Chapter 532 - Southern Dipper Waterbird Fist, I'm Coming!

Thump, thump, thump, thump...

His heart beat as taut as a drawn bowstring, pounding with a muffled, forceful drumbeat. Each pump sent Cassius's blood surging faster through his body like a powerful engine.

Swish... swish...

The sound of rushing blood rang out from within him. It resembled a flood, growing ever louder. At the same time, Cassius slipped into the Golem Breathing Technique, his chest contracting and expanding in steady rhythm. His heartbeat, breathing, and blood-flow merged into perfect unison.

The Golem life magnetic field burst forth, and his Golem Covert Martial Arts reached peak activation.

Boom!!!

Black smoke billowed around him, covering every corner of Cassius's body. A highly concentrated essence of calamity saturated the river. No—the very river was composed of essence of calamity.

Essence of calamity was a substance capable of mutating humans into dark creatures. Dark essence, by contrast, was an energy wielded by dark creatures. In the chain of causality, calamity came first and darkness followed.

Swish, swish, roar...

Inside Xiadu the demonic well, essence of calamity gushed out as though a dam had opened. The flood battered Cassius in endless waves.

It was the first time Cassius had felt such dense calamity. Not even during his own dark creature transformation or when he entered the underworld had he sensed something of this density. This flood of calamity was suffocating.

His iron-hard skin shuddered as the Qi that had erupted from his pores thinned to a faint film. Another surge hit, washing away even his extreme combat artist Qi. Cassius's body no longer resisted and collided head-on with the torrent of calamity. He felt his whole body go numb and feverish. He seemed to be soaking in scalding lava.

Threads finer than hair drifted in the air, seeking to pierce his skin and force his body to mutate and decay. He shut his eyes tight, driving his Golem Covert Martial Arts to the limit.

The torrent's pressure forced his body to automatically activate Golem state. Golem Qi surged, forming over his skin. A burly Golem dozens of meters tall rose from the ground, standing firm in the darkness.

It was a mountain of muscle clad in savage bone armor, with a broad back draped in a billowing cloak. Its two thighs were like pillars, with veins thicker than pythons. Its feet bore three huge toes, each claw-like nail curved like a hooked dagger. Hard fleshy bulges at the shoulders jutted outward like massive pauldrons. Its wide, inverted-triangle back was lined with spikes along the spine. They ran to the tailbone's tip, exuding a bloody ferocity.It looked utterly terrifying.

Boom!

The flood of calamity smashed in, yet the Golem remained as unmoved as a mountain. A moon-disk floated above its head, spilling crimson over the armor's jagged ridges and recesses, as though blood dripped.

Cassius's eyes glimmered beneath the visor.

"I'll use mainly the Golem Covert Martial Arts, aided by the Rune of Wisdom. I can definitely endure until the tide recedes..."

A huge ouroboros symbol flared to life on the Golem's broad chest. It began to turn of its own accord amid the calamity flood. The ouroboros spun faster and faster, until it blurred into an after-image, almost smoking with speed.

Endless essence of calamity was drawn in, caught and stored by the Rune of Wisdom. A dark, profound vortex opened at the Golem's chest. The Rune of Wisdom acted like a gourmand who had found an imperial feast at last. It opened wide, gulping down like a raging storm. Its appetite was wild!

The Golem Covert Martial Arts likewise showed remarkable effect. Created in imitation of the dark creature called a Golem, the formidable art had cost Cassius nine portions of Blood of the Spirit.

During later practice he had continually refined it, making it more complete, stronger, and better attuned to him. Especially after the art devoured the Moon God's flesh and Blood of Immortality, it entered a mutation phase.

Once that phase ended and the art stabilized again, it would likely surpass first-rate Covert Martial Arts entirely!

By analogy, it would be like Cassius completing the Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance. One could imagine its importance and might be no less than the Southern Dipper fist techniques.

In the darkness, the Golem seemed like a iron tower. No matter how the waves battered it, it stayed unmoved like a mountain. Even the roaring calamity flood could scarcely harm Cassius.

Minute after minute passed. Cassius didn’t know whether it was because the calamity flood was the Golem's most comfortable habitat or due to powerful external stimulus, the once-stalled mutation phase began to advance bit by bit, faintly showing signs of further evolution.

Cassius quickly connected a few dots in his head. The Moon God's flesh was part of an Ultimate Dark Form's body. Blood of Immortality was a portion of Yumila's essence. So the calamity flood spewing from Xiadu... Was it not likewise part of its power? Logically, every bit of calamity here should be tainted with Xiadu's aura.

Theoretically that should be the case, which explained why the Golem Covert Martial Art had been stirred.

Hiss, hiss... hiss, hiss...

Corrosive noises issued as white steam rose from the Golem's surface. The form, which was once over thirty meters tall, shrank rapidly like a deflating balloon. As time passed, the towering Golem dwindled to human size. Black veins sprouted over the skin, writhing like slender snakes.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Swish!

The calamity flood submerged Cassius completely. After a fierce wave passed, the Golem re-emerged, breaking through the surface. This time, it grew taller and its veins grew denser. Thick white bones extended like the steel frame of a giant airship.

Swish...

Another wave surged again. The Golem was submerged, then resurfaced a heartbeat later. Muscles as tough as reinforced iron and entwined with veins sprouted quickly over the white skeleton. Simultaneously, organs linking to the veins formed.

Wave after wave, layer upon layer. It was as if the flood delivered nutrients solely for the Golem. The Golem began to develop anew and grow again. Each muscle was formed tougher and better suited for force. Every bone grew straighter and harder.

This was no Qi illusion but a real Golem body. Cassius's Golem Covert Martial Art seemed to gain muscle memory as it recorded every step of the reconstruction, fixing each organ and part. It was like crafting an exquisite model. The next time the need arose, the model could be manifested in an instant.

The calamity flood grew fiercer with every wave, yet the Golem rebuilt faster and grew ever more nourished. Soon, the Golem reformed anew. However, this time, it did not stand thirty meters tall, but a terrifying fifty meters tall. It was slightly more slender, yet its chill and bloodlust had only intensified.

Its arm armor now had razor sharp grooves like blood vessels. They lent a steel-mecha texture beyond human workmanship. Moreover, the moon-disk atop the Golem's head had also changed. A bleeding eyeball with a vortex-like pupil had opened at its center. Its shape resembled that of the Blood Race.

After devouring the Moon God's flesh and Blood of Immortality, the Golem Covert Martial Arts had gained two rather useless power-ups. But after reconstruction, those abilities had transformed to serve in combat.

Now, any dark creature slain by Cassius under the blood moon would have its spirit and essence automatically broken down to sustain him. It let the Golem gain the upper hand in wars of attrition.

Even when deep in enemy ranks, he could still hack his way out.

Boom! Bam, bam, bam!

The whole darkness trembled as the calamity torrent suddenly amassed power.

Then, it erupted!

Whoosh!

A figure shot out and appeared in the surface world.

Thud!

The fifty-meter-tall Golem landed with a crash, making the green forest quake. Its legs were planted on the ground, and it looked up at the cloudless sky and down at the smooth trees.

Its scarlet eyes slowly dimmed.

"The Golem Covert Martial Arts just leaped another tier and stored a huge reserve of essence? Perhaps I needn't rush to break through to the Holy Fist realm... My bodily strength now..."

The Golem clenched its fist. A

boom

sounded when the five fingers met. Air rushed from between them, turning into thick white gusts. The force was equivalent to artillery shells as it scythed across the ground and snapped two or three trees outright.

If Cassius had used the Golem before to fight extreme combat artists head-on, now he would steamroll ordinary ones. Earlier, Cassius had clashed purely in strength with Whale King Arlington. It had taken him fifteen punches to beat him down. Now, fewer than ten would suffice.

A sense of strength swelled within him, and Cassius felt content.

Pop, pop...

Two scarlet stars lit upon his body. The Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist had advanced again!

It was joy atop joy. Cassius had already won the dominance bout with Arlington without suspense. His will had grown firmer, his path broader, and his aura fiercer. Thus, the Red Falcon Fist broke through four acupoints at once.

Cassius's force had originally leaped into stage five. Now, he took two more steps in that stage. Forty-six scarlet acupoints! He seemed to have completely surpassed Blood Fist Feng Liusi of old.

The first time Cassius met Xiadu, he had sensed the demonic well's horror. Yet he had neither feared nor flinched. Cassius had thrown his fist forward and shattered Xiadu's shell, claiming an unconventional victory. Those two new acupoints were a reward for bravery.

Thinking of Xiadu, he turned sharply toward the nearby peak. No lofty mountain remained anymore; it had been leveled. Only broad fields of rubble lay in the forest, punching craters like missing teeth.

Xiadu was gone... The avatar had vanished!

Clearly an avatar's power was finite and could not linger long. Its energy had evidently been spent. Cassius cast a long look at the ravaged field and thought of Holy Fist Demon Phoenix and Whale King Arlington. If they were not fools, the two had surely escaped while they could.

But it hardly mattered...

Xiadu was what mattered. Xiadu was Cassius's true concern.

Figures from the time-travel era were, after all, bygone.

Centuries from now, the so-called top Covert Martial Artist of the United States of Yana, Whale King Arlington, and the Gate Organization's deputy leader, Holy Fist Demon Phoenix, most likely would be scattered bones with unknown graves.

Unless one of them broke through to Holy Fist.

As for that... judging by Cassius's bouts with them, Whale King Arlington had a slim chance, having forged his own path. On the other hand, Holy Fist Demon Phoenix had zero chance. This was in accordance with the original timeline.

If Cassius interfered, Arlington could not keep to the Dominator Fist path either. A loser did not deserve the title of Dominator Fist! Of course, if Arlington possessed enough spirit and resolve, he had a chance to take another path. He could strive to comprehend Holy Fist or to grasp Ultimate Fist.

That was exceedingly hard, for a Covert Martial Arts Practitioner at the extreme combat artist tier. Will of the Fist, fighting style, and chosen art all predetermined one's road. Changing it would mean rebuilding from scratch, like recreating one's own bones and flesh!

Who knew whether Arlington harbored such thought and resolve? If he did, Cassius would respect him even as an enemy.

A clear breeze blew; the air was fresh. The sun was shining brightly down on verdant leaves. With a light tap of his toe on a trunk, he skimmed toward East Sea City like a drifting black blur.

This exchange tournament was over, yet Cassius's purpose in the Hongli Empire's southeast remained unfulfilled.

He still had to go to the Eternal Archipelago, explore the ancient ruins, and acquire the Waterbird Fist!

I am coming...