"Damn."

The curse echoed in Grey’s mind the instant it appeared.

The moment the thought surfaced, the middle-aged man standing in the sky moved.

His speed was so terrifyingly fast that Grey’s eyes could barely keep track of him. It was as though the man had vanished from existence entirely, leaving only a faint distortion in the air behind.

Yet Grey didn’t even attempt to follow his movements.

The instant the man disappeared from his field of vision, Grey reacted purely on instinct.

His figure blurred.

A split second later, a sharp screech rang through the air as something sliced through the wind with overwhelming force. Immediately afterward, the dark waters of the Dead Sea beneath them parted violently.

BOOM!

A massive wave exploded upward.

The place where Grey had been standing moments ago was cut apart by an invisible force. The sea itself seemed incapable of resisting the strike as a deep trench was carved into the water.

Grey reappeared dozens of feet away.

However, escaping the attack did not mean he had emerged unharmed.

Blood dripped steadily from several wounds across his body.

A thin cut ran along the side of his neck, narrowly missing a vital artery.

Half of his stomach had been ripped open, exposing flesh beneath.

Long gashes stretched across both his arms and legs, some deep enough to reveal bone.

In that brief instant, Grey had nearly been sliced into pieces.

A chill ran down his spine.

If his reaction had been even a fraction slower, he would already be dead.

The middle-aged man appeared moments later as though casually taking a stroll.

His robes fluttered violently despite the still air, while both of his hands were coated in a thick layer of crimson energy.

Seeing that Grey had survived, the man’s lips curved into a sinister smile.

There was no disappointment in his eyes.

Only excitement.

"You surviving is actually good news."

His smile widened.

"If you had died from that attack, how would I recover all the techniques and arts you stole from me?"

The instant his voice faded, he swung his arm again.

A deafening boom erupted across the sky.

The surrounding space trembled.

Grey didn’t bother blocking.

Neither did he attempt to clash head-on.

The very first exchange had already taught him a brutal lesson.

This opponent was far beyond anything he could currently handle through brute force.

Even after unlocking more than seventy Spirit Perforations, he was still completely outmatched.

Under normal circumstances, Grey could already battle experts possessing four Spirit Fires.

Given enough preparation, he could even contend against cultivators in the Spirit Core Formation Realm.

Yet this man was different.

Although he was also a Spirit Core Formation cultivator, the pressure he emitted was fundamentally different from anyone Grey had encountered before.

The gap between them wasn’t merely a difference in cultivation.

It felt like an entirely different world.

Every movement carried terrifying precision.

Every attack seemed capable of deciding life and death.

Grey’s instincts screamed at him continuously.

This wasn’t an ordinary Spirit Core Formation expert.

This was someone who had already reached the peak of the realm.

Someone who stood only a single step away from transcending into the next stage of cultivation.

The realization made Grey’s expression darken.

This was far beyond anything he had prepared for.

’Who exactly is this man?’

Grey’s thoughts raced.

’Where have I seen him before?’

No matter how hard he searched his memories, he couldn’t find an answer.

’I know for a fact that I’ve never met him.’

At least, not that he could remember.

’I haven’t offended anyone like this either. So why is he acting as though I’ve robbed him blind? Where did he even come from?’

Despite the countless questions swirling through his mind, Grey didn’t allow them to affect his movements.

He immediately circulated the Spirit Power throughout his body.

The instant the energy began moving, all of his Spirit Perforations suddenly trembled.

Then they erupted.

A deep buzzing sound echoed throughout his flesh.

One after another, every single Spirit Perforation roared to life.

Vast torrents of pure Spirit Energy flooded his body like a raging river bursting through a broken dam.

The energy was so dense and refined that even Grey’s powerful physique struggled to contain it.

His meridians glowed.

His muscles swelled.

His blood surged like thunder.

Unable to fully utilize such concentrated energy in its raw state, his cultivation technique instinctively compressed it.

The countless streams of Spirit Energy rapidly condensed.

Then, a radiant sphere of flame appeared.

It burned brilliantly above his dantian. Its light rivaled the sun itself. His First Spirit Fire had formed.

The moment it appeared, a second sphere of blazing fire emerged beside it.

It was equally radiant and equally powerful.

It was his Second Spirit Fire! Yet the transformation didn’t stop there.

As the power within his body continued to surge, another dormant source of energy suddenly awakened.

Deep within him, the Cold Yin Core trembled.

Then it erupted.

An overwhelming wave of freezing energy burst outward.

The surrounding temperature instantly plummeted.

Frost began forming in the air.

Even the seawater beneath him started freezing.

Moments later, a third Spirit Fire was born.

Unlike the previous two, this one did not burn with blazing heat.

Instead, it radiated endless cold. It was a flame capable of freezing everything it touched.

A Cold Yin Spirit Fire.

With its birth, Grey’s aura exploded upward once more.

Three Spirit Fires now revolved around him. Two burned like miniature suns while one shone with the chilling brilliance of eternal ice.

Together, they transformed his presence completely.

All of this sounded lengthy when described.

In reality, however, it had occurred with incredible speed.

From the moment the middle-aged man launched his attack to the completion of Grey’s transformation, less than four breaths had passed.

Four breaths.

To ordinary mortals, it was an insignificant amount of time.

But for experts of their level, four breaths were enough to decide victory and defeat.

Enough to determine life and death.

And within those four short breaths...

Grey had already come frighteningly close to death three separate times.

"Have you recalled me now, brat?" the middle-aged man asked with a faint smile. Blood still dripped from the sleeves of his tattered robe. Seeing Grey’s already miserable appearance, he could not help but smile even more sinisterly.

After all, the image of Grey killing his projection and stealing the techniques from the old man he had been parasitizing for so long was still fresh in his mind.

Although several months had already passed, the middle-aged man had never forgotten that humiliation. If anything, the passage of time had only deepened his resentment. The anger that had once smoldered within him had gradually transformed into an obsession, making his desire for revenge stronger with each passing day.

To find Grey, he had traveled across vast stretches of land, flying for an incredibly long time before finally reaching Sky Mist City. Yet when he arrived, he discovered no trace of the person who had stolen what he considered his.

At first, he had planned to search another region of the continent. However, just as he was about to leave, he suddenly sensed the faint connection linking him to Grey. Following that connection, he journeyed all the way to the Dead Sea.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the smile on his face grew colder and colder. The thought of capturing Grey, torturing him, and eventually turning him into a resource for one of his arts filled him with immense satisfaction.

"When you destroyed my projection several months ago, did you truly believe there would be no consequences?" the middle-aged man roared.

As his voice echoed through the heavens, he suddenly stretched out a hand toward the sky.

Then, with a violent clench of his fingers, he pulled down the clouds above.

The massive cloud layer trembled before descending from the heavens like a white ocean. Endless streams of mist poured toward him and disappeared into his mouth.

He swallowed greedily.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

His body immediately began to bulge. Veins rose beneath his skin like writhing snakes. His neck thickened, his chest expanded, and even his head grew noticeably larger.

Yet despite his grotesque transformation, the hatred on his face remained unchanged.

In fact, it only became more terrifying.

The surrounding air trembled violently as an immense pressure spread across the Dead Sea.

"By the power of the mountains and the seas..."

The middle-aged man’s voice rumbled like distant thunder.

"Samsara Dao: Swallowing Clouds!"

His cheeks expanded to an absurd degree as he uttered the final words.

The moment Grey heard about the projection, everything suddenly clicked together.

A memory surfaced in his mind.

The old man that he had hunted down and killed while in Green City and the sinister cultivation arts he had stolen from him.

He also remembered the projection that had appeared when he tried to kill him. But it disappeared before it had managed to kill him.

The identity of the person before him instantly became clear.

The realization caused Grey’s expression to change drastically.

"Fuck!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Grey immediately activated the power of his Special Brilliance Form.

A dazzling radiance erupted from his body.

His figure blurred and shot across the Dead Sea like a streak of light, fleeing at full speed.

Unfortunately, he was already too late.

The instant Grey turned to run, the middle-aged man opened his swollen mouth.

Then he vomited.

The countless clouds he had swallowed earlier erupted outward like a heavenly flood.

A deafening roar shook the world.

The clouds surged across the sky like a white tsunami, blotting out the sun and covering the heavens. Their speed was so terrifying that even space seemed unable to withstand their passage.

In the blink of an eye, the endless sea of clouds descended toward Grey, carrying enough force to bury an entire region beneath its overwhelming might.