Chapter 4022: Gauntlets With Long History

Lin Mu glanced around the chamber and checked the other pedestals.

The Cursed Blade of the Wilderness had six barriers. The Seven Grudge Armor had six. The Soul Reversal Mirror had eight. Even the strange wooden box that seemed capable of triggering an emergency destruction formation had fewer direct barriers than the Cestus.

’Does this mean this is the most dangerous object here?’ Lin Mu could not be certain.

The number of barriers might have reflected the peculiar nature of the weapon rather than raw destructive power. Still, twelve was excessive. He had searched through the sect archives for information concerning the Justice Crushing Cestus after discovering Taegong’s intentions.

The results had been frustratingly sparse. There were references to a forbidden artifact, several mentions buried in old disciplinary records, and a handful of incomplete entries that seemed deliberately vague.

Nothing explained why it was forbidden and nothing explained why possession of it could be used to frame Little Bull. Yet Taegong had considered the weapon valuable enough to risk using it in his scheme.

Even the mysterious woman backing him had been shocked when Taegong revealed his intention to involve the Cestus. That alone told Lin Mu plenty. As Zhenyu continued staring at the weapon, High Elder Palm Saber approached.

He stopped several steps away from the pedestal and his eyes narrowed. "Do you know what this is, Senior?"

Zhenyu stroked his long white beard. "The Justice Crushing Cestus."

High Elder Palm Saber’s eyes widened.

"WHAT!?" His shout echoed through the chamber and several elders immediately turned toward them.

High Elder Palm Saber stepped closer to the barriers, his earlier caution briefly forgotten. "It was here?"

Zhenyu glanced at him. "What do you know about it, junior?"

Lin Mu deliberately stroked his beard again. To everyone watching, it appeared as though the ancient elder was testing whether Palm Saber knew his sect’s history. Internally, Lin Mu was waiting very patiently for the man to explain everything he knew.

High Elder Palm Saber hesitated. "I only know the old legends."

"Then speak." Zhenyu simply said.

High Elder Palm Saber looked at the Cestus. "There once lived a cultivator called the Big Fist Warrior. His real name has been lost from most records. Some say he abandoned it himself. Others claim his enemies deliberately erased it after his defeat."

Several disciples moved closer as High Elder Palm Saber continued.

"The Big Fist Warrior followed the unorthodox path. He belonged to no major sect and refused invitations from powerful clans. He wandered wherever he wished and challenged anyone he found interesting. Righteous cultivators, demonic cultivators, rogue immortals, sect elders, beast kings, body cultivators and sword cultivators. Their backgrounds meant nothing to him."

"Sounds like someone from Wild Peak," an elder muttered and several people looked at him.

The elder coughed and pretended he had said nothing.

High Elder Palm Saber’s mouth twitched before he continued. "The legends say the Big Fist Warrior originally used ordinary cestuses. Every time they broke, he replaced them. Eventually, after destroying dozens of Immortal Weapons with his fists, he gathered the fragments and commissioned a strange pair of gauntlets."

High Elder Palm Saber pointed toward the weapon. "Those."

Lin Mu looked at the crude metal construction again and suddenly its appearance made more sense.

"The Big Fist Warrior cared little for elegance," Palm Saber explained. "He supposedly demanded only three things. They had to survive his strength. They had to make his punches heavier. And they had to remain intact when striking Immortal Weapons directly."

One of the disciples stared at the two enormous iron spheres. "That explains the design."

"Indeed," High Elder Palm Saber replied. "The weapons were originally called the Mountain Crushing Cestuses."

Lin Mu’s attention sharpened. ’Originally?’

High Elder Palm Saber continued. "The Big Fist Warrior became increasingly famous. His cultivation grew, his body became stronger, and eventually very few experts could withstand him directly. At the height of his reputation, his martial prowess was considered among the greatest in this Immortal Realm."

"How strong?" an elder asked.

High Elder Palm Saber shook his head. "The legends disagree. Some exaggerate him into something almost impossible. The more reliable records suggest that even prominent experts of the great powers avoided fighting him without preparation."

Lin Mu glanced toward the Cestus again.

"What happened to him?" a disciple asked.

"He eventually crossed paths with a prominent expert of the Righteous Path." High Elder Palm Saber’s expression became complicated. "The reason for their battle is unclear. Righteous records claimed the Big Fist Warrior had become uncontrollable and was attacking innocent cultivators.

Several unorthodox records claimed the Righteous expert wanted his treasures and used his reputation as an excuse. Other versions say the Big Fist Warrior challenged the man himself."

High Elder Palm Saber shook his head. "Whatever the truth was, they fought." The chamber had grown quiet. "The battle supposedly lasted seven days. Mountains collapsed. Three rivers changed course. Several settlements had to be evacuated. When it ended, the Big Fist Warrior was defeated."

"And killed?" someone asked.

"According to most accounts." High Elder Palm Saber looked toward the gauntlet."The Righteous expert took the Cestuses as spoils of war."

Lin Mu’s eyes narrowed.

High Elder Palm Saber continued, "That should have been the end of their story. Instead, their history became stranger."

The elder pointed toward the crude weapon. "The Righteous expert eventually used them."

A disciple blinked. "Why?"

"Because they were powerful," High Elder Palm Saber replied simply. "And because cultivators are cultivators."

Several elders nodded knowingly. After all a dangerous treasure was still a treasure.

"The expert discovered that the Cestuses had changed after the Big Fist Warrior’s death. Every opponent defeated while wearing them seemed to make the weapons heavier in a way that had nothing to do with their physical weight. Their strikes became increasingly difficult to resist. Some records claimed the Cesti could crush a cultivator’s fighting spirit. Others claimed they could force a person’s accumulated sins upon them."

Lin Mu’s gaze sharpened as the strange burden he had sensed suddenly made more sense.