Nearly hundreds of thousands of years had passed since Jiang Chen's imprisonment, during which his potent energy had been gradually absorbed and dispersed throughout the world.
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.