Beneath the newborn land of the Flesh-Daemon Realm, dark currents of Chaos churned. Warmth from Chaos' Final Chapter still lingered in the Golden Fissure Sigil on Xuan's palm, while silhouettes of beings from myriad races appeared on the distant horizon. They carried packs woven from Symbiosis Grass, their eyes reflecting the miracle wrought by Xuan and his companions: flesh once twisted by devouring laws now coexisted with crystalline coral, building the first stone huts with Primordial Waters of Chaos in the shallows.
"Zhu Li, look." Xuan pointed to a brother and sister hauling luminescent moss, faint gold glimmering at their hair-tips—the mark of prolonged Starfire Lantern exposure. "The Starfire has planted the Seed of Choice within their bloodline."
Before Zhu Li could respond, her Starfire Lantern convulsed violently. The wick's flame morphed into the silhouette of Pangu's phantom. The figure opened its mouth to speak, only to be severed by a beam of azure light from the direction of the Elder Consciousness. It was a ripple of residual karma-fire from the Wheel of Ten Thousand Kalpas, mingled with the Mirror-Immortal's silver radiance and the Saṃsāra Matriarch's curse-glyphs, weaving a new Law-Shackle within Chaos.
"The remnants of the Three Archaics are merging!" A crack appeared on Zhu Li's lantern for the first time. "The Mirror-Immortal's Perfect Mandate and the Saṃsāra Matriarch's Oblivion Glyphs are stitching together! They seek to create a 'Perfect Saṃsāra' that blankets all Chaos!"
Xuan's Fissure-Gold Gaze snapped open. His vision pierced through layers of Chaos, revealing the 'Kalpas' Silent Return Wheel' rising from the Kalpas' ruins. A colossal wheel woven from silver mirror-walls and azure karma-fire, every spoke etched with the glyphs: "*FLAWLESS AND UNBROKEN. SAṂSĀRA ENDURES.*" At its hub floated the merged phantom of the Mirror-Immortal and Saṃsāra Matriarch—the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch.
"Chaos Dao-Heart, did you believe toppling the Three Archaic Laws would birth true freedom?" The Matriarch's voice held the Mirror-Immortal's chill and the Matriarch's venomous softness. "We are born of Pangu's fear. As long as beings yearn for perfection or cling to oblivion, we shall endure within Chaos' fractures."
Xing Tian's chaotic-clay body froze mid-air. He stared at his own increasingly transparent hand, seeing the Silent Return Wheel reflected within every crack. "Damned thing... it's stealing my Chaotic power!"
Xuan instantly activated his Chaos Dao Body, reforming Xing Tian's Spine Fragment. Horror struck him: the Silent Return Wheel was draining power from all Chrysalis-Breakers—the freed Flawless Knights of Primeval Silvershroud, the memory-keeping souls of the Kalpas Wheel—all now clutched their heads in agony. Their brow's Golden Fissure Sigils were being devoured by the Wheel's silver-azure light.
"We must stop them absorbing Chaotic power," Zhu Li urged, golden blood seeping from the crack in her lantern—the price of her bond with its core. "Xuan, recall the 'Three Chapters of Chaos' mentioned on the Divine Court stele? Perhaps the Wheel's core is the 'Fear Fragment' Pangu failed to integrate."
Xuan nodded, gripping the fading Soul-Remembrance Slip. After the Flesh-Daemon Realm battle, he understood: the Three Archaic Wills were not independent entities, but parasites feeding on beings' extreme craving for 'Perfection, Power, Rebirth'. The Silent Return Wheel's emergence exploited the Chrysalis-Breakers' own desire for 'Absolute Victory', twisting it into new shackles.
As they traversed Chaotic rifts to the Kalpas ruins, the Silent Return Wheel had already absorbed seventy percent of Chaos' power. The Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's phantom hovered at the wheel's heart, her body half silver mirror, half azure karma-fire, weaving the harvested Golden Fissure Sigils into the wheel, attempting to forge an 'Absolute Perfect Saṃsāra Script'.
"Zhu Li! Guard the Chaos-Citadel with the Starfire Lantern! Stop the Saṃsāra power from corrupting the newborn Symbiosis Laws!" Xuan handed Zhu Li Xing Tian's Spine Fragment. "Xing Tian! With me to the Wheel's core! This time, we strike the Three Archaics' remnant soul-source!"
Xing Tian's chaotic-clay body solidified upon touching the fragment. The Pangu War Glyphs on his Sky-Cleaving Axe blazed fiercely: "About damn time I get another swing at that mirror-hag!"
As they approached, the Wheel's mirror-walls erupted in blinding light. Countless phantom reflections surged: Xuan kneeling before the Matriarch, receiving the 'Perfect Dao-Heart'; Xing Tian serving again as the Blood-River Patriarch's lieutenant, wielding a blood-soaked axe.
"Ignore the illusions!" Xuan's brow-sigil formed the pattern of the Chaos Dao-Heart. "They forge these lies from our fears!" He forced through the mirror-wall. His Fissure-Gold Gaze swept the wheel's core, finally locating the Matriarch's origin—a 'Fear Core' cocooned in silver mirror-light and azure karma-fire, its surface carved with Fear Glyphs from before Pangu's Creation.
"So... the Three Archaics' essence is Pangu's fear of failure at Creation's dawn." Xuan's voice trembled. "Zhu Li, the Starfire Lantern's core is Pangu's tear. My Chaos Dao-Heart is his courage. Xing Tian's spine is his battle-will. Together, we three are Pangu's complete Chrysalis-Breaking Heart."
Zhu Li, guarding the Chaos-Citadel, shuddered. The crack in her lantern began to heal. She finally understood her resonance with the lantern, Xing Tian's rebirths, Xuan's defiance of laws—they were the three forces of Chrysalis-Breaking Pangu split from himself to combat his own fear.
"Xing Tian! Unleash everything!" Xuan surged with the Threefold Manifestation: Chaos Apocalypse, fusing Frost, Flesh, and Karma-Fire with his Chaos Dao-Heart. "This time, we show the Fear Core Pangu's courage never died!"
Xing Tian roared, swinging his axe. Chaotic power and the Spine Fragment's battle-will cleaved through the Wheel's mirror-light and karma-fire. Xuan seized the moment, merging his Chaos Dao-Heart into the Fear Core. Golden Fissure Sigils writhed like living things, devouring Pangu's ancient Fear Glyphs. With each glyph consumed, the Silent Return Wheel shrank.
Cracks spiderwebbed the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's phantom for the first time. Her mirror-light and karma-fire began to crumble: "Impossible... We are Heaven's Genesis... How fall to Chaos' flaws?"
"Heaven's Mandate has no beginning or end," Zhu Li's voice rang out beside them, the Starfire Lantern burning with the Primordial Power of Pangu's Tear. "Only the choices within beings' hearts. See those walking towards Chaos-Citadel? They choose to remember pain, to embrace imperfection. This is the power that truly defeats fear."
Under their combined assault, the Silent Return Wheel imploded. The Fear Core dissolved into motes of light, absorbed by Chaos. The stolen Golden Fissure Sigils returned to the Chrysalis-Breakers. Gazing upon the newly clarified Chaos, they roared a sky-shaking cheer.
After the battle, Xuan found a new stele amidst the Kalpas ruins: "*Fear born of Chaos, dies in Chaos. When Courage, Hope, and Battle-Will resonate, the Chrysalis-Breaker becomes the new Heavenly Mandate.*" He traced the glyphs, finally grasping the meaning: Breaking the chrysalis was never about destroying laws, but granting all beings the courage to seek flaws within them.
The first lighthouse of Chaos-Citadel ignited—the 'Lighthouse of Choice', built from the Silent Return Wheel's shards and the Starfire Lantern's residual glow. Zhu Li enshrined the lantern atop the tower. Its light pierced Chaos, illuminating every soul daring to choose. Xing Tian led demon cultivators, cleaving new paths through Chaotic rifts with his Sky-Cleaving Axe for migrating beings.
Standing beneath the lighthouse, Xuan watched the Soul-Remembrance Slip in his arms grow transparent. Its script vanished, replaced by countless shimmering gold specks—the Collective Power of Choice from all Chrysalis-Breakers. He knew the Three Archaic Wills wouldn't truly perish. But as long as someone in Chaos-Citadel kindled the Starfire, remembered the courage to choose, they would always possess the power to break free.
Deep within Chaos, within the shattered Fear Core, a final wisp of silver-azure light coalesced. It was the Three Archaics' ultimate form—the 'Heart-Chrysalis', a parasite thriving on beings' fantasies of perfect laws. Unseen by Xuan and the others, their next trial wouldn't be a tangible foe, but the dilemma of choice potentially arising in every heart.
As the first seed of Chaos-Citadel was sown, as the first Chrysalis-Breaking ballad passed from lip to lip, a new era dawned. Xuan, Zhu Li, and Xing Tian stood beneath the lighthouse, seeing the reflected Starfire in each other's eyes. They finally understood: their mission never ended, for the path of breaking free was an eternal war against the fear within.
At the far edge of Chaos, a figure wreathed in mirror-light and karma-fire gazed towards Chaos-Citadel. The Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's final wisp of soul curled her lips in a cold smile. In her hand, stolen from the Fear Core, pulsed the 'Perfect Heart-Nucleus'—as long as beings craved absolute perfection or eternal rebirth, she would be reborn within their hearts.
But Xuan and his companions had no time for this now. They were busy in Chaos-Citadel's square, conducting the first Chrysalis-Breaking Ceremony for its settlers. As Starfire-light enveloped each being, as the Golden Fissure Sigil at their brow truly became their own for the first time, all Chaos bore witness: an era that allowed choice and embraced imperfection was being born in the hands of the Chrysalis-Breakers.