Void Cultivation

Under the faint illumination of the moonlight, the silhouette of the magic ship gradually gained a faint hue as a light barrier made of spirit energy slowly appeared and wrapped around the entire magic ship.

Seeing this, Grey couldn’t help but nod his head in approval.

The faint stench of the Dead Sea was completely isolated by the barrier made of spirit energy. Moreover, the thin strands of corrosive substance that had already accumulated in the air were slowly being filtered out by the barrier, preventing them from entering the magic ship.

Grey had dropped a Spirit Stone into the array, and the filtering of the corrosive substance had immediately begun.

After waiting for a few minutes and carefully observing the barrier’s performance, Grey concluded that the spirit barrier of this magic ship was considerably better than the old one.

He estimated that it was at least fifty percent better, if not more.

This was a considerable improvement.

Hence, after placing a few more Spirit Stones into the array, Grey closed his eyes and prepared to cultivate.

As soon as his eyes fell shut, Grey entered a meditative state.

However, he didn’t cultivate right away.

For the past few weeks, Grey had been slowly cultivating the Soul Severing Dao. Although cultivating the technique caused him considerable pain, the increase in his Spirit Perforations had been steady.

Every time he cultivated the art, he could feel his Spirit Perforations gradually increasing. This was naturally something that pleased Grey, as the more Spirit Perforations he opened, the stronger his spirit energy would become.

However, cultivating the art too frequently placed a considerable strain on Grey’s soul body.

And since his soul body had already been damaged due to the failed possession, Grey had refrained from cultivating the art too much. He couldn’t afford to damage his soul any further.

Moreover, Grey wasn’t currently on the Dead Sea, meaning he couldn’t harvest the life force of the sea creatures living within its waters with the Life Demon Art.

So, in short, Grey couldn’t cultivate at the moment.

However, instead of feeling dismayed, Grey decided that it was time to investigate another aspect of his body that he had deliberately put on hold after capturing Kaein.

The ancient technique from the Old Era that had awakened after he devoured that bizarre existence.

Grey’s thoughts immediately turned toward the rusty nail.

He recalled the trembling of the rusty nail as it suddenly rushed out from its concealed state within his sea of consciousness and attacked the invisible being.

Its sudden appearance had undoubtedly saved him from certain death.

If the rusty nail hadn’t emerged at that critical moment, Grey was certain that he would have died.

However, after that incident, it had not reacted again.

The rusty nail had soon returned to its concealed state, disappearing from Grey’s perception as though nothing had happened.

But it was no longer as completely concealed as before.

Grey could now find faint traces of its existence within his sea of consciousness.

The traces were extremely subtle, and if he wasn’t deliberately searching for them, he might not have noticed them at all.

Grey also had a strange feeling that he could summon the rusty nail if he wanted to.

The only catch was that doing so would require a considerable amount of concentration.

He had never attempted to summon it before.

But now that he couldn’t cultivate, Grey felt that it was finally time to investigate the mysterious object that had remained hidden within his sea of consciousness for so long.

A short while later, Grey created a thick wall made of spirituality that completely surrounded him.

The magic ship was more than twenty meters long. Hence, the spiritual wall Grey created covered an area with a circumference of more than five meters in length and diameter.

Grey wasn’t satisfied with this alone.

He also asked the shadow to further cover the barrier and prevent any energy fluctuations or sounds from leaking outside.

The shadow immediately spread across the spiritual barrier, concealing the entire area.

Grey hesitated when he thought about using the purple crystal.

He ultimately decided against it.

The shadow was obviously afraid of the purple crystal, and Grey didn’t know what would happen if he forced the two to work together.

If they both worked together, the shadow would most likely be suppressed by the purple crystal, and its concealment ability would become useless.

Grey couldn’t afford to take that risk.

He needed the shadow’s concealment ability to ensure that no one outside would notice what he was doing.

Only after everything was properly prepared did Grey finally attempt to find the rusty nail hidden within his sea of consciousness.

In the vast, open waters formed entirely from spirit energy, Grey’s indistinct form slowly appeared.

Above him was the purple moon, slowly peeking out from behind the ever-present clouds that covered the sky.

The faint light of the purple moon descended upon the endless waters below.

The waters beneath it were dyed with a tiny hint of purple, causing Grey’s entire sea of consciousness to appear as though it had been bathed in a mysterious purple light.

Grey’s eyes calmly swept across his surroundings.

His consciousness focused on a particular point within his sea of consciousness—the place where he had last felt the faint fluctuations of the rusty nail.

As soon as he locked onto it, Grey’s body flashed.

His indistinct figure instantly shuttled through space and arrived at that location.

The moment he arrived, his hand shot out in a grabbing motion, as if he wanted to pull something directly out of the void.

But the moment he did so...

Grey suddenly heard a sharp sound.

It was as though something was rapidly approaching him at an extremely terrifying speed.

Grey’s expression changed slightly.

Before he could react, the space directly before him suddenly shattered.

A piercing pain instantly filled his body.

His right, translucent arm was suddenly torn to shreds.

Grey’s pupils dilated.

The pain was incredibly real.

It was as though his soul body had truly been torn apart.

At the same time, Grey suddenly felt an ancient presence coming from the space before him.

It was an indescribable feeling.

Old.

Ancient.

And terrifying.

Grey’s expression changed immediately.

He quickly pulled back the hand that was being shredded, attempting to retreat from the strange force.

But the moment he did so, a terrifying suction force suddenly emerged from the space where his hand had been shredded.

The suction force attempted to pull him back.

Grey’s heart tightened.

In apprehension, he immediately retreated backward.

His body rapidly faded as his consciousness began to leave the sea of consciousness.

The moment the strange suction force attempted to pull him back again, Grey’s figure completely disappeared.

---

Sitting on the hull of the magic ship, Grey suddenly opened his eyes.

His breathing was slightly hurried.

For a moment, he remained completely still.

Then, Grey slowly lowered his head and looked at his right hand.

It was still there.

Completely intact.

Not a single injury could be seen on it.

Grey stared at his hand in silence.

He slowly moved his fingers.

His right hand was perfectly fine.

Yet, the pain he had felt when the right hand of his soul body was shredded was still there.

The sensation was so vivid that Grey almost believed that what he was seeing wasn’t real.

For a brief moment, he even felt as though his right hand had truly been torn apart.

Grey’s expression gradually became solemn.

He had no idea what had just happened.

The rusty nail... was supposed to be part of him. Yet, it had attacked him.

As for the ancient presence he had felt around it, Grey recalled when he first got the Ancient technique and the scene of a person wearing a crown of thorns being struck in the forehead by a rusty nail.

He was the person whose forehead was being struck... while the being who had struck him... was a rotten corpse wearing golden armor.

The Ancient feeling he felt coming from the rusty nail was the same as the one from the rotten corpse.

Grey slowly clenched his right hand. His fingers tightened into a fist, yet nothing happened.

His hand was still there and perfectly intact.

Yet, the pain remained deeply etched into his mind.

Grey’s eyes narrowed slightly. He the recalled the words of the old man who had asked him to choose a technique.

"He said that this technique is destined to only one person. And if I can activate it... it will be my serendipity. Is this what he meant?" Grey asked in a muffled tone.

The Ancient technique had undoubtedly awakened when it devoured the Invisible Bizarre existence that had attacked him on the Port.

However, it had not yet acknowledged him as it’s master.

"Or the Technique has not yet been fully activated. And any hint of nourishment it finds, it will try to devour." Grey said blankly. He did not know which one it was.

But he swayed slightly to his second guess. Grey felt that the Technique had not yet been fully activated and still needed more nourishment.

"It’s almost like an Emperor Level cultivation art in the sense that it needs to be activated. But it’s requirement for nourishment is..." Grey simply did not know what to say at this point.