Martial Saint with Passives

Yin Rong and Steward Wang, still bound, watched in stunned silence. A moment later, immense joy and shock flooded their hearts.

’He won! Jiang Che actually managed to kill a Bone Forging Realm expert, a whole realm above his own!’

Jiang Che let out a long breath, calming the churning Qi Blood within him.

He walked over to Yin Rong and Steward Wang, slicing through their ropes with his blade. "I’m late. I apologize for the scare, Uncle, Uncle Wang."

Yin Rong was so emotional he could barely speak. "Not at all! Young Master Jiang, you’ve saved our lives! If it weren’t for you, we..."

He struggled, trying to bow in gratitude.

Jiang Che quickly stopped him. "There’s no need for formalities, Uncle! I am a Tributor for the Yin Family. This is my duty. Please, sit and rest for a moment. Wait for me."

With that, he turned and began expertly looting the corpse.

He found a stack of gold notes and some loose gold on Ba Hui, then quickly entered the inner room to search.

Just as he expected, he found a heavy little chest in a hidden compartment. Opening it, he saw a good number of gold notes, as well as some Secret Manuals, Elixir Pills, and other assorted items.

He packed up all the spoils, then dragged the bodies together, doused them with lamp oil, and set them ablaze.

The flames leaped up, illuminating Jiang Che’s perfectly calm and untroubled face.

Watching Jiang Che’s seamless, practiced sequence of looting the body, gathering the spoils, and destroying the evidence, a chill shot through Yin Rong’s heart.

’This Young Master Jiang... he’s ruthless, decisive, and meticulous. He is by no means the simple Cangyun Sect disciple in need of money that he appears to be!’

After dealing with everything as if it were a trivial matter, Jiang Che turned to the two men and said, "Let’s go. We shouldn’t stay here long."

Yin Rong and Steward Wang nodded quickly, forcing their trembling legs to move as they followed Jiang Che and vanished into the night.

...

Inside the main hall of the Yin Mansion, the atmosphere was so tense it felt frozen solid.

The moment Yin Yingying stepped through the door, she saw her older cousin, Wang Xiufen, and her cousin-in-law, Zhu Shichang, sitting beside her mother.

Her heart immediately sank, and a sense of foreboding washed over her.

Seeing her daughter return, Mrs. Yin, whose maiden name was Li, latched onto her like a drowning person to a lifeline. In a tearful, urgent voice, she said, "Yingying! You’re finally back! Your cousin and cousin-in-law say that to save your father and Uncle Wang, we absolutely must go and hire Steward Zhao of the Taiyuan Sect immediately! The fee is twenty thousand gold, and... and forty percent of the shares in our cloth business! You have to make a decision!" She was already at her wit’s end.

Yin Yingying’s heart plummeted. ’Just as I thought. My cousin is still pushing for this!’

She took a deep breath and said with conviction, "Mother! We don’t need to hire any Steward Zhao! Jiang Che has already gone! He went to save Father and Uncle Wang!"

Wang Xiufen immediately frowned. "My dear sister, you are just adorably naive! That Jiang Che is just some brat in the Force Integration Realm! Ba Hui, the Gang Leader of the Iron Bone Gang, is a genuine Mid-stage of the Bone Forging Realm expert! And he has five trusted subordinates at the Great Success stage of Force Integration! Every one of them is a desperate outlaw who kills without batting an eye! Jiang Che went? He’s not rescuing anyone; he’s going to his death! He’s just serving himself up as an extra dish!"

Zhu Shichang chimed in, his beady eyes glinting shrewdly as he spoke in a somber tone, "Yingying, it’s not that I’m trying to criticize you. But think about it. One person at Force Integration against one at the Mid-stage of Bone Forging, plus five ferocious Great Success Force Integration masters—what chance does he have? Jiang Che’s trip is almost certainly a suicide mission! In his moment of reckless bravery, not only will he fail to save Uncle, he’ll infuriate the kidnappers and get Uncle and Steward Wang killed! Time is life right now! We must immediately ask Lord Zhao of the Taiyuan Sect to step in. Only by showing them the banner of the Taiyuan Sect can we intimidate those outlaws!"

As the two of them went back and forth, Yin Yingying began to hesitate.

Her faith in Jiang Che stemmed from the awe-inspiring figure in Black Armor outside Lin Yuan City and his ruthless decisiveness on the road.

But now, she had to admit, what her cousin and cousin-in-law were saying made some sense.

Jiang Che was indeed only at the Force Integration Realm, while the enemy had five fighters at Great Success in Force Integration alone! And on top of that, a master at the Mid-stage of the Bone Forging Realm!

She was no longer the naive young girl from Lin Yuan City who knew nothing of the world.

She knew just how powerful a Bone Forging Realm Martial Artist truly was!

And with the life of her own father on the line, her mind was a tangled mess.

Seeing Yin Yingying’s wavering expression, Wang Xiufen added more fuel to the fire. "Exactly! For all we know, that Jiang Che has been tied up like a turkey and is waiting for us to ransom him too!"

Hearing this, Mrs. Yin grew even more frantic. "Yingying! Did you hear that? We can’t delay any longer! Quick! Agree to your cousin and cousin-in-law’s plan! Saving your father is what’s important! The shares... give them the shares! As long as he comes back safely..."

Yin Yingying looked at her mother’s heartbroken and anxious face, her ears filled with her cousin and cousin-in-law’s endless assertions that "Jiang Che is doomed" and "your father is in danger."

Her confidence in Jiang Che’s abilities began to crumble.

’Jiang Che... can he really do it?’

She bit down hard on her lower lip, tasting a trace of blood.

But still, she tried to hold on. "Just... just a little longer... Maybe Jiang Che..."

Zhu Shichang slammed his hand on the table, shot to his feet, and roared, "Wait? What are we waiting for?! If we wait any longer, it’ll be too late! If anything happens to Uncle, it’ll be your fault, you foolish girl! This is a woman’s foolish pity!"

Wang Xiufen also stood up, pointing a finger at Yin Yingying, her voice sharp and piercing. "Yin Yingying! Are you trying to get your own father killed?! Nod your head right now, and we’ll go hire him! Otherwise, if anything happens to Uncle and Steward Wang, you’ll be the one to blame!"

"I..."

Yin Yingying felt an immense pressure that threatened to crush her.

The accusations from her cousin and cousin-in-law, intertwined with her mother’s weeping, were suffocating her.

Just as her internal defenses were about to collapse and, seeing no other choice, she prepared to nod in agreement.

BANG! The door to the main hall was thrown open!

A servant from the Yin Mansion scrambled into the room, practically tumbling over himself.

He was so excited he could barely form words, pointing toward the courtyard gate and gasping for breath as he shouted:

"Miss...! Madam! They’re... they’re back! The Master is back! And Steward Wang! They’re... they’re all back!"