Chapter 84: Chapter 79: My Distant Homeland

"Shut up!"

Suddenly, the fist Jiang Che was about to slam into Sacrificial Envoy Li instead struck his own chest.

The punch landed on the Heart of the Black Abyss, sending a jolt through his entire body.

His mind also cleared in an instant.

’I can’t... I can’t just enter the Black Abyss Form whenever I want. It affects my mind!’

Jiang Che felt a surge of belated fear.

Sacrificial Envoy Li could no longer hold himself up and collapsed limply to the ground.

He struggled to get up, but kept failing.

Jiang Che walked over and broke both his arms and legs.

Feeling it still wasn’t safe enough, he broke his spine as well.

Only then did he revert from his Transformation.

"So it really was you..."

This time, Sacrificial Envoy Li saw clearly. The Black Armored Martial Artist was Jiang Che himself.

He just didn’t know what method he used to transform so instantaneously.

But none of that mattered anymore.

He knew he was finished.

"Haha... hahaha... HAHAHAHA!"

Uncharacteristically, Sacrificial Envoy Li began to laugh out loud.

"What are you laughing at?" Jiang Che asked coldly.

"I will soon return to the embrace of my Master."

An expression of bliss and serenity actually appeared on Sacrificial Envoy Li’s face.

Jiang Che frowned and said,

"Have you ever seen the Master of the Black Abyss?"

Sacrificial Envoy Li was taken aback. He said,

"I have not... but that is not important. I can feel my Master’s presence everywhere..."

"If you’ve never seen him, how do you know he’s real? Even if he is real, what makes you so sure that after killing so many people, you’ll go to his side after you die instead of to Hell? And even if you do reach him, what’s your guarantee that he isn’t just using you, planning to devour you completely in the end?"

Jiang Che fired off the questions all at once.

He truly could not comprehend the twisted logic of a madman who worshipped an Evil God.

"COUGH, COUGH... Insolence! You are forbidden from blaspheming the great Master of the Black Abyss!" Sacrificial Envoy Li roared furiously.

"Blasphemy? Don’t you think that your Blood Spirit Sect, after orchestrating so many massacres, has blasphemed human life and soul?" Jiang Che said coldly.

"No... I am saving them. Mortals are insignificant and ignorant, willing to cast aside their dignity, even harm others, just for a bite of food. In times of famine, tales of people trading children to eat them are rampant. For them, life is suffering. By ending their lives early, I give them the chance to have an audience with my Master. Isn’t that for the best?" Sacrificial Envoy Li sneered.

Jiang Che shook his head and said,

"The truly sinful ones are not the mortals struggling to survive, but the people who created a society where they must abandon their dignity to eat—a society where man eats man!"

"Hmph, easy for you to say. But in all these thousands of years, has there ever been an era that wasn’t a man-eat-man society? Was there ever a time when mortals could live with dignity, as you claim?!" Sacrificial Envoy Li’s voice rose involuntarily.

"Just because you haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. In my distant homeland, someone once put an end to all of this, creating a world where everyone is equal and everyone has dignity." A trace of nostalgia crept into Jiang Che’s voice.

"Your homeland? You’re not from Great Chu? But as far as I know, both the Great Yan to the west and the Great Qian to the south are exactly the same! Don’t try to fool me!" Sacrificial Envoy Li said coldly.

"It’s a place much, much farther away. Forget it, you wouldn’t understand even if I told you," Jiang Che said, shaking his head.

"Heh... Only my Master can save this world. Forge the Divine Tier in agony, may all Spirits return to the Abyss! I am about to see my Master!" Sacrificial Envoy Li shouted fanatically.

"Don’t be in such a hurry to die. Let me ask you, are you from Li Yuanwai’s Mansion?" Jiang Che suddenly asked.

"Hm? How did you know?" Sacrificial Envoy Li was stunned.

Jiang Che’s heart went cold.

’Just as I thought. Li Yuanwai’s Mansion *is* the Blood Spirit Sect! What Liu Hai told me was false! I just don’t know if Liu Hai lied to me, if Chief Wang lied to Liu Hai, or if something else went wrong somewhere along the line.’

Although Sacrificial Envoy Li’s accent was very similar to a local’s, Jiang Che had detected a subtle, odd inflection.

It was the same inflection as the Young Servant from Li Yuanwai’s Mansion he had encountered before!

So this man really was from Li Yuanwai’s Mansion!

"Then let me ask you, did you capture a carpenter and his wife?!" Jiang Che demanded sharply.

"Carpenters? We did capture a batch of carpenters. Heh, how laughable. They thought they could make a fortune, but they had no idea they were building the very altar for their own sacrifice!" Sacrificial Envoy Li began to roar with laughter.

"You!" Jiang Che’s eyes turned red. He grabbed Sacrificial Envoy Li by the neck and demanded in a vicious voice, "What altar? Are they dead or not?!"

"Forge the Divine Tier in agony, may all Spirits return to the Abyss!" Sacrificial Envoy Li shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I’m asking you a question! Are they dead or not!" Jiang Che slapped Sacrificial Envoy Li across the face.

With his own Qi Blood depleted, Sacrificial Envoy Li’s face swelled instantly, and several of his teeth were knocked out.

"Forge the Divine Tier in agony... may all Spirits return to the Abyss!" Sacrificial Envoy Li was still chanting.

Jiang Che slapped him again, this time swelling up the other side of his face and leaving him with only a few teeth left in his mouth.

But he just kept muttering, "Forge the Divine Tier in agony... may all Spirits return to the Abyss..."

Jiang Che sighed.

The man was broken.

He would just have to investigate this himself.

"Oh, by the way. Your so-called Master of the Black Abyss. I’ve met him. He even wanted to make me some Mortal Realm Envoy and grant me Divine Power. But I just ignored him and told him to get lost."

Jiang Che leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"Impossible... You’re lying!" Sacrificial Envoy Li, who had been on the brink of death, seemed to rally.

"Why would I lie to you? He also said my soul is very pure. But the souls from the Blood Sacrifices you prepare are a chaotic mess, making it impossible for him to possess them successfully. Oh, and he’s very disappointed in you all. He’s practically furious!" Jiang Che said, shaking his head.

"My Master... is angry? No... NO! That’s not it! You’re lying to me! You must be lying to me!" Sacrificial Envoy Li’s voice suddenly rose.

"Don’t believe me? This Transformation Ability of mine—he’s the one who gave it to me! I didn’t even want it, but he insisted on giving it to me!" Jiang Che sighed.

"Lies, it’s all lies!" Sacrificial Envoy Li shrieked.

"Forget it. Just die."

No longer wanting to waste his breath on him, Jiang Che punched him directly in the forehead.

Sacrificial Envoy Li’s eyes bulged, his head lolled to the side, and he finally stopped breathing.

Jiang Che immediately began to loot the corpse.

Wary of poison, Jiang Che found a tree branch and used it to pick the items out of the man’s pockets.

He found a small money pouch, a folded piece of parchment, a small, string-bound booklet, and a Token with a complex pattern.

Jiang Che first used the branch to flip open the money pouch.

To his great disappointment, the pouch contained only a single gold leaf and a few pieces of fragmented silver.

Although this was a great deal of money for an ordinary person.

But for an expert of the Iron Skin Realm, it was pathetically little.

’I wonder if he kept his money somewhere else, or if this guy really wasn’t greedy...’

Jiang Che thought to himself.

If he really wasn’t greedy, then he was truly a pious believer.

Just one with a few screws loose.

He tore a piece of cloth from his own tattered clothes, then picked out the gold leaf and silver, wrapping them in it.

Even though it wasn’t much money, Jiang Che couldn’t stand to see it go to waste.

Next, he used the branch to flick open the string-bound booklet, only to find with disappointment that it was a travel permit.

’And here I thought it was a Secret Manual. I got excited for nothing.’

Then, he unfolded the parchment.

’Huh? This looks like... a map!’ Jiang Che began to grow expectant.