Void Cultivation

Chapter 369: Chapter 368- Provocation (3)

Slowly...

He rose to his feet.

As he did, his gaze unconsciously drifted toward the distant horizon.

Although countless buildings stood in his line of sight, Grey’s eyes seemed to pierce straight through them, settling upon the distant harbor where the seventeen colossal fleets of the Sect Alliance remained anchored.

Each of those magic vessels represented a powerful sect.

Each carried Heaven’s Chosen whose cultivation far surpassed that of ordinary disciples.

For a brief moment, Grey remained silent.

Nobody knew what thoughts crossed his mind.

A few moments later, he withdrew his gaze.

Instead, he lowered his head and looked at the shadow beneath his feet.

Compared to before, the shadow had become noticeably different.

It was darker.

Far darker than any ordinary shadow had the right to be.

Its pitch-black appearance seemed capable of swallowing even the surrounding light, making it stand out despite lying flat upon the ground.

The darkness within it felt strangely profound, almost as though it concealed an endless abyss.

As though sensing Grey’s gaze, the shadow suddenly stirred.

Without making a sound, part of its body slowly twisted before rising from the floor like a sheet of black liquid.

A vague humanoid silhouette formed.

Although it possessed no facial features, Grey somehow felt that it was staring directly back at him.

The two remained like that for several seconds.

Then, as if nothing had happened, the shadow silently dissolved back into the ground before wrapping itself tightly around Grey’s feet once more.

During the past two weeks, the shadow had not remained idle.

Every single night, after darkness blanketed Sky Mist City and most cultivators retreated indoors, it would quietly detach itself from Grey’s feet.

Like a living stream of ink, it slithered silently through the city’s countless streets and alleyways.

It climbed walls.

Slipped beneath doors.

Crawled across rooftops.

It wandered through every corner that darkness touched.

Throughout its nightly excursions, the shadow continuously absorbed the corrosive substance that naturally permeated Sky Mist City.

Night after night...

Without interruption.

As a result, its body had gradually become denser than before.

Its darkness had deepened considerably, and the aura surrounding it had become increasingly unsettling.

Even without approaching it, one could instinctively sense an unusual pressure emanating from the shadow.

It was as though the corrosive substance hidden within it had reached an astonishing concentration.

Strangely enough, however, that same corrosive substance was also being continuously devoured by the shadow itself.

Grey had long since noticed this phenomenon.

The shadow constantly absorbed the corrosive substance from its surroundings.

Yet at the same time...

It seemed capable of consuming and refining that very same energy.

Exactly where it went afterward...

Grey had no idea.

Even after observing it for two weeks, he still couldn’t understand the mechanism behind it.

It was as though the shadow possessed instincts entirely separate from his own understanding.

After pondering for a moment, Grey gave it a simple mental command.

The shadow immediately responded.

Without hesitation, it released a portion of the corrosive substance it had gathered over the past several nights.

The black mist silently flowed into Grey’s body.

Within moments, a familiar sensation spread throughout his meridians.

The concentration was neither too high nor too low.

Instead, it perfectly mimicked the amount naturally found within an ordinary cultivator living in Sky Mist City.

Grey deliberately maintained this disguise.

After all, if he walked around completely free of the city’s corrosive substance while everyone else possessed traces of it, he would inevitably attract unwanted attention of he were to be found out.

Of course, ever since Grey got the shadow and no longer had corrosive substance in his body, he was sure that no one from Sky Mist City had noticed.

However, this time around, powerful cultivators at the peak of the Central quadrant were gathered here in Sky Mist City.

They would inevitably be someone who would detect the strangeness in Grey’s body. And as Grey loved his low-key life free from any troubles, he did the sensible thing and filtered Corrosive substance back into his body so he wouldn’t look out of place.

Although the chances of someone noticing were very little, it was better to be safe than sorry.

It was better to blend in.

The less suspicious he appeared, the safer he would be.

After confirming that the amount of corrosive substance within his body was no different from that of an average cultivator, Grey gave the shadow a small nod.

The shadow quietly settled beneath his feet once more, becoming indistinguishable from an ordinary shadow.

Without another word, Grey opened the office door and stepped outside, finally ending his two weeks of secluded cultivation.

---

Meanwhile, seated within a quiet cultivation chamber aboard the largest of the seventeen colossal magic vessels hovering above Sky Mist City, a young man about Grey’s age slowly opened his eyes.

The instant his eyelids parted, the surrounding spiritual energy seemed to grow still.

His gaze narrowed slightly.

Someone...

Just now, someone had been watching him.

Although the sensation had lasted for only a fleeting instant, it had been genuine.

His spiritual perception silently spread outward, sweeping through the vast magic vessel before extending beyond it toward Sky Mist City below.

However...

The mysterious gaze had already disappeared.

Whoever it was had withdrawn the moment their eyes met.

The young man remained silent for several moments before calmly retracting his spiritual perception.

His expression never changed from beginning to end.

Long black hair cascaded over his shoulders like flowing ink, while his deep blue eyes resembled a boundless sea beneath a moonless night.

Yet despite their beauty...

Those eyes contained no warmth.

No curiosity.

No arrogance.

No excitement.

Within them existed only endless emptiness.

An emptiness so profound that anyone who looked into them for too long would instinctively feel a trace of loneliness.

As though everything in this world had already lost its meaning.

Within his body, the power of four Spirit Fire spheres quietly revolved around his dantian.

Each sphere emitted an astonishing pressure, causing the surrounding spiritual energy to distort ever so slightly.

Although many disciples aboard the seventeen magic vessels had already condensed four Spirit Fire spheres, this young man occupied an entirely different level.

Among Heaven’s Chosen...

He was considered the Heaven’s Chosen.

The strongest genius produced by the Central Quadrant in this generation beneath the Spirit Core Formation Realm.

A cultivator whose name alone carried immense weight throughout the Sect Alliance.

Many believed that once he entered the Spirit Core Formation Realm, his rise would become unstoppable.

Some even claimed that his generation existed solely to witness his brilliance.

Others believed that no disciple beneath the Spirit Core Formation Realm possessed the qualifications to stand beside him.

The room remained completely silent.

After a long while, the young man slowly withdrew his gaze from the distant city below.

Perhaps he had merely imagined it.

Or perhaps...

Someone truly had the courage to observe him from afar.

Either way, it no longer mattered.

His eyes gradually closed once again as he resumed his cultivation, his expression remaining as calm and desolate as before.

The only sound that remained within the chamber was the gentle circulation of spiritual energy.

This young man...

...was Yoren Ichi of the Spirit Abyss Sect.

The acknowledged star of the Central Quadrant.

The genius among geniuses.

The Heaven’s Chosen among Heaven’s Chosen.