Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 664 - Exaggerated Power-Up

Across the earth where endless white sand fell like snow, a lone figure sat cross-legged in silence. His sharp brows and eyes fell slightly as the black coat across his broad shoulders shifted with his breathing. Sand settled on his hair and leather clothes without being shaken off, only piling up more and more.

Cassius's aura rapidly withdrew from being able to command the heavens to a single point tucked away within his body. He seemed like an ordinary man covered in white sand.

The sand grew thicker, gradually forming a dune. Sometimes, the gathering of strength did not mean a moment of weakness. It was but a spring-like compression, awaiting the next fierce eruption. Furthermore, that fierce eruption would surely surpass the previous limit of strength.

At the top-right of his vision, the progress bar displayed.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Mental Unification 54.5% (Final Stage)]

As time passed, the Golem Covert Martial Arts Cassius had created drew ever closer to perfection. Even the final chapter of mental unification had passed its halfway point. That also meant that he needed a vast quantity of life vibration energy to keep advancing . Only Ultimate Dark Forms that had accumulated power over tens of thousands of years could satisfy the needs of his Golem Covert Martial Arts. Ordinary Ultimate Dark Forms might not suffice any longer. He needed ones with even greater strength and deeper essence.

The Totem King Kassares, whom Cassius had reaped this time, was definitely among the very strongest of all Ultimate Dark Forms. Even he could not help but look forward to it.

"Come, let me see where the limit of this advance lies..." Cassius stirred the life vibration energy in his body. The surging energy burst with a bang and raced toward every corner of his body.

An incredible amount of energy overflowed as every muscle, bone, organ, and inch of skin began to alternate between hot and cold.

Muscles snapped with a crisp crack, bones popped, and organs bled faintly. The life vibration energy pouring in was too ferocious. Even his Golem body could barely withstand it!

Within a few breaths, the many fine wounds inside and out began to heal. A moment later, cracks reappeared where healing had occurred. This cycle continued—healing then breaking, breaking then healing.

But with each cycle, the strength of Cassius's Golem body leaped upward another notch. His robust life magnetic field grew denser between breaths, as if about to condense into a solid state. The Totem King Kassares's life vibration energy was truly torrential.

Time flowed for a long while. The slightly raised white dune on the ground grew into a mountain but Cassius was not done absorbing it. He could only keep monitoring the state of his body while also watching the progress bar at the top-right of his vision. The black digits at the end of the bar blurred and flickered constantly.

For no clear reason, a fullness welled up in Cassius's heart. It was not just mental, but also physical. It was as if his body was now an inflated balloon. Every cell had been forcibly stuffed full by that vast energy. They were like glittering crystals, shining brilliantly.

Fractured golden beams of light spurted through the gaps of the white sand mountain. A moment later, the sand was blasted aside, revealing a figure sitting cross-legged at the bottom of a circular pit. He was in the cultivation stance of the Golem Covert Martial Arts, motionless like a statue.

Golden light streamed from Cassius's body, which now bore a translucent, glassy texture. The golden radiance draped like a flowing veil over his shoulders.

His tightly shut eyes snapped open, and two streaks of light shot forth.

"It worked!"

Shoo...

His chest suddenly swelled, and all the golden light around him was drawn back into his body. Of course, Cassius would not waste a single strand of life vibration energy.

"Heheheh..." He glanced at the top-right of his vision and let out a faint, low chuckle.

"It truly was right to come to the World of Calamity and seek out Blood Vulture Dominator Fist and the Totem King together... It's an immense gain!!!"

At the top-right, the progress bar was displayed.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Mental Unification 54.5% (Final Stage)] -> 75.2%

An astonishing leap of 20.7%! This was Cassius's greatest single advancement since stepping into the realm of the Holy Fist!

Furthermore, this was not the early stage. It was the final chapter of the Golem Covert Martial Arts which was already over halfway cultivated. Though progress grew harder the further one went, Totem King Kassares's life vibration energy had pushed Cassius upward by roughly twenty percent in one go. Unfortunately, the Totem King he hunted had not been at its peak.

Kassares had faced off with Blood Vulture Dominator Fist for millennia and its essence was badly depleted. In the end, it had also partially self-detonated. Had Cassius devoured it whole, what outrageous extent would the progress of his Golem Covert Martial Arts have reached? It was almost beyond imagination.

Of course, if the Totem King had been in its peak state, it certainly would not have been Cassius's turn to hunt, not even with Blood Vulture Dominator Fist's aid.

On the earth, Cassius slowly rose.

"Seventy-five percent progress... I can feel energy so abundant that it's coursing through my body."

He looked down at his right palm, where the lines were clearly visible, and gently pinched at the air. With a boom, a distant mountain contracted and exploded as if squeezed between a giant invisible hand.

Debris and dust billowed as the massif collapsed. Cassius silently withdrew his gaze as the corner of his mouth slightly rose.

Once, he had roughly benchmarked the peak Lord of Flooding Light against his own Golem Covert Martial Arts progress. At sixty-five percent, he had about reached the level of the peak Lord of Flooding Light. That was to say, Cassius now possessed a combat power close to the top ten Ultimate Dark Forms.

This put him on par with entities like the Lord of Flooding Light, Pale Origin, and Moon God. If entities like the Totem King and Blood Vulture Dominator Fist represented a perfect hundred, then those others were between ninety and ninety-nine. They were still extremely powerful among the Ultimate Dark Forms.

When Cassius crossed the sixty-five-percent threshold, he reached the next tier of strength. Now, his progress was at a staggering seventy-five percent. He had taken an even bigger step forward!

As for whether he could match the perfected level of a peak Totem King, Cassius had his doubts. This was not out of false modesty, but from firsthand experience. Even a weakened, self-detonated Totem King Kassares had granted such massive improvement to his martial art. The terror of the Totem King at his peak was obvious.

Cassius had long suspected something like this. Whether it was the Southern Dipper's three fists, the Totem King, or the True Progenitor of Blood, upon reaching the perfection of their respective paths, they had exploded in strength. Kassares and Blood Vulture Dominator Fist had both weakened after endless attrition. Otherwise, Cassius would never have had a chance to strike.

"I probably still can't reach the terrifying strength of the peak Southern Dipper three fists... But it is enough." He slowly raised his head.

Clap, clap, clap...

Suddenly, he heard applause. Blood Vulture Dominator Fist gradually appeared over a dune. He looked much improved, no longer flickering like a candle in the wind. Clearly, the life vibration energy provided by Cassius had yielded an excellent healing effect.

Though it had not fully cured him, it had swiftly brought him past the point of danger. If he continued with steady treatment, Blood Vulture would one day return to his peak and regain the perfected realm of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist.

Blood Vulture Dominator Fist walked over, eyes fixed on Cassius.

"What an astounding Covert Martial Arts, to be able to turn an Ultimate Dark Form's energy to your own use! Cassius, you are absolutely a genius..."

Cassius shook his head modestly. "Talent is only a part. To succeed still requires relentless effort and that flash of luck. My creation of the Golem Covert Martial Arts was by chance..."

A smile appeared on Blood Vulture’s aged face that had not surfaced in tens of millennia. "Cassius, you would be the bane of all Ultimate Dark Forms in the World of Calamity. You are their natural enemy..."

At that moment, Blood Vulture's mood was exceedingly bright. Indeed, he was elated. Totem King Kassares had fallen before him and the endless battle of attrition had ended. The Southern Dipper lineage also had another formidable heir. How could he not be pleased?

Cassius and Blood Vulture then talked, mainly about the Southern Dipper fist arts. In the exchange, Cassius revealed his three core principles and his grand wish to cultivate the three Southern Dipper fists simultaneously to final unification!

Even though he had half-expected it, Blood Vulture was still deeply shocked by his junior heir's ambition. Uniting the Southern Dipper's three fists meant fusing three perfected paths. When one Southern Dipper fist reached perfection, the cultivator would gain an outrageous boost. If Cassius achieved his great wish, it would be three consecutive outrageous boosts.

The fusion of the three fists would be another terrifying sublimation, reaching an unprecedented realm! Could that realm rival the concept of Xiadu!?

Perhaps... yes!

Blood Vulture's heart surged. He felt it was greatly promising!

Hence, when Cassius proposed to begin the Ultimate Fist path's ascetic cultivation and wanted Blood Vulture to act as his guardian, Blood Vulture agreed without hesitation. He planned to provide an absolutely safe environment for Cassius's training. Even had Cassius not asked, Blood Vulture would have offered aid.

After tens of millennia, the Southern Dipper lineage finally had another Holy Fist heir. He must not be lost! All the more since Blood Vulture vaguely saw a glimmer of hope in Cassius. He could end the World of Calamity and its dark creatures once and for all.

This had been Blood Vulture's constant pursuit and the purpose of all the Southern Dipper's three Holy Fists. It was also the wish of humanity's Covert Martial Arts world.

Cassius and Blood Vulture stood in the same camp, and now moved as one. Hence, not only would Blood Vulture guard Cassius's upcoming cultivation, Cassius would also continuously supply life vibration energy to speed Blood Vulture's recovery back to his former peak.

The two would join forces and rampage across the World of Calamity. Cultivators of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist were the finest of killers and the craziest of the crazy.

Cassius had conducted more than a few large-scale slaughters before reaching the Totem King's battlefield, but Blood Vulture was an old hand at slaughter. After all, he had single-handedly driven a quarter of the dark creature races to extinction.

When those two natural born killers worked together, the entire World of Calamity might be in for some "good fortune"!

***

In the surface world, the cold wind howled at the Arctic Abyss. The icy chasm seemed like a demon's mouth in the pitch-black night as it faintly glowed with a blazing red.

Wails of ghosts and howls of wolves echoed again and again, sending a chill of dread through the bones. It felt as if a vast Will was vaguely entrenched there, with its main body lying at the abyssal bottom and its diffused thoughts spread like tentacles. It encompassed the entire environment, including heaven and earth.

A figure shrouded head to toe in a black robe stood by the abyss, leaning on a longsword and standing quietly upon the snow. His hands were pale as a corpse while the sword bore an icy sheen.

This was the Gate Organization's Second General King, Blizzard Didak. At the same time, he was the only surviving high-ranking member of this generation. The other five General Kings and the deputy leader had all fallen in the Miracle Garden mission. Blizzard Didak had been sent to the Blue Star Empire for a major task and had thus escaped the calamity.

After temporarily gathering the Gate Organization's scattered remnants, he came to the Arctic Abyss to report and await orders from the leader. Blizzard Didak had just reported everything he knew, so he simply waited silently by the abyss.

As time ticked by, wind and snow whitened his black cloak. Suddenly, the Arctic Abyss trembled as if magma were erupting. A five-colored aurora shot to the heavens, slicing the sky into ragged tatters.

Rumble...

"My lord!" Blizzard Didak jerked his head up and saw, high above the abyss, a vast intangible phantom of Will. It was dreamlike, yet as majestic as a demon god.

Didak's eyes were shocked. Snow fell but his lids did not blink. "The lord leader has manifested! This is truly momentous!"

Xiadu's Will roared, but it had nothing to do with the minor matter of the Gate Organization's near-annihilation. High in the sky, within the pitch-black vortex of the Well of Sin, the giant face contorted.

"One of the key pillars of calamity, the power of totems, has just plummeted! There is only one possibility. It signifies that... Totem King Kassares has fallen!"