Void Cultivation-Chapter 267

A second later, they appeared out of the spatial rift close to the headless corpse. The altar was ten thousand feet tall, and the headless corpse seated upon it was equally massive.

Its body encompassed the entire altar, and its height was staggering. From where they stood, Grey and the Captain could see the entire starry world with their own eyes.

Although the platform on which the altar stood was vast and expansive, the starry sky beyond it seemed to stretch on forever.

Deep within distant clusters of stars, Grey could make out small planets and endless galaxies suspended in the void. He could also see the fog emerging out of nowhere, slowly spreading as it sought to envelop both the altar and the corpse.

The instant they stepped out of the rift, Grey felt a calm yet oppressive aura emanating from the headless corpse. It was as if several lightning bolts had detonated within his mind, causing his thoughts to tremble violently.

An illusion suddenly formed before his eyes, he felt as though he were gazing upon a vast, ever-expanding world. However, this world was illusory and unstable. It quivered for a brief moment before collapsing inward and breaking apart on its own, fragmenting into nothingness.

Both Grey and the Captain exchanged slightly surprised glances.

’This... is Soul Ascendancy! The illusion of a great world is the unmistakable trademark of this legendary realm,’ Grey thought inwardly, his heart pounding.

The Captain’s breathing quickened, and her eyes shone with an eerie light. However, with the fog rapidly approaching, she had no time to speak. Without hesitation, she began forming hand seals.

Her hand movements were astonishingly fast, some of them too intricate to discern clearly. After several moments, she stopped and produced a pearl.

The pearl was blue, and Grey recognized it instantly. It was a Spirit Plundering Pearl.

This pearl could be used to temporarily invade another cultivator’s soul or directly suppress their Spirit and cultivation. It was effective against all cultivators, though its potency depended on its quality.

Yellow was the lowest grade and could only affect low-level cultivators. After yellow came green, red, and black, each increasingly powerful, with significantly higher chances of successfully invading another’s soul.

However, the shocking thing was that the pearl the Captain had brought out was actually a blue Spirit Plundering Pearl.

Blue Spirit Plundering Pearls were even rarer and far harder to obtain. If one appeared on the market, it would be immediately snatched up by those powerful enough to afford it.

Because the Spirit Plundering Pearl was a one-use item, it was not particularly popular. Yet when used at the right moment and with precise timing, it could determine life and death.

After muttering a series of incantations, the pearl shone with a strange blue light and flew toward the corpse. At the same time, the Captain smiled faintly and spat out a mouthful of blood onto the pearl.

The blue light intensified, and an invasive power erupted from within it.

However, this invasive force did not attempt to invade them, its target was the headless corpse.

The pearl attempted to dive into the corpse. But the corpse released an oppressive aura that immediately suppressed it. A moment later, faint cracking sounds rang out from the pearl.

It was clear that it was close to shattering, as the oppressive aura from the corpse was too overwhelming for it to endure.

When the Captain saw this, a brilliant light flashed in her eyes as she let out a soft laugh. "I never truly expected the Spirit Plundering Pearl to break through the world projection of a Soul Ascendancy Realm cultivator. Even in death, his aura alone is more than enough to suppress the pearl. But... that’s why I always prepare contingency plans."

Immediately after speaking, the Captain opened her mouth and exhaled. Dense black fog erupted forth and surged toward the severed neck of the headless corpse like a living tide.

If the corpse had not been occupied suppressing the Spirit Plundering Pearl, it could have easily dealt with the Captain’s black fog. However, the Spirit Plundering Pearl was a one-use treasure. The moment it was activated, its full power erupted without restraint.

The headless corpse... would not be able to destroy it in a short amount of time.

The instant the black fog made contact with the severed neck, the headless corpse of the Almighty expert actually shuddered slightly, as if something deep within it had been disturbed.

The main effect of the black fog was to drill into the body of whoever it touched. Hence, the moment it came into contact with the flesh of the corpse, it immediately began to infiltrate.

But how could the corpse of a Soul Ascendancy Realm cultivator be so easy to breach? If it were that simple, then it would never have reached the Soul Ascendancy Realm in the first place.

Much of the fog was filtered out by the remnants of divine sense lingering within the corpse of the Soul Ascendancy Realm cultivator. With each wisp of black fog that was intercepted and destroyed, the Captain’s face grew paler.

When over eighty percent of the fog had been filtered and annihilated, the Captain spat out a mouthful of blood. Her expression turned solemn, and her eyes revealed a trace of bitterness.

Clearly, the destruction of the black fog had also caused damage to her.

At the same time, the Spirit Plundering Pearl emitted increasingly intense cracking sounds. It seemed as though it would shatter at any moment. Meanwhile, the fog from the starry world was rapidly approaching, closing in on the altar with terrifying speed.

Grey noticed all of this and immediately realized that they might not make it in time. Without hesitation, he spoke to warn the Captain.

"If we cannot break through the corpse, then it’s better we leave! If that fog reaches us here, we will be erased and cease to exist," Grey said calmly. However, beneath that calm tone, he remained vigilant and ready to retreat at any moment.

When the Captain heard his words, she paused briefly before a mad expression appeared on her face.

"Quit? You want us to quit? After getting this far?!" She laughed sharply. "No, Little Grey. I am getting us inside this corpse. I will get us there, now!"

Her laughter was almost crazed, echoing faintly in the vast starry space.

Yet Grey could still see the worry hidden deep within her eyes. After all, she had used every method she possessed and exhausted all her preparations to reach this point. If they failed to find a way in, then retreating would indeed be wiser than being erased by the fog.

’But how can I let down my Little Grey? Especially after I promised him we would accomplish something big this time around. I still have many plans... this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...’ the Captain thought inwardly, her resolve wavering.

Just as she was on the verge of giving up, the remaining twenty percent of the black fog managed to slip past the scanning divine senses. Evading extermination, it sank deeper into the corpse’s body.

The moment it penetrated deep within, it self-destructed and transformed into over fifty thin black threads that flowed through the corpse’s massive body. Each thread emitted a sharp, penetrative power.

Although it was only a corpse, its body was incomparably large. If it had still been alive, such tiny threads would have been insignificant, barely worth noticing.

As the threads moved closer to the corpse’s heart, many of them suddenly exploded and perished. Their destruction was so abrupt that even the Captain did not anticipate it.

Very soon, out of the original fifty threads, only thirteen remained. These thirteen continued forward stubbornly until they finally reached the heart of the headless corpse.

The instant they arrived, they pierced through the heart and began to run amok within it. At the same time, the corpse started to shudder more violently.

The sensation of revival grew stronger, while the gradually disappearing altar released even more sealing intent to forcefully suppress that revival.

It was as though the threads were stimulating the corpse, provoking it and urging it to awaken. However, the altar’s power suddenly burst forth in full force. Complex array symbols and ancient runes rose into the air, intertwining as they suppressed the corpse and restrained its revival.

Slowly, the shaking of the corpse began to subside. Yet paradoxically, the feeling of revival grew even stronger beneath the surface.

At that moment, an illusory world appeared before Grey’s eyes. This world was hazy and seemed to be formed from fragmented laws and twisted reality itself.

The instant this world manifested, the altar shone with dazzling light. A shadowy figure rose from within the altar and began to suppress the corpse directly.

At the same time, a doorway appeared before Grey and the Captain. The doorway was illusory and did not seem to exist within the physical world. It was as though it stood between the corporeal and the ethereal, neither fully real nor entirely unreal.

Just as Grey was about to step into the doorway, he heard the Captain call out to stop him.

"Wait, Grey. This corpse is not only at the Soul Ascendancy Realm, it has also reached the peak of the Soul Ascendancy Realm. In fact, it was only one step away from the Nihility Realm. Do you know what that means? I calculated wrongly," the Captain said in a low voice.

"Obtaining an eye from a Soul Ascendancy Realm cultivator is one thing. But obtaining it from a corpse that already had one foot in the Nihility Realm is another matter entirely. I’m afraid... this may end in failure."

Her voice grew even softer. It was clear that she had not anticipated this development.

Perhaps she truly had not known that the corpse had reached the Peak of the Soul Ascendancy Realm. Though it seemed like a minor difference, being at the peak meant something entirely different. It meant that plundering the eye would be far more difficult, and the dangers they would face would surpass anything they had encountered so far.

In fact, if they were even slightly careless, they could die at any moment.

But Grey only smiled faintly as he looked at her.

"Even if it’s a Nihility Realm expert or a Peak Soul Ascendancy Realm cultivator, what does it matter? Aren’t we going to plunder from them anyway?"

Grey’s words seemed to snap some sense back into the Captain. She slowly recovered, her eyes regaining their usual brilliance.

"You’re right. I’ve been paying too much attention to the details and completely forgotten my own way!" she declared loudly, puffing out her chest with renewed confidence.

"It doesn’t matter. I’m the greatest! After we get this rotten eye, let’s go plot against a divine creature next!"

The smile on Grey’s face suddenly froze.