Void Cultivation

The young girl and Grey reached the abode of the Sequence Elder in a surprisingly short amount of time. By the time they arrived, Grey’s gaze immediately fell upon an entrance carved into the side of the mountain.

The entrance itself was not blocked by anything, yet Grey could not see what lay beyond it. The interior was shrouded in a thick veil of darkness that seemed to swallow all light that attempted to penetrate it. It was as though the darkness within the mountain was not ordinary darkness, but something alive that deliberately concealed everything hidden beyond the entrance.

At the same time, a large amount of dense fog was seeping out from the ground. It slowly spread in all directions, gradually covering the entire area surrounding the mountain.

Although the fog obscured the ground from ordinary sight, Grey could clearly see through it. His eyes remained fixed on the scene before him, and what he saw caused his expression to become slightly solemn.

Near the entrance of the cave stood a large stone platform. Two enormous pillars rose from its surface, each one extending more than ten meters into the air.

Surrounding the pillars were numerous statues of bizarre and grotesque beings. Their bodies were twisted into distorted shapes, their limbs warped in unnatural ways, and their appearances resembled the terrifying creatures that had crawled out of a Corroded Zone.

Every single statue possessed a distinctly demonic appearance.

Just looking at them was enough to make one’s heart tremble with instinctive fear.

There were nearly twenty of these statues, and they stood in a strange formation around the two enormous stone pillars. Their postures were different, yet they all seemed to be performing the same action.

They were bowing.

However, what truly caught Grey’s attention were the two bizarre creatures carved onto the stone pillars.

Their enormous bodies were wrapped around the entire length of the pillars, spiraling upward until they reached the very top. Their forms were strange and grotesque, possessing characteristics that seemed to have been forcibly combined from entirely different creatures.

They had the bodies of dragons and the heads of lions. Their feet resembled the talons of enormous eagles, while two pairs of rotten wings extended from their backs.

Yet those wings were unlike anything Grey had ever seen before.

They did not resemble the wings of birds, bats, insects, or any other creature he knew. They appeared to be something entirely foreign to the world, their decayed forms hanging limply from the creatures’ backs as though they had long since lost the ability to move.

The two strange beings coiled around the stone pillars, their bodies extending from the bottom all the way to the top.

And beneath them, all the other statues were bowing.

Some lowered their grotesque heads toward the ground. Others bent their twisted bodies in unnatural positions, their deformed limbs pressed against the stone platform.

It was as if they were worshipping the two bizarre creatures wrapped around the pillars.

Grey stared silently at the scene.

For some reason, the sight before him gave him an inexplicable feeling of unease.

The statues looked like monsters that had emerged from a Corroded Zone, yet even they seemed to regard the two creatures on the pillars as beings of a much higher existence.

Whatever they were...

They were clearly not ordinary creatures.A slight frown had already made its way onto Grey’s face when he suddenly heard a tiny voice speak from almost directly beside him.

"Oh, this place is always as cold and dreadful as ever. Why won’t this old lady ever remove these statues from their positions? It’s seriously bugging me."

The tiny voice was filled with annoyance.

It was followed by a loud crunch.

The moment Grey heard the voice, his body instinctively tensed. He was just about to turn around and throw a punch at whoever was standing behind him when another crunching sound rang out beside his ear.

Grey paused.

For some reason, that familiar sound immediately caused a certain figure to appear in his mind.

"...Violet?"

"Huh? What’s wrong? Aren’t we going in?"

The tiny voice sounded soft and innocent, yet another crisp crunch immediately followed the words.

Grey’s expression twitched.

Now that he had confirmed the identity of the person behind him, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Of course, it was Violet.

Who else could sneak up behind him without making the slightest sound, complain about the surroundings, and then casually eat an apple beside his ear?

"What are you doing here?" Grey asked in a voice so low that the young girl walking ahead of him would be unable to hear.

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"And how did you even find out that I was coming up the mountain?"

Although Grey was somewhat suspicious of the Captain’s intentions, he did not want to accidentally ruin whatever plan she had in mind. If she had decided to follow him simply because she was curious, then he could tolerate it.

However, if there was something dangerous waiting for them on Sky Mist Mountain...

Grey would immediately abandon her.

He would not hesitate in the slightest.

He would turn around and run for his life.

There was absolutely no reason for him to remain behind and get dragged into some unknown danger simply because Violet had decided to tag along.

As if offended by his question, Grey heard the tiny voice behind him let out a soft scoff.

"Why wouldn’t I know about such a development?"

Her voice carried an obvious tone of displeasure.

"When you told me that you were leaving to stay at the harbor, I secretly left a small bug on you. That way, I would be able to find you whenever I needed you."

Grey’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

A bug?

He immediately recalled the countless strange abilities possessed by the Captain and decided not to question it.

However, before he could say anything, Violet’s voice became increasingly aggrieved.

"Besides, when I wanted to hop onto your magic ship last night, you activated the spirit barrier and left me outside!"

Her voice suddenly became filled with indignation.

"I waited for you to see if you would come out the next day. Thankfully, this little girl arrived early in the morning."

There was a brief pause.

"I thought she would never approach your magic ship when she first came out and started calling your name. But after a short while, you actually came out."

Another crunching sound rang out.

This time, it was followed by the unmistakable sound of someone chewing.

Grey’s expression became even stranger.

There was no need to guess what Violet was eating.

An apple.

He had already become far too familiar with that sound.

"I heard your conversation afterward," Violet continued casually. "So, I decided to tag along and see what her master wanted with you."

Her voice suddenly became curious.

"Little Grey, I thought you said you didn’t have anything to do with this little girl. So why is her master summoning you?"

The genuine curiosity in her voice was so obvious that Grey couldn’t help but shake his head.

This was something the Captain would do anytime and anywhere.

And Grey had long since learned not to believe everything that came out of her mouth.

If Violet truly wanted to follow him, there was no reason for her to send her... other form to do so.

That alone made Grey believe she was probably up to no good.

More likely, she was simply looking for an opportunity to cause trouble.

"That’s a long story, and I don’t have the time to explain it right now," Grey replied coldly.

His voice was extremely low.

It was so quiet that it could barely even be considered a whisper.

"As for your previous words about trying to sneak onto my magic ship, I’ll ignore them for now."

"Ahh..."

A surprised sound immediately came from the space behind Grey.

It sounded as though Violet had never expected Grey to react in such a manner.

However, Grey paid no attention to her.

He simply took several steps forward.

His footsteps carried him across the wide stone platform, past the two enormous pillars and the strange statues surrounding them.

The grotesque creatures remained in their respective positions, bowing toward the two bizarre beings wrapped around the pillars.

As Grey passed by them, his eyes briefly swept across the statues.

Then—

He suddenly felt something.

A strange force silently swept across his body.

It came and went so quickly that Grey barely had enough time to notice it.

His expression changed slightly.

The force was extremely subtle, yet its power was far beyond anything Grey could currently comprehend.

It was not something he could resist.

In fact, if the force had truly wanted to harm him, Grey suspected that he would not even have the opportunity to react.

His current cultivation base was simply too weak.

Even if he tried to investigate the source of that mysterious force, it would be completely futile.

By the time Grey realized that something had swept over him, the force had already disappeared without leaving behind the slightest trace.

However...

Just as it vanished, Grey heard a tiny cry.

"Ah!"

The sound came from somewhere behind him.

Before Grey could turn around, a crisp sound suddenly rang out.

It sounded like something had been completely dissolved in the air.

Grey’s footsteps halted. His eyes narrowed slightly.

He immediately turned around and looked behind him.

The wide stone platform was still there. The fog continued to spread across the ground.

The grotesque statues remained motionless in their strange positions, bowing toward the two bizarre creatures wrapped around the enormous stone pillars.

Everything was exactly as it had been before.

There was nothing unusual. Nothing had changed.

Grey’s gaze slowly swept across the surroundings.

Yet...

There was no sign of Violet. His expression became slightly strange.

"Violet?"

There was no response. Grey’s eyes narrowed.

For the first time since arriving at this place, a faint sense of unease emerged in his heart.

He carefully examined the surroundings once again. Still nothing.

Not even the slightest trace.

It was as though the person who had been standing directly behind him a moment ago had never existed in the first place.

Grey’s gaze unconsciously shifted toward the two enormous pillars.

For a brief moment, he felt as if the grotesque statues surrounding them were staring back at him.

But when he looked again, they remained completely motionless.