These questions, now that the Glazed Sovereign had vanished, would likely remain unanswered for the time being. Perhaps even if the Glazed Sovereign were resurrected, there would be no clear answer to them either.
After all, judging by the Glazed Sovereign's final words, he hadn't understood the Daluo Cloud Essence Tree all that well either. He only knew that the spiritual seed had been sitting in the courtyard before the Glazed Palace. Before his fall, the Daluo Cloud Essence Tree had been nothing more than a bare trunk — it hadn't even sprouted branches or leaves.
It had to be said — the appearance of the Daluo Cloud Essence Tree was exceedingly strange.
He was growing increasingly convinced that this
The Daluo Cloud Essence Tree, the bloodlines of the Four Divine Beasts, the spectacle of ancient Divine Path cultivators running rampant — all of these seemed to far exceed what a common plane would possess, by a considerable margin.
This made Jiang Chen unable to suppress his suspicions, unable to stop wondering whether this Divine Abyss Continent had some kind of connection to his father, the Celestial Emperor, across both his past life and his current one.
If the Divine Abyss Continent truly bore no mark of the Celestial Emperor's hand, why did this supposedly ordinary plane display differences from every other plane at every turn?
"Heaven be praised — I have finally cultivated to the ninth level of the Celestial realm. The Divine Path is now only a single step away. Perhaps all the answers will be revealed before me in the near future."
As the Divine Path drew ever closer, Jiang Chen's heart, though eager, had paradoxically grown calmer than ever.
He sat cross-legged, quietly absorbing the atmosphere of the Glazed Palace, silently mourning the Glazed Sovereign's departure. After a long while, he rose to his feet.
He walked toward the statue.
Without the Glazed Sovereign's divine consciousness animating it, the statue had lost that spark of vitality. Though it was still remarkably lifelike and exquisitely crafted, it was ultimately nothing more than an inert object.
Following the Glazed Sovereign's instructions, Jiang Chen discovered a jade slip beneath the statue. This slip appeared to be a repository of recorded information.
It included the methods for sealing and unsealing spiritual veins, the layout of the Glazed Royal City's heritage, the locations of the ten great leadership factions from the ancient era, and his rough hypotheses and conjectures.
The three treasures the Glazed Sovereign had bestowed upon him were arranged nearby. The three Divine Path sariras rested on the left side of the statue, while the three Glazed Divine Talismans were placed on its right.
As for the Great Glazed Luminary — it was enshrined behind the statue, atop a high platform, within a sacred niche. A soft light flickered faintly there, like a solitary lamp standing in eternal stillness. Time and space seemed to have frozen in that place.
Yet the Great Glazed Luminary remained as serene as ever, its unique radiance undiminished, shining with an unyielding persistence.
Jiang Chen knew that this must be the Great Glazed Luminary.
He gathered the divine talismans, the Divine Path sariras, and the jade slip into his possession, then approached the Great Glazed Luminary for a careful examination.
In an instant, as though it had received some secret command, the Great Glazed Luminary transformed into a streak of brilliant light, darting out from the niche and coming to rest before Jiang Chen.
Before being activated, the Great Glazed Luminary appeared no different from an ordinary lamp — it emitted no blinding brilliance, no dazzling colors.
Yet as it hovered before him, Jiang Chen could clearly sense that this ancient inherited treasure concealed within it a devastating power, enough to shatter heaven and earth.