As the Bone Vessel pierced the chaotic vortex left by the Three Celestial Pillars' collapse, the Sky-Cleaving Axe in Xuan's hand chimed brightly. The three Antiquity Fragments ignited simultaneously: the Fragment of Stillness crystallized an icy navigation path; the Fragment of Chaos shredded veils of bloody mist ahead; and the Fragment of Flux sketched the silhouette of an Ancient Corpse in the void—a colossal cocoon core woven from threads of time. Twelve pairs of butterfly-wing-like membranes of law encased the central cadaver, each membrane enacting the birth-death cycles of the Three Antiquity Worlds.
"We've arrived," Jin's voice rasped, the Emberfire Banner in her hand reduced to a third of its burning cloth. "The Cocoon Core's heart... where even Pangu's Sky-Cleaving Axe once failed to cleave."
The instant the vessel breached the final membrane, Xuan felt his spirit dragged into infinite dreamscapes. Visions flashed before him—the ultimate incarnations of the Three Antiquities:
Within the Primeval "Eternal Amber Realm," all life froze at its most perfect instant, every breath sanctified as a Heavenly Dao ritual. In the Ancient "Chaos Origin Sea," planets of flesh endlessly split and reformed, each embodying apex entropy. Across the Elder "Emberfire Remnant Realm," the last starlight flickered atop a Celestial Pillar, casting shadows of Pangu's fallen form.
"Dregs of Time... you came at last."
A muffled voice echoed from the corpse's chest. The Ancient Corpse's eyelids trembled, its pupils reflecting the primal essence of the Three Antiquity Laws. Its body—woven of cocoon threads and raw chaos—bore Heavenly Dao runes etched into every inch of its skin. At its heart pulsed half a black cocoon core, the root-source of the Three Laws.
"Are you... the cocoon's creator?" Xuan gripped the axe tighter, Three Antiquity powers forming a protective barrier within him. "Why cage these realms?"
The corpse erupted in thunderous laughter, its twelve membranes shattering like glass. "Cages? I merely rewove the rifts Pangu tore open! Primeval perfection shields life from chaos; Ancient chaos tempers the strong; and the Elder emberfire..." It pointed at Xuan, "...was my final mercy to Pangu himself."
Jin's banner snapped toward the black core. "You stole Pangu's will to cleave! These Laws were meant as a symbiotic crucible—you twisted them into layered prisons!"
"Symbiosis?" The corpse swept its sleeve, hurling Primeval ice and Ancient flesh shrapnel. "Witness your kin, Emberkeeper—"
A mirage of Emberfire City materialized: citizens slaughtering each other—Primeval-corrupted cultivators freezing comrades' hearts; Ancient-warped warriors tearing starfire totems apart. Jin's pupils contracted: her worst nightmare—the Three Laws spiraling into mutual annihilation.
"Is this the freedom you seek?" the corpse jeered. "Without my laws, chaos devours all."
But Xuan glimpsed dissonance in the vision: amid carnage, a child carved starfire totems from ice, silver dust and blood mingling on his fingertips. "You fear us," Xuan laughed abruptly. "Fear that life might find balance in the cracks. Fear your cocoon isn't the only path."
The Sky-Cleaving Axe fell. Three Antiquity powers churned into a chaos vortex along its edge. The corpse summoned twelve membranes to block—each fused with blended Antiquity energy—yet they shattered upon contact. This strike didn't destroy—it redirected the flow of laws.
"My laws are the Heavenly Dao's ultimate truth!" The corpse roared. The black core at its heart erupted with devouring darkness. "Behold true chaos—"
From the Cocoon Core's depths rose the "World-Devouring Bloodcore"—primordial destructive force of the Ancient World. Where it moved, time shredded, space collapsed into singularities. Jin's banner wailed in the black light—she suddenly recalled the Emberfire Scrolls: "The Bloodcore... Pangu sealed it here with his Axe."
"Now, I restore chaos!" The corpse's finger tapped the Bloodcore. "Without the Three Cages, your world knows only annihilation!"
Xuan acted instantly—splitting into three law-avatars:
Ice Avatar: froze the Bloodcore's corrosive path. Flesh Avatar: ensnared the corpse's arm. Emberfire Avatar: charged the Cocoon Core, axe in hand.
Jin poured her Emberfire essence into the banner, igniting the Emberkeeper's forbidden art: "Pyreflare Ascendancy."
"Xuan! Reverse the eruption with the Fragment of Flux!" Jin's voice frayed, her body turning translucent. "The moment Lord Zhuyin sealed with his heart... is now*!*"
The Flux Fragment blazed like a sun at Xuan's brow. The Time Dial rematerialized. As its needle aligned with "The Cleaving Instant," the Bloodcore's darkness reversed. Devoured fragments of spacetime reassembled—piecing together the star-map of Pangu's primordial act.
"Impossible..." The corpse's voice trembled for the first time. "You wield my laws to resurrect Pangu's will?"
Xuan's Emberfire Avatar neared the core. Seeing Pangu's axe marks upon it, realization struck: "The Three Laws were born from Pangu's sword-intent at the Sky-Cleaving. You merely stole and warped them into a cocoon!"
The axe struck the Cocoon Core. Three Fragments unleashed:
Stillness: froze its regeneration. Chaos: shattered its shackles. Flux: set time flowing anew.
The corpse howled defiance as its body disintegrated. Twelve membranes scattered like stardust—each mote carrying a seed of possibility for the reborn worlds.
"I... shall not perish..." its voice faded into void. "Beyond the cocoon... lies something... more terrifying..."
Aftermath:
Kneeling at the Cocoon Core's ruins, Xuan felt the Three Laws merge wholly within him. He could now: command Primeval stillness, wield Ancient chaos, and guide Elder flux—truly the Balancer of Three Antiquities.
Jin stumbled to his side, watching the core dissolve. Her smile was pure relief: "We succeeded. The cage... breaks."
Xuan looked beyond the vanishing core—a new world coalesced:
Below Primeval ice-mountains flowed warm rivers. Across Ancient flesh-plains grew herbs purifying chaos. Amid Elder ruins, people raised a city blending all Three Laws.
"No," Xuan rose, the axe dissolving into three streams of light soaring toward the Antiquity Worlds. "This begins free choice. No cage binds them now."
Jin nodded—then coughed blood onto her tattered banner. Xuan finally saw: her body had turned ghostly, the price of forbidden power.
"Jin, you—"
She shook her head, still smiling. "The Emberkeeper's duty ends. Now, you—the newborn force—must guard this free world."
Her body dissolved into starlight, merging with Cocoon Core debris. Only her broken banner and a whisper remained: "True emergence isn't breaking the outer cocoon... but kindling an undying ember in every heart seeking freedom."
Xuan clutched the banner, gazing at the newborn world. He knew Jin lived on—in every being daring to defy fate.
"Rest, Jin," he whispered. "This ember burns eternal."
Three wings of light unfurled from his back, carrying him toward the new world. Behind him, a Totem Pillar rose from Cocoon Core ashes—carved with Xuan, Jin, and countless survivors. Their monument. Freedom's symbol.
And in the void's furthest depths—an entity older than the Ancient Corpse slowly opened its eyes. Watching this new world emerge, a cold smile curled its lips. Xuan and all living beings faced a new trial. One just beginning.
End of Chapter Six.
Due to the setting of worldviews and characters yesterday, the chapters were not connected. Chapters 3 and 4 have been rewritten