Chaos stretched vast and boundless, with myriad paths rising and falling.
At the highest layer of the endless void lay the Primal Chaos Domain, above all the Heavens and myriad worlds. There was no waxing and waning of sun and moon, no turning of the stars—only the ceaseless torrent of Primordial Dao Qi, bearing the source order of the entire universe.
At the center of the boundless void, a gigantic Boundary Gate hung silently, spanning past and present and connecting countless domains.
Nine-colored divine light flowed across the entire gate, its interwoven patterns forming the boundless Heaven's Dao Totem. Every flicker of light stirred the fortune of the countless planes below. This was the Pivot of the Heavens, the Gate of Ten Thousand Domains. It had stood here since the universe's beginning, guarding the ages and separating the Outer Realm's void and darkness from the Heavens.
Lin Chen stood atop a lofty platform in the void before the Boundary Gate, clad in a plain robe.
His bearing was straight as an eternal divine mountain. He gave off no trace of arrogance or savagery, yet naturally possessed the supreme aura of one who ruled the Heavens. The wild chaos winds raging around him softened and settled as soon as they came within three feet of his body. The countless disordered patterns of the Great Dao, too, gradually arranged themselves around him, rising and falling in orderly fashion.
He had wielded the Chaos Supreme Dao Body for tens of thousands of years, guarding the Boundary Gate of the Heavens, suppressing evil demons, quelling turmoil, and stabilizing the myriad domains.
Ten thousand ages had passed in the blink of an eye. Under his protection, the Heavens and myriad worlds had flourished in peace, thriving without end. With time, the myriad races of the world had come to know only the peace of the Heavens and the stability of the Great Dao. They had long forgotten how many terrifying undercurrents—enough to shatter reincarnation and annihilate the universe—lay buried beneath that tranquility.
Lin Chen slightly raised his eyes toward the steadfast Nine-Colored World Gate before him, a trace of scrutiny in his gaze.
For tens of thousands of years, the gate had operated smoothly, opening and closing at proper intervals, orderly and stable. It had never shown the slightest irregularity. But over the past thousand years, he had begun to sense that something was amiss.
Beneath the seemingly unchanging order of the Heavens lay a deep, heavy undercurrent, like a tide slumbering in an abyss. Unnoticed in some remote corner, it was slowly gathering strength.
At first, there had been only scattered, subtle anomalies.
Countless minor planes in the lower realms suffered frequent spatial turbulence. Uncontrollable rifts in space-time appeared at random, then closed in an instant. The heavenly fortune of many starfields quietly shifted, throwing the balance between righteous and evil Dao auras into disarray. The lifeless aura in the ancient forbidden lands and the dark fissures grew ever denser.
In the past century, the strange phenomena had grown increasingly frequent.
Even in this most stable and primordial Primal Chaos Domain, there were occasional subtle signs of disordered Dao patterns and stagnant energy. They were simply too faint for ordinary Supremes of the Heavens or Heavenly Dao Saints to notice.
Only Lin Chen, who wielded the source of Chaos and understood the essence of the myriad paths, could clearly perceive these strange changes as they unfolded.
"Peace lasts too long, and turbid energy takes root. Is the thing that has lain dormant for ages finally about to awaken?"
Lin Chen murmured softly. His voice was quiet, yet carried the weight of time itself.
He slightly raised a finger. A strand of pure Chaos source power flowed out, transforming into countless tiny points of light that merged into the Nine-Colored World Gate before him.
In an instant, all the heavenly Dao patterns across the gate lit up. Countless interwoven golden Dao auras spread out, and the trajectories of space-time, the workings of the planes, and the flow of fortune throughout the Heavens and myriad worlds were reflected in his eyes.
Billions of planes were orderly and well arranged. On the surface, there were no flaws at all—only the appearance of a peaceful, flourishing age.
Yet when he peered beneath the surface of the heavenly Dao, Lin Chen clearly saw threads of faint, pitch-black turbid energy wrapped around the deepest reaches of countless plane barriers.
This turbid energy had neither form nor substance. It bore no karma and showed no sign of baleful intent. It blended perfectly into the source of the planes, evaded all heavenly Dao surveillance, and silently corroded the barriers of the Heavens.
There was not much of it, and it was scattered far and wide, yet it permeated every domain. It was everywhere.
"This isn't a local disturbance or the work of lingering evil demons... The very foundations of the Heavens are being secretly corrupted."
Lin Chen's eyes narrowed, and his calm expression grew grave.
If a single starfield or a few planes were in trouble, it would be no more than a small-scale calamity, easily quelled with a flick of his finger. But now, turbid energy had tainted countless domains and shaken the foundations of the Heavens. No ordinary dark force could have done this.
Anything capable of crossing the ages, seeping into the order of the entire Heavens, and plotting in secret for countless years had to come from the Outer Realm—an existence beyond the current heavenly Dao system.
Just as he focused his senses and traced the source of the turbid energy—
Humm—!
A deep, weighty rumble, as if it came from the source of the universe, suddenly erupted throughout the Primal Chaos Domain!
Heaven and earth shook. The myriad paths rang out in unison!
The Nine-Colored World Gate, which had been steadily circulating, began to shudder violently. The enormous gate swayed fiercely, its brilliant nine-colored light churning wildly across its surface, flickering between brightness and darkness. Countless ancient heavenly Dao patterns flashed frantically, giving off faint, strained hums.
Crack, crack, crack—
The faint sound of fracturing rang out quietly in the depths of the void.
Space-rifts invisible to the naked eye spread rapidly from the gate throughout the entire Chaos domain. Even the once-firm barriers of Chaos began to show signs of loosening and breaking.
The sudden change came without warning, taking everyone completely by surprise!
The Primal Chaos Domain, which had lain silent for ages, changed in an instant. Dao Qi ran wild, stars trembled, and void turbulence sprang up in a frenzy!
At the chaotic frontier, billions of miles away, countless ancient beasts, surviving Supremes, and reclusive experts were roused by the earth-shaking roar. They looked up in shock toward the central Boundary Gate.
"The Boundary Gate is acting up! Has something happened to the gate of the Heavens?!"
"An upheaval the likes of which we've never seen in all the ages! The heavenly Dao is in chaos, and Chaos is shaking!"
"Could it be... that the peaceful golden age of the Heavens is finally coming to an end?"
Countless divine senses hidden in the shadows awakened at once, locking onto the violently trembling Nine-Colored World Gate with a tangled mix of suspicion, greed, and fear.
The undercurrents that had lain dormant in the Primal Chaos Domain for ages surged forth completely at that moment.
On the platform in the void, Lin Chen did not so much as move. Dao Qi raged around him, and the void continued to crack apart, yet he remained as steady as the heart of heaven and earth.
Faced with the sudden upheaval at the Boundary Gate, he did not immediately act to suppress it. Instead, he gazed calmly at the violently swaying gate, letting his divine sense sink deep within to investigate the source of the upheaval.
The more he probed, the graver his expression became.
The tremors were not caused by an external attack, nor by the natural ebb and flow of the heavenly Dao. They came from a disturbance deep within the gate itself, at its very source.
In the deepest layer of the gate, within the source passage connecting to the Outer Realm's void, an utterly terrifying, ancient force—far beyond the current power of the Heavens—was slowly awakening and striking at it.
That force was cold, vast, ancient, and overbearing. It carried an unmatched ferocity capable of transcending the ages and crushing reincarnation. From beyond layer upon layer of barriers, it repeatedly battered the gate's source seal.
With every blow, the entire gate shuddered violently, and the space-time of the Heavens trembled.
"Has the seal on the Outer Realm loosened?"
Lin Chen furrowed his brow slightly and quickly ran through his deductions.
In ancient times, when gods and demons had thrown the heavens into chaos and evil demons invaded, the universe had stood on the brink of collapse. He had ascended to the position of Chaos Supreme, using his own Dao Body as the foundation and the Great Dao of the Heavens as a lock to seal the passage to the Outer Realm and shut out the darkness for the ages. Only then had he secured tens of thousands of years of peace.
Now, the Boundary Gate was stirring, turbid energy was spreading, and its source was shaking. It was clear that the sealed barrier to the Outer Realm had developed a breach.
But that made no sense.
His Supreme Dao Seal had guarded the gate for ages, and the seal had been unshakable. Unless an external force forcibly broke through, there was no way it could loosen on its own.
Unless... the dark forces had never vanished in the first place. They had always been lurking beyond the seal, silently lying in wait, silently corroding it, silently awaiting their chance.
For tens of thousands of years, day after day and year after year, they had chipped away at the foundations of the Supreme Seal, enduring through the ages for the sake of unleashing their power today.
"What patience. What a ruthless scheme."
Lin Chen spoke softly, a glint of icy light flashing through his eyes.
The peace of the ages had dulled the world's vigilance. Even many powerful figures of the Heavens had long forgotten the terror of the Outer Realm's darkness. But none of them knew that a group of terrifying beings had lain dormant across the ages, separated from them by the seal on space-time, never once giving up their obsession with invading the Heavens.
Just then, the Boundary Gate's tremors intensified several times over!
Boom!!
A world-shaking roar exploded. The Nine-Colored World Gate suddenly blazed with blinding light, and countless Dao patterns lit up at once, resisting the terrifying impact from the Outer Realm.
The divine light collided violently with the aura of darkness, unleashing a terrifying shockwave that swept across billions of miles of space.
The void shattered layer by layer, and the currents of Chaos exploded. The entire Primal Chaos Domain plunged into utter upheaval.
Amid the raging, chaotic auras, Lin Chen keenly sensed two distinct yet equally terrifying and ominous presences.
One was the cold, bone-eroding aura of the Outer Realm's evil demons, devouring all things.
The other was an ancient, vast aura of gods and demons—overbearing and savage, long thought to have vanished completely after the great war of the ages!
The two forbidden powers intertwined and merged beyond the gate's seal, forming a terrifying force capable of overturning the Heavens.
Lin Chen's heart tightened.
Evil demons and gods and demons had been mortal enemies since ancient times, sworn to fight to the death. Why were they now joining forces to attack the seal on the Heavens?
This was no simple invasion from the Outer Realm. It was a shocking conspiracy, planned across the ages and aimed at the Heavens!
In the chaotic void, the Boundary Gate's tremors showed no sign of stopping. Instead, they grew more and more violent. The nine-colored divine light flickered, and fine black cracks had appeared in the once-impregnable seal.
Strands of terrifying dark energy seeped slowly through the cracks. Wherever they touched, Chaos Dao Qi decayed, starlight died, and the Great Dao fell into disorder.
Countless hidden experts, strange beasts, and remnants of the dark forces held their breath, their eyes blazing with frenzied greed.
The Boundary Gate was cracking, the heavenly Dao was in turmoil, and order was collapsing... This was an opportunity born only once in countless ages!
Some wanted to seize treasures amid the chaos. Others hoped to break through their shackles and ascend to a higher realm. Still others had lain in wait for years, waiting for the darkness to return and overturn the Heavens.
Throughout the entire Chaos domain, undercurrents surged, hearts wavered, and killing intent rose on all sides.
Lin Chen slowly raised his hand, countless Chaos Dao patterns gathering in his palm. The power of the Supreme quietly circulated around him, steadying the turbulent void.
His gaze fell upon the unknown darkness beyond the Boundary Gate. His expression remained calm, yet his resolve could not be shaken.
The scheme laid over countless ages had begun to reveal itself. The great calamity of the Heavens was drawing near, and all manner of monsters lurking in the shadows were stirring.
But as long as he, the Chaos Supreme, remained, the order of the Heavens would not fall into chaos!
Still, Lin Chen knew all too well that the upheaval at the Boundary Gate was only the beginning.
The true tide of terrifying darkness, the ultimate secret hidden behind the ages—only now was it beginning to emerge from beneath the surface.
In the depths of the Outer Realm, the ancient heartbeat echoing faintly was still slowly awakening. A storm that would sweep across the Heavens and overturn the ages was already quietly gathering in the depths of darkness, unseen by all.
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