Chapter 548 - Secret of Immortality, Paradise!

"The secret of immortality?" Cassius echoed.

Ripple Master Monchi's words piqued Cassius's interest a little.

However, he was only mildly curious, and he felt none of the wild joy that ordinary people showed at the prospect of living forever. In theory, Cassius was already not far from immortality.

A Holy Fist discarded the shackles of their body, used endlessly growing Qi to bear their Will, and enjoyed an extremely long life span. No Holy Fist ever seemed to have died of old age across the World of Calamity. They either fell in battle or burned themselves out, but not one had yet died a natural death.

Using the Southern Dipper lineage as reference, the three Southern Dipper Holy Fists had all been born in antiquity and had existed for tens of thousands of years.

If their Will did not perish, the Holy Fist did not perish. So long as a Holy Fist's Will was not wholly eroded, the individual could continue to exist. Did they live until heaven and earth decayed? Until the seas turned to dust? Until the moment one chose to die? Or until their Will was worn by time to the point of losing self-awareness?

In short, a Covert Martial Arts Practitioner who attained the realm of Holy Fist achieved a different form of immortality; therefore Cassius was only mildly interested in Monchi's tale. Of course, there was no harm in listening. After all, Monchi had offered up the ancient White Bone Tree of his own will. Though, it was a pity for the arrangements Cassius had been making.

Originally, half the top-tier knight-level Hellsings in the Black Rain Manor party had already turned their coat. Ghost-Man and Iron Knight had planned it using the fake-death pill as the perfect bait. Once the Eternal Island journey reached an opportune moment, they would strike, overturn the manor's control, and become Cassius's aid instead.

Unexpectedly, the leader of Black Rain Manor had surrendered first. He had bowed with full sincerity and showed an intense desire to cooperate. That left Ghost-Man, Iron Knight, and other ambushers with no role to play. So they would be entirely unused on the Eternal Island trip.

But it did not matter; even if they were of no use on Eternal Island, they would definitely be of use in Black Rain Manor. The Hellsings were well versed in the manor's interior and would be perfect moles. When insiders fought insiders, every move struck the vitals. Top-tier knight-level Hellsings had long suffered under the manor, so they were overjoyed at a chance to break free. When Cassius turned his spear on the manor later, those turncoats would surely roar their support.

Not to mention, this battle just now had wiped out almost all the top fighting power in the world. The great powers of the Hongli Empire were now weakened, making it the best moment for Cassius to begin a purge. He still had more than two years until the original owner of the legendary antique would manifest his Lingering Attachment.

And more than two years until Xiadu awakened. A calamity that would overturn the rule of the entire Hongli Empire was about to descend. He needed to consolidate his strength and make thorough preparations.

The wind gradually died, and the lava rain ended completely. Monchi quickly stepped back after finishing his story. The tale he told was mainly linked to the first leader of the Ripple Masters.

That first leader, who bore a wood-attribute Supreme bone ring, had been immensely powerful and had once expanded the Ripple Order to its zenith, occupying every island between the Northern and Southern Reef Continents and even a vast northern portion of the Southern Reef Continent. He had even taken over at least two counties in the Hongli Empire.

That showed how fearsome and formidable his methods were. If one ranked every Ripple Master leader across millennia, Wood Spirit would stand at the top without question. The late Thunder Spirit, hailed as the strongest in five hundred years and an outstanding combatant at the extreme combat artist level, would rank only third or fourth.

It showed at what height the first leader, Wood Spirit, had stood. Decades ago, while Ripple Master Monchi was still on Eternal Island, the aging Thunder Spirit was their leader. One day, Thunder Spirit called his most trusted aide, Monchi, saying he had met the previous Wind Spirit who had been dead for forty years on a remote isle of the Eternal Archipelago.

Most surprisingly, he had the very same appearance and the Supreme bone ring still on his hand! That night, Wind Spirit had sought Thunder Spirit out and told him he was about to die. If he wished to live, he should go to a special place.

There, immortality awaited—paradise, happiness beyond imagining. It was practically heaven.

At first, Thunder Spirit did not trust him, and even fought fiercely to seize him. However, he could not capture him. Wind Spirit fled into the night, saying that the first Ripple Master, Wood Spirit, would personally invite him. They were words that left Thunder Spirit deeply shaken.

Wind Spirit being alive was barely plausible—perhaps he had faked death back then. But Wood Spirit from thousands of years before? How could he still live?

Yet four or five months later, one night, the first Wood Spirit indeed appeared and invited Thunder Spirit into the paradise he had founded. It was a location where people were ageless and forever young, where boundless joy and happiness reigned, with no more fear of aging or worldly strife. There was only eternal bliss!

Thunder Spirit did not refuse. He was truly old, with his ripple power nearly beyond his control and biting back at his body. If immortality existed in the world...

Wood Spirit left, saying that he would take Thunder Spirit into paradise to enjoy boundless life at their next meeting . Thunder Spirit coveted immortality, yet still feared the bizarreness of the affair. Thus, he summoned his most trusted aide, Monchi. He told Monchi the entire matter. Half a month later, he vanished suddenly.

Three full days passed. Then, the gravely wounded, dying Thunder Spirit suddenly appeared at Monchi's door. He urged Monchi to flee far from the Ripple Masters and the entire Eternal Archipelago, and even gave Monchi his own Supreme bone ring, begging him never to avenge him. He told him not to search for what lay behind, not to recall what Thunder Spirit had said. He begged him to treat it all as if it never happened and flee far away!

Naturally, Monchi obeyed only the first half of the dying words, not the second half. Decades later, he returned to the Eternal Archipelago to uncover the truth behind Thunder Spirit's death.

Monchi had spent many long years researching the history of the Ripple Masters, and with Black Rain Manor's help gained many disparate secret reports. The more he learned, the more alarmed he grew, and the fuller the picture, the greater his dread.

He suddenly realized that his mind had been hazy while on Eternal Island, as though it had been affected by something. It was only upon reaching the Hongli Empire and becoming a marked-one of Black Rain Manor that he had shaken it off.

Later, Monchi pieced together that a mysterious vast unknown being lay on Eternal Island and that Thunder Spirit's death was almost certainly connected to it. Years of collecting clues took Monchi across many lands until he discovered that the key lay in Black Rain Manor itself. Thus, he and Tyrant Black Dragon cooperated to extract the ancient White Bone Tree from the manor and put together a plan to enter an ancient ruin in the Eternal Archipelago where that mysterious being dwelled!

Was it the Ultimate Dark Form I sensed before setting foot on the island?,

Cassius pondered briefly. The devil rays in the storm belt whose nerves and bones had been replaced by pale roots, the white mist laden with tiny spores that veiled the Eternal Archipelago year-round... They were all intriguing signs that perhaps pointed to part of the truth.

Is an Ultimate Dark Form sealed inside that ancient ruin?

The Book of the Devil only marked an extremely dangerous zone near the Southern Dipper Waterbird Fist manual where even an extreme combat artist might fall. Cassius could use the bronze key to skip past most hazards, but he could not avoid that perilous zone.

That dangerous zone... Could it be the paradise spoken of by Wood Spirit and Thunder Spirit?

The more Cassius thought, the more plausible it seemed. However, it mattered little. He was going to obtain the final missing piece of the Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance, the Southern Dipper Waterbird Fist! Once it was complete, the three fist techniques would resonate, fuse, and their power would unify completely.

Then, the might of his Covert Martial Arts would reach an inconceivable level. That was his premonition and intuition. For a Covert Martial Arts Practitioner at the extreme combat artist realm, such sudden insights were mostly reliable and quite precise. Therefore, even if the ancient ruin were a dragon's den, he would still venture into it. Moreover, Cassius had just defeated four extreme combat artists together, so his Will and Qi were at an all time high.

Once the Qi, Force, and stamina he had just spent were fully restored, he would be in his best state since the time-travel began.

Thus, that so-called paradise held nothing to fear.

***

The sky was clear as jade above the active volcano. The drifting clouds had been blasted apart, and wide swathes of mist swept away. Rarely, sunlight poured upon the spore forest.

Dressed in tattered black, Cassius stood before Ripple Master Monchi and Tyrant Black Dragon, playing with the newly acquired ancient White Bone Tree in his palm. He felt an inexplicable pull from it. Every cell of his body held a faint hunger, much like when he had encountered the Moon God's flesh before.

"It is indeed an Ultimate Dark Form," Cassius said, narrowing his eyes.

After triple-checking, the situation beneath the ruin was almost certain. He rubbed the tree in his large hands for a moment, then tucked it into his bosom.

He looked into the distance. There by the volcano, a host of combat artists were returning in triumph. While Cassius had fought the four extreme combat artists, the Covert Martial Arts community's forces had been battling the Gate Organization.

Both sides wielded combat artist level strength, but within half a minute of the fight's start, the Gate Organization had wilted. They had many foundations and methods to boost each member's strength and had even joined forces with the Totem Temple, but so what? The Covert Martial Arts community taught them a straight lesson. Seventy combat artists struck together, equivalent to both the eastern and southern martial communities of the Hongli Empire, with dozens of sect masters and elders fighting personally.

The battlefield shifted from a brief stalemate to open rout in minutes. After wiping out the rabble the Gate Organization had brought, the battlefield skewed wildly. At times, several martial artists fought for one target like hungry wolves, while elsewhere three or four teamed up on one Gate Organization member, using him as a sandbag.

Often the foe was mangled beyond recognition in just a few exchanges. The Gate Organization not only lacked such high-end strength but was vastly outnumbered. Once they were separated from figures like Holy Fist Demon Phoenix, any lone Gate Organization member meeting the martial forces simply took a beating.

When Cassius personally killed four extreme combat artists, including the Gate Organization deputy leader Holy Fist Demon Phoenix, the Gate Organization's morale suffered all the more grievously.

The instant Cassius won, the battle collapsed. Gate Organization members fled north toward Eternal Island, even using the Totem Temple's shamans as shields as they were chased by some martial artists. Judging by the results, the Gate Organization was half-crippled.

Cassius had slaughtered their members who had extreme combat artist strength, and the martial world had retained over half their combat artists. The rest of the Gate Organization would bleed away in flight. At most, a third or a quarter would survive, but those were matters Cassius cared not to manage.

Let nature run its course, and let the martial forces kill as many as they could. Those who escaped back to the Empire would merely be material for Cassius's forthcoming purge. They weren’t worth his attention anymore.

Tat-tat-tat-tat...

The martial party assembled and lined up behind Cassius. Their auras were fierce, radiating a thick pressure that was compelled by their fists.

Not far off, the Ripple Order was locked in vicious combat with the Black Rain Manor's Hellsings. The only calm spot was around the Ripple Master leader, Ice Spirit. He had unhesitatingly slain the other Supreme bone ring masters, slipped five dripping rings onto his blood-soaked fingers before their disbelieving eyes, and clenched his fist, five-coloured ripples swirling like gauze.

The ripples wrapped Ice Spirit entirely, forming a vortex tornado. His eyes were fixed on Cassius, revealing an inhuman, eerie emotion. It was strange, as though the sight of ten thousand eyes overlapped, bearing a profound darkness and an ominous dread.

It seemed that some Will had descended.

"Outsider, I think you should leave Eternal Island. Do not throw your life away here. Keep opposing us, keep opposing me, and you and your whole lot will end as nothing but nourishment for the roots..."