Void Cultivation-Chapter 273-

By the time Grey caught up to the captain, waves of intense heat and biting cold radiated faintly from his body, distorting the air around him in subtle ripples. However, before the strange phenomenon could draw too much attention, he hurriedly deactivated his Special Brilliance form.

The instant the form dissipated, the terrifying pressure vanished as though it had never existed.

Grey staggered forward and stopped at the captain’s side. His face was pale, and his breathing was uneven, as if the transformation had drained more from him than he was willing to admit. A thin sheen of sweat clung to his forehead, and the faint tremor in his fingers betrayed the strain he was suppressing.

When the captain saw him, her expression turned strange.

For a brief moment, she simply stared.

Then, a bright glint flashed across her eyes, and a smile slowly curved her lips.

"Congratulations, Grey. You’ve broken through," she said warmly. Then her brows furrowed slightly. "Eh? But why is your power comparable to someone with three balls of Spirit Fire?"

Confusion flickered openly across her face.

She had clearly sensed the changes that had occurred behind her earlier. Even while fighting, she had felt that surge of the explosive breakthrough, the fluctuation in aura, the abnormal third presence that did not feel entirely stable... nor entirely natural.

But because of the precarious situation, she had not dared to divert her focus.

’Grey has already broken through and now possesses two balls of Spirit Fire,’ she thought inwardly. ’But why is his strength and aura comparable to those with three? Moreover... that third Spirit Fire of his is definitely not normal.’

A faint scoff echoed in her heart.

’It took me months of effort and planning to manifest my third ball of Spirit Fire this quickly. I even planned to show off to him, but I had no chance to do so.’

She said helplessly.

’I planned on saving him at some point to strengthen my hold as the senior sister. *Sigh*’

The unfairness of it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

For a fleeting instant, envy and jealousy stirred within her chest. They were not deep emotions not enough to cloud her judgment. In the end, they were only superficial.

In the end, she suppressed them with a quiet sigh.

There were more important matters at hand.

Her gaze sharpened as she shifted her thoughts toward the harvest that was to come. If they survived this, the rewards would be tremendous.

Grey, however, did not notice the complex shift in her expression. He was far too busy defending himself from the countless spirits that lunged at him from every direction.

The moment his Special Brilliance form vanished, the oppressive aura that had made the spirits tremble disappeared as well.

Their earlier wails of fear ceased.

For a split second, their expressions turned blank, as if something had been forcibly stripped from them. Then, like a dam breaking, endless malice and greed flooded their hollow eyes.

They forgot their fear of Grey’s abnormal third Spirit Fire.

They forgot the suffocating pressure that had made them shrink back.

Now, like starved beasts scenting flesh, they surged forward in a frenzy, claws outstretched and mouths twisted into grotesque grins.

They pounced toward Grey in waves.

But before they could overwhelm him, a sudden roar of flames erupted from the side.

A violent whirlwind of fire spun into existence, blazing with a deep crimson hue. The spiraling inferno swept across the battlefield with terrifying speed, and the charging spirits were caught within it before they could react.

Shrill screams filled the air.

Their ethereal bodies twisted and tore apart within the vortex, shredded by searing heat and compressed by rotating force. Fragments of spiritual essence were dragged into the heart of the flames, unable to escape.

A second later, the sea of fire flashed brilliantly.

From within the blazing vortex, a delicate figure slowly emerged.

She wore flowing crimson robes that fluttered like living flames. Her long hair danced in the heated currents, and her eyes burned with a brilliant, fiery glow that seemed capable of igniting the air itself.

Her expression was cold and composed, yet the aura she exuded carried a strangely warm undertone, like a hearth flame in the depths of winter.

The moment she appeared fully in the air, the raging whirlwind of fire contracted sharply and was drawn back into her body, disappearing without a trace.

The faint and unsettling sounds of chewing gradually faded as well.

Roxanne descended gracefully and landed not far from Grey and the captain. The ground beneath her feet was lightly scorched.

She gave Grey a brief nod before looking at the captain. The captain then shook her head helplessly.

"Since we’ve collected enough resentment, it’s time we go!" After saying that, the captain formed a hand seal and snapped her fingers.

Immediately, a golden light spread out from her fingers and washed over them. As the light passed across their bodies, dense black gas could be seen clinging to their skin and clothes.

This black gas was very strange and could not be detected through ordinary methods. Faint angry roars and sounds of unwillingness echoed from within the fog, barely audible yet filled with resentment.

Although Grey had prepared for the worst, he was still alarmed that the black fog had clung to his body without him noticing.

It made him feel extremely uncomfortable and slightly wary. Roxanne was also surprised, but she did not show it on her face, maintaining her usual calm demeanor.

"Now that we have the resentment, let’s open the pathway... the one that leads to the Eyes of the Soul Ascendancy."

As soon as she finished speaking, the golden light flowing through them began to shine even brighter. It was as if the golden radiance was the natural bane of the black fog, and even more mournful cries rang out in response.

But the captain paid no heed and even sped up the process. After a few breaths of time passed, the black fog clinging to their bodies trembled violently and tried to retreat.

However, the captain did something strange. She began to cast obscure spells and then started poking holes all over her own body.

Grey watched this with a wary expression on his face. The matter of the black fog had not truly shaken him, but the captain’s actions certainly did.

Very soon, her body was riddled with holes, and her clothes turned crimson with blood. However, she did not seem to mind in the slightest. She even let out a self-deprecating laugh, as though mocking her own state.

When she had pierced herself so many times that she was bleeding from everywhere, her body trembled violently before she collapsed and fell down lifeless.

However, before she fell, she ruthlessly dug out her eyes and threw one of them to Grey. At the same time, she thrust her hand into her abdomen and mercilessly dragged out her still-beating heart.

The moment this ritual was completed, the fleeing resentment in the form of black fog let out a loud, ear-piercing shrill.

The black fog began to dissipate as it was forcibly sucked into the heart in the captain’s hand. When all of it had been absorbed, the captain’s beating heart turned pitch black.

Dense black fog emanated from the heart, and intense mournful cries could be heard continuously echoing from within it.

Grey watched all of this as his own heart trembled in shock. The captain’s ruthlessness toward herself was truly astonishing. However, that was not what unsettled him the most.

He suddenly heard a slightly distant voice coming from the single eye the captain had dug out and thrown to him.

"Um, little Grey. Do you mind picking up my heart for me?" the captain’s voice spoke softly.

When he located the direction of the voice, he realized it was coming from the eyeball itself.

In the reflection within her eye, Grey could see the forlorn yet beautiful captain staring at him with a rather simple and unbothered expression.

She cleared her throat and spoke again. "Er, little Grey. Can you hurry up and pick up my heart before it turns my corpse into a pool of blood?"

When Grey looked over, he saw that the black fog emanating from the heart was beginning to affect the corpse. Its limbs were starting to twitch slightly, as if it were about to be possessed by something unseen.

When he took the heart from the captain’s outstretched palm, the sporadic movements of the corpse suddenly stopped. Strangely, in his hands, the heart was still beating steadily.

Grey was still deeply shocked by the captain’s ruthlessness. But that was not his main concern.

"Was it really necessary?" he asked in a slightly detached voice filled with helplessness.

The reflection of the captain in the eyeball smiled faintly but did not reply. Obviously, Grey did not believe that she truly needed to poke holes into her body before absorbing the resentment from the black fog.

Seeing that the captain was not answering him, Grey’s expression twisted into a slight frown.

"Can you recover your body?" he asked quietly.

The reflection of the captain smiled lightly, but she did not say anything else