The Chaotic fissure tore into reality like a wound. The moment Xuan and his companions stepped into the Flawless Sanctum, the chill of its Mandates pierced their marrow like countless silver needles. The Mirror of Absolute Perfection hovering in the sky cast a cold, argent radiance. Where its light touched, even air molecules arranged themselves into flawless geometric arrays. The Golden Fissure Sigils on Xuan's wrist suddenly recoiled, etching perfect hexagonal patterns onto his skin—a primal rejection of Chaos by the Flawless Mandate.
"Careful! Here, even breathing is calculated to the Golden Ratio!" Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern shuddered violently; its golden light was forcibly refracted into frigid silver-blue by the mirror-light. "They calibrate even soul vibrations to a uniform frequency!" Before her words faded, a strand of silver hair drifting from her head froze mid-air, shaped by unseen forces into a perfect straight line, before shattering into mirror fragments.
Xing Tian's chaotic-clay form roared in agony. The Pangu War Glyphs upon his Sky-Cleaving Axe began to fade. "Hah! Granddad's axe is begging for mercy!" He bellowed, swinging the axe. Yet the blade rebounded upon hitting the mirror-tiled ground, its shockwave perfectly corrected by the Flawless Mandate to carve an even smoother facet on a distant structure. Between the mirror-brick buildings, residents clad in silver robes moved mechanically. Their pupils were pure quicksilver, reflecting the sky's perfect mirror-wheel, every footfall precise down to the millimeter.
Xuan's Fissure-Gold Gaze strained to parse the Mandate. Data streams exploded across his retinas. At the Sanctum's heart, a hundred-zhang wide Mirror-Pupil Core slowly rotated, entwined by twelve rings of Mandates:
Law of Vision: Targeting all asymmetry. Law of Audition: Filtering all dissonance. Law of Emotion: Quantifying feelings to a 0-100 scale; deviations triggered the "Flawless Correction".
"The Twelve Laws of Equilibrium," Xuan spat blood, his Chaotic droplets freezing into perfect circles upon impact. "They imprison not only flesh, but seek to erase all uniqueness of soul." He attempted to cast Fissure Perception, but the sigils recoiled like from white-hot iron. The Mirror-Pupil Core suddenly opened twelve irises, projecting twelve "Flawless Forms" of Xuan—the Warrior clad in pristine mirror-armor, the Sage chanting absolute truths, the Emperor commanding perfect order—each whispering: "Embrace Perfection. Forsake Chaos's deficits."
"Xuan!" Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern exploded into swarms of fireflies, shattering the illusions. Its wick now pulsed with memory fragments from Chaos-Citadel: the one-eyed smith's crooked dagger, the lame poet's rhymeless verse, the dumb girl's wild tale told in signs. "See what we guard!" Her voice merged with countless souls' cries: "It is the REALITY of imperfection!"
Memories like thunderbolts shattered the projections. The hexagonal patterns on Xuan's wrist cracked and disintegrated, Golden Fissure Sigils reclaimed by Chaos's variegated hues. He roared, manifesting his Threefold Manifestation behind him: Frost Armor deliberately scarred, Flesh-Blade crusted with irregular blood-scabs, Karma-Beacon flame flickering erratically—all deemed flaws by the Flawless Mandate, now becoming the keys to its undoing.
"Xing Tian! Strike the southeast pillar! Zhu Li! Use Starfire to create unbalanced resonance!" Xuan activated "Chaos Dao Body: All-Embracing", making himself a vessel of disorder. His left eye pupil split asymmetrically; his right fingers grew uneven; his breath fell into deliberately uneven rhythms. This willful imperfection tore the first fissure in the Flawless Mandate. Spiderweb cracks ran across the mirror-tiles.
Xing Tian's Sky-Cleaving Axe surged threefold, wreathed in Chaotic miasma. "I AM THE GREATEST DEFECT!" His roar shook the city. He swung at the Equilibrium Pillar, its wake twisting the air into irregular vortices. Perfect patterns on the pillar wept silver blood. The Mirror-Pupil Core shrieked alarms. Twelve Arbitrator phantoms stepped from mirrors, wielding "Scales of Equilibrium" that effortlessly corrected every distortion.
Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern underwent its final metamorphosis. The wick split into seven divergent flames: one like twisted vines, another like a maimed inferno. "Starlight Flame: Myriad Aspects of Mortal Form!" She infused the lantern with memories from Chaos-Citadel. Images of imperfection projected onto the Mirror-Pupil Core: a child's doodle, an elder's shaky will, a soldier's shattered shield. Like a virus, they infected the Flawless Mandate. Bloodshot veins appeared in the Core's irises.
"Defilers of Perfection! Receive Equilibrium's Judgment!" The Chief Arbitrator's mirror-armor unfolded into the "Perfected Crucible", swallowing all anomalies. Xuan only laughed, spreading his arms to welcome its pull. Inside the Crucible, his Golden Fissure Sigils clashed violently against its flawless inner scripts, birthing new Dao Glyphs from the conflict—spirals of Chaos and Perfection intertwined.
"You are mistaken," Xuan's voice resonated from the Crucible's heart. "True perfection… is the acceptance of all imperfect possibilities." He pressed the Core of Choice against the Crucible's core. Multifold Dao Glyphs pierced the Mandate like roots. The Mirror-Pupil Core cracked irreparably. The imprisoned citizens clutched their heads, their mercury eyes finally flickering with forgotten colors—a mother's touch, the scent of first snow—unique memories flooding like breached dams, sweeping away the Twelve Laws of Equilibrium.
As the last Arbitrator phantom dissolved, the Sanctum's crystal dome exploded. Standing amidst the ruins, Xuan and his companions watched the inhabitants tear off their silver robes. Beneath, unique patterns surfaced: leaping flames, winding rivers, fragmented stars. Embracing each other for the first time in their imperfect forms, their laughter, sobs, and cries wove the most profound symphony Chaos had ever known.
Deep within the shattered Mirror-Pupil Core, Xuan found a stele covered in Pangu's handprints: "*I sought Perfection… yet lost myself within it. If descendants arise who let Perfection and Deficit dance… that shall be the true World-Cleaving.*" Touching the glyphs, his Golden Fissure Sigils resonated with the handprints. From the direction of Chaos-Citadel came the thunderous pulse of the Symbiosis Oak—the stirring of a new Mandate.
In Chaos's shadow, the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's remnant soul watched coldly. She distilled purer perfect Mandates at her fingertips. "A fleeting victory. When you tread the Flesh-Barrens… you shall learn: some Mandates defy assimilation by Chaos." Her form dissolved into mirror-light, leaving a glacial prophecy echoing over the Sanctum's ruins.