Whispers Behind the Curtain, a Dead End on All Sides

A cold, eerie whisper clung to the depths of Lin Chen's soul and consciousness like a maggot in the bone, impossible to shake off.

It was a mere sentence, devoid of overwhelming pressure or violent killing intent, yet it caused the blood in Lin Chen's body to nearly stagnate and his heart to sink heavily.

As the ancient chess game was peeled back layer by layer—first the calculations and sacrifices of the ancient sages, then the harvesting and control of the Seven Supremes, followed by the clandestine encroachment of the Chaos Clan—everyone had assumed the limits of the game stopped there. Only now did he realize with a jolt that this grand drama, spanning countless epochs, concealed an even deeper player.

The strange divine sense hidden in the deepest origin of the Balance Jade Disk had lain dormant for eons, using the grievances of all living beings to mask its presence and growing quietly amidst the chaos of heaven and earth, watching coldly from start to finish as all factions exhausted themselves in slaughter.

It did not participate in the Heavens Judgment, did not vie for the Chaos origin, and did not vent the sorrow of the masses. It simply sat at the core of the chessboard, watching the pieces grind against one another, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"Who exactly are you?"

Lin Chen suppressed the surging trepidation in the depths of his soul and asked sternly through his thoughts. At this moment, his soul was tightly connected to the Black and White Jade Disc, equivalent to facing this mysterious existence hidden in the shadows; every flicker of his emotion was laid bare.

The violent, surging blood-red grievances around him seemed to pause abruptly. The wind between heaven and earth, the roar of colliding energies, and the shouts of battle in the distance all became blurred and remote in that instant. The entire space seemed to be isolated by an invisible force, leaving only him and that mysterious divine sense facing each other from afar.

After a moment of silence, that indifferent, deathly voice sounded again, ethereal and void, impossible to locate, as if it originated from the end of time or resided within his own soul.

"There is no need to seek a name. You only need to know that since the day this heaven and earth birthed the chessboard, I have always been here."

The flat tone betrayed no joy or anger, yet it carried the detachment of one overlooking the cycles of eternity. "The ancients tried to use the masses as fuel to defy heaven and change their fate; the Seven Supremes sat back to reap the rewards and dictate the rise and fall; the Chaos Clan waited for an opportunity to devour all things; the masses struggled in ignorance, becoming cannon fodder... All of you are but jumping pieces in my eyes."

These words completely shattered the inherent understanding in Lin Chen's heart.

So, the layouts of the sages had been seen through from the very beginning, and the ten-thousand-year standoff between the Heavens and Chaos was entirely under its control. The so-called plans for a comeback, the racial games, and the resistance against fate were, in the eyes of this mastermind, nothing more than a farce to be manipulated at will.

Lin Chen's brows locked tight. The ancient golden bloodline power circulated rapidly within him, stabilizing his crumbling soul barrier. He knew his situation was perilous: the true bodies of the Seven Supremes were pressing down from the outside, the Chaos King was watching like a tiger, and the internal grievances were spiraling out of control. Now, with the addition of a mysterious opponent hidden for eons, he was truly trapped in a desperate situation.

"You have watched coldly for eons, allowing living beings to suffer and the game to collapse. What is your purpose?"

"Purpose?" The mysterious voice chuckled softly, the laughter devoid of any warmth. "Order in heaven and earth imprisons vitality; only when heaven and earth are in chaos can the origin be reshaped. The Heavens cling to old rules, Chaos is obsessed with devouring, and the masses are trapped by fate. Only by tearing this rotten, broken old chessboard to pieces can everything earn the right to be reshuffled."

As the voice fell, the cold power attached to the origin of the Jade Disk suddenly exerted force.

The Balance Dao Rules, already on the verge of collapse, were devoured ravenously. The speed at which the blood-red patterns expanded surged, and the grievances of the masses, which Lin Chen had just pacified, began to churn uncontrollably once more. Countless shrill roars echoed through the world, and the torrent of resentment crashed in all directions. The situation, which had barely been stabilized, instantly collapsed again.

Lin Chen felt a violent, throbbing pain in his head. Billions of obsessions, mixed with sorrow, anger, and a strange, cold malice, hammered against his soul's defenses. A trace of bright red blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay focused, refusing to yield.

If the Jade Disk were to fall completely, there would be no room for salvation in this universe.

Above the firmament, the battle had deteriorated to the extreme.

The giant hands pressed down simultaneously by the Seven Supremes, carrying the supreme power to judge all things, were drawing closer to the ground. Wherever they passed, space collapsed in layers, the trajectory of time twisted, and the remaining mountain ranges on the earth turned to ash. The broken earth veins erupted with violent energy, and the entire world trembled violently, as if it would shatter into pieces at any moment.

The Seven-Colored Supreme Avatar, bolstered by the power of the true bodies descending, saw its combat strength soar once more. Ten thousand zhang of divine light covered the sky, suppressing Kallen, who was fighting with his life on the line.

The Saiyan youth's clothes had long been shredded by the violent air currents, and his body was covered in wounds of varying depths. The purple battle aura was dim, and every punch he threw carried a heavy burden. Under the continuous, brutal head-on collisions, both his physical body and his origin were severely depleted, yet the fighting spirit in his eyes had not dimmed in the slightest.

"Don't even think about trampling our world!"

Kallen let out an angry roar, erupting with all the remaining power in his body. The potential deep within his Saiyan bloodline was forced out by the desperate situation, and the purple halo around him surged, forcibly holding back the oncoming seven-colored divine light.

But the gap in power was like a chasm. No matter how desperately he fought, his body was continuously pushed back by the immense divine power, and as he retreated step by step, he could no longer block the advance of the Supreme Avatar.

On the other side, Frieza's battle with the Chaos King in his prime was equally perilous.

Pitch-black chaos mist blotted out the sun, and countless hideous tentacles crisscrossed, tearing through the void and corroding all energy with every lash. Frieza's white imperial light blades slashed out continuously, the power of ice freezing the surrounding mist, yet it could not stop the relentless erosion of the Chaos power.

Even his typically arrogant face was stained with gravity. The protective energy around him grew thinner layer by layer, and he found it increasingly difficult to cope with the endless attacks from Chaos. After the Chaos King unsealed his full origin, his destructive power far exceeded expectations. The dark power was everywhere, constantly gnawing at the foundation of his strength.

"A mere remnant, yet you dare to try and stop This Seat?" The Chaos King's hoarse roar echoed through the void, his black shadow expanding, threatening to swallow the entire world in one gulp.

The Golden Super Saiyan guarded the central area. The golden origin barrier was already covered in dense cracks, the golden light flickering, ready to shatter completely at any moment. He held on desperately to the broken foundation of the world, constantly consuming his own origin to mend the cracks. Having endured both the impact of the grievances and the shockwaves of the two top-tier forces, his internal origin was severely depleted, and his face grew paler by the second.

The three of them exhausted all their combat strength to defend the four fronts, yet they still could not stop the encroaching despair. The defensive line was on the verge of breaking.

Once the barrier fell, the judgment power of the Seven Supremes and the Chaos World-Ending torrent would pour down without obstruction. At that point, not only would Lin Chen be plunged into a fatal crisis, but every living soul remaining in this world would instantly turn to ash.

Within the formation eye below, Lin Chen had to resist the secret erosion of the mysterious mastermind while struggling to channel the out-of-control, rampaging ancient grievances. Under this dual pressure, he was exhausted to the extreme, both in body and mind.

He could clearly feel that the strange divine sense was not only devouring the origin of the Jade Disk but also quietly tampering with the obsessions of the masses. Originally, all living beings merely sought to break free from the fate of being chess pieces and to secure peace and freedom. But after being tainted by the cold power, many of these obsessions began to take on a crazed, destructive nature, wishing only to drag everything in existence down with them.

This change was exactly what the mastermind wanted.

It used the grievances accumulated over eons as nourishment, twisting the hearts of the masses and accelerating the collapse of heaven and earth to achieve its own ulterior motives.

"Attempting to manipulate the obsessions of the masses and toy with the fate of eons—do you truly think you can do as you please?" Lin Chen spoke in a low voice. His soul power no longer focused solely on gentle pacification; instead, it condensed into a sharp edge, attempting to strike at the hidden, eerie divine sense.

The Balance Jade Disk was formed from the origin of heaven and earth, carrying the Great Dao of Yin and Yang balance. Even though it was currently wrapped in blood-red grievances, its foundational roots remained solid. Holding this authority of origin and having inherited the complete ancient memories, Lin Chen was not without the capital to fight back.

The golden light of his soul suddenly blazed, following the veins of the Jade Disk to strike deep into the origin.

But the mysterious divine sense was exceptionally cunning. Sensing the attack, it instantly retreated into a blind spot of the origin, dodging like a slippery shadow while continuously driving the cold power to further corrode the Dao Rules, refusing to engage Lin Chen head-on.

"Futile struggles." The mysterious voice carried a faint mockery. "Now, there is the judgment of destruction from the Supremes outside, the Chaos watching like a tiger within, and the grievances of the masses seeking to destroy the world. You are alone—how much of the situation can you reverse? The ancient sages could not break free from the chessboard, the Heavens could not escape the shackles of reincarnation; what right does a mere junior of this generation have to break the ancient destiny?"

The words were like cold blades, piercing through every current predicament.

Surrounded by enemies on all sides, without help or support, every path forward was fraught with fatal crises. The hope of a comeback was slim to the point of non-existence.

Lin Chen steadied his turbulent mind, refusing to let the other's words disrupt his resolve.

The choices of the predecessors had limitations, the rule of the Heavens had flaws, and the desires of Chaos had weaknesses. Even if the situation was perilous, it did not mean that destruction was inevitable. If he were to easily admit defeat and submit, the suffering of billions of living beings would be in vain, and all resistance against fate would become a joke.

"Destiny is never set in stone." Lin Chen's gaze was firm, a fire of defiance burning in his eyes. "The mistakes made by those before us will be mended by us; the freedom lost by the masses will be reclaimed by us. No matter how long you have hidden or how deep your calculations, don't think you can control everything as you wish."

He no longer obsessed over forcibly expelling the strange divine sense. The most urgent task now was to stabilize the completely out-of-control Balance Jade Disk and suppress the rampaging blood-red grievances. As long as the core of the origin was not lost, there remained a chance for a counterattack.

As his thoughts turned, Lin Chen mobilized the cosmic origin he had inherited, merging it completely with the remaining Yin and Yang Dao rhymes of the Jade Disk. A soft yet resilient golden power spread out in layers. No longer focused on dissolving the violent emotions, he used the power of the Great Dao of Balance to forcibly constrain the torrent of grievances running wild.

The violent blood-colored waves crashed against the golden restraints again and again, stirring up earth-shattering ripples. The entire land shook violently, with cracks crisscrossing the ground and spreading rapidly in all directions.

Just as Lin Chen was exhausting all his strength to stabilize the internal situation, the Seven Supremes above the firmament had already lost their patience.

Seven giant hands covering the galaxy accelerated their descent simultaneously. The Judgment Divine Light condensed to its peak, and the blinding radiance shrouded the heavens and earth, the oppressive pressure making it difficult for all living beings to breathe.

"Resistance is futile; let it end here today."

The majestic and vast divine voice crushed down. The power of the seven Supremes merged into one, forming a destructive beam of light that spanned the heavens and earth, crashing down toward the shattered land below.

At the same moment, the Chaos King seized the opportunity. A boundless torrent of darkness converged into a pitch-black giant axe, wrapped in a malevolent aura that devoured all things, and struck down right behind the beam of light.

One strike of the Heavens' judgment, one strike of the Chaos World-Ending; two ultimate killing blows capable of destroying the universe converged in a pincer attack toward the core of the formation.

The expressions of the three guarding the four directions changed drastically in unison.

"Not good!"

Kallen's pupils constricted. Ignoring his own injuries, he erupted with all his remaining strength, his purple battle aura condensing into a massive shield as he tried to step forward to block the onslaught.

Frieza's Emperor Energy surged rapidly throughout his body, and all his freezing cold aura condensed to construct layers of defensive barriers.

The Golden Super Saiyan gritted his teeth, burning his own origin power to forcibly expand the damaged golden barrier once more.

The three defensive lines resisted with all their might, but facing the combined bombardment of the two ultimate powers, the barriers trembled violently, and cracks spread at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Boom—

A thunderous roar shook the universe. Light and darkness collided fiercely, and the violent energy shockwave swept in all directions.

The three defenses shattered one after another. Kallen, Frieza, and the Golden Super Saiyan were all sent flying by the terrifying impact, slamming heavily into the broken ground. They spat out blood, their auras withered instantly, and they had completely lost the strength to fight again.

The defensive line collapsed entirely, and the lethal onslaught, now unobstructed, struck straight toward Lin Chen and the central Jade Disc.

Lin Chen looked up at the incoming destructive light, knowing clearly that there was no way to avoid it.

He took a deep breath, gathering all his soul power, bloodline origin, and the balancing power of the Jade Disc into himself, preparing to face this heavy blow capable of destroying everything.

Just as the destructive power was about to touch his body, the strange divine consciousness deep within his origin suddenly stopped hiding and lying dormant, erupting with an unfathomable gray power.

This power belonged neither to the order of the Heavens nor to the darkness of Chaos, nor did it have anything to do with the resentment of all living things; it existed between reality and illusion, indescribably bizarre.

The gray power instantly enveloped the Black and White Jade Disc, while an inexplicable pulling force suddenly entangled Lin Chen's soul.

That whisper sounded once more, carrying a hint of certainty:

"The endgame of the chess match is approaching; it is time to collect the piece that belongs to me..."

Lin Chen felt his soul being violently pulled; his body was unable to move. The external destructive onslaught was inches away, the strange power within his body was eyeing him like a tiger, and the existence behind the scenes, hidden for eons, finally revealed its true intentions.

At the brink of life and death, countless ancient and bizarre runes, never seen before, slowly emerged from the blood-colored patterns on the surface of the Jade Disc. At this moment, the trajectory of fate for the entire world deviated completely from its original path, falling into an unknown abyss that no one could predict.