Void Cultivation

Chapter 278

Grey remained silent for several seconds. His thoughts kept returning to what the old man had said. Although it sounded safe on the surface, there must be some hidden motive behind his words.

But even if there were, Grey couldn’t do anything about it. He was completely at the other party’s mercy.

"What would you like to know about the outside world?" Grey asked after a long moment. He stopped retreating, but the vigilance in his eyes did not decrease one bit.

When the old man heard his words, he smiled calmly before making a small gesture with his fingers. Very soon, a multitude of black threads appeared from the darkness and swarmed forward.

Each of these threads emitted an extremely powerful and life-threatening aura. Grey even felt that a single thread would be enough to kill him without resistance.

In fear, he retreated without hesitation. However, the threads did not swarm toward him. Instead, they gathered together and gradually formed a black chair in which the old man slowly sat down.

His expression was calm, and the faint smile on his face never disappeared. He did not seem bothered by Grey’s panic as he quietly waited.

When Grey saw that no attack had come for him, he silently sighed in relief and began to talk about the changes in the outside world.

He remained about ten meters away from the old man and spoke in a plain and steady manner. The old man stayed silent as he listened intently to every word Grey said.

"So how long has it been since God descended?" the old man asked solemnly.

Grey sighed softly and thought for a moment before answering.

"It has been twenty thousand four hundred and seventy-two years since God descended, according to the Ancient Spirit Calendar," Grey replied based on the information he already knew.

"What about the Human Emperor? Has he returned? Or his subordinates? Has the Holy Demon race fallen? Has the sun been conquered? Has the Boundless Sea truly become corrupt?" The old man asked a series of questions one after another, his tone becoming increasingly serious.

Grey calmly answered the ones that he knew.

"The Human Ancient Spirit Emperor is now the ruler of the human race. He has six daughters and seven sons. The first son of the Human Emperor is currently in battle. As for his subordinates, I do not know who you speak of. I also do not know the current status of the Holy Demon race in comparison to the human race. From what I know, the sun has not been conquered... and as for the last part..." Grey became hesitant. He didn’t know how to respond.

The old man nodded solemnly.

"What about the Four Generals? Has there been any human who inherited their authorities?"

Grey thought for a bit before calmly shaking his head.

The old man fell silent.

Only after a very long time did he finally speak again.

"I never imagined that the world would change so much. It has been several thousand years since God descended... yet the Human Emperor still remains missing..."

He sighed deeply. The face that had previously appeared bright and calm was now downcast, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen as if weighed down by countless years.

The old man no longer had the urge to ask more questions. Slowly, he stood up and began walking into the darkness.

The black chair formed from countless threads collapsed and scattered, returning to the shadows.

Grey watched silently. But after a few steps, his pupils suddenly shrank.

The old man’s body did not disappear into the darkness.

Instead, the darkness seemed to open slightly... and swallow him whole. When the last trace of his figure vanished, the entire space fell into a suffocating silence.

"Thank you, little friend. According to our agreement, you can now learn a forbidden art that has long been forgotten by the world."

As soon as he finished speaking, one of the ancient stone slabs floated slowly toward Grey.

The obscure and unreadable words engraved upon it suddenly became crystal clear in Grey’s eyes. However, even though he could now see and read them, merely retaining them in his memory placed an enormous burden on his mind.

"You can only learn one. Also, the arts before you are the only ones that those of your realm can currently learn. Choose wisely. Good luck..."

After saying that, the old man completely disappeared into the endless darkness.

The moment he left, a strange glint flashed in Grey’s eyes and he immediately tried to leave.

He circulated his cultivation base to the absolute limit and attempted to release as much cold aura as possible to break out of this illusion.

However, the cold aura only seeped out of his body and rushed into the darkness, as if it had been swallowed whole.

But this did not stop Grey from trying again.

He continued using every method he could think of to escape, yet nothing changed.

At one point, he even tried to self-destruct one of his Spirit Fires, but his spirit perforations were incredibly weak. They could not even support such a violent action.

Meanwhile, the ancient stone slab continued to float silently before him, as if urging him to take a closer look and learn the art imprinted upon it.

"Is it only after I’ve learned the art that I can leave this place? But that is not what the old man said..." Grey muttered quietly to himself.

He tried to deduce what the situation meant, but no clear answer appeared in his mind.

’The chances of the old man lying are extremely low. After all, at his level, what would lying even accomplish? I also did not lie when he asked me questions. I told him everything I knew.’

’However... that did not mean the truth he spoke was the entire truth’

In the end, Grey decided to attempt learning the forbidden art first.

As wary as he was of the old man, the offer of an ancient art, one that would likely never appear in the outside world, was simply too tempting for anyone to completely ignore.