Chapter 476 475-

In the vast and empty cosmos, Grey felt as if he had somehow become a part of the oil painting itself.

His body drifted lifelessly through the enormous and boundless space, surrounded by an endless darkness that seemed to stretch beyond the limits of his perception. Countless stars remained suspended in the distance, shining with faint and distant radiance, yet Grey felt strangely detached from everything around him.

However, despite the bizarre transformation that had occurred, Grey didn't feel any different.

There was no pain.

No discomfort.

No sensation of his body being altered or distorted.

In fact, he still felt exactly the same as before.

It was as if the only thing that had changed was the perspective from which he viewed himself. He was no longer looking at the oil painting from the outside. Instead, he had somehow become a part of the scene depicted upon the canvas.

Yet Grey didn't dwell on this strange feeling for long.

There was no time for him to investigate what had happened.

His eyes remained fixed on the enormous star in the distance, and without hesitation, he raised the purple sword in his hand and swung it forward.

The moment he did so, a strange transformation occurred.

The purple sword suddenly extended several feet, its blade growing longer and becoming far larger and wider than before. The once somewhat transparent blade became increasingly substantial, and a dense purple radiance began to gather around its surface.

At the same time, a faint illusory figure suddenly appeared behind Grey.

It was the representation of the mysterious man from whom Grey had learned his Sword Dao.

The figure was hazy and indistinct, as though it had been carved out of the very laws of the cosmos. Its features couldn't be seen clearly, yet the moment it appeared, an indescribable sword intent spread through the surrounding space.

With the appearance of the illusory figure, the purple sword in Grey's hand suddenly gained an even brighter hue.

Its transparency gradually faded.

The sword, which had previously seemed like an illusion that could disappear at any moment, slowly transformed into something tangible.

It became real.

Grey and the illusory figure behind him simultaneously raised their swords.

Then, at the exact same moment, they slashed downward.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized.

It was as though the illusory figure was an extension of Grey himself, their bodies moving according to the exact same rhythm and their sword intents merging into one.

Just like that, Grey's sword descended upon the first of the Six Stars.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion resounded throughout the oil-painted cosmos.

The enormous purple sword cleaved directly through the first star.

For a brief moment, the star remained suspended in place, seemingly unable to comprehend the attack that had just struck it.

Then, crack! A thin crack appeared across its surface.

The crack rapidly expanded in the blink of an eye, countless cracks spread across the entire star, resembling a gigantic piece of glass that had been struck by a hammer.

Then the enormous star shattered.

It broke apart into countless fragments that exploded in all directions, sending brilliant fragments of light and distorted pieces of the painted cosmos flying through space.

The instant the first star was destroyed, the world around Grey suddenly changed.

It was as if the entire oil painting had been grabbed by an invisible hand and violently stretched outward.

The scenery distorted and the stars elongated. The endless cosmos around them became blurred.

It was as though someone had taken a brush dipped in water and begun wiping away the painting itself.

In the blink of an eye, Grey realized that he was no longer inside the oil painting.

He was standing outside the canvas.

His hands hung loosely by his sides as he stared at the enormous painting before him.

When Grey turned his head, he immediately noticed the Captain.

The expectant gaze in her eyes had transformed into one filled with joy.

However, instead of expressing her excitement, the Captain immediately shouted,

"Quickly! Cut down the other Six Stars before they join together!" Grey's expression changed slightly.

He immediately understood what she meant. The Six Stars represented the six Sections of the World Vine. As long as they remained intact, there was still a chance for the divinity belonging to that terrifying existence to descend.

Therefore, all six stars had to be destroyed. There was absolutely no room for hesitation.

Without wasting even a second, Grey raised his sword once again and positioned himself to slash toward the next star.

At the same time, somewhere on the oil-painted canvas, the region surrounding the first star that Grey had destroyed had been completely torn apart.

It was as though the space there had been slashed out of existence itself.

An extremely dense Sword Dao clung to that portion of the canvas.

It was terrifyingly sharp. The Dao continued to spread outward, slowly infecting and distorting the surrounding painting. Wherever it passed, the laws contained within the oil painting seemed to tremble beneath its pressure.

However, Grey could clearly tell that it would require a significant amount of time for the Sword Dao to spread across the entire canvas.

That was something they couldn't afford. Grey's figure once again appeared within the world of the oil painting.

This time, he stood before another enormous star.

But just as Grey was preparing to swing his sword, a strange change suddenly occurred within the painting.

The distance between him and the star was abruptly erased.

There was no movement and spatial fluctuation. Neither was there a sign of teleportation.

The distance simply disappeared.

It was as if an enormous brush dipped in water had been dragged across the canvas, washing away all the paint that existed between Grey and the second star.

Grey's pupils contracted.

A profound sense of death instantly filled his entire body.

For the first time since entering the oil painting, a genuine sense of danger surged through his heart.

If he had remained within that erased region for even a moment, Grey had a terrifying feeling that he wouldn't simply be injured.

He would be erased.

Just like the paint that had disappeared from the canvas, his existence itself could potentially be wiped away.

A faint sense of dread crawled down his spine and spread toward every part of his body.

His instincts screamed at him to retreat.

But Grey didn't stop.

He didn't flinch.

His eyes remained firmly locked onto the second star.

Right now, the most important thing was to destroy the remaining Six Stars as quickly as possible and prevent the divinity of this great existence from descending.

The moment that divinity descended, everything would change.

The strength of that existence was far beyond what Grey and the Captain could withstand.

Their chances of surviving would be less than one percent.

They would be teetering on the very edge of death, with practically no possibility of survival.

Therefore, even after the distance between Grey and the second star was erased, he didn't retreat.

He simply tightened his grip around the transparent purple sword.

His muscles tensed.

His Sword Dao surged violently.

Then Grey swung downward with all his might.

At that instant—

BOOM!

A thunderous roar suddenly resounded from the space beyond the oil painting.

It was as if a heavenly saber had descended from the depths of the cosmos with the sole intention of cleaving everything in its path into pieces.

A dense purple light erupted from Grey's sword.

The light was brilliant yet terrifying, carrying an intense suppressive intent that caused even the surrounding laws to tremble.

Although the distance between Grey and the star had already been erased, the purple sword light crossed that nonexistent distance in an instant and descended directly upon the second star.

The moment the sword light approached, a strange muffled roar suddenly came from the star.

Then, something utterly horrifying happened. Grey's expression changed.

The second star began to decay.

Its brilliant radiance rapidly dimmed, and its surface began to wither and rot.

It no longer resembled a magnificent star floating within the cosmos. Instead, it looked more like a gigantic organ within the body of some incomprehensible creature.

An organ that had begun to rot. An organ that was slowly dying.

The surface of the star twisted violently.

Then, as another muffled roar resounded from within it, several rotten tentacles suddenly burst out. They were covered in dark, decaying flesh, and each one was several meters long.

The tentacles twisted unnaturally as they rose from the surface of the decaying star. Then they violently lashed toward the descending sword light. Their speed was astonishing.

In merely a few breaths, the numerous rotten tentacles had already reached the purple sword light.

BOOM!

The sword light and the tentacles collided. An enormous explosion erupted through the oil-painted cosmos.

The purple light immediately surged with its full might, colliding head-on with the numerous rotten tentacles.

However, the outcome was completely one-sided.

The moment the purple sword light came into contact with the tentacles, they were sliced apart.

They seemed unusually vulnerable to Grey's Sword Dao.

The purple light passed through them as effortlessly as a hot knife cutting through butter.

One tentacle after another was severed.

Dark, rotten blood splattered through the surrounding space as countless pieces of decaying flesh were sent flying.

Several horrifying howls and inhuman screams suddenly rang out from within the star.

The voices were twisted and unnatural.

They sounded nothing like the cries of any living creature Grey had ever encountered.

Yet the purple sword light didn't slow down.

Before any other sound could emerge from the decaying star, the sword light finally arrived.

Slash!

The enormous second star was cleaved in two.

For a brief moment, the entire cosmos seemed to fall silent.

Then...

BOOM!

The second star completely collapsed.

Intense black matter and terrifying corruption suddenly erupted from within the decaying star, spreading outward in every direction.

The corruption seeped directly into the surrounding space.

It moved like an enormous tide of darkness, rapidly spreading across the painted cosmos.

Wherever it passed, the space itself seemed to become contaminated.

The terrifying black substance continued expanding, surging toward Grey's location with astonishing speed.

Grey's expression changed.

But before the corruption could reach him, his figure was suddenly pulled backward.

His body was forcibly dragged out of the oil painting.

The enormous canvas rapidly receded from his vision.

Yet even as he was pulled away, Grey could still see the terrifying corruption spreading across the painted cosmos.

And for some inexplicable reason, he had a faint feeling that destroying the second star had awakened something far more terrifying than they had anticipated.