True Heaven Appears, Locking All Ages

Boundless darkness suddenly swallowed the universe. The dark ancestral light that had just torn through the sky, the gray chess power that spanned the heavens and earth, and even the divine light of the heavens and the black mist of chaos all retracted their sharpness within this deathly silence.

A pair of eyes slowly opened at the very zenith of the void. They were indifferent and cold, encompassing billions of galaxies and endless eons. Compared to the domineering majesty of the Myriad Chess Player from beyond the realm, these eyes carried not a shred of killing intent or malice, yet they possessed an innate, supreme sense of overlooking all things, as if every creature in existence had been under their gaze since the moment of birth.

Lin Chen stood at the center of the array eye, the faint light of the Fate-Defying Ancestral Seal circulating around him trembling uncontrollably. This was not out of fear or retreat, but an instinctive response and vigilance at the level of his origin.

The ancient mark on his chest grew slightly warm, and the ancient whisper that had previously pierced through the truth echoed once more in his sea of consciousness: The player is also a puppet; breaking the cage is not the end. Only now did Lin Chen truly grasp the vast scope hidden within those words.

He had originally thought that the existence beyond the realm who controlled the Myriad Chess Game was the ultimate peak of this world, but now that the True Heaven had descended, the disparity between the two was clear at a glance. That player, who had spanned the ages and calculated the lives of countless universes, was, in the eyes of this true heaven, merely a puppet tasked with overseeing the game from within a cage.

The entire world fell into a deathly silence. All living beings were tightly shrouded by this sudden, supreme pressure, making even breathing difficult and sluggish.

On the ground below, Kallen, Frieza, and the Golden Super Saiyan froze in place, the surging power within them instantly silenced. Even the naturally fierce and brave spirit of the Saiyans could not help but feel small and humble under the gaze of eyes that overlooked the ages. The exhilaration brought by Lin Chen's palm shattering the Myriad Chess Game dissipated entirely, replaced by a deeper sense of bewilderment and shock.

They had exhausted all their strength to break free from the shackles of the chess game, only to discover that they were still trapped within an even larger confinement.

"What kind of existence is this..." Kallen whispered, his purple eyes filled with disbelief. "The Myriad Chess Player has already transcended the heavens and chaos, yet before this entity, he seems like a child at play."

The Golden Super Saiyan frowned deeply, his gaze fixed on the giant eyes deep in the void, his mind churning. He had fought against fate every step of the way, breaking one layer of shackles after another, yet the boundaries of destiny seemed to have no end; as one cage shattered, a new, greater restriction of the world emerged.

High above the nine heavens, the Seven Supremes hidden within the divine light wore solemn expressions; the joy they had felt at the collapse of the chess game was gone. Having lived through countless epochs and traversed multiple dimensions, they had never sensed an aura that transcended all rules in such a way.

The order of the heavens, the laws of the Great Dao, the cycle of life and death—all the powers they had spent their lives comprehending and controlling became ethereal and fragile under the gaze of the True Heaven.

"The chess game is a sham, the heavens are a cage, and even chaos cannot escape its bonds," one Supreme remarked in a low, heavy voice, his tone tinged with a weary helplessness. "We exhausted the ages fighting for power and status, thinking we stood at the pinnacle of the world, but from beginning to end, we were trapped in a territory defined by another."

Beside him, the massive, pitch-black chaotic body trembled slightly; the Chaos King's originally arrogant and violent aura was completely suppressed. The origin of chaos was born to resist restraint, but faced with the pressure of the True Heaven, this instinctive agitation could only lie dormant. It could clearly perceive the insurmountable chasm in their levels; if the Myriad Chess Player was merely a puppet, then it and the Seven Supremes were nothing more than insignificant dust within the cage.

Within the void beyond the realm, the Myriad Chess Player, who had been heavily wounded by the Ancestral Seal and filled with apprehension, was now plunged into extreme panic.

The Black and White Jade Disc, which spanned billions of dimensions, curled up frantically. The originally restless and retaliatory power of the chess path retracted entirely, no longer daring to act with the slightest bit of recklessness. Having held the chess game for eons, it naturally knew the origin of this True Heaven and understood that all its layouts, all its slaughters, and all its calculations had been under the other's tacit surveillance from start to finish.

It had once thought that by controlling the cycle of reincarnation, it could transcend all things, but now it realized with a jolt that it was merely a piece acting according to a predetermined trajectory, and even its final move to unify the myriad chess pieces had never stepped outside the boundaries set by the cage.

Its cold will no longer carried killing intent, only deep-seated fear, as it hid deep within the gaps of the dimensions, not daring to reveal its form.

Between heaven and earth, only Lin Chen remained standing firmly. Even though the Ancestral Seal trembled slightly, his mind remained steadfast, never wavering in the slightest.

He slowly retracted the light of the Ancestral Seal, allowing the dark glow to settle back into his origin, and looked calmly toward the supreme eyes deep in the void. Having experienced the life-and-death confrontation with the will of the chess path, having witnessed the myriad sufferings of the common people, and having seen the layers upon layers of shackles of fate, he felt no sycophancy, submission, or reckless provocation when facing the True Heaven that stood above all living beings—only a clear and open heart.

So, there is a world beyond the chess game after all, Lin Chen thought to himself.

The Ancestral Seal originated from outside the cage and was the key to breaking the confinement, while the True Heaven before him was the true creator and master of that cage. By breaking the Myriad Chess Game, he had essentially violated the rules set by the other party. Now that the entity had appeared in person, its intentions were self-evident.

Was it here to punish those who disrupted the order, or did it have other plans? Did it view all living beings as ants to be manipulated at will, or were there hidden considerations unknown to others? Everything was an unknown.

In the void, the silence did not last long.

The indifferent gaze slowly swept across the entire world, passing over the tattered gray light screen, the terrified and retreating power of the chess path, and the silent, trembling heavens and chaos, before finally resting steadily upon Lin Chen.

An intangible, vast consciousness flowed down through the void. There was no thunderous roar, no overwhelming pressure impacting his soul, but it pierced directly through his physical barriers, reaching the deepest part of Lin Chen's origin and sea of consciousness.

"Bearing the Ancestral Seal that breaks the cage and severing the cycle of the Myriad Chess Game—do you know that this act has disrupted the order established through the ages?"

The calm, ripple-free voice resonated in his sea of consciousness. It carried no joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness, yet it seemed to contain the very origin of time, each word striking heavily upon his Dao heart.

Lin Chen's body did not sway, his eyes remained firm, and he responded calmly to this supreme inquiry: "The so-called established order is nothing more than a cruel chess game that uses the lives of countless beings as nourishment and the destruction of countless civilizations as its cost. All living beings are born with their paths already drawn, their life and death, honor and disgrace, beyond their control. Such an order should never have existed in this world."

"You defy fate with your own heart, unwilling to be reduced to a chess piece—this obsession is rare throughout the ages," the True Heaven's consciousness transmitted slowly. "But do you understand that the cage was drawn and the chess game derived not without reason?"

The moment the words fell, light and shadow swirled deep in the void, and vast, ancient scenes appeared out of thin air between heaven and earth, reflecting into the eyes of every living being.

The scenes traced back to an ancient epoch even further than the dawn of chaos and the birth of the chess game. At that time, there were no heavens or myriad worlds, no black and white chess path; the entire vast void was a desolate and silent wasteland. Beyond the distant, void boundaries existed an indescribable, destructive catastrophe. Violent and bizarre forces constantly eroded the primitive world, and wherever they passed, all origins perished, with no possibility of recovery.

To resist this extraterrestrial catastrophe capable of annihilating everything, the True Heaven personally divided the territory, built the ancient cage, and derived the heavens, chaos, and the Myriad Chess Game. It used the cage to isolate the erosion of the catastrophe and the chess game to temper the origins of all living beings, accumulating power over long ages solely to defend against the world-ending crisis that would inevitably arrive.

All spirits were reduced to chess pieces, and the universe was turned into nourishment. It seemed cold and heartless, but it was actually a helpless move to preserve the entire world.

As the scenes of the ancient past unfolded, all the living beings present were plunged into deep shock. Their initial unwillingness and resentment were now mixed with complex, indescribable emotions.

So, the shackles that trapped them were, at their root, meant to protect this world. But how could stability bought at the cost of sacrificing billions of lives be considered true protection?

The Myriad Chess Player beyond the realm watched the ancient scenes, its silent will stirred. It had held the chess game for many years, knowing only how to harvest and evolve according to the rules, never having touched upon such fundamental secrets. Only now did it understand that all its actions were merely a part of the protection plan.

Lin Chen watched the light and shadow of the past quietly, his mind filled with thoughts, yet his Dao heart remained unshaken.

"Resisting the catastrophe and protecting the world—the original intention is beyond reproach," Lin Chen said in a steady voice that spread in all directions. "But protection should never be built upon the enslavement of all living beings. I cannot accept a method that sacrifices countless lives to exchange for stability and deprives living beings of the right to choose their own destiny."

"Living beings exist in this world to pursue themselves and control their own destiny, not to be born as nourishment for a chess game, waiting for the arrangements of fate. The catastrophe is indeed terrifying, but a world that has lost its heart and freedom, even if it survives, has already lost the meaning of its existence."

His words were sonorous and powerful, carrying the persistence and obsession he had held throughout his journey.

The True Heaven's eyes flickered slightly, and its indifferent expression showed a subtle ripple; clearly, Lin Chen's thoughts exceeded its past predictions. Throughout the ages, countless beings had either obediently lived under the rules or perished completely after failing to resist; no one had ever insisted on not compromising after learning the truth of the origin.

"Obsession that runs too deep will only invite disaster," the True Heaven's consciousness sounded again. "The catastrophe from outside the cage is approaching. With your current power, you cannot even protect yourself. Rashly breaking the order will only accelerate the arrival of the crisis and implicate the entire world in its destruction."

As the voice fell, layers of thick spatial barriers suddenly rose in the void, densely shrouding the world in all directions. The entire territory that had just broken free from the control of the chess game was instantly sealed off completely; information from the outside could not enter, and the living beings inside could not leave a single step.

It was evident that the True Heaven would not allow Lin Chen to continue breaking the game at will and intended to temporarily imprison this place to observe subsequent changes.

The Seven Supremes sensed the power of the spatial seal, their expressions grave. Once trapped here for a long time, the structure of the heavens would inevitably undergo earth-shattering changes, and the subsequent situation would become increasingly difficult to control. The Chaos King also realized that its range of movement was restricted; the chaotic torrent surged anxiously, but it dared not rashly collide with the supreme barrier.

Just as the situation between heaven and earth fell into a stalemate and Lin Chen pondered how to respond, preparing to use the power of the Ancestral Seal to find a way out, the dormant Fate-Defying Ancestral Seal on his chest suddenly showed signs of activity again.

This time, it was not a simple tremor of vigilance; a remnant, shattered shadow of a soul slowly emerged from deep within the mark. The shadow was blurry and indistinct, its specific features unrecognizable, yet it radiated an ancient aura that was of the same origin as the True Heaven, yet faintly stood in opposition to it.

The moment the shattered soul appeared, it projected toward the True Heaven's eyes deep in the void, and at the same time, a faint, hoarse, ancient sound quietly dissipated within his sea of consciousness.

"The cage was sealed to protect the world back then, but the agreement has long since been rendered void... The catastrophe hides treachery, and even the True Heaven harbors selfish intent..."

These few short sentences instantly tore away the veil covering a deeper secret.

The previously calm eyes of True Heaven suddenly sharpened with a biting edge, and the temperature of the entire sealed void plummeted.

And just as these old and new conflicts surfaced, at the very moment when long-buried events were about to emerge, a series of incessant, eerie roars suddenly echoed from beyond the cage's barriers. Cold and violent power slammed frantically against the ancient shield, and the aura of the world-ending catastrophe, which had previously been kept at bay, began to seep in through the cracks.

On one side was the enigmatic True Heaven of the present with hidden motives; on another, the fragmented ancient soul awakened by the ancestral seal; and on the third, the extraterrestrial catastrophe closing in, on the verge of shattering the barrier.

Lin Chen stood at the center of the storm, watching the void where these three forces intertwined, his heart sinking.

He had thought that breaking the Myriad Chess Game meant surviving the greatest crisis, but he had not expected that the truly intricate, age-old conflict was only just beginning. As for the Fate-Defying Ancestral Seal that had accompanied him all this way, the secrets of the past it involved were likely far more harrowing than he had ever imagined.