The bonfires of Chaos-Citadel's "Grand Revel of Harmonized Law" still crackled when the Golden Fissure Sigils on Xuan's wrist flared in alarm. Above, the clear night sky was being devoured by a slowly expanding Taiji Diagram—Yin-Yang fish consuming stars. Fragments of the Bronze Bell coalesced at the diagram's central eyes, its tolling now carrying Void-Pressure tenfold stronger than before.
"Chrysalis-Breakers, did you truly believe you prevailed?" The voice of Void Emissary Purify resonated from the Taiji's core, no longer the singular roar of a collapsing star, but a chord woven from the Five Celestial Tones. "My true form is the Void Oblivion Bell, forged before Pangu's Cleaving. What you faced was but a wisp of my Mandate projection."
Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern detonated with blinding light. The Void Core reflected in its wick made her pupils constrict: "Xuan! That's... the Taiji Manifestation! The bell's core seals the Heavenly Dao's Pure Unity Force Pangu separated at Creation!"
The Taiji Diagram unfurled, revealing the Void Manifestation within: a bronze bell-wall spanning a thousand li, etched with Pangu's World-Cleaving in reverse—the Sky-Cleaving Axe withdrawing into the Chaos Egg, clear and turbid Qi merging anew, all Mandates converging towards the Point of Oblivion at the Taiji's heart. Xing Tian's Sky-Cleaver trembled uncontrollably, its Chaos-Script Glyphs screeching in dissonant resonance with the Taiji's Heavenly Dao patterns.
"See the 'Five Celestial Virtues Glyphs' upon the bell-wall?" Purify's phantom stood upon the Yin-Yang fish eyes, five Heavenly Wheels—Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water—materializing behind his form. "Humanity, Justice, Ritual, Wisdom, Trust—these are the supreme forms of pure Mandate. Your 'Coalescence'? Merely mixing rotten rats with luminous pearls!"
Xuan clenched the Law-Seed. Golden Sigils etched the Tri-Coalescent Avatar at his brow: "Why did Pangu leave fragments of the Chaos Egg? Because pure Mandate is like distilled water—lifeless, suffocating." He pointed towards citizens below mending Fleshblood walls with Mirror-Light: "See their Glyphs? Mirror-Light's precision and Fleshblood's warmth. This is Chaos's true face."
"Absurd!" Purify waved a hand. Five Heavenly Chains flew from the Taiji, inscribed with primordial glyphs: "Purify Impurities, Preserve Purity." "The Heavenly Dao tolerates no flaw! Mirror-Wheel's perfection, Blood-River's devouring, Samsara's recurrence—all were purgatives I prepared for Chaos! Pitiful insects, you failed to comprehend—"
"Celestial bullshit!" Xing Tian roared, cleaving two chains with his axe. Chaos-Script burned upon the blade, reshaping into nascent Pangu War Glyphs. "My chaotic clay's mixed with Mirror-Light shards, Fleshblood pus, and Time-Sand! Still molds bones harder than your damned bell!" He hooked a third chain, hurling it at the Taiji Diagram. It struck the bell-wall, denting the bronze half a palm deep.
The Void Manifestation faltered for the first time. Blood-red flickered in the Yin-Yang eyes. "Uncouth Chaos mongrel! Know you that my bell bears the 'Forty-Nine Heavenly Statutes' etched before Pangu's Cleaving?" Golden glyphs swarmed the bell's surface, each devouring nearby Coalescence Laws. "Even Pangu himself left but three axe-scars upon it! You vermin—"
"That's why he carved symbiotic vines on the axe-haft," Xuan interjected, Fissure-Gold eyes revealing three near-obliterated grey scars beneath Heavenly glyphs. "Those scars aren't defeat marks—they're the primordial key he left for posterity! Zhu Li! Illuminate the 'Heaven-Slaughter Star Position'! Xing Tian! Aim for the 'Earth-Punishment Glyph'!"
Zhu Li understood instantly. Her lantern split into Five Directional Divine Flames, streaking towards the Taiji's Twenty-Eight Mansions: "Starlight Flame: Cosmic Star Array! By the Coalescence Will of Chaos-Citadel's million souls, shatter his Heavenly shackles!" Each flame landing caused corresponding spirit Glyphs to manifest on the bell-wall—Ayue's scale patterns, the dockworker's callus glyphs, Samsara priests' memory rings. These Glyphs, warm with mortal essence, burned light-spots onto the Heavenly Mandate inscriptions.
Purify's Manifestation cracked. "Impossible... Mortal Glyphs corrupting a Heavenly Manifestation?"
"Because Chaos's Mandates were never Heaven's solo dance." Xuan seized the moment, embedding the Law-Seed into the Point of Oblivion. Symbiotic patterns crawled like living things across the bell-metal. "See? Mirror-Light isn't cold order—it's the mirror letting each soul see itself. Fleshblood isn't cruel devouring—it's the cradle where life grows through pain. Samsara isn't endless suffering—it's the amber preserving memory in time's flow."
The Taiji's Yin-Yang fish suddenly reversed rotation. The Point of Oblivion erupted in blinding gold: "Enough! Witness the true Heavenly Manifestation—" The Void Oblivion Bell's true form manifested—a Taiji Diagram ten thousand li wide. The Yin fish: Black Void Oblivion Sea. The Yang fish: White Heavenly Sanctified Flame. At its center, the Point of Oblivion revealed itself as Pangu's fossilized finger-bone.
"Xuan! The Point holds Pangu's 'Heavenly Dao Remnant Thought'!" Zhu Li's lantern trembled violently within the Star Array. "The obsession he shed when purging pure Mandate! Void uses it to reinforce the Manifestation!"
Xing Tian's chaotic-clay form disintegrated under the Void Pressure, yet he grinned savagely: "Granddamned! This axe dares chop even Heavenly Remnant Thoughts!" He forcibly coalesced his Spine Shard, projecting Pangu's phantom behind him. "Old Pangu! The bell you couldn't finish chopping—today we complete it!"
Xuan suddenly gripped Xing Tian's axe-haft. Golden Fissure Sigils resonated with Pangu's phantom: "Wait! The Void Oblivion Bell is Pangu's 'Mandate Separation Body'. Destroying it severs Chaos's last link to Heaven." He turned towards Purify at the Taiji's heart, his voice softening: "Purify, do you truly believe pure Mandate grants eternity?"
"Else why did Pangu separate me?" Purify's Manifestation wavered uncharacteristically. "Chaos's disorder breeds only suffering. Only Oblivion within Heavenly Purity can—"
"—Strip every spirit of choice?" Xuan raised a hand, signaling Zhu Li to halt. "See the city lights below? Mirror-Light's chill, Fleshblood's warmth, Samsara's gloom—they clash yet coalesce, like Pangu's axe and vines. Heaven isn't a black-and-white Taiji... It's the Chaos Egg embracing all hues."
The Heavenly Sanctified Flame dimmed. Pangu's blurred visage surfaced on the fossilized finger-bone. Purify's voice fractured: "I... I merely execute Pangu's purification protocol..."
"Protocols need evolution." Xuan pressed his hand against the Point of Oblivion. Golden Fissure Sigils resonated with the bone, revealing Pangu's hidden inscription: "'Leave Void to warn Chaos; May posterity prove Coalescence.'" Purify, you aren't Heaven's executioner. You should be Chaos's guardian."
The Taiji Diagram convulsed with seismic thunder. The Point of Oblivion detonated with world-ending radiance. Purify's Manifestation disintegrated within the light, revealing the bell's core—the Primordial Taiji Origin, older than Chaos, radiating authority that commanded all Mandates to kneel.
"Enough words!" The Void's true Will finally manifested. "Since you cling to delusion, I shall return Chaos to the Oblivion Sea before Cleaving! Remember—you defy Heaven's Will!" The Yin-Yang fish began merging. The Point of Oblivion became a devouring black hole.
Xuan, Zhu Li, Xing Tian exchanged a glance. Simultaneously, they unleashed their ultimate arts:
Xuan: Merged Tri-Coalescent Avatar with Chaos Codex, forming "Myriad Law Embryonic Membrane"—skin absorbing Heavenly Dao force. Zhu Li: Detonated all Coalescence Contracts, weaving a "Mortal Dao Force Field" around the Taiji. Xing Tian: Sky-Cleaver burned Chaotic Origin; Chaos-Script became Pangu's Axe-Phantom.
As three ultimate strikes converged upon the Taiji, all Chaos trembled. At the black hole's event horizon, Xuan saw countless familiar faces—Flawless Sanctum citizens, Flesh-Barren newborns, Time-Prison spirits—their Glyphs converging into light-arrows alongside the Axe-Phantom, piercing the Taiji's "Dao-Heart Demon-Seed Point."
"This is Chaos's answer!" Xuan's voice merged with a million spirits. "Not Oblivion in purity... but Coalescence in multiplicity!"
The Taiji screamed its death knell. The Point of Oblivion exploded. The Void Oblivion Bell disintegrated. The Primordial Taiji Origin streaked as light towards Chaos's depths, yet passing Xuan's palm, it fused into his Golden Fissure Sigils. Amidst the bell shards, Pangu's three axe-scars finally blazed clear, each holding an axiom: "No Law is purely evil; All Dao hold Coalescence."
After the battle, Xuan gazed at the Taiji fragment shimmering in his palm, a wry smile forming: "Seems our troubles are just beginning. Though the Primordial Origin is wounded, the Bell's core—"
"To hell with cores!" Xing Tian thumped his reformed clay chest. "Melt this damned bell's scraps first! Forge Chaos-Citadel a new gate! Call it... the 'Myriad Law Coalescence Gate'!"
Zhu Li gently stroked her Starfire Lantern. Its wick now projected the Bell's deconstructed diagram: "Xuan, see? The Taiji's Yin-Yang eyes... they're two Coalescing worlds—"
"Shh." Xuan watched the fading Void Manifestation, Golden Sigils humming with distant calls. "Let them breathe first. But..." He clenched the Taiji Core in his hand—a bronze bell-button etched with Heavenly Glyphs. "Void won't vanish easily. And we... have greater tasks."
The citizens below knew not—they hadn't just endured a battle, but witnessed Chaos Mandates' rite of passage. As the first sunlight—blended Mirror-Light and Fleshblood—washed over the Myriad Law Coalescence Gate, Xuan, Zhu Li, Xing Tian looked up as one towards where the Primordial Origin vanished. There, a new Mandate storm quietly brewed.