The sky was burning.
But no one looked up.
Every eye was fixed on the mountaintop—on Xu Shen, standing beneath the cracked heavens, and the Twelve Architects who had failed to erase his name.
One of them—tall, still, mask half-cracked—stepped forward.
And slowly removed their mask.
Yue Qian gasped.
Lian Ming's grip on his blade faltered.
Xu Shen's gaze narrowed.
He knew that face.
Not from this life.
Not from ten thousand lives.
But from the flame before the first memory.
The Architect bowed.
And said:
"I once followed you."
"Before law. Before cycle. Before the name 'god' was forged."
"You were the one who lit the first truth."
Xu Shen didn't speak.
He remembered now.
He saw the flash of it—a garden before time, twelve souls bound by light, each gifted a fragment of the First Flame.
And one… who walked away.
Xu Shen.
Because he refused to cage the flame with doctrine.
And the others?
They called it order.
They sealed him.
Broke him.
Rewrote him into the cycle.
But they had never destroyed him.
Because fire cannot forget itself.
The unmasked Architect looked at the others.
"I was wrong," they said. "We were all wrong."
Another shook their head. "It's too late."
Xu Shen spoke.
"No. It's not."
"Because the ashes you scattered weren't yours."
"They were ours. Every soul you erased. Every name you unspoke. Every disciple you silenced."
His voice rang louder, clearer.
"I'm not here to burn the heavens."
"I'm here to return what was taken."
He raised his arms.
The Infinite Soulwheel Forge spun once—
And then shattered—
Not in destruction, but in release.
The ten thousand fragments of legacy, memory, and meaning poured out like constellations.
Into waiting souls.
Into broken sects.
Into forgotten worlds.
Into the names that had been struck from time.
The sky turned gold.
And every being—god, mortal, beast, forgotten soul—
Heard one truth spoken in their blood:
"You were never a mistake."
"You were never alone."
"You were always… fire."
The Twelve fell to one knee.
Not in defeat.
But in remembrance.
And Xu Shen looked to the sky—
Not to claim the throne.
But to return it to the flame that belonged to all.