Though there were only two restrictions, they were undoubtedly two lifelines.
As the cave dwelling's information continued to pour into his mind, Jiang Chen gained an ever-deeper grasp of its secrets. He learned that its original creator was named Guo Ran — a Mid Heaven Rank powerhouse from ancient times.
Naturally, the cave dwelling offered no further details about the ancient era itself.
Guo Ran had clearly undergone his Nirvana within this very cave dwelling, and his own Heavenly Mandate Talisman remained here as well.
Alongside Guo Ran's personal Heavenly Mandate Talisman lay a secret token. The token resembled a silver key, exuding an aura of profound antiquity.
"So this token is the passageway into the Celestial Mysteries Secret Realm?" Jiang Chen knew that many secret realms required special tokens to enter.
Such tokens could take the form of keys, protective amulets, or identity certifications.
Without a token, anyone who blundered into a secret realm would immediately face attacks from its protective restrictions.
If the Celestial Mysteries Secret Realm truly lived up to its reputation, then Jiang Chen would find a way to venture inside no matter what. After all, the Celestial Mysteries Secret Realm was said to lead to the far shore of the Heavenly Dao itself — a place where one could commune directly with the Heavenly Dao and traverse the Myriad Heavens Planes.
"The Celestial Mysteries Secret Realm — whether it truly exists or not, I must safeguard this token carefully. My current strength is nowhere near sufficient to challenge the Celestial Mysteries Secret Realm, but with this token in hand, the moment the realm appears, I'll have my chance."
In Jiang Chen's estimation, this Celestial Mysteries Secret Realm token was worth far more than the Heavenly Mandate Talisman.
A single Heavenly Mandate Talisman could already drive countless Titled Emperors into a frenzy of competition. Yet in Jiang Chen's eyes, the weight of a passageway to the Celestial Mysteries Secret Realm simply couldn't be measured against it.
As for the Heavenly Mandate Talisman, it was naturally no less attractive.
Whether any Heaven Rank cultivators existed in the present Divine Abyss Continent remained a mystery. At the very least, while Jiang Chen had been muddling through the Myriad Manifestations Domain, he had been nowhere near that level.
As for whether any first-rate sects harbored Heaven Rank cultivators — that too remained unknown.
However, in the Upper Eight Domains, even if Heaven Rank powerhouses existed, they would be as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, perhaps not having appeared for a thousand years.
Most Titled Emperors had virtually no hope of earning the Heavenly Dao's recognition through their own cultivation alone.
Refining an ancient Heavenly Mandate Talisman was therefore the most promising path to ascending to the Heaven Rank.
So the moment a Heavenly Mandate Talisman surfaced, it was bound to unleash a storm of bloodshed, drawing every Titled Emperor for miles around.
That meant such items could never see the light of day.
The Celestial Mysteries Secret Realm token, the personal Heavenly Mandate Talisman, and the palace cave dwelling — these were the only three legacies left behind by the ancient Heaven Rank powerhouse Guo Ran.
Any single one of them would rank among the Divine Abyss Continent's most prized treasures.
"Who would have thought? The Nine Yang Heavenly Sect schemed for a thousand years, only to hand everything over to me, Jiang Chen." At this thought, he felt an irresistible urge to laugh aloud.
He held no goodwill toward the Nine Yang Heavenly Sect whatsoever. They had clashed with him multiple times, and between them, the feud was already one that could only end with total annihilation.
So the chance to pluck the fruit right out of the Nine Yang Heavenly Sect's hands — far from feeling any twinge of guilt, Jiang Chen found it deeply satisfying, as though he were settling an old score.
After Jiang Chen refined the cave dwelling's core, all of Emperor Feiyu's lingering connections to it were severed completely. Without those connections, every measure Emperor Feiyu had put in place became meaningless.
Jiang Chen buried Emperor Feiyu's remains with due respect, then helped himself to Emperor Feiyu's legacies as well. They would only go to waste sitting here.
Though Emperor Feiyu had been a rogue cultivator, the fact that he had risen to the rank of Titled Emperor relying solely on his own talent and fortune spoke to his extraordinary nature.
Emperor Feiyu possessed numerous renowned techniques.
Chief among them was a pair of Feiyu Divine Wings. The wings carried dual Wind and Thunder attributes — when unfurled, they unleashed a sound that shook the Nine Heavens, wielding the force of wind and lightning. Their speed was among the very finest of any Titled Emperor.
Had it not been for the combined pursuit of two first-rate sects and the various traps and schemes laid against him, those two sects would likely never have been able to catch him — not with the speed of his Wind-Thunder Wings.
In the end, it was only his injuries that proved his undoing.
Even after being gravely wounded, he had burned through everything he had to activate the Feiyu Divine Wings, breaking free of the two sects' pursuit and fleeing all the way into the Myriad Manifestations Domain.
Those Feiyu Divine Wings were unquestionably Emperor Feiyu's greatest asset for roaming across the Divine Abyss Continent's many domains.
Complementing the wings was an escape technique known as the Feiyu Evasion Art. Paired with the Feiyu Divine Wings, the technique let him vanish like wind and thunder — swift, unpredictable, and impossible to guard against.
Beyond this golden pairing, Emperor Feiyu possessed a formidable saber art known as the Feiyu Blade.
The Feiyu Blade rose like a feather on the wind, and when its momentum struck, it carried the fury of wind and thunder. Its variations were numerous, its speed breathtaking, its force overwhelming, and its style cunning — a truly remarkable art.
In addition to this saber technique, Emperor Feiyu also owned a magical treasure called the Feiyu Mirror. In battle, this mirror could slow an opponent down.
A single flash of the mirror's light, if it struck the target, would cripple their speed no matter how fast they had been moving before.