The sea roared as if protesting Lin Xuan's defiance. From beneath its luminous surface, the Fourth Nexus Pillar emerged like a silent titan—black stone streaked with veins of violet lightning, its surface carved with markings older than language.
The world trembled.
Above, the skies fractured—cracks of golden law trembling across the firmament. Far away, in the Heavenly Tribunal, bells began to toll.
A Chaos-Bearer had awakened the Fourth Pillar.
Lin Xuan stood still, drenched in the afterglow of soulfire. The Mirror Orchid floated beside him, its petals refracting countless truths, now accepted and sealed into his core.
> "The Pillars are not gifts," the voice of the Nexus echoed in his mind. "They are locks… and you are the key."
He took a slow breath, stepping toward the rising monolith. Each step was heavy—every inch upward felt like crossing lifetimes.
When he reached the base, the air shimmered. Time bent. For a moment, he stood not in the Sea of Forgotten Dreams, but in a memory of the past—someone else's past.
An ancient battlefield. Corpses of gods. Cries in a language he didn't know, yet somehow understood.
> "Seal the Chaos Pillar!"
"He's awakening again!"
"Cut fate before it blooms!"
A crimson figure, wreathed in chains and fire, looked at him from across that battlefield. His face was obscured, but the pressure he emitted made Lin Xuan's bones rattle.
Then, silence.
The vision snapped. He stood again in the present, one hand on the pillar.
A pulse surged from the stone—a chaotic heartbeat, matching his own. The Pillar recognized him.
The sky above screamed.
Far in the Tribunal's sanctuary, Seraphis, the silver-clad executioner of the Heavenly Court, opened her eyes. Her sword pulsed once. The Gods' Council flared to life.
> "The Fourth Pillar… it has been touched."
> "Impossible. The seal should have held."
> "No seal binds Chaos when it walks freely. He has broken the Mirror Trial. That means…"
> "Lin Xuan is no longer a threat. He is a revelation."
---
Back beneath the Sea of Forgotten Dreams, the chaos surrounding the pillar coalesced into a symbol of memory—an orb, glowing faintly with strands of time.
Lin Xuan reached out.
As his fingers brushed the orb, power surged—not just energy, but knowledge. He saw truths no mortal was meant to hold:
The gods didn't create the Pillars. They stole them.
The original Chaos Bearer wasn't evil—he was a liberator. But he was erased, rebranded, feared.
The Dao itself had once been fluid—until Heaven imprisoned it into order.
He staggered back, soul burning.
> "They fear not my strength," he murmured, "but what I awaken in others…"
He clenched his fist as the Pillar's power flowed into him, marking a new stage in his evolution.
🔹 Chaos Core Phase IV: Nexus Flame Awakening
New Ability Unlocked: Memory Pulse
Sends out a wave that forces enemies to relive their worst memories, weakening willpower and disrupting focus.
Flame Expansion
Void Flame Domain now expands farther and distorts time more severely.
Mirror Sight
Passive perception of illusions and future-based manipulations.
---
Lightning thundered across the skies above the ocean. The Sea of Forgotten Dreams began to collapse—its purpose now fulfilled. Illusions peeled away, like veils burned by truth.
Lin Xuan stepped onto the wind, ascending into the fading light.
He didn't look back.
He no longer needed dreams.
His next destination was clear.
> The Fifth Pillar.
Hidden in the realm where karma is currency.
A place where truth weighs more than life:
The Valley of Echoing Debt.