Void Cultivation

Chapter 288 287-

Both of them had been heavily damaged during the previous battles and although the Soul Devouring Bird had originally recovered to some extent, in real battle... it was very useless.

Now, sensing the rich spirit energy flowing into Grey's body, they immediately began devouring it to repair themselves.

Grey did not stop them.

Instead, he carefully observed the process.

He quickly noticed that their recovery speed was astonishing.

The spirit energy seemed to be extremely compatible with their existence.

Within moments, the previously weakened Life Demon Phantom which had been in a critical condition and unable to even manifest properly, began to stabilize.

Then suddenly

It appeared.

Inside Grey's Sea of Consciousness, the phantom slowly formed once again.

Its long hair hung down and completely covered its face, hiding its eyes and expression. Its arms drooped unnaturally long, its fingertips almost touching the dark ground beneath it.

The moment Grey saw this scene inside his mind,

The Life Demon Phantom suddenly erupted with terrifying power.

Intense purple flames exploded from its body as if it intended to burn the entire world to ashes. It began absorbing the spirit energy even faster than Grey himself.

Even the Soul Devouring Bird could not compete with it.

Grey was stunned for a brief moment before immediately issuing a command.

"Stop."

The Life Demon Phantom instantly obeyed and halted its absorption.

Grey's mind rapidly analyzed what he had just witnessed.

'The spirit energy inside the white crystal is extremely potent and unusually pure.'

'It also seems to have a stronger effect on the Life Demon Phantom.'

Grey narrowed his eyes slightly as he continued thinking.

'They may share a similar origin…'

'Or perhaps this spirit energy was extracted through methods similar to how the Life Demon Art plunders life force.'

After the Life Demon Phantom finished recovering, Grey quickly estimated the remaining amount of energy.

Approximately sixty percent of the original spirit energy still remained.

Soon, the Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird also let out a satisfied screech.

Its aura surged explosively within Grey's Sea of Consciousness.

The third feather on its tail began glowing with an even brighter light, radiating an ancient and mysterious aura.

The bird had also reached its limit.

Now, only Grey himself remained.

However, instead of continuing to use the spirit energy to heal himself, Grey made another decision.

He redirected the spirit energy toward his Spirit Perforations.

He wanted to see if he could break open more of them.

After all, the white crystal was still in his possession, and only a small amount of time had passed since he began cultivating.

When Grey began using the spirit energy to strike at his spirit perforations, the effect was immediate.

The fifty-second spirit perforation shattered like fragile glass.

Not long after...

The fifty-third followed.

Then the fifty-fourth.

And finally the fifty-fifth.

Within only twenty minutes, Grey had broken open four spirit perforations, raising the total number from fifty-one to fifty-five.

This speed was completely unprecedented.

Even Grey himself was shocked.

Excitement flickered in his eyes.

'The spirit energy is far denser than anything I've absorbed before.'

'Using energy of this quality to break open my future perforations will make the process much easier.'

Grey's gaze slowly shifted toward the spot where the pile of ash still lay on the battlefield.

'This energy likely came from a cultivator far above the Foundation Establishment realm.'

This red land had no concept of clouds.

There was barely any wind here either.

Because of that, the pile of ash had remained completely undisturbed even after all this time.

However, Grey soon withdrew his gaze and refocused on his cultivation.

Very soon, two hours passed.

Grey slowly opened his eyes.

Cracking sounds echoed from his body while low booming sounds continued to reverberate through his meridians.

Several more spirit perforations had been shattered in succession.

His total number had risen from fifty-five to sixty-two.

At the same time, the spirit energy remaining within his body had been reduced from sixty percent to roughly forty percent.

Although this rapid breakthrough felt incredibly tempting, Grey quickly realized something important.

The more perforations he opened, the longer it took to break the next one.

The difficulty was gradually increasing.

After making a rough estimate, Grey came to a conclusion.

'Even if I use all the remaining energy, I would probably only reach around seventy spirit perforations.'

'After that, breaking open the remaining perforations will become just as difficult as before.'

Grey fell silent for a moment.

Then another thought surfaced in his mind.

'Instead of wasting this energy on cultivation…'

'It would be better to use it to activate the Ancient Art that I learned from that old man.'

'The energy required to activate it is enormous. If I attempt it with my own cultivation, it would take far too long.'

After quickly weighing the pros and cons, Grey made his decision.

He stopped forcing breakthroughs.

'Moreover, relying too much on external strength is not good for my foundation.'

'I haven't even fully adapted to the power I've already gained.'

With that thought, Grey slowly stood up.

Not far away, the captain turned to look at him.

Her eyes were calm and expressionless, but Grey could clearly see a brilliant glint hidden deep within them.

Grey's aura had increased once again.

The power of three Spirit Fires radiated faintly from his body.

However, this was nothing compared to the captain.

It was obvious that she was intentionally suppressing her aura.

Even so, Grey could clearly sense the presence of four blazing Spirit Fires within her body.

His heart couldn't help but tremble slightly.

The captain's cultivation speed was simply too terrifying.

At the beginning, Grey had only been in the initial stage of Foundation Establishment, while the captain had been at the peak of the middle stage.

Later, when Grey broke through to two Spirit Fires and could unleash the strength of three fires, he had finally gained the ability to compete with her if he used all of his power.

But now…

Her cultivation had risen again.

Once more, she stood ahead of him.

Although Grey never spoke about it openly, he knew something very clearly.

Between the two of them.

There had always been a silent competition.

A competition to see who would step into the Spirit Core Formation realm first.

Seeing Grey's shocked expression, the captain's spurious smile widened even further, the corners of her lips curling with faint amusement. It was as if she found his reaction somewhat entertaining.

However, Grey soon ignored her expression entirely.

Instead, he slowly turned his head and looked around, his gaze sweeping across the surrounding area. His eyes narrowed slightly as he searched for a familiar figure.

"Where is Roxanne?" he asked softly.

Strangely enough, after killing the two white-haired men that had descended earlier, the enormous head with six eyes seemed to have completely ignored them.

It had simply turned its massive gaze away, as if Grey and the others did not even exist within its perception.

This made Grey extremely shocked at first. The six-eyed head had previously displayed terrifying awareness of everything happening in this strange world, so the fact that it was suddenly ignoring them was almost unbelievable.

However, after thinking about it for a moment, Grey quickly realized that the captain must have done something.

Once that thought appeared in his mind, he slowly calmed down.

"Oh, you mean that small little creature?" the captain replied casually.

Her tone sounded relaxed, almost indifferent, as if she was talking about something trivial.

"She is also recovering from the intense battle."

As she spoke, she lightly stretched her arms, as if easing the tension in her body.

"As you can see, this body of mine has very few injuries left," she continued. "And that is only because she was extremely powerful."

The captain paused for a brief moment before continuing.

"If not for my technique, we would not have been a match for her at all."

For the first time since she began speaking, the captain hesitated slightly.

Her gaze flickered for a brief moment before she continued.

"Roxanne was injured quite heavily during the fight. So she will need more time to recover than the two of us."

After finishing her explanation, the captain casually snapped her snow-white fingers.

The crisp sound echoed faintly through the silent world.

Immediately, a strange phenomenon occurred.

A portion of the surrounding world, which had previously been hidden from Grey's perception, suddenly revealed itself.

It was as if a thin layer of reality was being peeled away.

Grey watched as the world before him slowly cracked and separated, like dry paint flaking off an old wall.

Beyond that peeling layer of reality, another scene appeared.

Grey finally saw Roxanne.

She was sitting quietly on a snowy meadow not too far away.

Her once vibrant face was now pale, almost devoid of color, and her entire body was riddled with injuries. Torn flesh, dried blood, and deep wounds covered her delicate figure.

She looked extremely exhausted.

Despite that, her posture remained upright, showing her stubborn resilience.

As if sensing Grey's gaze, Roxanne slowly opened her eyes.

Her eyes immediately met his.

The two of them were only about twenty meters apart.

For a brief moment, neither of them spoke.

Grey silently observed her condition before slowly turning his head toward the captain again.

"I activated my fragmented world," the captain explained calmly. "And used the aura of this body to hide our presence from that Soul Ascendancy head for a short while."

Her voice was calm, but the last few words sounded somewhat listless.

"However, this concealment will not last long."

She looked up toward the sky where the six-eyed head floated silently.

"Very soon, the fragmented world will collapse… and we will be exposed again."

When Grey first heard this, he felt slightly shocked.

But after thinking about it carefully, he realized that this was perfectly in line with the captain's character.

She had never been someone who relied on prolonged hiding or careful escape.

She simply created a short window of opportunity, nothing more.

However, even such a brief opportunity was extremely valuable.

At the very least, it gave them time to recover their strength and prepare for what was about to come next.

In the end, this was still a good thing for them.

Because now, they could use this small period of calm to recuperate and plan their next moves.