Black mist erupted from the fissure in the underground abyss like a surging black tsunami, instantly swallowing most of the Ancient Altar plaza.
The bone-chilling, primordial cold seeped through their pores and into their flesh. Even seasoned World Lords couldn't help but tremble with dread. The various Heavens factions, who had been on the verge of fighting and locked in a standoff, immediately put aside all hostility in the face of this terrifying aura that had endured for eons. Every face tensed as they turned toward the pitch-black fissure in the center of the altar.
The rumbling underground roar showed no sign of stopping. The divine stone pavement across the ancient plaza continued to crack and rise, while countless golden runes flickered wildly, brightening and dimming without pattern. The restraining patterns inherited from antiquity no longer radiated protective light. Instead, they trembled violently, as if afraid of—and resisting—the terrifying presence awakening beneath the ground.
The Dragon Ball Fragments hovering above the altar had completely gone out of control. Their seven-colored light surged violently as they collided with one another, ringing with clear metallic clinks. The source power that had once flowed gently now scattered in every direction. Some of it was swallowed and dissolved by the black mist, while the rest drifted across the plaza, drawing feverish gazes from countless cultivators. Yet no one dared rush forward to seize it.
"What in the world is that?!"
A powerful figure from the Star River alien race, clad in crystal armor, shouted grimly. The standard divine weapon gripped in his hand hummed faintly. Though his immense fighting strength was enough to sweep through the lower realms, he felt a trace of helplessness now.
The black-robed elder who had mocked Lin Chen and the others earlier had lost every trace of his former arrogance and composure. He hunched over, his murky eyes fixed on the churning black mist. His aged face was tense, and his hands trembled beneath his sleeves. He had delved into the wicked paths of the Heavens for tens of thousands of years and ventured through countless Ancient Secret Realms, yet he had never sensed an aura so ancient, savage, and bloodthirsty.
"It's not a beast, nor an Outer Realm fiend... It's Ruins Qi from an ancient seal." The black-robed elder's voice was hoarse, every word heavy. "This secret realm isn't some natural treasure land at all. It's a sealed Ruins Field left behind by the ancient war among the Heavens! What lies suppressed underground are the forbidden remnants of souls left over from that battle!"
His words sent a shock through everyone present.
The ancient war among the Heavens had been a cataclysm spanning hundreds of millions of star domains. Countless supreme powerhouses had fallen, and countless mighty forces had been wiped out. Every sealed site left in its wake concealed apocalyptic dangers, far beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators. No one had imagined that the heart of the secret realm they had painstakingly searched for, fighting over the Dragon Ball Fragments, was actually a prison sealed away for eons.
The black mist continued to swell. Within its darkness, enormous, indistinct silhouettes flickered in and out of view. One by one, broken Ancient War Spirits tore free from their underground restraints and shot into the sky through the fissure. Their bodies were shattered and their forms grotesque, black baleful energy and ancient battle intent coiling around them. Bloodthirsty ghostfire burned in their eyes, and the moment they emerged, they lunged madly at every living being in the plaza.
Their howls and roars shook the heavens and earth, making everyone's eardrums ache.
The first victims were several weaker rogue World Lords near the edge of the plaza. They didn't even have time to activate their protective energy before the charging Ancient War Spirits tore their bodies to pieces. Their souls were destroyed, leaving not a trace behind.
Blood splashed across the ancient divine stone pavement and was instantly absorbed by the runes. But the thick smell of blood plunged the entire plaza into an icy chill.
"Join forces against them! If we keep fighting among ourselves, we'll all die here!"
Someone's desperate shout snapped the panicked crowd to their senses.
The powerhouses from the various factions stopped worrying about their grudges and disputes. They unleashed their lifelong cultivation, and divine radiance, esoteric arts, and techniques erupted all at once, their brilliant energy lighting up the dark plaza. Countless divine attacks crashed into the charging Ancient War Spirits, and deafening explosions rang out one after another without pause.
Golden shock waves, black demonic energy, alien arts, and ancient Dao techniques clashed and intertwined. The heart of the secret realm had become a brutal battlefield.
Son Goku flashed into the sky, his vivid blue Super Saiyan aura blazing as his golden hair whipped in the wind. He clasped his hands together, and vast amounts of energy surged toward him. A blue sphere of energy rapidly condensed between his palms, its terrifying fluctuations twisting the air around him.
"Kamehameha!"
As his booming cry rang out, a blue beam spanning dozens of yards blasted forward, crashing head-on into three Ancient War Spirits charging side by side. The concentrated energy erupted in an instant, and the violent shock wave crushed the three remnant souls into a cloud of black mist, scattering them into nothingness.
But Ancient War Spirits continued pouring out of the underground fissure without end. They could not be killed or destroyed for good. As soon as one wave was wiped out, another, even stronger, followed.
Vegeta hovered high in the air on the opposite side, his deep blue aura cold and fierce, several sharp blades of energy circling him. His gaze was icy, his expression utterly composed. His usual arrogance and impatience had vanished, and every attack was precise and ruthless, without a hint of wasted effort.
"Final Flash!"
Brilliant white light burst forth. A fierce torrent of energy swept across the area, instantly clearing a large swath of Ancient War Spirits. Yet his brow remained furrowed, and his gaze continued to sweep warily across the battlefield, fixed especially on the shadows at the top of the altar.
From beginning to end, the Mysterious Shadow that had followed the group had stood motionless there. It had neither attacked nor moved, standing silent as a boulder as it coldly watched everyone below struggle and fight.
The figure seemed like a bystander, detached from it all, coldly watching the futile struggle of ants. Its unfathomable power was far more unsettling than the Ancient War Spirits surging madly from beneath the ground.
Lin Chen stood in midair, golden Dragon Ball source light flowing around him without pause. Its gentle yet immense power formed a sturdy protective barrier, blocking the scattered baleful energy and shock waves.
He didn't rush to slaughter the enemy. Instead, he focused on sensing the energy pathways throughout the secret realm.
As the Ancient War Spirits continued to emerge, the golden runes on the altar floor lit up faster and faster. The underground seal's power was visibly fading. The ancient restraints that had been passed down through the ages were shackles meant to suppress the forbidden presence below, but now they were crumbling under the spirits' assault.
What weighed even more heavily on him was that he could clearly sense a pattern beneath the Ancient War Spirits' seemingly frenzied, chaotic attacks. They kept striking the restraining nodes around the plaza. Every node they destroyed made the underground black mist denser and the seal weaker.
"They're not blindly trying to break out. They're deliberately breaking the seal." Lin Chen murmured, immediately realizing the truth.
These surviving Ancient War Spirits had lain dormant for eons, waiting for this day. They were taking advantage of the powerful figures from the various factions entering the secret realm and disrupting its spatial energy to shatter the ancient seal and return to the world.
"Don't just focus on fighting! They're destroying the secret realm's seal!"
Lin Chen's shout carried on his energy and rang across the plaza, reaching the ears of every cultivator.
At his words, the people fighting desperately felt their hearts sink. They instinctively looked up at the fissure beneath the altar. It had expanded several times over, its pitch-black depths bottomless. An immense aura, more terrifying than all the Ancient War Spirits combined, was slowly awakening and rising from its deepest reaches.
That aura was ancient, vast, and domineering, carrying the supreme authority of one who had looked down upon the ages. A mere trace of it leaked out, and every powerhouse present stiffened. Their blood and energy stagnated, and even circulating their cultivation became incredibly difficult.
The black-robed elder's face turned deathly pale. He staggered backward several steps and cried out in shock, "I-it's... the remnant body of an ancient Supreme who died in battle! What's suppressed beneath this Ruins Field isn't an ordinary War Spirit. It's the undying remnant soul of a fallen Supreme!"
His words exploded in everyone's ears like thunder.
A Supreme!
They were the top powerhouses who stood above World Lords and had once roamed the ancient Heavens. Even a wisp of a soul left behind after death was more than the cultivators of the present day could contend with.
At that moment, everyone was overcome with despair.
The battle, which they had barely managed to stabilize, collapsed in an instant. Many terrified cultivators tried to flee, intending to tear through space and escape the heart of the secret realm. But the entire space had already been sealed by the black mist. Its spatial barriers were as hard as iron, and every teleportation and spatial escape technique failed. They were trapped in a hopeless dead end.
Several enormous black figures, far larger than ordinary War Spirits, stepped out of the abyss. Each possessed the strength of a high-level World Lord, and the baleful energy around them was enough to overwhelm everyone on the plaza. The instant they appeared, they grievously wounded several top powerhouses.
Screams, explosions, and rumbling roared together. Casualties mounted across the plaza, blood soaking the divine stone as far as the eye could see.
Son Goku and Vegeta unleashed their full strength, fighting with everything they had to hold back the giant War Spirits. Though their battle power was extraordinary, facing an endless tide of ancient monsters, their breathing gradually grew labored and their energy drained faster and faster. Their Battle Suits had long since been ripped apart by the baleful energy, and their bodies were covered in fine wounds.
Lin Chen stopped holding back. The Dragon Ball Fragment in his palm blazed with light, and brilliant seven-colored source power surged over his entire body. He formed a hand seal, and the Dragon Ball's source power transformed into countless golden swords that shot through the air, precisely slaying the attacking War Spirits. At the same time, his source power spread across the plaza, shielding the cultivators still struggling to hold on and temporarily stabilizing the battle, which had been on the verge of collapse.
But he knew this was only a temporary illusion.
The aura of the Supreme remnant soul beneath the ground was growing clearer, and the seal was breaking apart faster and faster. Once the enemy broke free completely, no one present would survive.
Just as everyone was trapped in a desperate situation and panic spread through the crowd, the dark figure that had long been silent atop the altar finally moved.
The slender figure slowly stepped out of the shadows. It released no surging aura, no terrifying pressure. Yet with that single step, the agitated black mist froze, and every Ancient War Spirit charging wildly through the air went rigid. Even the terrifying presence surging beneath the ground abruptly paused for an instant.
Every sound in the world vanished. A deathly silence enveloped the entire secret realm plaza.
Every clash, every rumble, every scream came to an abrupt halt.
The countless powerhouses across the plaza stared upward, their pupils contracting as they fixed their gaze on the Mysterious Shadow.
The shadow slowly raised its head. Beneath its indistinct features, a pair of eyes emerged, cold and merciless, as if they had seen through the ages. Its gaze crossed a hundred yards of empty space and locked precisely on Lin Chen, who stood at the center of the battlefield.
A low, hoarse voice, ancient as if it had endured countless ages, drifted softly through the heavens and earth and landed directly in Lin Chen's ears:
"Dragon Ball reincarnation... The ancient seal opened because of you."
The moment the words fell, an earth-shaking boom erupted from the underground abyss. The last barrier of the seal shattered completely, and a Supreme's terrifying aura, powerful enough to overturn the entire Heavens Secret Realm, burst free from its subterranean prison and descended upon the world!
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