Void Cultivation-Chapter 245- Illusion

All the while, Grey did not notice anything amiss.

His expression remained calm and detached as he cultivated, his breathing steady and rhythmic. However, from time to time, he would open his eyes by the slightest crack and instinctively glance toward the core of the ancient structures. Every time he did, his body would shudder almost imperceptibly, as though reacting to something his conscious mind refused to acknowledge.

Time flowed by slowly.

Three more hours passed in silence. By this point, under the continuous recovery effect of the purple crystal, Grey’s ears had fully healed, and his sense of hearing returned. The distant howls of the fog creatures, the low hum of the land itself, and even the subtle pulse of spiritual energy re-entered his perception.

His eyes, however, were still blind.

That said, the residual power left behind by the god behind the door, the strange force that had prevented his eyes from healing, was steadily weakening. Grey could feel it dissipating bit by bit. At this rate, within a few more hours, that lingering power would vanish entirely, allowing his eyes to recover as well.

Grey paused his cultivation briefly to eat.

To cultivators, food was largely meaningless, a mere habit left over from mortal life. Still, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could not completely abandon it. He consumed his meal quickly and without ceremony, his focus never truly leaving his surroundings.

The moment he finished, he returned to cultivation.

Not long after, the final traces of the god’s residual power completely disappeared. Almost immediately, Grey felt a faint itch and warmth spread across his eye sockets as his eyes began to heal.

At that moment, his expression abruptly turned solemn.

Without waiting for his vision to fully return, Grey stood up and rushed away from the cluster of broken buildings. He moved decisively, heading straight toward the only source of light visible in the sky.

The instant he exited the invisible zone surrounding the temples, the white fog surged violently. Countless fog creatures manifested almost at once, shrieking as they charged toward him.

However, Grey had already recovered to his peak condition.

Even without sight, he fought as naturally as he always had. His divine sense spread outward, covering his surroundings in perfect detail. With a thought, he summoned the Soul Devouring Bird and the purple phantom, both joining the battle without hesitation.

As for the shadow...

After witnessing the horrifying events within the temples, it no longer hesitated. It, too, joined the fight.

Yet deep within its heart, resentment and hatred boiled.

As Grey fled the temples, the shadow’s emotions surged wildly. For a fleeting moment, it considered using this opportunity to rebel, to strike while Grey was injured and distracted. But before it could act, Grey had already anticipated its thoughts.

The purple crystal shards activated.

A violent surge of purple light flooded Grey’s body, bathing his insides in a violet glow. Under this overwhelming suppression, the shadow stiffened, its murderous intent instantly extinguished. It could only force a fawning, obedient expression onto itself.

’Even injured, I can still kill you with ease,’ Grey coldly transmitted his thoughts.

The shadow’s expression immediately turned solemn as it hurriedly suppressed every trace of hostility it had revealed earlier.

Grey gave it a brief, icy glance through his divine sense before ignoring it entirely. If the shadow dared to act up again, he was fully prepared to use the purple crystal to suppress it completely.

Just as Grey was about to clash head-on with the advancing fog creatures, several loud, booming sounds erupted from within his body.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The moment those sounds rang out, Grey’s aura exploded outward. His fighting intent surged like a raging tide, rising exponentially.

A brilliant flame of light, bright as a miniature sun, burst forth from his body and began to revolve around him. The small sphere radiated intense heat, causing the surrounding fog to distort and the air itself to tremble.

Grey had activated his Special Brilliance Form.

With this transformation, his battle prowess skyrocketed.

He threw a punch at a fog creature that had just manifested before him. The creature shrieked and swung its claws in response, but the difference in power was absolute.

In the next instant, its chest was pierced straight through.

The creature dissipated into white fog without even leaving behind a trace.

Grey did not stop.

His expression was cold and filled with killing intent as he continued to punch, kick, and crush every fog creature that dared approach. His movements were decisive and ruthless, each strike carrying overwhelming force.

Meanwhile...

Deep within Grey’s body, in a quiet and hidden corner of his sea of consciousness, a faint infinity mark shimmered with dim light.

The mark slowly transformed, taking the shape of a small person with black hair and a gloomy expression.

After appearing in Grey’s sea of consciousness, the small person did nothing. He simply hid himself.

At his level, his concealment was so perfect that Grey might never discover his existence for the rest of his life.

Previously, the only thing that had interested him was the Moon Divine Source within Grey’s blood. However, upon discovering that it carried only the residual aura of the true source, he immediately lost interest.

He did not even bother to inspect the rest of Grey’s body. To him, such a lowly mortal vessel was not worth his attention.

Yet at this moment, the small person stood silently in Grey’s sea of consciousness, gazing at the vast spiritual sea that stretched several thousand feet in all directions. The sea was dense, brimming with vitality, and filled with condensed spiritual energy.

Above it hung a purple moon.

Nearby, a massive Mosasaur slept soundlessly.

But none of that held his attention.

His gaze was fixed on a scorched region of the sea, the exact place where the purple crystal had sealed away the divine flames that had erupted not long ago. Even now, that area remained charred and lifeless, showing no signs of recovery.

The small person appeared there and looked around thoughtfully.

"What did he do to incur the gaze of a Divine Being?" he murmured in curiosity. "That existence only glanced at him and did not focus its attention... otherwise, this boy would have been annihilated long ago."

He fell silent for a moment.

Then he spoke again, his voice faint. "The place where the flames vanished..."

After pondering briefly, he chose not to continue. Instead, he transformed back into an infinity mark and quietly fused into the purple moon hanging in the sky of the sea of consciousness.

Throughout the entire process, he did not spare even a glance for the Mosasaur or anything else.

His curiosity had been satisfied for now.

Closing his eyes, he fell into a deep sleep.

Grey continued moving toward the only source of light in this place.

As he forced his way through the dense white fog, something slowly began to feel... off.

When he had first started walking, the source of light had been unimaginably far away. Yet despite the distance, its brilliance had been strong enough to blanket the entire area, illuminating everything around him. Now, however, even though the light still appeared to be far away, Grey felt as though he had drawn noticeably closer to it.

This contradiction made his steps slow.

’Is that right? Am I already getting closer?’ Grey wondered inwardly.

But the moment that thought surfaced, the captain’s words echoed clearly in his mind, words she had repeated more than once.

This place was extremely dangerous. They were not to linger. No matter what happened, they were to reach the altar within one month.

Yet now, not even a few days had passed.

And still... he was already getting closer. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Grey’s expression darkened.

"There is something wrong," he muttered.

The instant those words left his mouth, a pair of red eyes emerged from the fog and gazed at him coldly.

Those eyes were filled with an indescribable indifference, as though Grey was nothing more than a passing speck of dust. The moment his gaze met them, Grey felt as if a loud explosion had detonated inside his head.

Bang!

It was like the sound of glass shattering.

Grey staggered as though struck, his vision blurring violently. In that instant, it felt as though an invisible layer of reality had been forcibly torn away, peeled back to reveal the true nature of this place.

The white fog was not white at all.

It was blood-red mist, thick and oppressive, covering everything in sight. The ground beneath his feet was the same deep crimson, uneven and scorched, as though it had been burned and soaked in blood countless times over.

As for the pair of red eyes staring at him from within the mist...

Grey could finally see their source.

Though the true body of the existence remained hidden, a gigantic head gradually took shape, one so massive that it defied any sense of scale. Upon it were six eyes, each one radiating a terrifying pressure that crushed down on the surroundings.

At this moment, only two of those eyes were open.