The mist rolled in just past midnight.
It wasn't natural. It was too thick. It moved too fast.
By the time Lin Bufan opened his eyes, the world outside his courtyard had vanished into a swirling wall of white.
He rose from bed shirtless, barefoot, and with his hair loose. No panic. Just instinct.
Something's wrong.
A heartbeat later, the outer walls of his courtyard shattered like glass.
The first dagger came flying through the fog.
Bufan tilted his head.
CLANG!
It bounced off the invisible force field of his newly awakened inner world. A golden shimmer of qi rippled around his chest like armor.
Another blade followed. And another.
[DING! Assassination Event Triggered.
Enemy Level: Advanced Qi Condensation → Early Spirit Vein.
Objective: Survive. Eliminate all hostile units.
Reward: Unlock "Shadowstep Lv. 1" upon success.
He sighed.
"Can't I get a full night's sleep around here?"
1. The Fog Wolves
They came in pairs—ten of them.
They wore tight black robes, their faces masked, and moved silently. Each held a curved shortblade laced with a faint green light.
Poison.
Their formation was tight. Coordinated. They were too professional to be bandits.
Bufan dodged low and twisted around a sweep from behind. His elbow shattered the attacker's jaw.
He caught the poisoned blade in midair and flung it through the fog.
A scream.
One down.
Another assassin dropped from the roof behind him, blade aimed at his spine.
Bufan spun. His knee rose.
CRACK!
The assassin folded in midair like paper and didn't get up.
2. Shadows in the Mist
Mu Qingxue was already moving.
The moment the first ward cracked, she was awake, her body cloaked in silver qi. She threw needles glinting like stars between her fingers.
She moved like a wraith—barefoot and silent.
One assassin lunged at her through the fog.
He didn't see the trapwire until it exploded into flames.
In the next instant, she appeared behind him, slicing his Achilles tendon with a crescent-blade dagger.
He fell, screaming.
She didn't stop.
They're after him, not me, she realized. But they came prepared. They knew his system wasn't invincible yet.
Then her eyes narrowed.
No insignias. No sect colors. But these moves...
She recognized them:
They were Assassins from the Scorpion Gate.
3. Close Quarters, High Stakes.
Three assassins broke into the main hall.
Bufan grabbed a broken spear from the wall and twirled it once.
The fight exploded.
Two blades clashed against his spear, sparks flying.
The third assassin ducked low, aiming for Bufan's ankle.
Bufan stomped.
The floor cracked.
The assassin's wrist shattered upon impact.
He used the momentum to spin, dragging his spear behind him like a comet.
SWOOSH!
Two heads hit the floor.
The last one turned to run.
Bufan's hand shot forward.
A pulse of golden light burst from his palm—compressed force wrapped in raw intent.
The man exploded from the inside out.
[System Alert: 8/10 Hostiles Eliminated]
Reward Progress: 80%
Combat Efficiency: "Overwhelming."
Difficulty scaling increased.
Bufan wiped the blood off his chest.
"Only two left?"
4. The Twins
Wrong.
They weren't assassins.
They were monsters.
From the mist emerged two identical figures—twins wearing black-gray robes and holding daggers coated in jade venom.
Their eyes were silver. They moved silently.
Mu Qingxue froze.
"Those two are Foundation Realm shadows... sent to kill a Spirit Vein cultivator who is still adapting." That's overkill.
Bufan took a step forward.
The twins blurred.
They didn't move quickly.
They vanished.
[WARNING! Dual-Target Synchronization Detected.
Passive skill activated: Blade Body: +40% reaction speed.
Enemy Threat Level: A
A dagger passed through his neck.
Or it should have.
Instead, his body shimmered.
He reappeared six feet to the left.
Shadowstep Lv. 1: Activated."
Cooldown: 30 seconds.
He smiled.
"Oh, this is going to be fun."
5. Poison Dance:
The twins attacked in tandem, their daggers forming an endless spiral of strikes and feints.
Bufan met them head-on.
His body moved on instinct, his arms weaving through the air like rivers as he deflected, struck, and dodged.
He wasn't just fighting.
He was learning.
[Combat Style Unlocked: Mist Reversal Form.
You can now predict 20% of enemy movement patterns in fog-based combat.
Poison resistance increased by 15%.
Blood sprayed. He took a slash to the ribs, but it didn't slow him down.
He ducked under one twin's blade, kicked the other in the throat, and sent her crashing into a pillar.
The first twin screamed and launched a barrage of poisoned needles.
Mu Qingxue appeared in midair.
She blocked the entire spray with a crescent-shaped shield of light.
"Told you I'm not just a pretty face," she smirked.
Bufan burst forward.
His palm glowed with a spiraling seal.
He slammed it into the twin's chest.
BOOM!
The assassin was blasted through three walls and didn't get back up.
The last twin tried to run.
Too late.
Mu Qingxue's throwing needle pierced her heart mid-dash.
Ding! Hostile force eliminated. Assassination event complete."
Reward granted: Shadowstep Lv. 1
Hidden skill: "Mist Reversal Form"
+2 Constitution.
+1 Movement Skill Slot Unlocked.
Bufan exhaled.
"Still not a full night of sleep."
6. The Message Left Behind
They searched the bodies.
No names. No marks.
But on the back of one assassin's blade, they found faint script that read:
"Property of the Black Arm — Sword River Sect."
Bufan's eyes grew cold.
Qingxue met his gaze. "They broke their own rules."
He nodded.
"Then I'll break them."
7. The Aftermath
Dawn broke sluggishly over Qingzhou.
The courtyard was a mess—blood pooled between the stone tiles and bodies were piled haphazardly. Mist clung to the edges as if reluctant to leave.
Lin Bufan sat barefoot and shirtless on the edge of a broken stair, wrapping a gash across his ribs with black cloth.
Mu Qingxue handed him a flask of spirit water.
"Drink."
He took a swig and grimaced. "Tastes like feet."
"Still better than dying," she shot back.
Bufan looked at the mess.
"I thought I had time," he muttered. "To grow. To plan."
"You don't," Qingxue said. "You never did."
She crouched beside him, her voice low.
"You're not just some village kid anymore. You're a name. A threat. And threats get erased."
Bufan didn't flinch. He just nodded.
"Then I'll become the kind of threat they can't erase."
8. Meanwhile... In the Black Arm Division:
Deep beneath the Sword River Sect's inner compound and within a cold chamber lined with glowing talismans, a man in black robes read the latest report.
Ten elite assassins: dead.
Two Foundation-level agents: dead.
Target survived.
Status: evolved.
He exhaled smoke from a long bone pipe.
"Interesting."
An adjutant knelt nearby. "Shall we initiate contingency sequence Alpha-7?"
The man tapped the jade slip twice.
"No. Not yet."
"But, sir, he's already defeated one envoy and resisted a Black Arm team."
"I said wait."
He stood and walked slowly toward a wall lined with wanted posters.
Bufan's face stared back from one of them. Freshly inked.
The man smiled.
"Let the Heaven List chew on him first. If he survives that, we'll send the Ebon Fang."
9. New Power, New Problem
Back at the inn, Bufan sat cross-legged in his room, surrounded by flickering runes.
The system buzzed with new energy as it recalibrated after the sudden leap.
[DING! Soul Synchronization: 84%.
New Traits Awakened:
Passive: "Mistborn" — You gain +30% agility and perception in fog or smoke.
→ Skill Slot Unlocked: "Conditional Counter" (locked).
[WARNING: Host power growth exceeds forecast models. Recalculating threat index...]
Estimated Danger Level: Tier B (rising).
Bufan opened his eyes.
"Feels...different," he murmured.
His body moved more smoothly and felt lighter. The fog didn't obscure his vision; it sharpened it.
But deeper inside, beneath all the gains and stats, there was something else.
A voice.
Distant. Cold.
"You are not ready yet."
He frowned.
Who was that?
10. Quiet Before the Storm
That night, the city was unnaturally quiet.
The local guards doubled their patrols. Nearby inns had raised their prices. Cultivators were speaking in hushed tones in the markets.
Everyone knew that someone had tried to kill Lin Bufan.
Everyone knew the attempt had failed.
But no one knew what he would do next.
He didn't announce anything.
He just trained. Ate. Slept.
Two days later, when the city crier announced the start of the Heaven List Preliminary Battles, Bufan stood at the front gate of the arena.
He wore a black cloak. A sword hung from his back. His eyes were calm.
Mu Qingxue stood beside him.
"You ready?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Let's make some noise."
11. A Message from the Shadows
That night, while the city slept uneasily and the courtyard stones were still stained with blood from the battle, a single crow landed outside Bufan's window.
Its eyes glowed faint blue.
Mu Qingxue spotted it first. "That's not normal."
Bufan walked over and cracked the window open.
The crow didn't flinch. Instead, it dropped a talisman from its beak and vanished into the mist.
The talisman pulsed once with violet qi, then ignited midair and burned a message into the wall.
"Turn back. Or we'll send something that won't miss." —Sable Hall."
Bufan's eyes narrowed.
"Sable Hall..." he repeated. "Another one?"
Qingxue's face darkened. "That's not just another one. They're mercenaries who kill cultivators for money. Spirit Vein or above only. No morals. No flags."
"Do they think I'll run?"
"No," she said softly. "They hope you don't."
12. The Girl with the Hidden Past
Later that evening, in a quieter part of the inn, Mu Qingxue knelt beside a small bronze mirror and touched the edge of her earring. A subtle shimmer passed over her form, and for a moment, her true aura leaked out.
The air around her shimmered like moonlight on water. Ancient. Untouchable.
The earring sealed it again, hiding her lineage.
"Can't risk showing too much," she thought. Not until he's strong enough.
Her mind flashed back to the moment she'd first seen Lin Bufan.
A barefoot village kid. He swung a broken practice sword in the rain. He fought like the world owed him blood.
But now...
He stood toe-to-toe with assassins trained to take down generals.
He's catching up.
And that scared her. A little.
And thrilled her. A lot.
13. The Black List
Meanwhile, in an underground chamber far from Qingzhou, four figures sat around a stone table.
Each wore a different emblem.
One had a nine-headed snake.
Another had a black sun.
A third wore a skeletal bell.
The last had a tiger's eye sealed in ice.
In the center of the table, a glowing scroll hovered.
On it were twenty names of rising stars from across the continent.
Most were heirs to ancient clans. Chosen by sects. Backed by dynasties.
One was not.
Name #17: Lin Bufan
Affiliation: Unknown
Status: Independent
Risk: Volatile
Elimination reward: 100,000 spirit stones
The man with the snake emblem spoke first. "A village stray makes it onto the Black List?"
The bell-wearer scoffed. "He killed too many of ours. Word is, the Sword Sect has already marked him."
The ice-eyed one nodded. "Let him rise. We'll strike when it hurts."
They raised their cups of bloodwine.
"To the List."
14. System Evolution · Locked Path Hint:
Back in the courtyard, Bufan meditated deep into the night.
But this time, the system pulsed differently.
[Analyzing Host Development Curve...]
[Skill Synergy Detected]
You are approaching a branching evolution.
He opened his eyes, golden light flickering in his pupils.
"Branching?"
[Two hidden paths available — criteria unknown]
Path I: "Heaven-Splitter"
Path II: "Fate-Eater"
[Warning: Once chosen, cannot be undone.
Bufan hasn't chosen yet.
But deep inside, something answered the call.
Something old.
Something angry.
15. Prelude to the Arena
The day of the Heaven List preliminary trials arrived with a thunderous roar.
Hundreds of disciples, rogue cultivators, hidden talents, and beasts in human disguise gathered at the foot of the arena gates in Qingzhou.
Banners flew. Sects arrived with entourages.
Betting stands went up. Names were whispered.
And Lin Bufan walked into it all as if he belonged.
He wore a black cloak. His hair was tied back. His sword was slung low.
The crowd parted.
Some laughed.
Some stared.
A guy from a minor sect scoffed, "Who let the servant in?"
Another corrected him: "That's Lin Bufan. He's the one who flattened Sword River's envoy."
"Bullshit."
"He's on the List now."
They went quiet.