Void Cultivation

As it descended, Grey watched quietly.

The moment the bottle touched the surface of the water, something strange happened.

The glass bottle suddenly trembled.

A faint light began to spread from within it.

Grey’s eyes narrowed.

The light became brighter.

Then—

Boom!

A powerful aura suddenly erupted from the tiny bottle.

The water beneath it violently churned.

Grey’s expression changed slightly.

The small glass bottle began expanding.

At first, the change was barely noticeable.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the bottle grew larger.

And larger.

And larger.

Grey’s eyes widened slightly.

The Magic Ship that had previously appeared tiny inside the glass bottle was rapidly expanding at an astonishing speed.

The hull grew.

The masts extended.

The entire structure transformed.

Within a few breaths, the small vessel had become a massive Magic Ship floating majestically above the surface of the water.

Grey stared at it.

Only then did he finally understand.

The ship wasn’t actually smaller.

It had simply been designed differently.

Bao hadn’t focused on making the Magic Ship physically larger.

Instead, he had focused on something else.

The ability to compress its entire structure.

The smaller size wasn’t a weakness.

It was an advantage.

When stored, the Magic Ship could be compressed into an incredibly small form, making it much easier to carry around and conceal.

But once it was released...

It could expand into its true form.

Grey’s gaze slowly traveled across the massive vessel.

The two masts that had appeared so small inside the glass bottle were now towering into the sky.

The hull was sleek and imposing, with a dark surface that seemed to absorb the sunlight around it.

Grey’s eyes narrowed.

He could immediately sense the difference between this Magic Ship and his previous one.

The aura it emitted was far stronger.

Much stronger.

"This..."

Grey’s expression finally changed slightly.

He hadn’t expected Bao to create something like this.

He stepped closer to the Magic Ship and placed one hand against its hull.

The moment his palm made contact, a strange sensation spread through his body.

Grey could feel an immense amount of energy flowing through the ship.

It was almost as though the Magic Ship itself was alive.

A faint smile slowly appeared on Grey’s face.

So this was what Bao had done.

The ship didn’t need more masts.

It didn’t need to be excessively large.

What mattered was the quality of the materials and the formations embedded within it.

And judging from what Grey could sense...

Bao had clearly gone all out.

Grey looked at the massive vessel before him.

For the first time since obtaining it, he finally understood why Bao had been so confident in the Magic Ship.

His old ship had been powerful.

But this one was on an entirely different level.

Grey’s eyes flickered as he stepped onto the deck.

"Not bad."

His voice was calm.

But deep inside, Grey was already looking forward to seeing exactly what this Magic Ship was capable of.

After all, he still hadn’t seen its true abilities.

And knowing Bao...

There was no way the man would have created such a powerful Magic Ship without hiding a few surprises within it.

The moment Grey tossed the magic ship onto the surface of the black sea, the glass bottle in his hand suddenly disappeared.

In the next instant, the small magic ship sealed within the bottle began to expand rapidly.

The transformation was almost instantaneous.

In the blink of an eye, the tiny vessel that had been no larger than a palm had grown into a proper magic ship, floating quietly on the dark surface of the sea. The waves beneath it rippled gently, spreading outward from the hull.

It no longer looked like a prototype.

Instead, it looked like a genuine magic ship.

However, even after the vessel had expanded to its full size, Grey was still slightly surprised.

The magic ship...

Looked exactly the same.

Grey stood there for a few seconds, his eyes scanning the ship from top to bottom.

His brows furrowed slightly.

This wasn’t what he had expected.

After all, Bao had specifically mentioned upgrading his magic ship. Given how much stronger the magic ship had become, Grey had naturally assumed that its appearance would change as well.

He had expected it to become larger.

Stronger.

More imposing.

Perhaps the hull would be reinforced with a special material, while the number of masts would increase. He had even imagined that the entire ship would undergo a drastic transformation and become something that would immediately attract the attention of anyone who saw it.

But none of that happened.

The magic ship before him looked almost identical to the previous one.

If anything, it even seemed more ordinary.

Grey couldn’t help but feel slightly confused.

It was only after he landed on the hull and infused the magic ship with his spirit energy that he finally understood what Bao had done.

The moment his spirit energy entered the magic ship, Grey’s perception instantly spread throughout the entire vessel.

His eyes widened slightly.

"So that’s it..."

First of all, the current appearance of his magic ship was merely its standard version.

Bao had deliberately designed it this way.

After realizing that Grey’s magic ship was destroyed almost every time he went out to sea, Bao had decided that the ship’s defensive capabilities needed to be prioritized over its offensive power.

However, while upgrading its defenses, Bao had also come up with another clever idea.

He had created a standard appearance for the magic ship.

At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a low-level, ordinary magic ship that could be found almost anywhere on the Black Sea.

There was nothing particularly special about its hull.

Nothing intimidating about its masts.

Nothing that would immediately attract the attention of powerful cultivators.

It was the kind of magic ship that most people would glance at once before completely ignoring.

Grey couldn’t help but feel that this idea was brilliant.

Not only would it allow him to avoid unnecessary attention whenever he went out to sea, but it would also cause his opponents to underestimate him.

Anyone who saw such an ordinary-looking magic ship would naturally assume that it possessed equally ordinary capabilities.

They would never expect the terrifying power hidden beneath its seemingly simple exterior.

And when the time came for the magic ship to reveal its true strength...

The expression on his opponent’s face would undoubtedly be interesting to see.

A faint smile appeared on Grey’s face.

"Bao really did think this through."

However, the feeling of satisfaction in Grey’s heart became even stronger when he sensed what was hidden beneath the cabin.

His spirit energy moved deeper into the magic ship.

And then...

Grey sensed it.

The Divinity Core.

His eyes narrowed.

The Divinity Core was hidden extremely well beneath the cabin, completely concealed from ordinary perception. Unless someone specifically searched for it, they would have almost no chance of discovering its existence.

And that wasn’t all.

The spirit essence diagrams had also been significantly improved.

The array formations embedded throughout the ship were far more sophisticated than before, and the moment Grey connected his spirit energy to them, he could immediately feel the difference.

They were much stronger.

Much more efficient.

The spirit arrays were capable of drawing in a far greater amount of spirit energy from the surrounding environment, allowing the magic ship to maintain its functions without constantly relying on external energy sources.

But what surprised Grey the most was something else.

The magic ship was now completely self-sufficient.

It no longer needed spirit stones to operate.

It didn’t need them to move.

It didn’t need them to sail.

As long as it was in an environment where spirit energy existed, the magic ship could continuously absorb and utilize that energy to sustain itself.

Grey’s eyes shone with satisfaction.

"This is very good."

He couldn’t help but nod.

"Bao did a very good job this time."

Grey genuinely felt content.

The magic ship was now far better than before.

Its defensive capabilities had been greatly enhanced, its internal formations were stronger, and it could operate without consuming spirit stones.

But the thing that made Grey the happiest wasn’t even its strength.

It was its appearance.

The standard appearance of the ship was extremely inconspicuous.

Anyone who saw it would instinctively place it in the category of ordinary magic ships.

And that was exactly what Grey wanted.

In the dangerous Black Sea, attracting attention was rarely a good thing.

The less others knew about him, the better.

If someone saw a powerful and imposing magic ship sailing across the sea, they would naturally become cautious. They might even investigate it or attempt to discover who was behind it.

But if they saw an ordinary-looking magic ship...

They wouldn’t care.

That was the advantage of deception.

Grey had always believed that hiding one’s strength was one of the best ways to gain an advantage over an enemy.

And now, Bao had essentially given him another means to do exactly that.

However, the surprises didn’t end there.

Grey’s expression suddenly changed slightly.

He had discovered something else.

The magic ship could transform.

At will.

Grey’s eyes flickered with interest as he examined the internal structure of the ship.

As long as he drew a specific magic inscription in a particular manner, the magic ship would undergo another transformation.

The entire process was extremely simple.

Yet, the result was astonishing.

The ordinary-looking magic ship could transform into a much larger and more powerful-looking vessel.

The transformation would restore the appearance of his previous magic ship.

The larger hull.

The more imposing structure.

The stronger-looking masts.

Everything.

Grey stared at the ship for several seconds before a smile slowly spread across his face.

"So it can switch between two appearances..."

This was even better than he had expected.

During ordinary situations, he could use the standard appearance and allow the magic ship to blend into the sea.

But when he needed to fight...

He could simply activate the inscription and reveal its true appearance.

That way, he could enjoy the benefits of both.

Grey’s gaze swept across the magic ship.

Although its appearance remained ordinary, Grey could already sense the terrifying power hidden within it.

The ship was no longer the fragile vessel it had once been.

It had been completely rebuilt.

And this time...

Grey had a feeling that even if he encountered another dangerous situation on the Black Sea, his magic ship wouldn’t be destroyed as easily as before.