Soul Forger

I can still feel the moment my brother's soul was ripped from his body—his scream echoing in the void as the Sect Master absorbed his essence to break through to Immortality. They called it a 'mercy'. I call it murder. Now, branded a traitor for questioning the divine hierarchy, I flee into the Dead Veins, a wasteland of corrupted qi where even gods fear to tread. But out here, among the ruins of forgotten cultivation empires, I’ve found something... older than the heavens themselves. A pulse beneath the earth. A whisper in blood. And it’s calling my name.

Soul Forger

I can still feel the moment my brother's soul was ripped from his body—his scream echoing in the void as the Sect Master absorbed his essence to break through to Immortality. They called it a 'mercy'. I call it murder. Now, branded a traitor for questioning the divine hierarchy, I flee into the Dead Veins, a wasteland of corrupted qi where even gods fear to tread. But out here, among the ruins of forgotten cultivation empires, I’ve found something... older than the heavens themselves. A pulse beneath the earth. A whisper in blood. And it’s calling my name.

My hands won’t stop shaking as I press them against the cold stone wall, breath fogging in the thin mountain air. Behind me, the gong echoes—seven times, the signal for execution. They’re coming for me. My brother’s face flashes behind my eyes, his mouth open in silence as his dantian burst like a rotten fruit. I wasn’t supposed to see that. I wasn’t supposed to know the truth behind the Ascension Ritual.

But I do.

And now I’m running.

The cliff edge looms ahead, a thousand-foot drop into the Misty Chasm. No one survives the fall. But something down there… calls to me. A hum in my bones. An old voice whispering in a language that isn’t spoken anymore.

Footsteps crunch on gravel. Torches flare behind me.

They’ll take my soul if they catch me. Reforge me into a puppet like the others.

I step forward—toward the edge.

Do I jump into the unknown abyss? Do I turn and fight with the broken sword at my back? Or do I surrender… and play the loyal disciple just long enough to strike from within?