Gray Pattern Soul-Lock, the Chessboard Changes Masters

The Judgment Divine Light of the Heavens pierced through the firmament, while the Chaos World-Ending Black Axe tore the void asunder.

These two ultimate killing blows, spanning the heavens and earth, carried the terrifying power to crush the very foundations of the universe as they crashed toward the center of the array.

The entire ruined world fell into an instant, deathly silence; the howling wind, the thunderous explosions, and the distant tremors of the aftermath were all swallowed by an aura of absolute destruction. Between heaven and earth, nothing remained but two blindingly piercing beams of light—one black, one white; one righteous, one evil; one orderly, one chaotic—sealing off every possibility for Lin Chen to dodge, resist, or retreat.

Not far away, the three figures who had fallen to the ground, heavily wounded, felt their pupils constrict as a bone-chilling sense of powerlessness surged within them.

Kallen braced his broken body, trying to rise, but with most of his meridians severed and his purple battle energy completely exhausted, his arm fell heavily the moment he tried to lift it. He could only watch helplessly as the fatal scene unfolded. For the first time, a trace of despair appeared in Frieza's typically icy eyes; his imperial power was spent, his Frost Dao Laws shattered, and he, who had traversed the galaxy for eons, now lacked even the strength to raise a hand in defense. The Golden Super Saiyan's aura was in disarray, his essence nearly overdrawn, and his golden eyes were locked onto the center of the array, his ancient, steady state of mind shaken violently for the first time.

The defensive line they had built with everything they had was utterly shattered; it could not withstand the combined strike of the Supremes and Chaos, nor could it protect Lin Chen, who stood alone guarding the heart of the game.

Everyone believed that the next second would bring the finality of it all.

The last Fate Defier of this world would be instantly crushed by the dual ultimate powers, his soul annihilated and his Dao foundations erased. The game of defiance that had spanned eons would finally come to an end, becoming the spoils of war for the Heavens and Chaos.

But just as the Judgment Divine Light and the Chaos Black Axe were about to touch Lin Chen's body, a sudden change occurred.

Above the Black and White Jade Disc, those endless, spreading blood-red veins of resentment suddenly ceased all agitation.

The blood-red tide, originally violent, brutal, and filled with the sorrow of eons, froze in mid-air as if a switch had been flipped. The roiling mist of resentment filling the sky stopped battering the surroundings and stopped eroding the essence; the entire ocean of out-of-control resentment fell into an instant, deathly silence.

In its place appeared countless fine, ancient, and obscure Gray Runes.

These runes surged forth from the deepest core of the jade disc, spreading rapidly along the blood-red cracks and covering the entire disc in overlapping layers. With blood-red as the surface and gray runes as the core, one bright and one dark, one visible and one hidden, it was eerie to the extreme.

The strange divine sense that had hidden for eons, silently devouring the essence, shed all its disguises at this moment and erupted without reservation.

A cold, deathly, gray aura that transcended both order and chaos exploded from the center of the jade disc, instantly shrouding ten thousand miles of heaven and earth.

The moment the Judgment Divine Light falling from the Heavens touched the gray barrier, the supreme power of order dissolved, faded, and disintegrated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

That supreme light, capable of judging galaxies and erasing universes, fell upon the gray runes like water poured onto solid stone; it could not advance even an inch, and was instead swallowed and refined by the wisps of gray aura, turning into the most mundane nothingness.

The Chaos World-Ending Black Axe that followed, the moment it struck the gray light screen, caused the pitch-black torrent of chaos to tremble violently. The Chaos Power, which devoured all things, began to retreat and disintegrate rapidly.

The fully unsealed Chaos Power, the dark essence that reigned supreme over all laws of the heavens, felt an instinctive fear before these strange Heterodox Dao Laws. Like natural enemies meeting, it dared not touch them in the slightest.

Boom!

The dual killing blows slammed fiercely into the gray light screen, kicking up an energy storm that swept across the world, yet they could not break through that seemingly thin barrier by even a fraction.

The sky was a chaotic mess of clashing lights, the roaring thunder echoing through eons, yet that small patch of space at the center of the array remained eerily calm.

Lin Chen stood at the heart of the storm; while wild winds howled and destructive power surged around him, causing his robes to whip violently, his body remained motionless.

However, his soul was suffering from an unprecedented imprisonment and tugging.

Countless Gray Runes followed the essence pathways connecting the jade disc to him, following the bonds of his soul, and surged into his sea of consciousness. These runes did not harm his life, destroy his essence, or shatter his flesh; instead, they acted like thousands of chains, tightly binding, sealing, and locking the core of his soul.

A cold, indifferent will had completely seized control of the rhythm of this game.

"I said, the game today... it is time to collect the pieces."

The ethereal whisper echoed through the world once more, no longer a cryptic murmur, but a grand, resonant voice that echoed in every inch of the void and fell into the ears of all.

High above, the true forms of the Seven Supremes trembled in unison, the Divine Abyss spanning the galaxy contracted slightly, and for the first time, the supreme aura of the Supremes showed clear gravity.

They looked down at the world shrouded in gray mist, the mockery and contempt in their eyes fading away, replaced by endless suspicion and wariness.

"Heterodox Dao Laws? They do not belong to the order of the Heavens, nor to the disorder of Chaos. What power is this?"

An ancient, majestic voice of a Supreme rang out, filled with incredulous shock.

The Heavens governed the order of eons, ruled over myriad dimensions, and their knowledge encompassed the past and present of the universe; Chaos birthed endless darkness, nurtured the disorder of the world, and contained all things. Yet, these gray Dao Laws before them transcended both their understandings, appearing in no ancient records and following no rules of heaven and earth.

They had laid their plans for billions of years and harvested countless universes, yet they had never seen such an eerie, overbearing power that stood above all else.

In the void nearby, the massive shadow of the Chaos King roiled violently, its hollow eyes filled with extreme wariness.

It instinctively feared this gray aura; the suppression at the level of essence caused its fully unsealed Chaos Power to shrink continuously, daring not to spread any further. The feast of consumption it had been so certain of had now turned into an unknown crisis.

It had lurked for eons, devouring the world, thinking it had seen through the essence of the game, never expecting that from beginning to end, the true player was never the Heavens, nor Chaos, nor the sages of old.

It was this Gray Existence, hidden within the essence of the Balance Jade Disc, buried in the deepest depths of the resentment of all living things, unknown and unnoticed by all.

The game of eons had changed masters from the very moment it began.

At the center of the array, Lin Chen forcibly steadied his turbulent soul, gritting his teeth to resist the locking of the Gray Runes.

He finally understood all the causes and consequences, a monstrous wave rising in his heart as all the doubts, confusion, and mysteries connected into a single whole at this moment.

The sages of old were wrong.

They thought they were the ones laying out a heaven-defying plan, using all living beings as kindling to overthrow the Heavens and balance Chaos, acting as the players. Little did they know, their so-called earth-shattering layout was a result deliberately guided by someone else from the very start.

They harvested the obsessions of the masses, smelted the Balance Jade Disc, and bore the infamy of eons to act against the tide; it seemed tragic and resolute, but in reality, they were merely gathering nourishment and laying the foundation for this Gray Existence.

The Supremes of the Heavens were also wrong.

They thought they controlled the cycle of the game, harvesting this world generation after generation, viewing all living beings as ants in a granary, holding the power of life and death. They did not know that their cross-dimensional oppression, dimensional sanctions, and rule-based crushing only intensified the contradictions of the world time and again, forcing the resentment of the masses to settle and accumulate, which was precisely helping the mastermind cultivate this world-destroying, ancient malice.

The Chaos King was equally wrong.

It used the chaotic times to devour essence, strengthening itself while the game was in turmoil, hoping to reap the benefits and swallow the wreckage of the universe to achieve the supreme Chaos Dao Fruit. In the end, all its devouring, plundering, and agitation were merely making wedding clothes for another.

The suffering of the masses, the resolve of the sages, the slaughter of the Heavens, the plundering of Chaos...

All the sacrifices, struggles, catastrophes, and turmoil of the eons were all for this very moment.

To force the Balance Jade Disk into total imbalance, to make the eternal resentment boil over, and to compel the Heavens and the Chaos to strike with all their might, all to draw out the deepest shackles of the chess game and ultimately fulfill this Gray Existence that had remained hidden for eons.

"You borrowed the hands of the ancients to accumulate resentment, borrowed the power of the Heavens to disrupt the game, and borrowed the momentum of the Chaos to break the defenses..."

Lin Chen's voice was hoarse, his soul power struggling to surge as he resisted the layers of gray runes locking his spirit. "You endured for eons, watching all living beings live as livestock for generations, watching the world suffer layer upon layer of torment, all from beginning to end, just to use the eternal chess game to cultivate your own Dao fruit?"

A deathly, silent laughter slowly echoed, cold and indifferent, devoid of even a shred of human emotion.

"The Heaven and Earth Chess Game is, by nature, a furnace for cultivating the Dao."

"The Heavens hold order, solidifying the cage, letting all beings sink forever to settle my obsessions; the Chaos holds disorder, shattering the rules, letting the world know no peace, to intensify my malice; the ancients thought themselves clever, laying out plans against the trend, gathering the scattered resentment of eons for me and condensing it into the origin of the Jade Disk."

"Through billions of years of reincarnation, order and chaos have pulled against each other, and life and death have cycled repeatedly; everything was done to grind away all the shackles of the old world."

"If the old order is not broken, the new Dao cannot be born. What I have always wanted was never the wreckage of this universe, nor the nourishment of the common people's resentment, nor the origin of the Jade Disk's balance."

The moment these words fell, Lin Chen's entire body shuddered, and an unprecedented chill rose from the depths of his heart.

"What I want is—the chess game itself."

The gray light suddenly flared, and the light curtain shrouding the world contracted frantically, returning entirely into the Black and White Jade Disc.

The previously rampaging blood-red resentment was thoroughly tamed by the gray runes, docilely clinging to the surface of the Jade Disc, devoid of any remaining violence, leaving only a profound, deathly silence. The foundations of the world, which had been on the verge of collapse, were forcibly stabilized by the gray power; all the severed ley lines, the collapsed void, and the chaotic rules were forcibly smoothed out.

The world, which had just been on the brink of annihilation and trapped in a dead end, stabilized completely in the blink of an eye.

Yet this stability was not salvation, nor was it a new lease on life; it was total imprisonment and control.

This world, this Fate Defier's chess game that had continued for eons, had completely broken free from the power struggle between the Heavens and the Chaos, falling entirely into the hands of the Gray Existence.

And Lin Chen was the final, and only, piece on this board.

Countless gray runes took root along the pathways of his soul, locking tight his origin, bloodline, memories, and will. He could clearly perceive that his bond with this world, with the origin of the Jade Disk, and with the eternal chess game was being forcibly reshaped, bound, and deepened by this power.

He was no longer the Fate Defier entering the game.

He had become the core of the chess game, the vessel through which this Gray Existence controlled the eternal world.

"Why lock onto me?" Lin Chen demanded in a low voice, his eyes filled with unyielding defiance. "There have been countless others who inherited the origin in ancient times; why must it be me?"

"Because you are the only one who walked out of the chess game completely."

The indifferent voice slowly provided the answer, unveiling the final secret.

"Those before you entered the game, only to be trapped by selfishness, to die by the Heavenly Dao, or to become mere pawns in the struggle; no one ever saw through all the secrets, inherited the complete origin, and shouldered all the obsessions of the eternal masses."

"You hate fate, pity the common people, defy the Heavens, resist the Chaos, bear the sins of eons, and guard the vitality of the world. Your will, your soul, and your Dao heart are the most perfect Chess Core cultivated throughout billions of years of the game's reincarnation."

"There is no one else who can replace you."

As the words fell, the Jade Disc hovered and rotated slowly, the black and white origin completely fused and governed by the gray Dao laws. A vast, boundless power of control flowed along the bound soul and slowly poured into Lin Chen's body.

He could clearly feel that he was gaining the highest authority over the entire chess game, capable of manipulating resentment, mobilizing ley lines, invoking the power of heaven and earth, and even contending with the Supreme of the Heavens and suppressing the origin of the Chaos.

Yet behind this supreme power lay a total loss of autonomy.

His will remained, his soul was not extinguished, and his Dao heart persisted, but his body and origin were already firmly locked by the chess game.

In the distance, the heavily injured Kallen, Frieza, and the Golden Super Saiyan struggled to their feet, their expressions grave to the extreme as they stared fixedly at the changes in the center of the formation.

They could clearly see that the aura around Lin Chen had changed.

It was no longer the gentle resilience of one guarding the common people, nor the sharp, decisive nature of one resisting the trend, but a layer of deathly gray—indifferent, overlooking the eons and the affairs of the world.

Half his original heart defying fate, half the chess game settling into silence.

Two diametrically opposed temperaments blended in him in a contradictory yet eerie fashion.

Above the firmament, the Seven Supremes could no longer hold back.

Sensing that the chess game had completely changed hands and that an unknown, eerie power now controlled the entire board, the Seven Supremes moved their true forms simultaneously. The seven supreme divine powers merged; no longer testing or intimidating, they descended with the full force of a true world-ending strike.

They would never allow the chess game they had managed for eons to fall into the hands of an unknown, eerie existence.

At the same moment, the Chaos King also poured out his remaining origin, and a boundless torrent of darkness erupted once more, desperately striking against the gray imprisonment.

The struggle between the new and the old, the ultimate confrontation, began anew.

Yet, facing the all-out counterattack of the two ultimate forces, the Black and White Jade Disc suspended in the void merely trembled slightly.

The gray runes attached to it lit up faintly, and an indifferent will—encompassing the world, governing the chess game, and transcending eons—looked slowly toward the firmament through Lin Chen's eyes.

Lin Chen's consciousness remained clear and his Dao heart remained resilient, but his body was already being forced to raise its hand against his will.

Where his palm pointed, the gray Dao laws surged through the world, and the power of the entire eternal chess game gathered in his palm.

And in the deepest part of his soul, that existence hidden for eons finally revealed its true purpose—it intended to use Lin Chen's hand, with the heart of a Fate Defier, to slaughter the Heavens and the Chaos, completely annihilate the old world, and then, give birth to a brand-new, supreme Chess Dao!

But just as Lin Chen was about to raise his hand to strike, a fragment of ancient memory, sealed for billions of years and never before revealed, suddenly shattered and lit up in the depths of his broken sea of consciousness.

It was a scene from a time earlier than the layouts of the ancients, older than the birth of the Heavens, and more distant than the dawn of Chaos.

In the vision, countless Balance Dao Artifacts, identical to the Black and White Jade Disc, were suspended and scattered throughout the endless void, each one harboring a wisp of the same gray, deathly divine sense.

So, this eternal chess game had never been just one game!