Martial Saint with Passives

Chen Jiayu stood before the mural, his White Jade Folding Fan long since put away.

His eyes, which usually held a gentle smile, now scanned the hundreds, even thousands, of small figures on the wall with unprecedented focus.

He drew upon the Chen Family’s profound legacy and the solid foundation built from his extensive reading since childhood.

In his mind, he was rapidly classifying, summarizing, and integrating the movements of the mural figures according to different Martial Arts Factions!

His brain was now like a high-speed, precision instrument, constantly filtering, eliminating, and reorganizing...

A moment later, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. He seemed to have found his answer.

He walked slowly onto the circular platform, gave the crowd a small smile, and then his body moved, unleashing a Palm Technique as smooth as flowing water.

The Palm Technique was at times as light and ethereal as willow catkins in the wind, and at others as heavy and fierce as great waves crashing against the shore. Its moves were exquisite and full of variations; it faintly exuded the air of a master!

Although, compared to Jiang Che’s naturally formed Fist Technique, it was ultimately a step below in terms of "Divine Charm."

But it was still enough to make everyone present take notice!

Sure enough, the moment he concluded his form, a brilliant pillar of golden light descended from the sky, enveloping him!

Chen Jiayu had passed as well!

Next, the ever-silent Lin Qingyun also walked onto the platform.

He didn’t perform any complex maneuvers. He simply drew his sword and struck.

A single strike!

A flash of sword light, impossibly fast and impossibly pure, blinked out of existence in the air!

On the wall, every mural figure related to the "sword" lit up at that very instant!

With his understanding of the Sword Dao, he had used a single strike to trigger a resonance with all the murals depicting Sword Techniques!

Though not as domineering as Gu Qingxuan, who could activate all the murals, it was still enough to prove the immense height of his Talent in the Sword Dao!

The golden light flashed, and Lin Qingyun’s figure vanished with it.

「 」

When Chen Jiayu passed through the golden pillar of light and opened his eyes again, the acrid smell of thick smoke and a wave of scorching heat assaulted him!

He found himself standing in a sea of fiery ruins.

And those ruins... they were all too familiar.

It was the Chen Family’s mansion in Cangzhou Prefecture City!

The once-ornate pavilions with their carved beams and painted rafters were now nothing but crumbling walls, letting out a series of CRACKLES in the roaring flames.

"No... impossible! Where is this?!" he cried out in shock.

Just then, a squad of Qilin Army soldiers in Heavy Armor burst in. Without a word, they slammed him to the ground, and cold shackles locked his hands and feet.

"By order of the Lord General! The Chen Family has plotted rebellion, and the evidence is irrefutable! The entire family is to be executed! Take them to the Celestial Prison!"

He saw his father, Chen Boyan—that always gentle and cultured figure who commanded such respect and influence in the official circles of Cangzhou.

Now, his hair was disheveled and he was bound in a heavy cangue, being shoved roughly by the soldiers.

"Father!" he screamed himself hoarse.

His father glanced at him, his eyes filled with despair and regret.

Chen Jiayu himself was also dragged through the streets he once knew so well.

The friends who once greeted him with smiles and the merchants who once regarded him with awe...

...now all avoided him like the plague, their eyes filled with contempt and schadenfreude.

Rivals he had once defeated even came forward shamelessly, heaping all sorts of humiliation upon him.

He tried to use his own martial prowess to fight back, to get revenge.

He broke the shackles, struck down the escorting soldiers, and charged toward the lofty General’s Mansion.

However, what greeted him was a dark, endless formation of the Qilin Army!

And the True Qi Fire Cannons, glinting with the cold light of death!

Before the Court’s iron laws and its world-destroying army...

...his personal martial strength, which he had been so proud of, seemed so insignificant, so laughable, so powerless!

He was ultimately captured and dragged to the execution platform at the public market.

Amidst the roar of contempt and curses from the countless commoners, he saw the cold, sharp executioner’s blade slowly fall under the sun...

"NO!!!"

「 」

HUMMM—

A flash of white light passed, and Chen Jiayu’s figure was teleported outside the cavern.

He staggered a few steps the moment he appeared, his face deathly pale.

He looked up and saw his father, still seated peacefully on the high platform, looking down at him with concern.

In an instant, the stark contrast between the despair of the Illusion Realm and the peace of reality made it impossible for him to suppress his emotions any longer.

"Father..." His voice choked, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Seeing this, Chen Boyan, on the high platform, sighed inwardly. But he still offered a gentle smile, nodded at him from afar, and silently mouthed the words:

"It’s alright, it’s alright... It was just a small trial."

Chen Jiayu looked at his father, and an unprecedented thought suddenly arose in his mind.

’The Martial Dao... perhaps it isn’t that important after all.’

’As long as Father is here, as long as the Chen Family still stands, I have everything.’

「 」