If he activated the Temporal Sigil within the Myriad Abyss, would it be able to transport him back to the Six Palaces of Inheritance?
This was something Jiang Chen was extremely curious about.
That said, at least for the time being, he had no intention of trying it. The Temporal Sigil couldn't carry other people back to the Six Palaces of Inheritance. The palaces simply didn't accept other living beings. If Jiang Chen attempted to bring Huang'er and Ling Bi'er along, the inheritance would generate a powerful repulsive force — one lethal enough to kill anyone other than Jiang Chen himself.
This was precisely why, back when he'd been outside, he'd had to employ the secret technique of separating spirit and body in order to bring the brothers of the Giant Stone Clan along. Only by separating their souls from their physical forms could he transport them.
However, that secret technique was specific to the Giant Stone Clan and simply wouldn't work on humans. So even if the Temporal Sigil functioned here in the Myriad Abyss, bringing Huang'er and Ling Bi'er back with him was not an option.
For this reason, Jiang Chen had temporarily abandoned the notion of returning to the Six Palaces of Inheritance. After all, getting back would be easy — but making the trip again would be enormously difficult. Who knew where the teleportation formation would send him next time he found the Myriad Abyss? Would it even drop him off at Dongyan Island again? And if so, the distance to this Eternal Divine Kingdom was nothing short of staggering.
More critically, Dongyan Island fell under the territory of the Rejuvenation Island Domain. After everything that had transpired, the island was likely under heavy guard by now.
None of this was something Jiang Chen had the bandwidth to investigate at the moment. Having broken through to the Celestial realm, he treasured every single moment beside the Eternal River.
The Eternal River, as the most sacred region of the Eternal Holy Land, was suffused with a mysterious, almost hypnotic quality of insight. Even someone like Jiang Chen — who had witnessed far greater wonders in his past life — found the river utterly captivating. Every moment it harbored different profundities, brimming with mystery and offering cultivators limitless imagination, boundless inspiration, and endless creative sparks.
For the remainder of his time, Jiang Chen devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivation, drinking in every drop of advantage the river had to offer.
His breakthrough to the Celestial realm had elevated all of his martial techniques, cultivation methods, and Divine Abilities to a new level of perfection. The Ice Fire Demon Lotus had likewise undergone a transformation with his advancement — its vitality had surged dramatically, its resilience had improved beyond measure, and most critically, the "demon" aspect of the Ice Fire Demon Lotus had finally manifested in full after his breakthrough.
Each individual Ice Fire Demon Lotus could now shapeshift at will, assuming whichever form its master desired. This was one of the great advantages of the Ice Fire Demon Lotus as a Celestial-grade plant. After Jiang Chen's breakthrough, the lotus's spiritual awareness had seemingly awakened as well, and the rapport between it and Jiang Chen had grown ever more seamless.
Jiang Chen relished this feeling — this sense of total, effortless control. It was like a fish returned to water.
"Celestial realm is Celestial realm after all," he murmured. "Breaking through means I've finally set foot upon the path of questioning the Heavenly Dao. The Dao may be distant, but at last I'm on my way."
He savored the changes the Celestial realm had brought to his body and to everything around him, feeling a deep sense of fulfillment that made the moment all the more gratifying.
But what piqued his curiosity most at this stage was the seal within his sea of consciousness.
Those nine chain-linked seals, resembling droplets of water, seemed to have grown far more active. Each droplet had become fuller and more lustrous, and though they varied in shape, they radiated an impression of unfathomable mystery.
Jiang Chen kept observing the chain seal with his spiritual sense. The formation looked like nine stars suspended in an endless void — perfectly shaped, magnificently vast, and brimming with the promise of wonder.
"What on earth does this seal contain?" he wondered.
He sat cross-legged and extended his spiritual sense toward the chain seal, attempting to establish contact. At that moment, his heart was tinged with a trace of anxiety and unease, but far more than that, there was anticipation and curiosity.
He had a premonition that the seal was drawing ever closer to being unlocked.
Moreover, he could increasingly sense that this seal was inextricably linked to the fate of both his past life and his present one.
But where, exactly, did that connection lie? And through what mechanism was it forged?
Jiang Chen yearned to find the answer right away — yet he didn't dare act rashly. This seal had not appeared in his sea of consciousness without reason. If it had manifested here, there had to be a purpose behind it.
If it was a mark left by his father from his previous life, then what Jiang Chen needed to do was let things take their course and slowly comprehend the seal's meaning in his own time.
The reason he hadn't thrown himself into exploring it headlong was that he harbored certain concerns. After all, the great calamity of the Celestial tribulation in his past life remained shrouded in uncertainty — he had no idea what had become of his father, or where the man had gone. He couldn't even be certain whether this seal was a clue left by his father. And if it was, would rashly attempting to activate it draw the attention of his father's enemies?
Jiang Chen knew that in his past life, he had been deeply cherished by his father. The man had sacrificed so much for him — even going so far as to expend his own fortune and luck to refine the Sun and Moon Divine Pill.