Returning to the Mysterious Era

Chapter 302 - The Fifth Ranked Dark Ultimate Form

The lines on the demon box in his hand gradually became clearer, like ripples of water forming into an artifact symbol.

Cassius thought about the Rune of Wisdom on his chest. It was a palm-sized black coiled snake, which formed an "∞" shape. Its scales slightly reflected a black-purple glow, and the pattern on its body was similar to the design on the bottom of the demon box.

This resemblance led him to recall the information about the Rune of Wisdom. It was called Ouroboros, the Chalice of Blood that brewed the Blood of Immortality, and the rune that guided the pursuit of wisdom. Ouroboros originated from the mysterious Ao Yin civilization and was said to be one of the five cornerstone stones that led to infinite greatness and distant horizons.

"So, the patterns on this magic box might be related to the Ao Yin civilization's legendary five cornerstone stones? Or is it simply an aesthetic trend from that era?" Cassius muttered to himself. His instincts leaned toward the former explanation.

He lifted his shirt, revealing a lean and somewhat frail body, though his skin had a jade-like quality, as if covered by a transparent shell. No one would guess that this seemingly weak body was actually a violent and savage combat machine when he released his aura.

The Rune of Wisdom appeared faintly on his chest under the soft yellow light of the chandelier, glowing in a subtle black-purple hue.

Cassius glanced at the upper-right corner. The Ouroboros rune had a long progress bar which was now completely full. He had killed countless dark creatures, especially the Dead Blood and almost wiped out a branch of the Blood Spirit Society. Naturally, the essence of calamity had been fully absorbed.

However, Cassius had already used the Rune of Wisdom’s annual upgrade function when he created his Golem Covert Martial Arts. So for the time being, the Rune of Wisdom was on cooldown.

Sitting on the sofa, Cassius carefully examined the symbols and lines on the back of the Kupan Demon Box, and then compared it to the symbol on his chest. The more he studied the two, the more he felt a connection between them.

The Rune of Wisdom flickered slightly in the light. Suddenly, the black-purple coiled snake emblem seemed to move.

Cassius instantly caught this change. His observational and reactive abilities as a combat artist were far superior to ordinary people. He was sure of what he saw: the Ouroboros symbol had slowly revolved.

He narrowed his eyes and quickly thought. Almost instinctively, he moved the demon box closer to his chest. As expected, the coiled snake symbol on his chest began revolving more rapidly as the box approached.

The scales on the snake's surface started shifting, and the point where the snakehead bit the tail began to move along a fixed trajectory, albeit at a slow pace.

Cassius's gaze became intrigued.

The Rune of Wisdom typically remained still, whether he was absorbing the essence of calamity or not. It would only revolve quickly when the progress bar of essence was fully charged for the annual enhancement.

"..."

Cassius decisively pressed the bottom of the box against his chest. The moment they touched, the coiled snake emblem began spinning wildly. The black-purple light on its surface intensified, while the patterns on the bottom of the box lit up in response, glowing in a mesmerizing blue-purple light.

A crack echoed across the room as the two runes finally aligned.

Cassius shuddered as if a hot iron had been pressed against his chest. Waves of intense heat penetrated his flesh, seemingly rushing through his entire body.

In a daze, he sensed that something was being secreted from the Rune of Wisdom. The searing heat flowed invisibly through his bones and internal organs, passing through muscles and skin, and was eventually absorbed by the Kupan Demon Box.

The moment this change occurred, Cassius gripped the box tightly, ready to pull it off at any moment. Yet, for some reason, a voice inside him told him not to interrupt the process. He instinctively felt that something beneficial was happening.

Cassius trusted his instincts, believing that a combat artist of his caliber had an infallible sense of self-preservation. Seconds turned into minutes as the essence of calamity progress bar in his vision was drained by something. He had no idea how much time passed when he suddenly heard a crack from his chest.

Looking down, Cassius noticed a crack forming on the once-indestructible Kupan Demon Box. The metallic-like materials began to crumble and disintegrate, evaporating into a fleeting silver-white mist under the light.

A palm-sized book fell into Cassius’s hand as the protective shell of the Kupan Demon Box was unlocked. Cassius instantly connected this with the Rune of Wisdom, realizing that their resonance had caused the Book of the Devil to fall out of the box.

He took a deep breath and glanced again at the rune on his chest. Luckily, there seemed to be no further abnormal changes. He pulled his shirt back down and examined the Book of the Devil.

It was wrapped in a smooth black hardcover that resembled the shell of an insect. The cover of the Book of the Devil featured a grotesque skull emblem, as if to showcase the malevolent nature of its contents. Five gemstones of different colors were embedded on top of the skull. They were all diamond-shaped and no larger than a fingernail.

Three of the stones were dim, while the front two emitted a soft and alluring glow. After inspecting the exterior and finding nothing else, Cassius slowly opened the book.

He flipped through a couple pages, but they were.... blank.

Every page retained its original hue but contained no content. The pages were as thin as a cicada's wings but incredibly tough. Even when Cassius tried to tear one, it remained unchanged, which was quite remarkable. Yet, no matter how marvelous its material was, a book without content was useless. Could it be just a blank notebook?

Cassius clearly remembered Black Peacock telling him that the legendary Book of the Devil contained forbidden techniques and maps of ancient ruins. While he had obtained the book, its emptiness left him deeply disappointed.

It seemed that all the essence of calamity he had accumulated this time had been drained. Although he couldn't have used it anyway, Cassius still felt like he had suffered a significant loss. For the first time, he doubted his instincts and flipped through the book several more times, unwilling to give up.

However, all the pages remained blank. Frustrated, he tried various methods like burning, soaking, and freezing the book. He even called Feng Liusi and Saint Feinan for help.

After an hour of effort, nothing changed. Just as he was about to give up, the image of the skull and gemstones on the book's cover surfaced in his mind. If there was something unusual about the book, it would have to be related to the skull and the gemstones.

So, Cassius spent another half hour studying the cover. His persistence paid off, as he finally found the solution.

It turned out that pressing the two glowing gemstones with his fingers and injecting Qi into them unlocked the pages. Whoever designed this book was a genius.

The stringent unlocking method alone was impressive!

After Cassius infused his Qi, the two glowing gemstones dimmed again, but the first two pages of the once blank book now contained writing. Instead of reading immediately, he tested the other three dim gemstones by injecting Qi into them, but there was no effect. The contents of the book did not increase.

Cassius scratched his chin, quickly realizing that this Book of the Devil likely required energy to unlock further. Moreover, the process of charging it seemed related to the Rune of Wisdom.

Given that the essence of calamity progress bar was now fully depleted...

Cassius thought that the energy required to charge the Book of the Devil might be the essence of calamity, or possibly the Blood of the Spirit transformed from the essence of calamity.

He had nearly wiped out an entire branch of the Blood Spirit Society to collect the calamity energy, but that was only enough to charge two gems. This left Cassius both frustrated and curious about the content of the Book of the Devil. After all, the more expensive something was, the more valuable it must be, right?

Suppressing his curiosity, Cassius continued pondering the harsh conditions needed to use the Book of the Devil. Merely having the essence of calamity to charge the book wasn’t enough. To access its contents, the user had to be a practitioner of Covert Martial Arts, specifically a combat artist.

Or, to be precise, a combat artist or a higher level of human capable of freely controlling Qi. Therefore, dark creatures were excluded. They naturally couldn't master Qi and were even considered antagonistic to it.

"Dark creatures can't access this Book of the Devil..."

Cassius came to a simple conclusion, as his mind swirled. He decided to keep this theory to himself, calming down a little. After taking a sip of hot tea, he opened the book.

After charging it, only two pages appeared in the Book of the Devil.

The first page. Cassius glanced at it, and was immediately stunned.

Golem!!!

How could it be?!

His aura froze, and his heart nearly leaped out of his chest. His dark creature transformation had resulted in him becoming a Golem—a mutation caused by the meteorite during his last time-travel to Black Rain Manor, which had altered his blood vessels. This time, it seemed that the mutation had been triggered by the Gate Fragments during his time-travel, directly leading to an evolution mid-battle where he almost transformed fully into a Golem.

By all logic, a Golem should have been a one-of-a-kind being, born from a rare coincidence. How could the Book of the Devil contain information about it?

Suppressing the shock in his heart, Cassius continued reading. The page seemed to be a detailed introduction to Golems, a type of dark creature, complete with a sinister and massive illustration of a Golem.

It was exactly like what Cassius had seen in the Black Cocoon.

Next to it was the description.

Demonic Colossus: A monster born from endless calamity, possessing a powerful physical body. Ranging in size from four to ten meters, it wields terrifying brute strength. It is the ultimate combination of speed and power, a peak fighting machine.

Ranked fifth among all ultimate forms of dark creatures.

"Ultimate forms of dark creatures?!"

Cassius immediately latched onto this key point. Combining this with some of the information he had gathered previously, he pieced together parts of the puzzle.

According to the Book of the Devil, dark creatures belong to various clans, and each clan has a theoretical king. However, not all clans could produce an ultimate form; only the powerful, influential ones may have the chance to evolve over countless years.

These ultimate forms could also be called Primordial Dark Entities. For instance, the Blood Race’s legendary True Progenitor of Blood was Yumila. She was said to resemble a giant, terrifying bat. The Blood Ritual performed by the direct lineage of the Blood Race was left behind by Yumila, and they prayed for her power to purify their original blood.

There were also the Totem Shamans of the Ten Thousand Mountains. Their power originated from the Totem King, Kassares, who slumbered in the deepest part of the mountains. His aura, which leaked unconsciously during his sleep, altered the surrounding environment, causing animals, plants, and even inorganic objects to mutate and form totems.

Then there was the Blood Spirit Society, whose high-level Dead Blood condensed into amalgamations, resembling the early stages of ultimate forms. Cassius had roamed far and wide during his various time-travel journeys but had never encountered signs of these ultimate forms of dark creatures.

He thought of the legend of the slumbering Totem King of the Ten Thousand Mountains, the missing True Progenitor of Blood, and the high-ranking Blood Race he had found dead in ruins during his last time-travel. This led him to speculate that perhaps environmental changes prevented these primordial entities from appearing freely in the world?

Or maybe wielding such terrifying power came with a price.

A price that required long periods of slumber?

Taking a deep breath, Cassius continued reading. The book described the many characteristics of the Golem, including its body structure, survival habits, dietary preferences, various combat states, and innate abilities.

It was practically an encyclopedia, with a thorough analysis. As Cassius read, he occasionally felt a spark of recognition. The core of his Golem Covert Martial Arts technique was based on mimicking the Golem's state, whether it was in combat or physical modification. He had developed his fighting style through trial and error, relying on his strong physique combined with his martial techniques.

But now that he had the detailed explanations from the Book of the Devil, he had to wonder whether he could unlock the various combat states of the Golem while using his Golem Covert Martial Arts? Could he even activate some of its innate abilities?

For example, the book mentioned the "Blood Scent" ability. This was a natural ability of the Golem. Once an enemy was stained with its blood during battle, no matter where they tried to hide, they could be tracked with this scent, unless the distance or time was too great.

Cassius eagerly read until he finished the entire page. For someone as unfamiliar with Golems as he was, this knowledge was invaluable. To know one's enemy is to know oneself, and only then can victory be assured.

Cassius now clearly understood himself better. He looked up, his eyes unfocused, as he processed the overwhelming amount of information he had absorbed. After resting for a moment, Cassius flipped to the next page, revealing the second one.

"Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance," along with a map of the ruins where the inheritance was located.

Snap!

He almost threw the Book of the Devil onto the tea table. It was as if a pillow had been offered just when he wanted to rest. Even Cassius, slow as he sometimes was, understood what was going on. The Book of the Devil was showing him exactly what he'd been seeking recently!

Could this be a universal wish-granting book of knowledge?