Chapter 604 - Golem Sect's Master, How Terrifying!

Dominating, composed, and cold... That was the very first impression Cassius created when he appeared. An indescribable aura of dominance descended in an instant.

Thunder Spirit, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground, vanished instantly. Electricity crackled as he reappeared several hundred meters away. That was a safe distance, at least in Thunder Spirit's own estimation.

"Who are you?!" He asked in shock.

Cassius hovered in midair, roughly five or six meters above the ground. "Who am I? Can't you understand plain words?"

Faint, illusory contours shimmered across his body, lifting him as though he were borne by flames. They allowed him to remain aloft with effortless ease.

Thunder Spirit's pupils contracted. His golden robe billowed with an unsteady aura, looking dazzling beneath the sun. "Golem Sect's master?!"

In that moment, Thunder Spirit's heart brimmed with dread. First, the Golem Sect's master had descended from the sky without him sensing a thing. Had Cassius not chosen to reveal himself, he could probably have crept right up to Thunder Spirit unnoticed. That was lethal for anyone who called himself a top-tier powerhouse.

Second, Thunder Spirit found himself utterly unable to gauge Cassius's Qi. He could not perceive even the faintest fluctuation. The man seemed no different from an ordinary human, bereft of any supernatural power. Yet this was the Golem Sect's master, who had just descended from the heavens. How could he possibly be ordinary!

That single fact was enough to chill his blood. A situation where one could not sense an opponent's aura normally occurred only when the gulf in strength was incredibly vast.

Could it be...? No, impossible!

Thunder Spirit had heard that practitioners in the Eastern Covert Martial Arts community, aside from their fist techniques, also mastered various Secret Techniques. Perhaps the Golem Sect’s master was employing one meant to conceal Qi.

Thoughts churned through Thunder Spirit's mind, yet he steadied himself. Blue arcs of lightning flashed across his eyes as he glared at Cassius. "Golem Sect's master, you have come alone to Eternal Island, headquarters of our Ripple Order. Are you declaring war on us? If I understood correctly, your Golem Sect is on a path to collide with the Eastern Nine Sects of the Eastern Covert Martial Arts community right now. Do you truly wish to add another enemy at such a critical moment? Besides, this place... is our home turf!"

Crackle, snap, crackle...

Thunder Spirit formed a fist and raised it. The lightning-attributed Supreme bone ring instantly released azure ripple energy that spread across Thunder Spirit's entire body like some primordial, eerie tattoo. Beyond that, the blue ripples stretched into the air and sky, forming a luminous electric tree dozens of meters tall. The air started to ionize, releasing the scent of ozone.

Irregular charred cracks spread over the ground as a fierce aura burst forth. In an instant, every Ripple Practitioner in the surrounding buildings near the towering mother tree sensed the anomaly and surged toward the scene from the streets. A swarm of red-cloaked Bloodthirsty Ripple Practitioners and even several silver-robed Ripple Masters arrived, and the rings on their hands flared with light.

Nearly a thousand Ripple Practitioners flooded in like a tide.

"See this, Golem Sect's master? This is my territory. Coming alone was not a wise choice." Thunder Spirit slowly regained his confidence. His face grew calm, and he recalled what Cassius had said upon appearing. "Golem Sect's master, I believe you owe me an apology... And you can also explain to me properly—what exactly is paradise?"

A grim smile appeared on Thunder Spirit’s face as his formidable subordinates flooded in. A golden-gloved hand slowly swept through the air and ripple energy from the lofty lightning tree converged on him to form an electric spear that was more than four meters long. Fierce lightning arcs raced over the spear's surface, rendering it razor-sharp.

Swish! Crackle, crackle!

The blue spear was aimed straight at Cassius, its tip burning white-hot. Yet Cassius paid Thunder Spirit no heed at all, nor the Ripple Practitioners around them. From the instant he had appeared, his eyes had stayed on the towering mother tree beside him.

His gaze first swept over the bone ring fruits condensed upon the crown. Then it travelled down the trunk and the roots. Finally, he even stared at the ground, as though his eyes could see through the soil beneath.

Despite being surrounded by nearly a thousand mid and high grade Ripple Practitioners and by bone rings glowing like stars of every colour, Cassius remained unmoved. He withdrew his gaze and murmured to himself, "As expected, there's at least an eighty percent chance Pale Origin is gone. Either slain... or escaped. What about Flaming Sun Holy Fist? And what became of White Bird Holy Fist's shell?"

Thunder Spirit glared, his golden robe now transformed into a cloak laced with blue lightning arcs. "Are you ignoring me, Golem Sect's master?!"

He levelled his spear aimed at Cassius's heart. Arcs crackled along the shaft, linking it to the towering lightning tree behind him.

"Seems I'll have to make you suffer a bit first, so you'll grasp just what sort of situation you're—"

The snap of a finger cut off Thunder Spirit.

Whoosh.

An unseen force rippled through the air like a shockwave. It blanketed the surrounding buildings in an instant, halting the wind and silencing every sound! Trees that had been swaying froze, and leaves hung motionless in space. Insects crawling among the soil and falling petals likewise stopped—some frozen mid-motion, some suspended outright in the air. Even the drifting dust was fixed in place!

A frightening, invisible current of Qi enveloped the entire world. The near-thousand Ripple Practitioners were the same, frozen in their furious charge. Some had leaped from walls and now hung in midair. Some skimmed along the ground, toes only just touching the earth. Some had raised their arms, bone rings glowing. Every expression was vividly lifelike and full of tension.

Yet now they resembled wax statues. Only one figure could move freely within dozens of kilometers. That proved time itself had not stopped. Rather, someone had stilled the whole world.

That someone was Cassius...

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...

Footsteps slowly echoed through the utterly silent space. The figure in a black coat walked forward with composed, unhurried steps. He strode straight toward the immobilised Thunder Spirit.

Thunder Spirit still had his spear levelled at Cassius, brow etched with anger and pride. The expression on his face seemed to carry a smug sense of entitlement.

"I dislike idle boasts. You truly are the weakest Supreme bone ring bearer in history. On that point, I did not lie to you." While speaking, Cassius slowly raised his right hand and tapped the spear's spiralling tip where the condensed energy glowed white-hot.

Fwsssh...

The faint sound of sizzling arose. It sounded like thrusting a red-hot iron into ice. The deep blue tip of the lightning spear dimmed swiftly, turning ashen like charcoal after burning.

Crack, crack, crack...

That ordinary-looking finger continued to advance, and the seemingly indestructible spear fractured inch by inch. Its fragments fell like drifting sand. In the blink of an eye, the four-meter spear was utterly ground to dust. Yet that unremarkable finger remained pristine.

The towering lightning tree behind the still Thunder Spirit exploded with a

bang

. Its energy was crushed to dispersing shards. Color drained from the Supreme bone ring on Thunder Spirit's finger as though its power had been depleted.

Two thick fingers pinched the ring, and Cassius forced it off with a gentle tug.

Cassius examined the ring that had accompanied Thunder Spirit for decades while the latter stared, eyes bulging in rage. In truth, Thunder Spirit could still see, hear, and think, but he could not move. Thus he witnessed with his own eyes exactly what Cassius was doing!

Demon! My ring, my Supreme bone ring!

If a swordsman's blade was his wife, then a bone ring was even more vital to a Ripple Practitioner. It was practically his life. A Ripple Practitioner channelled all their power through that single window. Losing the ring meant losing everything.

Thunder Spirit's eyes nearly burst. Inwardly he roared, yearning to charge at Cassius with bloodshot eyes. However, he could not move an inch. He could not stop Cassius from rubbing and appraising his ring with disdainful comments. Cassius had declared it the weakest, most worthless Supreme bone ring he had ever seen!

Ahhhhh...

Thunder Spirit's silent howl filled his mind as waves of helplessness and regret crashed over him. It seemed his latter guess had ultimately been correct. He could not sense Cassius's aura because the gap between them was simply too vast!

The Golem Sect's master was far too powerful. His realm was not even on the same plane! Thunder Spirit, despite being the head of a mighty faction, the bearer of a Supreme bone ring, and one of the world's top experts, still could not resist him! Then how terrifying must the Golem Sect's master's realm be?!

The world's balance was about to shift; a tidal wave was imminent! For nearly a century, it had been the battleground of many powers with a few clearly superior figures. But now, a monster had appeared who was not just one tier higher, but several. The great forces of the world were sure to suffer grievous blows. The old hierarchy would definitely topple.

Yet why did the first struck force have to be our Ripple Order! It was unfair, so unfair! Why not go after the Eastern Nine Sects?

Cassius lightly pinched the Supreme bone ring.

Crack.

A slender crack opened across the ring.

"Now tell me, when did the thick mist spreading from Eternal Island across the seas begin to fade? And when did the ring effects start to wane little by little?" Cassius asked coldly.

Five minutes later, a black silhouette slowly turned around. Its right fist clenched abruptly.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of blasts sounded simultaneously as human bodies were crushed into bloody pulp, creating a horrific symphony. Nearly a thousand Ripple Practitioners imploded as terrifying Qi slammed down on them, condensing them into lumps of flesh only slightly larger than a basketball.

One bone ring after another burst apart, flaring with light as energy erupted. That energy was forced back by the Qi as the ring shards sank into the mangled flesh.

Only one old man in a blood-red robe remained in the vast area around the mother tree, trembling amid the horrific mountain of corpses and sea of blood. With a

snap

, the ring on his finger shattered as well.

"I... I'm still alive! Thank you, Golem Sect's master! Thank you!" The old man babbled his thanks while scrambling to flee into the distance.

Cassius did not pursue him, for he had promised that whoever provided accurate, detailed intel would be the one to survive. The other Ripple Practitioners either did not know certain things or tried to pass false information to deceive Cassius. Their fates lay everywhere to be seen.

That red-robed Ripple Practitioner just now was old. The older one got, the more they cherished their life. He had long served as the guide receiving other Ripple Practitioners in the Eternal Island waters, so he knew the mist's changes best.

He had supplied Cassius with sufficiently useful information, so Cassius spared his life. Whether that now-ordinary old man could cross the perilous Eternal Island, pilot a vessel through the storm belt, and truly keep his life? That would depend on his luck.

"So the mist over Eternal Island began to dissipate and the mother tree's ring effects weakened back in Feng Liusi's time."

While eyeing the towering tree beside him, Cassius pondered. "It seems the Holy Fist that Feng Liusi met on the Eternal Archipelago is probably the origin of all these changes. That happened some fifty or sixty years ago in this timeline... Time to visit the lowest level of the ancient ruins."

He suddenly threw a fist at the towering mother tree. Terrifying scarlet Qi coalesced, forming a gigantic arm behind him that clenched into a fist and swung with savage force!

Boom!!!

The mother tree that had stood on Eternal Island for millennia, venerated as a deity by generations of Ripple Practitioners, was blasted apart by a single punch! Splinters of wood sprayed everywhere, raining yellow debris over the sky. Cassius strolled casually through the downpour of sawdust.

Half an hour later, at the deepest level of the ancient ruins, a solitary figure quietly gazed at what had once been the ashy land.

Everything was gone. There was no vast body of Pale Origin, no ever-burning Flaming Sun Holy Fist, not even paradise itself!

All that remained before him was a breach. It was a rift connecting the surface world and the World of Calamity!