Chapter 469 - 468-

As the Heavenly Vine trembled violently, the entire land seemed to shake along with it. The crimson light surrounding Violet and Grey gradually deepened, becoming denser and more oppressive with every passing moment. It was no longer merely a faint radiance lingering in the surroundings. The crimson glow seemed to seep into their very bodies, staining their flesh and souls with an indescribable presence.

Then, something changed within Grey. Divinity began to appear on his body.

A faint crimson radiance emerged from beneath his skin, spreading throughout his body like blood flowing through his veins. His flesh began to glow, and for a brief moment, Grey’s entire existence seemed to take on a strange and sacred quality.

The instant that divinity began to emanate from his body, an indescribable sensation filled every corner of Grey’s being.

His mind trembled and soul trembled. Even his body seemed to tremble beneath the weight of that feeling. Grey felt as if he had suddenly become a divine entity himself.

It was an incredibly strange sensation. His perception of his own existence seemed to change in that instant, as if something deep within him had awakened and revealed a possibility that had always existed but had remained hidden.

He felt as if he were only a single step away from becoming a god.

Just one step. The thought appeared naturally within his mind, so naturally that Grey didn’t even realize how dangerous it was at first.

He felt as if divinity was something that belonged to him. Something that should have belonged to him from the very beginning.

For that brief moment, Grey felt as if his entire being, his body, soul, consciousness, and even his innate nature had been created specifically for divinity.

He felt as if becoming a god was not an impossible dream, nor some distant realm that required countless years of cultivation.

It was something within his reach. Something he could grasp if he simply stretched out his hand.

A powerful desire suddenly surged within him. He wanted to become divine.

He wanted to become a god!

He wanted to grasp that indescribable power and completely transcend the limitations of mortality. Yet, the feeling was extremely faint.

It appeared almost as quickly as it disappeared. It lasted for only a brief moment, but that moment was enough for Grey to experience an intense hunger for godhood.

The desire was not violent and it wasn’t even particularly conscious.

It was simply there.

A deep, instinctive yearning that seemed to originate from the very depths of his existence.

However, just as Grey was about to indulge in those thoughts and allow himself to sink deeper into that intoxicating sensation, Violet’s voice suddenly rang out beside him.

Her voice was dreamy and slightly ethereal, yet there was a strange clarity hidden within it.

"Don’t believe that feeling, Little Grey."

Her words instantly drew Grey’s attention.

"This is what usually follows after obtaining divinity. This is also what all divine beings feel... the intense hunger to become a god and achieve godhood."

Violet paused briefly before continuing.

"If we were real divine beings, we wouldn’t be affected by it. But we aren’t."

Her dreamy voice became slightly more serious.

"If we put too much thought into that feeling, we might eventually go mad. So dispel the thought and focus on our goal for now."

Her words were like a bucket of cold water being splashed directly over Grey’s head. The fog in his mind instantly scattered.

The overwhelming sensation that had enveloped his consciousness began to recede, and the intense desire for godhood slowly disappeared from his thoughts.

Grey’s eyes regained their clarity. Only then did he realize just how dangerous that brief moment had been.

He couldn’t help but shiver slightly. In this world, thwre were many dangerous things that could immediately kill a person or make them run mad.

"So this is what divinity feels like?"

Grey’s voice was low as he stared at his glowing hands.

"It’s both powerful... and immensely dangerous to myself."

He had never experienced anything quite like it before. When he had been engulfed by that sensation, it had felt as if his perception of the entire world had changed.

Everything had seemed different. Deeper, and more profound.

As if the world he had always known was merely a thin surface covering something far more complicated beneath it.

Grey had felt as if another layer of reality had been peeled back. For the briefest moment, he felt as if he were standing before an invisible veil separating the physical world from something metaphysical.

Something that ordinary beings could never perceive. Something that perhaps only divine beings were qualified to witness.

Yet, despite that sensation, Grey hadn’t actually seen anything.

He hadn’t truly witnessed another world. He hadn’t seen hidden laws or mysterious existences lurking beneath reality.

Instead, he had merely felt as if he were incredibly close to peeling that layer away.

As if the veil had been placed directly before his eyes, and all he needed was enough strength to tear it apart.

But he couldn’t.

Despite being engulfed in divinity and actually emanating a trace of divine power from his body, Grey understood that he was still far too weak.

He didn’t possess enough power to peel away that mysterious layer of reality by himself.

That realization left him somewhat shaken.

If merely touching divinity could give him such an overwhelming sensation, then what would happen when he truly became a divine being?

What would his perception of the world become then?

And more importantly... would he still be himself? Grey’s expression became solemn.

Violet, however, was oblivious to the thoughts running through his mind.

After confirming that Grey was no longer trapped in that overwhelming desire for godhood, her dreamy and silky voice rang out once again.

"Summon the divinity within the item you’re holding."

Grey lowered his gaze toward the item in his hands.

"Infuse eighty percent of it into the item. That way, you’ll enter a balanced state of mind and body, where neither divinity controls you nor your usual humanity takes complete control."

Violet’s voice remained calm.

"For now, this is the only state we can maintain for a long period of time without exploding into blood mist."

As she spoke, Violet squeezed the mould of flesh in her hands.

Immediately...

Boom!

An intense wave of divinity erupted from the lump of flesh.

The crimson radiance instantly surged outward and engulfed the corpse. At the same time, a completely different divine aura emerged from Violet’s body.

The two divine auras were fundamentally different. The moment they came into contact, they reacted as if they were natural enemies.

It was as though two ancient predators had suddenly been thrown into the same cage.

They immediately began trying to devour one another.

Violet’s expression remained calm, but her eyes gradually turned cold.

She suppressed the divinity within her body. The moment she stopped resisting, the divinity originating from the mould of flesh immediately surged forward and began devouring the divine power within her.

It was almost as if she had deliberately allowed herself to be eaten. The process was frightening to witness.

The divine aura surrounding Violet rapidly weakened as the divinity from the mould of flesh swallowed it bit by bit.

However, when approximately eighty percent of Violet’s divinity had been devoured, she suddenly stopped suppressing her own power.

The balance immediately changed.

Violet released her restraint and allowed the remaining divinity within her body to surge outward.

The two divine auras once again began to struggle for dominance.

Despite the fact that the divinity originating from the mould of flesh had already devoured eighty percent of Violet’s divine power, it was still unable to completely devour the remainder.

The two forces became locked in a strange equilibrium. Neither side could completely overwhelm the other in a short period of time.

Violet’s expression remained composed as she carefully maintained that balance.

Only after making certain that the two forces had stabilized did she finally look toward Grey. Her eyebrows rose slightly.

The expression in her eyes seemed almost provocative. It was as if she were silently challenging him.

’Your turn...’

However, Grey noticed something that Violet probably hadn’t intended him to see. There was a faint layer of sweat on her forehead.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

Maintaining that equilibrium clearly wasn’t as simple as she had made it sound.

Violet had made it appear almost effortless, but the tiny beads of sweat gathering on her forehead betrayed the truth.

Even for her, controlling two opposing forms of divinity was an extremely dangerous task. Grey’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before shifting toward the item in his hands.

The crimson radiance continued to flicker around his body. That strange sensation of divinity was still lingering faintly within him.

But this time, Grey did not allow himself to become intoxicated by it. He remembered Violet’s warning.

He remembered the overwhelming desire to become a god.

And he understood that, for now, divinity was not something he could simply embrace without consequences.

It was a power. But it was also a poison.

And if he allowed himself to become too immersed in it, he might eventually lose himself completely.

Grey took a slow breath.

Then, with a solemn expression, he began to summon the divinity within the item he was holding.