Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 319 - This Is A Trial

"Ultimate Fist!!!" The astonishment in Cassius's eyes flickered briefly.

Feng Liusi had discussed the existence beyond combat artists on that stormy night in the Loka Mountains. These individuals had pushed their Covert Martial Arts to the extreme, achieved perfect control over their bodies, and refined their Qi to a transcendent level. They had subtly transcended the constraints of fist techniques and reached a realm of profound mystery.

They had solidified Qi, wielded overwhelming dominance, and achieved transcendence. Usually, only a few emerged in a century; in eras when Covert Martial Arts declined, there might not even be one for several centuries.

The mummy before him was unmistakably an Ultimate Fist practitioner!

An Ultimate Fist practitioner concealed their Qi, focusing on combat moves and fist techniques to exclusion as they pursued the pinnacle of precise lethal force in every minute detail. Reaching the utmost limit defined one as an Ultimate Fist practitioner.

Cassius took a deep breath and entered his strongest combat state without hesitation. His hands slammed together, and exaggerated muscles bulged inch by inch, like layers of stacked armor.

The muscles on his back resembled intertwined steel cables, contracting and relaxing with his arm movements. They exuded an unimaginable sense of strength and flexibility. His Qi surged turbulently, continuously emanating from his pores, like clouds of steam billowing behind him.

On the other side, Saint Feinan was also fully prepared. He held the Spiral-Eye Sword in his right hand, as if carrying a cross. The spherical eyeball at the end of the cross-shaped sword glowed eerily.

In his other hand, the crystal-blue long whip transformed inch by inch into a crystal longsword. The crystal sword emitted a chilling aura, undulating like water waves, while the black flame outline of the Spiral-Eye Sword flared up, burning intensely.

Saint Feinan wielded both swords simultaneously, and the Qi surging from his body began to affect the surrounding environment. Tiny snowflakes silently drifted down from the air above and nearby areas.

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The three combat artists unleashed their Qi simultaneously, causing the air around them to surge and billow, making their clothes flap loudly.

However, their efforts were insignificant compared to the corpse in front of them. The residual Qi of the Ultimate Fist practitioner spread and affected the trio's minds, causing their vision to blur and hallucinations to appear. Cassius saw a magnificent waterfall cascading down from an unknown mountain peak, crashing heavily into a pool below. The resulting noise was like hundreds of thousands of bombs exploding simultaneously.

Mist rose around him, forming a dense white fog. He suddenly realized it was an illusion and bit his tongue until it bled, hoping to use the pain to escape this state. His vision swayed. The waterfall and forest seemed to overlap with the dim church. It appeared and disappeared before him.

A dazed Cassius saw the church building emitting an eerie glow. Dense ritual patterns spread like spider webs, forming mythological designs. All the patterns intersected at a single point in the hall.

The mummy of the Ultimate Fist practitioner moved as if it was being controlled, slowly walking to that intersection point and sitting down cross-legged.

His hollow eyes emitted black light, deeply gazing at Cassius and the other two with mechanical stiffness. Suddenly, the mummy burst into a purple glow, like the dazzling aurora streaking across the sky at sunrise. The purple light spread, as if restructuring space. A world of Qi unfolded silently around the Ultimate Fist practitioner.

It expanded until it enveloped all three of them.

A scorching sun, white clouds, blue sky, and flying birds.

A sea of trees spread as far as the eye could see; layers of green leaves blocked the sunlight, exuding lush vitality. The dense canopy swayed gently with the wind like a green velvet umbrella.

Cassius stood bewildered in the clearing, sunlight gently casting a long slanting halo. He suddenly snapped back to awareness, his gaze becoming sharp and body tensing to the extreme. If there was the slightest movement in the next second, it would be faced by a fierce and relentless attack!

However, half a minute passed with no danger appearing. Instead, he heard the roaring sound of a waterfall not far away. Cassius looked up through the gaps in the tree canopy and saw a towering mountain range in the distance.

"This is..." He frowned. "Is this an illusion? A long-arranged camouflage trick in the ruins? My real body is probably still in the church..."

Cassius suddenly threw a punch, hitting a tree that a single person could encircle. The trunk broke with a crack, sending wood chips and splinters flying.

"This sensation... is real?! A real world?" He clenched his fist, feeling a bit confused. Cassius walked toward the waterfall as he cleared his mind.

He walked through the forest, his soles crushing dry branches and leaves. The closer he got, the more he could feel the dense moisture in the air. The roaring sound was like thunder.

Once he passed three trees that blocked his view, a magnificent scene unfolded before Cassius. A massive waterfall carrying millions of tons of water roared as it crashed onto the surface of a semi-circular pool that had huge bluestones in it.

The falling mist spread over the pool like a thin white fog. Looking up, he could see a refracted seven-colored rainbow. He gazed intently at the base of the waterfall.

A black figure appeared faintly amidst the splashing water, sitting cross-legged on a huge bluestone below. It silently endured the grinding of the water like a boulder.

"Training under a waterfall? An ascetic?" Cassius murmured.

There was once a sect in the world of Covert Martial Arts that revered asceticism. They sought to survive in harsh environments in order to force the body to achieve spiritual refinement and transcendence. It was said that this method had a long history, and such groups of Covert Martial Arts Practitioners existed long ago. However, as times changed, such resilient ascetics became rarer.

"Eh?" As he was thinking, the figure in the waterfall moved.

Rumble...

Without any warning, the terrifying waterfall was lifted by an unknown barrier, suddenly slanting and rushing away like refracted light. Hundreds of thousands of tons of water crashed into a nearby forest with a boom, shaking the earth.

Ancient trees were toppled by the powerful torrent of water as the soil around their roots was washed away. Nearly a hundred trees were overturned and swept away. From above, it looked like the green mountain range had a large bald spot.

Cassius took two steps back and started to consider the best escape route for a strategic retreat. However, the figure did not attack. Instead, he lightly leaped over a hundred meters and landed in the clearing by the pool.

It was an old man, with white eyebrows, a white beard, and white hair. He was thin and slightly hunched. His eyes were a small slit, as if he was squinting.

For some reason, he gave off a lazy vibe and seemed easygoing. Nonetheless, Cassius didn't dare to act rashly because he somewhat understood what was going on. This old man was the mummy of the Ultimate Fist practitioner! He wore a bronze ring on his thumb, which was identical to the one he saw in the church earlier.

Therefore, the environment Cassius was in was probably not an illusion, but an all-encompassing, almost tangible Qi?!

His hairs stood on end, shocked by his bold speculation. An inexplicable horror filled his heart. If the Ultimate Fist realm could reach such a miraculous level... Wasn't this akin to creating a world? This was beyond human imagination!

Feng Liusi had once experienced the release of Qi by a Holy Fist practitioner, and Cassius remembered that description of a pitch-black night sky that was filled with clouds, howling winds, and torrential rain. But to think even the dense forest he now stood in and the ground beneath his feet was his Qi!

It was the power of a single person who could rival nature.

Cassius recalled the hazy scene he saw earlier of the ritual in the church. The Ultimate Fist practitioner's corpse had sat at the formation's eye. Perhaps he had created everything by harnessing the power of that mysterious ritual. But Cassius remained vigilant even as he comforted himself.

Although he somewhat understood what was happening, Cassius didn't know what would happen next. What was the purpose and intent of dragging him into this Qi world?

The old man seemed to completely ignore Cassius. He had his hands behind his back as he slowly walked into the center of the clearing and took a slow and profound deep breath.

Cassius subconsciously moved a few steps closer.

The old man moved.

He shifted his center of gravity, placing left foot pointed straight forward on the ground and his right foot into a tiptoe stance. This placed his entire weight on his right foot, while his back straightened as if it was leaning against a wall.

Crack, crack, crack...

The friction between his bones sounded like an old machine moving. The old man extended his hands, moving very slowly. This was a swinging form, power transmitting bit by bit from the shoulder to the upper arm, then from the upper arm to the forearm, and finally to the fingertips.

Because his movements were slow, his movements resembled the gentle swing of a python’s tail. It was soft yet fierce, flexible yet firm! It carried a somewhat peculiar force trajectory.

Cassius moved a few steps closer, only to see the old man, who had just finished his movement, suddenly retract and punch out. His right arm swung out like a python's tail, compressing a series of actions into an instant.

Boom!

A tree not far away showed a collapsed indentation but didn't fall. It stood as if untouched, its branches and leaves swaying slightly in the wind.

Cassius squinted his eyes to look. A circling white bird in the sky flew down and lightly landed on the tree branch. At the moment of contact, the tree that took two people to encircle exploded from the inside out, as if stuffed with dozens of powerful bombs.

A large cloud of wood chips rushed into the sky like sand, even igniting as they fell like clusters of red flowers.

"This..." Cassius clenched his fist tightly. "Reverberating Force!!"

Just as Death's Fang Force was the essence of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist, Reverberating Force was the essence of the Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist. It represented explosive shockwaves!

Death's Fang Force caused cracks upon contact, while Reverberating Force exploded.

He calmed himself and suddenly noticed a distinctive aspect of the old man's previous move. That snake-like swing was actually silent! The only sounds were from the tree trunk and the subsequent explosion. The old man's fist itself had been utterly silent like a soundless venomous snake.

He seemed to have used some special technique to minimize his movements, even to the point of silence.

An invisible killer. It fit the definition of an ancient assassination technique. Cassius pondered and examined the old man who began to practice again. He assumed an identical basic stance. He moved slowly, and then delivered a quick strike.

This was a spinning hand chop, executed with precision and fierceness, carrying a ruthless posture aimed at a one-hit kill.

After observing for a while, Cassius couldn't help but start learning. He found that the old man harbored no killing intent toward him, and there was no danger around. Moreover, he seemed to be demonstrating the Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist, something Cassius desired.

Since it was presented to him, why not learn?

For the next hour, the old man practiced moves like a robot—sometimes moving slowly and sometimes displaying their power. These included joint techniques, elbow strikes, knee thrusts, whip legs, comprehensive fist arts, and so on, until he had demonstrated a large foundational framework. They seemed somewhat similar to the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist.

After an hour of learning, Cassius had grasped about ten percent. After all, the old man only demonstrated once, and his force-exerting stances were too peculiar. It was hard to perfectly mimic the joint movements.

"It seems like this is a fist technique legacy?" He thought it over and could only reach this conclusion for now.

Swish.

Not far away, the old man finished his last move and slowly turned to look at Cassius with eyes void of emotion. He started walking toward Cassius.

"What does this mean?" Cassius's nape stiffened, muscles tensed.

Suddenly, the old man struck. His right hand blurred, transforming into a snake-like swing that silently cut through the air.

"He's attacking!?" Cassius reacted immediately. He had somewhat anticipated this.

He instantly assumed the Red Falcon Fist stance, meeting the attack with a claw strike. Unexpectedly, the moment Cassius used the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist technique, the old man's expression changed. His slit-like eyes opened, as if purple ferocious light burst forth.

The swing, which was originally similar in strength to his demonstrations, suddenly increased in might by hundreds or thousands of times, as if his palm seized a hundred-meter waterfall and swung it over. Air rapidly escaped, and all the trees and leaves within nearly a hundred meters shook, rustling down.

Boom!!!

Cassius was blasted away like a cannonball, crashing into the forest, smashing through over a dozen large trees.

"Cough, cough... Can't use the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist? Cough..."

"No, I can't use other techniques. I can only use the basic swing he just taught me!" Cassius was instantly sobered by the blow.

His sternum had been shattered, and blood was spilling freely from his mouth. His right hand, which he had extended to parry, was broken, limply hanging by his side.

"Cough, cough, cough, almost got killed by one punch... It's been a long time since I've been this embarrassed." Cassius murmured, but his face inexplicably showed excitement.

Maybe because it was an Ultimate Fist practitioner who hit him, it was like a form of sparring. Just as he was about to get up, Cassius suddenly remembered something, his face changed, and his body stiffened.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

Suddenly, a series of explosions erupted within his body.

Reverberating Force!

"It wasn't that I was almost killed by one punch... I'm already dead..."