Chapter 494 - 493- Another City

When he was certain that he was no longer in immediate danger, Grey’s shoulders slumped slightly. It was a subtle sign of relaxation, but even then, Grey had only lowered his guard by a fraction.

He quickly sat down on the head of the Mosasaur, his expression remaining calm and nonchalant. There was still a considerable amount of lingering corruption within his body, along with various other messy and chaotic energies that had yet to be completely dealt with. Before anything else happened, he needed to expel them from his body and restore himself to his peak condition.

Iria had already recovered a portion of her strength. Furthermore, the terrifying roar from earlier had not affected her as severely as it had Grey. Her protective talisman had absorbed most of the impact before finally shattering under the immense pressure.

The only injuries she had suffered were some relatively light mental injuries.

Seeing Grey sit down to meditate with his eyes closed, Iria did not disturb him. Instead, she silently moved farther away from him.

When she was roughly five feet away and sitting on the broad back of the Mosasaur, she lowered herself into a cross-legged position and slowly closed her eyes. Her consciousness sank inward, entering her sea of consciousness.

A few minutes passed. Very soon, low, muffled bangs began reverberating from within her body.

Bang!

With every dull explosion, Iria’s body trembled slightly. Her shoulders shook and her body occasionally staggered, as though she were enduring the impact of an invisible force striking her from within.

However, she quickly stabilized herself each time and continued. Like this, Iria persistently began breaking open the spirit perforations within her body.

The ordeal they had just experienced had thoroughly steeled her determination. She had witnessed just how terrifying the world outside the sect could be, and she had also realized how powerless she was in the face of truly overwhelming existences.

If she wanted to survive in such a world, she needed strength. She wanted to increase her cultivation as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, Iria had discovered that the next few spirit perforations within her body had already become considerably weaker. Some of them even possessed faint cracks running across their surfaces.

This meant that they had been continuously refined over the past few days and were now in an ideal condition to be shattered.

Therefore, without wasting any more time, Iria focused her mind and began sensing the various spirit nodes hidden throughout her body.

When she had broken through the ceiling of Qi Accumulation and entered the Foundation Establishment realm, she had managed to single out forty-seven spirit perforations.

However, even though she had sensed them, their precise locations remained somewhat obscure.

It was as if a thin but incredibly dark veil had been draped over her perception, preventing her from seeing the true appearance and exact positions of the spirit nodes hidden within her body.

Once she determined the precise locations of all forty-seven spirit perforations, she would have to search for even more spirit nodes within her body.

This was due to her latent potential and innate talent.

Frankly speaking, the number of nodes she had managed to sense on the day she broke into the Foundation Establishment realm was already extremely impressive.

Most cultivators could usually sense fewer than forty spirit perforations upon entering the realm. The majority could only locate somewhere between twenty-five and thirty-five.

Iria’s forty-seven was already far above average. However, Grey’s case was even more unusual.

As far as Iria could tell, Grey had managed to sense an astonishing one hundred spirit nodes at once.

One hundred. The difference between them was enormous.

If Grey wanted to continue advancing, he would have to search for even more spirit nodes within his body and gradually transform them into spirit perforations.

The faint sound of crashing waves echoed from within Iria’s body.

It sounded as though a vast sea was repeatedly crashing against an unyielding wall.

Boom!

A wave of spirit energy slammed violently against the surface of another spirit perforation.

Iria’s entire body shivered. Her brows furrowed slightly, but she did not stop. Again. Boom!

Another wave of energy crashed into the spirit perforation.

The invisible barrier trembled violently. Fine cracks spread across its surface before slowly disappearing beneath the relentless assault.

Iria gritted her teeth and continued pouring spirit energy into the attack.

She persisted until, finally...

BOOM!

The sixteenth spirit perforation shattered. The barrier that had been stubbornly resisting her energy finally collapsed, breaking apart into countless fragments of spiritual energy.

Immediately afterward, a tremendous amount of spirit energy surged into the empty node.

The energy rapidly circulated around it, filling the newly opened space and transforming it into a genuine spirit perforation.

Iria’s breathing immediately became somewhat ragged.

Her face was slightly flushed, and a thin layer of sweat had appeared across her forehead.

More than ten minutes had passed in the blink of an eye.

She had spent all ten of those minutes smashing apart a single spirit perforation. Yet instead of feeling proud of herself, Iria’s eyes narrowed further.

"I can’t give up. I must become stronger."

The words echoed silently within her heart. Her determination did not weaken. On the contrary, it became even firmer.

Normally, cultivators in the Foundation Establishment realm could remain trapped in the same realm for an extremely long period of time.

And there was a very simple reason for this. Breaking open spirit perforations was incredibly difficult.

Every single spirit perforation represented another barrier that had to be broken through using one’s spirit energy. As the number of opened perforations increased, the difficulty of opening the next one also increased.

Right now, Iria had needed more than ten minutes just to smash open a single spirit perforation.

And after completing the process, exhaustion had already begun creeping into her body.

She could not maintain such a pace indefinitely.

Once her spirit energy became exhausted, she would have no choice but to stop and recover.

This was precisely why so many cultivators remained trapped in the Foundation Establishment realm for years, or even decades.

The further they advanced, the more difficult each subsequent step became.

Grey, however, could already be considered both impressive and exceptionally talented. His cultivation speed was far beyond that of an ordinary cultivator.

If he continued advancing at his current pace, then in a few years, he would likely be capable of breaking into the Spirit Core Formation realm.

This realization caused Grey to briefly take notice of his own cultivation speed. However, he did not dwell on the matter for long.

There was still a considerable distance ahead of them, and compared to the dangers they had just encountered, cultivation speed was not something worth obsessing over at the moment.

Time flowed by quietly. The Mosasaur continued forward at a frightening speed, carrying the two figures across the vast, desolate wilderness that was filled with a stench of horror and decay.

The fierce wind constantly swept across their bodies, causing their clothes and hair to flutter violently.

Neither Grey nor Iria spoke. One continued meditating while the other remained focused on recovering and dealing with the lingering problems within his body.

The scenery around them gradually changed.

The desolate wilderness slowly gave way to more civilized regions. From time to time, they could see distant roads and scattered structures. Occasionally, they even encountered cultivators or ordinary travelers moving in the same direction.

However, none of them dared to approach the massive Mosasaur.

Its enormous body alone was enough to frighten most people away.

One day passed before slowly blending into another. Before either of them realized it, the journey had already continued for another full day.

At the end of the second day, a faint outline finally appeared in the distance. Grey raised his head slightly. Far ahead, an enormous city could be seen.

The city was surrounded by a massive wall that stretched across the horizon. Even from this distance, the wall appeared imposing, standing like an ancient barrier between the wilderness and the civilization beyond it.

This was the city where they planned to use the Relocation Rune.

Once they reached it, they would be able to activate the rune and teleport directly back to the sect.

During this entire period, Iria had not spoken a single word to Grey. Grey had also made no attempt to entertain her.

Most of the time, he simply remained seated in silence, occasionally meditating while gazing in the direction they were heading.

As the city gradually became clearer, Iria finally opened her eyes. Her eyelashes fluttered lightly. A strange glint appeared deep within her eyes.

During these two days, she had managed to open five additional spirit perforations. Her total number of opened spirit perforations had now reached twenty-one.

Just four more.

Once she opened four more spirit perforations, she would be able to manifest her first ball of spirit fire. She could already faintly sense the changes occurring within her body.

There was a burning sensation in her chest, as though all the spirit power accumulated within her was eager to circulate through her meridians, surge into her dantian, and condense into a powerful form of energy.

Once that energy was successfully formed, her strength and speed would undergo a considerable increase.

However, something seemed to be missing. There was an invisible obstruction preventing the energy from completely circulating through her body and reaching her dantian. Iria frowned slightly.

She could vaguely sense that something was preventing the final step. But rather than becoming frustrated, she gradually shifted her attention toward the figure sitting several feet away.

Her gaze landed on Grey’s back. He remained seated silently atop the Mosasaur, his back straight and his posture relaxed.

His gaze was fixed upon the approaching city and the enormous wall surrounding it.

From the moment the city appeared in the distance, his eyes had not moved away from it even once.

Iria quietly stared at him. A strange determination gradually surfaced within her eyes.

I’ll catch up to you... Her fingers slowly tightened.

You’ll see.

Her gaze remained fixed on Grey’s forlorn figure.

His gray hair hung loosely around his face, occasionally falling over his eyes before being swept backward by the fierce wind rushing past them.

His clothes fluttered continuously, giving him an unusually solitary appearance against the vast sky and wilderness.

Iria continued watching him in silence. She did not know how long it would take. Perhaps years. Perhaps even longer.

But she would catch up eventually.

Just as if he had somehow heard the words she had spoken within her heart, Grey suddenly stood.

His gray hair was immediately blown backward by the powerful wind, revealing his calm eyes.

He looked toward the enormous city ahead. Then, after a brief silence, he spoke.

"We’re approaching the city."