Chapter 68: The Purple Palace Secret Manual

In truth, when drawing from the other types of altars, Ou Xiaolu had thought his luck for the past few days was nearly spent, judging by those beams of light. Among the twelve cards, the highest had only reached blue, and most of them were white. Seeing the abundance of mysterious potions, Ou Xiaolu became even more convinced of his depleted fortune.

However, when he saw the three items and pieces of equipment that had been selected, he realized his luck had not abandoned him; he had not let down the meaning of his own name. Not to mention the "National Treasure Map"—a baffling item, indeed—three clues a year, and even if the treasures were modest, it would be enough to multiply his wealth three to five times within a year.

But the truly precious find was the "Purple Mansion Manual." Upon acquiring this item, Ou Xiaolu discovered a dedicated interface that appeared proactively and unlocked itself. Examining it closely, he realized it was a point-allocation interface, common in most games, though each game had its own unique design—martial arts games used meridian diagrams, magic games might use constellations, and so on.

Because the skills he had cultivated were simple and his strength still weak, his internal skill diagram would only appear if his inner power reached sixty years' worth. Alternatively, if his breathing technique reached a certain level, the cultivation diagram for ascension would emerge. Yet the "Purple Mansion Manual" unlocked all of this in advance, entirely because its cultivation path differed from the usual.

In Eastern cultivation methods, most follow the path of the Primordial Spirit, the Sun Spirit, or the Yin Spirit. Normally, these routes begin to require point allocation only after forming the Golden Core, with the core gradually transforming into the spirit as points are assigned. The "Purple Mansion Manual," however, deviated from this tradition—it cultivated something called the Purple Mansion.

The reason it is so named is that this cultivation manifests as a violet space, shimmering with purple light. According to the interface instructions, after practicing the "Purple Mansion Manual," aside from absorbing the purple energy from the rising sun each day, the Purple Mansion also levels up through experience points.

Unlike other skills, which are divided into categories such as Ordinary, Proficient, Mastery, or Legendary, the "Purple Mansion Manual" features clear levels, with a maximum cap of level twenty.

A player could forcefully cultivate the "Purple Mansion Manual" to its peak before raising their own level. Moreover, every level of the manual granted a corresponding ability: at level one, one could master "Violet Gauze Robe," enveloping oneself in a protective shroud of purple energy that grew stronger with each level.

At level five, "Violet Thunder Escape" was unlocked, allowing the body to transform into a bolt of purple lightning and teleport instantly—an extraordinarily powerful movement spell, akin to the legendary Rainbow Flight.

At level ten, "Purple Mansion Primordial Spirit" could be mastered, which used purple energy to shield the soul, preventing it from being harmed by external evil winds—a unique form of spirit projection.

At level fifteen, "Violet Divine Thunder" became available, an offensive ultimate move gathering purple lightning in the palm, striking wherever aimed with immense destructive power and, crucially, a strong banishing effect against evil.

At level twenty, the final ultimate move, "Ascension of the Purple Mansion," could be unlocked, enveloping the caster in endless purple energy, forming a world unto itself.

Most importantly, this move could forcibly tear open the wall of space, relocating the caster to another realm. With enough strength, one could even bring along nearby people or buildings, effectively entering another world without occupying a world transfer quota.

In short, mastering the "Purple Mansion Manual" was tantamount to gaining an entire new set of cultivation techniques. Especially if one managed to force cultivation up to level twenty, Ou Xiaolu would stand truly invincible.

Yet the real reason Ou Xiaolu resolved to cultivate this manual was not for these abilities, but for a single line of text on the interface: “A special cultivation method—essential for unlocking clones after level five.”

Though he did not know exactly what clones were, nor how they differed from avatars, it was clear enough: one appeared at level one, the other only after reaching level five and fulfilling certain conditions. The relative importance was obvious.

Ou Xiaolu had no desire to start all over again after reaching level five; with the manual in hand now, it was best to begin as soon as possible.

After all, cultivating skills consumed experience points. If he had ample time, he could even experiment to see whether ordinary practice could substitute for some of the experience cost.

According to the instructions, he placed the manual into the point allocation interface. Instantly, a sub-interface appeared, displaying only the "Purple Mansion Manual" as the sole technique, with a background styled accordingly.

A figure appeared on the screen, resembling a Purple Mansion version of Ou Xiaolu, surrounded by swirling purple energy. Within the violet mist, countless points of light flickered in and out of existence. Ou Xiaolu tried tapping on those light points and found that activating each one required ten experience points; at level one, there were twenty such points.

Of course, if he wished to conserve experience, he could instead absorb ten days’ worth of purple energy to illuminate a single point. At that rate, cultivating up to level two would require just two hundred days.

Reflecting on the nearly year-long investment, Ou Xiaolu finally understood why cultivators would spend ten or even twenty years in seclusion—it was simply unavoidable.

But he did not have such patience. Following the interface instructions, he adjusted the experience allocation, diverting thirty percent of all future experience gains to the "Purple Mansion Manual." Thus, whether through exploring worlds or defeating enemies, any experience earned would automatically transfer thirty percent to the manual.

With enough effort, he could quickly raise the manual’s level.

After setting his experience allocation, Ou Xiaolu tested the level one ability, "Violet Gauze Robe." With a mere thought, a layer of purple mist appeared around him, like a gauzy veil draped over his clothes—even his hands and face were shrouded.

Testing with his sword, he found the effect quite impressive; at this level, it already matched an ordinary bulletproof vest. Most importantly, this purple gauze could be maintained indefinitely without hindering movement, and it was invisible to the uninitiated—a perfect guarantee of safety at home.