Jiang Chen stared at the ruler, at those sixteen characters, and for a long moment his emotions churned in a tidal wave of feeling.
He now understood those sixteen characters completely.
His father hadn't delivered a lengthy speech, but the depth of meaning contained within those sixteen characters—Jiang Chen had grasped a great deal.
"The heavens and earth may be vast, yet but a span apart; life and death may be distant, yet but a cycle between…" Jiang Chen murmured the words over and over, turning them over in his mind, savoring their deeper significance.
In that moment, tears streamed down his face.
Father!
From the message woven into those sixteen characters, Jiang Chen had read his father's painstaking intentions. In his previous life, the calamity that shattered the heavens had been unavoidable—separation between father and son, destined by fate.
Perhaps his father had foreseen everything long ago. Perhaps all of this had been part of a grand design, arranged well in advance.
What did "the heavens and earth may be vast, yet but a span apart" mean? It spoke of the distance between the Divine Abyss Continent where Jiang Chen now stood and the greater world of the heavens—vast as that gulf might be, if fate and sincerity truly aligned, it would shrink to nothing more than a span.
The implication was already plain: father and son would meet again.
And the meaning behind "life and death may be distant, yet but a cycle between" was much the same.
It hinted that though they had been parted by death, for a figure as exalted as the Celestial Emperor, even if one were cast into the cycle of reincarnation, one would ultimately transcend the boundary between life and death.
Every detail pointed to the same conclusion—even as the heavenly calamity descended, his father had kept everything firmly within his grasp.
"Father, your child understands!"
Jiang Chen processed those feelings for a long while before finally pulling himself back from the emotional whirlwind of his past and present lives. Since his reincarnation, he had never experienced a moment of such intense, heart-wrenching turmoil.
Now, as the storm subsided, his conviction only grew stronger.
His father was definitely still out there. Though he didn't know in what form, he had to still exist. When the heavens shattered in that previous life, his Celestial Emperor's throne was certainly lost—perhaps even the Grand Abyss Celestial Palace had been seized by others.
But his father would never simply cease to exist. He would find a way.
Perhaps his father had used the power of reincarnation to send him to the Divine Abyss Continent precisely so they could join forces—father and son united—to turn the tide and rebuild the heavens.
Of course, all of this was merely Jiang Chen's speculation, but with each passing moment he felt more and more confident that his conjecture was on the mark.
The Divine Abyss Continent. The Grand Abyss World.
Both shared the character "abyss." Jiang Chen felt this was yet another crucial piece of evidence.
So what exactly was this Heaven-Measuring Ruler capable of?
Jiang Chen wasn't in any rush to investigate the ruler's functions. His father seemed to be testing him deliberately, offering no hints whatsoever.
He put the Heaven-Measuring Ruler away and once again channeled his spiritual consciousness, attempting to sense the chain-shaped seal formed by the remaining eight points of light.
But this time, his consciousness sank into them like a stone dropped into the ocean—not a single response.
Jiang Chen thought it over carefully, then chuckled at himself in amusement: "I've only just broken through to the Divine Path—merely the first level. Perhaps those nine points of light represent the nine stages of the Divine Path? Each time I break through to the next level, one link of the chain seal loosens?"
That was the only guess he could make. Whether it was truly the case, he would have to wait until he broke through to the second level of the Divine Path before he could test it.
Of course, having consumed a Grand Luo Cloud Essence Fruit, his journey through the Divine Path should not prove too arduous—at least the first several levels would surely not pose any significant obstacles.
The loosening of this chain seal had also untied a knot in Jiang Chen's heart. It left him feeling more at ease, and more certain of the road ahead.