Scripture of Days Past

Chapter 1: Story

A boundless expanse of purple filled the entire field of view as countless lights and shadows rapidly flashed past.

Chu Qiguang felt like he had crossed over an immeasurable distance. All he could see was a purple light that seemed to be protecting him, and within that purple light, he could just barely make out some flowing runes.

The runes resembled free-flowing clouds, smoke, and water. Chu Qiguang had never seen anything like them before, but somehow, a sense of enlightenment arose in his heart, allowing him to understand them.

”Purple Mansion Sacred Scripture...”

The purple light brightened significantly as he experienced this sense of enlightenment. Then, suddenly, Chu Qiguang felt as if he had received a heavy blow straight to the brain, and fell unconscious.

***

Chu Qiguang blinked a few times as he stared at the flat and open landscape before him. Countless thoughts flashed through his mind as he took in the lopsided mud houses, the barren fields, and the men and women toiling away in said fields.

It was the fifth day since he had occupied this body.

These past five days had been devoid of the internet, phones, and even electricity. Instead, there was only what appeared to be an ancient village.

How did I end up in this terrible place? I worked so hard for so long and earned so much money, and it’s all gone now! And Zhou Bai still owes me so much money! I was planning to make him pay me back, but it looks like that’s not going to happen.

The more Chu Qiguang thought about his tragic situation, the more he felt a growing pain in his chest, so he could only focus his attention back on the world before him.

What exactly is this Purple Mansion Sacred Scripture? If it was able to bring me here, can it also send me back? But where can I find it?

Unfortunately, Chu Qiguang had no other leads to pursue aside from the purple light and the special runes he had witnessed during his transmigration. In other words, the so-called Purple Mansion Sacred Scripture was a complete mystery to him. Check out the segment comments for the first clue of the scavenger hunt ;)👉

Over these past five days, Chu Qiguang hadn’t dared to do anything that would’ve made him stand out. Instead, he had browsed through the memories of this body while carefully behaving the same way that the former owner of this body, Ergou, would have behaved. At the same time, he had closely observed the village.

Thankfully, it seemed that Ergou and Chu Qiguang’s memories had been very well integrated with one another, so he adapted very quickly to this new world and didn’t arouse any suspicions.

This seems to be a village from some ancient society. Looking at the night sky, stars and constellations like Polaris, Orion, and Sirius are all missing, so could it be that this place isn’t even on Earth? If that’s the case, then I can’t think of any way to get back. Instead, it’s probably better to think about how to improve my quality of life. Life here is way too hard! At the very least, I have to find a way to ensure that I can fill my belly every meal.

There was no air conditioning, no internet... In fact, he didn’t even have enough food to eat or clothes to keep him warm! These were incredibly poor conditions for an avid enjoyer of life like Chu Qiguang, and he was desperate for improvement.

He was also a man of keen attention to detail, and the more he observed, the more he could tell that the world before him was indeed extremely different from the one he had come from.

As he made his way to the foot of the large banyan tree at the entrance of the village, he saw several old men from the village sitting under the tree, surrounded by five or six young boys who were eagerly waiting to hear a story.

Chu Qiguang sat down nearby. Outside of Ergou’s memories, the braggadocious stories told by the old men of the village was another way for him to learn more about this world.

An old farmer with a head of white hair and wrinkles that resembled a system of deep trenches on his face waved his cattail leaf fan as he asked, ”Have you all heard of the corpse reanimation incident of Bo’xing County?”

The old farmer was very pleased to see everyone shake their heads in response, and he continued, ”This is a story I heard from the manager of the grain shop when I went there to sell my grains. He told me that there’s a village under Bo’xing County called Eternal Joy Village. It’s on a main road leading to the south. In the past, many inns and restaurants were built there, and it slowly turned into a village.”

”Just get to the story already, Uncle Gen!” one of the boys protested in an impatient manner. ”Everyone knows the history of Eternal Joy Village!”

”Yeah! Tell us about the corpse reanimation incident!” the other boys urged him.

A pleased smile appeared on Uncle Gen’s face at the sight of their impatience, and only after intentionally pausing to build even more suspense did he finally continue, ”There’s an old man named Cai in Eternal Joy Village. Together with his son, they run an inn by the main road to provide a place to stay for traveling merchants. One day, three traveling merchants who were regulars at the inn came to stay along with an impoverished traveling scholar, but the inn was already full...”

That night, under the insistent pleas of the four travelers, Old Man Cai took them to a small cabin outside the inn.

Behind the dim oil lamp in the cabin was what seemed to be a bed board with a bed curtain draped over it. Someone lay on the bed board, covered with a black cloth—not a guest, but the recently deceased daughter-in-law of Old Man Cai! Her body had been temporarily placed here as her widowed husband had gone out to purchase a coffin for her and was yet to return.

A little further in the room was a set of communal beds.

The four travelers were too exhausted to care about the dead body in the room, and they quickly fell asleep on the communal beds.

Or rather, three of them did. The scholar, whose name was Song, felt a little restless. Before he could fall asleep he heard some creaking and groaning from the bier where the corpse lay. He opened his eyes, and under the dim light of the oil lamp, he saw the black sheet over the bier being slowly lifted and a blue and purple hand reaching out from underneath.

The corpse lifted the black sheet, then got down from the bier and began making her way toward the communal beds! There was a white veil over her face that concealed her features, but strands of white hair could be seen twitching below her neck, and they seemed to be still growing.

The corpse arrived by the communal beds, then leaned down and exhaled upon one of the traveling merchants, then sank her teeth into his neck and began gulping down his blood. He did not wake up; her breath seemed to have rendered him completely unconscious, and he offered no resistance as the blood was slowly sucked out of his body.

The scholar was horrified to see this. He got up and started kicking the men beside him, but they remained completely still.

As the corpse breathed down upon her second victim, the scholar’s fear finally got the better of him. He let loose an inhuman wail and jumped off the bed, rushing outside barefoot.

He screamed frantically as he ran through the village, but no one came out. He was terrified that the corpse would catch him, so he ran as quickly as he could, all the way to the Daoist temple on the outskirts of the city, where he began pounding on the door.

A Daoist priest emerged from the temple and asked him what he wanted. The scholar provided a recount of his harrowing experience, and the Daoist priest told him to lead the way.

Upon returning to the cabin, they were greeted by the sight of the female corpse biting down on the neck of the third merchant.

As for the scholar, he was still sound asleep on the communal beds.

The scholar was completely flabbergasted to see this, and the Daoist priest immediately yelled, ”It’s time for you to return!”

He then slapped the scholar hard.

The world spun around in a chaotic blur, and by the time the scholar regained consciousness, he found himself back on the bed. When he got up, he saw that the Daoist priest had beheaded the corpse, and her headless body had fallen to the side.

After hearing Uncle Gen’s story, one of the boys asked, ”How did that scholar become two people?”

”I think he must’ve been so frightened that his soul left his body to go find the Daoist priest,” another boy theorized.

”Do you know what happened, Uncle Gen?”

Right as the boys were discussing the bizarre story, a bald outsider wearing coarse linen robes and a pair of straw sandals also arrived under the banyan tree.

He sat down at a vacant spot and watched Uncle Gen with a smile, seemingly also awaiting his answer.

”Once your soul leaves your body, you’re dead. There’s no way he could’ve gone to the Daoist temple to seek help,” Uncle Gen said in a calm manner. ”Apparently, the scholar was a devout Daoist, and he prayed to the Profound Origin Dao Lord day and night. In his time of need, his prayers were answered. The Profound Origin Dao Lord granted him the ability to project a dream to the Daoist temple and ask for help.”

Everyone was enlightened by this explanation, and they felt like their curiosity had been satisfied. Some were impressed with the scholar’s good fortune, while others were expressing reverence for the almighty powers of the Profound Origin Dao Lord and the Daoist priest.

All of a sudden, the outsider, who had been listening in silence this entire time, smiled and said, ”You told the story wrong, old man.”