Within the forbidden grounds of the Danxiao Ancient Sect, Jiang Chen continuously circulated the Grand Zhou Heaven cycle. Wave after wave of elemental energy surged toward a single point like a million-strong army charging in unison, like countless rivers converging into the sea.
Jiang Chen felt his violet palace dantian expanding ceaselessly, stretching wider and wider.
Above his head, three wondrous phantom silhouettes shimmered into existence, growing clearer by the moment.
He knew he had reached the critical juncture of his breakthrough to the Saint Realm.
"One push through — charge!"
A single thought burned through his mind: he had to surge upward with everything he had. His current situation was like rowing against a fierce current — what he needed was the momentum to fight the flow.
The elemental energy within his body became like a flood dragon charging upstream beneath a colossal waterfall, battering against the shackles inside him again and again.
Rumble! Rumble!
Jiang Chen's violet palace dantian echoed with deep, thunderous booms like a vast gorge, while every bone and meridian in his body resonated with all manner of strange, harmonic tones — as if performing a grand and perfectly harmonious chorus.
Then, in a single instant!
Jiang Chen felt his entire body loosen. The elemental shackles that had bound him cracked apart like an enormous glass dome shattered by a tremendous blow, fragmenting into countless shards that collapsed in on themselves.
Boom!
Every last barrier crumbled to dust.
The elemental energy surging within him became as fierce as a dragon and as vital as a tiger, bursting with renewed vigor, soaring skyward.
In that same breath, the three phantom silhouettes above Jiang Chen's head ignited like lanterns, instantly blazing into perfect clarity.
Three spirits gathered above the crown — the Saint Realm breakthrough was complete!
The Saint Realm was divided into nine stages, grouped in threes: Human Saint, Earth Saint, and Heaven Saint. Upon entering the Saint Realm, each level manifested its own unique phenomenon.
Human Saint — three spirits crown the head.
Earth Saint — golden lotuses bloom from the ground.
Heaven Saint — heavenly maidens scatter blossoms from the sky.
But in the very instant Jiang Chen broke through to the Saint Realm, the elemental energy within him erupted skyward, and in the next moment, it was as though a rift had been torn through heaven and earth itself.
The sky and the earth shifted in color. A seam split the void, dividing the world into black and white, and boundless clouds gathered in a frenzy.
The celestial phenomenon that had once appeared over the Treasure Tree Sect was happening again.
And its momentum was three to five times more powerful than before!
The entire region was engulfed by the heavenly phenomenon. Countless divine rainbows crisscrossed the sky, and all manner of celestial dharma aspects shone brilliantly against one another.
"I thought the phenomenon during my Yuan Realm breakthrough was just an anomaly. I didn't expect the commotion from entering the Saint Realm to be even greater. Thank goodness this is happening within the forbidden grounds of the Danxiao Ancient Sect. If I had attempted this breakthrough in the Danqian Palace, everyone would have connected it to me without a doubt."
Once, people could dismiss it as coincidence.
But if the same thing happened twice in a row, the word 'coincidence' would no longer suffice. It was far too unlikely for celestial phenomena to trigger coincidentally every single time one advanced in cultivation.
At the exact moment of his breakthrough, within Jiang Chen's divine sense, as vast and empty as a primordial chaotic universe, as boundless as an ocean of cosmic consciousness, that seal reappeared in his sea of consciousness.
Nine droplet-like points, each luminous as a star, orbited in a ring-shaped nebula — like a mystical chain — forming some kind of extraordinary seal.
This seal was strange and enigmatic. It seemed to contain a power of terrifying magnitude, and yet it also felt as though it restrained something profoundly dreadful.
The last time Jiang Chen had broken through to the Yuan Realm, he had detected this seal. He had attempted to investigate it then, but ultimately learned nothing.
During that previous breakthrough, Jiang Chen had accidentally brushed against the seal, which had triggered the celestial phenomenon.
This time, he had been extremely cautious, yet the phenomenon that erupted was even more fearsome than before.
It seemed that every time he broke through a major realm, the seal itself responded of its own accord, generating a celestial phenomenon — not because Jiang Chen had probed or touched it, but because it reacted on its own.
However, this time the seal was noticeably more distinct. Unlike when he had entered the Yuan Realm, he could now clearly sense its presence.
Last time, when he broke through to the Yuan Realm, his divine sense had not dared approach the seal at all.
Now, after breaking through to the Saint Realm, his divine sense could approach its perimeter. Though he still felt a sensation like being pricked by countless needles, it was no longer as unbearable as it had been during the Yuan Realm breakthrough.
"It seems that as my strength grows, my divine sense continues to strengthen as well, and my tolerance for this seal keeps increasing."
Jiang Chen reached his own judgment.
He let his divine sense gently circle the perimeter of the seal, feeling it out carefully. But before he knew it, his divine sense was being drawn inward by the seal — pulled toward the vast expanse of the myriad realms of his previous life, pulled toward that ancient, distant era.
Memories from his past life came flooding out like a mountain deluge.
Jiang Chen hastily ceased his investigation.
Boom!
The nine-star chain seal snapped shut in an instant. His consciousness returned to normal.
"The myriad realms of the heavens…" Jiang Chen stood frozen in place as though struck by lightning, speechless for a long, long time. In that moment, he finally became certain — his reincarnation into this world had definitely been arranged by his father.
If his father had not orchestrated it, there was no way such a formidable and terrifying power could have been sealed within his divine sense.
Though Jiang Chen did not know exactly what the seal contained, he was absolutely certain that no one other than his father could possess such an immense Divine Ability — the power to leave such a powerful seal imprinted within his consciousness.