Void Cultivation

The next teleportation rune was located in another nearby city. However, they couldn’t teleport directly to the next city since the two cities were too close to each other, and their spatial loci had not been properly calibrated.

Hence, to reach the next city, Grey and the young girl had no choice but to fly there.

If they were low-level cultivators, the journey would have taken more than six hours. However, since both of them were cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Realm, the distance was not particularly troublesome. With their speed, they could cover the entire journey in less than thirty minutes.

As they flew up and left the skies above the city in an arc, an imperceptible distortion rippled through the surrounding space.

The old, hunched man who was the City Lord happened to be cultivating within his abode. The moment he sensed the strange disturbance in the air, his brows slightly furrowed.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked upwards.

His divine sense spread out in an instant, sweeping through the skies above the city.

However, he found nothing.

There were no figures in the sky, nor could he detect the source of the spatial distortion. Everything appeared completely normal, as though the disturbance he had sensed moments ago had never existed.

The old man remained silent for several breaths.

His expression became slightly solemn.

After carefully inspecting the surroundings one more time and finding nothing unusual, he finally withdrew his divine sense.

"Perhaps it was just a fluctuation in the spatial energy..."

He muttered softly before closing his eyes once again.

Whatever the disturbance had been, it had already disappeared. And since nothing seemed to have happened within the city, there was no reason for him to continue investigating it.

The old City Lord once again entered his cultivation state.

Meanwhile, far above the city, Grey had already completely retrieved his divine sense.

After confirming that no one had come after them and that they were not being followed, he finally relaxed slightly.

His expression remained indifferent as he silently sent a command into his sea of consciousness.

A moment later—

"Roooar!"

A sharp cry suddenly rang out from within Grey’s body.

The sound was strange and powerful, causing the surrounding air to tremble slightly.

A small figure suddenly shot out from Grey’s body.

It was a Mosasaur.

At first, it was only the size of Grey’s palm.

Its entire body was a deep blue, and faint traces of brilliant light seemed to flow beneath its scales. It looked as though the endless spirit energy of the world had been condensed within its tiny body.

Its eyes shone with a bright and intimidating glint, while an overbearing aura slowly spread outward.

The young girl beside Grey stared at the creature in astonishment.

She had never expected such a terrifying existence to suddenly emerge from Grey’s body.

Before she could even react, the tiny Mosasaur rapidly expanded.

Its body grew larger and larger until, in the blink of an eye, it had transformed into a gigantic beast more than twenty meters long.

Its enormous body coiled through the sky, causing the surrounding clouds to scatter.

The young girl’s eyes widened.

"That’s..."

She instinctively took a step back.

The Mosasaur circled around Grey and the young girl once before lowering its massive body beneath them.

Its once bloodshot eyes, which had previously been filled with endless fury and hatred, were now completely docile.

It gazed at Grey with an almost gentle expression.

The countless scars and injuries that had once covered its body were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, its enormous body now looked as though it had been woven from the stars themselves.

Tiny specks of light seemed to shimmer across its blue scales, giving it an ethereal appearance.

Grey didn’t say anything.

He simply lowered his gaze and lightly stepped onto the Mosasaur’s back.

The Mosasaur didn’t resist in the slightest. On the contrary, it seemed rather pleased.

The Mosasaur had once been a real sea creature.

It had possessed an incredibly powerful body and contained a trace of divinity bestowed upon it by a near-divine-level creature.

Back then, it had been filled with hatred and fury toward Grey.

However, after Grey killed it and absorbed its life force, something unexpected happened.

Its essence eventually manifested within Grey’s sea of consciousness.

Ever since then, Grey had discovered that he could summon the Mosasaur whenever he wished.

And for reasons that even Grey didn’t completely understand, the fury and hatred the Mosasaur once possessed had gradually disappeared.

They had been replaced by an almost inexplicable fondness toward him.

Perhaps it was because a portion of its essence had become intertwined with Grey’s existence.

Perhaps it was because it had been reborn through him.

Whatever the reason, the Mosasaur no longer regarded Grey as an enemy.

Instead, it had become incredibly obedient.

Now, the Mosasaur could be considered one of Grey’s trump cards.

Similar to the Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird and even the shadow, it was an existence that Grey could rely on during critical moments.

However, unlike the shadow or the Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird, the Mosasaur was somewhat different.

It was still a living creature with a soul and spirit, but it no longer possessed a physical body.

Its existence had become something closer to a wandering spirit, residing within Grey’s sea of consciousness.

As long as Grey’s consciousness remained intact, the Mosasaur could continue to exist.

After stepping onto its back, Grey calmly turned his head toward the young girl.

She was still slightly stunned. However, after seeing Grey’s gaze, she quickly understood what he intended.

Without saying anything, she carefully stepped onto the Mosasaur’s back as well.

The moment both of them had settled themselves on its back, the Mosasaur suddenly raised its enormous head.

"ROOOOOAR!"

A thunderous wail exploded across the sky.

The sound was so loud that it seemed capable of shaking the heavens. The clouds above them were instantly torn apart, forming a massive opening in the sky.

The young girl’s hair fluttered wildly from the force of the roar.

Then, the Mosasaur moved.

Its enormous flippers waved several times through the air, almost as though it were swimming through an invisible ocean.

Then...

Whoosh!

Its massive body shot forward and the surrounding air exploded as its speed increased to an astonishing level.

The scenery below rapidly blurred. Mountains, forests, rivers, and cities passed beneath them in an instant.

The journey that should have taken nearly thirty minutes was completed in less than twenty.

And throughout the entire journey, Grey didn’t utter a single word.

He simply stood atop the Mosasaur with his hands behind his back. His expression was calm and indifferent.

There was an almost cold nonchalance surrounding his entire being, making it difficult for anyone beside him to determine what he was thinking.

The young girl occasionally glanced at him. Several times, she seemed to want to say something.

Her lips even parted slightly on one occasion.

But every time, she hesitated.

She simply couldn’t figure out how to start a conversation with someone as cold and silent as Grey.

In the end, she could only remain silent as well.

The Mosasaur continued flying. Before they knew it, the destination had already appeared in the distance.

A large city stood upon the land below.

The Mosasaur slowly reduced its speed before descending toward the outskirts.

The moment they arrived, the enormous creature let out a small, almost pitiful whimper.

It seemed reluctant to leave.

Grey glanced down at it.

The Mosasaur looked back at him with its enormous eyes, almost as though it were silently asking him to let it remain outside for a little longer.

Grey’s expression didn’t change.

"Go back."

The Mosasaur lowered its head dejectedly. After giving Grey one final reluctant look, its enormous body gradually shrank.

In the blink of an eye, the gigantic creature had once again transformed into the tiny Mosasaur that was only the size of Grey’s palm.

It flew toward Grey and entered his body.

The Mosasaur’s faint whimper could still be heard before its presence completely disappeared into Grey’s sea of consciousness.

The young girl watched this scene with a strange expression.

She had never seen such a powerful creature behave so obediently.

However, before she could say anything, Grey’s gaze had already shifted toward the city ahead.

It was a fairly large city.

Thousands of people could be seen moving about within it, while numerous buildings and streets stretched across the cityscape.

The city possessed a lively atmosphere, and compared to the smaller city they had just left, it was considerably more developed.

But the moment Grey saw it, his expression changed slightly.

A strange emotion suddenly welled up within his heart. He recognized this place. He had been here before.

More than two years ago, when he had wanted to enter Sky Mist City together with Caster and Ange, he had passed through this very city.

At that time, the city was nowhere near as prosperous as it was now.

It had been relatively obscure and was still in the early stages of development.

The streets had been far less crowded and the buildings had been fewer.

Even the surrounding atmosphere had felt considerably different.

But now... After more than two years, the changes were astonishing.

The city had developed at an incredible pace.

What had once been an insignificant city had now grown into a fairly respectable medium-sized city.

Looking at it from high above, Grey remained silent. His eyes swept across the familiar streets and buildings.

Some places had changed so much that he could barely recognize them.

Others, however, still carried faint traces of the past. For a moment, memories that had long been buried within his mind resurfaced.

Caster. Ange.

The journey toward Sky Mist City. And the things that had happened back then before that even happened.

It all seemed incredibly distant now. So much had happened since that time.

And Grey himself had changed tremendously.

He was no longer the same person who had first entered this city.

He had experienced death. And he had fought countless battles.

He had entered Corroded Zones, encountered terrifying existences, obtained opportunities, and walked through situations where a single mistake could have cost him his life.

Yet despite everything that had happened, seeing this city again caused an unfamiliar feeling to rise within him.

Grey slowly exhaled. A faint sigh escaped his lips. It was not a sigh of relief.

Nor was it one of exhaustion. It was nostalgia.

For a brief moment, Grey simply stood there in silence and looked down at Glory City.

The young girl noticed his expression.

For the first time since she had met him, she could see something other than cold indifference within his eyes.

It was faint and almost imperceptible. But it was there.Grey’s gaze remained fixed on the city below.

"Glory City..."

He softly muttered the name.

Two years.

In the grand scheme of things, two years was not a particularly long period.

Yet to Grey, those two years felt as though they had contained an entire lifetime.

And now, after all this time, he had returned to the place where part of his journey had once begun.

"Does this city mean anything to you?" the young girl asked in a curious voice as she watched Grey stare at the city for a few more seconds.

For a brief moment, his gaze remained fixed on the distant city walls, as though he were recalling something from the past. However, after a while, his usual nonchalant expression returned, and the warmth that had briefly appeared in his eyes disappeared completely, replaced by a faint coldness.

"Let’s go."

Grey’s voice was calm as he turned around and began heading toward the city.