Chapter 506 - Breakthrough! Extreme Combat Artist’s Qi

Boom!

The squad advanced like an arrow through the swarm of scarabs. They scattered the densely crawling insects with overwhelming strength, forcing open a path to the passage.

Wherever they passed, the scarabs shattered into dismembered remains, their corpses piling up layer by layer. Cassius stood at the very front of that squad, taking the brunt of the pressure. Yet, he still handled everything with ease.

He broke through them as smoothly as a hot knife slicing butter, not slowing in the slightest. Cassius had visited the Ao Yin Ruins three times in total and had encountered three surges of scarabs. He had gone from fleeing in desperation during the first encounter to dodging their onslaught in the second. By the third, he felt little fear for the scarabs.

Although the swarm of scarabs was indeed terrifying, they could not concentrate all their strength in one place and instead formed a chaotic torrent. Therefore, Cassius had no intention of waiting out the danger. Instead, he led his many subordinates to search for the fake-death pill, hoping to settle everything in one swoop.

Clearly, finding the fake-death pill this time would be much simpler and faster than before. Relying on his formidable strength, Cassius crushed every trap and dangerous creature he encountered along the way.

Finally, after several hours, he reached a familiar hall. It was the third passage from the left. Memories from those years flooded his mind as Cassius moved forward. Sure enough, it matched his recollection down to the tiniest detail.

It only took him half an hour to locate the place containing the fake-death pill, a two-tier stone chamber concealed within the cavern wall. The stone chamber was filled with traps, yet they proved no threat to Cassius and were soon blasted through.

Before long, he acquired a full bottle of fake-death pill as well as its formula. In truth, during the third time-travel, Cassius had already learned the formula for the fake-death pill. However, the ingredients were rather rare and precious, and he needed connections in the Covert Martial Arts community. Some of the materials for the fake-death pill overlapped with those used in training medicine for certain Covert Martial Arts sects.

Hence, gathering and producing it himself would have been quite troublesome. It was more convenient to simply break into the Ao Yin Ruins and, while hunting Cataclysmic Spirit level dark creatures to boost his strength, pick up a batch of ready-made fake-death pills along the way.

After all, Cassius had already planned to visit the Ao Yin Ruins, so he might as well do it in passing. Moreover, he intended to only recruit a small number of top-tier knight-level Hellsing this time, so one bottle of fake-death pill would suffice. He would let them examine the actual product first, and the formula could come later.

This time, he had accomplished every goal in entering the Ao Yin Ruins.

In a few days, Cassius would lead the Treatment Ward to the southeastern territory of the Hongli Empire. He would join up with the waiting Ghost-Man and Iron Knight, and use the fake-death pill as leverage to bring those top-tier knight-level Hellsing from Black Rain Manor onto his side.

Although his strength had already reached the realm of a top-tier combat artist with likely even greater gains yet to come, he still believed one could never have too many allies, especially in a circumstance where unclaimed forces could quickly become enemies.

Additionally, the Eternal Archipelago was perilous beyond measure. To put it bluntly, Cassius needed plenty of cannon fodder. In any case, everything had proceeded according to the plan he had set. Obtaining the third Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance was Cassius's primary objective.

As for smashing the Eclipse Society to gain the flesh of the Moon God, or attending the Eastern Martial Arts Exchange Tournament to gauge the strength of masters from the United States of Yana, or traveling to the empire's southern border to take revenge on the Totem Temple shamans...

All of it were secondary goals, tasks to be done along the way. If they ever conflicted with Cassius's main objective, he would abandon them without hesitation. Everything was secondary to the Southern Dipper Waterbird Fist.

***

Time slipped by, and several hours passed once again.

Cassius and his group continued onward, crushing an uncountable number of scarabs along the way. The soles of their sturdy black boots were soaked with the insects' viscous fluids. Finally, they dashed through a tunnel and their view suddenly opened up, revealing a spacious passage.

A familiar route emerged, with the exit close at hand. In less than an hour, they arrived at the cavern entrance. Cassius and the others emerged from the Ao Yin Ruins, returning to the surface.

They glanced around and saw that it was now dusk. A bank of fiery clouds lingered at the horizon, obscuring half of the orange sun. A few birds passed overhead, their destination unknown.

When he saw the sunset, Cassius suddenly recalled his previous time-travel. It had been the same kind of sunset and the same crimson sky, with birds crossing overhead. It was also here that he bade farewell to Feng Liusi and Saint Feinan, comrades who were both mentors and friends, thus concluding the fourth time-travel.

A surge of emotion flashed through his heart, and Cassius took a step out of the cave.

Ten minutes later, a figure sat cross-legged in a wide clearing within the gorge with his eyes closed. His spine stood tall and his shoulders were broad and flat, as thick as a car tire.

"Hoo... hoo... hoo..."

His heavy breathing had a certain cadence; a slow yet undulating rhythm. Cassius was regulating the state of his body. He sought to harmonize his essence, energy, and spirit into their optimal state for advancement.

After five minutes of controlled breathing, he slowly opened his blue eyes, revealing a sharp glint within. There was an immediate

whoosh

in the air, as the breath expelled from his nostrils took the form of two white blades that sliced straight through a distant tree trunk. If it had struck an ordinary person, it would have bored two massive holes right through them.

Gurgle

.

There was the sound of a great rushing river coming from within Cassius's body. In the upper right corner of his vision, his progress bar appeared clearly.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Qi Embodiment 87.1% (Total Three Stages)]

He was only 2.9% away from surpassing his current boundary and having his Qi reach the realm of top-tier combat artist. This time, ascending to that level was inevitable.

"Let's begin..." he murmured.

The five strands of Cataclysmic Spirit level life vibration energy in his Dantian shattered with a thought, transforming into a rush of pure energy. The unique vibration spread out, permeating every inch of his flesh. It penetrated his organs, bones, meridians, and blood.

In a single moment, Cassius felt a warmth envelop him. It felt like he was soaking in a hot spring, every bit of his skin basking in comfort. The fine rays of the setting sun fell upon him. From afar, it seemed like there was a faint distortion around him, giving the illusion that the air was rippling around him. Such was the result of Cassius's immense body heat radiating outward.

A ring of grass around him seemed to wilt, turning slightly yellow.

"Thump, thump, thump... thump, thump, thump..."

His heart, the driving source of his strength, began to beat faster, sending heavy reverberations through his chest. In moments, his heart rate exceeded three times its normal pace. It continued climbing toward fivefold, then tenfold.

The blood flowing in his body heated and boiled like lava, circulating with high pressure and intense heat. Cassius's eyes turned faintly red, yet he continued to watch the upper right corner.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Qi Embodiment 87.2% (Total Three Stages)]

It began to update. The final digits in the progress bar blurred for a moment, increasing by 0.1%. Once it rose, it refused to stop. The number continued to blur as the progress bar crept steadily forward.

When his Golem Covert Martial Arts had reached around 65% progress in the Qi Embodiment stage, Cassius had used a large amount of Cataclysmic Spirit level life vibration energy to push it to 76%. He concluded that one strand of such energy increased his cultivation progress by about 1.2% at that stage.

Now, with his progress nearing 90%, the effect of each Cataclysmic Spirit level life vibration energy on his technique's progression naturally diminished. Furthermore, all of Cassius's newly obtained life vibration energy came from the high-ranking Blood Race, making it a single type and frequency. Hence, numerically, this round of progress in his Golem Covert Martial Arts may not be all that impressive.

Nonetheless, no matter the diminished effect, five strands of life vibration energy from the high-ranking Blood Race sufficed to push his Golem Covert Martial Arts past the 90% threshold.

An advancement in his Qi was thus a natural outcome.

Crack, crack, crack...

The sound of cracking bones rang out, as though a mighty force was being unleashed in an instant.

Huu...

A steady stream of white steam suddenly vented through the pores of his skin. A ring of grass and leaves around him shriveled from the heat, turning into dry stalks. The cloud of white steam exhaled by Cassius was so hot that it scorched a nearby tree.

From above, it looked like a yellowish ring was expanding outward in the lush, green gorge. It was like burning a sheet of paper at the center, leaving a ring of fire that blackened everything in its path. At the very center, a dense white mist surrounded a small black figure.

Cassius's entire body swelled as though full of air, his powerful muscles coiling like steel cables. In a short while, he had grown to two-and-a-half meters tall. Even sitting cross-legged, he resembled an iron tower. The sound of rushing water continued to echo inside his body. His reddened skin stretched taut over his expanding muscles, revealing thick veins.

Looking closer, one would see a substance that seemed both liquid and gaseous, churning violently. At times, it surged like a waterfall, ran like a mighty river, or even fell indistinctly like rain or fog. His Qi was undergoing a profound transformation.

A combat artist's Qi was often condensed and viscous. It would better carry a Covert Martial Arts master's Will of the Fist, maximising power output. If Cassius's Qi previously resembled viscous thick glue, it was now heading in the direction of concrete. Concrete would solidify if left untouched or unheated for too long. In other words, his Qi showed faint signs of turning solid.

This granted him tremendous power, yet it also posed a severe test for the durability of a combat artist's body. Some top-tier combat artists who had trained for decades possessed a deep foundation matching an extreme combat artist, yet they dared not attempt the breakthrough.

Part of the reason was their inability to withstand the crushing burden when both the quantity and quality of their Qi surged. Failing to endure after breaking through could place them in mortal danger. For some, that breakthrough brought only death.

Of course, Cassius did not need to worry about such concerns. The toughness of his body had never been a weakness; it was one of his strengths. His physique alone already matched an extreme combat artist. It was a testament to his ferocity!

Accommodating the Qi of an extreme combat artist was trivial for him, was it not? He feared no amount of Qi expansion during his breakthrough. In fact, let it soar straight to the pinnacle just below Holy Fist!

He would still swallow it effortlessly. He had no other secrets but a physique of iron and a body of steel. Even his organs felt as though they had been forged from iron, as they remained steady as a mountain throughout the ascent. Wave after wave of surging Qi failed to inflict the slightest injury on Cassius.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The internal injuries top-tier combat artists commonly suffered upon breaking through to the extreme combat artist realm did not affect him in the least. Cassius's robust body resembled a massive alchemy furnace, making the entire process exceedingly smooth.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Qi Embodiment 87.1% (Total Three Stages)] → 90.7%

In the upper right corner of his vision, the technique's progress stabilized. It had increased by a total of 3.6%, an expected result that was neither great nor small. On average, each strand had accounted for about a 0.7% gain. Indeed, there was a fair amount of reduction in effectiveness.

Nevertheless, the Qi Embodiment stage had finally passed ninety percent, elevating Cassius's Qi to the level of an extreme combat artist. In that moment, his Qi, physique, and force all reached the highest state beneath the Holy Fist. Cassius had to be the most balanced extreme combat artist in history by every measure.

If his strength grew just a bit more, he might well become the strongest person beneath the realm of Holy Fist throughout history. And what if he advanced further? What if his physique reached the limit, his Qi Embodiment reached a hundred percent, and he unified the three unique forces of the Southern Dipper?

In that peak state, could Cassius glimpse the ultimate domain that only a Holy Fist or Ultimate Dark Form dared to tread? He did not know for certain, nor was it easy to know. After all, he had never truly arrived at that point.

Holy Fist was too powerful. It was practically discarding mortal flesh to use heaven and earth as their body! Their Qi was freed of all restraints, ceaselessly expanding with every passing moment. It could envelop a mountain or a river, or even form a realm that was both illusory and real! It fully implemented the Will of the Fist in every sense.

Such an existence was nearly indistinguishable from a god. Yet the more formidable that realm seemed, the more Cassius longed for it. Was it not the greatest pleasure to probe the limits of Covert Martial Arts, to challenge humanity's most extreme boundaries, and to unravel the unknown depths of the world?

At least, it was so for someone like Cassius. That was his greatest joy!

Covered in a transparent aura, Cassius held the crimson Blood of Immortality in his hands. "Let's use it all at once, so my strength can continue to grow..."

Without a hint of hesitation, he devoured it in one gulp through his Golem Covert Martial Arts!

Immediately, an immense stream of energy rushed into his body.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

A terrifying surge of Qi erupted like volcanic lava, blasting toward the sky in all directions, striking every corner of the canyon. It was as if a dam had burst, sending raging flood waters sweeping across the land.

In an instant, the dense forest and shrubs around him were demolished and engulfed, collapsing under the crushing force. The ground quaked, and all within the gorge was swept clean.

The only thing left behind was emptiness; a white haze, with only a single black figure standing tall.