Chapter 494 - Onward To The Alphama Mountains!

The Book of the Devil tasted the flavor of its own curse. Indeed, it was rather salty...

It seemed that the Book of the Devil's curse was not entirely limitless. At the very least, it could not willfully manipulate catastrophes on the scale of natural disasters. After unleashing a flurry of disasters upon Cassius in such a short span, it would fall into a brief period of weakness.

However, that did not mean Cassius could do absolutely anything he wanted with the Book of the Devil. Once the Book of the Devil enters its weakened state, it would automatically refuse to respond, cutting its losses in time. It would not let Cassius seize the opportunity to exploit it too much.

Moreover, if they encountered a special environment, the Book of the Devil could still be highly dangerous.

For example, who knows what kind of traps or strange creatures might be lurking in an ancient ruin where something like the Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist or the so-called Southern Dipper Waterbird Fist originated.

If he used the Book of the Devil in that place, it was likely that powerful foes would surround him at once and plunge him into dire straits. Even with Cassius's strength, he might just barely escape and likely lose a layer of skin in doing so.

Naturally, unless it's absolutely necessary, he would never use the Book of the Devil in such hazardous surroundings.

His thoughts shifted, and Cassius sensed Reverberating Force gradually filling his body. A rush of exhilaration welling up within him.

His newly forged ultimate move of the Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist, Sound Nest Convection, had, on its maiden use, shattered a meteorite falling from the sky. This undoubtedly confirmed Cassius's personal martial arts path, clarifying his thoughts and causing the force to surge with renewed vitality.

Moreover, he had not yet fully perfected Sound Nest Convection. There was still room for further growth and refinement. If he established its framework completely, he believed it would be no weaker than the Blood Vulture's Beak created by Feng Liusi.

Of course, the two moves followed different paths.

Blood Vulture's Beak was more suited to small-scale fights, effective against one or several opponents. It focused on penetrating force and precise concentration, and was explosive with minimal preparation time. There were also its obvious characteristics.

On the other hand, Sound Nest Convection clearly targeted large hordes of enemies or foes of colossal stature. Everything within the nest's range would be bombarded by endless Reverberating Force. However, that move required more time to charge and expended considerable energy.

Moreover, the longer an enemy remained within the sound nest, the more intense the assault would be. Earlier, that meteor had been shattered by the cumulative blasts of Reverberating Force stacking over and over. Theoretically, as long as Cassius's reserves could maintain the entire sound nest, its power would increase indefinitely, which was extraordinarily frightening.

Reining in his daydreams, Cassius glanced around at the mess, then at the Book of the Devil spattered with bird droppings, his expression revealing faint distaste.

He beckoned for Anthony to come closer. Using the effects of the other's water-manipulating Covert Martial Arts, he had Anthony wash the Book of the Devil thoroughly from a distance.

He paid particular attention to the skull emblem on the cover, ensuring Anthony scrubbed it at least ten times. Once it was clean, Cassius reluctantly put the Book of the Devil back inside his coat, not forgetting to wrap it in an extra layer of cloth.

"Odo, how are things?" He lifted his head, looking at the dark figure who approached slowly from a distance.

"Some of the brothers are injured, but no one died." Odo reported truthfully and respectfully.

His gaze glinted with a trace of reverence. It was evident that the memory of Cassius shattering the meteorite still burned in his mind. His bearing had grown even more deferential than before.

"Alright," Cassius responded with his usual impassive look.

The Golem Seeds and Golem totems he had imparted granted a marked boost to one’s physical defenses, making his subordinates in the Treatment Ward a force of tough men. They also naturally possessed tenacious endurance, so they were unlikely to fall easily in battle.

Mere collapsing buildings or meteorite debris certainly would not harm them. If it did, it would require a stroke of truly dire luck, like a piece of meteorite striking them straight in the eye.

Thankfully, his subordinates' luck had proved strong this time. Before long, the doctors of the Treatment Ward assembled around him. They surrounded Cassius, gazing at him with fervent, worshipful eyes.

Since the Blood Race manor had suffered two accidents in quick succession, it had collapsed completely. Hence, the Treatment Ward decided to relocate to Bain Manor.

It was large and luxurious, and conveniently situated close to their next objective, the Alphama Mountains. The personnel of the Treatment Ward had no fear whatsoever of the Alphama direct bloodline Blood Race in those mountains.

In fact, they dared them to show themselves if they wished. They pledged that any who came would meet their end, even high-ranking Blood Race. Cassius would not even need to act; a few of his commanders could handle them.

Hermit had annihilated a high-ranking Blood Race singlehandedly during the battle with Eclipse Society. Naturally, the other commanders did not believe themselves any less capable.

***

At two in the afternoon, in the rear garden of Bain Manor

The rear garden had personally been built by Count Bain, with its flowers sourced from Mara County in the southwest of Hongli Empire, famed for its Gilan blossoms.

Gilan was a plant that bloomed annually, emitting a rich fragrance when it bloomed. Its blossoms bunched like clusters of little bells drooping in midair. Hence, the garden contained countless upright wooden racks that the Gilan blossoms could climb.

Their lush green leaves blocked out the sunlight, creating a cool, open shade beneath. Looking upward, one would see clusters of deep purple Gilan blossoms hanging down, exuding a faint, elegant fragrance.

At the moment, a figure was in a chair beneath those wooden racks. Cassius quietly observed the flowers and noticed swathes of red mixed in among the purple petals. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was not some variant breed of bloom but blood spilled from the day before. That battle had nearly stained every corner of Bain Manor in red.

He paid it no more heed and slowly took out the Book of the Devil to review what he had asked earlier.

First, he looked at the page concerning the sheepskin parchment with an ancient secret recorded on it which Cassius obtained from the Dark Hunter Organization's treasury. It had archaic script and symbols that Cassius could not read. Clearly, though, the Book of the Devil could translate them.

He glanced through them, and he raised an eyebrow slightly. The ancient secret was not used for battle but served as an auxiliary training skill.

It was named the Qi Engraving Technique, which allowed its practitioner to manipulate their Qi into a special composition. Then, by using Qi instead of ink and one's fingertip rather than a pen, they would inscribe words on specially crafted parchment made according to an ancient formula to record Covert Martial Arts texts.

One benefit lay in the subtle deepening of the user's understanding of that Covert Martial Arts technique during the act of writing. It would purify and refine their Qi and Will of the Fist, forging a unity akin to resonance.

Moreover, manuals left behind through the Qi Engraving Technique would carry a unique Qi field. If someone wished to learn that Covert Martial Arts, they would be pulled into a receptive state simply by opening the pages, greatly reducing the entry threshold.

If an individual possessed exceptional talent or perfect compatibility with the method, they might even enter a state of resonance. By doing so, they could absorb part of the Qi field from their surroundings and form a seed of Qi for that particular Covert Martial Arts in their body.

Clearly, the Qi Engraving Technique was an immensely valuable ancient secret, especially for any Covert Martial Arts sect aspiring to become powerful. Reducing the threshold for cultivation and raising the ceiling for gifted disciples were precisely the goals that Covert Martial Arts schools continuously pursued.

Cassius himself could utilize the Qi Engraving Technique.

Even aside from swiftly expanding his influence, the very act of composing a martial art using the method would deepen his grasp of his own martial path, consolidating the purity of his Will of the Fist. That alone made it a tremendously useful method.

Recently, Cassius had already been pondering whether to write a Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance, dividing its content into three tiers to structure the entire Southern Dipper power system. Uncovering this secret was akin to receiving a pillow just when he was ready for a nap. It only further solidified his plan.

Still, the Qi Engraving Technique was not without flaws. The parchment Cassius possessed was incomplete, and according to the Book of the Devil, the missing sections were said to be held overseas and would be difficult to obtain.

The missing portion described how to contain the Qi field in the text such that it would not affect its surroundings. It meant if Cassius employed this incomplete secret to compose a Covert Martial Arts manual, the Qi in the tome would grow denser and carry a bizarre, dreadful magic that drew others in. Those who lacked a strong mind, whether reading it or simply standing nearby, could be corrupted and turned into slaves of the fist technique.

It was neither a minor nor a trivial issue, much like some cult. However, he did not care much; his subordinate forces were hardly aligned with any righteous style, and the fighters of the Treatment Ward already fought like frenzied fiends. So what if those demons used arts of a more demonic nature?

Naturally, Cassius did not count himself among the demons. He believed the bizarre aesthetic of the Treatment Ward he had shaped existed only because they had yet to reach the pinnacle of cultivation. If they could train themselves to his level, they would surely return to a more genuine state, looking as kindly and gentle as him. Yes, that had to be the way.

He then focused on the information about the ruins in the Eternal Archipelago. The page broadly described the perils on each level of that ancient site, emphasizing several special entities in particular. They included specially reared aberrations, akin to the scarab colony in the Ao Yin ruins of the Alphama Mountains. There were also a few troublesome elite individuals, and Cassius had read mention of a formidable undead forced to remain in the mortal realm by unknown means.

That ruin, it seemed, might be even more dangerous than the one in the Alphama Mountains.

Luckily, he possessed a bronze key, allowing him to bypass several layers of the ruin via a hidden tunnel, thus evading some of the threats. At the same time, the tunnel would serve as a fallback route. It would reduce the possibility of him becoming trapped there under dire circumstances.

Having digested the core details, Cassius skimmed the rest.

The location of the remaining Moon God statues of the Eclipse Society...

The site of the totem temple in the Ten Thousand Mountains...

They were merely additional routes and locations, not worth much comment.

Soon, his attention landed on the final page of content in the Book of the Devil.

It was the information he had gleaned when the Book of the Devil was weakened—a "free gift," and he felt a thrill of anticipation.

A somewhat relaxed Cassius flipped to that page and cast his gaze downward. Instantly, his gaze turned dark. He immediately felt like catching another aging bird, tying it to the Book of the Devil, and letting the bird do its business on it daily.

Both sides of the page were indeed jam-packed with text. However, the content was nothing more than a mechanical repetition of one sentence.

"The Pale Origin is at the Dark Abyssal Ravine... The Pale Origin is at the Dark Abyssal Ravine..."

Much like a mischievous child forced to copy the same phrase a hundred times for the teacher, the entire page was covered in that meaningless line! Technically, it was not inaccurate; the mysterious tree called Pale Origin did reside in the Dark Abyssal Ravine. But where on earth was that ravine anyway?

Cassius had asked for a route or a map, yet the Book of the Devil had given him nothing but a lone place name. Needless to say, he felt a wave of exasperation as soon as he saw it.

"Was it related to some principle of equivalent exchange? Since the Book of the Devil had only cursed me with something as trivial as bird droppings, the information it revealed was likewise just one line of vaguely correct nonsense?" Cassius's gaze cooled, only to sharpen again in the next instant. "That's not right... What about the essence of calamity I spent on those two gemstones?"

In that moment, Cassius felt an irresistible urge to tear the book apart. His expression grew more menacing as he stared at the dull Book of the Devil, pretending to be lifeless in his hand.

His right palm turned a perilous crimson as thick, viscous Death's Fang Force surrounded it like glue.

Yet the Book of the Devil remained unmoved.

A strange sound echoed within Cassius's body, like molten lava colliding with a glacier in a violent

hiss

. In an instant, his right arm turned a stunning shade of purple-red, which began spreading swiftly toward his forearm and hand.

Buzz...

The Book of the Devil trembled, and the gemstones in the skull emblem flickered.

Whirr, whirr, whirr, whirr!

Four gems lit up.

Everything it had greedily taken and should not have consumed was now coughed up. Cassius nodded stonily, allowing that menacing purple-red force in his arm to fade away and return to its normal tone.

Though he did not know what material or origin the Book of the Devil possessed, his never-before-seen Southern Dipper force, a technique he called Sonic Fang Force, seemed enough to give it pause. That was one means by which Cassius could keep it in check.

Time passed quickly, and soon dawn arrived on the following day.

A contingent of dangerous-looking men in black stood ready at the gates of Bain Manor, their gazes fierce and predatory like wild beasts.

Three commanders stood at the front of that formation.

One was a bespectacled youth of refined yet sickly temperament, another was a yin-yang-faced man exuding a bloodthirsty demonic aura, and the last was a serpentine-eyed beauty who watched others like prey.

Each displayed a unique presence, and each was steeped in wickedness. In short, none matched the style of any conventional righteous figure.

However, someone even more imposing stood before those three. An unfathomable aura surrounded the dark silhouette, devouring all stares thrown its way and distorting any sense of judgment and comprehension. It imparted a sense of helplessness that defied scrutiny or speculation, arousing the same dread one might feel if peering at a higher being.

Tick, tock.

The manor's clock struck eight.

Cassius turned his head and lifted a hand in a faint gesture.

Elder Wind Blade of the blue-eyed clan eagerly shuffled over. He wore a friendly, ostentatious smile on his face. The many wrinkles on his aged face spread out like a chrysanthemum in full bloom.

"Proceed according to plan. Your people will lead the way, and we will handle the killing from behind. If you meet any Blood Race, do not feel the slightest fear. My subordinates are right behind you, so the ones who should tremble are those vermin..." Cassius spoke in an icy tone, his words brimming with naked bloodlust.

"All units, heed my command! Onward to the Alphama Mountains!"