Chapter 427 - Southern Dipper Fist Breakthrough

They all stood in silent awe within the test site, clearly captivated by the grand and uncanny sight before them. They felt a sudden surge of desolation as they bore witness to an epic atmosphere. They felt insignificant, for it was the first time any of them had witnessed such a scene. Previous experiments had indeed taken place in this tar-like realm, yet they had never ventured so deep, almost to the very source.

It was not just the ordinary staff who were shocked; even Yang Yan and Zhu Hun were utterly stunned. They possessed considerable skill and strength, yet when they gazed upon those two entities locked in ancient opposition within the endless darkness, an unavoidable sense of dread and fear crept over them.

Buzz... buzz... buzz...

The stone tablet's field of vision settled on the area as it hovered in midair. Below, two colossal forces clashed ceaselessly, with totems and scarlet shadows obliterating each other in a frenzy. A massive cloud of white mist soared into the sky around them.

A second later, the tablet transformed to a vortex the size of a fist. A huge glob of pure black sludge gushed forth, turning into a swirling flow that engulfed the vagrant.

"

Aaaargh!!

" Immediately, piercing screams echoed throughout the transformation pool like a live pig scalded by boiling water.

Thick streams of bright red blood overflowed within that tank of dark amber liquid. It contained strands of skin, flesh, and bone as well as gruesome impurities. The transformation process lasted for a full three minutes.

Finally, the tablet ceased discharging the black sludge, and the engraved eye returned to its normal appearance. It started to spin as it drifted toward the edge of the transformation pool. One of the staff members stepped forward to retrieve it, yet the instant his fingertips made contact, lines of dark patterns raced from his fingers up his hand.

It took only moments for it to spread beyond his elbow.

"Get back!" A black-robed figure flashed behind the staffer, stretching out both hands coated in a fiery red aura that resembled burning flames.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Slash! Slice!

The hand sliced down on the staff member's shoulder at whirlwind speed. Blood splattered, and both severed arms, still clutching the tablet, fell to the ground with a thud.

The staff member let out a shriek of agony, the overwhelming pain knocking him out instantly. He was swiftly carried away for treatment. Thankfully, the scorching heat had instantly sealed the wounds to prevent blood loss so he did not risk losing too much blood.

Yang Yan remained where he stood, the redness fading slowly from his hands, while Zhu Hun approached, gazing solemnly at the ground. The two severed arms of the staff member were already covered in a dense weave of black designs, reminiscent of a vividly patterned venomous python slithering along the limbs.

This was a sign of dark creature transformation...

It appeared that the calamity drawn this time was rather pure. Even just its lingering residue was sufficient to mutate an ordinary person.

Delight lit up in both Yang Yan's and Zhu Hun's eyes. Based on previous experiments, the purer the calamity, the more rationality a human kept after becoming a dark creature, allowing more memory and personality to remain.

Red Qi flared up from Yang Yan's palm, covering his skin completely. He bent to pick up the tablet, where black vapor clashed violently against his Qi, both eroding each other until the black vapor was completely neutralized. He continued until the entire tablet returned to its normal state.

"Don't touch the severed arms—stay at least three meters away. I'll handle them later," Zhu Hun told the rest of the staff.

Huu...

At the center of the transformation pool, the black mist slowly receded from the bed. Yang Yan and Zhu Hun exchanged glances, then both turned. The vagrant seemed normal, as though the entire ordeal had been an illusion.

Suddenly, streaks of black emerged across his skin and twisted into fingernail-sized runes. More runes amassed together, forming a totem of a gargoyle with menacing wings and savage talons across his body. A fierce and indescribably bloodthirsty aura radiated from the totem.

"A parasitic dark creature? Or perhaps a symbiotic type?" Yang Yan's eyes glowed with excitement, instantly sensing the difference between this experiment and the prior ones. They had indeed tried parasitic dark creature experiments over the years, yet most had ended in failure.

Whether a human turned into a parasitic dark creature or was simply parasitized by one, it posed greater danger than transforming into any other type of dark creature. Retaining rationality and personality was also much less likely.

However, the situation before them seemed slightly different from a parasitic dark creature.

Shwip.

The vagrant on the metal bed suddenly opened his eyes, staring sharply around him. A surge of potent strength unexpectedly erupted from his body.

"Ahh!" He roared, and a gargoyle literally grew out of his flesh, lunging toward Yang Yan and Zhu Hun who stood nearby.

Ten minutes later, Yang Yan concluded the test inside a separate chamber, casting a quick glance at the vagrant who lay sprawled on the floor. He pushed open the door and stepped out to find Zhu Hun waiting outside.

"How did it go?" Zhu Hun asked.

"It's definitely not parasitic. It's some sort of symbiosis. This man is both a dark creature and yet not one. His life essence is bound to the dark creature, but his mind remains independent," Yang Yan said after a moment. "It's a pity the process still isn't entirely perfect. The subject was still affected. He lost portions of his memory, his temperament changed, and his rationality diminished. Still, compared to the past few years, this is the closest we’ve had to success..."

"

Mm

," Zhu Hun remarked, nodding. "That totem on him seems related to the bronze colossus we glimpsed through the tablet. Keep studying him for a while, then find a chance to dispose of him. I'll head back to District Two now..."

"Alright." Yang Yan stood there, watching Zhu Hun's brisk departure.

His gaze grew a touch more profound. This was the perfect time to get rid of White Aster once and for all, and he planned to incorporate this new test subject into those plans.

***

Meanwhile, in a residence within the Hunters' Association in District Seven, Cassius reflected on the battles he had experienced in the World of Calamity, especially the Covert Martial Arts techniques of the six Dead Spirits he had encountered.

His thoughts raced within his mind until they crystallized. It was as if scenes of every fight were playing before him, steadily deepening his insight.

Just like that, most of the day slipped by and the morning sun yielded to dusk. In less than an hour or two, it would fully set. Cassius abruptly opened his eyes as two muffled

thumps

sounded in his chest. His Southern Dipper Fist techniques had advanced once again, each one gaining one more acupoint.

Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist: 22 acupoints (Third Stage)

Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist: 22 acupoints (Third Stage)

He had finally elevated his Southern Dipper Force to the third stage, a genuine threshold of mastery. He had now reached twenty-two out of the sixty-six acupoints in the Southern Dipper Fist technique, precisely one-third.

In standard Covert Martial Arts terms, Cassius had achieved the minor culmination level of the Southern Dipper Fist. Moreover, both of his fist techniques had attained it simultaneously. His Southern Dipper Force was improving much quicker than before.

Cassius rose slowly, his joints cracking audibly. He headed straight into the training room he had prepared, where he had acquired various exercise paraphernalia and punching tools. He went over to a counter in the corner and picked up a round iron ball about the size of a fist. It was solid and satisfyingly heavy.

He studied it for a moment, then supported the ball on his palm. Next, he brought his fingers together and pressed them gently against its surface. A flash of crimson flickered across his palm. He relaxed his fingers, and the ball shattered into fragments, swiftly disintegrating into granules of iron dust. They trickled off the edges of his hand.

This was the normal might of Death's Fang Force, no different than before, but Cassius kept his focus on his own palm. He watched as the pile of dust trembled once more, rising in a mist-like cloud. On closer inspection, a force was breaking down each grain even further.

The iron dust became finer, almost like a pool of water. The original apple-sized mound kept trickling down between his fingers as friction decreased. It flattened more and more until only a tiny layer remained in the center of his palm.

"Two times the decomposition force!" Cassius carefully spoke the four words aloud. He finally understood how far behind he was compared to Feng Liusi. At Feng Liusi's level of Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist, he might have reached triple or even quadruple the decomposition force.

No wonder, Feng Liusi dispatched dark creatures more swiftly than Cassius ever could when they fought side by side. He had slain them with the slightest flick of his fingers. The undead resilience of dark creatures was horrifying, especially under the World of Calamity's influence, as some of the stronger ones could regenerate even after being reduced to a pile of shredded flesh.

But that was only because the decomposition force was not powerful enough! If they could regenerate from granules, then what about reducing them to liquid dust, or even down to individual cells?

The upper limit of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist had exceeded Cassius's expectations. He let the dust scatter onto the floor, then turned his gaze to an iron practice post across the room and unleashed a punch.

Boom!

His fist crashed into the post.

Bang! Bang!

Two blasts echoed nearly in unison, sending the metal post the height of a man hurtling into the air, where it exploded internally once more. Chunks of twisted metal rained down.

"Double explosion..." Cassius drew back his fist and turned to leave the training room, returning to the bedroom to sit cross-legged once again.

He planned to consume all the life vibration energy he had gained in both the real world and the World of Calamity and restore his body to the pinnacle of a combat artist. Of course, he would not utilize the Cataclysmic Spirit life vibration energy for the moment.

He intended to take some time to stabilize after regaining his peak, then expend the accumulated higher-grade life vibration energy to reach an even loftier realm. In Cassius's plan, this time-travel was his chance to break through as an extreme combat artist and strive to reach the door of the Holy Fist level.

He quieted his mind, letting all thoughts fade as his consciousness gradually sank into emptiness. The life vibration energy within him poured forth as he inhaled and exhaled. Waves of searing heat emanated from his large frame, warming the sealed chamber. An aura of a savage beast began to awaken around him.

Around six in the evening, Cassius lounged on the sofa inside the veteran hunter Herb's home, calmly drinking tea. The veteran hunters around him, however, appeared restless, occasionally stealing glances his way.

At last, Krog could not contain himself, placing his cup down and speaking up. "Last night..."

Cassius suddenly raised his hand, cutting Krog off. "I know what you want to ask. My way of drawing in most of Florence's dark creatures stems from this..."

He reached into his coat and placed a pitch black piece of wood the size of a palm onto the table. It had a faint stench mixed with the charred scent of a flame.

"What is that?" The veteran hunters asked, curiosity rife in their expressions.

"Black-bait wood. When it’s burned, it creates a smell that dark creatures find quite enticing." Cassius skipped the middle name but did not hide what the black-bait wood could do. After all, even a top-tier knight-level marked-one like Ghost-Man had to raise his privilege rights twice to obtain it. The valuable material was scarcely known, even within Black Rain Manor, let alone by the Dark Hunter Organization.

"This is good stuff. Better than the usual lures we have in the Organization..." Krog picked it up and examined it at length.

"If you want to study it, you can have it," Cassius said, sipping his tea with a small smile, aware of what the veteran hunters had in mind.

"Ah... that's... that's awfully kind of you..." Krog spoke politely while swiftly tucking the black-bait wood into his pocket.

In truth, these old hunters genuinely cared about whether the Hunters' Association thrived and the safety of their fellow hunters. They backed Cassius because they valued his ability to purge the calamity from a hunter's body. If this black-bait wood could be understood fully and its origin pinpointed, the hunters would gain a powerful method of luring dark creatures. It would effectively reduce casualties and enable them to set traps to eliminate them.

"I'll hand this black wood over to the Chief Mechanist," Krog told Cassius, looking him in the eye. "We old timers won't let you suffer a loss. This thing can earn you quite a bit. Have you heard of the association's hidden branch, the Treatment Ward? It's composed of elite hunters specialized in fighting other hunters. They wield considerable authority. Once you become a Shadow Hunter, you might be able to use this to become the Treatment Ward's director."

He paused in his explanation, then added, "Though the Treatment Ward is under the Hunters' Association, it's actually controlled directly by the Chief Mechanist. The director's position is currently vacant and there are only two deputy directors. You could rise rapidly as the head of a band of fierce, elite subordinates. You'd then get involved in overseeing the Dark Hunter Organization branches across the entire empire..."

"So, what do you think? We old folk still have a bit of influence, eh? As long as you become a Shadow Hunter, your future is laid out..."

Cassius nodded, a faint smile curling the corner of his mouth. "Well, it does seem like I'll already be settling in as the Treatment Ward's director in just a few days."