The scroll trembled in Qi Shan Wei's grip.
Ancient ink glowed softly, as if reacting to his heartbeat.Faint motes of prismatic light drifted from each character — symbols written by a hand long dead, yet still powerful enough to stir the heavens.
Xueya knelt beside him, silent and pale, her frost moon hovering faintly at her back like a guardian spirit.
The Moon-Sealed Empress and Yue Lian waited breathlessly.Jin Wei stood behind Shan Wei, unmoving but burning with faint golden resonance.Drakonix pressed against Shan Wei's arm, trembling with instinctive dread.
Only the Observer remained still.
"Read it," he said quietly. "Your path cannot continue without knowing what he left behind."
Shan Wei unrolled the scroll fully.
The moment he did—
WHOOOM—
A blast of prismatic air surged outward.
The ground cracked.Snow scattered.Space itself hummed.
The ink expanded into glowing script across the air in front of him:
"To the one who bears the prism anew…"
Xueya's lips parted.The Empress gasped softly.
Shan Wei kept reading.
1. The First Emperor's Message
The voice of the First Emperor resonated from the floating words — not spoken aloud, but echoing directly within Shan Wei's soul.
"If you are reading this, then the Devourer has returned."
The temperature plummeted.
Even the Observer flinched.
The message continued:
"And if the Devourer has returned…then you must already feel the stain it leaves in the air.The way it eats light.The way it unravels fate.The way it erases."
Shan Wei's fist tightened.
He remembered the void-creature's mouths.The way reality peeled open like wet paper.The hunger.The silence inside the darkness.
Xueya placed a steadying hand on his arm.
He continued reading.
"In my era, I failed."
Shan Wei froze.
Everyone did.
The First Emperor — the strongest cultivator in recorded history — failed?
The words shifted:
"I sealed the Devourer, but I did not destroy it.It marked me.Hunted me.And in the end…it devoured my throne."
The Empress clutched her robe tighter.
"Th-this… this isn't in any historical record…"
The Observer sighed.
"Because all who knew the truth died."
2. The Inheritance Shan Wei Never Knew He Had
The next line appeared in a blazing arc of seven-colored light.
"You, who bear the Prismatic Spark…you are my successor."
Shan Wei's breath caught.
The First Emperor continued:
"My death was not the end — only a delay.The prism chose another.It always does.It always will."
Xueya whispered:
"So… Shan Wei was always meant to…"
She couldn't finish the sentence.
Shan Wei kept reading, pulse thundering.
3. The Warning That Freezes the Soul
"But know this, successor:the Devourer does not simply return.It remembers.It never forgets the scent of the one who defies it."
Drakonix whimpered, pressing closer.
The next line appeared slowly… painfully… as if the ink resisted being written.
"The moment you awakened the Overdrive,it found you."
Shan Wei's hand began shaking.
He remembered the void-creature turning toward him.Its many eyes focusing.The soundless roar.
Xueya leaned closer, voice trembling.
"So from now on… it will chase you?"
The Observer nodded grimly.
"Across realms. Across lifetimes. That is the mark."
Yue Lian swallowed.
"…It will never stop?"
The Observer's eyes lowered.
"No. Not until one of you ceases to exist."
4. The Prophecy of Shan Wei's Death
Shan Wei forced himself to read the next line.
It appeared in a slow, agonizing burn:
"The Devourer kills every Prismatic Emperor candidate."
His heart stuttered.
"It killed me."
Shan Wei's vision blurred.
"It will try to kill you."
Xueya's fingers dug into Shan Wei's sleeve.
"No. He won't die. He—"
But the scroll did not care for comfort.
"There is a moment — a single moment —when every Prismatic Spark reaches its peak.At that moment…you will be weakest."
Shan Wei stiffened.
"Weakest? Why?"
The Observer exhaled.
"Because when the Prismatic Dao blooms fully… your body becomes an empty channel for a heartbeat. A single instant where you possess infinite power but cannot control any of it."
A vulnerable point.
A fatal point.
A perfect opening for the Devourer.
The next line confirmed it:
"At your moment of ascension…the Devourer will come."
Shan Wei swallowed hard.
"And if I'm not strong enough by then?"
The scroll answered brutally:
"Then you will die as I did."
5. The Secret the First Emperor Could Not Say Aloud
The final line pulsed with a fierce, living glow.
"But successor… I learned something too late.Something I never had the strength to realize.Something the prism tried to show me."
The world held its breath.
Even the wind paused.
"The Devourer is not hunting you alone.It is hunting… what sleeps inside you."
Shan Wei's vision shook.
"What… what does that mean?!"
The scroll began to burn.
The Observer's voice rose sharply.
"Shan Wei — step back! It's collapsing!"
Xueya grabbed him, pulling him back just as—
BOOOOM—
The scroll exploded into spiraling prismatic dust.
But not before a final whisper etched into the air:
"Find the truth beneath the first realm you shatter."
Then everything went quiet.
Deathly quiet.
Shan Wei stood frozen.
Something inside his chest pulsed once.
Twice.
Then a voice whispered behind him —
a voice that didn't belong to anyone present.
A voice ancient.Cold.Devouring.
"…I found you."
Shan Wei's heart stopped.
And the world around him darkened.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.