Void Cultivation

When Grey entered the Captain's silent compound, he saw him talking to Zuro with a serious expression on his face. Zuro was listening but the burly man's usual playful attitude was no where to be seen.

A baleful aura and the smell of blood emanated from his large figure. It was clear that he had just returned from the corroded zone.

The Captain gave a curt to Grey while Zuro just raised his hand up as a sign of acknowledgment. Grey greeted the two of them and entered the house.

He then went to prepare a small dinner for the Captain and Zuro who moved inside after a while.

Grey did not try to eavedrop, he was not particularly interested in their conversations so he went to his room and sat down silently to cultivate. After a unknown time had passed, he heard the sound of a closing door and knew that Zuro had gone.

Then the light was switched off. With Grey's indifferent expression, he shut his eyes and entered into a meditative state once again.

At the first sign of sunlight, he opened his eyed and went outside to see the Captain who was looking at the scavenger camp from above with a cold expression on his face.

The aura emanating from him was very icy and cold and forced Grey to circulate the Sky Mist art to dispel the cold.

The Captain had grown stronger. Grey was not sure, but he had a guess that the Captain broke through a few days ago. Because the amount of cold air coming from him would be able to suppress those with lesser cultivation.

And with his cold and icy gaze, he looked down like he was looking down on all life below. The calm and cold, Ice Tide Caster. He heard Luo call him one day.

Yes. The Captain's name was Caster. It was weird because up until a couple of days ago, he did not know what the Captain's name was. And strangely, the thought never occurred to him.

'Well now I know.' Grey said internally as he looked at the Captain high above. He had never gotten used to the Captain's strange routine of looking at the scavenger camp from high up every day. But he guessed he might never will.

And for the first time in a long time, Grey saw the Captain's expression change slowly to a deep frown.

Grey heartbeat quickened. What could he have seen? What could be wrong? He wondered and quickly climbed on top of the house and looked in the same direction the Captain was looking.

His expression also changed to one of a frown. Three lines appeared on his forehead as his face darkened.

A certain distance from the corroded zone, a convoy was heading straight towards the scavenger camp. On the the leading convoy, fluttering lightly in the wind was a red colored flag with a black symbol of a howl wolf.

This flag was covered in red blood and the edges of the flag was torn. The amount of blood spilt on this flags gave an oppressive feeling to all those who saw it.

The Captain's face darkened even more as he seemed to have recognized the flag. Grey took a closer look and realization hit him. He also knew who was marching the scavenger camp.

It was the shadow sect!

The shadow sect was a low level sect founded a few decades ago. They were not a sect known by the continenet and do not categorize themselves as an academy. With their ancestor in the Foundation Establishment realm, and their sect master and elders all in the the perfected level of Qi accumulation, they were a force to be reckoned with in this small corner of the continent.

Lately, they have been going around conquering scavenger camp after scavenger camp. It turns out that their scavenger camp was the next in line to be conquered.

And although the Shadow sect could not be said to be powerful, they had a very special art that only their members could practice. In fact, it was because of this art they have ruled over this small corner of the continent for many years without any intervention from the big sects or academies.

They called this art Shadow dominance. No one had seen this art before in person because they all die shortly after, but from what Grey had heard, it was very powerful.

With the speed at which the convoy was moving, Grey estimated they would reach the outer settlements of the scavenger camp by noon.

The Captain seemed to have been calculating the time of their arrival as well and a cold glint appeared in his eyes. When that glint appeared, Grey felt his blood run cold. He unconsciously began to circulate the Sky Mist art.

'This feeling...'

Grey shivered and turned his attention away. The Captain stepped down coldly, his feet stepping on icicles until they touched the ground.

"Let's go."

The Captain's voice entered his head and Grey swiftly descended. He felt like a battle was going to happen soon. He could already feel the tension in the air. The atmosphere was crackling with the anticipation of battle.

Of course Grey would have hesitated if he was told to go up against a low level sect. With his current strength, he wouldn't last long. But when his gaze fell upon the Captain, he no longer felt that way.

He felt that if he was with the Captain, they stood a chance. He didn't know why but he just did. As Grey's eyes narrowed into slits, he steeled his resolve and became decisive.

Before long, they went to Luo's shop. Everyone was already seated and had gloomy expressions on their faces. It was obvious that they had noticed the arrival of the shadow sect. But when their gaze met the Captain, a glimmer of hope appeared.

After all, they were still in the middle levels of Qi accumulation, they could not fight against cultivators who were higher than them.

"Good, you're all here." The Captain said and took a seat in front. Everyone focused their gazes on him, including Grey.

"We have been anticipating this day for a few months now. And it has finally come. You guys are my closest companions and we have been a lot together. Even though I know this is too much to ask, i will still say it." The Captain took a short pause to look at everyone.

"Join me and fight, and I know that we will win. I ..." The Captain was interrupted.

"Stop, stop stop. Captain, what the hell was that?" Freus suddenly spoke up and asked.

"Is that how you give an inspirational speech? Look, if you want us to fight just ask us the normal way. Don't try and give us a crappy speech." Trogan said as he rubbed his forehead.

Luo giggled lowly and Zuro coughed. Grey and Ange bent their heads downwards to avoid the Captain seeing their flustered faces.

"Look, you already told us that the shadow sect will be coming for us sooner or later right. If we didn't want to fight, we could have left during that time. Now don't come and give us a lame speech. Even though I suggested we give you time to speak. your speech is... crap." Zuro walked up and patted the Captain's shoulder.

The Captain was too flustered to react. His expression kept changing several times. Right now he didn't look like the leader of a scavenger camp, instead he looked a guy asking his close friends for help. The canonical source for this content: M|V|L2EMPYR.

If was quite hard to comprehend the level of maturity these people possessed. Each of them were only in their early twenties yet they were already bearing such responsibilities. Especially the Captain. Th leader of a scavenger camp at such a young age. And the camp was actually thriving. He was fit to be a real leader.

Anytime Grey looked at him up in the sky, he felt that under the protective gaze of the Captain, everything would be alright. Luo had even told him once that as far as he stayed with the Captain, nothing in the scavenger camp could hurt him. Who else could boast of this other than the Captain. He was so young yet he was bearing so much responsibilities like an older brother would.

Why wouldn't Grey feel compassion for this man. And he was sure that everyone here felt the same.

The Captain coughed for a few moments before his calm bravado returned and he spoke.

"Good, then let's prepare of their arrival."

Everyone's expression then turned serious as they waited for the Captain to speak. After confirming that they were all attentive, he began.