Void Cultivation-Chapter 242- Headless Corpse (2)

Grey waited outside for several minutes.

When the shadow finally returned, its emotions were heavy with depression, and it eyed Grey warily. Still, it did not dare reveal its true feelings and instead maintained an aloof façade.

Seeing the shadow emerge, Grey hesitated briefly before stepping into the small brown structure.

The instant he entered, a powerful wave of nausea assaulted him, causing his stomach to churn violently. He nearly vomited on the spot.

However, Grey forcefully composed himself and lifted his gaze.

Then, he looked around.

The walls of the structure, which were probably once white, were now brown, as though they had been soaked and dyed in blood. Grey noticed fragments of debris scattered across the ground, objects that had decayed and collapsed after countless years of abandonment.

Time had not merely worn them down... it had erased them.

The remains were so decomposed that Grey could no longer tell what they originally were. However, judging by their shapes and placements, he could still vaguely determine that they had once been furniture.

Grey moved through the other rooms of the structure and saw similar scenes repeated everywhere. Decayed remnants, collapsed interiors, and the lingering aura of death filled every corner.

After exploring for some time, Grey finally stepped back outside.

"That place must have been a normal residence," Grey murmured softly. "However, the passage of time has caused everything inside to rot and decompose. There’s nothing useful left."

Without lingering any longer, he turned and headed toward the next structure.

As before, the shadow spread out first, silently slipping inside to investigate before Grey followed. And just like the previous building, this structure had also succumbed to the ravages of time. Anything that might have once held value had long since decayed into nothingness.

Still, Grey did not stop.

The stench of blood that permeated this place was growing stronger the deeper he went, thickening until it clung to the air itself.

Moreover, he had not seen any corpses. No remains of beings that might have died here.

This absence only deepened his unease.

Thus, Grey continued searching.

Slowly, he drew closer to the core of the structures.

The eerie feeling he had sensed earlier intensified, growing heavier with every step. The desolate atmosphere pressed down on him, as though the entire place was suffocating under an unseen weight.

Grey’s body instinctively shuddered.

Yet he forced himself to continue.

However, when he was roughly ten thousand meters from the core, his entire body suddenly stiffened.

A chilling sensation swept past the back of his neck, as if an icy wind had brushed against his skin.

Grey turned around.

What he saw caused his pupils to shrink violently.

A white figure had just walked straight through his body.

Startled, Grey rapidly retreated and began circulating his cultivation base, his heart pounding. However, the white figure did not react to him in the slightest. It continued walking forward, heading directly toward the core of the desolate structures.

Very soon, another white figure appeared.

Then another.

And another.

They all emerged from the same direction as the first. As they crossed the ten-thousand-meter boundary, their bodies gradually shifted from transparent to solid, becoming fully visible.

Seeing this, Grey’s mind trembled.

He could not sense any aura from these figures.

It was as though they were...

Dead.

’No... not dead,’ Grey corrected himself inwardly, his expression darkening.

’They’re ghosts.’

He watched in silence as more white figures appeared, their numbers steadily increasing until they reached the hundreds. Once formed, they all continued walking forward in an orderly manner, never once glancing at Grey.

It was as if he didn’t exist.

Or perhaps... they simply couldn’t see him.

As they walked, blood slowly dripped from their ears, staining their white clothes. Yet none of them reacted. Their expressions never changed as they continued marching toward the core.

Grey resisted the urge to turn and flee.

He stared at the white figures intently, yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not clearly see their faces. Even their backs were blurry, as though their existence itself was incomplete.

When over a thousand white figures had gathered, no more appeared.

At that moment, the chill in the air increased drastically, sinking into Grey’s bones.

This was also the first time Grey had encountered other "beings" in this place.

Even though...

They were ghosts.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Grey made a decision.

He followed them.

As he ventured deeper, the familiar structures resembling ordinary buildings disappeared. In their place stood strange constructions that made no sense to him at first glance.

Only after careful observation did Grey realize what they were.

Temples.

Ancient temples.

Most of them were heavily decayed, and an overwhelming aura of death lingered around them, refusing to dissipate.

The longer Grey looked at these structures, the stronger the eerie sensation became. Eventually, he felt as though something had locked onto him, an unseen gaze observing him from within the temples.

Grey’s heart skipped a beat.

He immediately averted his eyes.

The moment he did so, the gaze vanished, as if it had never been there.

It was as though, as long as Grey did not probe further, whatever existed here would not pay him any attention.

Seeing this, Grey let out a shallow breath.

Now, his focus shifted to one thing.

Where were these white figures going?

Not a single one deviated from the path. All of them continued toward the very core of the structures.

The cold, oppressive sensation grew stronger, and Grey even sensed a looming danger. However, this danger did not actively target him, it was passive, yet absolute.

At this point, fear finally took root in Grey’s heart.

He wanted to retreat.

But when he tried to turn back, his expression changed drastically.

He couldn’t.

No matter how he moved, his perception twisted unnaturally, forcing his vision back toward the core of the structures.

This did not change, no matter how hard he tried.

When this realization dawned on him, genuine fear surged within Grey.

He no longer had any desire to explore.

Yet to his horror, his body began to move on its own.

Step by step, it followed the path taken by the white figures.

The sense of danger intensified further.

Grey had completely lost control of his body.

Very soon, after passing the one-thousand-meter mark, a massive structure appeared before his eyes.

A great temple.

This temple was enormous and majestic, radiating an ancient dignity. Its walls shone with a profound light, and an indescribable aura spread outward from it.

Despite the countless years that must have passed, the temple showed no signs of decay. It stood intact, as if untouched by time itself.

However, the moment Grey’s gaze landed on what was suspended on the highest level of the temple, the dignified aura shattered completely.

Hanging there was a headless corpse.

More precisely, a headless woman’s corpse.

Her body had long since dried and shriveled, bearing clear signs of death from ages past. Yet on the severed stump of her neck, a single drop of golden blood remained.

That drop of blood shone brilliantly.

It illuminated the entire temple and filled the space with an overwhelming sense of dread.

At the same time, Grey noticed a small door embedded in the woman’s chest.

The edges of the door were stained with blood, and a thick, malevolent aura leaked out from within. Deep scratch marks covered its surface, as though something inside was desperately clawing to escape.

When the white figures drew close, the small door began to tremble.

Scratching sounds rang out.

They were unbearably loud.

Grey’s eardrums nearly burst. Blood streamed from his ears, soaking into his clothes, which had unknowingly turned white, before dyeing them a deep crimson.

Just from looking at the door, Grey felt an overwhelming sense of life and death.

His eyes turned bloodshot, veins bulging violently, as blood leaked from the corners and dripped onto the ground.

Then, the white figures spoke in unison. Their voices rbg out together and had a eerie charm.

"All hail the Supreme One. The one hidden behind closed doors. The one none in the universe can compare to!"

"We humbly offer ourselves to be devoured, so that we may be reborn in the after... We believe in the Highest One and do not fear death!"

"On the day the Lord returns, we will enjoy in ’his’ world! Because of this, we give our bodies, souls and flesh, wholeheartedly to ’the’ Lord!"

"All hail Lord &$8:33($-! We offer ourselves as sacrifice and present our souls to god. May ’the’ god accept us and devour us! We hope to be in his kingdom... when he returns!"

As their words echoed, the scratching sounds intensified, becoming maddening.

Grey felt as though his body was about to fall apart.

His skin struggled to peel away from his bones, and his soul trembled violently, desperate to escape his flesh.

At that moment, the purple crystal shards embedded in his chest erupted with blinding radiance.

The purple light enveloped Grey completely.

It was only because of this light that his body did not collapse, and his soul was forcibly anchored within him.

Even so, the sensation remained.

Grey knew that if the purple light weakened even for an instant, his body would disintegrate completely.

As the chanting continued, the white figures began to collapse.

First, their skin peeled away.

Then, their flesh and bones followed.

Finally, their souls were torn free and flew toward the small door in the corpse’s chest

Even as this was going on, they did not stop chanting. Their faces that were covered in blood did not reveal fear or pain, instead, a blissful expression could be seen on their souls as they were being devoured, to them... it was as if being devoured was a special privilege.

And a way that they could become one with god

Seeing this, Grey recalled a part of their chant that they had said before.

"On the day the Lord returns, we will enjoy in ’his’ world! Because of this, we give our bodies, souls and flesh, wholeheartedly to ’the’ Lord!"

As soon as Grey said this inwardly, he coughed out a huge mouthful of blood, and his body trembled intensely, and cracks appeared all over his skin.

More blood rushed out and spilled all over his clothes.

His expression changed to one of intense pain as he gritted his teeth.

This wasn’t a normal injury, it was a backlash of reciting the chant. If he had actually spoken it out loud... Maybe Grey would not be alive right now.

As the physical remains of the white figures gathered together, flesh, blood, and bone fused into a grotesque mass.

Before they vanished entirely, Grey finally saw their faces.

They had none.

Where their eyes should have been were empty hollows, from which blood poured endlessly, staining their robes red.

Grey felt a terror deeper than anything he had experienced in his life.

Their souls were sucked violently into the small door.

Loud chewing sounds echoed from the small door.

Blood spilled out from beneath the edges of the door, pooling at the corpse’s chest until her chest was completely dyed red.

As for the grotesque mass of flesh and bone, it continued to condense, shrinking smaller and smaller...

Very soon, even the concept of their remains would vanish, and would be devoured by the existence behind the door.