# Chapter 11: The Awakening of the Pillars
"Is this my spiritual world? It's… so peaceful here."
That was the first thought that crossed Riven's mind the moment he appeared.
Here, his body wasn't flesh and blood—it was just a floating sphere of energy, glowing faintly. The entire space was vast, endless, and shrouded in a blinding white light. No matter how far he looked, there was nothing but the same radiance.
Then something caught his attention. In the distance stood seven majestic pillars, towering so high their peaks vanished into infinity. Their surfaces were covered in golden symbols, each stroke carved with unfathomable precision. Each pillar pulsed with a different hue—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet—like fragments of a broken rainbow given form.
The symbols pulsed with an ancient aura. As Riven stared, it felt as though every emotion in existence—love, hate, anger, resignation, betrayal, and even hope—was converging through them. His heart trembled. His scalp prickled. The longer he looked, the more those emotions threatened to drown him.
Just as he was about to be overwhelmed, an eerie laugh shattered the silence. The peaceful light trembled as Mr. Xiao's transparent figure appeared.
As always, his arrival was marked by that sinister laugh. Without speaking to Riven, Mr. Xiao immediately began forming a series of complex hand seals. His already translucent body grew even fainter, signaling he was pouring a terrifying amount of spiritual energy into something.
And then… Riven's spiritual world began to change.
Soil spread across the glowing floor. Grass sprouted. Trees burst from the ground. Rivers and oceans formed, their waves crashing faintly in the distance. Then beasts appeared—spirit beasts of every size and shape, filling the new world one after another.
One… ten… a hundred… a thousand.
They multiplied endlessly, until countless spirit beasts stood behind Mr. Xiao like a vast army, awaiting their general's command.
At that moment, even though his body looked ready to vanish, Mr. Xiao seemed untouchable. With beasts and plants behind him, his aura shifted. He no longer looked like a scheming old ghost but rather an immortal descending from the heavens to pass judgment.
Riven's soul trembled in awe.
Fragments of his father's voice surfaced from deep in his memory:
"Where did your faith lead you? Here, unbroken, unshackled?"
A bitter smile tugged at Riven's soul. "Dad… if you can hear me, this is where my faith has led me. Broken. Shackled. Doomed. And there's nothing I can do about it."
As death loomed closer, he began seeing faces—his mother's gentle smile now bloodied, his father's stern eyes now lifeless, his imperial teacher's wise grin gone, replaced with emptiness.
Another memory came. His father's words:
"A real man fears. But a real man will never let fear stop him from protecting the ones he loves."
"But I have nothing left…" Riven whispered. "Everyone I loved has already been taken from me. It's not fear that binds me—it's emptiness. Even if I survive… who will I share that victory with?"
Before despair could fully consume him, Mr. Xiao's spell reached completion. With a wave of his hand, the vast army of spirit beasts surged forward, shaking the very air as they charged.
This was no ordinary spell—it was a law of heaven and earth, a fragment of the profound power Mr. Xiao had once mastered. To others, creation might mean nurturing life, but to Mr. Xiao, creation was a weapon.
"If I can create armies from nothing," he used to boast, "why not use them in battle? And if they fall short, I'll simply create more. Again, and again, until my enemies are crushed."
The beasts roared, a million strong, rushing toward Riven.
Riven thought of the slaves in the Argus Clan—those already sacrificed and those still waiting for a miserable end. Faces he never knew but whose suffering mirrored his own flashed in his mind. His chest burned.
"No more…"
His will surged. He imagined their pain, their chains, their hopelessness. He clenched onto it, forged it into his reason to live. A desperate flame lit in his soul, and he roared.
The sound shook the white space. Over a third of Mr. Xiao's approaching army dissolved into motes of light.
"I may not be the victor, Mr. Xiao…" Riven screamed, his energy trembling, "…but I'll be the price!"
And then—something stirred.
The seven majestic pillars began to revolve. Slowly at first, then faster, until they spun into blinding columns of rainbow light—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet swirling together in perfect harmony.
Mr. Xiao froze. He had ignored their presence until now, too focused on devouring Riven. His eyes widened in panic.
A suction force erupted from the pillars. At first faint, then so powerful it swallowed every beast, every creation of Mr. Xiao in an instant.
"No… what is this?!" Mr. Xiao screamed. He tried forming more beasts, more defenses, but nothing worked. The pull grew stronger, dragging even his body toward the rainbow vortex.
Terrified, he turned to Riven. "Kid! What are these pillars? How did they get here?!"
Riven remained silent. The truth was, he didn't know either. When he first arrived, he thought they were natural, part of every soul. But seeing Mr. Xiao's fear… now he knew they weren't ordinary.
Little by little, Mr. Xiao's soul was sucked into the pillars.
Just before vanishing completely, he glared at Riven and spat venomous words:
"This is only a fragment of my soul! Don't get comfortable. When I regain my freedom, I'll come for you. I'll devour you, body and soul—no one else but me! Heheheh!"
And with that, his form was swallowed by the rainbow light.