Chapter 426 - Bronze Colossus And A Withered Old Man

Deep beneath a remote forest in District Six of Florence lay an underground site. This dark creature test site built by the Gate Organization had existed for around eight years and had produced numerous results. It had been personally established by the Gate Organization members Zhu Hun and Yang Yan under their leader Xiadu's orders, and its secrecy level was extremely high.

Even many who had already joined the Gate Organization were unaware of its existence. Of course, there were also other researchers in the test site other than Yang Yan and Zhu Hun. Some came from the subordinate factions serving various Gate Organization members, while others were coerced into helping. Some were also supplied by those old figures in the royal family and council who collaborated with the Gate Organization in secret.

Strangely, even though the high-ranking officials of the royal family and council knew exactly what the test site was doing, and that they were dealing with the Gate Organization, they still showed a willingness to cooperate.

They even went so far as to hide the existence of this dark creature test site for the Gate Organization and occasionally offered assistance. Why would they do such a thing? In truth, there were only two reasons.

First, the royal family and council both sought to harness the power of dark creatures. Though the Dark Hunter Organization was a supernatural force officially backed by the Hongli Empire, it had developed its own independence over time .

Perhaps it had been quite obedient under the Hongli Empire's royal family, and it had stayed low-key at the start of the Hongli Council's reign. However, it had now grown beyond the complete control of either side. Given the existing friction between the royal family and the council, the Dark Hunter Organization had even faintly suggested it intended to stand on equal footing with both.

Although the royal family and the council both cultivated talent and secretly sent them into the Dark Hunter Organization to maintain a certain influence, people of the same kind would eventually unite nonetheless. When supernatural individuals join a supernatural faction, they would inevitably realize who they truly are and gradually slip out of the royal family's and council's grasp.

Thus, over time, those initially trained as dogs of the royal family and council turned into mere partners sharing interests. It was a shift in status. As such, both parties had always considered finding a power that might replace the hunters of the Dark Hunter Organization.

In other words, they needed another path to stable and formidable strength beyond the sacred spring water. They saw it as a fallback option to bolster their own might.

Take, for example, the early royal family of the Hongli Empire. They had long yearned to collaborate with the Covert Martial Arts community, since they coveted their mighty power. Yet, for reasons unknown, their interactions were always fraught with obstacles, frequently ending abruptly due to unforeseen circumstances.

In the end, the imperial family only managed to gather some fragmented Covert Martial Arts Secret Techniques for their library. They had never truly penetrated the Covert Martial Arts domain.

Yang Yan and Zhu Hun's research, which targeted dark creatures, was in a sense tackling the problem at its root. Whether it was learning more about the weaknesses of dark creatures or creating controllable ones, both had enormous benefits. All they sacrificed were some ordinary civilians.

In the end, the real motive was the avarice of certain high-ranking officials of the royal family and council when it came to the potent power of dark creatures. Furthermore, they believed they could keep the situation firmly in hand.

Cooperating with a tiger? The real tiger among the two sides in that partnership remained unclear.

The second motive was the temptation of immortality. Everyone was mortal, especially the old ones possessing great wealth and power. The closer they came to their final moments, the less they wanted to let go.

Meanwhile, this dark creature test site was making significant progress in studying ways to transform humans into dark creatures. Many dark creatures roaming around Florence were once vagabonds snatched off the streets and forcibly transformed.

However, the technology was still imperfect. After complete transformation, they lost most of their memories and suffered impaired self-awareness. They turned bestial, eating raw flesh and drinking blood. They were driven by instinct that overrode logic. If this was how one became a dark creature, most elders found it unacceptable.

Yet, the technology obviously showed great promise. Should they fix its problems of lost self-awareness and animalistic consciousness, it would be the ideal method of prolonging life. Such a breakthrough would grant decrepit individuals vibrant vitality, robust bodies, and extended longevity. It even bestowed formidable supernatural powers! Humans were inherently selfish, and the top echelons of the royal family and council were no exception.

So a vast test site had been built thirty meters underground in that isolated forest. Sturdy corridors extended in all directions like a giant spider, linking to various sections. Off to one side lay a chamber containing cells enclosed by alloy iron bars, each glossy black bar as thick as an arm.

The cells contained all sorts of dark creatures. Some were humanoid, some beasts, and some took the form of fluids or shadows. All of them cowered on the floor, huddling in the corners.

At a height of about three meters in the center of the chamber, a fist-sized purple eyeball floated quietly, encased in amber. Its purple radiance streamed out ceaselessly day and night like sunlight. Every dark creature touched by the glow grew languid and drained of energy. They lost their strength, and their powers were reduced to the utmost degree.

Two dark silhouettes appeared in the chamber’s entrance. One wore a broad black cloak, while the other was clad in a black robe.

They gave off a cold and eerie feeling like venomous serpents lurking in a decaying jungle.

Tap, tap, tap...

Yang Yan and Zhu Hun walked slowly into the cell, quietly observing the vicious, terrifying abominations within.

After a quick scan, Zhu Hun spoke up. "That hunter named White Aster is no simple character. Even Solomon the Thorn probably can't match him. There was a rumor that he had knocked Lion King Soss away with a single punch in a head-on clash. Furthermore, slaughtered hundreds of dark creatures across three districts in Florence in one night! This White Aster has got to be the mightiest fighter below Shadow Hunter level, comparable to a combat artist. He might even possess the strength of a combat artist..."

"The kid was likely groomed by a few veteran hunters from early on and concealed his abilities this whole time. He only exposed himself after the start of the Shadow Hunter seat competition. If nothing unexpected happens, he'll become the fifth Shadow Hunter..." Zhu Hun's gaze grew increasingly profound.

Zhu Hun continued, "If White Aster isn't eliminated, Solomon basically won't stand a chance of becoming a Shadow Hunter and won't get to see the sacred spring's source. Moreover, White Aster retrieved the Blue Tear Eyes from those corpses, so he's likely discovered something. If he reports it to the Dark Hunter Organization, we'll be in serious trouble. The only option is for you to take him out."

Yang Yan did not comment but revealed a growing murderous intent in his eyes. All the test subjects from almost a year's research had been wiped out in a single night. He had not even had the chance to collect concrete data, rendering the past year's efforts worthless. The situation was completely enraging.

The only Gate Organization members in Florence were himself and Zhu Hun. Zhu Hun was busy negotiating with those old members of the royal family and council, gauging all sides, so Yang Yan was clearly the best choice to take action.

"Fine." He nodded slightly.

Zhu Hun paused in thought before he continued, "I'll help lure him out of the Dark Hunter Organization headquarters, maybe even outside Florence. The rest is all up to you..."

"If it's outside the city, I'll bring some of our latest test subjects to see how well they perform. Since he apparently enjoys killing dark creatures, let him indulge as much as he wants.

Heh...

I've made four little darlings recently who are all extremely savage. By the time I show up, maybe that brat will already have been torn apart and devoured..." Yang Yan’s face twisted in a vicious smile.

Based on his and Zhu Hun's estimate using the power structure of the Covert Martial Arts community, Cassius's current strength sat around the range of a peak pugilist or a new combat artist, essentially the Gate Organization's entry threshold. It was negligible to veterans like Yang Yan and Zhu Hun, who had been in the Gate Organization for decades.

Yang Yan himself was close to a top-tier combat artist in strength. Only a handful within the Hunters' Association could even match him.

Yang Yan and Zhu Hun observed their test subjects for a while longer, then proceeded to another critical section of the test site. This section was the core of the facility: the pool used to transform dark creatures.

White-garbed staff members hurried back and forth between tables laden with glass containers, distillation sets, metal instruments, and more. In addition, jars filled with fluid containing dark creature organs were present, alongside bizarre herbs and minerals. Some items did not even resemble anything from the real world.

"Wuuuu... Wuuuu..."

A disheveled, gagged, and bound vagrant was carried through the corridor. He struggled in abject terror; however, it was futile. They simply deposited him onto a metal bed within the transformation pool and secured him with shackles. His neck, wrists, ankles, and waist were all restrained.

Yang Yan and Zhu Hun walked up to the transformation pool. The nearby staff sped up their movements, first filling the pool with an unknown fluid that resembled mucus more than water. It gave off a pungent smell akin to pickles but stronger.

Then, they added various mineral powders and strange herbal substances. The fluid in the pool quickly turned a dark amber color. The vagrant's entire body was submerged, with only his nose and mouth left above the surface as the metal bed was angled upward.

He had given up on struggling, only staring in horror at his surroundings. The staff continued working, causing the bottom of the transformation pool to start glowing softly with blue light. A closer look revealed that the surface of the pool was inlaid with countless Blue Tear Eyes. They resembled human eyeballs as they rolled about in a disturbing manner.

Shortly after, a staff member carefully removed a stone tablet. It was quite ancient and seemed to hail from a primordial time. It was pockmarked and scarred on its surface. The back had a lengthy series of fuzzy characters, seemingly recording something.

Its front bore a carving of a giant eye about the size of a hand, outlined with crude, savage strokes. But the eye did not contain a pupil but a dense spiral pattern. It looked like a profound whirlpool of circles.

They set the tablet face-down and tossed it into the transformation pool. The tablet did not sink, but was supported instead by some mysterious force as it slowly spun in midair. Each Blue Tear Eye was trying to stare at it.

Beams of blue light pierced the amber fluid, converging on the eye. The carving of the fist-sized eye seemed to come alive. Gradually, it ceased rotating. It drifted to a spot about one meter above the vagrant's head, and rivulets of fresh blood oozed from its engraved lines. They snaked across the carving, staining it entirely red. The spiral pupil inside the eye began spinning rapidly, gradually darkening in color.

A moment later, it seemed as though the tablet had collapsed in on itself, causing everyone present to sense a brief shift in consciousness, as if one realm had linked with another.

Yang Yan and Zhu Hun watched the tablet with sharp eyes. They beheld what seemed like another dimension, where the entire land was covered in muddy black fluid. Large lumps bulged like tumors above the fluid, crowded so thickly they extended beyond sight. These lumps would occasionally twitch, causing its black membrane to rupture as a hideous creature with a horrifying aura emerged, flapped its wings, and flew off.

The stone tablet acted like a mirror, or an invisible eye, floating steadily deeper over that black fluid expanse. The creatures only grew more dreadful and savage as it advanced, eventually reaching indescribable, formless horrors.

Suddenly, they reached a certain region where those abominations were nowhere to be seen. They simply saw a carpet of black fluid around a small mountain.

Upon closer examination, it was not a mountain but an unimaginably enormous dark creature. It resembled a stone gargoyle, though its surface was bronze in hue. Its skin had a maze of intricate patterns formed from countless tiny runes, which combined into totems. Those layered totems merged into the colossal frame.

The black fluid carpet around it was corroded by the totems. They spread outward in dense webs. However, halfway through, they ran into crimson fissures that halted their spread. These cracks were spread across half the region. At the center of the other half, a human-shaped old man sat cross-legged. He looked like a desiccated corpse, utterly silent.

His head was lowered and the deep crimson spread out in all directions from the palm he had placed on the ground. His skin was covered in cracks, but sixty-six red stars twinkled upon it, each on the brink of fading away.

The bronze giant and the withered old man appeared to have confronted each other for untold ages on that dark land. But between them lay a deep, recessed pit where black sludge continuously bubbled up.

Its shape and depth, along with the radial cracks around it seemed as though it had been formed by the impact of a meteor...