Void Cultivation-Chapter 226-

The moment Grey stepped into the cave, a sharp, tingly sensation spread across his entire body. Before he could fully react, pain erupted everywhere at once. It felt as though a thousand needles were stabbing into his flesh simultaneously, piercing deep and drawing blood.

The sudden agony was enough to make Grey halt in his tracks, his breath hitching as his muscles tensed instinctively.

As he paused, he noticed something horrifying, his flesh had already begun to peel away. Layers of skin shriveled and withered the moment they separated from his body, crumbling into lifeless fragments as though all vitality had been stripped away in an instant.

Seeing this, Grey forced himself to endure the overwhelming pain. Gritting his teeth, he pushed forward and rushed toward the room where he had been refining the poison.

The instant he stepped inside, he felt a drastic change.

It wasn’t an increase in corrosive substance, no, this was something else entirely. The very atmosphere felt distorted, transformed by an invisible presence that saturated every inch of the room.

This substance had no color and no scent, yet it exerted a terrifying influence over everything within the space. The air felt heavy and oppressive, as though it were eroding him from the inside out, bypassing flesh and bone to gnaw directly at his existence.

Inside the room, the peeling of Grey’s skin accelerated dramatically.

In the blink of an eye, the skin on his body shriveled and fell away in large patches. Pieces of exposed flesh dropped to the ground, only to disintegrate into fine dust moments later, as if even his discarded remains could not endure the environment.

The process was horrifyingly fast. Yet despite the destruction of his body, Grey felt nothing beyond that same relentless sensation, the endless stabbing of countless needles, sharp and unceasing.

Ignoring it completely, he sat down cross-legged before the bronze basin.

He knew he had very little time left to resist the poison. Without the slightest hesitation, Grey reached out and tossed several more poisonous herbs into the violently bubbling mixture.

At once, the purple crystal shards embedded within his body released a radiant purple glow. The light flooded his internal organs, accelerating his regeneration and forcefully preventing his body from collapsing entirely.

In rapid succession, Grey threw ten poisonous herbs into the mixture.

These herbs were meant to suppress and dilute the overwhelming potency of the Scattering of Herbs Flower he had added earlier.

However, it was already too late.

The Scattering of Herbs Flower had fully integrated with the mixture, its effects already set in stone. Realizing this, Grey couldn’t help but let out a wry, self-mocking smile.

Pain beyond compare surged through his body, pain so intense that the only way he could endure it was by clenching his teeth until they nearly cracked. His vision trembled, and cold sweat poured down his back as his nerves screamed in protest.

Minutes passed slowly under this unrelenting torment.

"I’ll have to start molding the pill now," Grey muttered, his voice hoarse and strained.

Without stopping, he continued refining the pill, forcing his trembling hands to remain steady.

This was already the third time he had been poisoned by this substance. His body had begun developing a fragile resistance, a thin layer of immunity that delayed the corruption of his blood and organs.

Because of this, it took slightly longer before the poison once again began seeping into his veins, turning his blood thick and sluggish.

Several hours passed.

By the time the refinement neared completion, the flesh on Grey’s body had almost completely peeled away. He looked emaciated, barely resembling a living person. From time to time, waves of pain flashed across his face, his expression contorting uncontrollably before he forcibly suppressed it.

However, in the end, he succeeded.

Within the bronze basin, black fog surged upward and filled the refinement room. The fog had no distinct smell, but it dissipated rapidly upon contact with the surrounding air, thinning until it vanished completely.

Grey watched intently, his eyes burning with anticipation.

When the fog fully dispersed, the true appearance of the poison was revealed.

Inside the bronze basin lay countless tiny pills. They were pale in color and seemed to draw in surrounding light, giving off an illusionary quality. When Grey stared at them, he felt as though his gaze passed straight through, as if the pills were only half-present in reality.

This strange sensation intensified the longer he focused on them.

"It’s like they don’t even exist..." Grey muttered quietly.

The pills were extremely small, yet their quantity was astonishing, hundreds, possibly more.

"Just one of these pills is enough to shake a mid-level Foundation Establishment cultivator," Grey thought coldly. "If I use them at the right moment, I could kill such cultivators quickly."

As his fingers touched the pills, a sharp pain shot through his hands. The blood within his palms instantly began to turn black, dark veins spreading outward as the poison attempted to invade his body. Even his bones were affected, faint black traces seeping into them.

Enduring the pain, Grey swiftly swept the pills into his storage ring.

The moment they disappeared, the oppressive atmosphere in the room loosened. The invisible pressure receded, and Grey’s body finally began to recover. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to focus entirely on healing.

By the time night passed, his body had fully regenerated.

When Grey opened his eyes, a narrow glint of sharpness flashed within them.

"I now have poison as my trump card," he thought. "My new magic ship can also serve as one, it contains a large amount of divinity."

His thoughts drifted to the captain’s words about doing something big. He couldn’t help but recall the last time he had followed her out to sea.

Back then, at the Dead Sea, she had managed to provoke a frightening number of high-level sea creatures. Fortunately, Foundation Establishment sea creatures had ignored her, and she hadn’t deliberately provoked them either.

But now...

With her cultivation level unknown, Grey suspected she wouldn’t restrain herself this time.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Soon, the captain’s voice transmission arrived.

"Little Grey, are you ready? It’s time for us to adventure!" Her excitement was unmistakable.

Grey could only sigh.

She sent him a location, and they met at the port of Sky Mist City.

One had to know that the Sky Mist Sect possessed Nine Sequences, each controlling a specific region of the sect. The Third Sequence, Grey’s sequence, controlled the port area, which was why many of its disciples owned magic ships.

When Grey arrived, he saw the captain sitting atop a wooden barrel, casually chewing on a small apple. Her mere presence was enough to captivate the surrounding mortals and Qi Accumulation cultivators. Yet the powerful fluctuations of spirit energy radiating from her frightened them into keeping their distance.

When the captain spotted Grey, she waved at him while chewing her apple.

Immediately, countless gazes turned toward him.

Grey’s expression remained solemn as the captain hopped off the barrel and strode toward him.

Under the scrutiny of the crowd, she stopped directly in front of Grey.

"I hope you’re ready, little Grey," she said with a playful smile.

"What exactly is this ’big thing’ you mentioned?" Grey asked calmly.

"Don’t worry," the captain replied, winking. "Let’s leave the port first. I’ll tell you once we’re out."

Grey frowned but said nothing. He summoned his magic ship from his storage ring.

As the ship descended and landed upon the water, massive waves surged outward. Grey leapt onto the bow, and the captain followed, landing lightly on the deck.

Grey began steering the ship out of the port.

As they sailed away from the sect, the captain glanced around the ship, a strange glint flashing through her eyes.

"Hmmm... did your magic ship change a little?" she mused. "Anyway, head toward the Western Archipelago. We’ll pick something up there first."

She pulled out another apple and took a large bite. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Grey remained silent, focusing on steering the ship as it cut steadily through the waves.

The dead sea was full of dangers and unknown creatures. After God’s hand descended, the once boundless sea became the dead sea. And all the mythical sea creatures mutated into abominations.

It only took God’s blinding radiance once to turn the whole Boundless sea into the dead sea. However, that was just a part of the story.

The whole dead sea could also be called a Corroded Zone. Countless races that dwelled under the sea were affected and turned into abominations, and bizarre existences of the sea also came about.

Although Grey had not met any of the mythical sea creatures of the sea, he had heard countless stories of them and how powerful they were.

As the ship cut through the dark waters, the captain suddenly spoke.

"Little Grey... have you ever heard of the Sea Snake King?"

Grey frowned and shook his head.

A faint smile tugged at her lips. "Figures."

She leaned against the railing, eyes fixed on the distant horizon where sea and sky blurred together.

"Long ago, before the sea became what it is now, there was a creature that ruled beneath the waves. A true mythical existence." She paused. "They said the seafloor was its resting place, and islands were nothing more than obstacles in its path."

Grey remained silent, listening.

"When it moved," she continued calmly, "the sea surged. When it fed, entire islands vanished. Some even claimed it could swallow the land itself."

Her voice didn’t rise, but the weight behind her words made the surrounding air feel heavier.

"Then God’s radiance descended."

The captain’s fingers tightened slightly around the railing.

"The sea was corroded. The creature was corroded. And the Sea Snake King... became something else."

She turned her head and looked at Grey.

"They now call it the Sea Forbidden King."

Grey’s eyes narrowed.

"It went mad," she said. "Devoured everything in its path, sea races, islands, even humans. By the time it was stopped, a terrifying portion of the world had already disappeared."

"Stopped?" Grey asked.

She nodded. "Sealed. Forced into deep slumber by the Nine Subordinate Emperors. They couldn’t kill it."

A brief silence followed.

"They say the place where it sleeps is called the Sea Forbidden Region," the captain added lightly. "But no one has ever truly confirmed what lies down there."

Grey stared ahead at the endless waters.

"...We’re not heading there, are we?"

She laughed softly. "Relax. Even Spirit Core Formation experts wouldn’t survive that place. Our bodies would rot before we got close."

Then her smile sharpened, just a little.

"We’ll be heading near it."

Grey felt a faint chill crawl up his spine.

"For reasons I can’t tell you yet," she added, biting into her apple. "But trust me, and if you survive, it’ll be worth it."

Grey said nothing.

Dangerous or not, the resources she had promised, and the chance to open more spirit perforations, were things he couldn’t afford to ignore.

In the end, he could only silently agree.