Chapter 568: Chapter 568

On August 26 of the year 970 of the Hongli Empire, it was the fourth day after the battle of Black Rain Manor.

Cassius had attempted to enter Black Rain Manor, intending to locate the source of Soul Power. However, that action provoked a violent response from the manor. Perhaps since Cassius now wielded the Heart of the Dominator Fist, his aura was so fierce that no disguise could mask him.

The manor trembled, earth and hills quaking as terrifying aberrations and monsters poured from unknown zones. All manner of deadly environments manifested!

Tyrant Black Dragon, Ripple Master, and the other knight-level Hellsings had never witnessed such chaos. Some hidden techniques, lethal ripples, and ghastly aberrants made them realize their decades of knowledge of Black Rain Manor were but the tip of the iceberg.

Seeing this, Cassius shed all attempts at concealment and charged straight in.

The very next second, the core of Black Rain Manor—Daybreak Hospital, Craniotomy Clinic, Arthropod Hall, Baptism Chapel, Mission Hall, and the Central Clock Tower—hummed in unison. A power hoarded for ages poured forth. This was the manor at its zenith!

At the same time, Cassius activated the Heart of the Dominator Fist, blasted through every hazard, and arrived a mere ten metres from the Baptism Chapel. There, he finally felt pressure and resistance surging toward him like tides from every direction. He could force his way through, but he would likely pay an unknown price.

Weighing the gains and losses, he turned away, leaving a sea of blood behind. However, when he became a Dominator Fist, Cassius vowed to return for a second attempt!

For the next three days, demons rampaged within the manor and dangers sprang up everywhere. Spatial distortions and frequent phantasms erupted. Many Hellsings who entered to investigate never returned.

Half a month passed and the manor remained perilous. Each night, every secret forbidden zone opened by itself, with eerie beings roaming the roads. Only after a full month did the manor gradually quiet. The Hellsings then returned to reorganise their lair. The source of thɪs content is novel·fıre·net

On October 15, Cassius devoted himself to the Southern Dipper Waterbird Fist, gradually reaching a state of harmony and inventing several new forms.

He had completed all third-rate fist techniques in the Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance he inscribed using the Qi Engraving Technique.

Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist: Azure Wind Fist with a spiral trait, Illusory Moon Fist with a decomposition trait.

Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist: Fire Stone Fist with an explosive trait, Ripple Fist with a shock trait.

Southern Dipper Waterbird Fist: Devouring Demon Fist with a devouring trait, Vaporization Fist with an annihilation trait.

Altogether, he had created six basic fist techniques. Cassius individually penned each using the Qi Engraving Technique. They were then placed within Golem Sect for disciples to study.

Young geniuses of the Covert Martial Arts world hailed them as the Six Southern Dipper Volumes!

By November 10, the Treatment Ward under the Hunters' Association had grown swiftly and become a giant entity. Fierce criminals held in branch wards across every county were quickly absorbed as doctors. Within the association, hunters yearning for strength likewise flocked into the Treatment Ward.

The Chief Mechanist convened a meeting at headquarters and decided to split the Treatment Ward from the Hunters' Association into an independent body under Cassius’s command.

On January 8 of the year 971, a master of Blue Jia Dao crossed the seas from the Blue Star Empire to the Eastern Covert Martial Arts community of the empire to share fist techniques. Rumour said it stemmed from the international exchange over a year earlier. A practitioner had returned home and recounted the apex duel between Whale King Arlington and the Golem Sect's master.

Word had spread and shook the Blue Star Empire's Covert Martial Arts community. Thus, a venerable master voluntarily emerged from seclusion. He came to the Hongli Empire to visit Cassius, sect master of the Golem Sect.

At that time, Cassius was in the Northern Reef Continent, a region of many small nations. He had travelled there to study diverse paths of Covert Martial Arts while tracking the Gate Organization. He intended to wipe out any trace of its presence on the continent. It took him over a month to return.

Thus, he kept the fist master waiting. During the wait, the elder, nicknamed Holy Snake Maya, became famous. His comprehension of fist techniques had reached perfection; every gesture and sip embodied the profound principle of the fist. Many experts conceded defeat merely by watching from afar before crossing fists.

Cassius, once back from abroad, hastened straight to the Eastern Covert Martial Arts community. Their eyes met and, as if falling into an illusion, their Wills clashed. After ten minutes their eyes cleared, and they gave each other a carefree smile.

Cassius invited Holy Snake Maya to visit the Golem Sect at once. In the eighteen months that had passed, the sect had been constructed amid wild hills. It was a sprawling compound with God's Tears Lake behind it.

Cassius and Holy Snake Maya went straight to the lake. They sat by the water and discussed martial paths for seven full days and nights.

Sometimes a single utterance contained deep fist logic; sometimes they fell silent, heads bowed in meditation. Other times, one would rise suddenly and, like an old farmer, leisurely perform the simplest of forms, prompting the other to applaud.

What the sect members understood came on the final day. Cassius gazed up at the starlit night and was suddenly moved. His figure whirled wildly, as he leaped up and became an afterimage.

The next instant, a crimson blood vulture soared skyward, shrieking through metal and stone. The eagle blurred into a violet giant python as it dove underwater, burst out, and became a pillar thrusting into the heavens. Its maw eclipsed the bright moon as though to bite it down with terrifying fangs!

Finally the snake shifted into a white bird. Each graceful and unhurried wing-beat rang like steel clashing, its body rising and dipping. It skipped over the lake like a drifting pebble.

Beside the lake, Holy Snake Maya watched and suddenly raised his right hand to the sky. His aged finger seemed to point at some nebulous star. His left hand tapped the ground, tracing a huge cross. He laughed heartily, as though he had grasped what Cassius displayed.

When the waterbird returned, Holy Snake Maya rose to his feet and bowed to him, as if in gratitude. The next morning, Holy Snake Maya passed away silently, a smile upon his face.

After that exchange, Golem Sect's influence grew even vaster as fresh blood kept streaming in. Cassius himself profited greatly and began using the Qi Engraving Technique to draft second-rate Southern Dipper fist techniques, crudely named after the six traits of the three fist techniques.

Spiral and Decomposition, Explosion and Shock, Devour and Annihilation.

Each layer built upon and deepened the last.

On May 10 of the year 971, the Dark Hunter Organization, Golem Sect, and Black Rain Manor launched their first collaboration. They began purging the Eclipse Society across the Empire's east. During the purge, a Moon God statue was destroyed and another dismantled. Both were sent to the sect's base for Cassius to handle personally. They allowed his Golem Covert Martial Arts to advance yet again.

Five days later, on May 15, the grand hunt proposed a year before by the Dark Hunter Organization gained unanimous approval as all factions recognized the menace of dark creatures.

That day in Florence, Hellsing delegates, Covert Martial Art representatives, and the hosting Dark Hunter Organization convened for three days of meetings. They planned to release the grand hunt concept and make it public. They would make both the supernatural and Covert Martial Arts community understand humanity's true enemy! They would leave dark creatures nowhere to hide beneath the glaring sun!

The campaign, named Sword of Judgment, officially began on May 15!

Time flashed by as seasons turned again in swift succession.

The Sword of Judgment campaign ran an entire year.

May 15 of the year 972 was a highly sensitive date since July 2 marked the end point of the time-travel.

There were exactly forty-eight days from May 15 to July 2. Thus within those forty-eight days, the empire would experience a world-shaking event. An event so perilous that even Cassius dared not grow lax.

Subtle omens of the change already seemed to appear. The Calamity Tunnel Cassius had met when first entering the time-travel had surfaced once again.

The number of Calamity Tunnels had risen sharply beginning in December of the year 971. Many cities suffered grievously; deaths mounted ever higher. Some tunnels had even opened in remote wildernesses.

Unknown developments could occur outside any major faction's surveillance. It seemed like the World of Calamity was invading the surface world. Energy from the underworld spilled into the surface world like a vast tide, as if it were a natural phenomenon.

Cassius had wondered whether the tide arose because conditions in the World of Calamity had worsened. Perhaps the balance between Ultimate Dark Forms and human Holy Fists had tipped.

The many origins of calamity there had been restrained only because Holy Fists had acted as torches to ceaselessly offset calamity. Should certain Holy Fists fall in unforeseen events, those springs would run unchecked, spewing energy without restraint. That overflow might cause the tide.

It was a fairly reasonable explanation. Of course, it need not be the whole truth. Recently, whenever Cassius entered the World of Calamity using the Mark of the Spirit Bearer, he clearly sensed the air's agitation and frenzy. It felt as though a vast undercurrent was building, like the eerie calm before a volcanic eruption or an ocean storm.

It was even worse after half a month in May. During those fifteen days, Cassius found the World of Calamity plunged into the Moon Halo Night state for five entire days.

The World of Calamity had day and night; night carried three danger grades.

A normal Blood Night was when dark creatures grew restless and beasts rampaged. A rare Moon Halo Night was when beast tides might erupt and undying calamity spirits went berserk, assaulting every living thing in sight. Calamity activity in the air surged, even birthing calamity mists in certain zones. Anyone who entered such mist transformed into a beast without fail.

The third grade was called Lightless Night. It was when Ultimate Dark Forms roamed!!!

Meteorite shards shone, luring dark creatures to devour them and triggering vast sacrificial explosions. Setting Lightless Night aside, Moon Halo Night alone was rare in the World of Calamity. It might appear once in months, and could be counted as a yearly phenomenon.

But five times in half a month was clearly abnormal. Cassius's vigilance only rose as he trained the Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance day and night.

Two full years slipped by.

After acquiring the Waterbird Fist, the three Southern Dipper fist techniques had resonated with each other, aiding him up the final slope toward perfecting Force.

Cassius had received White Bird Holy Fist's gift on the Eternal Archipelago. The Waterbird Fist's acupoints had leaped to stage six, a full sixty acupoints. Thereafter, the other two fists were drawn along, each resonating until they reached sixty acupoints.

But he had to then cultivate step by painstaking step. The last six acupoints were indeed arduous; conquering each felt like breaching a fortress. Over two years, Cassius broke through five such bastions. Now, all three fist techniques had reached sixty-five acupoints. He lacked but the final acupoint.

For that single acupoint, Cassius spent four months in closed-door training at the sect, ignoring all else. Yet whether from working behind closed doors or lacking the needed spark, he always missed by a hair, failing to achieve the wish in seclusion.

At last, on May 15, he chose to emerge. Sharp eyes flashed open in the dim sealed chamber. A burly black figure rose, casually donning clothes from the corner.

The stone door exploded as a weed-covered hill shook violently. Its base blew apart, rocks collapsed, and a dark cavity gaped.

A golden-haired Cassius strode out.

"I can feel it. A dreadful turmoil is about to break loose..."