A Cunning Pervert in the Cultivation World

The moment the white skull mask emerged from the darkness, the entire forest seemed to grow colder.

Purple Death’s pupils contracted as he took in the creature…

…It was humanoid, but no human should look like that.

Its body was unnaturally tall and thin, wrapped in what looked like living darkness that look like a tattered cloak, along with it long black arms dangled almost to the ground, ending in razor-sharp claws that reflected the faint purple flames burning around them.

Most horrifying of all… its skull mask had no eyes.

Only two empty black slits stared back at him.

“…A puppet?” one of the silver-class assassins whispered shakily, thinking that this thing really did resemble a puppet.

The way it move and everything…

But what kind of hellish puppet is that…?

At his words, the creature tilted its head.

Then it vanished.

“…!!” Purple Death immediately ducked down—

SLASH!

Above where his head had been a moment ago, the air itself was cut.

A black claw tore through the space where his head had been a fraction of a second earlier.

After dodging, Purple Death instantly leaped backward, his gaze narrowing at this strange creature.

Not only was its speed monstrous, but its entire existence felt oddly wrong to him.

’Strange… One moment it feel like it is there, and the next it’s gone…’

He was someone with extremely sharp perception and had encountered and fought many strange things in his life, but this… was a first for him.

Purple Death had a feeling this might be one of the creature’s abilities.

So he decided to test his hypothesis.

CRACK!

Purple flames suddenly erupted around his blade as he slashed sideways.

SHING!

A sharp wave of flame mixed with sword qi exploded toward the creature.

For a split second, the creature reappeared mid-air, twisting its body unnaturally to avoid the strike.

But the sword flame still sliced through the darkness of its body.

At this, Purple Death didn’t stop and was already moving.

Another short blade appeared in his other hand as he began to crouched low.

CRACK!

CRACK!

With both blades coated in strange purple flames, his purple eyes glinted beneath the hood.

His figure suddenly split into three purple afterimages as he launched forward with terrifying assassin footwork.

“Purgatory Pursuit!”

BOOMM!

With those words, Purple Death suddenly became a storm of purple flames, vanishing and reappearing like flying blades as he slashed at Shadow in rapid succession.

His movement speed was so terrifyingly fast that the silver-class assassins could barely follow his silhouette with their eyes.

SLASH!

SLASH!

SLASH!

The area around Shadow turned into a whirlwind of sharp flames.

One moment he was behind Shadow.

The next, he appeared above it.

Then instantly below it again.

Each slash carried compressed sword qi mixed with strange purple flames that seem to be capable of corroding spiritual energy itself.

BOOM!

A massive tree behind Shadow split apart from the residual blade pressure alone.

The creature’s dark body was rapidly carved open by the relentless assault, as long black cuts spread across its torso and limbs as chunks of darkness-like flesh scattered into the air.

Yet—

Purple Death’s eyes narrowed harder beneath his hood.

’There’s no blood or solid part…?’

Every strike clearly landed, yet somehow it felt as if he was slashing at empty air…

Just as Purple Death was analyzing the creature, he also realized something else.

That thing… was observing him too.

Its empty black slits seem to remained locked onto him despite his terrifying movement speed… almost as if it could still see him clearly.

“…”

’Is it looking down on me…?’

Purple Death’s killing intent slowly rose at the thought of this arrogant creature that refused to retaliate and simply kept observing him.

Then—

BOOM!

A violent surge of purple flames exploded from his body.

The surrounding assassins were forced backward as scorching heat waves swept across the forest.= as they saw the ground beneath Purple Death cracked apart.

“Trying to read my movements…?”

His cold, youthful voice echoed beneath the hood.

“Then you’d better keep watching…”

WHOOSH!

His figure vanished completely.

This time, even the silver-class assassins lost sight of him.

Then—

SLASH!

SLASH!

SLASH!

SLASH!

Purple flame blades exploded from every direction simultaneously as the forest instantly turned into a domain of purple sword light.

Trees were shredded apart before they could even collapse and the earth split open repeatedly under the overwhelming blade pressure.

Shadow’s body was struck dozens of times in an instant.

Its tall, hunched figure swayed as countless slashes carved through the darkness surrounding it.

But Purple Death didn’t stop.

His speed continued increasing.

Faster.

Faster.

AND FASTER.

The purple afterimages began merging together until they transformed into a gigantic spinning vortex around Shadow.

It was like a tornado of purple flames and sword qi.

BOOOOOOM!!

The forest violently shook.

The spinning storm devoured everything nearby.

Ancient trees were uprooted and shredded into dust before being swallowed by the vortex.

Even the nearby shadows were distorted by the overwhelming heat and blade pressure.

At a distance away, the silver-class assassins stared with pale faces.

“This… this is Purple Death’s true speed…?”

Inside the violent storm of sword qi and purple flames…

Purple Death moved at terrifying speed, yet his gaze remained ice-cold and terrifyingly calm as he observed the creature being continuously shredded apart.

Soon, he finally noticed something.

’Hmm?’

SLASH!

His attack clearly struck its neck, but…

…a thin black line suddenly appeared across the creature’s throat for less than a split second.

It perfectly aligned with the trajectory of Purple Death’s blade.

Then—

His sword passed straight through and the thin line instantly closed again as if nothing had happened.

Realizing this, Purple Death’s pupils shrank slightly.

If it weren’t for his terrifying senses and experience, there was no way he could have noticed that.

’So that’s it…’

Even while moving at terrifying speed inside the tornado of purple flames, his mind remained ice cold.

He finally understood why every attack felt wrong.

This thing wasn’t tanking his attacks.

…It was opening itself.

Every time his blade touched its body, the darkness around the impact point would split apart beforehand, allowing the attack to phase harmlessly through empty space.

’No… that isn’t quite right…’

Purple Death still felt like he was missing something, but then—

Inside the violent storm of sword qi, Shadow slowly raised its head.

Its skull mask stared directly at Purple Death despite the countless attacks raining upon it.

Slowly, without caring about the slashes shredding across its body, Shadow lowered itself into a crouching stance.

…The exact same stance Purple Death was using before.

At this, Purple Death’s eyes narrowed sharply.

“…It copied me?”