Returning to the Mysterious Era
Chapter 439 - Breaking Through Eight Acupoints

Chapter 439 - Breaking Through Eight Acupoints

If one compared Cassius’s third-stage Death's Fang Force to wood, then sixth-stage Death's Fang Force was undoubtedly like steel. It could even be compared to refined steel in its completed sixth-stage form, rather than when one had just entered the sixth-stage.

Without a doubt, this had definitely been a gift from a Holy Fist master of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist. No, judging from the Red Falcon Fist style, this path did not follow the Holy Fist approach but rather the path of the Dominator Fist, which broke through all obstacles.

According to the Evil Mother’s account, the underworld, also known as the World of Calamity, contained an origin of calamity. The elder of the Dominator Fist who practiced the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist had been tying down the Totem King, one of the ultimate forms of dark creatures, such that both remained trapped at the origin. This stalemate had lasted for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Meanwhile, Yang Yan and Zhu Hun had conducted a dark creature transformation experiment that required a mysterious tablet. It could open a portal between the underworld and the surface world, allowing the purest darkness from the origin of calamity to be channeled out.

Evidently, an error had occurred during this experiment, and the Totem King had taken notice of the tablet. It had projected its energy through that portal, setting the Evil Mother free in the surface world. The Totem King clearly had multiple schemes in mind.

Unfortunately, Cassius had been there at the time, and the Evil Mother had stood no chance upon his arrival. Therefore, the Totem King had once again infused the Evil Mother with power, causing her strength to surge.

However, the Dominator Fist elder had not been so easily dismissed; the moment he sensed that Cassius practiced the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist, he transferred his energy as well. An immense amount of sixth-stage Death's Fang Force not only served as a temporary boost in combat strength but also as a form of heritage, providing great benefit to Cassius.

It was simply unclear what condition that elder of the Dominator Fist, who had been locked in battle for a thousand years, had ended up in after splitting off some of his energy. After all, as the Evil Mother had explained, the origin of calamity created the ideal battlefield for dark creatures, and the Totem King had grown stronger over the centuries. Meanwhile, although the elder’s Qi and power had seemed inexhaustible and surged like the ocean, there would inevitably come a day when it ran dry.

Cassius then recalled another Dark Ultimate Form, Yumila, the True Progenitor of Blood. Was it active or dormant? Perhaps, like the Totem King, it had been tied down by someone for centuries and unable to break free.

His mind swirled with countless thoughts, so he drew a deep breath and cleared his head. All of that lay far beyond Cassius’s reach at the moment. His current goal was to focus on raising the level of his Southern Dipper fist techniques, so that he could break through to the level of an extreme combat artist. In doing so, he would reach an even higher realm and take one step closer to Holy Fist.

“Huu...” Swirls of Qi spiraled around his nostrils, forming two white trails.

Cassius swiftly focused and dropped into the stance of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist. He crossed his arms, holding them level before his chest. He kept his back straight, shoulder blades spreading outward, and subtly flexed his muscles. He resembled a bird of prey with its wings folded at rest.

Gradually, Cassius felt a pang within his body, and a scorching sharp force unfurled inside him like tiny blades heated by flames. It caused waves of pain to rack his body as it swept through his muscles and bones.

This was only possible because Cassius’s body had long been accustomed to the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist’s power, and he possessed an exceedingly robust body. Had it been an ordinary third-stage Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist practitioner, their insides would have been soaked in blood by now.

Hence, whether one could seize the opportunity depended on prior training and preparation. If one didn’t have the foundations, one wouldn’t be able to catch the windfall even if it fell into their lap.

At the moment, Cassius had undoubtedly caught it with remarkable success. He could hear his bones and joints cracking, along with a series of flowing sounds that grew louder, while his blood vessels throbbed with sharp, swelling pain.

Cassius forcefully channeled the complete sixth-stage of Death's Fang Force into the meridian framework of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist. It was a process that was anything but gentle. It felt as though barbed vines were being forced through delicate blood vessels.

Fortunately, Cassius had long been accustomed to enduring pain. Apart from a slight furrowing of his brow, the rest of his facial features remained mostly unchanged. His muscles tensed on the surface, and before long, sweat streaked across his sharply defined muscles, trickling down as though a thread had been cut. It swiftly soaked his pants.

Ziiing... Hiss...

A sudden sound of steel wires rubbing echoed from Cassius’s body. He shut his eyes tightly, using the third-stage Death's Fang Force to envelop and steer the sixth-stage Death's Fang Force through the meridians.

He intended to use this sharp spear to penetrate multiple acupoints of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist all at once! He gradually accelerated the force until it was like a speeding train racing through one tunnel after another.

Cassius kept his arms firmly in place, giving off an impression of unwavering solidity. Focusing so intently caused a surge of Qi to escape through his pores, rising like steam from a boiler along his ears, before surging above his head. It resembled a tumultuous column of Qi, tinged with multiple colors.

“Do it in one go!” He hardened his resolve and then mustered all of his Death's Fang Force, driving the sixth-stage’s force to crash fiercely into all of his acupoints.

It was like a rocket’s second-stage booster as everything abruptly jumped forward.

Boom! Buzz...

A deafening boom sounded as over a dozen tiny wounds burst open on Cassius’s skin, spraying blood everywhere. His mind went blank, as though he had been struck from behind by a massive hammer.

After drifting for a while in that stupor, Cassius came to as excruciating pain coursed through his entire body. It was as though he had been tied down to a blacksmith’s anvil and brutally hammered hundreds of times. Even his bones let out groans that set his teeth on edge.

He opened his eyes to a blur. He could see flashes of bright spots in the corners of his vision. It took a second for his vision to return. The attic was covered in bloodstains, and his skin bore multiple cracks.

But, eight spots in particular had circular depressions sunk deep enough to reveal cross-sections of flesh. Some were so deep that he could faintly glimpse the wriggling organs inside.

It was enough to make one feel somewhat nauseated and horrified. Yet, Cassius felt not fear but delight as his tightly furrowed brow relaxed into a faint smile. All eight depressions were located exactly at the acupoints of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist. The significance was self-evident. He had simultaneously broken through eight acupoints!

Cassius had broken through to twenty-two acupoints in the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist during the trials in the Howling Canyon within the World of Calamity, thus stepping into the third-stage Death's Fang Force. Yet, in the blink of an eye, he had soared to thirty acupoints, a mere three away from breaking through to the fourth-stage Death's Fang Force. This was no longer mere acceleration; it was a leap forward.

The remote gift of sixth-stage Death's Fang Force from that Dominator Fist elder truly lived up to its reputation; sharing the same origin ensured the effect was astonishingly great!

Cassius’s Death's Fang Force had always been wearing down the unbroken acupoints. It was akin to using a wooden bow to shoot at a wooden wall. It depended on persistence, wearing it down bit by bit until the wall broke.

However, with the Dominator Fist’s gift, it was as though Cassius had been handed an exquisitely crafted hand-cannon loaded with armor-piercing rounds. A single shot had obliterated the wooden wall, taking out the seven walls behind it as well.

Of course, Cassius had accomplished this at the cost of injury, making his determination to withstand the assault pivotal in the endeavor. Otherwise, had he slowly whittled away as before, he might have opened six acupoints at most; eight would have been out of the question.

“Suffering some injury to gain two more acupoints was absolutely worth it...” Cassius remained seated cross-legged, activating the reserve of low-level life vibration energy within his body. His injuries began to heal at an accelerated pace.

He didn’t just have the Southern Dipper fist techniques at his disposal but also Golem Covert Martial Arts, which had a disturbingly potent healing effect. That was why Cassius had dared to force his way through the barrier. As long as he did not explode to death on the spot, he could save himself from the brink of death. Various Covert Martial Arts complemented each other.

After about ten minutes, Cassius exhaled a breath laced with the scent of blood. His body’s muscles recovered and his skin became smooth once again, leaving only the bloodstains on his clothes to prove he had been severely wounded.

Cassius slowly rose to his feet and circulated the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist. The thirty acupoints around his body shimmered like stars, sending surges of energy through his body. As Death's Fang Force passed through each acupoint, it accelerated, gradually growing more condensed.

He then activated the Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist, causing twenty-three acupoints to light up not long after. These two fist techniques had already started resonating, and the Sonic Snake Fist naturally broke through one acupoint in a short period.

However, it would still take some time for it to catch up with the Red Falcon Fist’s progress through resonance. Cassius planned to return to Howling Canyon more often and battle more undead so that his Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist would soon align with the Red Falcon Fist.

That way, he would quickly stabilize and become familiar with his new strength. Half an hour later, he cleaned up the bloodstains in the attic and took a cold shower. After putting on clean clothes, Cassius headed downstairs.

At the foot of the stairs, Krog’s tall figure stood waiting, looking at Cassius descending step by step, “Your aura has become more overbearing...”

“I made some progress,” Cassius replied. In truth, it was not just due to his recent breakthrough in the Southern Dipper Fist. It was also because his comprehension of the path of Dominator Fist had ascended to another level. Therefore, his every move now exuded a faint yet natural air of dominance.

That feeling only grew stronger as it slowly integrated into his true self. Once that combat style and philosophy fully took shape, Cassius would truly embark on the path of the Dominator Fist. If his strength then reached a critical point, he would naturally break through to the realm of Dominator Fist.

When he reached the first floor, he found six veteran hunters, apparently unable to sleep. Cassius thought for a moment and took the initiative to talk with them. He did not elaborate; he merely gave a brief account of that day’s attacker, a member of the Gate Organization.

Cassius explained that he had a personal vendetta against the Gate Organization and that the others had simply been caught in the crossfire. As for why the Gate Organization could control dark creatures, Cassius claimed he had no idea.

All the veteran hunters present nodded. They merely wanted an explanation and had no intention of digging deeper. Moreover, the Gate Organization was already an enemy of the Dark Hunter Organization; there had even been vague traces of them during the battle at Dawn Valley years ago! Clearly, the Gate Organization was a mutual adversary of both Cassius and the Dark Hunter Organization; there was no doubt about that.

After giving the hunters his explanation, Cassius departed Jem’s house. He vanished into the darkness of the night, heading toward the warehouse.

A tall figure walked silently through a secluded area beside an abandoned warehouse. Inside the warehouse, three figures lay unconscious. The noble attire of the middle-aged man from the royal family who wielded a rapier had been stripped away, and his rapier was missing. Clearly, this had been the Evil Mother’s doing; she intended to disguise herself as that man in line with Cassius’s plan to infiltrate the royal family.

Cassius was calm as he woke up all three individuals. The rapier-wielding man now seemed dazed and had little left worth interrogating. Moments earlier, the Evil Mother had employed totem power to hypnotize him and extract crucial information about his identity, leaving him ruined by the side effects. Naturally, the reason the Evil Mother did not use totem hypnosis on the other two was because that totem had a time limit on its use.

Moreover, it was challenging to hypnotize masters who possessed Qi, such as Yang Yan and Zhu Hun. If anyone was to interrogate Gate Organization members and the like, it still had to be Cassius himself.

The two watched him audibly crack his neck, sighing in pleasure. His hands gradually turned crimson as he crouched down with a smile.

***

Meanwhile, over in District Two of Florence, a black silhouette moved swiftly through the shadows, weaving through buildings until they arrived at the entrance of an alleyway.

The moonlight illuminated his features, revealing a handsome yet sullen young man’s face. Solomon the Thorn had come to find Zhu Hun once again, for Zhu Hun had previously promised to help him locate clues about his mission’s target. After all, this was Solomon’s third mission, which meant it was his last.

If he failed to complete it, he would be kicked out. To be safe, Solomon had no choice but to rely on the power of Zhu Hun’s organization. Zhu Hun had promised to meet him that evening. Based on their previous collaborations, Zhu Hun had never gone back on a promise.

Thus, Solomon felt confident, and so he had come. He took a slow breath of the cold air and proceeded toward the small cabin. He believed that victory would surely be his in this Shadow Hunter seat competition.

Though Claire had the backing of the Dark Hunter Organization, and Soss had the support of the royal family, Solomon had both the council and that formidable force behind Zhu Hun betting on him. It would be enough to clear away any obstacle.

Even if Cassius already possessed strength equivalent to a Shadow Hunter, what of it?

Solomon believed Zhu Hun would surely make a move to cripple or even outright kill Cassius! After all, Zhu Hun had a significant purpose for supporting him in becoming a Shadow Hunter.

Any obstacle, even a Shadow Hunter, would end up as nothing more than a corpse. A temporary setback was insignificant; the great tide remained on his side. This time, he had arrived to obtain intel on his mission’s target. Next time, he might very well walk in to hear the good news of Cassius being taken out.

Solomon felt confident and optimistic. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Silence reigned. A smile on his face, Solomon knocked once more.

Still, there was no sound from within. His smile froze on his face as he pushed the door open and stepped inside, finding it quite dark. Whenever Solomon visited by appointment in the past, Zhu Hun would always be standing inside, but now he was gone.

There was nothing in the shadows. Solomon halted in his steps, an inexplicable sense of panic welling up within him.

He had a very bad feeling...