It started with a shadow.
Then a second.
Then twelve.
Twelve figures emerged through cracks in the upper sky—each draped in robes of void-thread, wearing masks carved from starbone. Their feet didn't touch the earth. Their presence erased wind, silenced time.
The Twelve Architects of the Celestial Court.
Not envoys.
Not enforcers.
Gods.
They did not wield blades.
They wielded laws.
And they had come for one thing:
Xu Shen.
The realm trembled.
Yue Qian clutched her blade.
Lian Ming exhaled slowly.
No one had ever seen a god descend into the mortal realms. The risk was too high. The rules too sacred.
But this?
This was different.
Because Xu Shen wasn't just defying the cycle.
He was replacing it.
The lead Architect stepped forward.
His mask bore the glyph for Silence.
He spoke one word:
"Reclaimer."
The word rippled across reality.
Trees died.
Clouds collapsed.
Scriptures burned blank in every sect within a thousand leagues.
Xu Shen stood at the peak of the Thousand Veil Sect.
He looked up.
He did not move.
He did not summon his forge.
He simply breathed.
And the breath burned gold.
"You speak my classification," Xu said, voice steady.
"But not my name."
The masked gods said nothing.
Xu smiled.
"Say it."
"If you want to unmake me, say my name."
None of them did.
Because they couldn't.
Suddenly—
Five stars in the sky turned red.
One shattered.
The heavens were bleeding.
The gods stepped forward.
Time warped.
Gravity bent.
Every disciple fell to their knees—
Except Xu Shen.
He raised his hand.
The Infinite Soulwheel Forge ignited behind him—
But now it pulsed with twelve threads.
Not ten thousand lives.
Twelve unspoken laws.
Laws Xu Shen had begun rewriting.
He was no longer just wielding legacy.
He was now wielding origin.
The gods unleashed their first strike:
Annihilation Commandment: Nullify Name.
A wave of law washed down toward the mountain, seeking to erase all reference to his existence across every layer of reality.
Xu Shen opened his eyes.
And whispered:
"Not this time."
He stepped forward.
And for the first time since creation—
A mortal caught a god's law in his bare hand.
"This name," Xu said softly,
"was carved by ten thousand flames."
"Try again."
The commandment shattered like glass.
The Twelve recoiled.
And one of them—mask cracked—spoke his name.
"Xu Shen."
A tremor raced through heaven itself.
He had won.