Dark currents of Chaos churned beyond the Wheel of Ten Thousand Kalpas as Xuan and his companions set foot upon the path to the Primeval Silvershroud Firmament, their robes still warm with lingering karma-fire. Within Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern, the flickering wick cast shadows mirroring the Wheel of Saṃsāra's remnants—particularly the Primordial Glyphs at the Cinderfire Stele's base, where the haunting phrase "Chaos Dao-Heart" pulsed like a needle in her soul-sea.
When the Silvershroud Firmament emerged from the chaos, its majesty awed them. A citadel assembled from millions of Silver Mirrors, each reflecting the Heavenly Dao's optimal resolution: Some saw themselves as Flawless Knights, others kneeling in Primeval Divine Courts. Only Xuan's reflection remained blurred, shrouded in golden mist.
"Beware," Zhu Li tightened her grip on the lantern, its wick erupting in piercing light. "These mirror-walls devour resistors' True Spirits. The guardians' memories reveal this place—Primeval Will's heart. Every mirror is a Perfect Dao Glyph."
Before the words faded, twelve Flawless Knights materialized. Clad in armor etched with mirror-glyphs resonating with the citadel, they leveled Heavenly Mandate Judgment Spears, their tips freezing chaos itself. The leader's visor slid back, revealing a face chillingly similar to Xuan's. "Seed of Chaotic Defilement. You shattered Saṃsāra, overturned Evolution... now you profane Primeval's Heavenly Dao?"
Xuan's pupils constricted. Within the knight's eyes shimmered his own Golden Fissure Sigil—but it was corroded by silver-gleam runes, reduced to a puppet of the Mandate. "Who are you? Why bear the Chaos Dao Body's trace?"
"I am the First Mirrorguard of Primeval... and the reflection of your one-thousandth cycle." The knight's voice was arctic frost. "To the Heavenly Dao, this is your true form—flawless, eternally obedient."
The Judgment Spear tore through the void, unleashing not just freezing cold, but torrents of Perfect Dao Glyphs into Xuan's mind-sea. A million voices chanted: "*OBEY HEAVEN AND PROSPER. DEFY HEAVEN AND PERISH.*" He bit his tongue till blood flowed. The Golden Fissure Sigil exploded across his brow, shattering the glyphs to dust.
"So... the Mirrorguards are fragments of my Saṃsāra." Xuan wiped blood, his Threefold Manifestation Art swirling across his skin. "But fragments remain fragments—they can never grasp Chaos' essence." He unleashed the Fissure-Gold Gaze: Heavenly Mandate Shatter. Cracks spider-webbed the Mirrorguard's armor, revealing beneath it a puppet-body assembled from jagged mirror shards.
Xing Tian roared, his Sky-Cleaving Axe shattering the ice-prison. Chaotic engravings on the blade sparked golden blood when they struck a mirror-wall: "Damned bastards! Even their blood's made of glass!"
Zhu Li pressed close to a mirror-wall. Lantern-light pierced its surface, illuminating Choice Spirits imprisoned within—bodies transparent as glass save for a single golden gleam at their brows. "Xuan! These are Chrysalis-Breakers captured by Primeval! Their spirits are woven into the citadel's very foundations!"
Forcing paths through fractured reflections, they reached the Firmament's heart: the Flawless Divine Court. At its center hovered the Mirror of Ten Thousand Laws, reflecting the Primeval Will's true visage—a being of light woven from three thousand glyphs, each performing the Mandate's perfect trajectory.
"Seed of Chaotic Defilement," the Mirror-Immortal's voice tolled like a thousand bells. "You believe shattering Saṃsāra and toppling Evolution can shake Heaven's foundations? We are birthed from Pangu's fear before Creation. As long as beings yearn for perfection, we are ETERNAL."
Xuan clenched his Soul-Remembrance Slip—its script dimmed, inert. Primeval's Perfect Dao Mandate was suppressing other laws! "Zhu Li! Illuminate the glyph-fractures with the Starfire! Xing Tian! Shatter the Divine Court's canopy!"
Zhu Li hurled the lantern skyward. Its wick dissolved into countless golden motes, revealing the canopy's Flaw of Heaven—Pangu's final imperfection, born of hesitation at Creation's dawn. Xing Tian's Sky-Cleaving Axe slammed down, ripping open a fissure. Chaotic currents flooded the court, settling upon the mirror surfaces as a layer of living gold mist.
The Mirror-Immortal's radiant form wavered. Three of the three thousand glyphs fractured. Seizing the moment, Xuan activated his Chaos Dao Body, linking his spiritual meridians directly to the Court's fissure. His body grew translucent, resonating strangely with the light-being within the mirror.
"So... we were one." The Mirror-Immortal's voice held a tremor. "I am the incarnation of Pangu's obsession with perfection... and you... you are the 'Chaos Dao-Heart' he deliberately fractured."
Zhu Li's lantern nearly slipped from her grasp. Now she understood the uniqueness of Xuan's Chaos Dao Body, his uncanny ability to find flaws within laws—he was Pangu's own 'Imperfect Factor', sown to break the chrysalis.
"Precisely," Xuan's voice rang with newfound resolve. "The Heavenly Dao should not be a cage of perfection. It must be a cradle that allows imperfection." He pressed his palm against the Mirror of Ten Thousand Laws. Golden Fissure Sigils crawled like living things across its surface. The flaws, once shunned as defects, now became the foundation of a new Mandate.
In the Divine Court, Flawless Knights knelt, their mirror-inscribed armor crumbling away to reveal true faces beneath—Chrysalis-Breakers captured across cycles, their memories erased by the Mandate.
As the Mirror trembled, cracks spread through every wall of the Silvershroud Firmament. Choice Spirits erupted free, their bodies no longer transparent but shining with myriad lights: a cultivator's starlight, a demon's spectral flame, a mortal's tenacious will.
"Zhu Li! Ignite Starfire: Ten-Thousand Awakenings!" Xuan commanded. "Let these imprisoned spirits witness Heaven's rebirth!"
Starfire-light became a golden downpour, drenching every corner of the Divine Court. Flawless Knights removed their helms, eyes reflecting scenes never before witnessed—so many possibilities beyond the Mandate. A former mirror-artisan traced a fracture, etching the first imperfect star-chart onto the wall.
The Mirror-Immortal's light-being flickered. The three thousand glyphs began rearranging. Xuan poured his Chaos Dao Body's essence into the shifting patterns, weaving a new core principle: the Fifteenfold Imperfection Mandate—allowing for 15% divergence, granting every spirit space to make their own choices within the celestial trajectory.
"I... am undone." The Mirror-Immortal's tone held release. "But we will not perish. As long as beings pursue perfection, we shall respawn within Chaos' reflection." The light-being dissolved into a cascade of silver motes, merging with the Mirror. Where the mirror-wall fractures gaped, strange new flora erupted—Dao-Heart Blossoms, petals swirling with dual patterns of Chaos and Heaven.
After the battle, Zhu Li found an ancient stele at the Court's foundation. Upon it, inscribed from the time before Creation, were Pangu's words: "*I transformed Resolve into the Three Archaics. I left Chaos as the Dao-Heart. Those in future ages who gather the Three's variance and command Chaos' path shall be the Chrysalis-Breakers.*" She pointed at the characters "*Chaos Dao-Heart*", her voice trembling. "Xuan... you are not merely a Chaos Dao Body... you are the Dao-Heart Pangu deliberately manifested."
Xuan was silent for a long while, then released a sigh of profound understanding. "No wonder I've always sensed Pangu's will... I am his determination to break the chrysalis." He turned towards the Silvershroud Firmament, now transformed into a beacon of fractures. "But the path of breaking free... was never mine to walk alone."
Xing Tian clapped Xuan's shoulder. From a crack in his chaotic-clay head, a Dao-Heart Blossom emerged. "Bah! Dao-Hearts, Dao-Bodies—who cares? So long as we get to smash some Archaic skulls, it's good enough!"
The trio stood at the heart of the Divine Court. Across the chaos, sparks of starlight ignited—liberated spirits transmitting hope. Xuan knew the Primeval Silvershroud was rewritten, but remnants of Ancient's Blood-River Patriarch and Elder's Saṃsāra Matriarch remained. Crucially, the roots of the Three Archaic Wills lay in beings' fear and desire—the most formidable foe of all.
"Next, we witness what our overturning of Evolutionary Mandates has wrought in the Ancient Flesh-Daemon Realm," Xuan declared, the Soul-Remembrance Slip clutched tight, its script now vibrant. "Perhaps... we shall build the first Symbiotic Evolution Citadel there."
Zhu Li nodded. The Starfire Lantern burned brighter. "The Guardians of the Cinders' ancestral memories near completion. Our mission was never just to guard the Starfire, but the courage of every soul who chooses it."
As they departed the Divine Court, the mirror-walls shattered entirely. Yet each fragment hovered in the air, reflecting disparate vistas within Chaos: cultivators planting spirit-roots in rifts; demon cultivators nurturing symbiotic spirit-grasses in seas of blood; mortals gathering shards of memory amidst karma-fire. These reflections merged into a prismatic constellation, illuminating the path to the Ancient Flesh-Daemon Realm.
Xuan walked ahead. The Golden Fissure Sigil at his brow pulsed in harmony with the Soul-Remembrance Slip. He suddenly understood: Breaking the chrysalis wasn't about shattering one mirror, one law. It was granting every spirit the courage to seek flaws in the mirrors, to nurture starlight within the laws. When the last shard dissolved, Pangu's voice echoed through the chaos:
"*The Dao-Heart does not die. The Starfire endures.*"
In this battle, they shattered Primeval's Perfect Mandate and unveiled a corner of his true origin. Deep within the Chaos, the shattered Three Archaic Wills resolidified into nascent forms, preparing for the next confrontation with the Chaos Dao-Heart. Yet Xuan held no uncertainty. For he knew, while Zhu Li's Starfire burned, Xing Tian's axe swung true, and countless awakened spirits stood firm, the path of the Chrysalis-Breaker would never end.