Chapter 584 - The Legendary Realm of Dominator Fist

Indeed, this was the Dominator Fist!

If one wished to clash with an Ultimate Dark Form whose true body was as vast as a mountain range, how could it be done without a strength that matched it blow for blow? The Holy Fist, the Dominator Fist, and the Ultimate Fist stood at the pinnacle of the path of Covert Martial Arts. Such beings had stepped wholly into a state akin to that of deities.

No one who had reached the Holy Fist realm had ever died of old age. They had all fallen in battle against an Ultimate Dark Form or perished while struggling against the origin of calamity.

Theoretically, as long as the Will of a Holy Fist remained unbroken, they would neither die or halt their flow of Qi. As for raw power, the strike of a Holy Fist was absurd. Cassius, after becoming an extreme combat artist, could shatter a whole mountain with his full strength and stir up terrifying tremors. However, that was still far inferior to a Holy Fist.

The very world of Qi before him marked a gulf so vast that they were not even in the same league. The simplest, most brute force tactic would be to hurl an entire world of Qi down upon one's head. The Cassius of earlier years could never have withstood it, no matter what he tried.

More than two years ago, during that battle on the Eternal Archipelago, had it not been for the return of White Bird Holy Fist and the relentless interference of Flaming Sun Holy Fist, Cassius would never have had a chance to act, let alone freely wound the half-crippled Pale Origin. Just the combined weight of those main branches pressing down would have crushed him.

There was an essential gulf between those below the Holy Fist realm and those of it. If those beneath Holy Fist still retained some trace of a Covert Martial Arts Practitioner—some sense of being human, then those above the Holy Fist were altogether a different species, if they could even be called a species at all.

They had become a form of living Qi, a state that needed no physical shell. They were a flowing substance both formless and tangible. Yet that very substance retained the practitioner's memories and Will, suffused with profound and mysterious fist principles of Covert Martial Arts.

Explained this way, the Holy Fist realm did indeed resemble the gods spoken of in religion. Perhaps in some primordial age, ordinary humans had glimpsed the marvelous Qi forms of Holy Fists from afar and thus invented the idea of deities. The myths of gods warring against demons might well describe battles between Holy Fists and Ultimate Dark Forms, with hell referring to the World of Calamity.

In any case, once Cassius broke through to the Dominator Fist realm, everything changed. It was as though the sky had opened wide for a bird in flight, and the world shifted in the blink of an eye.

His Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist had reached an unprecedented level of perfection. Sixty-six acupoints resonated with each other; Death's Fang Force ascended to its strongest form, becoming saw-like fangs of genuine steel. Anything that touched Death's Fang Force, whether living or inert, would be shredded apart.

Back in the underground dark creature test site beneath Florence, he had received a gift from a Dominator Fist elder and briefly wielded a perfected Death's Fang Force of unbelievable might and destruction.

Now, Cassius possessed that perfected Death's Fang Force. He could unleash and replenish it forever. Thus, waiting two years for his Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist to ripen had proven its worth.

Cassius had not achieved an ordinary Dominator Fist; he had become a Southern Dipper Dominator Fist! What grew without limit was not merely his Qi. It was also the sixth-stage perfected Death's Fang Force intertwined with that Qi.

His Covert Martial Art was tailored specifically to counter the undead nature of dark creatures. It was a fearsome blade even against an Ultimate Dark Form. Thus, the moment Cassius stepped into the Dominator Fist realm, he had skipped the early stage and attained the combat power of the mid-to-late phase.

This was the terrifying nature of the Southern Dipper line...

***

Two of the four Golem Sect elders within the world of Qi stood rooted to the spot, utterly stunned. The other two, Odo and Blood Mist, felt their knees give way as they dropped to the ground. The expressions on their faces were not worship or fanaticism, but an indescribable surge of emotion. Their eyes reddened, and tears quietly welled up.

The realm of the Holy Fist unfolded before them in full. Countless fist technique masters across the Covert Martial Arts world would die to witness this! Had they been here, they too would have knelt like Odo and Blood Mist, overcome with the same wordless emotion.

Odo knelt on the grass, his body trembling. "As vast as the entire sky and as small as a single grain of sand... I can feel the Will of peerless dominance..."

He scooped up a handful of earth with both hands, feeling the fine sand trickle through his fingers.

Odo let out an inarticulate moan.

"Ah—"

He closed his eyes and spread his arms wide, as though embracing the entire world of Qi. The next instant, his aura plummeted and then suddenly surged. It took him a mere two or three breaths to break through his former limit as something inside him seemed to shatter.

Vmmm...

Odo slowly opened his eyes, as two waning moons appeared in his pupils. He sprang to his feet and looked up at the vast blue face in the sky. "The Illusory Moon Fist is fully perfected. I finally breached the grueling threshold of the Decomposition Fist and leaped a great span in an instant. Many thanks to Master!"

"Heheheh, hahahaha..."

Above the dome, laughter swelled, louder and louder. At last it became a dreadful hum that made everyone's minds reel.

Ding!

The bright sun shrank swiftly, collapsing into a single point in less than a tenth of a second, and the world of Qi vanished like a mirage. The four elders and the many disciples of the Golem Sect returned to themselves and realized it was night once more. The dim moonlight was almost devoured by clouds.

A human-sized silhouette glimmered faintly above the pitch black water of God's Tears Lake.

Swish...

A pale-red streak of light glided from the lake in a straight line. Everyone's gaze was drawn to it unblinkingly. They saw patches of scarlet light spreading like segments of a fan on either side of that line. They looked like ripples, scales, and fluorescent teeth. The teeth overlapped, locking together into a great face.

At night, the striking details stood out all the more. It appeared extraordinarily splendid—both beautiful and perilous. The red outline stepped onto the shore and approached them. As the glow faded, Cassius's figure was revealed.

"It's the sect master!"

"The Golem Sect master!"

"Sect master has broken through to the Holy Fist realm!"

"From today on, the Golem Sect will be unstoppable, invincible wherever it goes!"

The congregation erupted in discussion, unable to contain their excitement any longer.

On the lakeshore, Cassius halted, the tips of his hair still emitting a faint crimson glow. His heart brimmed with the satisfaction of a dream fulfilled. To have one's wish granted was the greatest happiness under heaven. Even a Holy Fist experienced surges of emotion; joy was inevitable at the moment.

Only with time and repeated sights did those emotional ripples flatten.

"From the Wind Elephant Sect's youth training camp to the eerie Black Rain Manor; from creating Golem Covert Martial Arts to Blood Fist Feng Liusi of Death Gorge, Sonic Snake Ultimate Fist beneath Ao Yin Ruins, and White Bird Holy Fist on the Eternal Archipelago... So many experiences, so much passion, so many pivotal moments accompanied me along the way... From fistfighter, to pugilist, to combat artist, and now to Holy Fist..."

"Ha..."

Countless words condensed into a single sigh from Cassius.

One could see the hot white breath winding like a python through the night air. A second later, it scattered like smoke. All the past events and old friends drifted away with that smoke.

"Lisa, Feng Liusi..."

He stood upon the grass, gazing at the lonely, desolate sky. There, every star was obscured, and only a wane moon hung alone. Cassius looked long and hard, then lowered his head once more. He spun abruptly, trench coat billowing, and strode toward the sect compound.

"The tide is coming. Upheaval has begun. The overturning of all things lies before us..."

***

At the same time, in a critically important stronghold of the Gate Organization, Seventh General King Bask stared intently at the altar before him.

"The tide is coming!!!"

Three Arcane Stone Tablets blazed with scorching light at the altar's core. Their blinking was like violent breathing. The flicker quickened and quickened, until, at Bask's exclamation, they turned into three beams of brilliance.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Across the continent, thick, terrifying black clouds layered atop three separate weak points between the two worlds.

Rumble!

Bolts of lightning slashed down like colossal dragons. After the thunderous peal, everything around fell strangely still, plunged into an extreme silence.

Crack, crack...

Sharp cracks of tearing spread across the sky, made all the more startling and terrifying for the lack of other sound. The skies above those regions shattered like glass, revealing a scarlet radiance within the cracks. One could almost see the eerie moon that served as the origin of that crimson glow.

This blood-red moon was the same size as the pale moon of the surface world, yet its aura was entirely different. There were no qualities of enrichment, gentleness, and coolness, but rather extreme ferocity, unspeakable malice, and a thick portent of doom. This blood moon radiated not just light, but also death!

In another area stood a famed, towering mountain. The mountain's center split open, revealing a vast, pitch black maw.

Gush...

A massive flood of viscous blood gushed forth like a dam newly unbarred. The blood surged downhill, burying plains, lakes, forests, and villages. The entire land was dyed a pure crimson.

Gurgle, gurgle...

Seemingly venomous bubbles rose from the sea of blood. Black and white smoke streamed skyward, staining every passing cloud. Black silhouettes clambered to their feet above the bloody sea, amid this hazy poisonous fog.

Their forms were grotesque; they were certainly not human!

Ka-ka-ka-ka...

In the distance, fresh movement stirred within the great maw atop the lofty peak, rippling through the air. At once, the countless dark figures in the fog turned in terror and prostrated themselves.

A single enormous eye filled the void within the cavity. Its gaze, crazed and bloodthirsty, stared off into the distance with unspeakable greed. It was a hunger for living flesh.

"Rooaar!!!"

At the same time, a medium-sized lake once famed for sightseeing lay at the final weak point. Now its center gurgled and churned. It was as if some huge creature had thrashed in the depths, stirring sediment that had settled for centuries and darkening the water.

In less than two minutes, the surface was as black as ink. After five more minutes, it had become a viscous stratum of black mortar. No—more precisely, it was scalding asphalt not yet set. Layer upon layer of asphalt overflowed, spreading in every direction, flattening the surrounding woods in a heartbeat.

An indescribable sense of catastrophic terror burst forth, altering the very weather of the region. A torrential rain poured, and the wind howled.

***

Within the Golem Sect's main hall, upon the seat reserved for its master, Cassius shot to his feet with an impossibly sharp gaze

His eyes pierced the hall's heavy ceiling. He saw terrifying scenes hundreds, even thousands of kilometers away. His eyes narrowed; the contours of his face blurred, as though a Qi visage momentarily misaligned his fleshly features. It was as if he wore a crimson mask that let the Dominator Fist's terrifying aura leak forth.

Every high-ranking member in the hall felt their heart skip a beat.

"It has truly begun. The curtain on the great war has risen. I can sense three vague yet dreadful auras from afar. And there is the revived Xiadu—though I cannot feel his aura, he must have regained his mobility and now watches the world... So much power, so many foes... This is truly... truly... exhilarating beyond all measure!"

Cassius bowed his head, a vicious grin curling at his lips.

***

Three figures of formidable aura strode out of Coffin Mountain, one of the Gate Organization's three key strongholds, bearing the weapons of their prime and clad in black battle cloaks. One wore a cruel smile, one's face was icy and blank, and one's eyes burned with bloodthirsty madness. The three former deputy leaders of the Gate Organization, each an extreme combat artist, had set out!

Meanwhile, beneath a frigid sea in the arctic, within an ice cavern a kilometer deep, a black silhouette suddenly opened its eyes!

Boom!

The ice sheet exploded for hundreds of kilometers. Frigid water erupted from the cracks, skyrocketing nearly a hundred meters and turning into a rain of ice.

A figure rose into the world amid that raging ice-storm.