Chapter 586 - Golem Covert Martial Arts' Final Stage, Mental Unification

The legendary antique known as the Dark Hunter Mask contained two separate lingering attachments.

Two years earlier, Cassius had resolved the first one. Now, the second was completed as well.

Now, the simplified sigil of the Dark Hunter Mask glimmered faintly with gold, signifying that he could now withdraw from the time-travel unscathed.

This was now Cassius’s new ace. It was also the ultimate trump card beneath every other hidden gambit.

During the third time-travel, he had rallied many northern Covert Martial Art experts to assault Black Rain Manor and pushed all the way to the manor's core, the Baptism Chapel.

The meteorite radiation within the chapel had almost killed everyone, Cassius included. However, in his final dying moments, he had succeeded in returning to the real world, erasing all injuries and mutations. Any factor disadvantageous to Cassius could not be carried over from the time-travel to reality.

The vein mutation in his arm caused by the meteorite radiation had initially been beneficial. Although twists and turns later subjected it to many influences, it had ultimately aided Cassius. It enabled him to create the formidable Golem Covert Martial Arts during the fourth time-travel.

In short, fulfilling the lingering attachment of legendary antiques was Cassius's greatest hidden card and fallback in his time-travels. At the same time, it granted him immense confidence. It allowed Cassius, in these final moments, to act on long-held desires with no restraints.

High in the air, within wisps of mist-like white clouds, Cassius looked up at the pale red moon, then shifted his gaze toward the upper-right corner of his vision.

There lay the display slot of his technique status bar.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Mental Unification 0.1% (Final Stage)]

The Golem Covert Martial Arts had at last reached its final stage. Physical Transformation, Qi Embodiment, and now Mental Unification!

He had pressed onward through stumbles and struggles. The uncanny and powerful Covert Martial Arts he had created now approached its concluding phase. Indeed, even upon entering the legendary realm of Dominator Fist, his Golem Covert Martial Arts would never lag behind or become obsolete. On the contrary, its true period of explosive growth had just begun!

The most crucial trait in the Holy Fist realm was that every Covert Martial Arts Practitioner's Qi multiplied without end. They were each an inexhaustible wellspring of Qi, their power swelling with every passing second.

Therefore, in theory, the earlier one attained the Holy Fist realm, the more vast and torrential the power one commanded. The more ancient, the more formidable!

Of course, that was an idealization; reality differed in many ways. After all, a warrior's combat strength depended not only on the amount of Qi but also on the toughness of their Will and the peculiar traits of their cultivated Covert Martial Arts.

Take the former Holy Fist Demon Phoenix, who had lingered in the extreme combat artist realm for decades and expanded his Qi to the utmost. He could rival four or five Whale King Arlingtons in sheer volume alone.

Yet his fighting capability only surpassed that of Arlington, a newly made extreme combat artist, by a slim margin. Presumably, with two or three more years or once Arlington truly swept the Hongli Empire's Covert Martial Arts world, Holy Fist Demon Phoenix might not even hold that thin advantage and would likely be defeated.

Such was the influence of one's spirit and Will of the Fist. Upon reaching the combat artist realm and mastering Qi, a combat artist's strength truly stood on two legs, and neither could be missing.

The Holy Fist realm was much the same. Except Holy Fist powerhouses were usually the absolute pinnacles of their eras—brilliant, resplendent, unrivaled geniuses.

The paths they walked, the refinement of their fist technique, and the toughness of their spirits were all indisputably elite. It was almost impossible for "flawed goods" like Holy Fist Demon Phoenix to attain it, so the gaps amongst Holy Fists were relatively small. That being so, the quantity of Qi became far more significant.

"The older, the stronger" had a measure of logic within the Holy Fist realm. This infinitely increasing Qi usually relied on the passage of time and diligent cultivation.

Shortcuts were scarce, especially in the Holy Fist realm, where one's Qi could manifest a world unto itself. The more vast and majestic the mass, the harder it was to elevate oneself swiftly.

However, the Golem Covert Martial Arts differed, since its essence was brutal plunder!

Given sufficiently immense and potent life vibration energy, the Golem Covert Martial Art could send Cassius's Qi rocketing upward at a crazy pace! His sole concern lay in sourcing that life vibration energy.

And two years ago, after his Will roamed the World of Calamity, Cassius had suddenly realized that he needn't fear going hungry even upon reaching Holy Fist realm. The place teemed with Ultimate Dark Forms!

Cataclysmic Spirit level dark creatures, even at extreme Cataclysmic Spirit level, would be a drop in the bucket for Dominator Fist Cassius. Only the Ultimate Dark Forms, whose main bodies were mountain-like in enormity, could support the terrifying consumption required for Dominator Fist Cassius to ascend. Thus, hunting Ultimate Dark Forms was an urgent necessity!

Thoughts flashed swiftly through his mind. He refocused on the technique status bar and decided to upgrade the Golem Covert Martial Arts first.

A few hours earlier, Cassius had broken through to the Dominator Fist realm, the calamity tide arrived, and he had almost seamlessly gathered representatives from all sides for deliberation.

Later he had rushed to the coastal weak point, familiarizing himself with the new realm's power along the way, without yet upgrading his Golem Covert Martial Arts. Now the blood moon had appeared, interrupting his flight through the sky. It happened to be a good chance to bolster his strength before battle.

Cassius sensed the life vibration energy within his body. It was an immeasurable densely packed tide. One strand, the largest, coiled through his dantian like a divine dragon. This was, of course, the life vibration energy of the Ultimate Dark Form Pale Origin, seized in the Eternal Archipelago battle.

Back then, he had used a small fraction of it to raise the Qi Embodiment stage to perfection. Aside from that Ultimate Dark Form life vibration energy, the warm currents flowing like rivers around it were gained over two years as the Golem Sect slaughtered dark creatures. They were numerous, but not of high grade.

After all, the world lacked an abundance of top-tier and extreme Cataclysmic Spirits.

"Best to use the scraps first," Cassius thought. "The time-travel is in its final stage. No need to reserve rewards for the Golem Sect."

Indeed, he had had no chance to use life vibration energy during the more than two years he’d spent at a bottleneck. Thus, most mid and low grade life vibration energy that was useless to him had been bestowed upon Golem Sect disciples as a reward.

This was one reason the Golem Sect held such allure: contribute and you gained mighty power. One lucky fellow, two years ago, had only just learned of Covert Martial Arts yet inadvertently rendered great service to the sect.

When he was rewarded with life vibration energy, he soared from novice to expert in mere days, instantly surpassing his own teacher. Afterward he stayed remarkably fortunate, repeatedly earning merit. Once he was infused several times, he became one of the strongest combat artists in the Golem Sect beneath the four elders.

"I'll use it all," Cassius muttered. "It likely won't raise the progress by much."

He murmured to himself, dismissing the energy for which disciples scrambled. The gap between Holy Fist and those below was simply too vast.

Gush...

With a single thought, the life vibration energy surged forth like a river. A warm current nourished his entire body and soon vanished.

In the progress bar at the upper-right corner of his sight...

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Mental Unification 0.1% (Final Stage)] → 1.1%

"Sigh..."

Cassius shook his head. Even though he had expected it, disappointment was inevitable.

Two years of stockpiling, with a vast sect sweeping the land, had only advanced the Mental Unification stage by one percent.

"Never mind. I never counted on these scraps... Let's use the Pale Origin life vibration energy."

He unleashed the dragon-like strand of life vibration energy within him with a thought. Instantly, a surging waterfall engulfed Cassius as scorching energy flooded every corner of his body and forcibly flowed into every cell.

It felt as though he was bathing in magma as terrifying heat burrowed through every pore. Bones and joints cracked audibly; each cell cheered, giving his body a slight, swollen fullness.

Rumble...

The Dominator Fist aura he released expanded, altering the surrounding environment. High clouds were drawn in, forming a heavy, twisted vortex that enveloped Cassius.

Buzz...

His brain quivered, and his Will kept soaring. He felt the immense Qi within his Dominator Fist body swell at a speed visible to the naked eye. It was a vast Qi that ordinarily required decades or centuries for a Holy Fist to cultivate, yet Cassius gained it in an instant.

The numbers at the end of the progress bar blurred as a hazy mist obscured them from view. After a few seconds, the mist cleared, and the numbers appeared.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Mental Unification 1.1% (Final Stage)] → 11%

9.9%! Just a hair short of ten percent progress!

Pale Origin's life vibration energy proved to be ten times more effective than two years of ordinary life vibration energy! Furthermore, Pale Origin had been half-crippled. In that state, he had still contended for millennia with the Inextinguishable Flame of the Flaming Sun Holy Fist. In the end, it had battled White Bird Holy Fist, Flaming Sun Holy Fist, Cassius, and others. It was truly an Ultimate Dark Form!

However, Pale Origin was no ordinary Ultimate Dark Form. At its peak, it had possessed the potential to break into the top ten of the rankings for such forms. Cassius, newly entered into Dominator Fist strength, could not yet compare with it.

But of course, he would soon catch up. His fists closed slowly, and a terrifying aura rippled outward. The thick clouds gathered from many miles away were blown apart, revealing a flat, jet-black night sky and the pale red moon.

A silent, mysterious, and powerful figure hovered beneath the moon.

"Hu..."

Cassius exhaled a hundred-meter ribbon of white steam. He opened his eyes, his pupils shining bright as gemstones.

"An ordinary Holy Fist gains one point of strength per point of Qi, but as a Southern Dipper Dominator Fist, I gain at least double. The farther I advance, the wider the gap from common Holy Fists becomes..." Cassius muttered, gazing at his hands wrapped in scarlet Qi.

"Southern Dipper Force and Qi intertwine, sharing limitless growth. Every hardship has its reward; the pain of earlier breakthroughs now repays itself in overwhelming might..."

A second later, a blood-colored figure flashed across the sky, leaving a straight crimson gash upon the dark canopy.

***

At 4 a.m. on July 1 at the outskirts of East Sea City.

The coastal mountain region of Saint Lun Mountain was once a famous sightseeing peak. At the moment, it was entirely coated in viscous blood, transformed into a hellish scene. Blinding crimson light blazed madly from a pitch-black cavity at the mountain's center.

Thud-thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud!

It was as though some giant walked slowly within the cavity and in the world beyond, each step unleashing a violent tremor.

"Seranar, Seranar, Seranar..."

Low murmurs rolled across the land, growing ever louder. Grotesque aberrations and monsters crawled and sprinted with their fists raised upon the winding sea of blood. Their snarling mandibles gaped, emitting vibrations.

"Seranar, Seranar..."

The strange syllables resembled sacred chants. They were calling upon and worshipping some existence.

"SERANAR!!!"

A roar erupted from the dark hole atop the mountain.

Rumble.

Stones collapsed as the cavity grew ever wider and an enormous evil-eyed giant's head emerged in the sky.

Ding! Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding...

Within the sea of blood, every dark creature, whether rushing, climbing, or trudging... Whether winged, many-limbed, or scale-covered... A giant eye landed upon each one. They turned crazed and wicked as red veins spread across their bodies.

These were Seranar, a densely packed legion of Seranar!

The meaning of Seranar was Evil Eye!

They were the Evil Eye clan!

Swoosh!

An unbelievably fast red meteor suddenly streaked toward them from the horizon. Faint, but savage wings could be seen at the meteor's ends. They were the unfurled pinions of a vulture!

Boom!

The scarlet meteor plunged toward the earth without the slightest pause or hesitation. Every evil eye in the sea of blood, whether the hundreds of thousands of stacked dark creatures or the colossal Evil Eye giant, blazed and locked onto Cassius.

A chorus of furious roars surged across the mountain.

"Seranar! Seranar! Seranar!"