As the sun went down, Grey was somberly making his way into the corroded zone, trying to find the cave he had slept in earlier or any building constructs he could find.
Over the past months, he had gotten comfortable in the corroded zone. But that didn't mean his cautious and fear had reduced, instead it was hightened because he knew there were creatures that could kill him instantly.
As he stealthily ran in the lush but cool forest of the corroded zone, he heard sounds that made him alert. There could always be mutated creatures waiting around for a meal.
The frown on his face kept getting deeper and deeper as he couldn't find the cave or any suitable place for him to hide from the horrors of the corroded zone.
By the time the moon was high in the dark sky, his face was covered in sweat but he had not found a suitable place yet.
Then he heard the moaning of a mutated creature... or it could have been a bizarre existence.
When he took a closer look at his surroundings, he noticed that he was unfamiliar with it.
'Have I gone deeper into the corroded zone than I thought?'
But the moaning sounds kept getting louder and louder... the creature that made those sounds would soon be upon him.
Grey saw a large boulder and a crevice in its side. It looked big enough for him to be able to fit in. And so with haste, he hurried towards the boulder. But the when sounds of moaned giggles and countless weird sounds reached his ears, Grey was assaulted by fear.
Cold sweat ran down his back head as he slowly turned his head to face the bizarre creature that had appeared.
It was a mass of flesh, that had countless arms which it used as legs. The entire appearance of the creature was harrowing and Grey felt a strong repulsion towards the creature.
A single eye hidden within the mass of flesh and arms. The single eye gleamed with awareness and malicious intent.
Grey had never seen a more insidious being in his entire life. His instincts screamed at him to run... as far away from this creature as possible, but his body refused and he was stuck in place.
Sweat running down his pale skin as he watched the creature slowly take steps towards him. The countless arms used to support the weight of the creature leaned and bent but still managed to hold it upright.
The insidious eye glanced at Grey and he heard the strange sound of a muffled giggle.
'Is it... this thing... is at the foundation building realm!'
He could not hope to fight against a creature at the foundation building realm. Not only because of the power and abilities that came, but also because foundation building experts could use a small portion of the world energy.
Borrowing it to bend the laws of the world a little. Even if not be much, it could still easily kill a fourth level Qi condensation warrior.
The creature seemed to be using that power to restrict his movement right now. He could not even circulate the spirit energy within his body.
So he could not run Kai-kai kitan and escape.
'Looks like this is the end of the road for me.'
The creature was still moving slowly. Taking its sweet time to cross the small distance between them and lunge at Grey.
But when the creature was just ten meters away, the huge boulder behind him trembled and a dark light came out.
His surroundings seemed to darken and the air was filled was sinister and malicious intent.
Though that intent wasn't directed at him... it was directed at the creature.
The creature stopped in it's footsteps for a second, but then it no longer wobbled slowly and dashed at him. Wanting to devour its prey before anything could happen.
Behind him, the a figure came out from the boulder. He was shrouded in dark light and his entire person seemed illusionary.
Grey couldn't see his face because the person was flying, several meters above ground.
He held a sword in his right hand which was emitting a eerie dark light and an astonishing sinister intent.
Grey felt his mind plunge into the darkest reaches of despair. He suddenly felt fear and harrowing pain. Like he was surrounded by countless sinister figures and beseeched from all sides.
Like something precious had been taken from him and he fighting to get it back in a never ending abyss of pain and death.
He felt like he had been fighting for his entire life under the light provided by the moon.
He felt like he was standing in the face of the king of darkness himself and would soon be plunged into a never ending hell himself.
He suddenly felt small and powerless before that dark light.
But the figure in dark light didn't even spare him a glance and instead faced the bizarre creature. Even though his face couldn't be seen, Grey could feel his hatred and then a dark aura burst forth from him.
He raised his sword and cut down at the bizarre creature.
A dark light could be seen and then the creature was split into two. Black blood flowing like a fountain and countless arms flaying all around.
The memory of that single slash was engraved into Grey's memory and he suddenly felt as if a dam had been burst open in his mind.
His level did not increase but he felt as if something had clicked inside him.
He had received his very first enlightenment...
The figure in dark light harrumphed and then wanted to return back to the boulder, but saw Grey down below.
Grey held his breath. He felt like he was being scrutinized. Underneath a microscope and he was the bug.
He felt naked.
The dark figure made a small gesture with his sword again and a small stream of dark light fell from his sword.
The dark light on his sword seemed to have dulled a bit.
The stream of light was very fast and before he knew it, it planted itself unto his forehead.
The crystal shard that had previously calm, suddenly let out a frenzied cold wave of energy.
The dark light entered his body and was pushed into his shadow by the wave of cold energy.
The figure in dark light let out a chuckle, but with his entire existence shrouded by a hazy dark and sinister light, it sounder more oppressing than normal.