Chapter 457: Fate Dominating!

The enormous blue eye gazed down at Tian Yongheng, its pupil reflecting countless possibilities that had yet to come into existence.

For a moment, the boundless darkness remained silent.

Then, something shifted in the unknown.

The space surrounding Tian Yongheng suddenly began to constrict.

At first, the pressure was barely noticeable, like an invisible force pressing against his body, however, in the next instant, that force increased exponentially.

*Crack!*

The space around him shattered, yet the fragments did not disperse. Instead, they remained suspended in place, compressed by an invisible power that seemed capable of crushing even the concepts of space and time.

Tian Yongheng’s eyes widened.

His Earth Immortal body, which had undergone an extraordinary transformation during his breakthrough, immediately reacted to the danger.

His Immortal Divine Blood surged, and his Imperishable Essence Soul trembled as his Inextinguishable Divine Energy attempted to circulate throughout his body.

Even the profound natural elements he had condensed into his existence began to manifest, instinctively resisting the force threatening to crush him.

But all of it was useless, absolutely useless!

His cultivation was sealed, his Divine Energy could not circulate, his Divine Powers could not be activated, and even the most fundamental connection between his consciousness and his physical existence seemed to have been severed!

He could not move, resist, or even properly perceive the power that was crushing him!

It was as though someone had casually removed him from the category of beings permitted to exercise their own strength, like an ordinary mortal.

Tian Yongheng’s pupils shrank, his mind racing.

What kind of power is this?

He already knew that the existence before him stood at an incomprehensible height, but he still harbored a tiny bit of hope that the System’s protection might provide him with some opportunity to survive.

Now, he realized how naive that hope had been.

Facing this being, even his thoughts were restricted, and he could not communicate with the System at this moment, much less evoke its authority to do anything.

Before an existence of this level, even the ability to resist might be a privilege that could be taken away at will.

The enormous blue eye remained motionless as that vast voice rang out once again.

This time, however, it carried a trace of coldness.

"Unspeakable Existences are forbidden from directly interfering in the affairs of a Great World in the absence of an Immortal War."

Tian Yongheng’s heart sank; as expected, there must be a reason this being had trapped him here!

The voice continued.

"Even that person is subject to this restriction."

That person!

The Divine Sovereign!

Tian Yongheng immediately understood the implication behind those words.

The Providence he carried, the mysterious connection to the strongest being in the history of the Lower Realm, and the possibility that the Divine Sovereign had left behind some arrangement...

None of these things could protect him against the existence before him, at least not directly.

"Thus, possessing that person’s Providence is meaningless."

The enormous blue eye glimmered faintly.

"He cannot protect you."

Tian Yongheng gritted his teeth, wanting to curse, to resist, and unleash every Divine Power he possessed to fight until the very end, but he could do nothing in the end.

The pressure continued increasing, causing his consciousness to tremble as cracks began appearing in the deepest layers of his existence.

His Earth Immortal cultivation, something he had spent more than a thousand years painstakingly cultivating, was rendered completely meaningless in an instant.

He had once believed that as long as he was still alive, there would always be another opportunity.

Even if he encountered an enemy he could not defeat, he could retreat, conceal himself, and cultivate until he became strong enough to settle the matter.

But how was he supposed to survive an enemy who could prevent him from even exercising his own strength?

The blue eye gazed at him with an incomprehensible indifference.

"You are too dangerous of a variable."

The voice contained no anger, hatred, or personal resentment, but an undeniable truth, a fact.

"A variable that should not have existed, yet has already altered too many things."

The pressure intensified.

Tian Yongheng felt as if countless invisible hands were tearing apart his existence, attempting to erase every trace of him from the River of Time.

"Originally, I wanted you to collapse on your own. Your Dao Heart had already begun to waver. Had you continued down that path, you would eventually have destroyed yourself without requiring my intervention."

Tian Yongheng’s expression twisted.

So that was it.

The world he had witnessed, the deaths of his disciples and friends, the apparent destruction of everything he cared about...

The purpose was never to kill him directly, but to make him give up and question his pursuit of immortality until his own Dao Heart crumbled beneath the weight of despair.

The most terrifying part was that it had nearly succeeded.

Had he not noticed the absence of the System, he would have surely continued sinking into that darkness until he could no longer recover.

What a terrifying method, what a terrifying existence!

"However..."

The coldness in the voice deepened.

"Since matters have progressed to this point, I have no choice but to expose myself and eliminate you."

Tian Yongheng’s heart sank to the bottom.

Expose itself?

Those words immediately caught his attention.

Does that mean the existence before him has been hiding from something?

Or was its appearance itself a violation of certain rules?

He wanted to ask, but the pressure had become so overwhelming that even forming a coherent thought was difficult.

His consciousness flickered and his vision began to blur, his existence slowly dissipating underneath that overwhelming power.

For the first time since his reincarnation, Tian Yongheng genuinely felt that he was about to die.

The existence before him was simply too strong, it was impossible to resist this being. Even his Providence might not be enough to provide assistance.

Is this... the end...?

After everything I have endured, everything I have pursued, and everything I hoped to accomplish, am I truly about to perish here?

I refuse to believe this!

Tian Yongheng’s eyes burned with unwillingness.

He had not even discovered the true nature of his System, uncovered the mysteries surrounding the Divine Sovereign, or explored the endless Immortal heavens, much less reached the summit of cultivation, achieving eternity.

He had not even determined what happened to the people he cared about in the true timeline, or gone back to earth to see his sister, to avenge his past life...

How could he accept such an ending!?

His fingers trembled as he desperately tried to mobilize his Divine Energy, but his cultivation remained sealed, and because of it, he couldn’t use any of his Divine Powers.

It was as though every connection he possessed to the outside world had been severed.

The blue eye watched his existence disappear silently.

However, just as Tian Yongheng’s consciousness began to fade, a blinding light suddenly appeared at the edge of the boundless darkness!

At first, it was only a tiny point of radiance, but in the next instant, it expanded at an unbelievable speed.

The light transformed into a magnificent, illusory river that stretched across the heavens and the earth!

It was a river unlike any Tian Yongheng had ever seen before in the cultivation world, shimmering with limitless Dao rhymes and profound principles.

Its waters contained countless fragments of existence, flowing in both directions simultaneously, with every droplet seemingly representing an entire world, the fate of countless living beings, or an immeasurable possibility.

It seemed both infinite yet also as if it was never there to begin with.

The River of Time...?

Tian Yongheng’s fading consciousness thought subconsciously before his body stopped dissipating.

No... this is not the River of Time...

Tian Yongheng’s eyes widened, memories surging into his mind.

The river possessed an overwhelming majesty that even the enormous blue eye could not ignore.

The illusory river descended from the depths of primordial darkness, tearing through the boundless space and sweeping towards the blue eye.

The pressure surrounding Tian Yongheng seemed to falter for an instance.

His sealed cultivation was still inaccessible, but the force threatening to crush his existence suddenly vanished without a trace.

*BOOM!*

The illusory river struck the enormous blue eye, causing the boundless darkness to tremble violently!

Countless fragments of time shattered, and the terrifying blue radiance surrounding the eye flickered as the river tore through its surface.

A faint snort echoed from the depths of primordial darkness.

It was the first time Tian Yongheng had heard anything resembling an emotional response from that incomprehensible existence.

Following the snort was a chilling voice that rang out from the depths of time and space.

"Fate Dominating!"

The words reverberated across the heavens, echoing through countless timelines and alternate realities.

For a fleeting instant, Tian Yongheng felt an indescribable force sweep across his consciousness.

It was not the Dao of Time, and neither was it the power of Providence.

It was something that seemed capable of standing alongside both, a terrifying authority that sought to determine the trajectory of all existence!

The enormous blue eye trembled, and its radiance abruptly disappeared.

The boundless darkness swallowed the remaining fragments of its presence, and the terrifying pressure that had threatened to crush Tian Yongheng vanished completely alongside it.

Only the illusory river was left behind, stretching across the heavens and the earth as Tian Yongheng stood above it motionless, his consciousness still trembling from the encounter.