Chapter 461 - 460-

"We have been going in this direction for close to two full days. We should be coming across the treasure anytime now."

Violet’s voice suddenly interrupted Grey’s thoughts.

Grey lowered his gaze and looked at his shadow. He noticed that it was trembling slightly, almost as if it could sense the presence of the treasure and was becoming excited at the thought of finally reaching it.

Grey did not say anything, but his expression became more solemn as he grew even more cautious and vigilant. With a wave of his hand, a small dagger appeared in his grasp. He then took out a small bottle and carefully spread a layer of poison across the blade. The strange poison rapidly dried after being exposed to the atmosphere, leaving no visible trace on the dagger.

Grey continued moving forward in a zigzag pattern.

No one was chasing him, but after hearing that they could encounter the treasure at any moment, he couldn’t help but raise his guard even higher. The deeper he went into the Corroded Zone, the more dangerous the surroundings became. He had no intention of allowing himself to be caught off guard simply because he was close to accomplishing his objective.

As he moved, Grey began reviewing everything he had done since entering the Corroded Zone.

"Me and Iria came here to search for the Crimson Moon Blossom. We didn’t find one in the peripheral region, but I eventually found one in the depths. At least this trip wasn’t a complete waste."

Grey muttered to himself.

Before entering the depths, he had already instructed Iria to leave the Corroded Zone within three to five days if she failed to find any Crimson Moon Blossom or if she did not meet up with him during that period.

If the treasure Violet had asked him to find really was nearby and ended up falling into his hands within the next few hours, he could return to the peripheral region fairly quickly and rendezvous with Iria.

As long as he remained cautious and avoided unnecessary dangers, everything should be fine.

"We’re here! I can feel the treasure!"

Violet’s excited voice suddenly rang out.

Grey’s shadow immediately tensed, and Grey himself became even more alert.

A moment later, Grey felt as if he had walked straight into an invisible membrane.

The world before his eyes suddenly became blurry.

For a brief instant, everything seemed to distort. The scenery around him twisted like a reflection on the surface of disturbed water, and the visage of the ground beneath his feet changed completely.

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the distortion disappeared.

Grey’s vision returned to normal.

He looked around and realized that he was standing in exactly the same spot as before.

However, his surroundings had changed completely.

The first thing that caught his attention was the sky.

It was completely blue.

Not a single cloud could be seen across its vast expanse.

Grey’s expression immediately became solemn.

This sight was incredibly strange.

From the moment he had stepped into the depths of the Corroded Zone, everything had been shrouded beneath an oppressive layer of darkness. The sky had always been gloomy, as though the light of the outside world had been completely cut off from this place.

Yet now, he was looking at a perfectly clear blue sky.

It was so ordinary that it felt abnormal.

The sight alone was enough to put Grey on edge.

But the sky wasn’t the only thing that had changed.

Several hundred meters ahead of him stood a gigantic green vine that rose high into the heavens.

Its entire body was a deep green, and countless sharp thorns grew along its thick, winding surface. Its trunk-like body was at least ten meters wide, and it continued upward until it disappeared into the distant sky.

Several enormous leaves grew from its body.

However, what hung from those leaves made Grey’s pupils contract.

At the tips of the leaves were organs and body parts belonging to various mutated creatures, bizarre existences, humans, and even non-humans.

Some were hearts.

Others were limbs, eyes, intestines, and organs that Grey couldn’t immediately identify.

The sight was so eerie and grotesque that a cold chill ran down his spine.

Around the enormous vine were numerous bodies of mutated creatures and humans.

They were prostrating themselves on the ground.

Their bodies were tightly wrapped by the vines, and their complexions were deathly pale. Some of them were still alive, yet none seemed capable of resisting. They simply continued bowing toward the enormous vine as though worshipping some heavenly existence.

As they bowed, their organs and body parts were slowly pulled away from their bodies and absorbed by the vine.

Grey’s eyes narrowed.

He had seen many bizarre things since entering the Corroded Zone, but even this sight was enough to make him feel uncomfortable.

"Yes! The Bizarre Nether Vine really is growing here!"

Violet’s excited voice suddenly resounded in his mind.

"And look at that! A token from the Heavenly Parish is here as well. This is our lucky day, Little Grey!"

The moment Violet finished speaking, the small blue flower hidden inside Grey’s robe suddenly emerged.

It jumped down from his body on its own.

The instant its stem touched the ground, a strange transformation occurred.

The small blue flower suddenly broke apart.

Its petals, stem, and leaves crumbled into fine particles before dispersing like ash.

Grey’s eyes narrowed.

Before he could react, the ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled.

Something began rising from beneath the soil.

A pale, decaying hand slowly emerged from the ground.

Its fingers dug into the dirt, gripping the soil tightly before pulling the rest of its body upward.

Grey immediately took several steps backward, his dagger firmly gripped in his hand.

The hand continued pulling.

Soon, the rest of the body emerged.

Once it was completely out of the ground, Grey could finally see its appearance clearly.

Perhaps calling it a person was no longer appropriate.

It was a corpse.

The corpse belonged to a woman, though her body had clearly undergone some sort of transformation. A single horn protruded from the side of her forehead, while her skin was pale and decayed.

An intense, almost tangible killing intent emanated from the corpse.

At the same time, wisps of black smoke continuously billowed from its body, twisting around it like living creatures.

This corpse was definitely not human.

The characteristics alone were enough to prove that.

Yet the moment Grey saw it, he immediately understood what it was.

This was the puppet, or rather, the body that the captain had prepared for herself before arriving at their destination.

Grey was surprised.

He had expected the captain to appear beside him after they reached this place, but instead, she had prepared a corpse in advance and hidden it beneath the ground.

As the corpse slowly stood upright, it turned its head slightly.

The movement was stiff and unnatural, as though the body itself was still unfamiliar with the sensation of moving.

The sight was incredibly bizarre.

"Hehe, Little Grey. Are you ready for the next big thing I was talking about?"

The captain’s voice suddenly came from the corpse’s mouth.

"First, we’ll have to kill that vine and obtain the token inside it. Are you ready?"

The corpse’s voice was hoarse and raspy.

It was obvious that the body was not accustomed to speaking. Most of its vocal cords had likely already decayed, causing every word to sound distorted and eerie.

Grey retreated a few more steps, remaining wary of the corpse.

"If you already had a body prepared here, why did you need me to come? Why did you even ask me to carry you here in the first place?"

The corpse pointed toward its own head.

"That’s a dumb question, really."

A faint chuckle escaped its mouth.

"But I’ll say it out loud so you can hear it clearly..."

The corpse’s head tilted slightly.

"Because I need you, silly. Who else could I call for a mission like this?"

The words were playful, but coming from the mouth of a rotten corpse with a hoarse and distorted voice, they sounded far more menacing than comforting.

Grey did not respond.

Instead, he retracted his gaze from the corpse and looked toward the enormous vine that seemed to stretch all the way into the heavens.

"What exactly do we need that vine for? And how am I supposed to be useful in killing it?"

Grey asked calmly.

The rotten corpse let out a soft sigh.

"We’re wasting more time, but I’ll explain it in a simple way that you can easily understand."

The corpse raised its head and looked toward the enormous Bizarre Nether Vine.

"I need you to kill the Bizarre Nether Vine using the Sword Dao you’ve mastered."

The captain’s voice became slightly more serious.

"That’s the only way we can harm it."

Grey’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the enormous vine.

The Sword Dao.

So that was the reason the captain had gone through all the trouble of bringing him here.

He had initially thought that his role in this mission would be nothing more than assisting the captain or dealing with whatever dangers appeared along the way.

But now, it seemed that his Sword Dao was the key to everything.

Grey tightened his grip around the poisoned dagger.

His gaze slowly shifted from the dagger to the enormous vine towering before him.

For some reason, the sight of it made the danger he was about to face feel far greater than he had initially imagined.