Void Cultivation-Chapter 244- Headless Corpse (4)

After leaving the core of the temples, Grey felt the oppressive pressure bearing down on him reduce significantly. In fact, the moment he crossed the ten-thousand-meter mark, all the pressure he had felt from the door and the small figure vanished completely.

It was as though it had never existed.

Yet the raging pain splitting his head apart, along with the blood continuously seeping from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, stood as undeniable proof of what had truly happened.

At this moment, as Grey passed through clusters of decayed buildings, he no longer felt even a trace of curiosity. The awe he once held for this place had been utterly crushed.

All that remained was fear.

Intense, instinctive fear.

His terror was so overwhelming that he failed to notice the several gazes that locked onto him as he fled at full speed. However, the moment those gazes sensed the faint remnant aura clinging to Grey’s body, an aura belonging to the existence behind the door, they all shuddered violently.

Without hesitation, they withdrew.

Some pulled back their divine senses instantly, as if burned. Others went even further, forcefully retracting their auras and concealing themselves entirely, as though afraid that merely observing Grey for too long would invite catastrophe.

Grey remained unaware of all this. Blood continued to pour from his seven orifices, his vision swam in crimson haze, and his consciousness wavered on the brink of collapse. Still, he could faintly feel the sharp gazes that had once locked onto him retreating in panic.

As for the reason...

It was obvious.

They were afraid of the existence behind the door.

Grey carried a trace of its aura upon his body. The moment those entities perceived it, terror overtook them. To continue probing would have been courting death.

Grey paid none of this any mind. He continued fleeing without slowing down.

Very soon, he passed beyond the ten-thousand-meter boundary and entered areas filled only with ordinary, long-decayed buildings. Even then, he did not stop. He pushed himself forward with everything he had left, as if the very ground beneath his feet might suddenly turn hostile.

Only when he reached the very edge of the area did he finally halt.

Even then, when memories of what he had seen and heard surged back into his mind, his body almost moved on instinct, urging him to run again. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The only reason he didn’t was because his body had reached its limit.

Blood flowed freely from his shattered seven orifices. His eyeballs and eardrums had burst apart, leaving behind only dull agony and lingering numbness. His condition could only be described as miserable.

And that was without even mentioning his mental state, which was clearly on the verge of collapse.

If he were attacked now, he wouldn’t last more than a few minutes.

"I have to calm down," Grey muttered hoarsely as he forced himself to sit down. "I have to keep my emotions under control."

His breathing gradually steadied as he clenched his fists.

"Although the existence behind the door is unimaginably terrifying, it was sealed by that small figure... an existence that is just as terrifying," he reasoned. "And the word it spoke afterward made it clear... the seal will hold for a very long time."

His gaze hardened.

"For now, my priority is recovery. Then I leave this place as soon as possible."

He paused, his expression darkening.

"Even if the possibility of that existence remaining interested in me is low... the possibility still exists."

With that, Grey sat down cross-legged and began to cultivate.

Almost immediately, the purple crystal embedded in his chest pulsed with light. A brilliant violet glow spread outward, dyeing his internal organs purple as it accelerated his recovery and dramatically increased his spirit energy conversion rate.

Hours passed.

The bleeding beneath his skin gradually stopped. Blood no longer poured endlessly from his seven orifices. However, no matter how much time passed, his eyes and ears stubbornly refused to heal.

It was as though a foreign power lingered within those parts of his body, actively suppressing their recovery.

Grey understood the reason without needing to think deeply.

He had looked upon a god.

And he had heard the murmurs of a god.

Even though it was only a fragment of divine consciousness, and not the true god itself, the will it exerted over the world was still terrifying beyond measure.

Grey hadn’t even directly seen the god. Merely looking at the scratches it had left behind was enough to make his eyes explode. If those scratches hadn’t blinded him beforehand, if they had fully transformed into an eye and gazed upon him...

He would have perished instantly.

’What could the captain’s goal be for coming here?’ Grey wondered silently. ’To a place where a true divine entity is sealed...’

However, when he recalled her fascination with divinity, and her tendency to court death whenever it was possible, he found that it fit her personality perfectly.

Still, he couldn’t ignore one crucial detail.

She had said she was here to retrieve something.

’It’s impossible that she didn’t know a divine entity was sealed here,’ Grey thought. ’So what could possibly make her ignore that and charge down without hesitation?’

Under the continued nourishment of the purple crystal, his injuries slowly improved. Eventually, his ears stopped leaking blood, and the crimson tears flowing from his eyes dried up.

Even so, Grey’s condition remained pitiful.

He could barely move and relied entirely on his divine sense to observe his surroundings. Considering how the fog creatures would immediately pounce on him if he ventured out in this state, he decided to remain hidden for a while longer and continue recovering.

---

Meanwhile...

Deep within the clusters of decayed temples, there stood a massive structure untouched by time.

A towering temple, bright, illustrious, and imposing.

Its floors were vast and majestic, radiating a sense of ancient authority. Unlike everything else in this forsaken land, this temple bore no signs of decay. Time itself seemed to avoid it.

It could be said that this was the greatest temple in the entire region.

At the highest floor of this temple, however, hung a corpse.

A headless female corpse.

Suspended in midair, her lifeless body was riddled with incomprehensible divinity. Embedded within her chest was a small door. Its surface was covered in countless scratches that writhed and twisted unnaturally, as though alive.

Blood seeped continuously from beneath the door, spreading across the corpse’s pale chest.

Her neck had been cleanly severed, leaving behind only a grotesque, bloody stump.

Yet from that stump, a single drop of golden blood remained.

That drop alone illuminated the entire temple, bathing it in a solemn, dignifying radiance that inspired both reverence and terror.

Suddenly,

Scratching sounds echoed from the small door embedded in the corpse’s chest.

They were deafening.

If any being were to hear them at this very moment, their eardrums would rupture instantly, and their body would collapse under the sheer pressure of the sound.

The scratching continued... then gradually weakened.

Slowly, the noise faded until it vanished completely.

As the sounds ceased, the blood stopped seeping from the door’s edges. The scratches carved into its surface no longer shuddered and finally fell still.

Silence reclaimed the temple.

A suffocating, absolute silence.

A long, immeasurable span of time passed.

Then...

A soft sigh echoed within the empty temple.

The sound was faint, almost imperceptible, yet it carried an indescribable weight. It was as though the sigh itself had traveled across countless eras, bearing with it the silent erosion of time. In this place, where life had long since vanished, the sound lingered far longer than it should have.

Moments later, a ripple spread through the void.

From that distortion, a small figure stepped forth.

He appeared to be a young man, with short black hair and a slender frame. His eyes were calm to the point of emptiness, devoid of emotion, desire, or fear. His face bore an expression of complete indifference, as though nothing in this world could truly move him.

His gaze swept across the vast temple before settling on the headless corpse suspended at its center, and the small, silent door embedded within its chest.

The existence behind the door had clearly been sealed.

Its will had retreated, and its consciousness had sunk into a deep, deathlike slumber.

Seeing this, the small figure showed no reaction. He neither felt relief nor satisfaction. He merely turned away, as though the sight held no more importance than a discarded object.

His attention shifted instead toward the distant direction from which Grey had fled.

For the first time, a change appeared in his expression.

Confusion... and doubt.

"How long... has it been since I was last here?" the small figure murmured quietly.

His voice was calm, yet it carried a strange hollowness, as if even he was uncertain of the answer.

"I can tell that I am nothing more than a fragment of my main body’s divine consciousness," he continued. "And I can also tell that my main body... has perished a very long time ago."

There was no grief in his voice, neither was there anger or relief. There was only acknowledgment.

And the one who had killed his main body was none other than the existence sealed within the small door.

After a brief pause, the small figure spoke again.

"So, in the end... my main body failed to ascend to the next realm."

Even as he stated this truth, his heart remained utterly still. To him, the main body that had died and the he, the fragment that remained were no longer the same being. They shared memories, but not identity.

Slowly, he turned his gaze back toward the direction Grey had gone.

This time, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Why does he carry the Moon Divine Source within his body?" the small figure asked softly. "And why... is it purple?"

His brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

"What happened... while I was gone?"

For an instant, a trace of sorrow flickered across his face, it was so faint it could easily be mistaken for illusion.

But it vanished just as quickly.

The small figure suppressed that emotion without hesitation. He took a single step forward, walking in the direction Grey had fled, and did not look back.

When he reappeared, he had already crossed several thousand meters.

He stood directly above Grey.

Below him, Grey sat cross-legged, deeply immersed in cultivation. His aura fluctuated weakly, and the faint glow of purple light pulsed from within his chest. He was completely unaware of the presence looming over him.

Even if Grey had not been cultivating, even if he were at his peak condition...

He would still not have noticed anything.

’The seal will hold for...’ The small figure assessed silently. ’Another hundred years... provided no accidents occur.’

With that thought, his body blurred.

Then he vanished.

Grey remained unaware.

However, at that exact moment, a faint mark appeared on the back of Grey’s neck.

The symbol was shaped like infinity.

It lingered for less than a breath of time before sinking beneath his skin, disappearing as though it had never existed.