Jiang Chen didn't take the remark literally. The Glazed Great Sovereign was a figure of such towering stature that what he called "meager" was only meager by his own standards.
For someone at Jiang Chen's current level, a gift from a Great Sovereign — no matter how modestly worded — could never truly be taken at face value. The leader of an ancient ruling faction, when he decided to give, would absolutely not produce anything paltry. At least for Jiang Chen in his present state, it would be an extraordinarily generous offering.
One need only consider the fortunes he had already gained from the Six Palaces of Inheritance to grasp that.
The opportunities obtained from those palaces had already left Jiang Chen feeling profoundly enriched time and again. How could a personal gift from a Great Sovereign possibly fall short of that?
"The first of the three is a set of three Divine Path Sarirā. These three Divine Path Sarirā were formed by cultivators of my Glazed City who possessed great wisdom. When the Divine Tribulation proved impossible to overcome, they refined the very essence of their lives into these sarirā, using their bodies as vessels and their divinity as catalysts, ultimately producing these three Divine Path Sarirā. You must treasure them well."
Jiang Chen's heart stirred. Three Divine Path Sarirā!
In certain respects, Divine Path Sarirā were even more effective than Spirit of the Divine Pills. A single Spirit of the Divine Pill might elevate a Divine Path cultivator by only one minor realm.
A single Divine Path Sarirā, however, had the potential to raise one by more than one.
Take a first-level Divine Path cultivator, for example. If he obtained the Divine Path Sarirā of a fifth-level cultivator, he could at minimum cultivate up to the fourth level — and possibly even reach the fifth.
A Divine Path Sarirā was essentially the complete, undiminished essence of a Divine Path cultivator, painstakingly distilled and concentrated. It was as though one life form transmitted its essence, in the form of a sarirā, to another life form.
Of course, while Divine Path Sarirā were invaluable, the process of creating one was extraordinarily difficult. It required a cultivator of great wisdom willing to distill himself into a sarirā.
Moreover, the risk of failure during the refinement process was enormous. Out of ten cultivators who attempted it, perhaps one or two would succeed in condensing their life essence.
This was precisely why sarirā of every kind were so exceedingly rare. Few were willing to undergo the process in the first place, and with such a low success rate, the sarirā that survived through the ages were truly few and far between.
The fact that the Glazed Great Sovereign had produced three Divine Path Sarirā in a single gesture naturally left Jiang Chen stunned. He smiled ruefully. "Great Sovereign, if this is what you call meager, then I truly don't know what you would call a generous gift."
The Glazed Great Sovereign sighed. "Had we been strangers meeting by chance, this gift would certainly count as lavish. But you are the successor I have chosen. The responsibilities resting on your shoulders and the hardships you will face are both immense. When measured against that, this gift is not really all that extraordinary."
Jiang Chen clasped his fists. "Where duty calls, this junior will give his all regardless — with or without any gift."
"That, of course, I believe. You have things of your own that you must protect, and you carry your own convictions in your heart. Whether in the ancient era or the present, the reason the human race has always possessed such tenacious vitality is that there have always been people like us — people others might consider foolish, but who never once look back, who are willing to charge forward even knowing that a mountain of blades and a sea of fire awaits, all for the sake of what they protect."
Jiang Chen fell silent.
Indeed, if it was for his father, the Celestial Emperor, and for the family he had in this life, no danger, however great, would make him hesitate.
In truth, in this life alone, Jiang Chen had already put himself in harm's way countless times for his kin, his sworn brothers, and his dao companion.
"Each of these three Divine Path Sarirā is of mid-tier Divine Path quality — a rank that is by no means low. Make good use of them," the Glazed Great Sovereign admonished.