Chapter 638 - Pummeling Xiadu's Avatar

The black‑robed figure hovered over the shimmering sea as though its feet were planted on solid ground. Xiadu's avatar was like a black hole devouring light. Any gaze cast upon it seemed to be drawn into an abyss.

Unimaginable sin and malice lurked within, like nightmare and despair. The hazy, illusory aura on its surface proved that what stood before him was not Xiadu's true body. It was an avatar of its power.

During the fifth time‑travel, Cassius had seen Xiadu's avatar and Xiadu's own presence. He had even seen his sealed true body. Without doubt, Xiadu felt completely different in those three states.

An avatar was, naturally, the weakest form. Cassius felt no fear of this.

Since Xiadu's avatar dared appear before him who had just attained Holy Fist and whose body had broken through to Ultimate Dark Form, then it should pay the price! This was the perfect chance for Cassius to glimpse the state of Xiadu's true body.

After that war more than a century ago, how grievous were the wounds that White Bird Holy Fist, who had burned everything, dealt to Xiadu? Had Xiadu recovered by now? Was he attempting to remove more seals?

These thoughts flashed through his mind, and he struck almost instantly. There was no need for caution or observation. He would learn how much strength this avatar contained by fighting it. Cassius brimmed with confidence as Holy Fist and Dominator Fist Wills surged in his chest.

Flap.

The black coat on his body snapped straight back like a banner, revealing the perfect lines of his muscles. His body heat rose with a torrent of Qi, emitting a fearsome life magnetic field.

Cassius resembled the blazing sun. He was so dazzling that one could not look directly at him. He gazed down at Xiadu's avatar on the sea like a deity in a chapel mural, slowly extending his right hand as though judging a mortal.

Bang!

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

A massive palm of Qi hurtled down from the sky and toward Xiadu like a falling meteor.

Bam! Splashhhh...

The sea exploded and heaved. The water in that zone suddenly sank hundreds, even thousands, of meters deep. The immense force swept everything nearby, creating visible shock waves. One could see large water spouts shot skyward from a distance. Nearby, only dense white steam vaporized by Cassius's palm remained.

A gigantic handprint was deeply engraved in the seabed a kilometer below. Its edges were smooth and its texture unnaturally clear. At the palm's center, a mass of pitch‑black mist enveloped everything.

It seemed as though the seabed had spouted a squid's tentacles. The mist exuded extreme wickedness and a thick aura of calamity.

Boom!

A figure soared up from beneath the sea, trailing billowing black fog that polluted its surroundings.

The Well of Sin was practically a mobile origin of calamity. Above the sea, Cassius hovered in midair, his hair and coat whipping in the wind. He looked down calmly at the ferocious aura of calamity, his face devoid of emotions. Anything not of Holy Fist level would surely have perished under that palm of Cassius. Since Xiadu's avatar endured that, it clearly meant its power was at least Holy Fist tier.

But what of it?

With Holy Fist, Dominator Fist, and Ultimate Dark Form combined, Cassius's swelling Will and Qi were almost uncontainable. A Holy Fist Xiadu avatar was the perfect punching bag!

He extended his right arm without the slightest hesitation. His powerful arm swelled monstrously, veins crawling across it like iron bars. Immensely vigorous blood surged through his body like a thousand galloping horses.

Then, he threw a punch downward!

The sweeping wind was like a typhoon. Swelling black wind around Cassius gathered behind him, forming a giant Golem. The Golem's feet trod the sea while its head pierced the clouds. As Cassius punched, it punched as well, casting a vast terrifying shadow over the water.

It was an enormous, heavy silver fist! Its outline was as solid as a mountain with edges as sharp as metal. It was utterly ferocious and completely brutal.

Thud!

The raging fist collided directly with the ascending Xiadu. After a brief stalemate, Xiadu was knocked back again, flying several times faster than before. This time, the impact cracked the seabed.

In that instant, a straight vacuum tunnel thousands of meters long opened in the water, following the path Xiadu's body had carved.

"Why don't you try fighting back, Xiadu?!" Cassius taunted.

Above the sea, a vast Will seemed to pierce the deep water, reaching the cracked seabed. It was Cassius's formal declaration of war.

Almost the very next second, the seawater boiled. A fist like a silver metal pillar punched through thousands of meters and struck the seabed.

Everything within hundreds of kilometers around felt the quake. It was as if a meteor had fallen into the ocean. If the water were clear and someone on the seabed looked up, they would see the demon's right arm wedged in the seabed and follow that metal pillar up to its towering shadow. They would wonder if that was a deity, a giant, or a demon king.

"No power to strike back? Merely a dull shell of strength without a will? How disappointing. You're fit only as a sandbag..."

Bam, bam!

Two heavy silver palms kept smashing into the sea, shaking the waters wildly. Steam formed under the pressure and shot up, forming a giant vortex. A silver Golem continued to throw punches at the center of that vortex. Each punch spewed Ultimate Dark Form energy and carried the Will of a Holy Fist and Dominator Fist.

Xiadu's avatar tried to resist but every time it flew up, it was punched back down after barely leaving the seabed. A flood of force poured down repeatedly, splitting the seabed slowly.

Bam!

Another punch slammed down. This time, scorching magma gushed out from the crack the fist made. The Golem's fist had literally punched through the crust, shattering layers of rock thousands of meters thick.

Sssi...

Magma and seawater reacted violently. Their extreme temperature difference spawned vortex after vortex. Within the whirlpools, Xiadu's avatar was covered in countless cracks. The dreadful black power of calamity around its body seemed unable to ward off the assault.

Suddenly, the avatar's tightly shut eyes snapped open. The formerly hazy gaze brimmed with fierce Will, signaling that part of Xiadu's consciousness had entered the avatar! This was his preset warning. Only when the avatar faced grave danger would a shard of Xiadu's mind arrive to fight because Xiadu's true body's condition was far more critical.

The near future was a pivotal point in his plan and could not be jeopardized. It needed his full Will to suppress the horrific wounds White Bird Holy Fist had inflicted a century earlier.

Thus, when Holy Fist Evil Heart came to the Arctic Abyss to report, Xiadu dispatched only a portion of his strength to investigate. However, that portion was already at the level of a Holy Fist. It could fight or retreat without issue against a normal Holy Fist in the surface world.

Alas, Cassius was no ordinary Holy Fist. He had immediately struck to kill Xiadu's avatar. The Golem's body had erupted with power; every punch bore Holy Fist and Dominator Fist Will and was about to shatter the avatar.

Had Xiadu's mind arrived a moment later, the avatar might already have been destroyed. After all, an avatar lacked an indestructible body.

A thought flashed through Xiadu's consciousness within the avatar.

"Hmm? Serious wounds? Is there a formidable foe?"

It twisted both hands and slapped the seabed, poised to rocket skyward.

Bam!

A black meteor struck a descending silver giant fist. The meteor was tiny and the fist enormous—the gap was like a toothpick trying to brace a collapsing skyscraper. Inevitably, the giant's colossal force swept through, smashing Xiadu's avatar back into the magma once more.

"What is this? Ultimate Dark Form?"

On the seabed, Xiadu braced itself with both hands, barely blocking the punch. However, its already‑cracked arms shattered like porcelain.

"Rise."

Its eyes turned deep black and its whole body seemed to become a Well of Sin that spewed calamity. Boundless evil energy surged, slowly lifting the Golem's massive arm little by little.

Above the sea, the Golem radiated splendid silver light with a refined, cool purity. Its armor burned with black‑red flames, ferociously roaring like twisted fiendish hands.

"Starting to resist now? Unfortunately, it's already too late! I'm the evil of all beings, the Golem."

One punch and mountains crumble. One punch and the sea roars.

Irresistible force blasted apart the calamity emitted by Xiadu. Then, another punch struck Xiadu's avatar mercilessly. It instantly accelerated like a rocket, shooting laterally across the water. In a blink, it reached nearly fifty kilometers away. Only then did the force of the punch begin to wane.

The sky over that area of the sea was again veiled by a huge shadow. A mountain‑like figure tore through heavy clouds. Its feet plunged into the deep sea, triggering a furious tsunami. This absolutely brutal war machine stood over the ocean, body slightly arched back, arms and shoulders spread wide. It looked like enormous silver butterfly wings.

Bam! Bam!

Both fists slammed down again at Xiadu's avatar almost without pause. The avatar was like an elastic black sandbag. It swung wildly back and forth under the blows, hardly able to counter.

Xiadu was furious beyond imagination.

"Damn it! That's the Golem! How can you possess the body of an Ultimate Dark Form? Both Holy Fist and Ultimate Dark Form! What kind of freak are you? And this familiar aura... of course, the Southern Dipper lineage!"

It had never been humiliated like this, even if it was only an avatar. It was being pummelled like a punching bag. Moreover, this new Holy Fist was from the Southern Dipper lineage and even possessed an Ultimate Dark Form's body. All of this startled Xiadu.

In ancient times, the human Holy Fists had tried to study the immortality and mighty physique of Ultimate Dark Forms. However, they achieved little results, nothing that was worth mentioning.

Yet Cassius truly had an Ultimate Dark Form's body. Could the Holy Fist side really possess a powerful Covert Martial Arts that could cause physical transformation? These things shook Xiadu's shard of Will, giving it a vague sense that something was amiss. It even inexplicably sensed a deeply hidden danger from Cassius.

Of course, Xiadu assumed this danger stemmed mostly from Cassius's Southern Dipper identity. After all, that old White Bird Holy Fist had caused it unimaginable trouble. He had halted Xiadu's plan back then, allowing only half success. After that battle, Xiadu had to wait for the right moment, lying dormant to heal and secretly preparing the second half of the plan.

Black light flashed in Xiadu's eyes. It realized the situation was untenable. Cassius's strength was beyond imagining. He was no mere newly ascended Holy Fist but one with deep foundations and combat strength. Now that reconnaissance was done, it was time to retreat to preserve strength.

"Even if you are of the Southern Dipper lineage, you will not get my avatar."

Suppressing this man would be fine when it fully revived. With that thought, Xiadu thrust out a palm. His palm seemed to house all sin, blasting forth dense energy from the World of Calamity. The raging calamity formed a visible black dragon. It was no smaller than the Golem's, and it lunged madly forward.

Meanwhile, Xiadu's avatar tore away at high speed. Its whole form became black lightning as it traced a straight line on the sea's surface.

Facing the calamity dragon, the Golem let out an utterly unbridled laugh.

"Hahahahaha..."

Reflected in its eyes was the avatar of Xiadu fleeing in defeat.

Rumble.

The Golem's appearance changed. Red flames and white holy light flared simultaneously, each occupying one half. Both demonic nature and divine thought descended upon Cassius together.

The left half of his face grinned savagely, its raptor-like features burning in red flames. The right half smiled calmly, majestic and grand. It seemed covered in platinum holy light and immaculate feathers.

Boom!!!

The calamity dragon charging like a mountain was shredded to fragments in the blink of an eye. A huge silhouette barreled straight through the shards, streaking forward and finally stomping on the sea. Water sprayed sky‑high, causing a boiling rain to fall.

Xiadu's avatar halted abruptly, staring at the towering back blocking its path.

"You!"

Its eyes were grave yet shocked. Clearly, it had sensed both Holy Fist and Dominator Fist power.

The half-god half-demon figure slowly turned around.

"Where do you think you're escaping to? I am your undertaker... Xiadu."