Scattered shards of the Flawless Sanctum's crystal dome still glinted in the air when dark crimson threads bled from the Golden Fissure Sigils on Xuan's wrist. To the southeast, a deep, unsettling pulse thrummed through Chaos—a subterranean behemoth breathing, each vibration sending sharp alarms shuddering through Symbiosis Leylines. Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern flickered violently to a bloody hue; its wick projected images of the Flesh-Barren: a sky-obliterating crimson tide, countless twisted limbs writhing within, tearing at one another amidst a churning sea of gore.
"The Ancient Blood-River's primal essence stirs," Xuan's voice fractured with the sigils' tremor. "The Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's prophecy holds. The Flesh-Barren's Mandate is more stubborn than we knew." Blood-red reflections flooded his pupils. Beneath the layer of symbiotic moss temporarily taming the land, the Devouring Heart-Core was awakening, symbiotic patterns crumbling from its surface.
Xing Tian's chaotic-clay form gurgled thickly. His Spine Shard burned uncontrollably. "Hah! Granddad's axe itches again!" He swung mightily, but the blade cleaved only air that wept blood. Serrated lines of crimson etched themselves across the Pangu War Glyphs upon the axe-head. "Worse… the aura here… it reeks like the old Blood-River altars!"
The moment they crossed the rift, cloyingly sweet blood-fog clogged their nostrils. The ground beneath their feet lived—a dark, meaty crimson surface rippled, countless tiny suckers attempting to latch onto their boots. Xuan activated his Chaos Dao Body, Golden Sigils morphing into chains to pin the earth—yet bone-scraping sounds echoed from the depths. Hundreds of spine-bones erupted from the soil, assembling an Altar of Living Flesh that grew before their eyes.
Atop the swelling altar pulsed the Devouring Heart-Core. Pus oozed from its eye-like protrusions, each reflecting a scene of consumption: citizens of the Flawless Sanctum dissolving into mirror-light and being devoured; True Spirits of the Wheel of Kalpas ground into bloody froth; Chaos-Citadel's Symbiosis Oak strangled by its own roots. "Welcome to the world where Flesh reigns supreme," a guttural voice rasped from the core's depths. The Blood-River Patriarch's remnant soul coalesced from the foul ichor. His body was an amalgamation of hundreds of disfigured arms, each fist clutching shards of corrupted symbiotic moss.
Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern transformed into a fire phoenix. Its talons tore through the blood-fog only to be corroded into charred lines. "This moss… it's contaminated!" Staring at the dark crimson vines entwining her wick—symbiosis twisted into parasites—she realized they were draining the Starfire's power. "Xuan! The Devouring Core is using OUR symbiotic network!"
Xuan's Fissure-Gold Gaze frantically parsed the Mandate. His retinal data streams drowned in crimson. He saw the entire Flesh-Barren's symbiotic moss transmuted into a colossal parasite. Its roots connected every inch of land, yet channeled all energy harvested back to the Devouring Heart-Core. "Xing Tian! Shatter the altar pillars! Zhu Li! Burn the corrupted moss with Starfire! I'll bind the Blood-River remnant!"
Xing Tian roared, leaping towards a spine-pillar. His Sky-Cleaver struck true, spraying black blood. The pillar's surface split open, a fang-lined tongue snaking out to ensnare the axe. "SCREW YOU!" His chaotic-clay body disintegrated into chunks of mud, each morphing into a phantom of Pangu. Countless phantom axes struck in unison, shattering the pillar into pulpy morsels. Yet the gore immediately reassembled into more grasping hands.
Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern burned nearly transparent. She plunged the wick into the earth; golden flames raced along the corrupted moss. Yet wherever the fire touched, the moss burgeoned violently, sprouting ghastly crimson blossoms that spewed acid-fog corroding even Mandates themselves. "Useless! This moss has been rewritten into vessels for devouring!" Her silver hair smoldered; the lantern's light dimmed.
Xuan was entangled in the Blood-River Remnant's arms. His Golden Sigils darkened to deep crimson upon contact. The Remnant's voice echoed in his mind-sea: "Chaos Dao-Heart? Just Pangu's flawed leftover. Look at the lands you 'liberated'—they will all return to the embrace of Devouring." Visions flashed: Chaos-Citadel submerged in blood; Zhu Li and Xing Tian contorting into monstrosities mid-devouring.
"SILENCE!" Xuan bit his tongue hard, infusing his blood with Chaotic force into his sigils. He forced the "Chaos Dao Body: Entropy Reversal". Devoured Mandates were inverted within him. Golden Fissure Sigils writhed like living things through his veins, expelling the crimson taint onto his skin, etching new Dao Glyphs—spirals of Devouring and Symbiosis entwined. "Devouring isn't destruction… it's another form of symbiosis!"
He pressed the Core of Choice against the Devouring Heart-Core's pulsating surface. Multifold Dao Glyphs pierced the flesh like roots. Every oozing eye upon the core burst simultaneously—not spilling ichor, but unleashing countless trapped True Spirits. Etched upon their forms were remnants of symbiotic moss. Sheltered by Xuan's Dao Glyphs, they coalesced. "So… we… still have choice…" One spirit trembled, touching an arm woven of both flesh and vines.
The Blood-River Remnant bellowed in fury. All its arms combined into a colossal bloody fist aimed at Xuan. In the fleeting moment, Xing Tian's Sky-Cleaver parted the fog. The blade was wreathed in fresh symbiotic vines brought from Chaos-Citadel. "Granddad's axe can break, and it can guard!" He hurled the vines at the Devouring Core. Upon contact, they exploded in growth, encasing the core in a massive symbiotic cocoon.
Zhu Li seized the chance. "Starlight Flame: Symbiosis of Memory!" She channeled memories of Chaos-Citadel's resistance into the cocoon: the one-eyed smith patching acid-eaten armor with moss; the lame poet reciting verses of life amidst the blood-mist; the dumb girl signing tales of symbiosis. The cocoon trembled, cracks identical to those on the Flawless Sanctum's dome appearing on its surface.
"Impossible… Devouring is eternal truth…" The Blood-River Remnant began disintegrating, struggling to reform. Xuan struck. His Golden Fissure Sigils stabbed into the Remnant's core. There, he glimpsed fragments of Pangu's World-Cleaving memory—the Blood-River Patriarch was Pangu's manifested fear of his own weakness! The obsession with Devouring was merely a sickly craving for power!
As the last grasping arm dissolved into mist, the cocoon shattered. Within pulsed no longer a core of malice, but a beating heart. Symbiotic glyphs intertwined with serrated lines of devouring across its surface. With every beat, it sent out waves of profound duality. Xuan placed his hand upon it, feeling the fierce clash of two Mandates within, locked in strange balance.
"We didn't destroy the Devouring Mandate," Xuan told Zhu Li and Xing Tian as they arrived, their forms weary but victorious. "We forced it to learn coexistence." Around them, the Flesh-Barren transformed. Crimson faded from the mutated moss; true symbiosis reclaimed the land. From the meat-soil emerged strange new life—creatures half-flesh, half-flora. No madness for devouring glinted in their eyes, only curiosity for the lives ahead.
Deep within the transformed Heart, Xuan found another stele marked by Pangu's handprints: "*I forged Devouring from Fear… yet knew not true strength lies in accepting fear.*" Golden Sigils resonated with the imprints. From distant Chaos-Citadel, the Symbiosis Oak's pulse returned, singing with the joy of a nascent Mandate.
Yet deeper in the darkest Chaos, the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch and Saṃsāra Matriarch watched together. "A temporary victory only," the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's voice was ice, reflected light sharpening in her form. "When they step into the labyrinth of time… hidden memories shall be the keenest dagger." Her words faded, but across the void, fragments of shattered mirror-light began reassembling, weaving a new snare. Within the Saṃsāra Matriarch's time-sands, a tampered memory shard took shape—a trap destined to shatter Xuan's deepest beliefs.