Chapter 227 - Ultimate Form: Unleashed

Screech!

The far-off cry of a fierce bird of prey resounded directly in Cassius's mind, as though it had traveled across great distances to reach him.

As he scrutinized Feng Liusi, he felt his whole body stiffen in the next second. In his vision, Feng Liusi, who had assumed a strange battle stance, had steam coming out from his back and arms. A pale red aura swirled upward, forming a vortex.

The threatening aura coalesced into a massive crimson vulture with a sharp beak and menacing talons. The air around its wings seemed to ripple, shifting like fire or undulating waves.

A suffocating pressure surged outward, engulfing Cassius in a circle several meters in wide with Feng Liusi at its center.

Visible to the naked eye, the circle shifted and shimmered like heatwaves or water ripples under sunlight. Dust and debris went flying away by an invisible force, and even small stones started to roll outward as if fleeing.

This was the aura of a combat artist!

For the first time, Cassius felt the full force of a combat artist's aura concentrated solely on him. He immediately noticed the difference between this combat aura and the life suppression of high-ranking Blood Race members. The air around him had become unnaturally thick, like glue, as if a vacuum had sucked away all the oxygen.

Sharp killing intent pressed in from every direction—front, back, left, and right—like needles. His hair stood on end, and every inch of his body screamed with danger.

"Young one, you’re quite impressive. But unfortunately, there’s a vast difference between a Covert Martial Artist without combat aura and one who has mastered it!" Feng Liusi’s already bloodshot eyes grew redder. "You’ve broken my seal. The Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist will now have no restraints! Don't get yourself killed, kid!"

He shouted, "Neve, run now!"

Before his voice had even faded, Cassius's pupils shrank. A figure, like a blood-red cannonball, appeared before him, delivering a punch!

Boom!

Cassius flew backward like he were a ragdoll, eyes blurred and chest searing in pain, as the scenery around him flashed by in streaks of light and shadow.

Aside from the wind howling in his ears, he could hear Feng Liusi’s increasingly hoarse voice drawing closer. "You have thirty seconds before I completely lose control. Once that happens, I will return to my peak, free to use all my killing moves and secret moves without restraint! If you wish to live, make your escape within the next thirty seconds."

Another punch landed!

Feng Liusi’s outstretched hands came together like a hammer, crashing down on Cassius’s raised arms, pummelling straight down. His back slammed into the barren ground, forming a human-shaped crater, with cracks spreading from the impact.

The force of the blow bounced Feng Liusi several meters into the air. He spun rapidly before landing.

One hand pushing the ground, and Cassius lifted himself from the crater in an instant. His expression darkened as he stared down at his chest, where there was a distinct imprint of a fist. Bruises were beginning to bloom beneath the skin.

In the two previous clashes, Cassius had been fully suppressed by Feng Liusi’s combat aura. His thoughts and actions lagged, unable to keep up with Feng Liusi’s rapid assault.

Though Cassius’s combat techniques were nearly flawless due to his extraordinary physique, with seamless transitions between moves, Feng Liusi’s aura had still found a gap in his defenses, breaking through in an instant.

Was this the power of aura? In life-or-death combat between masters of covert martial arts, everything could be decided in an instant. Aura allowed one to detect those fleeting moments and exploit any weakness to strike at vital points, ending the fight in one blow.

"Your muscle density far exceeds that of ordinary people. You’re not nearly as frail as you look. Though you have not reached the realm of a true combat artist, you already possess the physique of one. What a freak."

Feng Liusi’s eyes grew even redder, and his hands seemed to be coated in a dense layer of crimson. As he waved them in the air, they left behind thin red trails in his wake.

"Five seconds have passed..." Feng Liusi seemed to remind Cassius of the time. "Since you have no intention of running, hold out for the next twenty-five seconds. Dying under my ultimate form wouldn’t be too dishonorable for someone with a combat expert’s physique..."

A red crescent flickered in Cassius’s vision, and he suddenly found it difficult to track Feng Liusi’s movements. Only when the aura once again compressed around him was Cassius able to turn and throw a punch.

As his fist grazed Feng Liusi’s shoulder, a red fist struck his ribs and Cassius went sliding backward, his feet leaving two trails in the dirt.

Just as he steadied himself, a red flash rapidly enlarged before him.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The familiar pressure engulfed him from the front. Cassius roared, activating his breathing technique and blood circulation. His golem heart immediately entered its active state, forcing his life magnetic field to expand outward.

His energy barely managed to resist the combat aura, forming a defensive barrier just one centimeter from his skin.

His eyes reddened, and he instantly entered his Killing Persona state. Instead of retreating, he surged forward like an arrow, his right hand clenched as if he were throwing a cannonball.

Dust flew across the wasteland as the two fighters left deep craters with each step. With each clash of fists, shockwaves rippled outward, scattering debris.

"Use your killing moves already! This doesn’t even hurt! If your Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist is only this strong, what kind of Blood Fist is that?"

In his Killing Persona, Cassius was irritable and furious. Using this state and his life magnetic field, he temporarily countered the effects of Feng Liusi’s combat aura. His chest wound had already healed significantly due to his rapid regenerative ability.

The fight returned to a stalemate.

The already-arrogant Cassius in his Killing Persona became even more boastful.

Feng Liusi had been surprised when Cassius resisted his combat aura, but now he was even more shocked by this Killing Persona state. He vaguely sensed something familiar but said nothing. Like a clock, he continued to remind Cassius, "Twenty seconds left..."

A crater exploded under Feng Liusi’s feet as he shot forward in a blood-red arc, approaching Cassius from a tricky angle.

"As you wish! Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist, secret technique—Blood Flower!"

In Cassius’s pupils, Feng Liusi’s hands, which were positioned in front of his chest, seemed to bloom suddenly, transforming into nearly a hundred red arms. These afterimages created a lotus flower.

The sound of countless slaps echoed from Cassius's body, as precise strikes rained down on him like a fierce storm, relentless as raindrops. With each punch or palm strike that landed, he could feel a strange force penetrating his body, burrowing into his muscles like needles.

The final palm strike landed on Cassius's chest, sending him flying back through a tree.

Amid the flying splinters, Feng Liusi's outstretched hands came together again, forming a crimson lotus in front of his chest. "Detonate!"

Cassius’s entire body shook violently as the hundred strands of force that had been embedded in his body exploded simultaneously, popping like roasting beans. Several of his blood vessels and muscle fibers snapped, and blood slowly trickled from his nose and ears.

Cassius looked miserable, and yet he raised his head, glaring at Feng Liusi in the distance. To Feng Liusi’s confusion, Cassius grinned viciously.

"Very good, very good! The pure single-mindedness of this attack... I can feel the screams of every undead soul dying beneath it! Marvelous..."

Cassius took a deep breath, feeling intoxicated, and licked the crimson blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Feng Liusi furrowed his brow. In that moment, he felt that the young man before him was even more deranged than himself. The familiar feeling made Feng Liusi uneasy.

In the next second, he appeared beside Cassius in a flash. With a powerful whip kick, he sent him hurtling backward. This time, the force was immense, and Cassius crashed through three trees before finally regaining his balance and landing. His delicate face showed a sickly flush, and he mumbled to himself.

"This feeling... yes, this is it..."

With a graceful movement of his right hand, fingers forming several intricate turns, Cassius drew in the air a blood-red blossom.

"Ten seconds left!"

Feng Liusi's voice rushed closer as his feet pounded the ground. His eyes grew bloodier with each step. "Secret Technique, Crimson Waterfall Explosion!"

A huge cloud of red mist extended from his arm, encasing him like impenetrable armor.

The mist coalesced into a massive red arm, covering his own. He swung his right hand forcefully, and the red hand lunged forward like an eagle's claw to grip a thick tree trunk. With a wet, sickening sound, the tree was crushed in two, the wood in the claw turning to mush.

Cassius shot forward, attempting to counterattack as they battled in the sparse woods. Thick tree trunks snapped under their strikes, and the sound of their collisions echoed like muffled thunder.

Boom!

On either side of a deep crater near the lake, the two stood in a stalemate. Feng Liusi pressed down with a claw, his arm still wrapped in the red mist. Cassius crossed his arms in an X to block the attack, white and occasionally red flashes of energy swirling around his arms.

"Five seconds left!" Feng Liusi's eyes were nearly consumed by blood vessels, his face twisted with nothing but ferocity.

He pushed forward with his palm, the enormous red arm detached from his own and pressed Cassius backward.

Each step Cassius took left deep cracks in the ground, his footsteps pounding like a pile driver.

"Azure Blood Ripple Finger Gun!"

He spread his fingers wide, jabbing fiercely into the red arm bearing down on him. After more than twenty strikes, the red arm shattered.

But before he could catch his breath, a figure, already prepared, seamlessly closed in. "Red Falcon Fist, Secret Technique, Evil Spear!"

Feng Liusi spread his hands wide, and they gleamed like two sharp red spears under the sunlight. With a swift motion, his arms struck out.

His hardened forearms aimed directly at Cassius's throat and brow, his other fingers clenched tight, while only his middle and index fingers extended like spear tips. The tips of his fingers pricked through the air, leaving crimson arcs in their wake.

Cassius tilted his head and twisted his body, narrowly dodging the two strikes. As he turned and looked up, his eye was grazed, leaving a sharp, seductive curve across his cheek.

"More! More!"

He swung his hands, his left arm angled downward, his right upward, forming a parallel sign in front of his chest just five centimeters apart. His hands became blade-like, white energy surging from the surface.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

By the lake, Cassius and Feng Liusi's forms clashed wildly, red and white energy colliding. Their hand blades and arm spears struck against each other like two masters of cold weapons dueling, pushing their stamina to the limit.

Smack! Smack!

As a red palm struck Cassius in the chest, a white fist landed on Feng Liusi's shoulder. Both of them staggered backward.

Feng Liusi stepped into the lake, submerging half his body in the water. His eyes retained only a sliver of clarity.

With a gravelly voice, he spoke once more, directing his words at Cassius. "Young man! To fight me to this point without being a martial artist yourself... you are the first and the only one! So, I will give you one final warning. Once I lose control and fall into madness, I will enter the ultimate form of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist: Unleashed."

"When that happens, any explosive technique, any Secret Technique, even the Death's Fang ultimate move, I can unleash freely, without restraint, as if my body's limits were completely removed..."

Feng Liusi's voice grew more hoarse and deeper until it finally sounded like scraping stones. At that moment, Cassius sensed an unprecedented threat, his heightened instincts sounding alarms throughout his body. This was true danger!

Feng Liusi's body now exuded an aura that no longer seemed human—an air of complete indifference to life. Cassius had to go all out, and unleash every bit of power within him.

He took a deep breath, pushing his Golem Covert Martial Arts Secret Technique to its limit. This was a technique Cassius had conceived during a moment of inspiration over the past few days. By amplifying the frequency of the golem's life magnetic field, he overlaid it onto his human life magnetic field.

With a more powerful magnetic field governing his strength, he triggered his muscles' hidden potential. Cassius pressed his palms together, the heartbeat of the golem pulsing through his entire body. His muscles swelled, veins bulging like dark snakes coiling under his skin.

His body grew to a towering two meters, his expression blank as he swung his arms wide. His movements were so fast that it seemed as if eight arms had sprouted from his body, some with open palms, others clenched into fists, and some forming hand blades.

This was the terrifying Breathless Chain Strike of the Third Breath technique. Cassius's power had reached its peak.

Shriek!

From several meters away, a violent bird call rang out. Blood-red steam erupted all over Feng Liusi's body, shrouding his figure completely. The steam rose from his arms, shoulders, and head, forming a pair of enormous, menacing wings in the sky.

"Secret move, Death's Fang..."