My Infinite Cultivation System

Chapter 188: A pocket dimension

Alex hovered above the churning ocean, his eyes fixed on the invisible point far below the waves. The concentration of water elemental energy he had detected was unlike anything he had ever sensed. It did not merely sit there—it pulsed, as if alive and aware.

Kremlin noticed the change in Alex’s expression. "You found something?"

Alex nodded slowly. "Deep beneath the seabed. Approximately twelve thousand meters down." He turned toward the Guild Master. "Is there any record of a trench in this area?"

The old Titled Douluo’s face paled slightly. "There is a legend among the local fishing villages. They call it the Abyssal Maw. No ship that enters its waters ever returns. Our guild has classified it as a forbidden zone for decades."

"Good," Alex said calmly. "Then we are in the right place."

Without waiting for a response, he descended toward the ocean surface. His feet stopped just above the water, barely disturbing the waves below. An invisible barrier of spatial energy formed around his body, repelling the sea as he began to sink.

Kremlin followed immediately, his divine aura illuminating the dark waters like a second sun. The Guild Master and the five Titled Douluo exchanged uneasy glances before plunging in after them.

The descent was terrifying.

Darkness pressed in from all sides, thick and suffocating. The five Titled Douluo who followed the Guild Master could barely breathe, not from the lack of air, but from the crushing pressure that seemed to weigh upon their very souls. Each meter deeper brought them closer to something ancient and terrible.

Kremlin’s divine light cut through the abyss like a blazing sword. His expression remained calm, but even he had begun to sense something unusual. The water elemental energy down here was far too dense. It felt wrong, as if the ocean itself was holding its breath.

Alex floated at the front of the group, his spatial barrier parting the darkness effortlessly. His eyes swept across the ocean floor below, searching for the source of the massive energy signature he had detected.

"We are close," he said quietly.

The seabed came into view.

It was a desolate landscape of jagged rocks, deep trenches, and strange formations that resembled petrified coral. No light reached this depth. No fish swam in these waters. The only movement came from the slow drift of sediment stirred by their descent.

Then the Guild Master stopped.

His face turned pale, paler than the darkness should have allowed.

"My Lord," he whispered, his voice trembling. "Something is watching us."

The five Titled Douluo immediately activated their soul rings. Nine rings each. Brilliant colors illuminated the abyss for a few precious seconds. But those seconds showed them something that made their blood run cold.

A pair of eyes.

Enormous eyes.

Each one was the size of a warship, glowing with a deep, malevolent crimson. They sat low to the seabed, partially buried beneath layers of rock and sediment that had accumulated over countless millennia.

The creature blinked.

And the entire ocean floor shuddered.

"Intruders."

The voice was not spoken. It was felt, vibrating directly through the water and into their bones. It carried an ancient weight, a consciousness that had existed since before most civilizations had even been born.

Kremlin’s divine aura flared brighter. His hand moved toward his weapon. "Identify yourself."

The seabed exploded. freeweɓnøvel.com

Rock and sediment blasted outward in a massive cloud. From beneath the ocean floor, a colossal shape rose with terrifying speed. Eight massive tentacles unfurled, each one longer than a city block and covered in suckers the size of buildings. The central body was a bulbous mass of dark purple flesh, pulsing with veins of crimson light.

It was an octopus.

But no ordinary octopus.

This creature was two million years old.

Its aura erupted outward like a physical force. The five Titled Douluo were thrown backward, their defensive soul rings shattering under the pressure. Even the Guild Master, a Rank 98 Titled Douluo, was forced to his knees. His eyes bulged with sheer terror.

"This... this is impossible," he stammered. "A two million year soul beast? They should not exist in this region!"

Kremlin’s expression finally changed.

He could sense it clearly now. The creature before him was stronger than him. Not by a small margin, but by a significant degree. Its soul energy reserves were bottomless. Its physical form was a weapon of mass destruction. And its eyes, those terrible crimson eyes, held a madness born from two million years of isolation and hunger.

The octopus attacked.

One massive tentacle swept toward the group like a falling mountain. The speed was impossible for something so large. The water around it boiled from the sheer velocity. The Titled Douluo screamed, certain that death had arrived.

Alex raised his hand.

Not a single word was spoken. Not a single spell was cast. He simply raised his right hand, palm facing outward, and froze.

The tentacle stopped.

Not slowed. Not deflected. Frozen, as if time itself had ceased to flow within that single appendage. The octopus’s eyes widened, confusion replacing its predatory gleam. It tried to pull back its tentacle, but the limb would not move. It tried to strike with another, but that tentacle also froze mid swing.

Alex smiled.

"Good," he said calmly. "Another million year soul ring."

He closed his fingers slightly.

The entire octopus locked up. Its massive body became rigid, unable to twitch a single muscle. Its crimson eyes darted wildly, searching for an explanation that would not come.

The five Titled Douluo stared at Alex.

Their bodies trembled uncontrollably.

They had believed Kremlin was the strongest being present. The Light God, radiating divine authority, capable of crushing mortal experts with a thought. They had followed him with confidence, believing that no force in this world could threaten them under his protection.

But now they understood.

They had been wrong.

Dead wrong.

The young man they had barely acknowledged, the one who spoke softly and smiled faintly, was the true monster among them. He had frozen a two million year soul beast with a single wave of his hand. No effort. No visible exertion. Just a gesture, and the creature was helpless.

The Guild Master looked at Alex with new eyes. His lips moved, but no words came out. What could he possibly say? Every assumption he had held about power had just been shattered.

Alex ignored their reactions. He walked past the frozen octopus, descending toward the exposed seabed where the creature had been hiding. His eyes scanned the rocky surface, searching for something the others could not perceive.

Then he stopped.

"There is a spatial connection here," he muttered.

His hand touched the air before him. Ripples spread outward, distorting the water. A faint shimmer appeared, invisible to ordinary senses but unmistakable to Alex’s perception.

Alex did not hesitate.

He stepped forward and vanished through the shimmering air.

Kremlin followed immediately, his divine light flashing as he crossed the threshold. The Guild Master exchanged a terrified glance with his five subordinates. Going through an unknown spatial gateway into an unknown location was suicide. But staying here, alone in the abyss with a frozen two million year octopus, was equally dangerous.

They steeled themselves and stepped through.

The transition was instantaneous.

One moment they were in crushing darkness. The next, they stood beneath an alien sky.

The world around them was beautiful.

Brilliant blue light radiated from crystals that grew from the ground like trees. Rivers of liquid soul energy flowed through valleys of glowing vegetation. Mountains rose in the distance, their peaks crowned with clouds of pure elemental mist. The air was thick with power, so dense that each breath felt like drinking from a waterfall.

But the beauty was deceptive.

Horrifying auras lurked everywhere.

To the left, a serpent longer than any dragon slithered across a plain, its scales shimmering with nine distinct colors. Its aura dwarfed the octopus they had just left behind. To the right, a massive ape beat its chest atop a hill, each impact sending shockwaves across the landscape. Its eyes glowed with golden fury, and its presence screamed of absolute dominance.

In the distance, countless other shapes moved. Gigantic soul beasts. Ancient creatures. Monsters that should have been myths. And every single one of them possessed an age exceeding one million years.

The five Titled Douluo collapsed to their knees.

Not from pressure. From despair.

"My Lord," one of them whispered, his voice cracking. "Where... where are we?"

The Guild Master could not answer. His mind simply refused to process what he was seeing. A place filled with million year soul beasts. Dozens of them. Perhaps hundreds. This was not a forbidden zone. This was a death world.

Alex looked around with calm curiosity.

"System," he said quietly. "What is this place?"

A transparent screen appeared before his eyes.

[Ding! It is a pocket dimension formed inside this world. Million years old or above soul beasts live here. It is like the central continent for soul beasts.]

Alex blinked.

Then he almost laughed.

"So," he said slowly, "I have already found their layer?"

The irony was almost absurd. He had come searching for a single ten million year soul beast. Instead, he had stumbled upon a hidden realm filled with creatures that would drive the entire world into a panic. And this was only the entrance.

Kremlin stepped closer to Alex, his divine aura flickering with unease. Even a god could feel the danger here. "My lord," he said, using the title for the first time, "this place is terrifying."