Void Cultivation-Chapter 227- Fishing for Foundation Establishment
After leaving the periphery of Sky Mist’s port, Grey stood at the bow of the magic ship in quiet admiration. The vessel tore through the dark waters like a hot knife through butter, parting the sea with effortless dominance as waves split cleanly beneath its reinforced hull.
The massive masts and towering sails gave the ship a tyrannical presence, as though it ruled the ocean by right rather than permission. Faint traces of Divinity flickered intermittently from the bow, radiating from the bow spirit itself. Each pulse spread an oppressive, awe-inspiring pressure across the deck, making even the sea winds seem to retreat before it.
All of this combined to make the magic ship look terrifying.
In the end, Grey couldn’t help but develop a sense of respect for Bao. To upgrade a magic ship to this level was no simple feat. Even his desire to kill Bao dulled slightly upon that realization, though only slightly.
Grey’s eyes turned cold as he glanced at his shadow stretching across the deck, distorted by the flickering light of the runes. He reached down and lightly patted his storage bag, where Roxanne was currently sealed. Once they were far enough from the sect, he would let her out.
Standing beside the captain at the bow, the sea wind blowing through his slightly long hair, Grey felt an unfamiliar sense of peace wash over him. The constant roar of the ocean, the steady rhythm of the ship cutting through the waves, it all felt strangely comforting.
It was only then that Grey realized something surprising.
He liked life on the sea.
When the captain noticed Grey staring into the pitch-black expanse ahead, she followed his gaze with mild curiosity. Her sharp eyes searched the waters thoroughly, sweeping over the dark surface for any sign of danger, mutated beasts, abnormal disturbances, or fluctuations in the corrosive sea currents.
She found nothing.
Frowning slightly, she muttered a few low, indiscernible words under her breath, more out of instinct than concern.
Grey ignored her reaction and continued enjoying the cool sea air brushing against his face. After some time passed, he finally turned away from the deck and headed toward the cabin.
This was the first time Grey had physically stepped inside the newly furnished cabin. Although he had previously explored it using his divine sense, he had never entered it in person. Now that he stood within it, he could properly take in its details.
The interior was far more refined than he expected.
Arrays and runes flickered softly along the walls, appearing and disappearing in slow, rhythmic cycles. Their glow was subtle yet steady, forming an intricate web of spiritual patterns that permeated the entire space.
Ordinary cultivators might not have understood their purpose, but Grey was no stranger to arrays. With a single glance, he could tell that their primary function was to increase the density of spirit energy within the room. At the same time, they filtered out foreign elements in the air, most importantly, the corrosive substance that saturated the sea atmosphere.
As he stepped fully inside, the difference was immediately apparent.
Outside, the cold sea air was thick with corrosive substance, while spirit energy existed only in trace amounts. The imbalance was severe enough that prolonged exposure would slowly erode the flesh and internal organs of weaker cultivators.
Inside the cabin, however, it felt as though he had returned to Sky Mist City itself. The oppressive corrosive substance was drastically reduced, mimicking the effects of Sky Mist’s grand protective barrier.
And this was merely the passive state of the arrays.
If fully activated, the corrosive substance would drop to negligible levels, while the spirit energy concentration would reach astonishing heights.
Grey sat cross-legged in the center of the room and activated the arrays by placing a large number of spirit stones onto the array inscriptions engraved into the floor.
The moment the spirit stones made contact, they dissipated into pure energy. In response, the arrays flared to life, radiating a deep blue light that quickly enveloped the entire cabin.
Grey’s eyes narrowed slightly in surprise.
Only now did he realize that the arrays didn’t merely line the walls or floor, they completely covered the entire cabin, extending seamlessly through the walls, ceiling, and even the hidden structural layers of the ship itself.
Whoever designed this... didn’t cut corners.
Deep admiration appeared in Grey’s eyes once more, directed toward Bao.
Grey closed his eyes and began to cultivate. The density of spirit energy in the cabin was so high that he entered a semi-conscious meditative state in less than five minutes. Even so, he released a portion of his divine sense beyond the magic ship, remaining vigilant.
In less than an hour, the flickering blue runes dulled, and the torrent of spirit energy flowing into the room slowed to a stop.
Grey slowly opened his eyes.
"I need to add more spirit stones to sustain its rapid consumption. In just over an hour, the spirit stones I placed earlier have already been used up," Grey muttered under his breath as he took out another large batch of spirit stones.
Although maintaining this array was incredibly expensive, Grey found it invaluable to his cultivation.
Cultivating for just over an hour had caused his spirit perforations to tremble violently. Even the next spirit perforation showed faint signs of loosening, as though it were on the verge of breaking open.
Seeing this, Grey didn’t hesitate to add more spirit stones.
Time flowed on steadily, unnoticed. Eventually, the sun sank below the horizon, and a warm orange glow dyed the surface of the sea a deep, blood-red hue.
On the bow of the ship, the captain remained in control. She gazed out across the endless waters, occasionally pulling out an apple and taking a casual bite whenever boredom crept in.
From time to time, her eyes drifted toward Grey’s cabin, and she let out a soft sigh.
"Don’t worry, Little Grey," she whispered. "We’re about to do something big. Something that’ll benefit your cultivation."
Her voice was no louder than a breath. When the wind swept past, it carried her words away, rendering them indistinguishable.
That same wind slipped through the ship and into the cabin. Grey’s hair lifted slightly, stirred by the faint breeze, but he did not open his eyes. His expression remained calm and unmoving.
Days passed in this manner.
Whenever Grey wasn’t cultivating, he either helped control the magic ship or hunted sea creatures to feed the Life Demon Art.
When Grey opened his eyes once more and stepped out onto the railing of the magic ship, a purple phantom appeared beside him.
The phantom was illusory and hazy, like a distorted reflection barely anchored to reality. Its long hair covered its face entirely, obscuring its features from view. Its arms were unnaturally long, hanging downward until they nearly brushed the floor.
A terrifying, bizarre aura radiated from it.
This was Grey’s Life Demon.
The moment the phantom appeared, Grey expanded his divine sense into the surrounding sea.
However, he did not extend it too far.
One of the first lessons Grey had learned to survive on the Dead Sea was never to explore its depths recklessly with divine sense. Countless creatures lurking beneath the surface would perceive such probing as a provocation and attack without hesitation.
Some mutated creatures were so powerful that they could kill a cultivator through their divine sense alone.
Such beings were rare and rarely approached the surface of the pitch-black sea. But if they did, it spelled calamity.
Grey knew better than to take unnecessary risks. The incident in the pocket dimension was still fresh in his mind.
That time, he had accidentally taken a brief glance at a true divine creature. The moment the other party sensed his gaze and looked back, divine flames erupted within Grey’s spirit sea, nearly burning it to ashes.
If not for the purple crystal sealing those divine flames...
And when the shadow awakened, its form had changed entirely, gaining the ability to wield those flames itself.
Grey didn’t know whether to call them divine flames or something far more bizarre.
Soon, Grey locked onto a sea creature near the magic ship.
It was a massive fish with an unnaturally flat head. Its mouth gaped constantly, releasing large black bubbles that drifted slowly through the water.
Those bubbles contained an extreme concentration of corrosive substance.
When the fish approached another sea creature, it would spew out a cluster of black bubbles. The moment they burst, the surrounding sea surged violently with corrosive energy, causing the unfortunate creature to either mutate on the spot or die outright.
During that brief window, the flat-headed fish would rush forward and devour its prey.
It was a cruel yet efficient survival method.
Many creatures of the Dead Sea adopted strange and grotesque adaptations. Though bizarre, they endured, and that alone made them successful.
Grey’s expression remained calm as he sent the phantom plunging into the sea.
The moment it moved, it vanished with terrifying speed, leaving behind only a fleeting afterimage.
Several breaths later, the phantom reappeared, gripping the large fish in its hand.
The fish struggled violently, releasing multiple black bubbles in a desperate attempt to escape, but the phantom remained completely unfazed.
With a cold, indifferent expression, Grey began extracting its life force.
Purple flames flared briefly as vitality was torn from the fish’s body. After only a few breaths, the once-lively creature was reduced to little more than flesh and bones.
Its bloated stomach, still filled with dense corrosive substance, began to eat away at the corpse from within as its life faded completely.
Grey casually tossed the remains back into the sea and continued hunting.
His expression never changed for once.
And his thoughts remained distant and unclear.
