At almost the same time, Grey’s pupils contracted.
Within the blurry image formed by his Dragon Eyes and divine sense, he finally understood why the aura surrounding the mysterious youth had felt so familiar from the very beginning.
’Another Emperor-Level cultivation art...’
Grey’s heart trembled.
’The feeling it gives off is astonishingly similar to my Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird...’
His expression gradually became solemn.
’However... its aura is denser... thicker... and incomparably more complete than mine.’
The realization caused a slight chill to run through his heart.
As their two divine senses brushed against one another across the enormous distance, Grey suddenly felt something strange.
A tiny portion of his divine sense...
...was being quietly siphoned away.
It vanished without resistance, as though it had been swallowed by an invisible mouth.
Grey’s eyes immediately narrowed.
’It’s devouring my divine sense...’
The more carefully he perceived it, the clearer the answer became.
The Emperor-Level cultivation art possessed by the other party was significantly more complete than his own.
It was very likely...
...a complete Emperor-Level cultivation art.
The mysterious attraction he had felt earlier wasn’t merely because they both cultivated Emperor-Level arts.
It was because the two cultivation arts were astonishingly similar in nature.
Both belonged to bird-type Emperor-Level inheritances.
Both possessed the terrifying ability to devour.
Feeling that the other party would soon pinpoint his location if he continued observing him, Grey decisively dispersed the divine sense merged with his Dragon Eyes.
The connection vanished instantly.
A second later, the blurry figure occupying his vision crumbled apart like shattered glass before disappearing completely from his perception.
---
Meanwhile, aboard the silent magic ship...
The black-haired youth remained seated with his legs crossed.
Several seconds passed before he slowly lowered his searching gaze.
The mysterious observer had disappeared without leaving behind the slightest trace.
His eyes gradually became colder.
"An Emperor-Level cultivation art..."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"To think another Emperor-Level cultivation art would appear in such a backwater place like this..."
A sinister smile slowly spread across his face.
"And it’s also a bird-type Emperor-Level cultivation art."
His shark-like eyes swept across the horizon one final time before closing once more.
Although he had failed to discover the other’s identity, the excitement in his heart had already begun to grow.
"What would happen..."
He slowly licked his lips.
"...if my Demonic Raven Refines the Abyss encountered his Emperor-Level cultivation art?"
A frightening glint flashed across his eyes.
"Who... would refine whom?"
His voice was calm.
Yet every single word contained an overwhelming amount of malice and murderous intent.
It was as though he had already decided that the unknown owner of that cultivation art would one day become nourishment for his own.
---
Elsewhere...
Grey continued walking side by side with Violet as though nothing had happened.
His expression remained perfectly calm.
However, beneath that calm exterior, a single thought echoed repeatedly within his mind.
’What would happen...’
His eyes gradually turned colder.
’...if my Soul Devouring Everlasting Bird encountered his Emperor-Level cultivation art?’
A dangerous glint flashed deep within his pupils.
’Who... would devour whom?’
For reasons neither of them understood...
The two had been brought together by the same kind of inheritance.
Yet instead of feeling the slightest trace of kinship or camaraderie, they experienced only an overwhelming instinct.
An instinct so deeply rooted that it surpassed logic itself.
Both desired exactly the same thing.
To devour.
To seize the other’s Emperor-Level cultivation art.
To make it their own.
Long before they ever met face to face... The battle between the two had already begun.