The Risen Ghost: Master of the Chaotic Origin

Chapter 8 (soulstorm) Chen’s POV

Wei Tian’s laughter echoed off the damp stone walls.

It was neither loud nor triumphant. It was the brittle laughter of a man who had rehearsed this moment too many times in his head.

“You really came,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “I almost admire it.”

Above us, the Soul-Withering Archers finished taking their aim; I could feel them targeting my vital points.

The venom beneath my boots crept upward, clinging to my ankles like something alive. It triggered the memory that had kept me going.

The same poison that destroyed my family. Its sting hadn't changed.

Wei Tian noticed my stillness and smiled more broadly.

“You see?” he said gently. “You were always like this, brilliant —but reckless. You never learned patience.”

His fingers tightened around Mei Ling’s jade pendant.

“I told Father you’d come,” he continued. “I knew the moment you sensed her resonance, you would lose your sense of reasoning.”

"Ten years, Chen," Wei Tian sneered, his imperial robes shimmering under the moss-light. "Ten years hiding in the mud like a worm, only to crawl into a birdcage the moment you sensed a familiar scent. How pathetic,” He scoffed.

A smug smile thugged at my lips as our eyes met. He was still the same —his father’s little pet.

Ten years ago, he was sent to interrogate me for the exact location of my primordial marrow, and I fell for his tricks.

The lightning behind my pupils resonated.

He raised a gloved hand —the movement was supposed to be a death sentence.

"Release!"

The snap of a hundred bowstrings echoed like a single crack of thunder. From the high balconies, a black rain of arrows tipped with soul-eating crystal, descended.

I did not move.

The moment the first arrow crossed the boundary of my aura, I activated the Chaotic Origin scripture inward.

The temperature rose. I didn’t let the spirit fight for me; I consumed everything myself.

A dark field oozed around me, no wider than an arm’s length, and within it, motion ceased.

The arrows froze just an inch from my skin.

Not stopped—smothered.

Their shafts trembled, their motion drawn into my pores as raw, jagged power, before they crumbled into harmless dust. The venom on the floor crystallized into frost.

Wei Tian’s laughter died in his throat, replaced by a wet, choking sound. "Impossible... that venom… should.”

A hitched laugh escaped my throat.

“You’re still no better than the Wei Tian I remembered a decade ago.” I said, my voice suddenly commanded the tower's authority.

“You really think that after a decade of hiding in mist, this same venom would do me harm? How stupid.” I jeered.

“It should at least suppress your… core,” he stuttered, stepping away slowly.

"My core is a void, Wei Tian," I said without raising my voice, but the walls fractured anyway. "You cannot suppress what has no bottom.”

I didn’t give the archers a chance to nock another arrow before closing in.

I moved faster than anything they had ever seen. To the archers above, I was no longer a man; I was a blur of charcoal-grey smoke. I didn't use the stairs. I kicked off the central cage, and launched myself onto the first balcony.

The nearest archer didn't even have time to drop his bow. I drove my palm into his chest and extracted his spiritual core.

The Void Script flared in my mind and the spirits inside screamed, waiting for release.

I drew five more spiritual cores in seconds before letting the spirits out.

“Feed,” I whispered.

It wasn't a fight —it was a harvest.

I moved through the balconies like a blade through paper. The "elite" guards of the Yan Empire fell silently, their Qi unraveling into blue ribbons that fed the storm within me. By the time I landed back on the main floor, the balconies were a graveyard of "hollow men"—warriors alive, but spiritually emptied.

Wei Tian backed away, his boots skidding in the Soul-Withering liquid. He drew his ceremonial sword, the golden blade glowing with frantic light.

"Stay back! I am the Crown Prince! I am the sun of this Empire!” he yelled, stumbling backward.

“I am the destiny this Empire has been waiting a decade for,” I scoffed.

I grabbed his throat, slamming him against the cold iron gate. The air around his dantian vibrated.

Wei Tian screamed in panic.

The Void Script hummed, sending controlled pulses through his energy core —just enough to drive pain through his meridian.

He fell to his knees, clutching at his robe.

“Chen… stop, please!”

I crouched before him.

“Ten years,” I said quietly. “You watched my life shatter.”

The Void Script hummed again and I let the air around his energy core vibrate at a resounding frequency.

Wei Tian let out a harrowing scream—the sound of a soul being rubbed against a whetstone. It was the exact agony I felt ten years ago: the feeling of one’s identity being peeled away layer by layer.

“Chen, please … I didn’t have a choice!” he gasped. “Your clan was already marked! He told the coalition that your bloodline was too dangerous!”

I tilted my head.

“He?” I repeated.

He nodded frantically. “Yes, my father was greedy, but he didn't have the guts to attack your whole clan. That beast controlled everything. He told my father what to do…. How to burn your clan.”

My fingers tightened slightly.

“Who is he?”

Wei Tian sobbed. “I don’t know his name! But he’s not someone bound by the imperial laws. He came from the sun- shattering pagoda, that is where he took her —your sister….”

My heart skipped a beat.

“She’s alive,” he blurted. “Barely. They’re using her—her blood and her spiritual core to feed something ancient. Father couldn’t do it alone.”

I leaned closer.

“Where is it located?”

“I don’t know. Father rarely tells me anything, you know he doesn’t trust me, but Lin Xuer’er knows everything.” His lips twisted into a bitter smile.

“She helped choose the prison. Helped refine the method. We are not a normal couple.” He coughed.

“The wedding was just a facade to bring her to the imperial palace. My father admires her a lot for her essence. He trusts her more than he could ever trust me.” Wei Tian spat, the pain of betrayal evident in his eyes.

Silence fell and the vibration stopped.

Wei Tian collapsed forward, convulsing as his spiritual fire drained out of him like a dying ember. When it was over, he lay there—barely breathing, his cultivation shattered beyond repair.

He was utterly mediocre.

I turned toward the exit, flames still flickering around me.

The pendant at my chest pulsed once.

Sun-Shattering Pagoda.

Lin Xuer’er.

And a hidden beast.

They had underestimated me—and invited catastrophe.