Holy Fist
Chapter 339 - 174 Breakthrough, Martial Fighter Realm!

Chapter 339: 174 Breakthrough, Martial Fighter Realm!

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..."

Black smoke seemed to permeate the air, seeping out little by little from the void, falling to the ground, dyeing the area around Bai Xiao pitch black.

His eyes tightly closed, his heart eerily motionless at this moment.

As if breathing had stopped, as if the heartbeat had halted, he had turned into a dead man in an instant; this state of deathly stillness lasted for several minutes.

Until a certain moment.

Bai Xiao’s brain shook violently, as if a thunderous echo suddenly burst within his mind, crazily screaming over and over in the depths of his heart.

"The world... real through suffering, destroyed by fear!"

The next second, he did not open his eyes, yet he suddenly saw a gigantic black-gold pupil, noble and luxurious, solemn and majestic. The edges of the pupil were lined with dark gold patterns, but within were thick black filaments that, when converged, resembled a black sun devouring everything.

This was the third time Bai Xiao had seen this eye.

Once when he had comprehended the twelfth fist movement of the Fierce Bird Boxing Manual.

Once when Elder Martial Brother Wu Binghe had disappeared.

Each time he saw it, he felt an intense sense of insignificance, like a person standing at the foot of a thousand-meter peak, gazing from afar. That massive object, obscured by clouds and fog, could instill fear even without moving.

"Mother of Fear, Demon Bird..."

Bai Xiao murmured to himself.

Screech!

An inexplicable force enveloped him instantly, carrying an immensely evil aura. His seated figure seemed to transform into a transparent crystal in an instant, clearly reflecting the bones and blood vessels within.

Clearly visible, at the position of the heart, was a dark mass. Mysterious power continuously infused into it, one after the other, as if condensing an unknown core. Visible to the naked eye, the dark heart began a process similar to keratinization, its surface sprouting densely overlapping patterns like the feathers of a raptor.

Between the patterns, it seemed as if eyes were interlaced, blinking slightly.

But that was just the illusion of muscles writhing, patterns distorting.

As time passed, Bai Xiao’s heart underwent its second reshaping.

"Devour the Heart of Fear, condense the Heart of Demon Bird."

"Thud!"

The Heart of Demon Bird restarted, beating exaggeratedly, suddenly like an extremely powerful pump, squeezing blood to every corner of the blood vessels in the body. Given this perspective, Bai Xiao’s body appeared as transparent as crystal.

It was clearly visible, a heart connected to a black net, enveloping the entire body, thousands of times more dense and complex than a spider web.

Whoosh!!!

An invisible ripple swept out, like a weird magnetic field accompanied by fear, sweeping across the surroundings. The dust on the ground formed wave-like wrinkles.

Elder Martial Brother Wu Binghe had once said to Bai Xiao, when people experience pathological fear, it often accompanies significant neurological disorders, manifesting symptoms such as palpitations, rapid and difficult breathing, trembling limbs, incontinence, among others. What’s more, frightening oneself to death.

Just like the fear-induced rigor in animals, seemingly an instinct from genes and blood, once shocked, it uncontrollably enters a state of feigned death.

And the Demon Bird Secret Book, once deployed, creates such a passive state of fear-induced rigor in the surrounding area. Any enemy entering a certain range of Bai Xiao’s body will undergo a fear assessment based on their mental will.

If the opponent’s will is weak, with a low spirit.

They might instantly become blank-minded, helpless, unable to coordinate their limbs, frozen stiff in place like a block of wood.

Leaving them at Bai Xiao’s mercy.

The power of this passivity depends on the cultivation level of Bai Xiao’s Demon Bird Secret Book and the difference between Bai Xiao’s mental attributes and those of the opponent.

If the disparity is too great.

It’s not impossible for the opponent’s consciousness to be wiped out on the spot upon approach!

Whoosh!

From the shadows on the ground, Bai Xiao suddenly opened his eyes.

In front of his gaze, as if a gigantic dark golden pupil was gradually closing. From a round sphere, it turned into a thin golden slit.

Finally, it quickly disappeared into the darkness, vanishing without a trace.

A flood of information poured into his mind, leaving him in a daze for a moment before he slowly stood up.

"The Demon Bird Secret Book isn’t a secret martial art in the conventional sense."

"If what I practiced before were physical secret martial arts, then the Demon Bird Secret Book is a mental secret martial art! With my spirit, I affect others’ spirits. With my fear, I devour others’ fear. Those defeated by my Demon Bird Secret Book, suppressed by my fear, will serve me like boxing slaves! Their emotions of fear will nourish the Demon Bird Secret Book..."

Bai Xiao’s gaze was vacant as he stared ahead, murmuring to himself.

Evil Techniques, definitely Evil Techniques!

The strange first impression given by the Demon Bird Secret Book was spot on!

This thing is way more sinister than Lion Heart Fist!

"I’ve now laid the foundation for entering the Demon Bird Secret Book, a sufficient amount of Blood of Fear has already condensed into the Demon Bird Heart within my body..."

"Now, only the threshold of entry remains."

Bai Xiao had read the Demon Bird Secret Book and knew the hallmark of entry was the materialization of fear, activating one’s own Evil Spirit! The so-called Evil Spirit is the combination of the cultivator’s own mental will and Qi of Fear.

Through the materialization of fear, forming a specific sprite.

This Evil Spirit not only represents the cultivation level of the Demon Bird Secret Book but is also a powerful move. Similarly, it is to an extent an incarnation of Bai Xiao.