Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 448 - Power of an Extreme Combat Artist

Death's Fang Force focused on spiral decomposition, while Reverberating Force was centered around explosive shockwaves. Although both were a Southern Dipper Force, they clearly represented different branches of the same lineage.

This was clearly the result of in-depth specialization, like two lush branches sprouting from a sturdy trunk, each with its own distinct qualities. On the other hand, Cassius was seemingly using those fruit-bearing branches to trace back to the trunk and roots.

He was attempting to extract only the most fundamental and purest essence of the Southern Dipper, forging a bridge between the two. A standard style in the Covert Martial Arts community generally addressed the use of meridians, blood vessels, and the distribution of muscle groups. When a Covert Martial Arts Practitioner attempted to study two separate styles simultaneously, they had to consider overlapping meridian and blood vessel routes.

If too many blood vessels overlapped, using internal energy during training or combat could lead to conflicts and hidden injuries. The same went for muscle groups; each Covert Martial Arts style tended to rely on specific sets of muscles which, through continuous practice, became conditioned to that particular style. If a new style relied on those same muscle groups, various forms of rigidity would arise.

At that moment, the meridian framework of Cassius's two Southern Dipper Fist Techniques had begun to overlap in small sections, causing their channels to intertwine.

This provoked a violent clash between Reverberating Force and Death's Fang Force, which inflicted continuous harm on his internal organs and muscles. Though he appeared fine on the surface, his insides had plunged into chaos.

The resulting agony was even more intense than what he had experienced when balancing the holy spring water and Soul Power within his body. Fortunately, it was worth it, because a transformation was already underway!

When Death's Fang Force attempted to decompose Reverberating Force, it failed to eliminate it entirely, leaving behind the explosive shockwave essence. Likewise, Reverberating Force could not fully annihilate its opponent. It was as though an icy glacier waterfall and a molten lava river were both running through Cassius's body.

They were never meant to converge, yet they were forcefully melded into one. The collision of extreme cold and extreme heat triggered a terrifying reaction that caused blood to seep from all seven of Cassius's orifices, leaving him in unprecedentedly poor condition.

Yet, once the waterfall of ice and the river of magma clashed to a certain degree, the miniature Rune of Life formed by his hundred platinum sacred marks took effect. It slowly began to spin, like a giant hand grasping that seething pool. It squeezed and kneaded the forces, pounding it again and again as though refining it under countless blows. It continued to do so layer upon layer, until that giant hand fully unfurled, birthing a divine weapon that could only be forged in the harshest conditions.

Cassius abruptly opened his eyes, allowing a veil of blood to remain over his corneas. He glanced toward the upper-right corner of his field of vision, where the progress bar resided.

[Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist: Death's Fang Force, Third Stage (31/66)]

[Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist: Reverberating Force, Third Stage (31/66)]

The terms Death's Fang Force and Reverberating Force flickered in and out like a rhythmic breath. Death's Fang Force shimmered in crimson, while Reverberating Force gleamed with deep violet.

As time passed, a faint trace of violet spread over the surface of Death's Fang Force, and Reverberating Force took on a blood-like hue. Behind them, a new icon abruptly appeared, emerging from a hazy blur to crisp clarity.

[Sonic Fang: Explosion! Shockwave! Spiral! Decomposition!]

[Extensibility, transmissibility, proliferative capacity.]

[Two special Forces, nearly irreconcilable like fire and water, extracted each other's essence under impossible conditions and devoured each other's power. At last, they became an ultimate Force, bearing terrifying destructive capability.]

It had finally manifested: an extreme Force bearing four distinct properties!

Even the many Forces conceived and perfected over generations by ancient masters of the Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance typically held only two properties. Cassius knew perfectly well that he would never have managed this if not for the replica of the Rune of Life on the back of his hand. However, luck was part of one's strength, and borrowed power likewise became part of his own.

Cassius focused on the qualities of extensibility, transmissibility, and proliferation. These were not destructive properties but rather fundamental traits. A prime example was the Dominator Fist elder he had encountered who wielded the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist. The old man's perfected sixth-stage Death's Fang Force multiplied endlessly, as though it were an insect swarm.

It could spread using the air or the ground as a medium, like a unique energy. In fact, one might argue that power at this level went beyond mere Force and took on the nature of Qi. Could it be that the ultimate development of the Southern Dipper Fist Techniques involved replacing one's entire Qi with that Force, or merging them into a single entity so that one’s Qi itself possessed the attributes of that Force? If the Force persisted, then the Qi would endure. As long as Qi did not relent, it would always exist, forever preserving peak combat strength.

Cassius paused in thought, shifting his attention back inward. The meridian frameworks of the two Southern Dipper Fist styles had overlapped by about a quarter, forming what resembled a large reaction chamber. The meridians that did not overlap acted as conveyor belts, continuously funneling both Forces into that chamber to refine them into Sonic Fang Force. Thus, the miniature Rune of Life's function was not to dissolve both Southern Dipper Fist styles but to give rise to a new, powerful derivative, one containing four attributes—Sonic Fang.

"Let's test its might..."

He rose from the floor of the monastery and flickered into the surrounding forest. Two minutes later, Cassius was in front of a twenty-meter-tall hill.

He slowly raised his arm. The two Forces within him erupted in an instant, merging into one terrifying surge of extreme Force.

Whooosh...

At that moment, Cassius's palm transformed into a high-pressure nozzle. A violet-red surge howled through the air as countless compressed air cavities formed a column of fluid-like Force. The bubbles shone purple, each containing tiny, tooth-like red fragments that spun inside the bubbles like scarlet grains of sand in a tornado.

In simpler terms, every violet bubble had a red-fanged twister. Countless layers of such units created a striking violet-red torrent under the night sky.

Cassius watched calmly, expecting the coming explosion.

Boom! Rumble! Rumble!

Bang, bang, bang... boom, boom, boom... roar...

He had expected an explosion, but not the sheer magnitude of it. He felt the entire forest tremble, and the surrounding trees rustle loudly. The twenty-meter hill in front of him was instantly reduced to rubble, and a towering mountain several hundred meters high behind it also suffered the torrent's lingering wrath. Massive chunks of rock immediately shattered and fell away.

A boulder the size of half a house broke apart under the multiple layers of bubbles. The stone burst into fragments, then the spiraling whirlwind swallowed up every last fragment, whirling at high speed and unleashing its dreadful powers of decomposition. By the time it landed, it was dust that had been ground finer than flour, like the frosty mist that floated through the mountains at dawn.

All of this happened almost in a fraction of a second. Four attributes bore down simultaneously upon a single boulder and turned it into powder. Undoubtedly, not even an immortal dark creature would want to clash with this force. It was far more vicious and tyrannical than ordinary Southern Dipper Force, and its destructive potential was astonishing.

Cassius had only intended to use Sonic Fang Force to level the small hill. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect that the mountain behind it that was hundreds of meters high would be partially plowed away.

A flurry of pale debris drifted through the air, scattering far and wide.

Cassius pressed a hand sharply against the ground, letting that violet-red Force radiate in all directions like a bone-devouring poison. He seemed to be imitating that Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist elder from the World of Calamity as he expanded the domain of Sonic Fang Force outward from its center. At last, it formed a circle a full hundred meters across.

Cassius rose slowly, sweeping his arm upward like a conductor's baton. The sky and earth shook, and a tremendous boom echoed across the forest.

Boom!!!!

Soil erupted skyward as the ground rolled like ocean waves. Giant trees were hurled into the air one after another and disintegrated before they even landed.

Soil, rocks, grass, flowers, trees...

Everything within a hundred-meter radius had been blasted upward, returning to earth in the form of dust that settled layer by layer where it once stood. There in the heart of the thick, green forest was now a black circle more than a hundred meters across.

In the center of that strange formation stood a lone, tiny figure.

Cassius beheld the barren scene before him, and then gazed up at the brilliant stars overhead. His destructive strength had already far surpassed its previous peak. If he empowered his techniques with Sonic Fang Force, every move now seemed like the ultimate move of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist, the Blood Vulture's Beak. It was pure, unrestrained ferocity!

Of course, that comparison might have been a bit exaggerated. However, one fact remained clear. A basic attack empowered by Sonic Fang Force now far surpassed the ultimate moves of his two Southern Dipper Fist styles. Indeed, a simple strike had become the equivalent of a grand finishing blow!

He could now see his own level plainly. He was an extreme combat artist!

At this moment, Cassius had surpassed Blood Fist Feng Liusi and Blade Demon Garoro, stepping into a realm only one step away from Holy Fist. Although this leap was primarily in destructive capability and his other aspects had yet to catch up, it was still an extraordinary achievement.

Those who held the title of Holy Fist in the continent on which the Hongli Empire lay remained completely hidden, and the Dark Ultimate Forms slumbered in the World of Calamity. The highest level of active combat strength were those at the realm of extreme combat artist, and they were rare enough that you could count them on one hand.

Now Cassius was one of them. The mysterious Chief Mechanist of the Dark Hunter Organization might be another. Who knew if any other such ancient monsters still lurked in the Covert Martial Arts community? What about the Black Rain Manor in its prime? The Gate Organization surely had one. Otherwise, they would never have been able to subdue an organization boasting someone like the Chief Mechanist. Naturally, one could not rule out the possibility of Xiadu taking action in person.

Still, that chance was slim, since the other party appeared to have been in perpetual slumber. At this moment, Cassius finally possessed the capital to stand against the Gate Organization. Likewise, he now felt far more confident in whatever conversations might arise with the Dark Hunter Organization's leader, the Chief Mechanist.

This was a survival-of-the-fittest world, and any semblance of equality was always grounded in strength. Finally, Cassius stood at the top of the food chain and had nothing to fear. A surge of exhilaration filled his heart, and he let out a resounding cry, charging out of the woods. In mere moments, he was back at the monastery.

Cassius lifted his right hand to see that the cracks caused by using Sonic Fang Force had already healed. Evidently, although Sonic Fang granted tremendous destructive power, it was not without drawbacks. Even someone with a body as tough as Cassius's endured damage when using it.

The first to be damaged were the limbs invoking the Force while the second were the overlapping meridians that affected his organs. The first was straightforward enough, but the second manifested as hidden wounds that would accumulate until they erupt. Most people would find that problematic, and would hesitate about using this fearsome force which was capable of severely wounding the enemy while harming oneself.

However, Cassius possessed the Golem Covert Martial Arts with its nearly inhuman body-cultivation method. Life vibration energy served as the best healing salve in the world. As long as he had enough of it stored, he could keep fighting indefinitely.

Those, then, were the so-called "defects" that accompanied Sonic Fang Force. However, Cassius also discovered an advantage. Just like a perfected sixth-stage Death's Fang Force could breakthrough the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist's acupoints at an astonishing rate, the newly fused Sonic Fang Force possessed certain traits and effects that accelerated the breakthrough of both Southern Dipper Fist Techniques' acupoints.

He now enjoyed the combined resonance acceleration from dual cultivation of two Southern Dipper Fists, along with abundant perfect sparring in the Howling Canyon's nest of undead, and finally the added impetus of Sonic Fang Force.

Cassius had already secured every advantage: the perfect moment, the ideal location, and a team. Advancing rapidly in both Southern Dipper Fist Techniques during this time-travel was inevitable. He merely wished to hasten the process.

Cassius gazed through the moonlight toward the distant capital of Florence. After meeting the Chief Mechanist tomorrow, he would likely assume the position of Treatment Ward director. Then many of his plans could finally begin to unfold...

Late that night, a group of figures in black robes crossed the forest in the towering mountains about two hundred kilometers from Florence in total silence. They were led by a figure whose cloak hung low, but revealing a few strands of gray hair. He was clearly an elder. He did not walk; it seemed a current of air carried him, letting him float steadily a short distance above the ground as they traveled.

"Teacher, if we push ourselves, we should reach Florence around midday tomorrow," a tall, black-robed figure behind him said, taking out a map and pointing to a route.

"Very well... Let us move on ahead. Thousand-Beast Shaman's group will likely arrive later than we do, maybe around the afternoon," the elder replied, lowering his hood to reveal a face etched with ancient totemic patterns.

He was one of the residents of the Totem Temple in the Ten Thousand Mountains, one of the Three Great Shamans, known as the Gale Shaman.