Void Cultivation

By the time they turned another corner, Grey’s shadow slid through the streets before attaching itself back to his feet. It swayed slightly as it followed Grey’s movements, and a short moment later, it returned to normal.

It was as if nothing had ever happened. Not even Iria, who was walking beside him, noticed that anything was off.

Inwardly, Grey nodded his head in approval of the shadow. Although he couldn’t see through its eyes, he could perceive what had happened through their connection.

As soon as the shadow reached the dark alley, it saw the haggard, disheveled man leaning against the wall with the young woman he had grabbed pressed against him.

His body was forcefully wrapped around her, and he covered her mouth tightly while pressing his body against hers. Terror and fear could be seen on her face. But the fear was not simply because of what he was going to do to her. She was afraid for her life.

The haggard man mumbled some indiscernible words before reaching underneath the woman’s clothes to grope her.

Her eyes tightened as she decided to bear through it.

As long as her life was spared, she was willing to endure it.

The man had gotten a hold of her undergarments when he suddenly froze.

A second later, a shrill scream rang out from the man’s mouth as he crazily removed himself from her body and tried to flee.

But his voice was soon silenced after the shadow that was stuck closely to the wall suddenly moved and engulfed him.

There was the sound of flesh and bones being chewed together.

The sound came immediately after his voice abruptly stopped.

When the woman opened her eyes and looked before her, she saw that the disheveled man was nowhere to be seen.

However, splashes of blood and other substances, including pieces of brain matter, were scattered across the floor.

"W-what..."

The woman felt a chill run down her spine as she saw the shadow crouching near the wall slowly open its eyes.

Its eyes were bloodshot and filled with murderous intent.

However, that murderous intent was not directed at her. It was directed at the scrumptious meal that it had just had. And it seemed to want more.

The woman stumbled backwards while letting out a low cry of fear. However, the shadow ignored her and devoured the rest of the substance on the floor

A second later, it moved like a black blur and left the alley. Leaving the woman in a traumatized and petrified state.

---

This faint scene replayed in Grey’s mind, and he couldn’t help but approve of the shadow even more in his heart.

Grey was not a saint.

And he did not care about the life of the woman who had been dragged into the alley by the man.

However, the man had shown malicious intent toward him and Iria. To Grey, that was more than enough reason to end his life right there.

Moreover, in Glory City, despite how prosperous and flourishing it seemed, this was still the world after God Descended. There was bound to be conflict, with people dying every day.

The security guards around would definitely not notice or care if one vagabond suddenly went missing from the streets. In fact, they might even be glad to have one less troublesome person wandering around.

Grey found nothing wrong with his reasoning and continued forward.

After devouring the haggard man, the shadow revealed emotions of contentment and approval. It even transmitted thoughts of wanting to commit more acts like this.

However, Grey ignored it.

After giving it a cold glare, the shadow quickly understood his meaning and remained docile.

’In the end, human life is as useless and meaningless... as the stones on the ground. Survival... is everything.’

Grey said inwardly with a sigh.

This was the case in Glory City, in Sky Mist City, and everywhere in this world in general.

The weak were killed and taken advantage of, while the strong stood on top.

This was the rule that all life forms on Pangu had gradually come to understand.

The strong survived.

The weak perished.

And those who wanted to survive had to possess the strength to protect themselves.

It took a bit longer to reach the teleportation array than Grey had expected, nearly two more hours of continuous walking.

However, by the time they got there, they saw a multitude of people similarly waiting for their turn.

And since this was a bigger city than the last one they had visited, the number of cultivators in this place was practically uncountable.

Many of them were in the Qi Accumulation realm. But among those who chose to openly reveal their cultivation bases, a few could be said to be in the Foundation Establishment realm.

And their levels of cultivation were not too low either.

Although Grey could not see their appearances clearly, he could sense several auras that made him cautious.

The one that stood out to him the most came from a golden carriage with luxurious engravings.

The carriage was propelled by the power of spirit energy, allowing it to move smoothly without any ordinary beasts pulling it.

Behind the carriage were several cages that were several feet tall.

Grey counted and noted that these cages numbered up to seven.

And in each of them were countless people of all ages and genders.

Many of them were humans, but a few of them were also non-humans.

The moment this carriage drove past, many cultivators instantly shifted to the side as if they did not wish to get close to it at all.

Grey and Iria did something similar and avoided getting closer.

They also pulled their disguises closer to prevent anyone from seeing their true faces.

As the luxurious carriage and cages passed them, Grey could see the people inside more clearly.

They consisted of men and women of all ages and sizes.

Their eyes were blank, and they did not have any emotions on their faces.

The non-human races were the same.

Apart from having a few distinguishable features, Grey would not have been able to classify them as non-humans at all.

Their appearances were almost the same as those of normal humans.

Iria, who wanted to bring out the token she had used to get through the line and arrive at the front, was stopped by Grey.

"Let’s not use it this time."

His voice was very clear and contained not a hint of hesitation.

"Why not?" Iria asked with a confused expression on her face.

Grey merely shook his head.

It was only when Iria’s gaze landed on the carriage slowly advancing toward the front of the queue that realization suddenly occurred to her.

"Those people are..."

"Cultivators who smuggle humans to use as test subjects in experiments. They are everywhere in the world and operate in large cities like this one," Grey said calmly, but his eyes narrowed into small slits.

Grey did not hate these people, but hearing that they bought humans to use as test subjects in useless experiments gave him a sense of contempt.

He hated the people who sold humans to them in the first place even more. They were like dirty scum of the earth.

And if given a chance, Grey would kill anyone he knew to be involved in trafficking.

However, this was not Sky Mist City, where he could do as he pleased.

If he acted, there would be serious consequences and threats to both his and Iria’s lives.

To be safe, Grey wanted to avoid confrontation at all costs.

Moreover, if the individual or the organization behind him was able to traffic people in broad daylight through a public teleportation array, then they had significant backing and influence in this city.

It was not impossible that Grey would be attacked the moment he made a move.

In fact, it was very much possible.

Not only that, but the aura of the cultivator he had sensed inside the luxurious carriage had stifled him.

He gave off fluctuations belonging to both the Foundation Establishment realm and the Spirit Core Formation realm.

It was as if he was constantly phasing between the two realms and could use the powers of both at once.

This perception made Grey very cautious, and he immediately retracted his gaze after noticing it.

The other party also seemed to have noticed his divine sense and released his own divine sense to drive Grey’s away.

However, by this time, Grey had already retrieved his divine sense back into his body and pretended like nothing had happened.

The individual’s divine sense lingered outside the luxurious carriage.

But after it failed to sense that intrusive divine sense anymore, it seemed reluctant to pursue the matter and eventually kept quiet.

Grey quietly heaved a sigh of relief and chose to move further away from the person and the carriage he was in.

Although he was disgusted by the inhuman act of trafficking, he was not a saint who went around doing good in the world.

These people... were unfortunate.

But there was nothing that he could do about them.