Void Cultivation-Chapter 264

Who was a Soul Ascendancy Realm expert? After the Nascent Soul Transformation Realm and the Nirvana realm came the Soul Ascendancy Realm.

Those in the Soul Ascendancy Realm could be described as extremely terrifying existences, beings whose mere presence alone could cause the world itself to tremble and quake in fear. Mountains would bow, seas would churn, and even the heavens seemed to dim beneath their oppressive aura.

They were second to none except for Nihility Realm cultivators, who were exceedingly rare.

After God’s hand descended, the path beyond the Nihility Realm had been severed completely. As a result, many powerful experts became trapped within the Nihility Realm, unable to take that final step forward. Yet even those who stood at the peak of Nihility were extraordinarily scarce. As their name implied, they were beings who were nearly nonexistent, elusive to the extreme.

Because of this, entering the Nihility Realm became far more difficult than before.

However... it was not entirely impossible to step into the Soul Ascendancy Realm. It was simply that the difficulty had increased tremendously compared to the era before God’s descent.

Since the day God descended, no one had successfully crossed the Nihility Realm and stepped beyond it. This created a fractured cultivation path, one that impeded and halted countless outstanding cultivators from advancing further. Geniuses who might once have shaken the world were forced to stagnate within the same realm for centuries, unable to break through.

All of this was caused by the corrosive substance that spread after God’s hand descended.

After all, the corrosive substance was an invasive and mutative force. It altered all life it touched and twisted countless life-forms into grotesque and unstable existences. It did not merely corrupt the body, it disrupted cultivation foundations, polluted spiritual energy, and destabilized the natural order of the world.

For the captain to say that she wanted to steal the eyes of a Soul Ascendancy Realm expert was akin to declaring that she intended to rob one of the most powerful existences on the entire continent.

Although Soul Ascendancy was not truly the absolute pinnacle, it still represented the ceiling for the vast majority of cultivators. Ordinary Nascent Soul Transformation experts were already considered heaven-defying existences. What, then, of Soul Ascendancy experts, who were even rarer and far more terrifying?

’This person... she must be... very mad!’ Grey concluded inwardly as he shook his head.

The captain looked at Grey’s downcast expression with anticipation shining in her eyes. "Why are you looking so gloomy, little Grey? Just because I said we’re stealing the eyes of a Soul Ascendancy Realm expert doesn’t mean it’s one who’s still alive!"

When Grey heard her words, he froze.

He slowly turned his gaze toward the corpse seated upon the terrifying altar constructed entirely of bones.

Although the headless corpse had long since died, it still radiated a powerful and oppressive aura that fused seamlessly with the altar beneath it. The starry world surrounding them trembled faintly, as though unable to withstand the lingering might of its presence.

Along with the silent wailing sounds of numerous creatures, humans and nonhumans alike, it created a scene that felt like the tragic conclusion to an unimaginably terrifying life. The atmosphere was heavy, suffocating, and soaked with the remnants of ancient despair.

Naturally, the dead expert before them had once stood within the Soul Ascendancy Realm and was very likely the individual they intended to plunder.

In the end, Grey could only sigh softly and resign himself to fate. After all, he had followed the captain into this world for the sake of accomplishing the great task they had planned. Even if he chose to back out now, it would be meaningless. He was already too deeply involved.

As if sensing Grey’s hesitation, the captain spoke quickly, her voice firm. "What’s there to be afraid of? This corpse has been dead for more than five thousand years. What’s more, we already know where its head is. Besides, the only way to leave this world is with the eye of this entity. Nothing can possibly go wrong!"

Although there was still a trace of solemnity in her tone, it was overshadowed by her excitement and barely concealed anticipation.

When Grey looked into her eyes, he felt as though he were witnessing the captain repeatedly doing reckless and insane things while laughing maniacally.

’This person... likes courting death!’ Grey recalled her earlier accusation that he was courting death and could not help but reverse the image in his mind. At the very least, he did not actively provoke bizarre and unfathomable existences.

But the captain? She was practically searching for ways to die. Anyone with eyes could see who was truly courting death here.

"You’re crazy," Grey said calmly.

The captain did not seem fazed in the slightest. Instead, she glanced at the headless corpse before turning her gaze back to him.

Her expression now revealed a hint of anxious urgency. "If we’re going, we have to go now. The time frame during which it remains open will soon close!"

The moment she finished speaking, Grey felt a chilling wind sweep through the starry universe and drift toward the platform.

The wind was bone-piercingly cold and soon condensed into a thick fog that slowly floated toward the altar and the headless corpse. The instant the fog appeared, Grey felt as though the scenes before him no longer truly existed. It was as if the altar and the corpse were not even in the same space as he was.

For a brief moment, he even felt that everything before him was nothing more than an illusion.

But Grey did not believe that.

The intense pressure he had felt emanating from the altar had been undeniably real. The oppressive aura radiating from the headless corpse was equally real.

Illusion or not, whatever lay before them was the remnant of a being that had once shaken the world.

Nothing in this world could prove otherwise. His only explanation was this: the fog was going to cover everything, and very soon the scene before him would completely disappear. When that happened, they might no longer be standing on the platform and could even be ejected back into the red world.

If that occurred, they would miss their only opportunity.

"Once this fog completely drifts over here, the altar will disappear, and so will the headless corpse. We have to act now!" the captain said decisively before taking off from the platform and soaring toward the headless corpse without hesitation.

The bone-white altar, which emitted a dazzling white light, was over tens of thousands of feet tall. A powerful pressure descended from above, causing the surrounding space to feel unbearably heavy, as if gravity itself had intensified.

Flying even halfway up the altar would already be a tremendous challenge, let alone reaching the headless corpse seated at its peak.

The moment he saw the captain fly off, Grey’s gloomy expression shifted, and he also took to the air. Regardless of whether her words were entirely true, Grey would still participate.

After all, whether the Soul Ascendancy Realm expert was truly dead or not, the benefits they could gain from plundering its eye would undoubtedly be extraordinary.

Even if he was afraid, he was more afraid of remaining weak and impoverished. In the end, he could only sigh, grit his teeth, and chase after the captain.

As soon as his feet left the ground, Grey felt a strong pressure suddenly appear and slam him downward, as if the heavens themselves were rejecting his ascent. It was only through sheer force of will and strength that he managed to resist and continue flying higher.

At one hundred feet, Grey felt as though the world before his eyes had changed.

He now seemed to be staring at an endless tower constructed from the bones of countless species. The bone tower stretched as far as the eye could see and was so tall that it pierced into the clouds above, disappearing into the white haze.

An ordinary cultivator would have been shaken by such a horrifying sight and might have fallen back to the ground in terror. But Grey was different. The moment the white tower appeared before him, he erupted with all his speed and shot upward even faster.

In an instant, he crossed a distance of over one thousand feet. The next second, he was already beside the captain.

So far, only three breaths of time had passed since the captain began her ascent. When Grey appeared next to her, she transmitted her voice directly into his ears.

"We must hurry. If the fog distorts the image of the altar, we will fail. We only have one chance at this. I’ve been preparing for a very long time."

Hearing the urgency in her voice, they both increased their speed even as the pressure intensified around them.

Very soon, they reached half the height of the altar.

The moment they did, both of them spat out mouthfuls of blood, and their expressions changed drastically.

Grey’s face turned pale as he retreated slightly, dispersing poison around him. Ever since he had arrived in this red world, he had rarely used his poison. That was because he had discovered that it had little effect on the creatures here.

Their bodies, formed from red mist and writhing tentacles, seemed to ignore his poison entirely, no matter how he tried to refine or concentrate it.

As a result, he had been forced to rely on physical attacks, destroying them head-on while enduring their assaults at the same time.

Thus, the moment Grey released his poison here, he did so in massive quantities. The toxic mist spread rapidly, turning his surroundings dark and hazy in an instant.

Grey felt as though countless needles were piercing his body, stabbing into his flesh and drawing blood. Yet his gaze remained calm. He was the creator of this poison and was fully aware of its potency and limits.

In Grey’s eyes, the moment they reached halfway up the altar, the white bones before them twisted and transformed into grotesque monsters.

These creatures possessed pale, white flesh, and their expressions were filled with pure malevolence. The power emanating from them was overwhelming, pressing down on Grey and making him feel suppressed.

The instant they appeared, they lunged toward him. The oppressive feeling intensified sharply.

This time, it no longer felt like he was facing creatures made of fog or red mist. Instead, it felt like he was confronting mutated beasts of terrifying strength.

Acting on instinct, Grey raised his hand and scattered more poison. At the same time, the full power of his cultivation erupted, and he threw a powerful fist toward the grotesque abomination charging at him.

However, his fist struck nothing.

It passed straight through empty air.

The moment this happened, Grey and the captain exchanged a glance.

They instantly understood... it was an illusion.

Without hesitation, they continued rushing upward. Their expressions were pale and slightly grim, but they did not slow down in the slightest.

If they retreated now and descended instead, it would be nearly impossible to ascend the altar again due to their injuries. And even if they somehow managed it, they would not reach the headless corpse in time.

By then, the fog would have completely drifted over, covering the altar and the headless corpse entirely, hiding them from sight and severing them from perception.

And once that happened, their only chance would be gone.