Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 350 - Opening the Gate!

Time passed bit by bit. In the twilight sky, the splendid sunset gradually faded, losing the fiery hues of the clouds. A crescent moon loomed faintly among the clouds, casting its light. It was a cool color, like a thin veil.

A cool evening breeze swept across the sky, bringing strands of refreshing air, sweeping away the accumulated afternoon heat. The ornamental trees rustled, and fallen leaves rolled on the ground.

Beiliu City was the core city of Beiliu County. In recent years, its economy had developed rapidly, with various buildings rising from the ground. The streets had been renovated, complete with streetlights, benches, trash cans, and road signs, giving it a sense of simplicity and grandeur.

A fleet of black cars slowly drove by, and pedestrians who had donned jackets due to the cooling temperature walked in their respective directions. There was a bustling vitality of endless pedestrians and heavy traffic.

In the south district of Beiliu City, there was a night market in Benny Avenue. The area was a newly emerging district in the past five years, with the prototype of a commercial street. Not only were there densely packed shops on both sides and endless pedestrians, but also the nearby Yale University and the adjacent food street near the university.

It was close to seven o'clock now; streetlights were lit, and warm yellow lights shone from the shop windows, making the entire street look as bright as during the day.

At the end of Benny Avenue, there was a dim alley at a corner. Two figures in black robes quietly waited as time passed.

"Five more minutes. It's finally about to begin..." Even Jilan's usually gloomy face revealed uncontrollable excitement. He had been waiting for this day for a long time.

Three years, over a thousand days. Fighting and killing all over, forced to move around, displaced and homeless. Finally, as he wished, the Gate Fragment was in his hands. Jilan could continue to climb to higher peaks in martial arts.

Power... Everything was to obtain even greater power.

It was something he had craved since childhood. The harder it was to obtain, the more he pursued it like a madman. Jilan's talent was average; he wasn't a genius, not even considered of moderate aptitude. If things developed normally, he might not have reached the level of a pugilist in his lifetime of training.

He could only be a martial apprentice who could arm-wrestle with a fifth-stage fighter of the Federation.

Jilan was unwilling to accept that. He had greater ambitions, but his innate conditions limited his ceiling. No matter how much sweat and effort he put in, he couldn't match the results of geniuses who trained one hour a day. He gradually became obsessed, even more fanatical about power.

Until one day, Jilan obtained the Black Demon's Hand—a fragment of an ancient Covert Martial Arts manual. It was an extremely special Covert Martial Art.

Practicing it required no talent or cultivation base. Unlike other Covert Martial Arts, it didn't involve physical training methods or involve blood vessels, bones, muscles, skin, and so on.

The only condition for practicing the Black Demon's Hand was being a living creature. As long as there was vitality in the body, one could practice it.

Jilan relied on this Covert Martial Art to progress step by step to his current level, even reaching the rank of a combat artist. The Black Demon's Hand was extremely powerful and deadly, capable of plundering the vitality of those it touched. Each time he plundered, it would accelerate the operation of the Black Demon's Hand.

In the palms of Jilan, there were two Black Demon vortices. As long as he pressed his hands on a living creature, he would absorb their life force. This life force would turn into fuel, thrown into the vortex, making it spin faster and faster. The faster the vortex spun, the stronger its suction.

However, this also had a very serious side effect, which Jilan only noticed after reaching combat artist, when his control over his body reached a new height. That is, the faster the Black Demonic Vortex spun, the more it involuntarily drew upon the practitioner's own vitality.

Like a greedy beast accepting any food without refusal.

In other words, the more he activated the Black Demonic Vortex to plunder others' vitality, the stronger the Black Demon's Hand became, but the faster his own life force drained. Like a car accelerating continuously—as the speed increased, the fuel in the tank consumed faster and faster until it eventually stalled.

And after years of arduous cultivation, Jilan was not far from stalling. His body had almost become a walking corpse nearing death.

A large amount of his vitality was completely devoured by the Black Demonic Vortex, turning into great power while also losing massive amounts of lifespan. It could be called a double-edged sword, but it was a double-edged sword that Jilan had to cling to tightly. Even if he was bleeding and torn apart, he couldn't let go.

"Pushing open that Gate, everything will be different! As long as I can extend enough lifespan, I can continue to search for other Gate Fragments, thereby step by step reaching the highest peak!"

Jilan's heart surged with emotion, his breath slightly heavier. He looked at the time again; only one minute was left. Taking a deep breath, Jilan quickly calmed his excited mood. He elevated his mental state and focus to the highest level, adjusting his body to its best condition. Suddenly, he remembered something.

He turned his head to glance at Cassius standing in the alley's shadows. Seeing that Cassius seemed to sense his gaze, he also turned his head, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth, and slowly gave a thumbs-up. Clearly signaling, "Don't worry about anything. I'm here!"

Jilan nodded, feeling somewhat moved. Then he sat cross-legged, quietly waiting for the final moment to arrive.

Tick... Tock... Tick... Tock...

The second hand on the clock face moved bit by bit toward the top. Cassius watched intently, occasionally glancing at Jilan.

Finally, the hand returned to its position. The time was seven o'clock.

His head suddenly shook, a strong stabbing pain exploded. In a trance, a white light was pulled before his eyes. A resonance occurred between the Gate Fragments.

Jilan's Physique fragment began the Gate-opening ritual. Relying on his Soul fragment, Cassius could also see the entire process.

In the white light, he suddenly closed his eyes, but it was as if a third eye grew on his forehead, instantly seeing the real world. A world of black and white...

Everything turned into lines, like a comic sketch. Only the outlines of objects and people remained—no textures, no shadows, no folds. Everyone seemed to become a flat plane, yet with an eerie sense of three-dimensionality.

The scene was still like before. The street was still the original street; the night was still the original night. People moved back and forth, loudly chatting, bustling and noisy, yet without color.

It was as if people with different bodies, different appearances, different emotions, different personalities all became exactly the same. Just like walking on the street, suddenly squatting down to look at a line of ants climbing near the tree roots by the roadside. Each looked exactly the same, black and indistinguishable. You look at the ants, but the ants cannot perceive your existence.

Cassius looked around at a gray and white void. Then he looked up at the sky, and his body suddenly shook, pupils constricting.

His lips moved as he murmured to himself, "Ouroboros?"

In the pitch-black sky, silver-white light formed a loop, like a strange giant serpent biting its own tail. It occupied a small part of the sky, reflected in Cassius's eyes. Around its body, rotating waves scattered fragments like tail flames.

The fragments burned, decomposed, and finally annihilated, disappearing.

"Rune of Wisdom, five great foundations, world cycles... What does this all mean?" Cassius pressed his right hand against his chest. His thoughts seemed to grasp at some vague pieces barely pieced together, but he couldn't put them together.

Coming to this different world and traveling back in time several times, Cassius had many unsolved mysteries in his heart, such as the origin and source of dark creatures, and what was the ancient civilization of the ruins? The origin of Black Rain Manor? The origin of Covert Martial Arts? And so much more...

All of this, he would uncover bit by bit. Exploring dangerous unknowns required strong power as a guarantee. Cassius was strong, but not strong enough! What he wanted was overwhelming power, absolute power, suppressive power.

Holy Fist! He needed to reach at least the level of Holy Fist! Only then could Cassius think what he wanted, do what he wanted, and wield his abilities as he pleased. Only in this way could Cassius explore all the unknowns and secrets that made him uneasy, and finally live a peaceful and happy life forever.

"Sorry, Jilan. You didn't provoke me, and we have no grudges. Putting aside the natural opposing stance between me and the Gate organization, it was I who deceived you and hunted you! I am such a person who, for peace of mind and for power, sometimes chooses unscrupulous means! Hehehe... Compared to you now, I seem more like a villain..." Cassius seemed to have figured something out completely, a slightly neurotic smile appearing at the corner of his mouth while his shoulders trembled slightly.

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Bang!

The ground exploded with a bang. A rapidly growing figure disappeared from the spot like a flash, appearing behind Jilan.

At this moment, Jilan had already stood up from the ground. His gaze was dreamy and yearning as he looked ahead, separated by nearly a hundred meters. There stood a tall, illusory, and hazy portal.

A white stone-carved Gate frame, religious-like carvings, a jade-like heavy Gate—it all exuded a majestic and solemn grandeur, as if everything would become insignificant in front of this Gate.

Jilan was captivated and didn't notice Cassius's outburst at first. By the time he reacted, it was too late. A burly body embraced him, giving him a suffocating and fatal hug.

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

The sound of bones shattering like firecrackers resounded in an instant. Jilan's combat artist body couldn't withstand Cassius's terrifying power at all. His bear-like arms contracted. The roaring force surging from them could even grind steel pillars. However, caught off guard, Jilan's chest and shoulders were compressed thinner than his waist. His bones shattered, muscles tore and skin wrinkled. The three mixed together, like a pile of mud.

His arms used to perform the Black Demon's Hand were also forcibly crushed flat, becoming meat slices only three centimeters thick. In this situation, how could Jilan possibly manipulate his arms to attack?

His only countermeasure was crippled in the first instant. His whole body was cruelly squeezed and kneaded into a human stick.

"You!!! Peacock, why!!!" Jilan's only relatively intact head roared angrily.

"Why? Actually, the two of us are a bit alike..." From behind him came Cassius's deep voice. "I'm not a member of the Gate organization, and I'm not Peacock. Actually, if it weren't for us naturally standing on opposing sides, I'd be happy to make you a friend since you and I are alike."

Cassius said for the second time that he and Jilan were a bit alike. "However, unfortunately, we are enemies. Since we are enemies, I absolutely cannot let someone like me live on."

After the voice behind him stopped, Jilan shouted emotionally. "You lied to me, you lied to me from the very beginning! I'm not willing! Clearly, there was only one last step to that Gate..."

"I didn't lie to you entirely. I also told the truth. I said that after the Gate-opening ritual, I would help you settle accounts with that group from the Blood Spirit Society. You know what? Before I met you, I had already killed them all, which is how I got that latest population density distribution map. So now, I'll help you fulfill your dream and send you to hell to find them and settle accounts properly..." Cassius's tone was inexplicably gentle, yet carried a chilling and horrifying feeling, like a venomous snake with a supple body.

Although he was whispering gently, he had long since bared his fangs.

Crack, crack, crack...

His arms tightened again, muscles knotted like tree roots bulged and swelled, like pieces of metal.

"No!!! Open the Gate! I want to open the Gate!" Jilan hung in mid-air, his eyes staring intently at the Gate not far away. Bloody tears burst and sprayed from the corners of his eyes. That was a sign of his body collapsing under immense pressure.

"Stop shouting. That Gate will be opened. After you die, I'll help you push it open and see the scenery inside on your behalf." After Cassius finished speaking, a cold light flashed in his eyes. His two huge shoulder blades closed inward forcefully like heavy doors.

Crunch!!!

Jilan, along with his robe, was chopped into two pieces. A pitch-black hand suddenly reached out from behind Cassius. Five slender fingers plunged into the skull, blood dripping. The fingers moved extremely fast, instantly pulling out a crystal fragment.

Then, holding it between two fingers, it was instantly pressed against Cassius's brow. The cross-shaped indentation flashed with red light as the fragment responded.

He released Jilan's corpse, his gaze looking toward the hazy, dreamlike Gate ahead, whose frame faintly showed signs of dissipating. The "Gate" could only stay for a while at specific times. Once the crucial time passed, it would dissipate quickly.

Cassius felt the fragment slowly merging into his brow, and with a fierce determination, he directly raised his millstone-sized hand and slapped his forehead.

A tremendous force forcibly smashed the fragment in. In the middle of the cross-shaped indentation was a bloody pit.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The entire street cracked inch by inch, one huge footprint after another shook open fissures. Air currents surged in. Cassius sprinted rapidly like a tank at sports car speed, his body swelling inch by inch to two and a half meters tall. His steel-like muscles were incomparably strong, towering and majestic.

In an instant, he reached the full explosive state of the Golem Covert Martial Arts. The black Qi pulled out a whistling tail flame behind him.

"Open for me!!!" He roared loudly, his whole body turning into a whistling meteor sparking against the air, crashing heavily into the Gate of Physique.

Boom!!!