Chapter 233 - A Combat Artist, Finally

Noon on August 25 brought a harsh, blinding sun that made it exceedingly difficult to look up. Rays pierced through the verdant canopy, scattering golden fragments of light across the forest floor.

Five-meter-tall trees were packed closely together, decorated by patches of green moss. White dandelion seeds drifted lazily through the air until they were caught by a protruding piece of bark or an errant leaf. Failing that, they would fall gently to the ground.

Suddenly, the floating dandelion seeds began to gather. A seed brushed against black fabric, pausing briefly before sliding across someone’s chest and floating behind them.

The man moved through the forest clearing at a sedate pace, fallen leaves crunching softly beneath his shoes.

Nearby, a wrinkled, gray tree seemed to shiver. In truth, it was not the tree that was moving, but a well-camouflaged snake tightly coiled around the tree, its mottled body blending perfectly into the dead branches and leaves around it. Its triangular head gave away its venomous nature.

A breeze stirred as the man passed by the tree. Suddenly, the snake struck as if it had been launched from a slingshot. It covered half a meter in less time than it would take for a bird to react. Its maw opened wide, revealing two curved fangs that were as slender as toothpicks. Just as its fangs were about to sink into flesh, a thumb and middle finger closed around the snake’s head, pinching its foul-smelling mouth shut. The fingers disappeared just as quickly as they appeared, along with the man. It was as if a ghost had passed by.

The black-and-gray speckled snake hung about a meter and a half above the ground, motionless. Half a second later, the snake's eyes flickered.

Time seemed to have skipped a beat after its failed lunge. Somehow, its mouth had snapped shut of its own accord. But in the end, snakes act on instinct, not emotion. As it hovered in the air, the snake realized its hunt had failed and decided to retreat to the tree trunk to hide once more.

Its head twisted from side to side as it tried to coil itself back around the tree. But at that moment, cracks spread across the meter-long snake, like branches of a tree, until every scale on its body was seemingly fractured. A breath later, the snake shattered like glass.

An intact snake head thudded to the ground, its mouth snapping in vain as it rolled across the forest floor. The newly revealed tree trunk bore clear impressions of the snake’s grip. The bark had crumbled away, uncovering the yellowish-white wood underneath. The surface of the wood bore scale-like patterns. No, not patterns. Those were countless cracks.

Like it had encountered the straw that broke the camel's back, the tree that was about half a meter in diameter collapsed with a thunderous crash. Splinters spewed out of the fractured section of the tree, coating the ground in yellow sawdust.

Elsewhere, near the waterfall, the faint sound of a bear's roar lingered in the air. However, the roar lacked the ferocity of a predator or the dominance of territorial defense. It sounded more like the desperate cry of a wounded beast facing a stronger opponent.

A three-meter-tall bear let out a crazed yowl. Unlike ordinary bears, its spine was covered in a white, bone-like exoskeleton that resembled armor, and its fur was unusually coarse, short, and stiff.

A blond young man around 1.75 meters tall stood calmly across from the giant bear. He had an old, yellowed book in his hands, opened to a page that had a bold, handwritten title.

"Dissection Stage."

Yes, it was one of the stages of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist, a technique Feng Liusi had been teaching Cassius for the past two months. The Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist consisted of three major stages: the Acupoint Stage, the Force Stage, and the Dissection Stage.

Unlike common martial techniques in the Covert Martial Arts world, these three stages had no sequential order. Rather than stages of progression, they simply represented different aspects of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist.

In that respect, it was entirely unlike the Wind Elephant Fist, which had the Gale Stage and the Elephant Herd Stage.

However, all three stages were essential in order to master the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist. While one might focus more on one stage, all three needed to be trained simultaneously.

The Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist was, after all, an ancient assassination technique, so modern martial classifications were not applicable. Feng Liusi had told Cassius plainly that the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist had no first or second stage, nor distinctions like Minor Culmination or Major Culmination.

The only way to measure progress in the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist was by examining the development of the sixty-six acupoints.

To practice the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist, one needed to construct a foundational framework within the body. The sixty-six acupoints needed to form the Giant Falcon constellation. The Covert Martial Arts practitioner had to then slowly open each acupoint using Death’s Fang Force and create the interconnected meridians.

It was important to note that the acupoints were only opened. Opening the acupoint would form a small channel inside, , allowing a minimal amount of Death’s Fang Force to be stored. Once that was achieved, one would officially be at the Entry-level of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist.

From that point onward, training in the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist revolved around increasing the amount of Death’s Fang Force in each acupoint. One could imagine the acupoints as circular spaces filled with dirt. Training in the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist was like slowly washing away the dirt until the entire space was filled with Death’s Fang Force.

Practiced to its peak, the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist filled all sixty-six acupoints with an immense amount of Death’s Fang Force. A single strike would unleash this force like a tidal wave, utterly overwhelming and destroying the enemy.

Feng Liusi had once tested his strength at the peak of his power by striking a fifteen-meter-high rocky hill with all his might. The Death’s Fang Force he unleashed shattered the entire hill.

Countless fissures had run across the hill before it gradually collapsed. Although that strike had drained all the Death’s Fang Force in Feng Liusi's body, it clearly demonstrated the terrifying power of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist.

At that time, Feng Liusi had only filled thirty-three of his acupoints to full capacity. It was worth noting that once more than half of the acupoints reached a hundred percent development, they would start to resonate with each other. Though it came at a cost, if a Covert Martial Arts practitioner triggered this resonance, they could enter the ultimate state of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist: Unleashed.

This was the general training process for the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist. It may appear simple and straightforward, yet the ancient technique’s applicability in combat and destructive force were beyond imagination.

Cassius, with his perfectly compatible Killer Persona, had constantly maintained the Southern Dipper state for the last two months. Although this persona seemed more bloodthirsty than before, it was immensely beneficial for training. Feng Liusi could only enter the Southern Dipper state for an hour, maybe an hour and a half each day . On the other hand, Cassius could enter it at will and spent sixteen hours a day in that state, with eight hours reserved for sleep and meals.

Since he could spend ten times longer in the Southern Dipper state, Cassius’s two months of training were equivalent to more than a year of Feng Liusi's own training. He had fully developed four acupoints and filled them with Death’s Fang Force.

At the same time, Cassius had been studying the secret techniques of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist. Feng Liusi had mentioned that apart from the ultimate move, Death's Fang, the other killing moves, like Blood Flower, Blood Spear, and Crimson Waterfall Explosion, were self-created.

Feng Liusi had created these killing moves based on the principles of acupoints. Using each move involved triggering the explosive activation of a number of acupoints. It was similar to muscle memory, or a machine executing a program.

It was no wonder Feng Liusi's Blood Flower technique allowed him to strike nearly a hundred times in just a few breaths. Cassius had spent the last two months studying Blood Flower under Feng Liusi's guidance, since it suited his fighting style better than the other two killing moves. If he could combine it with his superhuman physique and his Breathless Chain Strike state, then...

Wouldn't that boost the power of the killing move several times over?

Take for example, the Blood Flower: Thousand Hands technique?

Of course, that was the ideal scenario. The Third Breath technique and the Blood Flower killing move didn't necessarily complement each other, and Cassius would need time to blend them seamlessly.

He was also studying the Finger Gun in an attempt to fuse it with the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist. He was experimenting to see which acupoints could overlap and explode in sync with the Finger Gun. If he was successful, Cassius would have a second Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist move.

Finger Machine Gun?

Lastly, Cassius had caught a flash of inspiration during one of his previous battles with Feng Liusi. The four major killing moves of his Wind Elephant Fist, which he had trained in for the longest time, seemed to be converging into a single technique as his understanding and skill advanced.

Perhaps he really could fuse them together successfully. That would become his third Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist move.

Cassius was constantly fusing his Covert Martial Art techniques, hoping that one day it would all pay off and make his martial arts more cohesive and refined.

In the dense forest, the giant bear's roar was abruptly choked off.

Bloodied chunks of flesh and fur plopped onto the muddy ground as the massive bear's mangled body crashed to the ground with a loud thud. Two eyeballs rolled unevenly across the rugged clearing before settling into a crevasse.

Cassius flicked the blood off his hand as he calmly closed his martial arts manual.

"Training is done for the day."

But as he was about to turn and leave, his heart suddenly stirred. Out of nowhere, an inexplicable sense of foreboding arose within him. The fifth acupoint had reached a hundred percent development. This breakthrough was no different from previous ones, but at that moment, it triggered an unexpected chain reaction.

As the saying goes, when water overflows, it spills. Cassius had reached the peak of pugilist long ago, and his physique had even surpassed that of some combat artists. He had then studied an ancient assassination technique rivaling the best Covert Martial Arts for two months and continuously sparred with Blood Fist Feng Liusi, whose strength at his peak surpassed that of many seasoned combat artists. Feng Liusi had even treated him as a half-disciple, sharing insights and techniques without reservation.

His foundation had been laid, but he had been waiting for the right moment.

Now, that moment had arrived.

Cassius froze in place as if time had stopped for him. He could feel something in his body releasing energy into his physique. The energy came like a stream, akin to both liquid and vapor, but it was scorching hot. Wherever it passed, his muscles, meridians, and bones responded by trembling slightly. It was like being enveloped in the warmth of a hot spring.

Cassius immediately sat down cross-legged, as he began to consider switching from his Killer Persona to his Main Persona. But the moment that thought crossed his mind, the stream of energy suddenly sputtered as if it were about to cease entirely.

Quickly abandoning the idea, Cassius chose to remain in his Killer Persona and began practicing the techniques of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist.

He raised his arms, then slowly brought them together at the forearms, his hands forming the claws of a bird of prey. His right hand grasped his left, while his elbows rested on his knees. He straightened his back, giving off an immovable aura.

Cassius quietly attuned himself to the flow of energy in his body, relishing every moment of the breakthrough. A crisp sense of clarity filled his heart, and even his mind seemed sharper. He stayed in that state for a full fifteen minutes.

But wolves with keen noses had already caught the scent of the giant bear's demise and were already approaching. Over a dozen wolves, led by their alpha, ambled into the clearing.

Just as the alpha's eyes gleamed in anticipation of fresh meat, the loud cry of a bird of prey suddenly erupted, followed by an aura that expanded like a shockwave.

The air visibly warped like rippling water as it instantly engulfed the wolf pack. Cassius was now enveloped in red steam. A terrifying aura, one belonging only to combat artists, blasted outward from him. The alpha felt as though a monstrous bird of prey was diving from the sky, its menacing wings blotting out the sun.

The wolves were instantly forced to the ground under the crushing weight of the aura. The dozen wolves at the back whimpered in fear as their heads pressed into the fallen leaves, and the soil beneath them dampened. They had literally been scared stiff.

The alpha wolf, who was closest to Cassius, was literally scared to death. Its legs stiffened as it keeled over with a thud, completely lifeless.

Like steam rising from a kettle's spout, red-tinged air gathered around Cassius’s head, where it formed a slowly rotating vortex. Within the vortex, the eyes of a bird of prey slowly grew sharper and fiercer.

Cassius's eyes snapped open, glowing crimson. But instead of basking in the joy of finally breaking through to combat artist, he was puzzled by the situation he had encountered just minutes earlier.

Why did the breakthrough to combat artist show signs of stopping when he tried to switch from his Killer Persona back to his Main Persona?

Could there be undiscovered drawbacks in the three core principles of Golem Covert Martial Arts?