Chapter 28: Purple Mist Void Scripture
The voice came so suddenly that Er Gou's heart clenched, and he instinctively looked up.
There sat a masked figure, unmoving, letting the rain pour over his body.
"You… who are you?"
Er Gou hadn't expected to see anyone else upon waking. But he remained wary—his suffering had taught him caution.
Tang Xi was like a demon from the depths of hell; since their first encounter, his life had become nothing but despair and hatred.
He could hardly believe anyone would appear out of nowhere to help him.
"I'm an assassin."
The answer made Er Gou's chest tighten, as if a blade had been placed against his heart, ready to pierce with a single thought.
Yet, the next moment, his eyes flickered with faint hope.
An assassin… assassins were meant to kill, weren't they?
But that hope dimmed just as quickly under the heavy rain. He forced a bitter smile.
"I… have no money."
Then he suddenly looked up at Chu Qing.
"But if you truly can kill him for me, I'll give you my life!"
He stared anxiously at the man on the wall. Would he leave—or kill him on the spot for making such a ridiculous offer?
To his surprise, the man laughed heartily before replying in a deep voice, "It's a deal."
"What?"
Er Gou froze. He… agreed?
"Tell me where you live. Once it's done, your life is mine.
"But before that, I need every detail—how it all began, everything that happened."
…
The rain fell harder than expected.
By the time Chu Qing returned to the inn, the streets outside were shrouded in gloom.
He asked the innkeeper for a bucket of hot water, took a long bath, and went over Er Gou's story in his mind.
Everything matched what he had already suspected.
Er Gou said Tang Xi hadn't known them at first; he'd merely seen them on the street, and that very night, his fiancée was taken.
He searched frantically for days before finding her mangled corpse beneath the town's stone stele.
Crushed by despair, he no longer knew how to live.
He had been ready to die—until Tang Xi appeared.
Tang Xi told him in vivid detail how the girl had been captured and killed, recounting every cruel step. Er Gou's rage exploded; he tried to strike back but had no martial skill.
Beaten and humiliated, he gained nothing—but from that day onward, one obsession consumed him: to kill Tang Xi.
He chased and attacked again and again, right up to this day.
The despair had grown unbearable. He'd tried every method and failed; his strength was gone, and he wished only to die.
But each time he neared death, Tang Xi would appear and recount those tortures anew—reviving his hatred, driving him deeper into madness.
"It's the Heart of Hatred Demon Art…"
Chu Qing muttered softly as he rose from the bath, dried himself, and changed into clean clothes before sitting cross-legged on the bed.
With a thought, the system panel appeared before him.
[Assassin System]
[Host: Chu Qing]
[Current Commission: Assassinate Tang Xi, Young Hall Master of Falling Rain Hall (Incomplete)]
[One Unopened Martial Arts Chest Detected. Open Now?]
"Open."
Chu Qing rubbed his hands together, speaking softly.
He silently prayed for a worthwhile reward—because the next target would not be easy to kill.
[Chest Opened Successfully. Reward Obtained: Purple Mist Divine Art!]
Chu Qing's eyes lit up instantly. "Purple Mist Divine Art!"
Among the Nine Arts of Mount Hua, Purple Mist ranked first!
This was a worthy prize.
At that moment, a surge of internal force rose from beside his dantian. Before he could examine it, the internal energy of the Void Scripture stirred violently, clashing against the new force from the Purple Mist Divine Art.
The two powers began to battle within him.
Chu Qing could swear the Void Scripture started it, yet the Purple Mist Divine Art refused to yield.
This was no minor matter. The slightest imbalance could mean grave injury—or death.
As he tried to circulate his inner breath while absorbing the Purple Mist Divine Art's mental formulas, curses spilled silently from his mind.
"The Void Scripture is a Daoist art, and so is the Purple Mist Divine Art.
"Two Daoist arts, and they can't coexist peacefully?
"Supposedly both are orthodox—balanced and pure—yet this is hardly harmonious!"
He split his focus three ways, trying to calm both energies and stop their conflict.
It was useless. Then he attempted fusion.
As soon as he began, a system prompt appeared.
[Purple Mist Divine Art and Void Scripture are incompatible. Internal Fusion Initiating!]
With the prompt, Chu Qing felt the two once-hostile energies suddenly show signs of harmony.
Seizing the moment, he steadied himself in meditation. His mind brimmed with the core formulas of both arts, and soon, new insights formed—born from both paths.
Within the span of a single incense stick, the two streams of inner force had intertwined completely—you within me, and I within you.
[Fusion Successful!]
Chu Qing finally exhaled in relief, grateful for his patience. Thankfully, he had waited until he returned to the inn before opening the chest.
If this had happened on the road, even a passing child could have ended him in that single vulnerable hour.
He kept his eyes closed; his internal force still needed consolidation. Following the newly-formed scripture, he guided his energy through his meridians.
Each tremor of his body marked the opening of another acupoint.
His robes fluttered though no wind blew, his hair lifting gently, and faint violet light gleamed between his closed eyelids.
Over an hour later, Chu Qing's eyes snapped open. Twin beams of violet shot forth, his surging energy rattling the bed curtains.
The window burst open with a sharp clang.
He pressed his palms together, lowering them slowly to compress all his inner strength into his dantian.
Finally, he exhaled deeply, his eyes glinting with joy.
"In just an hour, I've opened the Ren and Du meridians. If anyone knew, it would shake the martial world!
"But… this art born from the fusion of Void Scripture and Purple Mist Divine Art has yet to reach perfection."
Composing himself, Chu Qing reflected on the two manuals' differences and quickly gained insight.
"In essence, the Purple Mist Divine Art focuses on movement rather than storage of energy.
"What I gained from the system must have been the perfected version of the art.
"After fusing them, the combined strength pushed the technique to the seventh realm.
"Now, movement and cultivation are one—every gesture conceals power.
"This art is no longer merely the Void Scripture, nor purely the Purple Mist Divine Art.
"I shall name it the Purple Mist Void Scripture."
…
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