Martial Saint with Passives

Jiang Che was startled, but he didn’t have the strength to move.

’It’s not dead yet?!’

Jiang Che was horrified.

"BANG!"

The Blood Sacrifice’s chest exploded, spraying blackish-red flesh and blood everywhere.

At the same time, a fist-sized lump of bright red flesh suddenly transformed, moving like an octopus!

It crawled all the way toward Jiang Che, who struggled to dodge it.

But its speed increased, and it finally latched onto Jiang Che’s arm!

Jiang Che tried to tear it off, but it was as if it had grown into his arm; it was impossible to remove.

Then, it dug through the skin of Jiang Che’s arm and burrowed into his body!

Jiang Che’s face paled in terror. ’What in the world is this thing?!’

He could feel the lump of flesh crawling through his body until it reached the spot next to his heart, where it stopped moving.

Immediately after, he felt the lump of flesh actually start to beat, just like a heart!

"BOOM!"

Jiang Che felt a massive roar inside his head!

An intense wave of drowsiness washed over him, and his head lolled to the side as he passed out.

...

...

Jiang Che felt like he was walking through a white mist.

’Where is this?’

Jiang Che was filled with alarm and uncertainty.

’Wasn’t I on East District Prefecture Street, having just killed that Blood Sacrifice?’

’Wait, a lump of flesh seemed to fly out of the Blood Sacrifice’s chest and burrowed into my body...’

’Could it be... I’m dead? Is this the Underworld?’

But he pinched himself and found that he could feel pain and had body heat.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

He tried to summon his Skill Proficiency Panel.

And found that it actually opened!

Still, he couldn’t be sure what would happen after death.

’Whatever. I’ll just keep walking and see what happens...’

After walking for a while longer in the mist, Jiang Che vaguely saw what looked like a stone bridge ahead.

’It couldn’t be the Bridge of Helplessness, could it...’

Jiang Che gave a wry smile. ’Did I really die?’

The closer he got to the stone bridge, the thinner the mist became. He could gradually make out the things in front of him.

When he arrived in front of the stone bridge, he discovered that it was immense.

The surface of the bridge was exceptionally wide. Jiang Che estimated it was about fifty meters wide, and as for its length, he couldn’t see the end of it.

He stepped onto the stone bridge, his heart filled with apprehension, not knowing what people or strange things he might encounter.

However, he walked for a long time without encountering a single moving thing.

He walked to the edge of the bridge and saw many fist-sized stone carvings on the railing.

These carvings were incredibly lifelike, depicting strange, monkey-like creatures with tails and wings.

Jiang Che leaned in for a closer look and saw that the creatures’ faces were twisted and sinister. For a split second, he felt like their eyes moved.

Jiang Che jumped in fright, but when he looked again, he saw they were still just stone, unchanged.

’Were my eyes playing tricks on me?’

Jiang Che felt his skin crawl and backed away.

He kept walking forward. After what felt like an hour, he finally reached the end.

What appeared before him was an immense, ancient stone castle.

It looked to be nearly a hundred meters tall.

In the very center were two large Stone Doors, ten meters high.

The Stone Doors were ajar, leaving a gap just wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

Jiang Che approached the Stone Doors and poked his head in to look inside.

He saw a vast, empty hall.

Along both sides were many stone seats.

At the far end, there was a mass of thick, black fog, making it impossible to see what was behind it.

Jiang Che hesitated for a moment, then decided to go in and have a look.

’There’s nothing outside anyway.’

He squeezed through sideways.

"BOOM!"

The large doors behind him suddenly slammed shut, making him jump.

’This...’

Jiang Che tried to push the Stone Doors, but they didn’t budge an inch.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, then slowly walked toward the depths of the hall.

When he reached the center of the hall, suddenly, from within the black fog ahead...

Two enormous, green-glowing eyes appeared! They looked like two giant lanterns floating in the air.

At the same time, a terrifying aura that shook Jiang Che to his core spread out, making him feel as if his heart had skipped a beat.

"I have waited for a thousand years, and finally, a little one has arrived."

A deafening voice followed.

It was a language Jiang Che had never heard before, yet he could inexplicably understand it.

"Who are you! Where am I?"

Jiang Che shouted.

"You may call me the Master of the Black Abyss! You are currently within my consciousness. I can send you back to the Mortal Realm—that is, your original world—at any time."

The voice spoke slowly.

’In his consciousness? So... I’m not dead!’ Jiang Che breathed a sigh of relief.

But he immediately realized that this voice had called itself the Master of the Black Abyss.

He was instantly alarmed. ’Could this be the Blood Spirit Sect’s Black Abyss Evil God?’

’So... this Evil God is real!’

"But why did I come here? I’m not one of your believers!"

"Because you came into contact with my flesh!"

"Flesh?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Jiang Che suddenly thought of the strange lump of flesh that had burrowed into his body.

’It seems it was the flesh of this Master of the Black Abyss.’

"Then how can I get back?" Jiang Che asked.

"Rest assured, I will not harm you in the slightest. On the contrary, I will grant you supreme Divine Power! I will make you my emissary in the Mortal Realm!"

The Master of the Black Abyss said enticingly.

Jiang Che had a faint, bad feeling about this.

’This Master of the Black Abyss is probably plotting something.’

"Why choose me? And not the people from the Blood Spirit Sect? Or a Blood Sacrifice?" he asked.

"The Blood Spirit Sect? That bunch of idiots! The souls of the Blood Sacrifices they create are fragmented and completely useless! They’ve made me wait a thousand years for nothing!"

The Master of the Black Abyss’s voice seemed to carry a hint of anger.

"Souls?" Jiang Che asked, puzzled.

"That’s right! Little one, your soul is, one might say, flawless. It was even able to cross the Spirit Bridge to arrive here..."

Suddenly, he seemed to discover something, and his voice became abrupt.

"Strange, you don’t seem to be a person from the Mortal Realm? How did you arrive in the Mortal Realm?!"

’What? He can tell that I’m a transmigrator?!’

Jiang Che was shocked.

"Wait, how can your soul have..." The Master of the Black Abyss didn’t get to finish his sentence.

A mechanical voice suddenly rang out in Jiang Che’s mind.

[Warning! Detected an Evil God’s will attacking the host. It has now been isolated!]

"BOOM!"

In an instant, the entire scene before Jiang Che’s eyes shattered like a mirror into countless pieces.

Immediately after, everything before Jiang Che’s eyes dissolved into a blinding white light.

He couldn’t help but close his eyes.

When he opened them again, he found himself back in the alley.

Beside him was the corpse of the Blood Sacrifice he had killed.

He looked at the sky; the light seemed unchanged.

The bloodstains on his body hadn’t dried much either.

It seemed as if only a moment had passed.

"Master of the Black Abyss..."

Jiang Che murmured.

’I can’t believe it... the Blood Spirit Sect’s Evil God is actually real!’

He was shocked that an Evil God could actually exist in this world.

’And what did he say at the end? Something about my soul having something in it?’

’Forget it... It’s all just weird. You can’t trust the words of an Evil God. It was probably a trick to fool me!’

Suddenly, he remembered something and looked down, feeling his chest.

’This Black Abyss Flesh is still inside me. I’m not going to turn into a Blood Sacrifice, am I?’

Jiang Che grew worried.

Just then, a line of small text flashed before his eyes.

[Divine Ability Activated: Heart of the Black Abyss]

[Heart of the Black Abyss: Due to the Master of the Black Abyss’s flesh remaining in the body, you have obtained a portion of the Master of the Black Abyss’s abilities.]

[Description: The Heart of the Black Abyss can store additional power. When used, you will transform into the Black Abyss Form, gaining a corresponding boost based on the amount of power stored.]