Ancient Secrets Emerge as Dark Breath Breaks the Seal

The grand momentum of the Dual Seals merging suddenly stagnated.

The two polar origins, which had been tightening step by step and were on the verge of becoming one, halted abruptly in the void the moment Lin Chen hid a sliver of his true heart deep within his soul. The Primordial Chess Game's patterns, which had been flowing ceaselessly and solemnly, struck an invisible barrier, their spreading momentum coming to a jarring stop.

Across the Heavens, the sense of a fixed outcome that had been suffocating all living beings cracked, revealing an imperceptible fissure.

The golden chess chains coiled around Lin Chen's body trembled violently, the ancient rule-inscriptions etched upon them flickering on and off. The binding force that had been tightly shackling the origins subconsciously loosened.

Deep in the void of the Outer Realm, the indifferent and waveless will of the Original Chess Player clearly faltered.

It had laid out its plans for eons, simulated billions of outcomes, and calculated the backlash of the Heavenly Dao, the greed of players, the obsessions of all beings, and even every instance of Lin Chen's resistance against the path and his mental transformations. It had been certain that the variables would eventually resolve and the Chess Core would inevitably fall into place. Yet, it had never anticipated that at the final moment of success, such an unexpected event would arise out of thin air, slipping beyond its control.

What surprised this supreme existence, which had slumbered for eons, even more was the strange Dark Breath quietly gestating within the cores of the two Ancestral Seals.

That breath was cold and vast, devoid of the majesty of the Heavenly Dao, the calculations of a chess game, or the violent rage of Chaos. It felt as if it had emerged from the void of chaos before the birth of the world, drifting outside the three layers of chess game rules and unbound by any established order.

"An alien power from the Outer Realm? Or a forbidden origin that has survived for eons?"

A low, indifferent murmur drifted through the void. There was no angry rebuke, only an unquestionable sense of scrutiny.

Lin Chen hung in mid-air, his body still firmly bound by thousands of chess chains. His skin was covered in fine cracks, and the heavy injuries from his previous forced eruption of anti-path power continued to tear at his flesh. His surface consciousness was constantly being scoured by the power of the Primordial Chess Game; countless chess rules, reincarnation trajectories, and heavenly orders flooded his mind, constantly attempting to erase his independent thoughts and polish him into a cold Chess Core that understood only how to sustain the game's operation.

Yet, the sliver of his true heart buried at the very bottom of his soul remained steady and silent, clearly overlooking everything before him.

He could clearly perceive the dark undercurrents surging deep within the Ancestral Seals, and he also sensed that the Chess Player's attention had been diverted by the inexplicable anomaly, causing a brief imbalance in the binding force around him. Seizing this fleeting gap, Lin Chen retracted all his outward aura, allowing his surface consciousness to feign submission to the pull of the chess game's power, while secretly focusing his mind to ponder the origin of this sudden Dark Breath.

As his thoughts turned, various strange scenes from his early days on the path of cultivation—specifically those encountered in the sixth secret realm—surfaced in his mind uncontrollably.

When he first stepped into the world's chess game and stumbled into that ancient secret realm, the incomplete ancient murals on the stone walls, the broken inheritance inscriptions, and the Dark Forbidden Land hidden deep beneath the realm—which could never be probed by the rules of the Heavenly Dao and was difficult to shake even with the power of the Ancestral Seals—all came to mind. At the time, his cultivation was shallow and his vision limited, so he had assumed they were merely remnants left by fallen ancient powerhouses. Now, having witnessed the collapse of two layers of the chess game and seen the supreme means of the Chess Player, the many vague doubts suddenly connected.

It turned out that from the moment he first stepped onto the path of defying fate, what was hidden in that secret realm was not the relics of ordinary ancients, but the mark left by this Dark Origin that transcended the chess game.

The Chess Player had built layers of chess games, encompassing all things in the Heavens, yet it had failed to completely contain and seal this ancient dark power. It was like a ghost lurking in the cracks of the chess game, silent for eons, waiting for the opportunity to break the established rules. His own act of guarding his true heart at the cost of his life and tearing through the chess game's barrier had become the key to awakening this dark breath.

"It seems the eons-long chess game is not governed by the Chess Player alone."

Lin Chen whispered silently in his heart, his tense nerves calming slightly.

The despair of becoming a Chess Core, never to be liberated, had previously shrouded his mind. Now, the appearance of an unknown external force had disrupted the situation, adding a layer of unpredictable variables to a path that had seemed like a dead end.

Below the void, the various surviving powerhouses also sensed the strange changes in the world.

Kallen, the Golden Super Saiyan, and Frieza, who had been plunged into dead silence and despair, slowly regained focus in their scattered gazes, their tense bodies shifting slightly. Having witnessed Lin Chen being designated as the Chess Core and the third layer of the chess game restarting, the three had felt that all their struggles were a joke and that the freedom and transcendence they had pursued their whole lives were unreachable. Now, with the fusion of the Dual Seals obstructed and the mysterious Dark Breath stirring the world's momentum, a faint glimmer of hope ignited within their sunken spirits.

The Golden Super Saiyan stared at the flickering Ancestral Seals in mid-air, his tone low and reflective: "Even an eons-long layout can have flaws. It seems so-called destiny is not unbreakable."

Cold light flickered in Frieza's narrow eyes, his past violent ambitions faintly reviving. He had never been willing to live under others, traveling across the Heavens to fight for power and status. Even after witnessing the terrifying strength of the Chess Player, the arrogance in his bones had never truly died. Now that the chess game had undergone a change, it meant there was still a possibility of breaking free from his shackles and rewriting his own destiny.

Above the nine heavens, the Seven Supremes, whose Dao hearts had shattered, looked up in unison, their gazes locked onto the Ancestral Seals in the center of the void.

They had spent their entire lives following the order of the Heavenly Dao, believing that the ancient rules could not be defied. Having experienced the successive blows of the Heavenly Dao becoming a chess piece and the Fate Defier becoming a Chess Core, they had long since lost their obsession with their past faith. The sudden anomaly now shook the hearts of these lost Supremes, causing them to begin re-examining the all-encompassing, yet flaw-ridden, eons-long chess game.

Beside them, the massive Chaos King felt the chaotic torrent within his body surging more violently.

The origin of Chaos was naturally drawn to all things disordered and power that transcended rules. The Dark Breath leaking from the Ancestral Seals seemed to possess an invisible attraction, pulling the entire force of Chaos toward the center of the void. The ancient chaotic consciousness sensed something, as if it had detected the most primitive, original, and homologous breath of Chaos within this dark energy.

"Could it be... that this power is even more ancient than the Chess Player who created the game?" The Chaos King's massive body trembled slightly, an unprecedented doubt arising in his heart.

At the pinnacle of the void, the Eye of True Heaven, heavily wounded and with dim divine light, slowly turned its gaze to watch the dark tide surging deep within the Ancestral Seals.

After suffering a desperate backlash and being suppressed, and realizing the pathetic fate of his life being a tool for others, the will of the Heavenly Dao had shed its former arrogance and conceit, leaving only deep sorrow. But when that Dark Breath, uncontrolled by the chess game, emerged, a period of ancient forbidden history—sealed deep within the origin of the Heavenly Dao and deliberately erased and forbidden from mention—gradually unveiled its blurred veil.

"That unrecorded battle in the ancient era... could it be that an existence that truly transcended the Chess Player's control has survived until now?"

The remnant will of the True Heaven murmured, no longer obsessed with escaping the fate of a chess piece, but instead developing a desire to observe.

It knew clearly the terrifying foundation of the Chess Player; both layers of the chess game were created by that being. Yet, even such a supreme existence could not completely eradicate this Dark Origin, which showed just how terrifying this power's foundation was. As the old and new chess games alternated, the sudden appearance of this alien power might completely overturn the current established order.

Deep in the void of the Outer Realm, the remnant soul of the Myriad Chess Player, whose origin was on the verge of dissipation, also slowly awakened.

Having spent a lifetime manipulating chess games and calculating living beings, it had an extremely keen perception of shifts in the situation. It could clearly judge that the foundation of the third Primordial Chess Game had been quietly shaken by the sudden dark breath. The endgame, which had been destined to reach a fixed conclusion, had already deviated from the track preset by the Chess Player.

Across the entire world, the previously stable pattern was completely disrupted.

Everyone watched in silence, their minds filled with different thoughts, quietly observing the three-way game about to unfold in the center of the void.

Sensing that the dark breath was constantly eroding the Ancestral Seals, the Chess Player no longer allowed the anomaly to spread.

A vast and boundless Primordial pressure swept out from the depths of the void. Dense chess game patterns surged out like a tide, wrapping around the two floating Ancestral Seals in layers, attempting to use absolute, overbearing rule-power to seal the restless Dark Breath within and cut off the leakage of the alien power.

At the same time, countless golden Dao chains exerted force, tightening fiercely and pressing down once more toward the depths of Lin Chen's origin.

It intended to complete the final refining and shaping of the Chess Core while the situation had not yet completely spiraled out of control. As long as Lin Chen was completely brought under the control of the chess game, even if the dark breath was strange and unpredictable, it would be unable to shake the foundation of the third chess game.

An extremely heavy sense of oppression swept over his entire body again. Lin Chen's bones creaked, and the chess game power surging within his sea of consciousness became increasingly violent, constantly attacking his mental defenses. Under the extreme suppression, his surface body moved involuntarily toward the Ancestral Seals, appearing as if he had completely submitted to the chess game's arrangement.

Yet, his true heart, hidden deep within, took advantage of the moment the Chess Player was fully occupied with suppressing the dark breath and stabilizing the game to quietly mobilize the remaining anti-path power within his body.

A sliver of weak but tenacious anti-path power wandered through the gaps in the chess chains coiled around him, silently probing for flaws in the chains' patterns. At the same time, Lin Chen's consciousness quietly approached the core of the Ancestral Seals, carefully making contact with the mysterious Dark Breath.

The moment they touched, a vast and distant flow of information, carrying endless vicissitudes of time, instantly flooded his mind.

Fragmented scenes flashed rapidly through his mind: in the boundless primordial void, two supreme existences stood in confrontation. Chaos collapsed, origins shattered, and the embryonic form of the world was destroyed and reshaped several times. Later, one side was defeated and went into dormancy, while the other took the opportunity to create the chess game and gather the living beings of the Heavens. The remnant origin fragments of the defeated side had hidden in the cracks of the chess game, lying in wait for the opportunity for revenge and a comeback.

Lin Chen's mind shook violently as he instantly understood the origin of the Dark Breath.

This was the remnant power of an opposing origin that had stood toe-to-toe with the Original Chess Player in the ancient era! After being defeated in the great war, it had not completely perished but had hidden within the chess game, enduring for eons. Now, using the opportunity of the Dual Seals returning to their positions and the chess game changing, it had awakened, intending to take the chance to overturn everything the Chess Player had created.

"So, the eons-long chess game has hidden a life-and-death opposition since the day of its birth."

The moment Lin Chen perceived the secret, the Ancestral Seal, tightly wrapped in Primordial Chess Game patterns, began to vibrate violently.

The Dark Breath within refused to remain sealed and suddenly erupted with full force. Like a surging torrent, the pitch-black currents rampaged inside the Ancestral Seal, relentlessly battering the fusion trajectory of the dual-pole origin. The power of the Ancestral Seal, which had originally complemented itself through light and shadow, was now forcibly severed by the dark force, giving rise to two diametrically opposed tendencies.

Crack—

A crisp, subtle sound of shattering echoed across the Heavens.

The Primordial Chess Game patterns enveloping the Ancestral Seal were the first to develop cracks under the impact of the violent dark force. The foundation of the Third Ultimate Chess Game, once as solid as a golden fortress, began to show visible signs of loosening.

The Chess Master deep within the void clearly had not expected the Dark Breath to erupt so swiftly; for the first time, his majestic will carried a distinct note of gravity. The situation, which he had previously held firmly in his grasp, had spiraled completely out of control. On one side was the Chess Core, Lin Chen, who refused to submit and harbored hidden reserves; on the other was the opposing dark force, dormant for eons and intent on overturning everything. A dual threat had descended simultaneously.

He no longer insisted on rapidly refining the Chess Core, instead diverting the majority of his origin power to fully suppress the dark currents eroding the Ancestral Seal.

For a time, the depths of the void roared with the collision of origins. The power of the Light Chess Game and the Ancient Power of darkness fought and tore at each other frantically. The ripples of invisible force spread outward, shaking the mountains and rivers of the entire world, causing the laws of the ten thousand realms to fluctuate between stability and chaos.

Lin Chen, situated at the center of the storm, endured the confinement and pressure of the chess chains while observing the fierce clash between the two ancient powers, his mind rapidly weighing the situation.

The opposing dark force sought to overthrow the Chess Master's rule, and he himself refused to be reduced to an eternal Chess Core; the two parties shared a temporarily aligned goal. However, the origin of this dark power was mysterious and its nature unpredictable. Whether it was an opportunity to join forces and borrow strength, or another hidden, massive trap, remained impossible to judge.

He dared not easily reveal his true intentions, maintaining a state of being half-submerged and half-conscious. He lay dormant in the narrow gap between the two supreme powers, accumulating his own anti-path strength while watching the changes in the situation, waiting for the most suitable moment to break the game.

The slaughter and tremors between heaven and earth continued, with light and darkness locked in a tug-of-war within the Ancestral Seal, and the Third Ultimate Chess Game teetering on the brink of collapse.

Below, the gathered powerhouses held their breath, their hearts surging with uncertainty. Everyone knew that this sudden, unexpected change would completely rewrite the established fate of the ages.

Just as the clash between light and dark reached its peak, the mass of dark breath deep within the two Ancestral Seals slowly condensed and took shape, transforming into a vague, ethereal human silhouette.

A hoarse, ancient voice, spanning endless years, resonated through every corner of the Heavens along with the origin of the Ancestral Seal.

"Dormant for eons, I have finally waited for the day the chess game collapses... Chess Master, your grand unification must come to an end."

As the words echoed, the Incomplete Ancient Jade Tablet that Lin Chen had obtained in the secret realm of the sixth chapter deep within his sea of consciousness suddenly shot into the sky uncontrollably. It emitted a faint black light, echoing from afar with the dark silhouette inside the Ancestral Seal.

Everyone watched in horror as a line of ancient seal characters, never before seen, gradually emerged on the surface of the Incomplete Ancient Jade Tablet.

At the same time, the two forces previously locked in fierce battle deep in the void suddenly came to a halt. The dark silhouette slowly turned its head, its gaze piercing through layers of spatial barriers to lock firmly onto Lin Chen, who was at the heart of the chess game.

Even more alarming was that the Ancient Remnant Soul sleeping within Lin Chen's spirit suddenly jolted awake, churning violently as if it had encountered the ancient existence it feared and yearned for most in its destiny.

An ultimate entanglement involving ancient grudges, the three-layered chess game, and two supreme origins had begun. As the ancient secrets were completely unveiled, the true chaotic war had only just begun.