Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 671 - Sorry Xiadu, No One Can Restrain Me!

A vast Will blotted out the sky and swept the stars. Everyone could easily grasp what that Will conveyed. Xiadukala... It was like a mystic name from an ancient spell, standing for endless calamity.

It had once been a concept-level existence in the World of Calamity. Wherever calamity reached, there was Xiadukala, a transcendent realm beyond existence.

It resonated with the origin of calamity more than any Ultimate Dark Form. Originally, Xiadukala had been unmatched. Even the Southern Dipper three Holy Fists were helpless.

However, in an ancient era forgotten by time, the Southern Dipper three Holy Fists had joined to form a mysterious being that wielded inconceivable techniques. Thus, Xiadukala had been forcibly knocked down from its concept-level existence. It was no longer omnipresent and no longer omnipotent. It gained a form and the capacity for thought.

Thus, it could be schemed against and targeted. Though it still stood above all Ultimate Dark Forms, it was no longer perfect nor invincible.

The final outcome of its body said it all. Xiadukala's true body had been severed into three and sealed within the Gate of Qi, the Gate of Soul, and the Gate of Physique. Inside were three vast oceans formed from the birth and death of all beings through history.

Xiadukala's body had been firmly suppressed. In theory, it could have been sealed until the end of time. However, when the three Gates of Heaven opened to seal it, the horrific backlash of endless calamity and Xiadukala's struggle shattered them. Thus, their pieces scattered across the real world.

Though the seas of Qi, Soul, and Physique could still suppress Xiadu's true body, the existence of Gate Fragments gave Xiadu a chance to reassemble and reopen the gates to break the seal.

The Gate Organization had risen for precisely this reason. Generation after generation had plotted and prepared to find the chance to reopen a Gate of Heaven. Unfortunately, they had found it at the end of the Hongli Empire, in the war that destroyed it. One Gate of Heaven had gathered enough fragments to open!

Thus, a third of Xiadu's true body had returned, nearly sweeping the mortal world.

However, White Bird Holy Fist, the strongest of the three Southern Dipper Holy Fists, had taken the opportunity to strike. He had burned everything to unleash a final strike on Xiadu's newly freed body from a Gate of Heaven. As such, Xiadu had been left grievously wounded. Even Xiadu's true body, which was stronger than a top-ranked Ultimate Dark Form, suffered unimaginable damage.

White Bird's mark had been seared deep upon it! Thus, Xiadu, though it had broken one seal, failed to conquer all. However, after over a century of recovery, it had found the strength to act again.

At great cost, its Will forced a physical descent to influence the World of Calamity. Doing so would cost far less than its body personally moving. At the same time, the price was still great. In the worst case, White Bird's mark would act up. At best, it would greatly lengthen the time needed to recover.

Regardless, Xiadu had to act. Totem King Kasseres had fallen and Blood Vulture Dominator Fist had been freed. Blood Vulture's helper also seemed to be a Southern Dipper Holy Fist of frightful strength who'd sprung up from nowhere.

With these two allied, the Ultimate Dark Forms free to act in the surrounding region of the World of Calamity were not enough to besiege them! Xiadu could only move personally to eliminate this threat.

Otherwise, letting Blood Vulture Dominator Fist and Cassius rampage would likely singlehandedly tip the scales back to humanity’s side! That would be the worst outcome.

Rumble...

Bolts of thunder burst across the World of Calamity's sky. Crimson lightning pillars crawled through the air like snarled roots, covering every corner. Xiadu descended among the multitude of bolts. It was a simple humanoid shadow that was wholly hazed with smoke.

Countless afterimages trailed it as it fell, fading only a while later as if the air were amber, imprinting Xiadu's motions upon the earth. Each frozen image of Xiadu was eternal.

On the ground, the attention of the encircled Blood Vulture Dominator Fist and Cassius were wholly drawn to Xiadu. The surrounding air grew oppressively heavy and near unbreathable.

Blood Vulture warned suddenly, "Cassius, be extra careful! Do you see those black afterimages behind Xiadu? Each afterimage is a living Xiadu!"

Cassius’s voice grew graver. "What do you mean?!"

"Literally! Each afterimage is a mark imprinted in the World of Calamity by Xiadu from the previous timeline! If we join forces and kill the foremost Xiadu, it will instantly return to the previous world's mark! Thus, it cycles until the final afterimage..." Blood Vulture spoke each word clearly and heavily.

"What!" Cassius's red pupils flashed.

He instantly sensed the thorny problem. That meant Xiadu had as many lives as imprints! Killing it once was pointless. It would return to the previous imprint, or the previous afterimage.

What a perverse ability!

Cassius hadn't witnessed Xiadu's extra techniques in the fifth time-travel. There were many reasons.

First, before opening a Gate of Heaven, Xiadu hadn't recovered the stature and strength of its true body. Second, after it opened, Cassius summoned the Thorn Sonic Death Armament and immediately entered a state of Three Fists as One, leaving Xiadu no extra time to act. Finally, and most importantly, Xiadu was in the surface world.

However, they were now in its home field, the World of Calamity!

"Blood Vulture, if that's so, then isn't Xiadu invincible in the World of Calamity?" Cassius's gaze flickered. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

But after his initial shock, he quickly realized a weakness. "This ability is indeed bizarre and strong, but not unsolvable and certainly not invincible. The final afterimage will vanish as time passes. That means the time that these afterimages are captured will refresh after a while. If we wound Xiadu but not fatally, then over time, all marks it leaves will be in an injured state. Thus, even if we kill Xiadu, when it returns to a prior afterimage, it will still be injured..."

"In that case, we could choose not to kill Xiadu, but keep it gravely wounded and unable to threaten us..." Cassius snapped his head toward the faintly smiling Blood Vulture.

"Heh, indeed. You understand quickly. But what if Xiadu chooses to commit suicide?" Blood Vulture asked. "Suiciding whenever it's hurt would keep all its imprints forever at its peak. It's done that before..."

Cassius's Will soared. "Then we stop it from suiciding. Besides, today's Xiadu isn't what it was. Maybe it could once kill itself endlessly and remain at its peak. But now, only a third of its body is free, and it was grievously wounded by White Bird Holy Fist! Furthermore, its body hasn't come yet. Only a projection of its Will is here. It cannot employ such means without cost since its true body must be under enormous strain..."

"So whatever Xiadu's methods, we just fight! If it wants us to pay a price, then it will pay dearly too! Blood Vulture, remember when I helped restore your wounds, I deliberately stored some life vibration energy for emergencies? In a war of attrition, we might even have an advantage!"

"You're right! Hahahaha..." Blood Vulture burst into laughter.

Xiadu had strange imprint techniques, but Cassius likewise had the wondrous Golem Covert Martial Arts. Both were monsters who rapidly restored blood and energy to allow them to stay at their peak. In contrast, Blood Vulture himself seemed almost ordinary. But of course, Blood Vulture was no ordinary being.

How could an ordinary existence have dragged Xiadu down from its terrifying concept-level? It was just that his strength hadn't fully recovered to perfection. If he were at perfection, dealing with this Xiadu projection would be simpler. More specifically, he would kill every last one of those imprints!

"Alas, I'm old and not what I was..." Blood Vulture sighed, and struck.

His hand spread into an exaggerated eagle claw, and a blazing crimson vulture phantom appeared over it. With one swipe, two Ultimate Dark Forms closing on them flew sideways. Their huge bodies bore deep, terrifying claw marks from top to bottom, nearly split in two.

His and Cassius's exchange of Wills had lasted only a moment. The Ultimate Dark Forms that had been driven back had merely managed to close in again. Crimson thunder roared as Xiadu's smoky form plummeted at extreme speed.

Boom!

A black meteor streaked across the sky, triggering an explosion upon landing. Two crimson-hued figures shot skyward from the blast's core. The three were now close enough to make eye contact.

Cassius's terrifying red eyes, Blood Vulture's crimson gaze, and Xiadu's vortex-black pupils locked, their dreadful Qi colliding.

"It was you two who killed Kassares!?" A vast voice boomed like heavenly might descending. Though Xiadu said "two," its focus rested more on Cassius.

Blood Vulture was an old acquaintance. If he'd killed Kasseres, Xiadu would be shocked, but it wasn't impossible. What surprised it more was the youth beside Blood Vulture. He carried the aura of a Southern Dipper, and two entirely different ones!

No, not just two. A weaker third lurked deep within. It wasn't at Holy Fist level yet, but very close. This person actually bore the complete three Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance! What was the Southern Dipper line aiming at by cultivating him?

"Kassares blocked my path, how could he not die?! Cassius's red eyes flared as a domineering Will howled forth. "All who block my path must die! Including you, Xiadu!"

Boom!

His fist, which could move mountains and fill seas, blasted out. At the instant of impact, it erupted!

Bam!

Xiadu, who had descended like a black meteor, flew back like one. Surprise flashed in its eyes.

Golem strength wielded by a human... Seems like a thoroughly mutated Golem as well. Has he devoured too many of his kind and triggered an inconceivable evolution? How interesting...

Even Xiadu felt its horizons widen.

"Moonfall..."

High above, as its power ebbed, Xiadu fell again. At the same time, a black scaled giant arm drove down from the twin blood moons that filled half the sky.

Boom!

The air compressed and burst, forming visible shockwaves. The hand that was half beast and half human covered the sky in an instant. Each black scale was the size of a mountain. Layered scales formed the palm, eclipsing heaven and earth.

"No matter who you are, no matter how you grew in secret, and no matter what the Southern Dipper line is scheming... I'll strangle all threats in the cradle here and now!"

Boom!

As the palm slammed down, the world trembled. Beneath the palm, where its force was most condensed, two silver steel fists held it up like a tyrant! The Golem, with its legs bent and shoulders spread, set up its arms like iron walls.

Krak, krak...

Its joints creaked as cracks spread swiftly over the armor's surface. Then, life vibration energy vibrated through them until they returned to normal. Even his nearly collapsed legs were restored within a breath.

Now that the Golem Covert Martial Arts had advanced to eighty percent, his strength and defense were outrageously fearsome. Double-digit Ultimate Dark Forms besieging him had only scuffed his armor before.

Xiadu's single palm, which could collapse parts of the Golem's body, was extremely powerful, but that was all it could do. As long as it couldn't pulverize Cassius's Golem body instantly, then the strike was futile! It would only cost a bit more life vibration energy to recover.

"Strangle me in the cradle?! Hahaha..." Cassius laughed aloud. He raised his head, red eyes blazing beneath the mask.

Vrmm!

His massive Golem shoulders quaked. Then, his two steel arms hammered wildly at the giant palm.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang...

"Sorry Xiadu, no one can restrain me!"