After all, the Glazed Formation array surrounding the Glazed Palace was clearly hundreds, even thousands of times more powerful than the defensive formations around Sacred Peacock Mountain.
Though Jiang Chen had strengthened the defenses of Sacred Peacock Mountain, it had originally been nothing more than an Emperor-tier lineage. Decent in quality, yes, but ultimately limited when measured against the grander picture to come.
This ancient Glazed Palace, however, had once been the leading sect of antiquity.
Its quality was beyond imagination.
Jiang Chen lingered at the Glazed Palace for a long while, studying its layout, the distribution of each area, and every manner of detail until he had committed it all to memory. Only then did he return to the courtyard.
He knew it was time to consume a Grand Luo Cloud Essence Fruit.
The fruit lay in Jiang Chen's palm, translucent and luminous, radiating a pale azure divine glow. An aura containing the supreme power of heaven and earth emanated from it, filling Jiang Chen with an inexplicable sense of exhilaration just from looking at it.
"Grand Luo Cloud Essence Fruit — my breakthrough into the Divine Path rests on you."
Jiang Chen gently closed his eyes and entered a state of meditation.
The Grand Luo Cloud Essence Fruit was no ordinary spirit fruit. Before consuming it, one had to carefully attune to its characteristics and make every possible preparation.
After all, it was a treasure from the Rankings of Creation.
Roughly two hours later, Jiang Chen finally emerged from his meditative state. He was ready to begin.
In less than a quarter hour, Jiang Chen had fully refined the Grand Luo Cloud Essence Fruit. The formidable Power of Creation was slowly absorbed into his five viscera and six bowels, channeled through his meridians, and drawn into every corner of his body.
Logically speaking, even in the ancient era, Divine Path cultivators who consumed the Grand Luo Cloud Essence Fruit had to exercise extreme caution, weighing whether the Power of Creation within was too great and might cause a backlash.
That was why Jiang Chen had been so careful.
The Power of Creation began to take effect within Jiang Chen's body. He felt as though his entire dharma form had been tossed into a furnace, continuously refined by the searing force.
All at once, all manner of strange thoughts surged through Jiang Chen's mind. Memories from his previous life grew impossibly vivid, manifesting one scene after another.
Then, these memories entangled with those of his current life, blurring the line between past and present to the point where he could barely distinguish one from the other.
Meanwhile, his physical body was undergoing constant transformation, endlessly evolving.
The changes brought by the Nine-fold Celestial realm had already been remarkable. But what the Power of Creation bestowed upon him now was an even more wondrous experience.
Gate after gate that he had never before passed through seemed to swing open before him one by one.
His Celestial Mandate Token also began to slowly dissolve. Under the tempering of the Power of Creation, subtle changes started to emerge within it.
Jiang Chen's heart stirred. He knew — this was the critical moment of condensing his Godhead.
Once he broke through this step and his Godhead reached completion, it would mark his full ascension as a Divine Path cultivator.
This process was like water dripping through stone — immensely difficult and exceedingly long. But hadn't Jiang Chen prepared for so long, waiting precisely for this moment?
Patience. Diligence.
Not a single stray thought could be tolerated. Jiang Chen's spiritual consciousness followed the subtle changes, actively cooperating with the condensation process of his Godhead.
Without the Grand Luo Cloud Essence Fruit, this process would have taken at minimum three to five years, and at worst several decades — potentially even a full century.
After all, ever since Jiang Chen had first set foot on the path of cultivation, every step had been remarkably smooth. He had encountered almost no bottlenecks whatsoever.
Bottlenecks that others would struggle and suffer to overcome, he had burst through in a single surge of momentum.
Now, the Divine Path had become the most critical threshold of his entire martial cultivation journey.