Void Cultivation-Chapter 254

When the captain looked back, her expression changed instantly.

The entire region behind them had collapsed. The earth had caved in as though some colossal hand had crushed it from above, and thick red dust rose violently into the sky, blending with scarlet mist that churned like a living storm. The ground trembled faintly beneath her feet even from this distance.

A cold chill slid down the back of her neck.

She turned sharply to question Grey, only to discover that he had already flown farther ahead, increasing the distance between them without hesitation.

’What did little Grey do?’ she thought grimly, her brows knitting together. ’Which existence did he provoke before I arrived?’

She was not worried about the collapsing land. Destruction on this scale did not frighten her. What unsettled her was something else entirely.

Grey was becoming more daring than she was.

That thought alone made her eyes narrow.

With a soft snort, she circulated her cultivation base. Three balls of Spirit Fire rotated within her dantian, blazing like miniature suns. Heat radiated faintly from her body, distorting the air around her. The surrounding space seemed to warp and soften, as if the world itself were being gently melted by her presence.

And she had not even summoned her Spirit Fires outside her body.

With a single step, she shot forward.

Grey, by contrast, was merely at the initial stage of Foundation Establishment. Although he had opened a considerable number of spirit perforations, far more than most at his level, he was still a long way from manifesting his second ball of Spirit Fire.

The gap between them was obvious.

She caught up to him effortlessly.

Grey felt the scorching aura approach but did not bother reacting. His mind was focused on only one thing, putting as much distance as possible between himself and whatever had just been caused the explosion. And he knew that it was the massive face.

The wind tore past his ears. His vision blurred slightly.

After flying for some time, however, a realization slowly dawned on him.

He had no idea where he was going.

The land below was unfamiliar, scarred, and shifting beneath layers of red dust. The sky above was obscured by thick clouds of crimson mist. There were no landmarks, no guidance, only endless desolation.

Finally, he slowed to a stop.

The captain halted beside him with effortless grace.

She looked at him with a smug smile.

He had finally realized.

"What? I thought you knew where to go," she said proudly, pinching her nose in mock disdain.

Grey remained silent, staring at her flatly. His breathing was uneven. He glanced into the distance once more. The red dust clouds still billowed violently, but nothing emerged from them. No massive shadow. No pursuing aura.

He released a quiet sigh of relief.

For now, he was safe.

"Don’t we have somewhere to go?" Grey asked calmly, though his voice carried faint exhaustion.

The captain rolled her eyes.

"Look at yourself," she said lightly. "You’re badly injured. You can’t even maintain a straight flight path. Your face is pale, your aura is unstable, and you’re still coughing blood. And you’re asking for directions?"

Her gaze sharpened slightly.

"You don’t even know whether that thing is still chasing you."

Grey said nothing.

She stepped closer, folding her arms behind her back.

"Come on, little Grey. We haven’t even done the big thing I wanted us to do. And for that..." Her lips curved upward. "I need your participation and your full strength."

At her words, Grey fell silent.

Now that the immediate danger had subsided, the true state of his body was becoming impossible to ignore.

His meridians burned. The backlash from the Soul Devouring Bird’s collapse still lingered inside him like a poison. The Life Demon Art shattering had torn through his foundation, and the consequences were beginning to surface.

Most of his spirit perforations were lined with fine cracks, some even trembling on the verge of collapse. Spirit energy circulated unevenly within him, surging and stalling unpredictably. Every attempt to mobilize too much power caused sharp pain to lance through his body.

The shadow retreated to his legs weakly and would occasionally shudder lightly. It was also dead with exhaustion.

Fatigue pressed down on him like a mountain.

His vision dimmed at the edges.

It was only the lingering fear of whatever lay behind them that had kept him moving this long.

After a brief silence, he spoke.

"Where can we stay for the time being so I can heal?" Grey asked, his voice noticeably tired now. Even standing upright felt like effort.

The captain’s smile brightened instantly.

"Naturally," she said cheerfully, "I have just the thing."

She reached into her storage bag and retrieved a small blue sphere. It was no larger than a child’s toy, smooth and translucent. Frosty mist curled faintly around it, and the air grew noticeably colder the moment it appeared.

Grey’s eyes flickered with interest.

The captain held the sphere in her palm and poured spirit energy into it.

The blue light inside the sphere intensified. Fine cracks appeared across its surface.

Then...

It shattered.

But instead of scattering randomly, the fragments dissolved into shimmering blue motes that spread outward in a circular pattern.

In her hand, something new appeared.

A small blue meadow.

It was no larger than her palm, an exquisite miniature landscape covered in snow. White grass swayed gently as if stirred by invisible wind. Frost-covered trees stood still and dignified. A small frozen pond reflected pale blue light.

The captain tossed the tiny meadow casually toward the ground.

The moment it touched the earth, it rippled and then it expanded.

The miniature landscape unfolded rapidly, as though a scroll painting were being unrolled by unseen hands. Snow spread across the red ground, swallowing it. The crimson mist retreated, replaced by crisp, icy air.

In the blink of an eye, the meadow expanded to cover over three hundred meters in every direction.

After reaching that boundary, it stopped.

Silence descended.

Grey blinked.

One moment, he had been standing on cracked red earth beneath a sky stained with blood-colored clouds.

The next,

He stood within a vast snowy field.

White stretched endlessly before him. Snowflakes drifted gently through the air. Frost-coated grass crunched beneath his feet. The air was clean, cold, and refreshing, washing away the oppressive aura of the outside world.

The violent red landscape was completely gone from sight.

It was as though they had stepped into an entirely different world.