Chaos Begins

Time in the Dawn of Primordial Chaos Land seemed frozen in some summer afternoon. The leaves of the Old Scholar Tree rustled softly. Chu Mo held the grass-woven sword tassel Yun Che had handed him, his fingertips brushing the thin calluses on her palm—proof that every version of her across thirty thousand years of reincarnation had once held a sword. The Chaos Sword and Fate Defying Sword had long since merged into his spiritual veins. At this moment, they had become two wooden swords suspended from the Old Scholar Tree's gnarled branches, the two characters "Chu Mo" on their blades flickering in and out amid the dappled shadows.

"Chu Mo, look at the rings of this scholar tree." Yun Che suddenly pointed at the strange patterns on the trunk. The rings had actually formed a star map from the beginning of chaos. "Every time we practice swordsmanship, another ring appears, as if it is recording laws that belong to us." Her soft sword drew a trail of frost across the ground, yet instead of condensing cold energy as usual, it turned into transparent ripples and merged into the mist of the chaotic space.

Chu Mo gently stroked the hilt, sensing Chaos Power flow through his body. There was no Law of Five Elements here, no Primordial Chaos Source—only the purest chaotic energy, like returning to the empty stillness before all things were born. When he unleashed the first stance, "First Sprout," the wooden sword did not bring forth Sword Qi. Instead, it gave birth to new branches upon the scholar tree. Tender green buds bloomed at its tip, only to return to chaos an instant later.

"So here, destruction and creation are merely two sides of the same power." Chu Mo murmured, recalling the sword master's maxim: "Chaos is not a vessel; it is the heart." Yun Che suddenly seized his wrist and guided his sword tip toward her heart. "Then tell me, is my heart creation, or destruction?" The Zi Lin Curse Mark at the corner of her eye glimmered faintly, resonating subtly with the mist of the chaotic space.

Ripples suddenly spread across the distant wall of mist as a childlike figure formed of light orbs stumbled toward them. His body was half-transparent, and every step left behind a burning trail of stars. A rhombic fragment identical to the one in Mount Guiji's sword tomb was embedded in his chest. "Big brother, big sister, save us!" The child's voice trembled with tears. "The shadows inside the mist wall want to devour all the light orbs!"

Chu Mo and Yun Che exchanged a glance and gripped their wooden swords at the same time. When they followed the child through the mist wall, the sight before them made their pupils contract sharply—countless members of the Light Orb Race were fleeing through the fog. Every light orb possessed a human outline, while the "shadows" pursuing them had condensed from their own fears and obsessions. Each shadow bore rhombic crystal eyes identical to those of the silver-scaled man.

"Are these... the native souls from the beginning of chaos?" Yun Che's soft sword swept out a healing arc of light, only for the arc to turn black the instant it touched the shadows. Chu Mo suddenly remembered the youth's words before he left: "The true enemies are those who raise the banner of orthodoxy high in the light..." So, in this lawless chaos, the greatest threat was actually the delusions within living beings themselves.

"Don't be afraid. Look at our swords." Chu Mo thrust his wooden sword into the ground. Chaos Power spread from its tip, forming a protective barrier around the Light Orb Race. He saw a sliver of light at every light orb's core—their untainted original hearts—which echoed from afar with the twin seeds in his Sea of Consciousness. When the first light orb touched the barrier, the fearful shadow on its surface transformed into butterflies and fluttered away.

"They're absorbing our sword hearts?" Yun Che watched golden-purple light bloom at her fingertips. The moment those light orbs touched her, they were briefly able to solidify into physical forms, revealing faces identical to the "ordinary versions" they had seen within the light cocoon. A little girl wearing a purple-scaled ribbon tugged Yun Che's hand. Her eyes were like two clear springs, reflecting the scene of sword practice beneath the Old Scholar Tree.

A cold laugh suddenly echoed from the depths of the mist wall, and countless crystal eyes lit up in the fog. Chu Mo's Twin Life Force trembled violently as he saw the owners of those eyes—"Law Mimicry Entities" condensed from chaotic delusions. Each mimicry entity wore armor from a different divine region, with ancient runes such as "Heavenly Mandate Guardian" engraved upon their chests. "So the laws of the divine regions were originally crystallizations of chaotic delusions." That realization abruptly transformed his sword momentum, and the wooden sword actually cleaved tangible sword intent through the chaos.

"Chu Mo, use our memories as the sword's guide!" Yun Che suddenly wrapped her arms around his waist, completely connecting her spiritual veins to his. In an instant, the moonlight behind the Ye family's mountain, the lava of Godfall Island, the sword cries of Mount Guiji—all the scenes they had shared became tangible blades of light in the chaos. When those light blades cut through the mimicry entities, the runes on their armor shattered one after another, exposing the black cores beneath, formed from fear and greed.

Before the final mimicry entity dissipated, it hurled a crystal at Chu Mo. "You think hiding in chaos will let you escape? The stars of the Ninth Divine Region are falling, and those divine masters who hold orthodoxy high have long planted within your sword heart..." Before it could finish, it turned to ash. Yet the crystal scorched a black mark into Chu Mo's palm, engraved with the same sealing incantation found upon the sword master's coffin. After the Light Orb Race's crisis was resolved, they surrounded Chu Mo and Yun Che as they returned to the Old Scholar Tree. By then, the scholar tree had grown towering enough to blot out the sky. The star map in its rings had pieced together the complete landscape of the Dawn of Primordial Chaos Land, and within its heart lay a blank stone stele—the chaotic space's call for a new orthodoxy.

"Big brother, your sword is glowing!" The little girl with the purple-scaled ribbon pointed at the tree trunk. Chu Mo looked up and saw that the wooden swords had somehow returned to the forms of the Chaos Sword and Fate Defying Sword. Tiny runes were being born where the two swords overlapped, a new law nurtured jointly by his and Yun Che's sword hearts: "Without end, without beginning; strike as the heart wills."

Late at night, Yun Che fell asleep with her head on Chu Mo's arm, but he gazed at the chaotic mist wall, lost in thought. The warning from the crystal fragment still echoed in his ears. What did the falling stars of the Ninth Divine Region signify? Had those "divine masters" they had seen in the light cocoon truly planted some hidden seal within his sword heart? More importantly, now that the Light Orb Race in the chaotic space had begun to solidify into physical bodies, did it mean he and Yun Che could no longer avoid the strife of the outside world?

The Chaos Sword suddenly emitted an almost inaudible tremor, and the characters "Chu Mo" on its hilt flashed with faint light. He lowered his head and saw Yun Che's lashes cast butterfly-wing shadows beneath her eyes. He remembered how, when she had blocked that fatal strike for him on Godfall Island, she had rested just as quietly in his arms. "Even if the outside world's orthodoxy is as heavy as the mist wall, as long as she remains warm in my arms, my sword will always know where to strike."

The next morning, as they practiced swordsmanship beneath the Old Scholar Tree, violent tremors suddenly came from the direction of the mist wall. Chu Mo saw a golden beam pierce the haze. It came from the direction of the Ninth Divine Region, and within it, he could vaguely make out the brightest of thirteen stars—the sword master star that represented him—being swallowed by some dark force.

Yun Che's soft sword fell to the ground with a clang. "Chu Mo, your eyes..." He looked up and found her eyes reflecting his present appearance: thirteen star trails swirled within the golden light of his left eye, while the purple flames in his right eye churned with the image of the chaotic mist wall. This was the manifestation of the resonance between Twin True Intent and the chaotic space, as well as a warning of the crisis outside.

"It is time to return." Chu Mo picked up both swords. The Light Orb Race upon the sword tassel transformed into streams of light and wound around them. "But this time, we are no longer travelers driven by fate." He looked toward the gradually clearing outline of the divine regions beyond the mist wall. Atop one palace there, a figure wearing a bronze mask was stringing the heads of twelve divine masters into a new sword tassel. The eyes beneath that mask were exactly like the crystals of the chaotic mimicry entities.

The wind of the Dawn of Primordial Chaos Land lifted Yun Che's hem. She suddenly laughed softly. "Chu Mo, do you know? In the light cocoon, I saw our most ordinary ending—teaching children swordsmanship beneath the Old Scholar Tree until our hair turned white as snow." Her fingertips brushed the sword calluses on the back of his hand. "But only now do I understand that the most extraordinary kind of ordinary is being able to hold your hand and strike at anything that wishes to take this ordinary life away."

The two swords clashed in the morning mist, releasing a clear, ringing sword cry. This time, that cry no longer carried the vicissitudes of thirty thousand years. Instead, it brimmed with anticipation and resolve toward the unknown. As Chu Mo and Yun Che stepped into the mist wall, the Old Scholar Tree in the chaotic space suddenly bloomed with seven-colored radiance. The Light Orb Race they had saved was using their purest original hearts to weave a new destiny for these two Fate Defiers—a Path Without End defined by no orthodoxy, belonging only to Chu Mo and Yun Che.