Chapter 482 - 481-

As soon as he did so, an intensely overwhelming intent flooded him, threatening to drown out his thoughts entirely. Even Grey’s spirit body trembled under the weight of it, shaken to its very core. His sea of consciousness grew dim and unsteady, and his spirit sea churned more violently than ever before, as though something vast and ancient had stirred awake within him.

Right then, Grey felt as if the sword’s will was rising up with the singular intent to eviscerate his spirit body from existence entirely. However, this time, Grey’s eyes narrowed slightly as he released the full extent of his power as a spirit body, asserting his dominance within his own sea of consciousness.

"This is my sea of consciousness. I hold the power here!" Grey spoke in a low, commanding voice, and immediately called upon the suppressive power of the purple crystal lodged in his chest. Suddenly, a purple suppressive light descended from the sky above and landed squarely upon the sword.

The sword seemed to freeze in place, as though an invisible hand had seized it, unable to move even an inch further under that suppressive light. The purple light itself came from the purple moon, but the suppressive intent — the force that truly restrained the blade — came from the purple crystal.

At this exact moment, the purple moon, which had previously been veiled behind a thick sea of clouds, suddenly grew far more noticeable. Simultaneously, the clouds that had been obscuring its full light began to part and drift away. And then, the pure, unobstructed light of the purple moon shone through with startling clarity.

Under such conditions, the transparent sword could not move at all. It was as if it had been restrained by a power far greater and higher than its own — a force it could not hope to overcome. It struggled and shook violently, much like it had when it was still lodged within the Heavenly Vine. But there was a subtle difference between those two moments. When it had been stuck in the Heavenly Vine, it could still shift by a few inches at a time. Now, restrained by both the purple crystal and the purple moon together, it could not move even a single inch. It was as though it had been completely frozen in place, locked in an unbreakable stillness.

Grey immediately seized this opportunity and sent his will crashing into the body of the transparent sword. His main purpose in doing so was to imprint his own aura onto the blade, marking it as his own. Besides, Grey doubted the sword would remain frozen like this forever — at most, it would hold for a short period of time before breaking free once again.

Hence, Grey began imprinting his aura into the sword, which was covered from end to end in intricate symbols and runes. But the sword seemed to resist his will fiercely, buzzing and emitting waves of unfriendly, hostile intention, as if warning him bluntly and threatening him to stop before it was too late.

However, his eyes only narrowed further, and he pushed even more of his will into the transparent sword, refusing to relent. As soon as Grey’s will broke through the sword’s defenses and finally pushed its way inside, it felt as though a canvas had been torn apart, or a pane of glass that had once barred his path had suddenly shattered into pieces.

Grey’s spirit body was no longer within his own sea of consciousness. Instead, it had appeared in a completely pitch-black world, where the only colors and light came from the countless symbols and runes floating suspended in the air around him.

These runes were massive — far larger than Grey himself, at least twice his height. And the symbols were even more colossal still, dwarfing the runes several times over, looming in the distance like oppressive pillars or silent giants watching over the void. They emanated a powerful sense of will and purpose, so strong it was almost suffocating. Grey instantly recognized that these symbols carried wills of their own, as if someone, long ago, had forcefully fused fragments of their own consciousness into these towering structures.

However, the very first thing that happened upon Grey’s arrival was rejection — swift and absolute. The runes and symbols floating in the air responded to his presence with open hostility, letting out sharp, hostile buzzes before rushing toward him with the clear intent to destroy his spirit body.

Seeing them close the distance with such speed and aggression, Grey dodged several of the incoming strikes while simultaneously sending his own will out to counterattack the runes bearing down on him.

Wills did not possess any tangible form. They were, in essence, abstract things, existing outside the boundaries of the physical world. And yet, when Grey’s will struck out, the runes retaliated exactly as though they were facing a real, tangible attack — solid and undeniable.

This sudden realization allowed Grey to immediately understand what was happening around him, and what exactly these runes and symbols represented. He spoke aloud in a low voice, thick with dawning comprehension.

"These runes are probably the will and purpose of the transparent sword itself. Just as a cultivator possesses a spirit sea and a spirit body, this sword has its runes to serve as its own spirit body. As for those symbols — they appear far greater than the runes, and while their intents share a common root, they are fundamentally different. They too carry fragments of wills stored deep within them, which means someone managed to infuse their own will into these symbols a long time ago. Of course, these symbols likely only appear once a rune has been completely filled with a single person’s will." Grey muttered to himself, piecing the puzzle together.

When he looked around more carefully, he counted a great many runes scattered throughout the space, though far fewer symbols floated among them. Only then did he begin to truly understand what the captain had meant about leaving one’s mark and aura upon the transparent sword.

"If I can successfully leave my will upon a single rune, it should create a permanent symbol of myself in this place. And once that happens, the transparent sword should no longer be filled with such overwhelming hostility and unfriendliness toward me." Grey reasoned to himself, formulating his plan.

At this moment, Grey’s tangible will and the surrounding runes clashed against each other with fierce, relentless intensity. It was as if the runes were deeply repulsed by the mere presence of his will, refusing to draw near it willingly. But whenever they did come close, they would emit sharp, cutting intent, slashing at his will with a madness that bordered on desperation, as though they could not bear to tolerate its presence for even a moment longer.

Seeing this, Grey quickly realized what he needed to do and called his will back into himself. The instant his will flooded back into his spirit body, a great many runes turned their full attention toward him, setting their sights on Grey and attacking without a shred of hesitation.

Grey’s eyes narrowed into a calm, cold glint as he began retreating backward, maintaining a cool and composed expression despite the chaos surrounding him.

He watched carefully as the runes closed in, moving far faster than he could ever hope to outrun. Amid the swarm, he singled out one of the smaller, slower runes he could find — a target worth pursuing. The moment he came within striking range of the pursuing runes, Grey suddenly abandoned his retreat and rushed forward instead, charging directly toward the rune he had marked.

His will spread outward, wrapping around his body like a shield. Then, ignoring the relentless attacks of the other runes entirely, Grey pushed forward and landed squarely upon the small rune he had targeted from the very beginning.

The instant he made contact, Grey could feel the hesitation and simmering anger of the surrounding runes pressing down upon his back like a physical weight. His spirit body couldn’t help but shudder faintly, startled by the sheer intensity of their collective fury. But Grey held firm, committed fully to the plan he had already set into motion.

He sent his will flooding directly into the now-active rune, rushing forward in an attempt to completely overwhelm and drown out the single symbol. From within the rune itself, Grey could hear faint roars of reluctance and desperate resistance, struggling against his intrusion. And yet, his eyes remained perfectly still, unwavering.

He had already committed himself fully to this course of action and would not retreat, not even for a single second. As if sensing his unshakable resolve, the other runes buzzed with mounting anger, unleashing a cacophony of wild slashes and vicious cuts, all aimed squarely at Grey.

However, his facial expression barely shifted, even as his spirit body began to be torn apart by the relentless onslaught of attacks. He ignored the searing pain of his spirit body being shredded piece by piece and instead poured even more of his will into the desperately struggling rune beneath him.

Right before his eyes, Grey watched the rune begin to transform. Its complex hexagonal structure shifted and warped, gradually reshaping itself into an entirely different symbol altogether. The process unfolded with astonishing speed, happening at a rate his eyes could barely perceive or track.

And yet, Grey could somewhat guess what the final symbol would become, because the very same shape was gradually forming within his own mind at the same time. It appeared like an insignia slowly being etched into the depths of his spirit sea, taking form stroke by stroke.

However, right at the very end — just as his spirit body was on the verge of being torn completely into shreds, just as the symbol was on the cusp of completion — Grey released a portion of the suppressive power of the purple moon and channeled it alongside his will, sending it flooding into the gradually transforming rune.

And in that final, decisive moment, Grey’s spirit body was torn apart entirely by the countless attacks raining down from the other runes.

Back in the real world, Grey’s eyes snapped open, and he coughed violently, spitting out a mouthful of blood onto the ground below. His face had turned deathly pale, drained of all color, and his eyes were bloodshot, ringed with strain. Clearly, the effects of having his spirit body obliterated by the runes had taken a heavy toll on his mind, one he could barely hold together through sheer willpower alone.

However, when he finally looked down at the transparent sword still clutched in his hand, he saw that its struggling had grown noticeably weaker. Slowly, gradually, it stopped resisting altogether, falling still.

With a small grunt of effort, Grey pulled the transparent sword free from the Heavenly Vine and lifted it up before him, examining it in his hand. He had successfully planted his will into the rune and transformed it into his own personal symbol — a mark that would forever bind him to the blade.

However, he did not have the chance to properly inspect the symbol he had just created, for the sword suddenly buzzed sharply and slipped free from Grey’s grip entirely. With a brilliant flash, it cut cleanly through the air and through the shattered sky above, vanishing from sight in an instant.

Grey was caught somewhat off guard by this, but he made no attempt to chase after it. After all, he had already successfully completed his objective concerning the sword, and that was what truly mattered.

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However, had Grey been able to see the symbol that now resided within the transparent sword, he would have been struck utterly speechless, frozen in place by what he saw. That was because the symbol currently etched into the blade was completely, unmistakably different from the insignia that had formed within his mind mere moments ago.

The symbol now took the shape of a curved crescent moon, partially hidden behind billowing, drifting clouds. However, along the edge of the crescent moon crawled several worm-like maggots, sprawled grotesquely across the surface of the symbol, writhing in silence. These maggots... disturbing and unnatural as they were — were also, somehow, an inseparable part of the symbol itself.