Chapter 284 Blessed Land
Meanwhile, the constraints on him had progressively tightened with the relentless march of time.
Thus, when Jiang Chen finally cracked open the shimmering purple crystal that had held him captive, he found himself no longer at the pinnacle of the Immortal Realm but rather at the Second Stage of the Saint Realm.
His initial freedom came with a disheartening realization of his weakened senses – the once-sharp perception of the laws around him had dulled significantly.
However, with patience, he began to sense the faint presence of different elemental laws in his surroundings.
Not only had his personal senses been curtailed, but the very fabric of the world\'s laws had also weakened.
In a curious twist of fate, this handicap proved advantageous for Jiang Chen.
Despite being a mere Second Stage Saint Realm cultivator, he discovered that he could now easily tear open a Spatial Rift within this weakened realm and travel long distances.
With the shattering of Jiang Chen\'s long-standing seal, chaos erupted across the Zhenguan Region, sending ripples of transformation through its very heart.
The creatures that had inhabited the forest where Jiang Chen\'s confinement had taken place had, over countless years, absorbed his lingering energy, infusing their very bloodlines with his Devil Bloodline essence.
Slowly, imperceptibly, they had evolved and mutated, each bearing unique and potent abilities.
And now, as Jiang Chen emerged from his prison, these creatures—once beasts of the wild—had gained a newfound intelligence.
Though not on par with demons or humans, their cognitive abilities far exceeded those of ordinary beasts.
These beasts, or rather their ancestors, had grown amidst the effusion of Jiang Chen\'s energy, the very force that had shaped them into more than mere creatures of instinct. They revered him instinctively, compelled to revere and obey his commands.
Among their ranks stood the formidable Celestial Ember Serpent, the enigmatic Thunderclaw Voidbeast, the majestic Gilded Frostfire Lion, the regal Azure Stormwing Griffin, the fierce Obsidian Tempest Tiger, the radiant Crystalwing Radiant Roc, the elusive Verdant Moonshadow Wolf, the sleek Onyx Sunflare Panther, the graceful Ebon Lotus Crane, and finally, the ethereal Soulflame Kirin.
Each one reigned as a Beast Emperor over a specific territory within the forest, now converging around the site of Jiang Chen\'s unsealing, their heads bowed in reverence.
Jiang Chen\'s discerning gaze swept over the assemblage of transformed beasts, his keen understanding of the situation crystallizing in a single glance. With a devilish grin etched upon his features, he exuded an aura of unwavering confidence.
"Embarking on this journey with me means placing your lives on the line. Are you prepared for the risks?"
A harmonious chorus of primal roars resonated through the air, their vocalized determination echoing their unwavering commitment.
In response to their fervent shouts, Jiang Chen\'s smile deepened, reflecting his appreciation for their unyielding resolve. His words, laced with resolve, reverberated powerfully.
"Very well. Let us move forward, then. The time has come for me to exact vengeance upon those who once imprisoned me."
With a swift and sweeping gesture, Jiang Chen sundered the very fabric of space before him, birthing a rift of staggering proportions. It yawned wide, its enormity such that it could easily accommodate an entire mountain range.
Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Chen beckoned his formidable beast army to follow him, and they strode resolutely into the gaping tear.
Their destination? The heart of the Golden Sun Empire itself.
Jiang Chen\'s choice was deliberate and rooted in history. The Ancestor of the Golden Sun Empire had played a pivotal role in orchestrating Jiang Chen\'s incarceration.
This very Ancestor wielded the formidable solar flames that had left Jiang Chen grievously wounded, rendering him defenseless and sealing his fate.
Now, the time had come to confront that past, and the stage was set for reckoning.
And so, a ruthless wave of destruction swept through the heart of the Golden Sun Empire\'s capital. The combined efforts of three Emperor Realm experts proved utterly futile against the might of Jiang Chen.
This outcome was inevitable, as the power gap between a Saint Realm expert like Jiang Chen and mere Emperor Realm individuals was insurmountable. Their feeble attempts to thwart him were destined to fail.
With the capital in ruins and his vendetta against the Golden Sun Empire fulfilled, Jiang Chen shifted his focus towards his next target: the Ebon Star Ascendancy.
The Ancestor of the Ebon Star Ascendancy had been a pivotal figure in Jiang Chen\'s binding and his subsequent imprisonment.
Unlike his conquest of the Golden Sun Empire\'s capital, Jiang Chen found a far more formidable resistance awaiting him at the heart of the Ebon Star Ascendancy. This was due to the sudden appearance of nearly tens of Saint Realm experts, converging on the capital to intercept his advance.
However, these Saint Realm experts didn\'t bear allegiance to the Ebon Star Ascendancy, nor to any single empire.
Instead, their affiliation lay with a renowned entity known as the Heavenly Court. This organization held its dominion atop the Azure Maple Cliff, nestled in the central expanse of the continent.
The Heavenly Court stood as humanity\'s ultimate bulwark against external threats, be they from devils, other races such as Beasts, Elves, Dwarves, Sea Monsters, Barbarians, Ancient Tribes, or any other peril that the world harbored.
For humans whose cultivation reached the Saint Realm, the Heavenly Court issues a mandate to sever ties with their native empires and unite under its banner.
This measure effectively consolidated nearly all of the world\'s Saint Realm experts within the Heavenly Court\'s ranks, fortifying its position as the supreme human organization.
In this pivotal moment, the ten Saint Realm experts from the Heavenly Court succeeded in halting Jiang Chen\'s avenging march toward the Ebon Star Ascendency.
Yet, despite their numerical advantage, their attempt to extinguish Jiang Chen\'s life ended in failure.
With a calculated maneuver, Jiang Chen summoned a Spatial Rift, orchestrating his escape while leading his formidable army of beast devils through the rift.
As the ten Saint Realm experts contemplated their next move, they hesitated to follow Jiang Chen\'s path into the Spatial Rift.
Their discerning eyes had detected his destination: the enigmatic Silver Devil Asura Dominion – a locale barred even to the most exalted members of the Heavenly Court.
This dominion was an expanse of Blessed Land crafted by a Devil Ancestor, a pinnacle figure in the annals of Immortal Realm cultivation. It stood as a singular refuge on the continent where devils could thrive without fear.
The Silver Devil Asura Dominion represented an encapsulated world, birthed within the body of the Devil Ancestor as he transcended to the Immortal Realm.
Such Blessed Lands existed within every Immortal Realm practitioner, evolving with each step of their cultivation. It was by upgrading these worlds that they would foster additional abilities and strengths.
As the twilight of the Devil Ancestor\'s life approached, he released his Blessed Land – the Silver Devil Asura Dominion – onto the continent.
Even after his corporeal departure, the dominion endured under the stewardship of a spiritual guardian.
This entity was none other than an individual\'s Spirit, akin to the Solarstorm Tempest Abyss Dragon presently held by Wang Jian.
Ordinarily, such spirits lacked consciousness and were ill-equipped for managing dominions.
After the demise of their host, these spirits would assimilate their host\'s body, molding themselves according to the unique personality traits they managed to glean.
This transformation could result in an extensive spectrum of distinct personalities.
The degree of intelligence exhibited by these spirits varied greatly.
Some had the capacity to absorb and embody their host\'s entire consciousness, while others were only capable of assimilating fragments.
However, these spirits remained forever bound to their designated realms, an unassailable limitation that defied any attempts at circumvention.
News of Jiang Chen\'s liberation from his confinement and his vengeful retribution against the Golden Sun Empire and Ebon Star Ascendancy, coupled with his subsequent confrontation with the Heavenly Court\'s experts, rippled across the vast expanse of the continent, infiltrating the ears of citizens from every empire.
When Wang Jian and Stella eventually returned to the capital of the Everlasting Mystical Empire, the echoes of this tale reached their ears.
Upon hearing the name "Jiang Chen," Wang Jian\'s gaze instinctively narrowed, a sign of his growing intrigue.
Yet, when he called upon the system to employ the True Eyes to assess Jiang Chen\'s luck, the revelation left him utterly flabbergasted.
Jiang Chen\'s luck belonged to the astonishing echelons of millions, with an exact value of 52,010,222.
Yes, an astounding 52 million.
Meanwhile, Wang Jian\'s own luck had merely ascended to a modest 712,321 after his intimate night with Stella, the Butterfly Spirit Queen.
A chill crept down Wang Jian\'s spine as he realized the gravity of the situation.
This was the emergence of a formidable protagonist against whom he would need to muster every ounce of his strength and strategy to survive.
The first thing that he did was order all his subordinates to gather all information related to Jiang Chen and the Great War between humans and devils. If he wanted to survive against this formidable enemy, he would have to understand this guy\'s abilities, personality, his allies, and his enemies.
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[A/N: The Blessed Land concept has been inspired from the Reverend Insanity novel.]