Void Cultivation-Chapter 269-

Although Roxanne was at odds with the Captain, the two still cooperated for the plan to succeed.

After their discussion, Roxanne retrieved an object from her storage ring.

It was a fingernail.

It was completely black and fractured with countless cracks. It was human in shape and appearance, yet grotesquely large. The nail alone was the size of an entire finger.

Dense spatial fluctuations radiated from it, subtly distorting the air. The surrounding space warped as if unwilling to remain stable.

Grey’s eyes narrowed.

This was clearly a high-grade teleportation treasure.

And judging from the fresh fractures spiderwebbing across its surface... Roxanne had pushed it to its limits more than once.

The moment the Captain saw it, her pupils gleamed.

She even licked her lips.

"Ahh, Roxanne... you have no idea how anxious I was when I saw you injured," she said softly, eyes locked onto the fingernail instead.

Roxanne glared at her, but in the end, she handed it over.

The Captain wasted no time.

Her fingers blurred as hand seals formed one after another, yet unlike ordinary spells, these seals did not vanish.

They materialized.

Golden geometric patterns hovered in midair, assembling into a massive, intricate diagram layered with spatial runes.

Her expression turned solemn.

She raised the cracked fingernail and pressed it into the center of the formation.

The diagram ignited.

"This opens the sealed dimension I mentioned," she said sharply. "Six breaths. After that, the seal will react and the teleportation collapses. Move."

The formation expanded violently as space was torn open.

A pitch black portal manifested. At the same time... the fingernail began to splinter.

Cracks widened and pieces flaked off into dust.

Grey did not hesitate.

He stepped through.

Roxanne followed, though she cast one last unreadable glance at the Captain before entering.

The Captain stood there alone for half a breath.

Her solemn expression faded as a glint flashed in her eyes.

She lifted her hand.

"Are you not coming?" Grey’s calm voice echoed from within the portal.

The Captain coughed lightly.

"Of course I am."

She grabbed the failing fingernail and slipped inside just as the sixth breath ended.

Behind her the portal imploded.

The seal of that dimension spread outward like a tightening net.

The teleportation was then severed.

Darkness swallowed Grey whole. Then... the world shifted.

His eyes widened slightly.

He stood in the sky.

Above him loomed the same colossal severed head.

But now, the heavens were beneath him.

The ground resembled drifting clouds.

Far below, the crimson land stretched endlessly. Countless blood-red tentacles swayed in the wind like a sea of flesh.

Scarlet mist rolled across the terrain, carrying with it the suffocating stench of decay.

Grey’s expression darkened.

He had expected another dimension.

Instead...

This was the same one.

Roxanne appeared beside him, her face equally rigid.

They both understood.

They had not gone somewhere else.

They had gone deeper.

A ripple sounded behind them.

The Captain emerged, still holding the fingernail, now almost completely ruined, fresh cracks splitting it apart.

She rubbed her nose lazily.

With her other hand, she retrieved an apple and took a bite.

Crunch.

Behind her, the portal began to destabilize.

The space beyond fractured.

Cracks spread across reality like a shattered mirror.

The portal collapsed.

The fractures expanded outward across the sky itself.

"Ah... we’re here already?" the Captain muttered casually between bites. She squinted at the world below.

"Huh. Why does this place feel familiar?"

As soon as she spoke, the red sky began to darken. The clouds beneath their feet slowly turned black, as if an invisible brush was spreading darkness across a crimson painting.

The red apple in the captain’s hands also turned black almost instantly, its surface cracking as decay spread through it like poison seeping through flesh. Grey and Roxanne were stunned by this sudden change, while the Captain only frowned slightly.

The hand the captain held the apple trembled for a split second, but that was it. After that, she regained her calmness.

Her eyes narrowed into sharp, glinting slits as she casually tossed the decaying apple to the side. The fruit struck the blackened clouds below them before dissolving into drifting fragments of ash-like energy.

She then lifted her gaze toward the giant head suspended in the sky.

The two eyes that had been opened on that colossal head gazed listlessly into the distance. There was no emotion within those eyes, only a deep, endless stillness that felt older than the heavens themselves.

Because they were standing directly in the line of sight of the giant head, it felt as though it was silently observing them. The gaze carried a cold, indifferent pressure, like a god regarding insignificant insects beneath its feet.

The moment the red skies began to darken and the red clouds beneath their feet turned completely black, each and every one of them felt a cold chill crawl slowly up their spine and spread across their necks.

It felt as if... they were standing face to face with an expert who could kill them instantly without even needing to move a finger.

However, this feeling was very faint. It was not fully locked onto them. Instead, it was like a distant storm whose killing intent was still half-asleep, present, but not yet fully awakened.

Yet even so, the pressure was terrifying.

The sensation of being watched slowly faded, but not because the danger had disappeared. Rather, it was because the presence above them had simply stopped focusing on them, as though they were not worth the effort of maintaining its attention.

"As expected of a Soul Ascendancy realm expert," the captain said while licking her lips slowly, her voice filled with excitement rather than fear. "As soon as we arrived with malicious intent, it immediately became aware of us and spread out its perception to try to lock onto us."

She did not show the slightest hint of fear, even in the face of such overwhelming pressure. Instead, there was a faint thrill in her eyes, like a predator that had just found an interesting prey. But deep within them, an emotion that couldn’t be explained welled up in hee eyes.

’As expected of... my little brother,’ she thought silently, her expression softening for only a split second before returning to its usual confident sharpness.

Almost immediately after all this happened, several malicious spirits began to appear out of thin air. Their appearances were similar to those of humans; the only exceptions were that they possessed far more limbs and organs than normal people did. Extra arms protruded from their torsos at twisted angles, and faint outlines of additional ribs and pulsating shapes could be seen shifting beneath their dark, translucent flesh.

Their bodies were pitch-black and seemed to be constantly dissipating and breaking apart, as though they were nothing more than smoke given form. Yet, through some unknown force, the fragments would gather once more, knitting themselves back together in an endless cycle of collapse and reconstruction. It was a grotesque and unnatural sight, as if the world itself rejected their existence but lacked the power to erase them completely.

The moment they fully formed, they roared loudly at the three of them before charging forward mindlessly. Their shrieks were sharp and piercing, filled with madness and hunger, echoing across the surroundings like the wails of the damned.

A dense, frigid aura spread out from the spirits, instantly causing Grey, Roxanne, and the Captain’s bodies to turn ice-cold. The temperature plummeted so abruptly that even their breath seemed to freeze in their throats.

It was as if freezing air had been breathed directly into their bodies. Grey felt his spirit perforations quieten as the blazing flames from his single ball of Spirit Fire were ruthlessly suppressed by the overwhelming cold. The once-vibrant heat within him flickered violently, shrinking under the pressure like a candle flame battered by a relentless storm.

Only through sheer determination was he able to stop his Spirit Fire from being quenched completely. He gritted his teeth, forcing his will upon the trembling flame, refusing to let it die out despite the suffocating frost invading his body.

Grey raised his head and looked at the spirits helplessly. The Captain and Roxanne wore similar expressions. Clearly, the cold aura radiating from these spirits had shaken them to the core. Even their usual composure faltered in the face of such unnatural chill.

Although their Spirit Fires were not suppressed by the cold as severely as Grey’s—since he possessed only one ball of Spirit Fire—the icy aura still sent a shock through them. Frost gathered along the edges of their sleeves, and a thin layer of ice crept across the ground beneath their feet.

The instant the spirits appeared, they pounced toward them without hesitation. All three of them hurriedly split apart, each moving in a different direction to avoid being surrounded and forced into direct confrontation.

As soon as he distanced himself, Grey felt a chilling wave of energy run down the back of his neck, sharp and invasive. An instant later, a spirit materialized behind him as if it had stepped out of the shadows themselves. Its elongated tongue lashed out viciously, slicing through the air with a shrill whistle.

Grey felt the cold aura intensify even further as his movements began to slow. Frost rapidly formed across the surface of his skin, crawling along his arms and neck like living ice. Worse still, the freezing energy seeped inward, invading his internal organs and causing a dull, numbing pain to spread throughout his body.

His spirit perforations trembled violently as the cold aura washed over them, threatening to seal them shut.

His single ball of Spirit Fire was suppressed even more brutally, shrinking to a faint, struggling glow. It nearly went out entirely.

Grey’s expression paled as the sensation of freezing to death crept over him. His limbs grew stiff, and even his thoughts seemed to slow under the crushing cold. Without hesitation, he deactivated his Special Brilliance form, knowing that maintaining it in this state would only accelerate his downfall.

He understood clearly that if his Spirit Fire were extinguished, he would suffer a fatal backlash. The foundation of his cultivation would collapse, and he might not survive the recoil.

’Not good!’

Grey’s expression darkened further when he glanced back and saw the sheer number of spirits pursuing him. There were more than twenty of them, their twisted faces filled with naked malignance and insatiable hunger. Their hollow eyes locked onto him as if he were nothing more than prey.

The cold air spilling from their bodies grew even more overwhelming as they surged forward together. The ground beneath them frosted over instantly, and the surrounding space seemed to stiffen under the oppressive chill.

Then, all at once, they pounced at him.