Chapter 39: Devouring the Abyss

The warehouse was silent.

Master Jian, one of the deadliest assassins in Ironcrest, lay motionless on the ground. His Qi was broken, his strength crippled, his mind still trapped in the echoes of the abyss.

Kaede hadn't spoken in minutes.

She just stared at Asher, at the pulsing darkness that coiled around his feet like a living shadow.

"…This isn't normal." Her voice was barely a whisper.

Asher rolled his shoulders. "Define normal."

She exhaled sharply. "You're in Qi Gathering. You shouldn't—this shouldn't be possible."

He smirked. "Yet here we are."

Her fists clenched. "You devoured his technique. You crushed his Qi. That's not cultivation—that's something else."

She wasn't wrong.

Even Asher knew this power wasn't natural.

The Path of the Abyss wasn't just another cultivation technique. It was something… different.

Something older.

Something hungry.

And now, it whispered to him.

"More. More."

He inhaled slowly. He wasn't about to lose himself. Not yet.

But the hunger… he could feel it.

And he was about to feed it.

His gaze flickered back to Master Jian. The assassin was still breathing, barely.

He was a liability. If he survived, he'd report back to the sects, and they'd send something stronger.

Kaede stepped forward. "Are we… killing him?"

Asher crouched beside the broken man.

Master Jian looked up at him, eyes filled with something Asher had never seen in them before.

Fear.

The mighty assassin, the Phantom Blade, was afraid.

Asher studied him for a moment. Then, he smiled.

"No."

Kaede blinked. "What?"

Asher stood, turning away. "Let him crawl back to his masters. Let him tell them what happened here."

Master Jian coughed. "…You think I won't hunt you?"

Asher chuckled. "Oh, I hope you do."

His shadow twisted, stretching toward the assassin's broken body.

Master Jian flinched as the abyss touched him.

"Tell them," Asher murmured. "Tell them I'm coming."

Then, he turned and walked away.

Kaede hesitated for a second before following him.

Master Jian watched them leave.

And for the first time in his life—he didn't chase his target.

Because deep in his shattered core, he already knew.

Asher Damien was no longer prey.

He was something far worse.

Asher and Kaede moved through the shadows of the slums, staying hidden.

The city was on fire with rumors.

The auction house raid had spread across Ironcrest. Some called the attacker a demon, others a rogue cultivator, and some whispered about a shadow god rising in the underworld.

The sects were on edge.

But Asher?

He was focused.

They reached the hideout—an abandoned underground ruin beneath the slums. Here, they were safe. For now.

Kaede dropped onto a crate, exhaling. "So. What now?"

Asher sat cross-legged, pulling out the black scroll.

The Path of the Abyss.

"…Now," he said, "we go deeper."

He unrolled the scroll, the ancient symbols glowing faintly.

The moment his fingers brushed against the words—

Abyssal Qi surged into his body.

He inhaled sharply. It was consuming him.

No.

Not consuming.

Reshaping.

The abyss wasn't just energy. It was alive.

And it was waiting for him to accept it.

Asher's smirk widened.

"Then let's begin."

He closed his eyes and let the abyss take him.

Cultivation was supposed to be a slow, structured process.

Not this.

The moment Asher embraced the abyss, his consciousness plunged into darkness.

He wasn't meditating.

He was falling.

Endless black. No sound. No form.

Just… whispers.

"More."

"Deeper."

"Rule."

His vision blurred as figures emerged from the void.

Shadowed beings. Entities without names.

Their voices hummed in his mind.

"You seek power?"

Asher exhaled. "I take power."

The abyss shuddered.

Then—it moved.

The darkness wrapped around him, sinking into his very being.

His Qi changed. No—it evolved.

The normal Qi pathways in his body twisted, reshaped into something else.

Something abyssal.

And then—

BOOM!

Asher snapped back to reality.

His eyes shot open, glowing black.

The hideout shook. Kaede stumbled back. "What the hell was that?!"

Asher slowly stood. He could feel it.

His body was stronger. His Qi wasn't just flowing—it was commanding.

His shadow moved on its own, stretching unnaturally.

He clenched his fist.

"Abyssal Foundation… established."

Kaede's jaw dropped.

She knew what that meant.

Asher had skipped an entire stage of cultivation.

People spent years forming their Foundation.

Asher did it in a single night.

She exhaled sharply. "This isn't fair."

Asher chuckled. "For them? No. No, it's not."

Then, he stretched, grinning.

"Now. Let's go scare some sects."

The Hunt for Asher Damien

While Asher awakened his power, the sects were already making their move.

In the depths of Ironcrest, three figures stood in the ruins of the auction house.

They weren't ordinary cultivators.

They were elders.

One from the Silver Moon Sect. One from the Crimson Blade Pavilion. One from the Jade Serpent Hall.

And they all had one goal.

Find Asher Damien. Kill him.

The Crimson Blade Elder, a towering man clad in red robes, scowled. "You're telling me a Qi Gathering brat did this?"

The Silver Moon Elder's eyes narrowed. "Not an ordinary brat. A shadow cultivator. A dangerous one."

The Jade Serpent Elder smiled coldly. "Then we burn the slums. Smoke him out."

The Crimson Blade Elder cracked his knuckles. "Fine by me."

The hunt had begun.

And Asher?

He was waiting for them.