The sky above the entire Ancient Secret Realm shook as if it were about to collapse.
Billowing black clouds surged in from the realm's borders, swallowing the last scraps of daylight. The already ruined, ashen world plunged in an instant into a dimness steeped in deathly chill. Gale-force winds swept rubble and shattered stone across the land, every gust carrying a bone-piercing aura of slaughter—an atmosphere that did not belong in this secret realm, but came from beyond the Heavens, a frigid power tainted by endless bloodshed.
Lin Chen's muscles tensed all at once. 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 shadow descending from the heavens possessed an utterly terrifying depth of cultivation. None could match the Mysterious Shadow or the Ancient Supreme from moments ago, but they far surpassed every powerful enemy he had ever faced. Their numbers were so vast that they covered the entire sky, stretching beyond sight.
These were undoubtedly top-tier powerhouses who had roamed the Heavens.
"The enemies from back then..."
Lin Chen murmured, his heart heavy.
He had only just learned that he was the Remnant of the Origin of a supreme being from time immemorial, and was still lost in confusion over his own identity. He had not even had time to sort through the ancient memories flooding his mind before an even greater crisis arrived.
So, back in the distant past, when that supreme being of Chaos had shattered its Origin, it had not been a mere calamity of Chaos. It had been gravely wounded by someone. And now, with the Dragon Ball seal broken and this strand of its core Origin fully revealed, the secret hidden for untold ages had finally come to light—and drawn the enemies who had been behind it all.
Nearby, the Ancient Supreme Remnant was on the verge of dissipating. The Mysterious Shadow's Origin chains had bound it fast, steadily compressing and dimming its body until it was close to total annihilation. But the instant the secret realm was engulfed by the killing intent of the beings from beyond the Heavens, an intense glint suddenly blazed in its listless, scattered blood-red eyes.
The black soulfire, on the verge of going out, forcibly steadied its decline.
It began to struggle violently. Though its ten-thousand-zhang remnant body had dwindled to just a few zhang, it let out one last furious roar, its voice hoarse and crazed as it rang across the heavens and earth. "They're the Heavens-Dao-Destroyers! That band of traitorous Dao-rebels from back then!"
That single roar immediately revealed who had come—and lifted another layer of secrets buried for countless ages.
The Heavens-Dao-Destroyers!
Lin Chen's brow furrowed deeply. The shattered ancient memories surging through his sea of consciousness suddenly froze on a blood-red scene of Chaos.
In the distant past, when Chaos first divided and the Great Dao set the rules, a group of strange beings had been born in defiance of the Dao. Unwilling to submit to the rules of the Heavens or bow to the supreme lineage of Chaos, they secretly allied with evil fiends from other realms and set off a rebellion against the heavens that swept across the myriad worlds of Chaos.
That upheaval had been the true calamity that caused the supreme being to shatter and its Origin to scatter!
Ages had passed and the world had changed, and the Dao-Destroying Rebellion of that era had long since been erased from the histories of the Heavens. It had become a secret no one knew. Only the remnants who had lived through that calamity still bore its indelible hatred and fear.
"Hahaha! Heaven hasn't abandoned me!"
The Ancient Supreme Remnant laughed maniacally, its shattered body trembling violently. Under the impact of the surrounding Dao-Destroying Power, the Origin chains that had been suppressing it began to loosen ever so slightly.
It had been suppressed for countless ages. Though it seemed to be a prisoner of the seal, in truth it had been swept into the endless game between the supreme being and the Dao-Destroyers. It had never understood why it was imprisoned without cause. Now, at last, it understood: back then, it had merely stumbled upon the truth of the Dao-Destroying Rebellion and been caught in the crossfire, suppressed and made a sacrifice in the game.
Now the Dao-Destroyers had arrived in force, and its old enemies had appeared. They were just the thing to restrain the Supreme Shadow that had suppressed it for ages.
A certain deathtrap had turned on its head in an instant!
Above the void, the Mysterious Shadow, which had remained detached and composed all this time, finally shifted ever so slightly.
The Desolation Origin flowing around it stirred faintly, and the black mist shrouding its body rippled. The calmness with which it had looked down on the ages and dismissed everything else faded for the first time, replaced by a cold killing intent that had built over endless years.
After lying dormant for countless ages, it had bided its time and made its plans for one purpose: to gather its Origin, return to its peak, and settle the blood feud of the past.
It had planned to wait until it had absorbed Lin Chen's core Origin and regained its full strength before settling accounts with each of its old enemies. It had never expected that its scheme, laid in secret over countless ages, would still alert those remnants of the Dao-Destroyers who had hidden in the cracks between the Heavens, clinging to life until now.
More laughable still, they had actually followed the aura of its Origin and come right to its doorstep.
"After all these ages in hiding, you still refuse to die."
The Mysterious Shadow spoke slowly. Its ancient voice was no longer calm, but carried the biting chill of the Origin of Chaos, echoing across the entire secret realm.
"I failed to wipe you out back then, and left behind this trouble. So be it. Now that the Origin has appeared and all my enemies have gathered, I can settle everything at once and repay every debt from the distant past."
As it spoke, it casually waved a hand.
The Origin chains wrapped around the Ancient Supreme Remnant tightened at once. In an instant, they crushed its last strength to resist and bound it fast in midair.
It did not kill the Supreme Remnant immediately. Instead, it kept it alive.
The situation had changed completely. It was no longer a confrontation between two sides, but a balance between three.
The Mysterious Shadow, the dying Supreme Remnant, the countless Heavens-Dao-Destroyers descending from above—and Lin Chen, at the center with the core Origin in his hands. A game stretching across countless ages had become hopelessly tangled.
Keeping the Supreme Remnant alive meant having another force to counter the Dao-Destroyers. Even reduced to the last strength of its broken body, it was still far more powerful than an ordinary powerhouse of the Heavens.
Above them, the densely packed Dao-Destroyer shadows descended slowly.
Every shadow was wreathed in black Dao-Destroying mist, threaded with strange blood-red markings. This was an ominous power that corroded the Great Dao and overturned the rules. Wherever it passed, space rotted away inch by inch, and the spiritual energy of the world was utterly annihilated.
The leading figures were the most terrifying of all. Their black mist had condensed into something almost solid, faintly revealing human-shaped silhouettes. The aura they gave off came close to the level of the Ancient Supreme.
The one at their head slowly raised a hand. Its hoarse, frigid voice cut through the gale and rang in every corner of the secret realm. "The Origin of Chaos has appeared. The core Remnant of the supreme being from time immemorial really was hiding here."
"After lying dormant for countless ages, we have finally waited for this day."
Another shadow gave a cold laugh, its voice thick with greed and apprehension. "If the Supreme One hadn't shattered the seal, detonated its Origin, and grievously wounded us at the cost of its life, overturning the balance of the Heavens, we would have ruled the Great Dao of Chaos long ago. Why would we have needed to hide for ages, scraping by to survive?"
"Now that the core Origin has appeared and the Supreme One's remnant has yet to mature, this is the perfect time for us to settle old scores and seize the Origin!"
The voices of the Dao-Destroyers overlapped, steeped in boundless resentment and greed.
They feared the supreme being of Chaos in its complete form, but thought nothing of the Mysterious Shadow before them, which had yet to merge with its Origin. In their eyes, the Shadow had been damaged for countless ages, its foundation incomplete. No matter how deep its reserves ran, less than a tenth of its strength remained.
As long as they seized the strand of core Origin within Lin Chen and cut off the supreme being's last hope of resurrection, they could erase the threat that had lingered for ages—and perhaps even devour the Supreme Origin, take its place, and rule the Great Dao of Chaos!
Killing intent and greed pressed down from all sides.
Standing amid the ruins and facing the two powerful forces ready to clash, Lin Chen felt his heart sink.
The Mysterious Shadow wanted to seize his Origin and return to its peak. The Heavens-Dao-Destroyers wanted to kill him, take his Origin, and eliminate the threat for good. Even the Ancient Supreme Remnant, held in check, regarded him with suspicion and hostility.
In this three-way deadlock, everyone's attention had converged on him alone.
He was the heart of this game spanning countless ages, the point where every conflict intersected.
"Lin Chen, these fellows have a strange origin, and their aura is downright evil!"
Son Goku struggled to hold up his seriously injured body and gripped the broken Power Pole tightly, his eyes full of solemnity. He had fought across the universe and seen countless evil fiends and strange beasts, but never a force so bizarre and corrupted. The crushing pressure of their mere presence made his divine power sluggish and difficult to circulate.
Vegeta's face was cold. His deep-blue eyes were fixed on the Dao-Destroyer army in the sky as he said in a low, icy voice, "There are too many of them, and every one can fight above his level. The few at the front are even more unfathomable. That Shadow and these Dao-Destroyers are mortal enemies, but they're all after your Origin. We're caught between them."
The situation had become perilous to the extreme.
Before, they had faced only one invincible Shadow, and the Supreme Remnant had at least been able to keep it in check. Now an outside force had entered the fray, shattering the balance completely. They had no room left to maneuver.
Lin Chen took a deep breath, suppressing all the confusion, fear, and unease in his heart.
He would no longer agonize over whose Remnant he really was, nor over whether the secrets of the distant past were true.
The past belonged to the supreme being's karma from countless ages ago. The present was Lin Chen's life.
He had his own memories, his own bonds, companions he wanted to protect, and a Dao-heart forged through countless battles. Even if their Origins came from the same source, his will and his life belonged to him alone. He would never let anyone take them away or control them.
"Protect yourselves. Don't move."
Lin Chen quietly warned the two of them as seven-colored light burst around him.
The long-dormant power of the Dragon Soul was fully unleashed. The Dragon Ball Fragments inside him whirled rapidly, mending his damaged meridians and bones. Breaking free from the restraints had cost him dearly, and the Mysterious Shadow's Desolation Origin still hampered him, but he pushed himself to the absolute limit.
A golden phantom of the Dragon Soul slowly took shape behind him. Its mighty dragon aura rang across the surrounding lands, merging with the light of the seven-colored Dragon Ball to form an unbreakable Origin barrier that shielded Son Goku and Vegeta.
"Whether you're the supreme being from countless ages ago or the Heavens-Dao-Destroyers, if you want my Origin, if you want to dictate my fate..."
Lin Chen lifted his eyes, his gaze clear and fierce. He looked toward both the Mysterious Shadow in the void and the Dao-Destroyer army in the sky, his every word ringing like iron across heaven and earth.
"Then you'll have to step over my dead body first!"
His Dao-heart had become unshakable in the face of utter despair.
The karma of countless ages ago and the grudges of a past life had nothing to do with him. He would guard this life, protect those he loved, and fight for what he desired!
"You're an interesting little fellow."
Looking at Lin Chen's resolute expression, the Mysterious Shadow once again revealed that strange smile beneath its shroud of black mist. "An independent Dao-heart, forging your own path. If you were to grow, you might yet transcend the shackles of countless ages. A pity that you're in the game, with no freedom to choose."
With those words, it stopped watching.
A vast tide of Desolation Power surged out, transforming into countless black blades of Origin that slashed through the air toward the descending Dao-Destroyer army.
The enemies of ages past had met again in the present. There was no need for any more words—only a fight to the death!
Boom!
The blades of Origin crashed into the Dao-Destroying mist, and the shockwave of destruction swept through the entire secret realm in an instant. The rotting Dao-Destroying Power and the supreme Desolation Origin of Chaos annihilated and collided with each other in a frenzy. Heaven and earth trembled, the ruins shattered, and the already broken ground of the secret realm split open with countless ravines tens of thousands of zhang deep.
The battle erupted in an instant.
The Dao-Destroyer powerhouses in the sky attacked one after another, unleashing countless blood-red bolts of malevolent light and secret Dao-Destroying arts in an overwhelming barrage. They clashed and tangled with the Shadow's Origin Power. On one side stood the supreme being of Chaos, lying dormant for countless ages and seeking rebirth. On the other stood the Heavens' evil fiends, rebels against the Dao who defied the heavens and waited for vengeance. The clash between these two mighty forces surpassed every battle that had come before.
Watching from nearby, bound in place, the Ancient Supreme Remnant's eyes flashed as its thoughts raced.
It knew all too well that whether the Shadow won or the Dao-Destroyers prevailed, neither outcome left it any chance to survive.
If the Shadow won, it would eliminate the threat of a witness who knew its secrets. If the Dao-Destroyers won, they would never spare the one who had witnessed their rebellion back then.
Its only chance was to take advantage of the chaos!
"If you all want me dead, then I'll throw this game spanning countless ages into chaos!"
The Supreme Remnant roared at the sky and burned the last of its Origin, breaking free of the Origin chains at any cost. It gave up all its remaining cultivation and unleashed the Ancient Supreme Killing Law. It no longer targeted the Shadow or attacked the Dao-Destroyers. Instead, it hurled all its power at Lin Chen, right at the heart of it all!
It knew perfectly well that Lin Chen was the core of everything.
If Lin Chen died and his Origin scattered, the Supreme Shadow would lose the foundation of its rebirth, and the Dao-Destroyers' plans would fall apart as well.
Only if the game collapsed and chaos returned would it have the slightest chance to escape!
The terrifying killing power of the Supreme, wrapped in the baleful energy of countless ages, ignored the shockwaves of the battle raging around it and reached Lin Chen in an instant.
In this three-way deadlock, all the pressure fell on Lin Chen at once!
Lin Chen's pupils contracted, but he did not panic. He unleashed all his power, merging the Dragon Soul with the Dragon Ball Origin and meeting the Supreme's fatal strike head-on!
Seven-colored light and golden killing power crashed together. A massive shockwave burst outward around Lin Chen. His body shuddered violently, and blood surged into his throat before he spat it out. The blow sent him flying dozens of zhang backward.
Yet both his feet remained firmly planted in the void. He did not budge, and continued to shield the two behind him.
With his own strength, he had withstood the dying counterattack of the Supreme Remnant!
Above the void, the Mysterious Shadow's brow furrowed slightly. The leading Dao-Destroyer's eyes narrowed as well.
No one had expected the Supreme Remnant, teetering on the brink of destruction, to make such a desperate move to throw the game into chaos. Even less had they expected Lin Chen, whose cultivation was far beneath theirs, to withstand the deadly strike by force.
"Such a tough body, such a steadfast Dao-heart, such a pure Origin..."
The Dao-Destroyer leader murmured coldly, its greed growing more intense. "If I devour and refine such a perfect core Origin, I'll surely break through my shackles and reach the peak of Chaos!"
Its killing intent surged. The Dao-Destroyer powerhouses stopped entangling the Shadow. Some continued to hold back the supreme Shadow, while the majority shifted their attacks. A storm of sinister arts and black mist bore down on Lin Chen all at once!
A bone-deep chill filled the Shadow's eyes.
It had meant to use the Dao-Destroyers to wear down its enemies before calmly gathering the Origin. But the chaos had spiraled out of control. Every Dao-Destroyer now coveted the core Origin, throwing all its plans into disarray.
Left with no choice, it raised a hand and once again wielded the power of the Heaven-Transforming Origin, blocking most of the Dao-Destroyer attacks aimed at Lin Chen.
It could not let Lin Chen die.
Lin Chen held the core Origin it had lost countless ages ago. If he died and his Origin scattered, all its plans across the ages would come to nothing, and rebirth would become impossible.
In that instant, a bizarre situation took shape.
Mortal enemies fought one another, yet at the same time they protected—and coveted—the same young man.
Lin Chen stood at the heart of the storm, enduring the forces of all three sides pulling at and battering him. Under the crushing pressure, his Origin, his Dragon Soul, and even his soul were rapidly transforming and surging with power.
He could clearly feel the pull of Origin between himself and the Shadow growing stronger. At the same time, the erosion of the Dao-Destroying Power and the impact of the Supreme Dao Laws kept washing over the ancient memories hidden within him.
More secrets buried in the past were slowly coming to light.
But just as he was about to touch the very heart of the calamity from countless ages ago, a vast, ancient voice suddenly rang out from beyond the heavens of the entire secret realm, sweeping across the Heavens.
The voice belonged neither to the Shadow, nor to the Dao-Destroyers, nor to the Supreme Remnant. It was clear and sacred, transcending all conflict as it slowly resounded throughout the universe:
"The Origin of Chaos has appeared, the calamity of rebellion against the Dao is stirring, and the order of the Heavens has fallen into ruin... By the decree of the Heavenly Dao, I carry out judgment across the ages, to suppress Chaos and execute the rebels—"
"The Outer-Realm Heavenly Dao Enforcer has arrived!"
Boom!
Countless rays of dazzling divine light pierced the pitch-black heavens of the secret realm, tore through the billowing black clouds, and descended from above the nine heavens, crushing all killing intent and evil.
A fourth force, terrifying enough to stand above the game spanning countless ages, had suddenly appeared!
Before you continue