Martial Saint with Passives

Jiang Che’s heart surged with excitement. He wanted to rush out and test its power immediately.

However, he forcibly suppressed the urge and turned his gaze to the other Treasure Artifact on the table—

the pair of dark silver Silk Wrapped Gloves.

’These Gloves are probably True grade too. I wonder... what kind of powerful Soldier Soul Techniques will Soldier Resolution produce from them?’

His heart filled with anticipation. He immediately removed the Star-Chasing Bow from his Divine Soul Slot and restored it.

Then, he placed his palm on the pair of Gloves, which felt cool and smooth to the touch.

”Soldier Resolution!”

BUZZ—

This time, a brilliant river of dark silver starlight, like flowing mercury, poured into the space between his brows!

Within Jiang Che’s Sea of Consciousness, a pair of phantom Gloves—also formed from pure energy and covered in a fine, scale-like pattern—slowly materialized.

[Soldier Resolution successful! Acquired Soldier Soul: Silk Wrapped Gloves (True Grade)]

[Soldier Soul Technique activated: Unbreakable!]

[Unbreakable: Upon activation, you can condense an invisible energy Force Field around your fists, containing extreme piercing and concussive power. Under the enhancement of this Force Field, every one of your attacks will ignore most of an opponent’s Body-Protecting Qi and physical defense, inflicting intense internal concussive damage! The Force Field’s strength and duration are related to the amount of Strength injected and the quality of the Soldier Soul.]

’Ignore defense... concussive damage?!’

Jiang Che’s eyes lit up again as he read the Skill description!

This Unbreakable could turn his every ordinary attack into a fatal strike!

Compared to the Star-Chasing Bow, it could be said that the two abilities each had their own merits, and both were terrifyingly powerful!

However, after some deliberation, Jiang Che still chose to keep the Silent Extinction Star-Chasing Arrow permanently slotted in his Divine Soul Slot for now.

After all, the combination of long-range, auto-tracking, and a twenty-fivefold burst—the deterrent power and strategic value of this combo were simply too immense!

Whether for a preemptive sneak attack or a desperate counter-kill, it was a trump card capable of turning the tables!

As for Unbreakable, while it could greatly enhance his combat prowess, it ultimately required close-quarters combat.

In the current dangerous situation where True Master Realm experts could appear at any moment, having an extra trump card to create distance was undoubtedly the safer choice.

Having done all this, Jiang Che could finally no longer hold back.

’I have to... go test it!’

He immediately paused his seclusion and quietly left the Cultivation Room.

He executed his Body Technique, moving like a phantom as he sped toward the depths of a remote, dense forest in the back mountains of the Cangyun Sect.

Soon, he arrived at the same steep stone cliff where a bottomless hole had been blasted when he previously tested Azure Dragon Annihilation.

He took a deep breath, locked his gaze on another intact spot on the cliff, and slowly raised his arm.

Without the physical Star-Chasing Bow, he merely made the phantom motion of nocking an arrow and drawing a bow.

But with a thought, the phantom longbow in his Sea of Consciousness, forged of darkness and Thunderbolt, suddenly erupted with brilliant light!

A vast and powerful surge of Strength was instantly drained from his body, madly rushing toward his phantom-gripped fingertips!

”Twenty-Fifthfold Strike!”

”Silent Extinction Star-Chasing Arrow!”

VMMMM!!!

A jet-black Arrow, seemingly forged from the pure Destruction Law, materialized out of thin air at his fingertips!

On the Arrow, black lightning crackled and hissed wildly. The surrounding Space began to show faint, ripple-like distortions, unable to bear the terrifying energy it contained!

”Go!”

With a low shout, Jiang Che released the ”Bowstring”!

There was no thrum of a vibrating Bowstring, no sharp whistle of an Arrow tearing through the air.

Only... a moment of dead silence!

The moment the jet-black Arrow left his fingertips, it seemed to merge into the void, vanishing without a trace!

And yet, at almost the exact same instant!

On the steep stone cliff, a hundred zhang away, a perfectly circular, jet-black hole over a zhang in diameter with mirror-smooth edges appeared out of thin air, without any warning!

And then!

RUMMMBLE!!!!!!

With the circular hole as its epicenter, the entire stone cliff, which stood over ten zhang tall, collapsed with a world-shaking roar, as if struck by an invisible, internally detonated bomb!

Countless tons of giant rocks tumbled down, dust and smoke plumed into the sky, and the entire valley shook violently!

The sheer scale of the destruction was several times greater than the last time he tested Azure Dragon Annihilation!

Jiang Che stared blankly at the scene he had created, feeling the instantly drained, empty meridians within his body, his heart also filled with shock.

’This power...’

It was far stronger than he had anticipated!

More importantly...

He could clearly feel that when the Arrow was fired, his Divine Thought had already established a faint yet unbreakable connection with it!

He even had a feeling that if the target had been a bird flying at high speed, the Arrow would have followed it like a shadow, striking with unerring accuracy, making evasion impossible!

That was its most terrifying aspect!

...

After testing the power of his new Skill, Jiang Che’s mind was at ease.

He didn’t immediately return to the Cultivation Room to continue his seclusion. Instead, he found a secluded spot in the forest, took some Elixir Pills, and slowly recovered his spent Strength.

Afterward, he returned to his Chief Courtyard.

His long seclusion had left him almost completely ignorant of happenings in the outside world.

First, he took out the copies of the Cangzhou Wind and Cloud Chronicles that had accumulated during his seclusion and began to read through them, issue by issue.

He saw that one issue featured a lengthy article announcing a great victory in the demon extermination.

Although it reported that many high-ranking members of the Demon Sect had been killed.

His brow furrowed ever more tightly.

He knew that things...

could never be this simple!

’It’s too smooth... not normal... I feel like something else is about to happen,’ he mused to himself.

Although his understanding of the Demon Sect wasn’t particularly deep, from his several clashes with Demon Sect experts, he could clearly sense it.

The Shadow Prison Sect, the most active of the three Demon Sect branches,

was far larger and more difficult to deal with than anyone imagined!

How could such a deeply-rooted behemoth be so easily ”completely annihilated” in such a short time?

It was completely illogical!

It was as if an invisible hand was manipulating everything from behind the scenes!

Moreover, that old dog Xie Songnian...

Through the surveillance of his crows, Jiang Che discovered that although the man had been keeping a low profile recently, his contact with the General’s Mansion had become increasingly frequent and secretive.

This was definitely not a good sign!

Then, he picked up another newspaper.

He saw it carried news about the upcoming selection for the Celestial Strategy Guard.

’The Celestial Strategy Guard?’

Only after reading it carefully did he come to a realization.

’A True Mastery Realm Technique...’

His eyes suddenly lit up!

...