Chapter 405 - The Pale Origin

Like a gentle breeze, Ghost-Man appeared silently by the bedside, his footsteps utterly soundless and his aura retracted to an extreme degree.

Without visual detection, even if Claire were back-to-back with Ghost-Man, she likely wouldn't have sensed the presence of this assassin—let alone with the distance of a room between them.

On the bed, Cassius was relaxed, casually picking up a piece of fruit to eat. After a moment's pause, Ghost-Man spoke in a low voice.

"We've found the source. Last night's assassination was a job commissioned by the royal family and executed by the Shadow Thorn organization. Early this morning, I took down their headquarters, though unfortunately, I couldn't kill Soss. He had a royal guardian protecting him, buying him enough time to escape, though I did manage to take one of his arms."

Cassius remained expressionless. "No matter, it's fine if he got away."

After a brief pause, Cassius added, "Tonight, bring Iron Knight to Ash City to test the effects of the Tower of Refuge. Also, I plan to leave Ash City and explore the Pale Lands. Are you two interested? Perhaps we can go together."

Ghost-Man nodded. "I was already thinking of that. I took some dangerous missions at Black Rain Manor that can only be completed in the World of Calamity. The locations for all of them are within the Pale Lands, which covers a vast area, likely the size of several provinces in the Hongli Empire."

Cassius's eyes flashed at Ghost-Man's words, as the other openly mentioned Black Rain Manor without reservation, likely indicating a significant increase in his permissions after their last mission. With that, certain information about the manor was no longer restricted.

With this thought, Cassius directly inquired about Ghost-Man's tasks. Prepared, Ghost-Man handed him a booklet.

Cassius took it and, holding it up to the light, began reading.

1. [Graveyard of the Undead]

Description:

Dark creatures are twisted beings possessing powerful undead characteristics, products of a malformed origin lacking one of the three primary sources. At the Wild Beast and Savage Beast stages, dark creatures still possess weaknesses. However, when they reach the Cataclysmic Spirit level and are in the World of Calamity, these dark creatures become nearly indestructible monsters, almost impossible to kill by others of the same rank.

But for unknown reasons, a mysterious force entered the World of Calamity in ancient times, hunting and imprisoning these undead dark creatures within the Graveyard of the Undead, gradually wearing away their undead traits with overwhelming destructive energy, ultimately managing to kill large numbers of Cataclysmic Spirits.

The Graveyard of the Undead is an experimental site, a slaughterhouse, and a burial ground located in the southeastern corner of the Pale Lands, its black gas and blood-red light visible from afar.

The Graveyard of the Undead is highly dangerous. It contains a large number of indestructible Cataclysmic Spirit level corpses, which breeds new dark creatures [Blood Massacre].

Mission Requirement:

Enter the Graveyard of the Undead and successfully excavate ten portions of Cataclysmic Spirit level remains. This is the minimum requirement, though more is preferred, with a maximum of fifty portions.

Mission Reward:

Exchange the Cataclysmic Spirit level remains at the Baptism Chapel for Soul Power. Additionally, Marked-one privileges will receive a minor enhancement.

...

4. [Howling Canyon]

Description:

Those whose Qi is extremely refined, after dying in the real world, their Qi will sink into the World of Calamity, transforming into Dead Spirits. Retaining their combat skills from life, most have no consciousness and wander aimlessly across the Pale Lands like mindless rules. Dead Spirits cannot be killed but can be defeated. Once vanquished, their Qi dissipates into the world, allowing them to re-form at random locations in the Pale Lands. However, at the moment of defeat, their Qi washes over others like rain, imparting combat experiences that can be absorbed.

Howling Canyon is located in the southwestern corner of the Pale Lands, within the crevice of a horn-shaped mountain peak. The unique terrain here causes the canyon walls to house caves that periodically produce Soul Jades that nourish Qi. Dead Spirits in the Pale Lands are drawn to this energy, occupying the caves and leaving once they absorb a Soul Jade.

Once a Dead Spirit enters a cave, it remains dormant unless another Dead Spirit or a Qi cultivator enters, triggering a battle.

Mission Requirement:

Find Howling Canyon, defeat a Dead Spirit, and obtain one Soul Jade. This is the minimum requirement, with a maximum of five pieces.

Mission Reward:

Exchange the Soul Jade based on its weight and quality for an equivalent amount of Soul Power. Marked-one privileges will receive a minor enhancement.

...

7. [Eternal Flame]

Description:

After burning, vegetation turns to black ash, but when life itself burns, it leaves behind white ash. The Pale Lands are covered in such white ash, remnants of life exhausted by Eternal Flames. Long ago, the Pale Lands burned with an everlasting fire, though over the eons, even these flames waned, covering the land in ash. Scattered flames still quietly burn.

The Eternal Flames are a wrath that consumes worlds, highly dangerous. But where there is danger, there is opportunity. If you manage to obtain a wisp of Eternal Flame and ignite your Qi body with it, you will endure extreme agony, but your entire Qi will undergo a refined purification, eliminating impurities and concentrating its essence. This allows those who have reached their limit to break through unreachable boundaries.

Mission Requirement:

Find a source of the Eternal Flame and obtain a wisp. This is the minimum requirement, with a maximum of three wisps.

Mission Reward:

Exchange the Eternal Flames based on their quantity and temperature for Soul Power. Marked-one privileges will receive a minor enhancement.

8. [The Pale Origin]

Description:

The Eternal Flames burn across the Pale Lands, coating the ground with ash—remnants of life once aflame. All this ash, however, originates from a single massive plant. While the Eternal Flames are nearly inextinguishable, this giant, undying plant also grows limitlessly, giving birth to everlasting flames.

The Pale Origin is a colossal plant that perpetually burns, straddling the line between destruction and rebirth, continuously dying and regenerating. Its seeds, born from these flames, possess unique properties, capable of parasitizing Qi bodies and imparting a degree of undying properties. If one ingests a Pale Seed from the Pale Origin and then burns it with the Eternal Flame, they have more than a fifty-percent chance of achieving a sublime refinement.

Mission Requirement:

Find the Pale Origin and obtain one Pale Seed. This is the minimum requirement, with a maximum of two seeds.

Mission Reward:

Exchange Pale Seeds based on their quantity for Soul Power. Marked-one privileges will receive a minor enhancement.

...

10. [Meteorite Shard]

In the World of Calamity, each special zone—Pale Lands, Silent Rain Zone, Despair Skeletal Forest, Pitch Black Mountains, Scarlet Lake, Rotting Marshes, and the Crystal Sand Sea—has at its core a unique meteorite shard.

Each shard is located near a Calamity Hole, areas heavily eroded by calamity, breeding grounds for dark creatures, and gathering spots for undying Cataclysmic Spirits. Even the Ultimate Dark Form has appeared in these regions.

The World of Calamity has both day and night, with three levels of night. The first level is the Blood Night, during which dark creatures grow restless, and beasts become extremely aggressive, far beyond normal. The second stage is the Moon Halo, where the moon seems engulfed by darkness, forming a faintly glowing ring. During this stage, there is a certain chance of triggering a beast surge across the Pale Lands, causing Cataclysmic Spirits to go berserk, attacking any living being within sight. Calamity activity in the air sharply increases, leading to the appearance of calamity fog in certain areas, turning any intruder into a rampaging beast.

The third stage is the Lightless Night, when the Dark Ultimate Form appears. During this stage, the scattered meteorite shards across the Pale Lands emit a faint glow. These shards, typically ranging from fingernail to palm size, have a fatal attraction to dark creatures. Dark creatures that attempt to consume a shard, but lack the strength, self-destruct in the process. Other dark creatures devour the remains, which triggers further explosions, resulting in a widespread "Blood Devourer Chain Explosion" effect.

Task Requirement: Find a meteorite shard during the Lightless Night. Minimum requirement: one shard; no maximum limit.

Task Rewards: Depending on the quantity and size of the shards collected, receive a mysterious reward from the manor. Marked-one privileges will receive a major enhancement.

...

On the hospital bed, Cassius fell into deep thought. The Black Rain Manor's mission briefing had revealed substantial information, even outlining some rules of the World of Calamity. Some of this information connected with the hidden knowledge Cassius had already uncovered, corroborating each other.

The first task, [Graveyard of the Undead], mentions that Cataclysmic Spirits in the World of Calamity are nearly indestructible, impossible to kill by entities of the same level. It further explains that in ancient times, a mysterious force entered the World of Calamity and began to hunt Cataclysmic Spirit level beings. They gradually eroded the spirits with extreme force energy, eventually succeeding in killing them.

Cassius immediately thought of his two Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritances. Could these ancient martial techniques have originated from that era? Perhaps a mysterious force had experimented on these undying Cataclysmic Spirit to refine and perfect destructive force energy. Ultimately, each force characteristic was taken to its absolute limit, making it the nemesis of the undying, like a natural predator.

The task [Howling Canyon] was also far from simple. Dead Spirits are strange phenomena born from the essence of a combat artist's spirit after death, forming from Qi. This Qi typically bears the insights of a fighter's lifetime of Covert Martial Arts practice. Therefore, even a Dead Spirit with only basic abilities should still be a master of martial arts. Cassius had once intended to hone his fist techniques in the World of Calamity, and the ideal opponents would be these Dead Spirits. Now, with large numbers of Dead Spirits gathered in Howling Canyon, he had the perfect place to train. He was also intrigued by the Soul Jade, a treasure that could nourish Qi.

The tasks [Eternal Flame] and [Pale Origin] seemed interconnected, both involving the origin of the Pale Lands. A massive undying plant body was burned by an Eternal Flame, and its white ashes blanketed the entire earth for millennia. If someone could obtain a Pale Seed, they could attempt to endure the refining effects of the Eternal Flame on their Qi, breaking through natural talent limits to achieve an unimaginable realm.

Lastly, there was the [Meteorite Shard], a task description that inspired much speculation. Could it be that meteorites were the root of all calamities? Cassius vividly recalled his third time-travel instance, when he led the Northern Covert Martial Arts community to storm Black Rain Manor. Beneath the Baptism Chapel, the manor's core building, lay a giant meteorite radiating a bizarre energy. Cassius had absorbed the radiation, which triggered a dark creature transformation in his body. It nearly led him into the depths of darkness during his fourth time-travel.

While information remained scarce and inconclusive, it undeniably gave Cassius a direction for exploring the World of Calamity, sparing him from aimless blundering.

Among the many missions available at Black Rain Manor, Cassius was interested in five. The first was the most distinctive: in the southeast corner of the Pale Lands, black Qi and blood light shot up to the sky, visible even from afar. As for the others, despite a general idea of their locations, they would be hard to pinpoint.

However, Cassius had a solution. The Book of the Devil would be his best option. He wanted to test the book's limits—if it could reveal even the location of the Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance, the clues for these missions likely wouldn't be an issue. Though Cassius couldn't bring the Book of the Devil on a time-travel journey, he had foreseen this and left a Heart Eye safeguard in the real world. He had tracked the Kupan Demon Box's movements over centuries. If Cassius wished, he could retrieve it at any time.

"These... are your upcoming missions?"

After a moment of silence, Cassius closed the booklet and asked.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Yes. Even with my current privileges, I can't take mission information out of Black Rain Manor without accepting them. Of course, failure has no penalty, and there is no time limit. I plan to complete them from easiest to hardest, given the high risk of any mission in the World of Calamity. If not for our cooperation in repelling calamities, I would absolutely not take on these missions..." Ghost-Man replied in a low voice.

"Is Iron Knight completing these missions with you?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Then count me in. Would you accept my help?"

Cassius raised his head, locking eyes with Ghost-Man.

"Of course. With you, our chances improve greatly." The corners of Ghost-Man's mouth curled slightly under his mask. He was well aware of Cassius's strength; his assistance would significantly boost both safety and success rates. In fact, Ghost-Man had shown Cassius Black Rain Manor's mission details with some careful consideration, knowing the rare treasures in the briefings would likely pique a strong fighter's interest. It now seemed like a wise move.

Tap tap tap...

Outside the room, footsteps suddenly approached. Cassius and Ghost-Man exchanged glances.

"Well then, see you tonight..."

"See you, then. I'll take my leave now..."

As Ghost-Man's words faded, his figure melted into the surrounding air. When the door clicked open, the nursing home doctor entered, only Cassius alone was in the ward, who sat with his eyes closed, resting.