Chapter 91 - One Year

The summer sun shone down warmly, casting the white fountain's shadow over half of Cassius's body. He gazed up at the exceptionally blue sky. It was so pure, Cassius thought this must be how the skies looked when souls went up to heaven.

From that day on, Cassius resumed his days of relentless training at the Wind Elephant Sect. Except this time, there was no one left to instruct him. He had to rely solely on his own understanding to practice. As for Instructor Lisa, she needed rest. A very long rest.

Lisa was quite obedient while Cassius made these arrangements. It was like the roles of teacher and student were reversed. Just like parents with their children, the child listened to their parents when they were young, but once they grew older, their parents would be the ones listening to them.

Perhaps Lisa didn't object to Cassius's plans because she wanted to prolong her life, drawing out whatever time she had left so that she could stay by her student's side longer.

When summer began, Cassius did recovery exercises and Covert Martial Arts training. Although he was initially awkward with only one hand, he gradually got used to it. Six months later, Cassius was only beginning to understand just what his First Senior Brother Hykal went through.

During this time, he started working on mastering the true essence of the second stage of Wind Elephant Fist known as the Elephant Herd. Leveraging his pugilist's physique, he began to practice the two ultimate moves of Elephant Herd. He had fully mastered one of them, the straight punch called Elephant's Roar, and had also almost mastered the other one, the swinging punch called Wind Elephant Torrent.

[Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts: Stage Two (Total Three Stages)]

[Elephant Soul Incomplete: Bug Bite 25.9% (Total Three Stages)]

[Wind Elephant Fist Incomplete: Elephant Herd 47.5% (Total Three Stages)]

This was the fruits of his year-long cultivation: the second stage of Elephant Soul went from about 5% to 25%, and Wind Elephant Fist increased from about 32% to 47%. The reason for the latter starting at 32% was due to the frequent fights between Covert Martial Artists in Beiliu County coupled with that rainy night where their lives were hanging in the balance.

In fact, it was evident from his progress that it was becoming increasingly difficult to gain each and every percentage of Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts' later stages. Talent alone was useless for many things in life; he would still need time, and a lot of it, to perfect things. Fortunately, there was a sort of cheat or "experience pack" waiting for Cassius to come collect in the real world.

Cassius got up right on schedule, made breakfast for himself and Instructor Lisa, then took a cold shower to wake himself up. After breakfast, he went on a walk with her, going to a nearby garden close to the city center to chat. When he got back, he went into the basement to practice Covert Martial Arts until it was almost noon before taking a shower and making lunch.

After lunch, Lisa took a nap while Cassius continued practicing the Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts. Around 2 p.m., he packed up and went to work at the neighboring martial arts gym as an instructor. When it was nearing dinner time, Cassius returned to cook, then they went for another walk.

After the walk, Cassius did not go into the basement to practice Covert Martial Arts as usual, and instead went into Lisa's bedroom. He found a chair to sit on and kept chatting. Lisa was quite curious about Cassius's unusual behavior that day, but Cassius shook his head, brushing it off as nothing.

That was, until a certain moment. His brain shook, and the entire room began to tremble and spin, with everything around him slowly fading away in a peculiar way.

Snap!

It was as if a membrane had been punctured.

As soon as Cassius's blurred senses became clearer, he realized the faint floral scent was no longer there. Instead, all he detected was the smell of decaying wood. He opened his eyes to a familiar scene. It was a dimly lit abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Cassius sat in a chair next to a pile of goods stacked in a corner.

Crack, crack, crack

...

His body groaned, bones cracking, as he stood up abruptly. His clothes, which used to fit him, exploded due to his robust muscular frame and tall stature, leaving strips of fabric hanging on his body.

Cassius moved his body slightly. He had also brought along the power he gained from his time-travel. He lifted his left hand awkwardly, a familiar yet strange sensation surging in his heart. He clenched and unclenched his fist, before finally letting it hang by his side. After over a year of being accustomed to having only one hand, having two again felt strange. It seemed he would need a few days to return to how he used to move around.

Glancing down at whatever scraps of fabric were on his body, Cassius picked up a large box from the corner and quickly changed into a set of casual clothes which he had prepared in advance. He took out an oil lamp, lit it, and placed it on the ground.

Glancing at his watch, the silver hand pointed to 7:05 p.m. It was July 3; the Shadow Demon manifestation would occur on July 4 at 6 p.m., so there was still a day to wait.

Waiting one more day wasn't a problem for Cassius's patience. He didn't plan on sleeping. Instead, he went straight into practicing Covert Martial Arts in the warehouse. Daylight flickered until dawn lit up the entire sky.

It was July 4. Same old, same old. He remained in the warehouse to train, with the only times he went out was to eat.

Tick

.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The hand moved. It was 5:30 p.m. After a short nap, Cassius opened his eyes. He was practically bursting with energy, eager to enjoy the enhancement from the Shadow Demon.

"Hey, White Wolf, we have the key. No need to climb through the window," a middle-aged man's voice came from outside the warehouse.

"Then let's go in through the door and wait inside for the Black Fire gang. They should be here in fifteen minutes with that shipment of goods," another slightly hoarse male voice said.

"

Hehe,

those goods are worth quite a lot. A good chunk of that money is going into our pockets once the boss sells them," The owner of the voice spoke as he opened the door.

As the iron door creaked open, a smell of decay mingled with a faint scent of sweat wafted out. The man holding a key waved his hand in front of his nose. "Damn, that really stinks."

A gang member with dyed hair was carrying a box. "Who cares about that? Let's go in."

The two had just stepped inside when they felt a piercing gaze from the darkness. The next second, a large, imposing figure appeared before them. It was like he was a ghost and he had teleported.

White Wolf looked up stiffly. A pair of large hands turned into a blurry shadow. Their heads collided with a loud

bang

like an explosion. The unfortunate gang members instantly lost consciousness, collapsing onto the ground with a

thud

.

"What a nuisance..." Cassius's imposing figure was shrouded in the darkness as he gazed down at the two bodies on the ground. His eyes darted around briefly before being drawn to a small box nearby.

When he picked it up, he opened it to find a whopping 150,000 Hongli Federation dollars inside!

"Never mind." Cassius flicked through the bills, smiling.