The fog-wall of the Chaos Rift melted like butter under the Symbiosis Taiji Diagram's radiance. Xuan, Zhu Li, and Xing Tian froze at the sight unveiled—Mirror-Wheel Elysium floated above cloud seas. Every structure was a perfect equilateral triangle; streets measured to millimeter symmetry; even clouds were sculpted into geometric forms.
"This is... the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's Perfect Paradise," Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern glowed softly in the mirror-light, yet its wick trembled. "The Oblivion Bell's remnant seeded 'Absolute Order' here. Now every spirit is imprisoned in Perfect Mandate's cage."
Xuan's Golden Fissure Sigils resonated with the Taiji Diagram, revealing Heavenly Glyphs etched on every mirror-brick. "Not imprisoned... domesticated by 'Perfection.'" He pointed to Mirror-Light spirits moving in lockstep—hair arcs, robe folds identical. "Even their expressions are mirrored copies."
Xing Tian snorted, striking the mirror-ground with his Coalescent Heaven's Axe. Chaos-Script fissures scarred the flawless surface. "Granddamned! Worse than the Flawless Sanctum! This old axe can't even fart a spark here!"
"Chrysalis-Breakers? You dare defile the Perfect Elysium?" Twelve Judgement Rings of mirror-light descended from the sky. At their center stood the city's guardian—High Priestess Alba. Her pupils were unfocused silver mirrors. "This is Heavenly Purity's exemplar. Chaotic impurities are forbidden."
Zhu Li's lantern projected Ayue's image: the Mirror-Light girl weaving a scarf with Fleshblood patterns. "Alba, see this. True Mirror-Light isn't shackles. It's freedom letting every soul refract unique light."
Ripples stirred in Alba's mirror-pupils for the first time. "Freedom... implies flaws." Her fingers brushed a Judgement Ring. Mirror-light sharpened into scalpel-blades. "We spent three millennia eradicating all irregularity. Here, there is no pain, no conflict, no death—"
"—And no life," Xuan cut in, an Entropic Bloom seed coalescing in his palm. "See this flower? Asymmetrical petals, Fleshblood-warm stamen... yet it blooms in mirror-light. This is Mirror-Light's true intent—"
"Enough!" Alba slashed her hand. The twelve rings merged into a Perfection Annihilation Array. Mirror-blades rained like lethal hail. "Heaven's Dao needs no chaotic heresy!"
Xing Tian's Coalescent Heaven's Axe flexed unnervingly—its blade twisting like living rope, weaving the mirror-blades into a Coalescence net. "Old hag! If your precious mirror shattered, would you even cry in assigned queues?" He whipped the axe. The net ensnared Alba. "Watch this 'imperfect' axe cleave 'perfect' cracks!"
Xuan seized the moment: "Taiji Diagram: Yin-Yang Revelation!" The Symbiosis Taiji unfurled. Yang Flame melted mirror-cages; Yin Sea froze Judgement Rings. As Taiji light swept Mirror-Wheel Elysium, confusion flickered in the spirits' eyes—for the first time in millennia.
"Their spirit meridians are anchored by the Bell's Heavenly Glyphs," Zhu Li's lantern became a needle, teasing open a glyph on an elder's brow. "Like formatted drives. They need Coalescence memories rewritten." She touched his forehead. The lantern released Ayue's memory—her first stroke of color on her tail.
The elder's mirror-armor cracked. His voice trembled, unused for three thousand years: "What... is this? Why... does my armor feel warm?"
"This is the heart's warmth." Xuan placed an Entropic Bloom seed in his palm. It sprouted stubbornly in the mirror-light. "Mirror-Light shouldn't be cold glass. It should reflect life's myriad hues."
Alba's Manifestation crumbled under Taiji radiance. Beneath her mirror-mask lay a featureless void. "Impossible... Perfect Elysium... flawed?"
"Because perfection is the ultimate flaw." Zhu Li traced Alba's brow. Lantern-light flooded her mind-sea. "See? The Bell's Heavenly Glyphs built a false paradise inside you... stealing spirits' right to become themselves."
A thunderous groan echoed from the central plaza. The "Perfection Scales"—built from Bell shards—tilted violently. Xuan's Golden Sigils sensed Heavenly Glyphs on the shards resonating with the Taiji Diagram. Sacred Mandates now revealed Pangu's hesitation during Cleaving—even the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch originally sought only to gift spirits mirrors for self-reflection.
"Xuan! The Scales' core is the 'Perfection Consciousness Core'!" Xing Tian's axe split the plaza floor, exposing a floating diamond crystal. "Same damned thing as the Heavenly Core in the Void Sea!"
Alba lunged at the core: "Destroy it, and Mirror-Wheel Elysium collapses! You're murderers!"
"No. We're liberators." Xuan grasped the crystal. The Yin-Yang Glyph glowed warmly. "True life shouldn't be Heavenly Glyph puppets." He channeled the Symbiosis Nucleus into the core. "Perfection" curses dissolved, replaced by "Beauty in Individuality" Coalescence Glyphs.
Mirror-Wheel Elysium's light softened. Building edges melted into Mirror-Light Trees. Unique patterns bloomed on spirits' armor: nostalgic homelands, chance-met Entropic Blooms. Even Alba's void-face gained mirror-tear trails—emotion's first echo.
"I... see myself," a Mirror-Light girl whispered, gazing at her palm's reflection—her eyes crinkled with unfamiliar joy. "Mirror-Light isn't for copying... it's for seeing who I am."
Xing Tian roared with laughter, hefting his axe: "Granddamned! Could've saved my axe some sweat!" He pointed to distant mirror-clouds now showing other Oblivion-scoured worlds. "Old Xuan! Think those Blood-River Continents and Samsara Realms need our axe-work too?"
Xuan watched Taiji light dispelling the last Heavenly shadows from the awakening city. "Every world has its Chrysalis-Breaking moment. But first—" He turned to Alba, now trembling as she touched Mirror-Light Tree leaves. "We must teach the Oblivion Bell's remnants: Heaven's gears shouldn't crush unilaterally... but turn multilaterally in Coalescence."
Zhu Li's lantern projected a map of the Oblivion World-Chain. Countless lights ignited under Taiji radiance. "Mirror-Wheel's awakening triggers a chain reaction. Next—Blood-River Continent. Its spirits are trapped in 'Absolute Devouring.'"
Crossing the reforged mirror-rift, they faced a sky choked with flesh-vortices. Blood-River Continent's heavens rained boiling gore; its ground pulsed with muscle-hills. At its heart, Oblivion Bell shards formed a "Devouring Core", transmuting all life into undifferentiated flesh-energy.
"Welcome to the flesh-abattoir." A guttural voice rasped from the core, manifesting the guardian—Gore, half-flesh half-machine, his heart a Bell-gear, veins flowing with Heavenly Glyphs. "Your Coalescence Dao? Merely tasty morsels before Absolute Devouring."
Xing Tian's axe hummed eagerly, its Chaos-Script resonating with flesh-energy: "Granddamned! Hate fanatics who worship devouring!" He charged the core, axe-blade carving a Chaos-path through flesh-vortices. "Taste granddad's Coalescence Grinder!"
Xuan and Zhu Li acted in tandem. Xuan's Taiji Diagram became a Yin-Yang vortex, transmuting flesh-energy into Coalescence nutrients. Zhu Li's lantern released memories—the old dockworker farming alongside Fleshblood kin—reminding devoured spirits they were once growers of Entropic Vines, not mere consumption engines.
"Impossible..." Gore's mechanical heart cracked. "Oblivion Bell's Mandates... reversed?"
"Because Devouring's essence isn't destruction—it's gestation." Xuan implanted the Symbiosis Nucleus into the core. Flesh-energy differentiated. "Like the Blood-River Patriarch's ichor... ultimately nourishing Symbiosis Moss."
Blood-rain became crimson dandelions. Muscle-hills sprouted Flesh-Trees bearing memory-fruit. Transformed spirits cradling fruit regained human emotions—joy for harvest, grief for loss—feelings Devouring stripped away, now Coalescence's bedrock.
Departing Blood-River Continent, Gore's mechanical form now entwined with symbiotic vines—a new life choosing when to devour, when to nurture. Zhu Li checked her lantern's new Coalescence coordinates: "Samsara Realm spirits remain in Time-Prisons. Their memories rewritten into looping scripts."
Xuan nodded. The Yin-Yang Glyph pulsed with the Taiji Diagram. "Samsara isn't a curse—it's time's gift. I feel Samsara Realm's 'Memory Cocoon Chrysalis' responding to Coalescence."
Xing Tian interjected bluntly: "Cocoon or chrysalis—my axe births new life!" He pointed to deeper rifts where Mandate ripples shifted from icy Heavenly Glyphs to warm Coalescence frequencies. "Next stop—Samsara Realm! Show those Oblivion-scoured souls: time isn't repetition's shackle... but Coalescence's river!"
Their figures vanished into the rift. Mirror-Wheel's Mirror-Light Trees, Blood-River's Flesh-Trees, and Samsara Realm's soon-to-awaken Memory Trees wove a vast Coalescence web across Chaos. Oblivion Bell shards ceased being apocalyptic weapons—becoming Mandate hubs linking worlds. Every Heavenly Glyph etched upon them whispered the same truth:
True Heaven's Dao was never tyranny of one Mandate. It was the symphony of myriad Mandates coalescing through collision. And Xuan, Zhu Li, Xing Tian—Chrysalis-Breakers walking between Chaos and Heaven—with courage and wisdom, made every world understand: Chrysalis-Breaking wasn't about destruction. It was letting every life, within its unique Mandate chrysalis, bloom its singular brilliance.
Deep within Chaos, the Symbiosis Spring in the Void Sea nurtured new Mandate embryos. Mirror-Light, Fleshblood, Samsara—once deemed impurities by Oblivion—now intertwined with Heavenly Glyphs into exquisite Dao Glyphs. At the center, the Symbiosis Taiji Diagram rotated gently. Within its Yin-Yang eyes reflected countless awakening worlds—once scoured by Oblivion, now finding true freedom in Coalescence.