Void Cultivation-Chapter 217- Chubby Fiend (2)

When Grey arrived at the transportation department, his gaze was calm and clear, his expression completely unreadable. On the surface, he looked no different from any other cultivator passing through the area.

Yet beneath that calm exterior, a cold and violent killing intent was slowly brewing within his mind.

Grey did not allow this killing intent to leak out in the slightest. Instead, he forcefully suppressed it, burying it deep within his consciousness like a blade sheathed in darkness, silent, restrained, but ready to be drawn at any moment.

Grey was the type of person who never forgot a grudge.

If someone pushed him to the point where killing intent arose, he would not hesitate. When he decided to kill, he would do so completely and without mercy. This... was also the reason the old man had died.

Even though Grey had endured countless adversities and had successfully broken through to the Foundation Establishment realm, his strength had not inflated his pride to the point where he would ignore threats to his life. On the contrary, each hardship he survived only reinforced his vigilance.

Perhaps things would have been different in the era before the descent of the Gods, when the lands were peaceful, when the human race still stood proudly at the peak of the world.

But this was no longer such a time.

This was an era of chaos.

Although the dangers on the surface did not appear overwhelming, countless hidden threats lurked beneath, waiting patiently for a moment of weakness. In such a world, only those ruthless enough to act decisively could survive.

After entering the transportation department, Grey immediately began searching for the chubby fiend.

Before the other party had crumbled into scattered strips of paper, Grey had already extended his perception toward him, silently placing a mark upon his body.

This mark was extremely faint, far less profound than the one he had placed on the old man. It was so subtle that even a cultivator with sharp divine sense would find it nearly impossible to detect.

However, the mark had its limitations.

It could not reveal the exact location of its target. Instead, Grey would only sense the other party’s presence once they were within close proximity.

If his enemy had fled far away and concealed themselves elsewhere, tracking them down would have been exceedingly difficult. Fortunately, Grey knew one crucial detail, the other party worked within the transportation department.

That alone was enough.

Nearly five hours passed.

During that time, Grey remained patient, calmly wandering through the vast area while keeping his perception spread out. Eventually, he felt a faint tug, a subtle connection forming within his mind, pulling him toward a specific direction.

Grey’s brows furrowed slightly.

The place the connection was leading him to was... empty.

There were no buildings, no warehouses, no containers used for storing or repairing magic ships. The area appeared completely barren, devoid of any signs of activity.

Yet Grey did not leave.

Instead, he walked forward.

As he moved deeper into the empty space, an inexplicable urge suddenly surged within him, a strong impulse to turn around and leave immediately.

The sensation was abrupt and unnatural.

Grey halted mid-step.

"Interesting," he murmured, raising his eyebrows slightly.

Ignoring the warning instinct screaming at him to retreat, Grey took another step forward.

If it were anyone else, someone without a clear objective, they would have already turned back, convinced there was nothing here worth investigating. But Grey’s perception remained unwavering, continuing to guide him forward.

Step by step, he advanced, until his feet abruptly stopped.

It wasn’t due to fear or hesitation.

It was because he had collided with something solid.

Grey’s eyes shimmered with a brilliant light as he swiftly formed an unfamiliar hand seal. A strange fluctuation spread outward from his body.

In the next instant, the "empty" area was revealed for what it truly was.

Countless arrays and runes filled the space before him.

They were invisible to the naked eye and extremely difficult to detect even with divine sense. If not for the obscure art Grey had just cast, he would never have discovered them.

The arrays and runes stretched across a vast area, layered densely together with almost no gaps between them. Faint golden light pulsed from the runes, while the arrays emitted a deep, dark-blue glow.

Standing before them, Grey felt as though he were gazing at the surface of an enormous invisible dome.

The patterns and structure of the arrays confirmed his suspicions instantly.

After a brief pause, Grey summoned the Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird.

The moment it appeared, the bird let out an inaudible screech before fluttering down to perch upon Grey’s shoulder. Its form flickered faintly, its presence eerie and unsettling.

Grey glanced at it with a faint trace of fondness in his eyes.

To dismantle these arrays and runes, Grey planned to let the Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird consume them directly.

After all, arrays and runes were constructed from condensed spirit energy. And the Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird did not merely feast on souls—it devoured spirit energy as well.

Grey had discovered this by accident several days earlier during cultivation.

With a casual wave of his hand, the bird let out a low, resonant screech before launching itself toward the array formation.

As it faced the countless layers of runes, the bird opened its beak wide and inhaled fiercely.

A massive amount of spirit energy was instantly torn from the arrays.

The once-brilliant formation visibly dimmed.

The moment the bird tasted the spirit energy, a strange gleam of excitement flashed through its eyes. Its suction intensified, devouring even more energy with greedy enthusiasm.

Seeing the arrays weaken, Grey immediately stepped forward. He formed another quick hand seal and struck outward with his palm.

The instant his palm made contact, dense ripples spread across the surface of the formation.

Yet the array did not shatter.

Not even a single gap appeared between the runes.

Worse still, the dim light of the formation began to recover.

It was as if the power source supporting the array had sensed the loss and was forcefully replenishing it with fresh spirit energy.

Grey’s eyes narrowed.

If the formation fully recovered, the Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird would no longer be able to create an opening.

Without hesitation, Grey raised his fist and punched forward.

A thunderous sonic boom erupted.

The array formation trembled violently as massive ripples surged across its surface.

At that moment, Grey knew, whoever was inside the formation had definitely noticed him.

He did not stop.

A second punch followed immediately.

This time, the runes compressed inward under the force. Just as they began to rebound, Grey slammed his forehead directly against the formation.

For a fleeting instant...

An opening appeared.

The gap was extremely small and wildly unstable. The array worked frantically to repair itself, and the opening would completely close within seconds.

Grey reacted instantly.

He recalled the Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird back into his body and rushed forward, forcing himself through the narrow crack just before it sealed shut.

The moment he passed through, the array closed behind him.

Inside, Grey finally saw what had been hidden.

A colossal magic ship stood before him.

The vessel towered several thousand feet into the air, its deck vast and expansive. Five enormous masts rose skyward, each nearly as long as the ship itself.

Yet despite its overwhelming size, the ship was eerily still.

It looked like an ancient vessel that had remained grounded for countless years, untouched by time.

The array formation had completely concealed its presence, making it impossible to detect from the outside.

Grey remained vigilant.

The faint connection from his mark told him one thing clearly, the other party was close.

And they had undoubtedly been alerted to his intrusion.

Just as Grey considered whether to board the ship, a sudden sense of life-and-death danger washed over him.

Without hesitation, he vanished from his spot and reappeared several meters away.

His expression turned solemn as a towering ice pillar erupted from where he had been standing moments before.

The pillar was an intense crystalline blue, radiating bone-chilling cold. Frost spread rapidly across the ground, and even the totem on Grey’s hand began emitting faint waves of heat in resistance.

Grey looked at this solemnly, as he turned his gaze towards the ancient vessel and saw a dark figure appear. This figure.. was Bao.

When Bao saw Grey, his expression was then confusion, before it changed into horror. Seeing the deadpan look on Grey’s face, but the burning killing intent in his eyes, his heart skipped a bit as he opened his mouth to explain. But no words came out.

’How did I end up provoking him again? If I had known, I would not have set that trap!’ the chubby Bao said inwardly.

Just as he was thinking of what to say, Grey suddenly moved. His figure disappeared and all that could be seen was an afterimage. When he reappeared, he was on the ancient magic ship.

A purple phantom had appeared at some point and stood behind him. At the arrival of the phantom, the surroundings became hot and distortions even begun to appear due to the heat.

Grey had summoned his phantom! The moment Bao saw this phantom, his expression changed drastically as he tried to retreat, however, the phantom took only one step and his surroundings distorted.

Although it was only one step, the phantom had already appeared before Bao. The moment Bao saw this, his expression changed many more times as he brought out a Jade Slip and crushed it.

A statue several feet tall suddenly appeared before him. This statue was not very clear, and looked like a vague outline of a woman. However, he could not see what the real appearance of the statue should look like.

But the moment this statue appeared, the distortions in the air slowly disappeared and the phantom showed signs of instability.

During this time, none of them had spoken a single word. But just as Bao was about to open his mouth to talk, he saw Grey appear before him. His gaze was cold and filled with killing intent as he punched out aggressively.