Returning to the Mysterious Era

The figure was in a fetal position, enrobed in a translucent layer resembling an oval sac. Behind it, veins connected to a towering figure. The Golem did not manage to completely form, its once-powerful body withering as its muscles and blood were drained.

In places where there should have been muscles, only skin and bones remained, while the black spikes had lost their sheen.

If the process had gone as originally planned, the Golem would have gradually absorbed Li Wei's body as he went through the dark creature transformation. However, the roles were now reversed with Li Wei’s modified body draining the Golem like a nonstop vortex.

The blood was still flowing through the connecting veins, though there were gaps of air, indicating that Cassius had absorbed almost all of the Golem’s blood.

The last glob of thick blood completed its cycle and was swiftly absorbed by Li Wei's body through the placenta. The Golem looked like an aging beast, showing signs of decay all over its body, as if it was covered in a layer of ash. Then, the next second, the four-meter-tall Golem cracked open at its forehead, and the fractures quickly spread across its body, turning it into a tortoise shell. Another crisp sound, and more cracks followed; it looked more like a spider's web now.

With a final explosive crack, the black cocoon collapsed, and the entire Golem disintegrated. Without the sticky solidity of normal flesh, its body shattered like a marble statue. The falling organs resembled dried branches, crumbling like ash, similar to the crumbling cocoon.

In an instant, the entire room was blanketed in a thick layer of black ash. The red placenta in the center gradually lost its color as the last drop of blood was drawn from it.

A pale hand broke through the placenta from inside. Then a second hand. With just a little bit of strength, the fragile placenta tore apart, and out emerged a figure who stood in the sunlight.

The light shone on his fair skin, which reflected a porcelain-like sheen. He was about 1.7 meters tall, with a slender and lanky figure, giving off a streamlined shape like a fish. His skin was flawless, as delicate as that of a newborn baby, making any woman who saw envious.

His features had turned delicate and beautiful, with fine eyebrows and thin lips, giving the illusion of fragility. His mid-length blond hair partially covered his forehead, where there was a shallow indentation in the shape of a cross-shaped mark in the center.

The cross mark emitted a faint glow, perhaps due to the veins underneath, taking on a blood-red hue. It inexplicably gave this beautiful youth an eerie quality and an indescribable allure that set him apart from ordinary people.

Standing amidst the black ashes, Cassius looked a bit dazed. He slowly lifted his arm. It was slender and long, devoid of muscle, with only smooth, useless fat beneath the skin. This was the complete opposite of his previous belief that muscle was the best attire, practically at the other end of the extreme.

However, why did this body, despite its frail appearance, contain an immense, unbelievable vitality that flowed like a tide?

He casually swung his arm, and a red arc suddenly shot out, accompanied by the sound of a fierce wind roaring through the air.

A crack, about half a meter in width, sliced through the wall. The residual energy of the red light shot outside, flying dozens of meters away before finally hitting a tree, causing a violent explosion. The ensuing whirlwind engulfed an area within a two-meter radius, with red ripples crackling like lightning within the white wind.

"Azure Wind Flow, Bloodthirsty Ripple, Balance Destruction Technique…" Cassius muttered to himself. His attack just now was a combination of three distinctly different Secret Techniques.

This was a result of the all-encompassing power of the Golem Covert Martial Arts. After consuming a full nine units of the Blood of the Spirit, it created a complete and innovative Covert Martial Arts system using Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts as its core structure, the Stone Armor Technique as support, and the various techniques for the finer details. The foundation of its practice was imitating the life resonance frequency of the Golem, and following its three-dimensional blood circulation path.

All Cassius had to do was synchronize his heart rate, blood circulation rate, and breathing rate with that of the Golem. The Golem Covert Martial Arts would continuously temper his body, strengthening his bones, muscles, and veins through resonance.

It was a kind of vibration energy, created by generating a frequency in his body that matched the Golem’s life magnetic field. This allowed his body’s cells to evolve toward a physique as strong as the Golem. He could even use the Golem’s life magnetic field to influence his own, gradually transforming the essence of his life toward that of a giant beast.

In theory, Cassius’s body held tremendous potential after his rebirth and growth. If he were to test his constitution now, it might surpass the limits of ordinary aptitude because he had the heart of a Golem plus its complete blood circulation system.

Additionally, in the state of the Blood of the Spirit, Cassius had discarded over a dozen of the early Covert Martial Arts prototypes and integrated various powers into the final version of the Golem Covert Martial Arts. Not only did it include human Covert Martial Arts, but also remnants of the other supernatural forces in his body.

These elements were skillfully combined, influencing and restricting each other, and fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Cassius could never have achieved this in his normal state.

The first aspect was two combat techniques: Azure Wind Flow combined with Bloodthirsty Ripple, or simply, Azure Blood Stream.

The original Avalon Bloodthirsty Ripple battle ring had been completely obliterated and absorbed, leaving a thick tattoo-like mark in the form of a pale red ring pattern on Cassius's finger. Despite this, the power of the Bloodthirsty Ripple had been preserved, and fused with the Azure Wind Flow, leading to a more concentrated power. As a result, Cassius's arm attacks now not only cut but also burned flesh.

Furthermore, Azure Blood Stream could be combined with the Balance Destruction Technique. By adding a destabilizing force into the swirling wind mass, it would explode like a grenade upon impact. With the burning ripples infused with the whirlwind, it could deliver a wide-range attack on enemies.

The second combat technique was the aforementioned Balance Destruction Technique, which Cassius had not fully mastered yet. But now, it could be incorporated into every move he made. It existed as a unique force within his techniques.

Next were two Secret Techniques that functioned almost like passive abilities: the Golem Breathing Technique and the Magic Eye.

The essence of the Golem Breathing Technique came from the Lion’s Roar Breathing Technique. Except, Cassius was no longer seeking to imitate the lion; it was the Golem. Cassius now had two hearts and two circulatory systems within his body, one of which belonged to the Golem.

Using the Golem Breathing Technique was as easy as eating or drinking for him, and even the smallest breath would yield effects, however faint they may be. It was equivalent to being in a constant state of simplified training.

Similarly, there was the Magic Eye which was a variation of the Heart Eye Secret Technique. The original Heart Eye Secret Technique required training the five senses, enhancing human perception to achieve something akin to an omniscient viewpoint.

Now that Cassius had been reborn, his senses were far beyond those of a human. His five senses were extraordinarily sharp, and this was further enhanced by his past experience in the soul state, where he had an omniscient perspective.

All of this had been fused together under the influence of the Blood of the Spirit, forming the Magic Eye Secret Technique.

Cassius could now freely manipulate the Golem's circulatory system within his body, using high-quality blood to stimulate his senses, always sharpening them to detect even the faintest disturbances, like a cicada sensing an autumn breeze before it moves. Thus, as long as Cassius remained conscious and in control of his body, the Magic Eye would continue training him constantly.

Like the breathing technique, it functioned as a passive ability. There was no need for intentional training; he would naturally grow stronger simply by walking, sitting, eating, or drinking.

Next was the combat framework, the core of which was still the Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts, albeit with some adjustments and changes in style.

Since Cassius now had two circulatory systems, he could instantly execute his Explosive Techniques twice in a row. For example, there were four fundamental moves in the Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts: straight punch, hook punch, swinging punch, and hand blade. After using the straight punch, his vitality and strength would naturally pause for a moment, and there would be a small gap before he could transition to a swing punch or knife hand strike.

Now, that tiny gap could be completely eliminated. Cassius could throw a punch at his enemy, promptly switch to a knife hand strike, and launch a second attack within an extremely close distance.

He'd be able to transition between different techniques smoothly and terrifyingly quickly. Cassius could seamlessly combine the four fundamental strikes, and even incorporate shoulder, elbow, knee, and whip kick attacks. He could form combo moves beyond imagination without pause.

The framework of the Golem Covert Martial Arts was not quite perfected yet. Cassius could spar with other Covert Martial Arts masters to refine it, transforming it into a ruthless and efficient combat framework; that would require time and battle training to achieve.

Due to those unique characteristics, Cassius created something that hadn't existed before: a new Secret Technique within the Golem Covert Martial Arts.

One of these techniques was called "Third Breath technique," which leveraged the dual circulatory systems to store an astonishing amount of oxygen inside his body. It allowed him to enter a terrifying breathless state during combat, enabling his attacks to flow seamlessly like liquid mercury, and leaving no openings.

The other technique was also based on the ability to perform two instantaneous attacks. It was called the "Finger Gun." With two rapid taps of his fingers, Cassius could create a bullet-like force that could penetrate even through steel plates.

Lastly, there was the key to solving the dark creature transformation: the three core principles of the Golem Covert Martial Arts. Alternatively, they could be referred to as the techniques of "Mental Fragmentation."

The dark creature consciousness that had split from Cassius had been repeatedly weakened, its essence of calamity nearly drained, and the new Golem body had utterly collapsed. Yet, a fragment of consciousness still remained. It had a unique quality, preventing it from being unequivocally erased.

Thus, Cassius created a mental technique within the Golem Covert Martial Arts to restrain the consciousness of dark creature transformation. The consciousness functioned as an alternate personality within Cassius's soul.

The first was Cassius's primary personality and true self. The second was a cold, detached personality, formed from Cassius's extreme rationality and calculation under the influence of the Demon Worm, and wholly devoid of emotion. The third was that of a killer, a split consciousness from the dark creature transformation. Heavily inclined toward killing, it saw both dark creatures and humans as insignificant prey. This was a particularly bloodthirsty personality, and had a ferocious and explosive combat style.

In fact, Cassius intended to use the cold, rational personality to balance and suppress the fragmented consciousness of the dark creature transformation. This was crucial to do. As long as this balance remained intact, Cassius’s primary personality would not be affected. However, if the balance broke, whichever personality gained dominance would influence his emotions and behavior. Thus, maintaining this balance was of the utmost importance.

Cassius had originally designed these three mental techniques to solve the dark creature transformation issue, but they inadvertently became a form of martial prowess. The primary personality leaned more toward a a bold, powerful fighting style. The cold personality followed a highly calculated and strategic path, using foresight and technique. The killer’s personality relied on instinct, maximizing muscle damage in each strike, and favored a vicious, brutal approach. He would be able to switch between different combat styles based on the opponent.

Additionally, Cassius could train in different types of Covert Martial Arts or Secret Techniques by aligning them with the most suitable personality, maximizing the effectiveness of his training.

He even fantasized about merging the three personalities back into one. If he could achieve that, Cassius believed he could enter a perfect combat state. For now, it had to remain as that: a fantasy. At present, Cassius's primary personality was firmly in control. The other two personalities' appearances depended entirely on the primary personality's will. Even if one of them went berserk, it could be instantly switched out.

In summary, the general framework of the Golem Covert Martial Arts was as follows:

Combat techniques: Azure Blood Stream, Balance Destruction Technique.

Passive abilities: Golem Breathing Technique, Magic Eye.

Combat framework: an improved version of the Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts framework.

Newly created Secret Techniques: Third Breath, Finger Gun.

Three mental techniques: Main Persona, Cold Persona, Killer Persona.

This Covert Martial Art was quite complex as it integrated multiple Secret Techniques, Covert Martial Arts, and other supernatural powers. However, all of the above could be considered as branches extending from the main structure of the Golem Covert Martial Arts. At its core was the concept of imitation mentioned from the start—imitation of the dark creature, the Golem.

Cassius had already imitated part of it, with the Golem's heart and three-dimensional blood circulation system integrated into his body. This was the foundational principle of the Golem Covert Martial Arts.

He knew that the Golem Covert Martial Arts had three stages: Physical Transformation, Qi Embodiment, and Mental Unification. At this point, Cassius had completed most of the Physical Transformation stage, having successfully achieved the first substage regarding veins and the second substage regarding the heart. The only thing left was the third stage of synchronizing breathing rate.

Once the three frequencies resonated together to enhance his life magnetic field, he would be able to advance to the second stage of the Golem Covert Martial Arts known as the Qi Embodiment stage.

Finally, the overall characteristics of the Golem Covert Martial Arts were:

1. Strong ability to recover from physical injuries;

2. Enhanced strength, endurance, and defense by at least one stage;

3. Training efficiency far beyond normal Covert Martial Arts; and

4. A fully integrated combat system that formed a unique combat style.

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