Chapter 579 - Beast-God Weapon

Calamity-Soldier Alonzo had been a pinnacle figure several centuries ago. He had excelled in fist techniques and was even more skilled with every kind of weapon.

After reaching middle age, Calamity-Soldier Alonzo grew tired of techniques, believing there was no martial skill left on earth he had not mastered. So Alonzo poured all his creativity and energy into instruments of battle. After a dozen years, he became a veritable master of arms.

Whether it was kenjutsu, fencing, axe-wielding, body-severing blades, chain flails, war hammers, or spears and lances, Calamity-Soldier Alonzo manipulated them flawlessly, mastering distance, timing of power, and the explosive curve of every combat technique. Masters of sword, hammer, or spear in the same era were no match for him even in their own specialties.

Another decade passed, and Alonzo's renown in the weapon arts reached its zenith. He was a hair's breadth from overtaking the Weapon King of a millennium ago. Sadly, Calamity-Soldier Alonzo vanished too soon. At some point, he simply disappeared, never to re-enter the Covert Martial Arts scene.

Outsiders never learned why, and for decades, bizarre and absurd rumors circulated. Yet, in truth, the reason for Alonzo's absence from the path of Covert Martial Arts was simple.

He had perished! He had died attempting to master a vicious, uncanny weapon. Alonzo was slain by the weapon's backlash and resistance. In a strange fate, his corpse was imbued with the weapon's eerie aura, forging an unforeseen bond.

Ordinarily, such a link meant nothing. After all, a dead man couldn't move again. However, necro-revival found possibility amid ten thousand impossibilities. Centuries later, Calamity-Soldier Alonzo awakened, his bond with that dreadful weapon still intact.

So long as he entered the World of Calamity, he could draw out the terrible power of Demon Lake with ease.

Seventh General King Bask clenched the crystal disc so hard his knuckles cracked. "Three extreme combat artist deputy leaders, Calamity-Soldier Alonzo wielding the Beast-God Weapon, and Lord Xiadu soon to awaken! Never has the Gate Organization enjoyed such abundant peak power. Even if I remain the sole General King among the seven, it matters not! Now the Gate Organization can declare war upon the entire surface world!!!"

He turned in excitement, casting his gaze beyond the peak. He seemed to pierce through hundreds of meters and witness the duel between the Golem Sect's master and Blood Demon Diaz.

Bask muttered, "Diaz, hold on... hold on until Alonzo can aid you..."

***

Hum!

A hazy outline plummeted through the azure sky. The air warped and condensed, forming a translucent gigantic beak!

Boom! Thump! Rumble...

The shadow of a beak flashed as the ground quaked violently from the impact. Steamy white mist dispersed, revealing a swath ripped through the green carpet forest. A deep bowl-shaped hollow of soil stood in stark contrast to the emerald sea of trees.

Whoosh!

A smoke-wreathed figure hurtled away and crashed in a clearing. Sunlight made the situation plain. He had only his upper half; the lower was gone, ending in a smooth cross-section.

Clearly, when that phantom beak struck, the man had been a heartbeat too slow and only half his body escaped.

"What... terrifying Covert Martial Arts..." Blood Demon Diaz now bled from all seven orifices, crimson threads wetting his parched lips. He licked them, tasting the flavor of his life ebbing away.

"No matter how I fight, I am no match for him. Though I am an extreme combat artist and he is as well, there exists a gulf between us! This man is frighteningly close to the Holy Fist realm. He’s only a tiny hair's breadth away..."

Diaz lay on his back, blood-stained eyes staring at the blue sky. "My fourth life... is over."

Towering green trees crowded around him, yet this single clearing sank inward. It resembled a well, and Diaz was the frog at its bottom.

Rumble...

Above the well's mouth, a vast phantom white shadow blotted out all sight, warping even the light. The air rippled in layered waves like neat scales pressing forward.

It was only when the golden pupil of the bird appeared that one realized the truth. It was no distortion but the gigantic wing of a waterbird clad in steel thorn-feathers! The wing covered the sky above the shaft, its edges unseen. Hence, at first glance, it was easily mistaken for distorted air!

Diaz suddenly laughed, louder and louder.

"Heh... hahaha..."

Blood spilled from between his white teeth, but he felt oddly relieved and unrestrained.

Coughing blood, he murmured. "The Golem Sect's master truly is the Gate Organization's greatest foe... If he achieves the Holy Fist realm, unimaginable upheaval will strike the World of Calamity! He must be slain; the Golem Sect's master must die before he ascends! Otherwise, once he steps there, he will soar like an eagle in the high heavens, never to be bound!"

Blood Demon Diaz's gaze grew ever clearer. In that moment, he seemed to regain his intellect.

Dong!!

An immense white fist crashed down like a heavenly pillar. Its edges dragged streaming white currents along like drifting sand. With a puff, Diaz's remaining half vanished as though he had been vaporized.

Several hectares of forest vanished with him. A colossal scar was carved into the thick green carpet of woods. Black soil sank inch by inch, forming the shape of a fist. Perhaps in a few years a small lake would even form in the gigantic imprint.

Swoosh...

A black figure landed upon the tallest tree in the woods. Cassius slowly raised his head. The elegant yet savage waterbird phantom in his eyes shrank to a point and disappeared. Facing the wind, his blond hair streamed backward.

Cassius’s eyes narrowed as he analyzed, "That was the fourth time I killed him. This is not something that a mere Secret Technique can achieve... It appears to be an innate gift, something like a dark creature."

At the international exchange tournament two years ago, the Seven-Star Fate Realms Secret Technique had allowed near-death revival, granting seven lives. However, Diaz's ability was stranger and more unfathomable than the Seven-Star Fate Realms.

Perhaps it added no power in battle, but its survivability was impressive. To slay him completely cost even Cassius considerable effort.

Elsewhere, in Gafa Kingdom, at Ghost-Heart Fist's gate, blood bubbled from a crack in the ruins. A second later, the blood coalesced, slowly shaping Diaz's body and features. He staggered, then steadied himself after several breaths. Diaz lifted his head, revealing a face that was no longer handsome.

He had once been a beautiful man with skin pale as a corpse. Now, he resembled a half-human beast. His features were too deeply carved through. Hollows in his face lent him an evil aura that sent chills down one’s spine. Such was both the cost and the source of this undead power. His dark creature transformation intensified with every death.

It was as though a waterball of Qi mixed with essence of calamity—little calamity, much Qi. However, essence of calamity was the core of immortality and remained after every resurrection.

At the first death, the waterball split in two. Half the Qi was discarded while the rest survived. The essence of calamity crowded within that half, its share greatly increased. After repeating this cycle several times... Naturally, his dark creature transformation was obvious.

"When I become a beast bereft of reason, that will be the moment he finally kills me..." Blood Demon Diaz murmured.

This undead ability had once been his greatest lifesaving Secret Technique. Much like the cicada sloughing its shell, it abandoned a part to preserve most. It exploited the crucial concept of using blood and soul as currency. After his revival, his dark creature body conferred a strange talent. He could fuse blood and Qi, wield them completely, and even absorb others' blood Qi. Together they shaped Diaz's current capability.

The Covert Martial Arts sects he had slaughtered had become resurrection nodes. Each time Cassius killed him, he could re-emerge at one of those places, bearing his full will.

Diaz slowly raised his hands and clenched his fists. "I sense something strange inside me... did I gulp it down during that gluttonous binge?"

At last, he realized how Cassius kept locating him. However, Diaz had no time to study it. Goosebumps and quivering hairs warned of a swiftly approaching menace!

Diaz jerked his gaze east to the endless blue sky. Far beyond sight, a waterbird was accelerating toward him. It drew a thin straight white line through the clouds.

Blood Demon Diaz spun and sped west across Gafa Kingdom. "Terrifying strength, terrifying speed, dreadful Covert Martial Arts, and uncanny techniques. I never thought my first true opponent upon revival would be such a frightening monster..."

Minutes later, a figure descended upon Ghost-Heart Fist's gate. Black boots crushed tiles in crisp snaps upon the ruins.

Cassius's dark gaze swept the surroundings with icy calm. His eyes paused at several spots before he withdrew his gaze. Hulking pale corpses lay everywhere, their black Golem totems dim.

In the grass, a Golem Sect disciple was still in mid punch, standing dead like a statue. His face was twisted in madness and ferocity, devoid of retreat or fear. It starkly displayed a martial artist's guts and valor.

"You have not shamed the Golem Seeds I granted you. I will dig each of your seeds out of his body and return them. They are badges of valiant courage, each more brilliant than pearls or diamonds..." Cassius spoke quietly, almost in mourning.

As his power grew, his moods waned; he seemed emotionless and cold. But in truth, he was still the same Cassius who was merely poor at expression, with no one left to confide in. There had been Lisa, and once Feng Liusi and Saint Feinan, but now no one at all. He walked alone.

Nearly three years into the fifth time-travel, Cassius felt himself grow taciturn, eccentric, and aloof. When he sensed Diaz absorb the Golem Seeds earlier, he had raged as never before. He believed then that it was merely the rejection from the violation of his own power by a stranger, hence the outburst...

However, seeing these Golem Sect corpses, he realized the true reason for his rage. Within that anger lay something else of considerable weight. It was heritage, lineage, and the continuation of his own path. Just as Instructor Lisa had once given him the Wind Elephant Pill meant for her own recovery because she saw Cassius as the continuation of her path, likewise, these Golem Sect disciples practicing the Six Southern Dipper Volumes and Golem Heart Codex were extensions of Cassius's path.

They were an embodiment expanding his life's will. Thus when they were slain, a branch of his overarching will was severed.

Cassius exhaled warm air, deeply moved.

"Hu..."

This insight touched not fist techniques and battle but another facet of the martial path.

Cassius's thoughts cleared, and his killing intent blazed higher. "Heritage resembles reproduction. It aligns with life's primal desire..."

He fixed his gaze on the direction Diaz had fled. A grim smile crept across his lips, teeth glinting cold in the sun.

"Just you wait. I am coming to kill you!"

***

Five minutes later, above a sparkling lake...

A bloody figure swept down, scouring a fan-shaped wake in the water and leaving a long serpentine track across the water. Behind, a white waterbird skimmed the lake with graceful lightness. Each leap narrowed the gap swiftly.

Swish!

The two figures drew ever closer. In the next breath, the chase would end.

"Your sixth life—I claim it."

The white bird phantom accelerated, steel thorn-feathers quivering dreadfully. Cassius spread his arms, ready to unleash a thunderous blow.

Yet Diaz whirled, staring hard at Cassius with a strange grin. "This time, killing me won't be so easy. My helper has arrived..."

Boom!

The mirror-smooth lake surface shattered; water hurled skyward, forming an endless waterfall.

From beneath, a colossal weapon—neither fist nor claw nor axe, yet all—shot into the heavens. Its surface writhed with a murderous aura.

It was the Beast-God Weapon and Calamity-Soldier Alonzo who wielded it!