The mont Grey entered the crack, he felt as though his entire body was being dragged downward by an unseen force.
An overwhelming pressure descended upon him as his body was violently squeezed, his descent accelerating at a terrifying speed. Countless colors flashed wildly before his eyes, overlapping and distorting one another, before gradually fading away. Soon, all that remained was pitch-black darkness. This ti, even his sharp vision was unable to pierce through it.
Yet Grey did not appear particularly surprised.
Perhaps he was, but if so, it did not show on his face. His expression remained unchanged, cold and composed, as he rely clenched his teeth and endured the pain surging through his body.
After what felt like an indeterminate amount of ti, Grey’s feet finally struck solid ground.
The impact was brutal.
His legs buckled as he landed roughly, a sharp jolt racing up his bones, nearly shattering them on the spot. The ground beneath him cracked faintly as he skidded several steps backward before barely managing to stabilize himself.
However, Grey reacted quickly. He forced himself upright almost imdiately and swept his gaze across his surroundings.
Darkness stretched endlessly in every direction. The only visible source of light ca from far above, seeping down faintly as though filtering through an imasurable distance. Thick, heavy fog lingered all around him, clinging to the air like a living thing. It was so dense that he could barely make out anything more than a few feet in front of him.
The mont he confird his surroundings, Grey did not hesitate.
The first thing he did was expand his divine sense.
Invisible waves of perception surged outward from his body, instantly enveloping an area roughly three hundred feet in radius. Every fluctuation, every disturbance within that range was laid bare to his senses.
Only after that did Grey circulate the power of his cultivation base.
Spirit energy surged forth from his dantian, flowing through his ridians like a roaring tide. As it rushed through his body, his aura steadily rose, and Grey could clearly feel a powerful strength building within him, reinforcing his flesh, bones, and organs.
Even so, Grey frowned slightly.
It still wasn’t enough.
Without hesitation, he drew upon the cold yin energy that had long lain dormant within him. The mont it stirred, an icy current spread throughout his body, sharply contrasting with the raging warmth of his spirit energy. Steam instantly rose from his skin, curling into the air as the opposing forces reacted to one another.
The scene inside Grey’s body was equally peculiar.
The cold yin energy flowed calmly along its own path, completely ignoring the spirit energy. At the sa ti, the spirit energy continued to circulate freely, just as indifferent to the presence of the cold yin energy.
The two powers neither collided nor rged.
They simply coexisted.
Only after reinforcing himself to this extent did Grey begin forming arrays and casting spells around his position. One by one, invisible formations took shape, layering defenses upon defenses. When he finally finished, he exhaled softly.
Only then did he allow himself to relax, if only a little, and properly observe the environnt he had entered.
What he saw made his eyes narrow.
The entire space was filled with dense white fog. Even when he extended his divine sense once more, the result was the sa, endless fog, stretching in all directions. It was as though the mist itself was devouring perception.
Scattered throughout the area were nurous strange structures, their vague outlines barely visible through the haze. However, they were far too distant for him to analyze clearly.
"Even though nothing has happened so far, I can’t afford to lower my guard," Grey murmured.
His voice was soft, but the vigilance in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest.
"The captain said we should reach the altar in the sky as quickly as possible... and she also ntioned that there are many serendipities here."
After making his decision, Grey no longer hesitated.
He rose into the air, flying straight toward the only source of light above.
As his body cut through the air, powerful gusts of wind spread outward, temporarily dispersing the fog around him. However, before the mist could fully retreat, a strange force seed to act upon it. The fog quickly surged back, filling the empty space as though nothing had disturbed it at all.
Grey noticed this phenonon, and a peculiar glint flickered in his eyes.
As he ascended higher and the ground gradually vanished beneath him, he finally noticed the sky above.
It was dark, yet filled with stars.
Countless points of light dotted the heavens, shining faintly against the black expanse. However, the positions of these stars felt... wrong. To Grey, they looked unfamiliar, as though they did not belong to this world at all.
The realization unsettled him.
In the entire cultivation world, the sky and the stars were constant. Whether in the main world or within a small world, the heavens remained unchanged. Even if the environnt differed, the stars overhead would always be the sa.
Yet here, it felt as though he was standing beneath an entirely foreign sky.
It was as if he had stepped onto unfamiliar land and was gazing upon a piece of heaven he had never seen before.
Grey frowned slightly but did not slow down.
His speed remained steady, neither reckless nor cautious, yet still swift enough to cover great distances in a short ti.
As he continued flying, his gaze lingered on the stars longer than he intended.
Gradually, an unfamiliar emotion stirred within him.
A faint sense of lancholy.
A trace of nostalgia.
Before he realized it, a vague image appeared in his mind. He could see a lone figure standing beneath the vast sky, silently staring into the distance. The figure let out a quiet sigh, one filled with loneliness and longing.
As the image overlapped with his own vision, it ford the picture of a solitary soul gazing upon an unfamiliar sky, missing the place they once called ho.
The scene felt distant, yet painfully close.
Grey’s brows knitted together as confusion surfaced in his eyes.
He did not understand why such images had appeared...
...but sothing about this sky made his heart feel inexplicably heavy.
The feeling of unfamiliarity only grew more intense.
It pressed against Grey’s mind like a lingering shadow, impossible to ignore.
"Why is the sky in this place different?" Grey muttered softly. "Could it an sothing else? And why do I feel as though I can see a figure within the stars... sighing with emotion?"
His voice was low, almost absent-minded.
The mont the words left his mouth, Grey realized sothing was wrong.
These thoughts were not accompanied by his usual caution or vigilance. There was no calculated reasoning behind them, only confusion. That realization alone was enough to make his heart tighten slightly.
Sothing was influencing him.
Frowning, Grey forcibly tore his gaze away from the sky. He shut down the strange emotions rising in his chest and focused forward instead, pushing them deep into the back of his mind.
No matter what this place was, lingering here and pondering would only invite danger.
He continued onward.
After flying more than five thousand feet, the environnt suddenly changed.
The fog ahead of him surged violently, churning as though stirred by an invisible hand. Grey’s expression sharpened instantly. Without hesitation, he twisted his body midair and deftly altered his direction.
He had no idea what lurked within the fog, and encountering sothing unknown this early was the last thing he wanted.
However, before he could put distance between himself and the disturbance, Grey’s pupils contracted.
It wasn’t just the fog in front of him.
Within a radius of five hundred feet around his body, the dense white fog began to churn and writhe. The once-still mist twisted unnaturally, forming vague silhouettes that quickly solidified.
Monts later, strange creatures erged.
Their bodies were entirely composed of white fog, their outlines barely stable, as though they could collapse at any mont. Their faces were indistinct, impossible to make out clearly, but the malice radiating from them was unmistakable.
The mont they fully ford, they lunged toward Grey.
Their movents were savage and relentless, pouncing at him like starving beasts.
Grey’s eyes widened slightly as he tried to evade, but before he could reposition himself, another fog creature materialized directly behind him and launched an attack as well.
In the blink of an eye, several more appeared.
They surrounded him completely, pouncing from every direction. Their expressions were feral, and their eyes burned with pure hostility.
There was no room to dodge.
Grey’s gaze hardened.
Since evasion was no longer an option, he chose to fight back.
Clenching his hand into a fist, Grey threw a punch. Instantly, the power of his thirty-seven spirit perforations roared to life, circulating spirit energy explosively through his body.
His fist moved so fast that it left behind a lingering afterimage.
One of the fog creatures was struck head-on and sent flying backward. Its body did not collapse or disperse as Grey had expected. Instead, it slamd into the ground, reford almost instantly, and sprang back up, leaping toward him once more.
Seeing this, a sharp glint flashed through Grey’s eyes.
He punched again.
"BOOM!"
A thunderous explosion rang out as his fist connected with another creature. The impact launched it violently through the air, while a fist-shaped air cannon burst forth from his strike, tearing straight through the creature’s chest.
This ti, the result was different.
The fog creature was shredded on the spot, its form unraveling as it dissipated into wisps of white mist under the force of Grey’s attack.
Yet the remaining creatures showed no fear.
They did not even hesitate.
Instead, they continued to charge forward with maddened expressions, their malice growing thicker and more intense.
Grey’s expression remained calm.
Without hesitation, he summoned the phantom residing within his body.
In the next instant, the phantom ford through the Life Demon Art manifested beside him, its presence cold and oppressive.
At the sa ti, the small totem wrapped around Grey’s wrist ignited with blazing flas. From it, a purple bird with six long tails burst forth into the air.
The bird’s feathers shimred brilliantly, each one sleek and sharp. Its gaze was filled with arrogance and pride, as though everything before it was unworthy of consideration.
The mont it appeared, the purple bird screeched loudly.
Then it inhaled.
A powerful suction force erupted from its beak, pulling in wisps of white fog from all directions. As the Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird continued to draw in the fog, a strange glint appeared in its eyes.
Greed.
Pure, unrestrained greed.
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