The Shadows of the Heavens' Enemies, a Chaotic Three-Way Standoff

The sky above the entire ancient secret realm shook as if it were collapsing at this very moment.

Rolling black clouds surged in from the borders of the realm, swallowing the last remnants of light. The once dilapidated and gray world instantly plunged into a chilling, deathly gloom. Violent winds whipped through the ruins, each gust carrying a bone-chilling, murderous aura—not the natural energy of this realm, but a cold, sinister power originating from beyond the heavens, stained with endless slaughter.

Lin Chen's muscles tensed abruptly. The seven-colored Dragon Ball origin in his palm flickered violently, and he instinctively shielded Son Goku and Vegeta behind him.

He could clearly sense that every black shadow descending from the horizon contained a terrifying depth of cultivation. While none reached the level of the mysterious shadow or the Ancient Supreme he had just encountered, they far surpassed any formidable enemy he had faced before. Their numbers were dense, blanketing the entire sky, stretching out into an endless expanse.

These beings were undoubtedly top-tier powerhouses who roamed the heavens.

"The enemies of the past..."

Lin Chen whispered, his heart heavy.

He had only just learned that he was the remnant origin soul of an eternal supreme being. Still mired in the confusion of his own identity and unable to process the ancient memories flooding his mind, he was already met with an even greater crisis.

It turned out that the disintegration of the Chaos supreme being's origin eons ago was not merely a natural catastrophe of Chaos, but a result of being artificially crippled. With the shattering of the Dragon Ball seal, his core origin had finally surfaced, exposing a secret hidden for ages and drawing out the masterminds of the past.

Nearby, the Ancient Supreme's remnant soul, which had been on the verge of dissipation, had been tightly bound by the mysterious shadow's origin chains, its body constantly compressing and fading. Yet, the moment the extraterrestrial murderous intent enveloped the realm, a flash of extreme brilliance erupted in its withered, blood-red pupils.

The nearly extinguished black soul fire forcibly stabilized its decline.

It struggled violently. Though its ten-thousand-foot remnant body was now reduced to only a few feet, it let out a final, hoarse, and crazed roar that echoed through the heavens: "It is the Heavens-Dao-Destroyers! It is that group of rebellious traitors from back then!"

That single roar instantly revealed the identity of the newcomers and peeled back another layer of secrets sealed by time.

Heavens-Dao-Destroyers!

Lin Chen's brows locked tightly. The fragmented ancient memories churning in his sea of consciousness suddenly froze on a scene of blood-red chaos.

Eons ago, when Chaos first divided and the Great Dao established order, a group of strange beings born in defiance of the Dao emerged. Unwilling to be bound by the rules of the heavens or submit to the supreme Chaos orthodoxy, they secretly colluded with demons from various exotic realms, igniting a rebellion that swept through the myriad worlds of Chaos.

That upheaval was the true catastrophe that led to the disintegration of the supreme being and the scattering of its origin!

As time passed and the ages shifted, the Dao-Destroying Rebellion had long been erased from the history books of the heavens, becoming a secret known to none—save for the remnant souls who had personally experienced that catastrophe, still branded with deep-seated hatred and fear.

"Hahaha! Heaven does not wish for my demise!"

The Ancient Supreme's remnant soul laughed maniacally, its shattered body trembling violently. The origin chains that had suppressed it showed subtle signs of loosening under the impact of the overwhelming Dao-Destroying Power.

It had been suppressed for eons, seemingly a prisoner of a seal, but in reality, it had been caught in the eternal chess game between the supreme being and the Dao-Destroyers. It had never understood why it was imprisoned without cause, but now it saw clearly: it had merely caught a glimpse of the truth behind the Dao-Destroying Rebellion and was caught in the crossfire, becoming a sacrificial pawn.

Now that the Dao-Destroyers had descended in force, their old enemy had appeared, perfectly balancing the mysterious shadow that had suppressed it for ages.

A hopeless situation had instantly reversed!

Above the void, the mysterious shadow, which had remained indifferent and composed, finally showed a subtle change in posture.

The Desolation Origin flowing around it grew restless, and the black mist shrouding its body rippled gently. The detachment that had looked down upon the ages and ignored all things faded slightly, replaced by a cold, murderous intent forged over endless years.

It had remained silent for eons, enduring and planning, all to gather its origin, return to its peak, and settle old blood debts.

It had intended to wait until it merged with Lin Chen's core origin and regained its full strength before settling scores with all its enemies one by one. It had not expected that its long-laid plans would eventually alert the remnants of the Dao-Destroyers, who had been hiding in the cracks of the heavens, surviving until now.

More ridiculously, they had followed the scent of the origin and sought it out themselves.

"After eons of hiding, you lot are still like lingering ghosts."

The mysterious shadow spoke slowly. Its ancient voice was no longer flat; it carried a biting chill originating from the Chaos origin, echoing across the entire secret realm.

"I failed to wipe you all out back then, leaving behind this scourge. Very well. Today, as the origin surfaces and my enemies gather, it is the perfect time to settle everything and resolve the karma of the ages."

As the words fell, it waved its hand lightly.

The origin chains that had been binding the Ancient Supreme's remnant soul tightened instantly, crushing the last of its strength in a heartbeat and locking it firmly in the void.

It did not immediately kill the Supreme's remnant soul; it kept it alive.

The situation had changed drastically. It was no longer a two-way standoff, but a three-way balance of power.

The shadow itself, the dying Supreme remnant soul, the descending Heavens-Dao-Destroyers, and Lin Chen—who stood at the center holding the core origin—had turned a chess game spanning eons into something incredibly complex.

Keeping the Supreme remnant soul meant having an extra force to contend with the Dao-Destroyers; even if it only had a fraction of its strength left, it far exceeded ordinary powerhouses of the heavens.

Above the horizon, the dense mass of Dao-Destroying shadows slowly pressed down.

Each shadow was wreathed in black Dao-Destroying mist, interspersed with strange blood-red patterns—a baleful power that eroded the Great Dao and overturned rules. Wherever they passed, space rotted inch by inch, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was utterly annihilated.

The few figures in the lead were the most terrifying. Their black mist condensed into substance, vaguely revealing human outlines, and the aura they exuded infinitely approached the level of the Ancient Supreme.

The leader slowly raised a hand, and a hoarse, cold voice pierced the wind, resounding in every corner of the realm: "The Chaos origin has surfaced. The core remnant soul of the eternal supreme being is indeed hidden here."

"After eons of hiding, we have finally waited for this day."

Another shadow sneered, its tone filled with greed and wariness: "If the supreme being hadn't disintegrated its seal and self-destructed its origin back then, desperately crippling us and overturning the momentum of the heavens, we would have already mastered the Chaos Great Dao. Why would we have needed to hide for eons, clinging to life?"

"Today, the core origin has appeared, and the supreme remnant has yet to reach its full potential. This is the best time for us to settle old scores and seize the origin!"

The voices of the Dao-Destroyers intertwined and overlapped, laden with endless resentment and greed.

They feared the Chaos supreme being in its complete state, but they did not hold the shadow before them—which had yet to merge with its origin—in any regard. In their eyes, the shadow had been damaged for eons and its foundation was incomplete; even if its depth remained, it possessed less than a tenth of its strength.

As long as they seized Lin Chen's core origin and severed the supreme being's last hope of rebirth, they could completely erase the eternal threat. They could even devour the supreme origin and take its place, mastering the Chaos Great Dao!

Murderous intent and greed intertwined, pressing down like a suffocating shroud.

Lin Chen stood in the center of the ruins, looking at the two powerful factions on the brink of war, his heart sinking heavily.

The mysterious shadow wanted to seize his origin to return to its peak; the Heavens-Dao-Destroyers wanted to kill him to seize the origin and end the threat forever; even the constrained Ancient Supreme remnant soul harbored wariness and hostility toward him.

In the chaos of the three-way standoff, everyone's focus converged upon him alone.

He was the core of this eternal chess game, the intersection point of all contradictions.

"Lin Chen, these guys have come from nowhere, and their aura is extremely evil!"

Son Goku braced his heavily wounded body, gripping his battered Power Pole, his eyes filled with gravity. Having fought across the universe, he had seen countless demons and exotic beasts, yet he had never encountered such a bizarre, decaying power. The mere pressure of their aura made his divine power sluggish and difficult to circulate.

Vegeta's expression was icy. His deep blue pupils stared fixedly at the army of Fall-Path Practitioners in the sky as he muttered coldly, "There are too many of them, and every single one possesses combat power that transcends their rank; the leaders among them are even more unfathomable. That black shadow and these Fall-Path Practitioners are mortal enemies, but their target is your origin. We are now caught between two fires."

The situation was perilous to the extreme.

Previously, there had only been one invincible black shadow, which could still be kept in check by the Supreme remnant soul. Now that external enemies had entered the fray, the balance was completely shattered, and they no longer had any room to maneuver.

Lin Chen took a deep breath, suppressing all the confusion, panic, and unease in his heart.

He no longer obsessed over whose remnant soul he might be, nor did he dwell on the truth or falsehood of the secrets from eons past.

The past was the causality of the eternal supreme, but the present was Lin Chen's own life.

He had his own memories, his own bonds, partners he wanted to protect, and a Dao heart forged through constant slaughter. Even if their origins were the same, his will and his life belonged only to himself; he would never allow anyone to strip them away or control them.

"Protect yourselves, don't move."

Lin Chen whispered to the two, and the seven-colored glow around him surged violently.

The long-dormant power of the Dragon Soul was completely unsealed, and the Dragon Ball fragments circulated rapidly within his body, repairing his damaged meridians and bones. Although he had expended a great deal of energy breaking free from his restraints, and despite the lingering Desolation Origin of the black shadow still hindering him, he had pushed his state to the absolute limit.

A golden Dragon Soul phantom slowly condensed behind him, its dragon might vast and resounding across the wilderness. It merged with the seven-colored light of the Dragon Ball to form an indestructible origin barrier, firmly shielding Son Goku and Vegeta.

"Whether you are the eternal supreme or the Fall-Path of the Heavens, if you want my origin, if you want to manipulate my fate..."

Lin Chen raised his eyes, his gaze clear and sharp as he looked toward both the void's black shadow and the army of Fall-Path Practitioners in the sky, his words ringing out with a metallic clang that echoed through the heavens and earth.

"Then step over my corpse first!"

His Dao heart solidified completely in the face of this desperate situation.

Eternal causality and the grudges of a past life had nothing to do with him. He would only guard this life, protect what he loved, and fight for what he desired!

"An interesting little fellow."

The mysterious black shadow watched the resolute Lin Chen, and beneath the black mist shrouding its face, that eerie smile appeared once more. "An independent Dao heart, forming its own path. If you were to grow, you might truly transcend the shackles of the ages. It is a pity that, being in the chess game, you are not the master of your own fate."

As the words fell, it ceased its observation.

The vast power of Desolation swept out, transforming into thousands of pitch-black origin blades that slashed through the air toward the descending army of Fall-Path Practitioners.

Eternal enemies, reunited in the present—there was no need for idle chatter, only a fight to the death!

BOOM—!

The origin blades and the Fall-Path black mist collided with a roar, the shockwaves of destruction instantly sweeping across the entire secret realm. The decaying power of the Fall-Path and the supreme Chaos-born Desolation Origin annihilated and countered each other frantically. The heavens and earth trembled, ruins crumbled, and the already broken ground of the secret realm split open into countless ravines ten thousand feet deep.

The great battle erupted instantly.

The Fall-Path experts in the sky struck one after another, countless blood-red evil lights and Fall-Path secret techniques raining down like a deluge, clashing and entangling with the black shadow's origin power. One side was a supreme Chaos entity that had lain dormant for eons, intending to be reborn; the other was a group of Heavens-defying demons seeking revenge. The collision of these two supreme forces far exceeded any battle that had come before.

The Ancient Supreme remnant soul, imprisoned on the side, saw this and its eyes flashed with brilliance as its mind raced.

It knew very well that whether the black shadow won or the Fall-Path Practitioners emerged victorious, there would be no path to survival for it.

If the black shadow won, it would settle the score regarding the secrets the remnant knew; if the Fall-Path Practitioners won, they would never spare the one who had witnessed the rebellion all those years ago.

The only chance for survival was to profit from the chaos!

"Since you all wish to kill me, then I shall throw this eternal chess game into disarray!"

The Supreme remnant soul roared at the sky, burning its remaining remnant soul origin and disregarding everything to break free from the shackles of the origin chains. It abandoned all remaining cultivation, driving the Ancient Supreme Killing Law, no longer targeting the black shadow or the Fall-Path Practitioners, but instead slamming all its power toward Lin Chen at the center!

It knew clearly that Lin Chen was the core of everything.

As long as Lin Chen died and his origin dissipated, the supreme black shadow would lose its foundation for rebirth, and the schemes of the Fall-Path Practitioners would come to nothing.

If the chess game collapsed and chaos reigned once more, it would have a sliver of a chance to escape!

The terrifying Supreme killing power, wrapped in eternal baleful energy, ignored the shockwaves of the great battle and arrived before Lin Chen in an instant.

In the three-way chaos, all the pressure instantly bore down on Lin Chen alone!

Lin Chen's pupils constricted, but he felt no panic. He unleashed all his power, merging the Dragon Soul and the Dragon Ball origin into one, and met the Supreme's killing blow head-on!

The seven-colored glow and the golden killing power collided violently. A massive shockwave exploded with Lin Chen at its center. His body trembled violently, a sweetness rose in his throat, and a mouthful of blood sprayed out as he was forced back dozens of feet.

Yet, his feet remained firmly planted in the void, not budging an inch, still holding the barrier that protected the two behind him.

With his own strength, he had withstood the desperate final counterattack of a Supreme remnant soul!

Above the void, the mysterious black shadow's brow furrowed slightly, and the leader of the Fall-Path Practitioners also narrowed their eyes.

No one had expected the dying Supreme remnant soul to make such a resolute move to disrupt the game, nor had they expected that Lin Chen, whose realm was far inferior to both, could actually withstand this fatal blow.

"A resilient physique, a steady Dao heart, and an origin pure to the extreme..."

The leader of the Fall-Path Practitioners whispered coldly, their greed growing even more intense. "If I swallow and refine such a perfect core origin, I will surely break through my shackles and ascend to the peak of Chaos!"

The killing intent surged. All the Fall-Path experts stopped entangling with the black shadow; a portion continued to hold the supreme black shadow at bay, while the remaining majority shifted their focus, their evil arts and black mist all crushing down toward Lin Chen together!

Seeing this, the black shadow's eyes turned bone-chillingly cold.

It had intended to use the Fall-Path Practitioners to deplete the combatants' strength before calmly gathering the Origin, but the chaos had spiraled out of control. The Fall-Path Practitioners were all coveting the core Origin, completely disrupting all of its plans.

Helpless, it could only raise a hand to once again channel the power of the Heaven-Transforming Origin, blocking the majority of the Dao-Destroying attacks aimed at Lin Chen.

It could not let Lin Chen die.

Lin Chen was its core Origin lost through the ages; should he die and the Origin dissipate, all of its eternal schemes would be rendered void, leaving no possibility of rebirth.

In an instant, a bizarre situation took full shape.

Dead enemies were locked in mutual slaughter, yet they simultaneously protected and coveted the very same youth.

Lin Chen stood at the center of the storm, enduring the tug-of-war and impact of three opposing forces. His internal Origin, Dragon Soul, and even his divine soul were rapidly transforming and boiling under the extreme pressure.

He could clearly feel the bond of the Origin between himself and the black shadow growing stronger. At the same time, the erosion of the Dao-Destroying Power and the impact of the Supreme Dao Laws were constantly scouring the ancient memories hidden within his body.

More sealed secrets were beginning to unlock, bit by bit.

Yet, just as he was about to touch the core truth of the eternal catastrophe, a vast, ancient voice that spanned the Heavens suddenly echoed from beyond the firmament of the entire secret realm.

This voice did not belong to the black shadow, the Fall-Path Practitioners, nor the Supreme remnant souls. Cold, sacred, and transcending all strife, it slowly resonated throughout the universe:

"The Chaos Origin has manifested, rebellious chaos is breeding, and the order of the Heavens is collapsing... By the decree of the Heavenly Dao, I execute the eternal judgment to suppress Chaos and slay the rebels—"

"Outer-Realm Heavenly Dao Enforcer, descending upon this place!"

BOOM!

Extremely brilliant, billions of divine lights pierced through the pitch-black sky of the secret realm, shattering the clouds and descending from the nine heavens, crushing all slaughter and evil.

A fourth party, a terrifying force that stood above the eternal chessboard, had suddenly manifested!