Ten Thousand Chessboards Share a Source, The True Heart Resists Heaven

The moment the ancient memory fragments shattered, Lin Chen's soul trembled violently.

It was a sensation of extreme horror originating from the very core of his soul, far surpassing the fear of facing the pressure of the Supremes or the destruction of the world by Chaos.

Before this, he had always believed that the eternal game was limited to this single match. He thought this world was the only fate-defying board, the Black and White Jade Disc was a unique source of balance, and the Gray Existence behind the scenes was merely a singular, mysterious entity lurking within this universe.

Yet, the images flooding into his consciousness completely overturned everything he had known.

In the boundless, desolate primordial void, countless Black and White Jade Discs of varying sizes and identical shapes were suspended. They were scattered at the ends of time and between the gaps of dimensions, rotating in silence, alternating between light and shadow. On the surface of every disc, similar gray patterns were entwined, harboring divine thoughts of the same origin.

Thousands of discs, ten thousand games of the same source.

The eternal game of this world had never been an exception.

It was merely the most ordinary, common match in an endless cycle of games.

Lin Chen's mind reeled, and countless long-standing mysteries were suddenly laid bare.

Why did the Seven Supremes understand the mechanics of the game so well, yet never wipe out all life despite generations of harvesting? Because they had witnessed the birth and death of countless games and knew that such "Dao-nurturing" games followed their own cyclical trajectory; they only needed to wait for them to ripen, with no need to rush.

Why did the Chaos King, knowing it was a trap, still willingly sink into it and consume? Because the remnants of the source after each game collapsed were the purest nourishment for Chaos; the succession of billions of games was the foundation for Chaos to survive and grow.

Why did the Gray Existence never act personally, choosing only to lurk and endure?

It had no need to act.

It set up thousands of games, scattered them as countless jade pieces, and placed them throughout the primordial void. Using the Heavens as the power to nurture the game, Chaos as the blade to break it, and all living beings as the fuel to cultivate the Dao—once a game ended, another began, endless and cyclical, through the ages.

Every destruction of a world, every catastrophe of the masses, every conclusion of a game—the final harvest belonged entirely to this Gray Existence that transcended all.

The eternal sacrifices of this world, the age-old struggle between the Heavens and Chaos, from beginning to end, were nothing more than the cultivation of nourishment in one of countless, insignificant cycles.

"Ridiculous... truly ridiculous."

Lin Chen's heart turned cold, and an endless sense of absurdity and sorrow welled up within him.

The ancient sages thought they were defying the heavens to change their fate, struggling to set up their own plans, but they were merely helping the other side stabilize the foundation of the board. The Seven Supremes thought they held the reins of reincarnation and controlled the rise and fall of worlds, but they were merely helping the other side refine the order of the game. The Chaos Clan sought to create chaos and devour all things, but they were merely helping the other side tear down the decaying old board.

Living beings had struggled for eons, generation after generation becoming food for the game, fighting against fate, struggling and resisting, pouring out their blood, tears, and vitality, only to end up fulfilling another cycle of an endless game from beyond the realm.

Within his consciousness, the Gray Existence sensed the fluctuations in his mood, and its indifferent whisper sounded once more, devoid of emotion yet permeated with the coldness of one who had seen through eternity.

"Do not be surprised."

"Since the dawn of Chaos and the birth of order, the rise and fall of heaven and earth have followed fixed rules. A single universe is too small to bear the supreme fruit of the Dao. Only by setting up thousands of games, experiencing billions of cycles, and gathering the order of the Heavens, the disorder of Chaos, and the obsessions of all living beings into one, can one leap out of the shackles of the Heavenly Dao and transcend reincarnation."

"The thousands of jade discs you see are the seeds I have scattered across the Heavens. The world you inhabit is the one closest to perfection among all the thousands of games."

"And you are the most perfect Chess Core I have produced in billions of cycles."

The icy words were like shackles, locking tightly onto Lin Chen's soul.

It had not merely occupied the jade disc and taken control of the world on a whim.

It had determined every outcome from the moment the game began. From the moment the sages made their first move, from the moment the first generation of life was born, and even from the moment this world took shape, the birth of him, the final Chess Core, had already been destined.

All coincidences were fate.

All resistance was within the game.

In the void outside, the final confrontation had fully taken shape.

The Seven Supremes hovered above the nine heavens, their divine abyss spanning dimensions as they poured out supreme divine power. The seven figures who held the Great Dao of the Heavens were hidden at the end of the divine light, their auras cold and vast, filled with the monstrous fury of those who had been fooled.

They had been high above for eons, holding the power of life and death over thousands of dimensions, overlooking the destruction of countless games, always the sole harvesters and controllers. Today, they suddenly realized that their billions of years of maneuvering and countless cross-dimensional conquests had actually been for the benefit of an unknown entity.

This humiliation of being played and used ignited the true wrath of the Seven Supremes.

"Gray Treacherous Path from beyond the realm, stealing the game to nurture yourself, mocking the Heavens—you deserve to die!"

A vast, domineering roar from a Supreme shattered layers of the void, the fury accumulated over eons erupting completely.

The seven Supreme sources acted in unison, thousands of chains of order spanning the firmament, crisscrossing to lock down the entire world and its eight poles. The power originally intended to judge this world was now turned entirely, its edge locked onto the Gray Jade Disc at the center of the formation.

They would shatter this ripened game, tear apart the shackles of the Gray Treacherous Path, and sever this endless cycle of being used!

On the other side, the Chaos King's massive black shadow twisted and rolled violently, layers of pitch-black, world-destroying torrents piling up, monstrous killing intent burning in its hollow eyes.

Chaos beings were inherently greedy and domineering; they would rather destroy everything than be a slave to another.

It had endured for eons, devoured for eons, and fought for eons, willing to sink into the game only to consume the source and break its shackles. Now, knowing that it had been working for another for generations, and that all its plundering had been to nurture the Dao of another, the ferocity and rage in its heart were no less than that of the Seven Supremes.

"Stealing the power of Chaos to nurture your own pathless path! Today, This Seat shall tear your board to shreds and devour your gray source!"

The hoarse, violent roar echoed through the world, and the fully unsealed Chaos Power exploded, billions of pitch-black tentacles piercing the void, carrying the malice to corrode and destroy everything, crazily lashing out at the jade disc.

The Heavens locked the earth, and Chaos swallowed the sky.

The two eternal mortal enemies had reached a rare tacit understanding, setting aside their eons of grievances to join forces against the mysterious entity that had loomed over eternity.

Beneath the firmament, on the scarred and devastated earth, Kallen, Frieza, and the Golden Super Saiyan barely steadied their injuries, staring fixedly at the battle in the nine heavens, their expressions grave to the extreme.

All three of them were Fate Defiers carrying ancient secrets. Along the way, they had defied the heavens and resisted, stepping through one desperate situation after another, already exhausted in body and soul.

They had thought that by surviving the rampage of resentment and withstanding the pincer attack of the Heavens and Chaos, they would see the dawn of a turnaround and break the cage of destiny. Who could have imagined that beyond the desperate situation lay an even greater one, and above the game were the players.

The world they had fought to protect was merely a single piece on a board of thousands.

The Heavens and Chaos they had sworn to resist were merely tools for someone else's game.

How absurd, how powerless this eternal defiance of fate truly is.

"So, we have struggled for so long, only to realize we never once stepped outside the palm of another's hand." Kallen's voice was low, his clenched fists trembling slightly. For the first time, the unyielding pride of the Saiyan Clan was eclipsed by a sense of utter helplessness.

Frieza's gaze was icy as he stared at the terrifying power weaving through the nine heavens, his eyes filled with grim focus. "The Heavens and Chaos have joined forces. Even if this Gray Existence has been plotting for eons, victory is not guaranteed. Yet, regardless of who wins or loses, this world will ultimately be the sacrifice."

The Golden Super Saiyan looked at Lin Chen, who stood silently at the center of the formation, his brows furrowed. "The most dangerous position is Lin Chen's. He has been designated as the Chess Core, his soul bound to the origin of the game. The day the game shatters is the day his soul is extinguished."

The words laid bare the most lethal of deadlocks.

The Heavens sought to shatter the board and break the game, while Chaos sought to devour the board and destroy its roots. No matter the outcome of the great war, Lin Chen, who bore the Chess Core, was doomed to die.

At the center of the formation, gray runes had completely permeated Lin Chen's meridians, flesh, and soul.

The power of the existence behind the scenes had fully seized control of all permissions regarding the Black and White Jade Disc and the game itself. A vast, boundless power, capable of commanding ten thousand chess pieces, surged endlessly into his body.

With a single thought from the gray consciousness, he could raise his hand to unleash the power of the entire game, countering the combined onslaught of the Supremes and Chaos.

Yet, strangely, while this supreme power flooded his limbs and bones, it could never infect his true heart and Daoist mind.

The gray chains could lock his soul, imprison his origin, and bind his karmic ties to the game, but they could not lock away the heart of defiance he had forged through eons of vicissitudes and the witnessing of all worldly suffering.

My body may be trapped, my power may be seized, my game may be discarded, but my heart alone shall never yield, even in death.

Lin Chen closed his eyes and focused, letting the divine might of the Heavens and the torrents of Chaos outside crash madly against the gray barrier, and letting the gray will deep within his soul incessantly issue commands for slaughter. The resolve in his heart never wavered in the slightest.

He perceived clearly that the Gray Existence behind the scenes intended to use him—this perfect Chess Core—to drive the origin of the game, slay the Heavens, annihilate Chaos, and utterly crush all order and chaos of the old era.

Once the old world was completely destroyed, the myriad games would mature simultaneously. At that moment, it would harvest the fruits of all reincarnations and achieve the true, supreme Daoist fruit.

And he, the moment the war concluded, would have his soul and origin completely drained, becoming the first scrap of cannon fodder in the destruction of the game.

"You wish to use my hands to settle ancient grudges, destroy the Heavens and Chaos, and achieve your supreme Dao?"

Lin Chen roared in the depths of his heart. His soul power ceased its passive resistance and instead surged upward, striking against the layers of gray rune chains.

"You have cultivated this game for eons, stealing the vitality of the world, toying with the lives of all beings, treating all spirits as straw dogs and the Heavens and Chaos as mere tools. You are selfish, lawless, and utterly despicable."

"I, Lin Chen, entered this game to break fate, save the common people, and stabilize the universe. I have never paved the way for anyone's Dao!"

Rumble—

Within his soul, the ancient golden Ancient Universe Origin suddenly surged.

This was the purest, most orthodox origin power of this world, carrying the vitality of the Ancient Earth, the obsessions of billions of living beings, and the unyielding will of generations of Fate Defiers.

Previously, this power had been used to soothe grievances, stabilize the world, and resist external enemies.

Today, for the first time, this power turned its spearhead to face the Gray Treacherous Path that had parasitized it!

The golden origin and the gray runes collided violently within his soul, weaving madly and eroding one another.

The gray power was domineering and deathly, seeking to assimilate and control everything; the golden origin was gentle yet resilient, preferring to shatter rather than bend, guarding the foundation of his heart.

One righteous and one evil, one origin and one external path—a silent civil war of the soul, unknown to any, erupted.

Outside, the divine chains of the Heavens' order and the world-ending torrent of Chaos had already crashed against the gray barrier.

The overwhelming, terrifying power frantically scoured, crushed, and tore at the gray light curtain enveloping the world. The barrier, which had been as solid as a fortress and easily capable of blocking the killing blows of the Supremes and Chaos, suddenly began to fluctuate violently due to the fierce resistance of Lin Chen's heart.

The surface of the light curtain flickered between light and dark, and countless fine cracks spread rapidly. For the first time, the stable wall of the game showed a fatal loosening.

Sensing this, the gray consciousness deep within his soul finally stirred, no longer entirely indifferent.

"Stubborn and foolish."

"Through thousands of game reincarnations, countless Chess Cores have followed the heavens and accepted the Dao, willing to transform themselves to pave the way. You possess the ancient origin, you bear the completion of the game, and you sit upon supreme opportunity—yet you dare to defy the trend and resist me?"

"My Dao is the Dao of the common people, the Dao of freedom, the Dao of defying fate!" Golden light exploded in Lin Chen's eyes as he suddenly snapped them open. "It is not your lawless game of stealing from the heavens and plundering the earth!"

He forcibly suppressed the gray power's control over his body, locking his arm that was about to rise, and stopped the game origin's counterattack by sheer force of will.

He let the onslaught of the Heavens and Chaos outside tear at the gray barrier, and let his own soul suffer the agonizing pain of being ripped apart by the gray and golden forces.

He would break the game!

Even as the Chess Core, bound to the game, he would use his heart to defy the myriad pieces and shatter this conspiracy of eternal reincarnation!

But just as Lin Chen's heart power began to suppress the Gray Treacherous Path, the outer barrier neared collapse, and the war was on the verge of total upheaval, a change occurred.

Deep in the distant primordial void, the billions of floating, rotating Black and White Jade Discs all lit up with a cold, gray radiance at the same instant.

Countless deathly divine thoughts, sharing the same origin as this world, crossed infinite dimensions and locked onto this broken game from afar.

A vast, desolate, and indifferent voice, transcending all Heavens and Chaos and piercing through eons of chess games, boomed across the world:

"A single piece defying the Dao is not to be feared. Since this child refuses to follow the heavens and pave the way, then—all pieces shall return to one, and the game shall be forcibly concluded!"

The void trembled, the galaxy reversed, and the power of countless extra-dimensional games pierced through dimensions, converging madly.

Lin Chen's pupils shrank, and his heart sank into a ten-thousand-foot abyss.

He finally understood: the existence behind the scenes did not control merely one game.

It could summon the power of a thousand games at any moment to crush his insignificant resistance!