Crack—!
A deafening crack that had pierced the ages tore through the silent void. The walls of the Eternal Cage, already covered in fine fissures, finally burst open under the impact of the Outer Realm's torrent of destiny, leaving a gaping breach.
Black, frigid baleful energy from the Outer Realm surged in like a breached sea wall. This power transcended the order of the Heavens, the chaos of Chaos, and the reincarnations of the Chess Dao. It possessed neither the overbearing restraint of a Chess Player's power nor the destructive savagery of a chaotic torrent. It carried only an ultimate sense of nothingness and return to the void.
Everything it touched lost the color of the Great Dao, and its source fell silent.
True Heaven and Lin Chen, who had been locked in a stalemate moments ago, both withdrew at once, their gazes turning toward the hole in the void's barrier.
The Eye of True Heaven, hanging high in the firmament, shed all its age-old aloof composure. In its place was undisguised panic and apprehension. It could disregard the life and death of all beings, freely manipulate the cycles of the chessboard, suppress the remnants of the Ancestral Seal, and crush the Anti-Dao Heart. Yet it feared the destiny of the Outer Realm above all else.
Its age-old scheme, with every possibility accounted for, rested entirely on "isolating itself from destiny's backlash."
Now the cage had shattered and Destiny Return to Void had appeared. The work it had painstakingly carried out for trillions upon trillions of years was on the verge of collapse in an instant.
"So it still happened ahead of time..."
True Heaven's low murmur resounded through the world, tinged with an utterly disbelieving despair.
It had calculated every change across the ages, controlled the chessboard's cycles, and divined the reincarnations of the Heavens. Yet it had failed to foresee that an Ancestral Seal dormant for ages and a mortal resisting against the odds would force this ultimate calamity to erupt ahead of time, shattering all its carefully balanced plans.
On the ground, Kallen, Frieza, and the others stood rigid. The power lingering around their bodies was instantly suppressed by the baleful energy from the Outer Realm.
The surrounding flowers, grass, mountains, and stones, the spiritual energy of the world, and the drifting laws of the Dao—all that came into contact with even a trace of Destiny Return to Void turned into the most primordial nothingness and silently vanished. The world they had depended on to survive and fought to protect was dissolving and crumbling before their eyes.
"Is this... destiny's backlash?" The Golden Super Saiyan's pupils trembled, and a helplessness he had never felt before welled up within him.
The Chess Dao and Heavenly Dao they had contended with in the past had both left traces to follow and paths to overcome. But the power of destiny before them seemed like a reckoning from the world's very source, the end of all rules—unfathomable, insurmountable, and impossible to resist.
High above the nine heavens, the Seven Supremes turned deathly pale, their boundless divine radiance rapidly dimming. They had traversed the multiverse and wielded the highest laws of the Heavens, yet now they lacked even the strength to raise a hand in resistance. As the aura of destiny's nothingness eroded them, their Supreme Dao bodies grew faintly transparent and teetered on the brink of collapse.
"The ancient records say little, only that destiny can be defied and that no calamity compares to this. Only now do I understand. This isn't a dimensional calamity at all... It's the reckoning that will reduce the world's very source to nothing!" One Supreme spoke in a hoarse voice, giving words to the boundless despair.
Nearby, the Chaos King's enormous black body curled in on itself, and the world-destroying torrents around him rapidly drew back as he desperately guarded his source.
Chaos was the disordered extinction at the end of all things. Yet before Destiny Return to Void, even Chaos's power of destruction seemed impossibly naive. Chaos could arise, be destroyed, and cycle through reincarnation. Destiny's reckoning, however, allowed no return. It meant a complete return to the void.
In the Outer Realm's void, the Myriad Chess Player, who had long been lying in hiding, was now utterly panicked.
Billions upon billions of Black and White Jade Discs shook violently. Countless chessboards in the Outer Realm shattered of their own accord, and their cycles of reincarnation came to an end. As a puppet cultivated by True Heaven, it had been born relying on the Eternal Cage and the system that diluted destiny's backlash. Now that balance had shattered and destiny had appeared, its Chess Dao source was rapidly dissolving.
It had schemed across the ages, hoping to transcend through the endgame. Only now did it realize that it was nothing more than True Heaven's most insignificant discarded piece, used to restrain destiny and absorb its backlash. The day the chess game was completed would be the day its source was destroyed.
In its boundless terror, the Chess Player no longer dared to hide. It gathered all the power of the Chess Dao, trying to repair the broken Eternal Cage.
A gray curtain of light rose once more. Countless chains of the Chess Dao crisscrossed and wrapped tightly around the cracks in the barrier, trying to forcibly seal the opening and stop destiny from leaking out.
But the seemingly powerful force of Myriad Chess vanished completely the moment it touched the aura of Destiny Return to Void, without stirring even a ripple.
It was all in vain.
At the center of the formation, Lin Chen's mind was taut. The dim light of the Ancestral Seal in his chest blazed with all its strength, protecting the source of his soul.
The incomplete Ancient Remnant Soul floating beside him trembled violently. Its hoarse voice rang out urgently, revealing the deepest secret of the ages: "Kid, see it clearly! This is the truth behind True Heaven's age-old scheme!"
"When True Heaven first came into being, it coveted the complete Source of Destiny in the Outer Realm and sought to devour it to achieve absolute immortality. But destiny carries a backlash that seeks to return everything to one. If it is forcibly absorbed, it will bring the source bearing all the fruits of the Dao to account. At best, the Dao will collapse; at worst, the heavens will be destroyed!"
"It didn't dare shoulder the backlash alone, so it split apart the primordial world and forged the Eternal Cage. It divided the Heavens, Chaos, and the Chess Dao into three realms, using countless living beings and endless universes as buffers to dilute destiny's backlash, layer by layer!"
The remnant's flickering light grew more violent, charged with the indignation and resentment of ages past: "The slaughter across the Heavens was meant to select Dao bodies capable of bearing the backlash. Chaos's cycles of creation and destruction were meant to wear down destiny's malice. Myriad Chess Reincarnation was meant to gather the scattered source of the backlash! Generations of living beings have suffered across the ages. Every last one of them was a scapegoat, used by True Heaven to share the burden of destiny's reckoning!"
Every word pierced to the heart, resounding throughout Lin Chen's mind.
At last, every question was answered.
Why did the Heavenly Dao seem impartial, yet refuse to let living beings defy their fate?
Why did the chess game lock down reincarnation at every turn, forbidding anyone from transcending?
Why had the endless ages never escaped the cycle of sacrifice and destruction?
It wasn't protection. It wasn't balance. It was an age-old sacrificial scheme laid by True Heaven for its own immortality!
Living beings weren't the people of the world. They were offerings to share the backlash.
The myriad worlds weren't the heavens and earth. They were vessels for bearing destiny.
Once True Heaven had fully diluted all the backlash and refined the Source of Destiny from the Outer Realm, it would discard the Eternal Cage, the Heavens, Chaos, and billions of living beings without a second thought, burying them all in Destiny Return to Void.
"What noble Heavenly Dao. What selfless rule across the ages."
Lin Chen gave a cold, quiet laugh. The last trace of reverence for the Heavenly Dao vanished from his eyes, leaving behind only bone-deep chill.
The lofty True Heaven claimed to rule all things, yet in truth, it was the most selfish plunderer of the ages.
At the peak of the void, True Heaven seemed to have been exposed completely. It no longer concealed even a trace of its selfishness. Its icy will, carrying the endless pressure of the Heavenly Dao, locked onto Lin Chen and the remnant.
"You know forbidden secrets. You should have died long ago."
"I schemed across the ages for the sake of transcendence and immortality. All things in heaven and earth were born for my Dao and will perish for my Dao. What is wrong with sacrificing billions of living beings in exchange for a single true immortal across the ages?"
In True Heaven's eyes, all living beings were as insignificant as dust. Their survival or death had never mattered. As the supreme Heavenly Dao born from the world's source, it was only natural that all beings who depended on it should offer themselves for its Dao fruit.
As its words fell, the laws of the Heavenly Dao surged together.
This time, True Heaven no longer tried to repair the cage or restrain destiny from leaking out. It knew the grand scheme had collapsed and the chess game meant to dilute the backlash was finished. It might as well throw caution to the wind and embrace its murderous intent.
Boundless golden divine light from the Heavenly Dao covered the whole world. It no longer targeted the destiny of the Outer Realm, but instead bore down fiercely on every living being trapped inside the cage!
"Since the grand scheme has fallen apart and the backlash is coming, I'll absorb the source of all living beings inside the cage and refine the fruits of the Dao from the myriad worlds to forcefully build up my foundation!"
"I'll use the foundations of billions of living beings as a shield against destiny's reckoning! Today, I will take the final step toward immortality!"
The violent power of the Heavenly Dao swept in all directions. The sources of countless weak beings were torn away in an instant, annihilating their bodies and spirits. The Seven Supremes' expressions changed drastically. They fought with all their might to activate their Dao bodies and resist, yet they were still crushed beneath the Heavenly Dao's immense force, their sources rapidly depleted.
The Chaos King let out a furious, grief-stricken roar as his source was forcibly drawn out, stripped away, and refined into nourishment for True Heaven.
True Heaven had gone completely mad.
With the chessboard shattered and the cage collapsing, it would reap all the offerings with its own hands. It would turn the entire world into a furnace and the foundations of all living beings into fuel, tempering itself by force to withstand Destiny Return to Void!
"Dream on!"
Lin Chen's gaze turned cold and sharp. His Anti-Dao Heart boiled over, and the light of the Ancestral Seal in his chest blazed for thousands of miles.
The shadowy Cage-Breaking Power swept across the world, holding back the Heavenly Dao's power as it plundered the sources of living beings. Golden power from the Anti-Dao and the Ancestral Seal's dark light wove together, forming a pure, untainted domain that protected countless beings on the verge of destruction.
"You prolong your life by exploiting all living beings and use them as a shield. A Heavenly Dao like you is unworthy of being Heaven!"
Lin Chen stepped into the air and faced True Heaven, the supreme being, alone as he defied the ancient heavens!
The Ancestral Seal's power broke through the Heavenly Dao's restrictions layer by layer, while the Anti-Dao Heart crushed the age-old laws of Heaven one after another. One man and one seal held up a sliver of hope amid the crumbling world.
Seeing this, True Heaven's murderous intent grew even stronger. "You're nothing but the inheritor of a broken seal, yet you dare defy me again and again! Today, I'll crush your Anti-Dao Heart, devour the source of the Ancestral Seal, and restore the missing foundation of my Cage-Breaking Dao!"
Divine light from the Heavenly Dao converged into the supreme Heavenly Blade. It stretched across billions of miles of void, carrying the might to destroy and suppress everything, and came crashing down!
Wherever the Heavenly Blade passed, space collapsed, the laws of the Dao fell silent, and all things returned to the void.
Lin Chen showed no fear. The Ancestral Seal flowed with an ancient, unadorned light in his palm. He gathered all his strength into one fist and punched upward against the tide.
His fist and the Heavenly Blade collided with a deafening boom that shook dimensions across the ages.
Golden power of the Heavenly Dao and the shadowy Cage-Breaking Power clashed fiercely. The void shattered layer by layer, and an endless storm of primal power swept across the world. Lin Chen's body shook violently, his blood and vital energy churned, and the web between his thumb and forefinger split open. Blood spilled as he forcibly withstood True Heaven's furious blow.
But the void beneath his feet did not give way by so much as a step, and the conviction in his eyes burned ever brighter.
As long as he lived, this unjust Heavenly Dao that had ruled for ages would never slaughter the people of the world at will!
As they remained locked in their stalemate, Destiny Return to Void in the Outer Realm's void grew increasingly violent. The breach in the barrier widened without end, and at last the blurry, gigantic shadow that loomed over the boundless Outer Realm slowly reached into this world.
The aura of ultimate nothingness instantly enveloped the myriad worlds. Even the violent power of the Heavenly Dao faltered beneath it.
Just as everyone thought the arrival of the shadow of destiny would reduce the entire world to nothing and destroy it completely—
The trembling Ancestral Seal in Lin Chen's chest suddenly burst into an unprecedented, dazzling radiance.
The incomplete Ancient Remnant Soul floating nearby suddenly stirred. Its light and shadow twisted violently as it let out a roar of utter shock:
"No! This isn't simply Destiny Return to Void!"
"Inside that shadow... there's another one! The second Cage-Breaking Ancestral Seal, lost for ages!"
Rumble!
The words exploded through the world like a thunderclap.
Lin Chen's mind reeled, and the blood in his body froze.
Ever since he had emerged, he had always believed the Fate-Defying Ancestral Seal was the only source capable of breaking the cage, and the sole chance of transcending across the ages. He had never imagined that a second Ancestral Seal could exist.
High above in the void, True Heaven had been unleashing endless slaughter. The instant it heard those words, its supreme body stiffened. For the first time, its unchanging Dao Heart was rocked by a colossal upheaval, and utter terror overwhelmed its consciousness.
It had schemed across the ages, suppressed the remnants of the Ancestral Seal, diluted destiny's backlash, and calculated everything. The one thing it hadn't known was—
Beyond the Eternal Cage, within Destiny Return to Void, another Ancestral Seal was hidden—one powerful enough to overturn everything!
The shadow of the Outer Realm slowly unfolded. Two glimmers of the Ancestral Seal, one bright and one dark, born of the same source yet utterly opposed in nature, gradually emerged from the boundless void.
No one knew why the second Ancestral Seal was hidden within destiny, or why it had slept across the ages.
But Lin Chen understood, and so did True Heaven—
The day the Dual Seals appeared would be the ultimate moment when the false Heavenly Dao was overthrown, the true one took its place, and the chess game of the ages returned to nothing!
But just as the two Ancestral Seals' auras began to resonate from afar, on the verge of responding to each other across the void, an unfamiliar, ancient, and indifferent voice rang out from the deepest part of the shadow of the Outer Realm, a voice that stood above True Heaven and the Ancestral Seals:
"When the Dual Seals return to their places, the final game begins... But this time, the ones to be judged were never the people of the world or the Heavenly Dao."
"It was the Chess Game Player who had slept through the ages."
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