Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 379 - Golem Covert Martial Arts, Qi Embodiment Advancement

Chapter 379 - Golem Covert Martial Arts, Qi Embodiment Advancement

On the other side, the Ace of Spades organization had also fought their way in.

Bang!

A figure flew out from the darkness and heavily crashed into an iron streetlamp with a loud metallic clang.

The Dead Blood rolled three times on the ground, revealing a sunken chest with a blood-stained fist imprint. It was evidently caused by the explosive power of the Demon Blood Combat Technique. The muscular Ace of Spades member had doubled his punch's force in an instant, almost punching through the Dead Blood's heart bone plate!

The protective defense over their heart was extremely sturdy. Even handgun bullets couldn’t penetrate it. Thus, one could imagine the power behind that fist. If it had hit an ordinary person, it would have been like bursting a water-filled balloon.

The fact that the Dead Blood could withstand it showed their formidable defense. Of course, it also had to do with the fact that the Ace of Spades members had not been practicing the Demon Blood Combat Technique for long; most were still at the first stage. Only some higher-ups had reached the second stage.

If the Ace of Spades members had another three or four months of training, every member might have the strength to tear apart a Dead Blood with their bare hands. The early stages of the Demon Blood Combat Technique progressed extremely rapidly. At the same time, its drawbacks and severe side effects seemed less prominent compared to the extreme efficiency of gaining strength in a short time. Moreover, the Demon Blood Combat Technique still had potential for further development; Cassius planned to evolve it into a Covert Martial Arts.

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

Two men assumed coordinated combat stances under the dim yellow light of the black streetlamps and continued to throw fast and fierce swinging punches forward. They treated the Dead Blood before them like a punching bag, hammering its body mercilessly.

They deliberately targeted the arms of this member of the Blood Spirit Society. They were mangled, with broken joints and bone fragments tearing through skin. The Dead Blood's immortality required some time to activate. But they even took advantage of those brief seconds. One strong man delivered a whip kick, the other followed with a straight kick.

A figure fell to the ground with a thud.

The two Ace of Spades members immediately surrounded him, their soles pressing hard on his shoulders. They pulled out their large, pitch-black shotguns from behind. One muzzle was pressed against his heart, and the other shoved above his eye. They pulled the triggers without hesitation.

Bang, bang!

The Blood Spirit Society member's frantic struggle was firmly ended. Even when he completely lost mobility, he couldn't break free from their legs. His newly recovered arm only managed to tear off some fabric from their pants, revealing the strong man's muscular legs. They were as thick as tree roots, and had dense black leg hair that could be woven into woolen pants.

"Fuck, these bugs can't give it a rest even when dying."

"Wasted a pair of my combat pants, tsk!"

Both Ace of Spades members kicked the Dead Blood's corpse and left cursing.

Five minutes later, the hunting operation was completely over. A total of twenty-one Dead Blood from the Blood Spirit Society had been mercilessly eliminated. Their bodies were dragged to the plaza, and the cores of the Dead Blood inside them were also firmly trapped.

Dim yellow light cast shadows on the gray floor. There were elongated blood smears everywhere, like chaotic crimson graffiti resembling a spider's web.

In one corner of the plaza, ten strong men stood in a row in front of a pile of corpses. Their combat suits were somewhat damaged, faintly revealing the athletic muscle contours under the light. Some of them sported the occasional scar, which added a ferocious and bloodthirsty aura to them.

None of the Ace of Spades members present were seriously injured. It was a surprise attack that they had extensively trained for. They had eliminated two at the outset, and the Shadow Demon puppet squad rushed in first to draw fire. What remained for them to handle was much less dangerous.

The Ace of Spades had conducted the operation with a sense of novelty and excitement. After all, it was their first time facing these man-eating dark creatures, so some members might have felt a bit scared or uneasy. However, after this battle, their worries and lack of confidence were swept away. No matter how abnormal or monstrous they were, didn't they still fear our explosive punches from the Demon Blood Combat Technique? Didn't they still fear the wild, blazing shotguns?

One shot to the heart, one shot to the head. Those who deserve death must die.

To be honest, the Ace of Spades members were somewhat disappointed with the Dead Blood's performance. Instead, it was their Shadow Demon companions in joint action that gave everyone a sense of eeriness and danger.

For example, the group of strong men from the Ace of Spades silently watched the opposite side. There, ten slender black shadows were half-squatting among the corpses. Their twisted claws hung down, dripping with blood. There even seemed to be a large, fanged mouth in their palms. They were gnawing on the corpses, making sounds like chewing jelly.

Later, it turned into gurgling sounds like sipping water through a straw.

The eyelids of the strong men of the Ace of Spades twitched. They felt as if these slender black shadows were sucking out people's brains. Their aura was becoming increasingly dangerous and ferocious.

In fact, it was the sound of the Black Demon's Hand operating at high speed. Normally, it wouldn't be like this. When they absorbed the vitality of livestock, the Black Demonic Vortex in their palms would at most emit a slight hissing sound. But now, the sound emitted by the Black Demonic Vortex was louder than ordinary speech. This clearly indicated that the vitality of the target being absorbed was much more concentrated than that of livestock.

After two minutes, the Shadow Demons finished feeding. Only then did the Ace of Spades begin to clean up the battlefield, cooperating with the companions who arrived later to transport the captured Dead Blood main bodies.

What happened that night in Beiliu County was just a small snapshot of the overall trend in the Six Eastern Counties. Almost at the same time, some dark creature groups in the eastern part of the Hongli Federation were ambushed. They were caught off guard and utterly embarrassed.

These races that considered themselves superior to humans by one or even several degrees had never suffered such a loss. They were utterly stunned; some had even lost their minds and sent in the younger ones after the older ones were defeated. Then, they had sent the whole group after them, only to be wiped out entirely!

Originally, the intelligence had only identified a small fry, which was the only hunting target. No one had expected the whole family to jump out, shouting "When have we ever been treated like this?" Then, they had simply followed the clues until the entire family, both young and old, were eliminated.

As a result, the Golem Sect's first hunting operation targeting dark creatures yielded even better results than Cassius had expected. The captured dark creatures were quickly transported to the headquarters in Baichuan City.

The only pity was that Cassius's own baiting plan failed. He had intended for the Ace of Spades and the Shadowless Clan to threaten the dark creature groups in the Six Eastern Counties, causing some creatures comparable to combat artists to appear. Unexpectedly, after several days of hunting operations, not a single creature of that level appeared. Zero!

Only some small fry comparable to peak pugilists occasionally surfaced, and since Cassius had nothing better to do, he casually slaughtered them.

He had the highest hopes for the Blood Spirit Society. After all, this dark creature group had Indestructible-Rank Dead Blood. Yet, even with the Golem Sect recklessly attacking the Blood Spirit Society's bases, their president and vice-president still didn't appear.

He didn't know if they had detected his intentions, simply hadn't reacted, or had chickened out. After several days, Cassius, who was initially restless and eager to stretch his muscles, found his joints almost rusting from waiting without an opponent. His enthusiasm diminished by several levels.

Three days later, on October 26, a figure slowly practiced combat techniques under the sunlight on the rooftop of a building in Baichuan City. His arms moved and stretched like the wings of a soaring seagull. His bare upper body was drenched, as beads of sweat gradually flowed down the perfect contours of his muscles, dripping down the loose black training pants on his lower body.

Swish!

A fist swung out swiftly, leaving a blurred afterimage in the air. His arm moved so quickly that the sweat on his arm remained in place, forming a hollow misty outline of his arm.

"Hu..." Cassius exhaled a long breath of hot air, maintaining his forward punching posture for a second before retracting and stepping back three steps. He sat cross-legged again on a black cushion big enough for two.

The hunting operation had yielded considerable gains. First was the life vibration energy for the development of the Golem Sect organization. For convenience, he had started to classify them according to the corresponding realms of Covert Martial Arts Practitioners. The overall harvest from three days of attacks was as follows:

Over twelve hundred strands of life vibration energy at the level of fistfighter.

Forty-four strands of life vibration energy at the level of pugilist.

As for life vibration energy at the combat artist level, zero.

Although they had acquired a vast quantity of life vibration energy at the fistfighter level, it was of little use to Cassius. Except for some extremely rare dark creatures, Cassius didn't absorb the rest.

Instead, he left most of it as an energy reserve for the Golem Sect's rapid expansion and enhancement. For those cultivating the Golem Seeds, life vibration energy was akin to a precious resource. This was the same for the Shadowless Clan. If they wanted to continue controlling Shadow Demon puppets in battle, life energy was an indispensable power source.

From this perspective, one could understand its importance.

Cassius hardly touched the fistfighter level life vibration energy, but he used up all forty-four strands of pugilist level life vibration energy just moments ago. When a large amount of pugilist level life vibration energy merged into his body, Cassius's chest felt like it was being burned by invisible flames. It spread instantly to his entire body, baking his muscles.

In that instant, he even saw an illusion that the pores on his skin were spewing out streams of magma enveloped by scorching flames. Fortunately, Cassius was accustomed to enduring pain, so his expression didn't twist much. After toughing it out for over ten minutes, the pain subsided, and he gradually began to move. He performed combat techniques, mobilizing his entire body and accelerating the efficacy of the life vibration energy.

Cassius's progress in the Golem Covert Martial Arts had been:

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Qi Embodiment 53.9% (Total Three Stages)]

His own cultivation during this period had increased it by about 0.4%. The further one progressed in top-tier Covert Martial Arts, the harder it became to improve. After using up all forty-four strands of pugilist level life vibration energy, the accumulation brought about changes equivalent to using several combat artist level life vibration energies consecutively.

The last two digits jumped rapidly, blurring into a black shadow until it finally stabilized completely.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Qi Embodiment 60% (Total Three Stages)]

It had increased by about 6%, which was almost equivalent to using two or three combat artist level life vibration energies. Now, a simple calculation showed that ten pugilist level life vibration energies brought about a 1.4% increase. It had reduced compared to when the Golem Covert Martial Arts progress was between 30% to 40%. At that time, ten pugilist level life vibration energy increased progress by 2%.

All this was understandable as it was the same when Cassius absorbed fistfighter level life vibration energy before. The effect diminished the more the same level of life vibration energy was absorbed. At the same time, progress in the later stages of Covert Martial Arts was evidently harder.

Achieving the pinnacle of martial arts was very difficult, even for Cassius, who had an advantage, let alone ordinary people. He now felt that his decision to develop a sect was quite correct. There were people collecting antiques with lingering attachment for him, and others gathering life vibration energy. In terms of efficiency, it was obviously much better than Cassius working alone.

This three-day comprehensive hunting operation in the east had increased his technique progress by 6%. What about next time? If each could maintain a 6%, no, even an average of about 5%, then Cassius could reach the final chapter of the Golem Covert Martial Arts after eight more hunts. He just needed to take his time and wait for the right moment.

Even if this was somewhat presumptuous, it was a beautiful vision. He looked forward to the day when the "Mental Unification" chapter would arrive.

Now, considering Cassius's overall strength according to the Black Ops Agency's energy levels:

Physique: B (71)

Qi: B (60)

Technique: B (42)

Physique was the average of speed, strength, and defense; it was Cassius’s highest attribute. Since he had opened the Gate of Physique, it soared from about fifty to seventy. Qi had increased from fifty-four to sixty. He had slowly increased it by two points in this month or so of honing technique.

Cassius, a twofold top-tier combat artist, remained as a top-tier combat artist level after this enhancement. However, he was getting closer and closer to the limit of a combat artist. It was just within reach.

"Hiss..." Cassius, meditating with closed eyes, exhaled two streams of hot air from his nostrils.

"The revival of Black Rain Manor may begin soon. This is a large-scale mobilization of the Gate Organization. The situation in the Eastern Covert Martial Arts community is now a dangerous balance. Perhaps it won't remain calm for long. And there's also the organization leader, Xiadu, who may suddenly awaken at any time..." Cassius opened his eyes, his black pupils exceptionally bright.

"My strength is still insufficient. After all, my cultivation time has been too short. Although I possess two Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritances, both have only reached the second stage, which is still far inferior to Feng Liusi..." He slowly stood up. "It's time to time-travel using the legendary antiques..."

Cassius stepped to a corner of the room, taking a file wrapped in yellow paper from a black bookshelf. When he opened it, the first page of the stapled document was a detailed report on an antique.

It was time for the fifth time-travel...