Travelling at incomprehensible speed, Alexander suddenly stopped.
'Before I investigate... I should try it.' Looking down, his figure blurred, reappearing right above the earth. Not stopping, he dug straight down.
After a whole four days, he encountered a forcefield. Alexander could immediately tell its similarities with the sky.
Ignoring it, he kept digging for days.
Three days later, a colorful sight took place. A feast for the eyes and a puzzle for the mind.
Below him was a large void. Nothing was present inside, but much further downward, it was not the case.
Some unknown distance away, a trillion beads of colors were tightly packed next to each other. Their luster was dark purple and their insides an eruption of twinkling colors.
Each bead was gigantic, even from so far away.
Alexander remembered this scenery from many years ago.
He knew each bead to be an entire Universe. And the space he entered could be considered the closest to the Multiverse.
For his entire life, be it from Earth or inside the second Universe, or even after ascending to the Celestial Realm, Alexander had stayed inside the Multiverse.
But this time, he came willingly.
And as he started to float down slowly, hoping to grasp at the ginormous beads far into the distance, like a mortal yearning to catch the moon and stars, he froze.
'I am not ready yet.' Shaking his head in disappointment, Alexander still tried to force his way in, but a repulsive force pushed him higher. The more he struggled, the stronger the force. And even when he did not try to do anything, the moment his body fell under a certain threshold, he would stop.
It was this exact power that forced him to ascend. When one surpassed the Ascension Realm, they would be forced to ascend up the Celestial Realm.
Fully aware of the futility he exerted, Alexander flew back up to the surface.
Stopping in place, Alexander had an idea.
Remembering his hole's location, he drifted all around and finally found a few mortals here and there. These people never cultivated and Alexander could not even understand how they survived in this place. Thinking to himself that body refining might be related to this mystery.
Along these mortals, Alexander also caught a few wandering kids and youths below the Celestial Realm. Some were at the Mortality Shattering Realm, others somewhere in the Warrior Realms and a couple at the Pre-Celestial Realm.
Once done, he headed back to his hole and flew back down.
After pushing himself to the limit, Alexander flew back up for a few moments. And as he stared down below to the giant void and its luxurious floor of many Universes, he grabbed a small boy.
The boy was terrified and struggling, but what could a mortal do against a cultivator as powerful as Alexander?
Unfazed by the boy's cries, Alexander let go of his hand.
The boy fell.
He fell and fell, without stop.
Narrowing his eyes at the sight, Alexander smiled.
'It is indeed restricted to cultivators. But was it luck?' Grabbing another mortal, Alexander let the middle aged man fall as well. After that came a young girl, ending the same way. To fall in the void for the rest of their lives.
'Mortals are guaranteed, but what about cultivators?' Taking a few cultivators below the Celestial Body Realm, Alexander threw them down as well.
And as he had first expected, they also fell past the threshold. Even the ones at the Pre-Celestial Realm.
Questioning another matter, Alexander captured a Celestial Body Realm man and a Celestial Harmonization Realm woman. Throwing them down, they were repulsed by the forcefield. And when he asked them to suppress their cultivation and threw them again, he saw the exact same scene appear. No matter how much they hoped to deceive the Heavens, it was not an easy feat to accomplish.
'Well that confirms it. Since my curiosity is quenched, I can go back to searching.' Flying back to the surface, Alexander flew straight toward the Celestial Realm's center.
Taking over a month, Alexander stood high into the sky. Gazing at the sight below, his body fell.
Two days later, his falling body stopped as he released his Divine Sense fully.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Under the blazing sun, a vibrant, green plain. The grass was cut short and mountains surrounded it everywhere around. The mountains were tall and encircling it like a crown, each was extremely far, barely noticeable in the horizon. The plain was flat and went on for a million kilometers in all directions.
But what caught Alexander's eyes was a strange spot right at its center.
It looked like nothing but a patch of grass, just like everywhere else. But it could not trick Alexander.
Floating down to the ground, Alexander raised his foot before stomping on this patch of grass with great power.
With a loud earthquake, the Celestial Realm shivered while the giant plain became desolate.
Earth and rocks were flown high, reaching the clouds.
'Small tricks!' A hole formed, Alexander did not hesitate to jump down.
After entering the hole, Alexander ended up inside a stone dungeon. The stones emanated a faintly discernible cobalt light. This gave the stone dungeon a blueish tint amidst the darkness.
Looking behind, there was a dead end. Alexander stared back in front, and walked deeper inside the corridor.
Walking for a few hours, nothing happened. At the tenth hour, he entered a hall. The hall was also made of stones and emitting a cobalt light. There were pillars supporting the very tall ceiling on each side. They seemed to guide any trespasser to the depths of the dungeon.
Following them, Alexander walked in between the many, organized pillars for a half an hour.
Once he was deep enough, a change in his vision occurred. It was a doorframe of sorts. It reminded him of the golden castle where the zombie fought him.
It had no doors except for a blue screen of light blocking the way.
About to simply enter, Alexander narrowed his eyes before stopping in place, not taking that next step. Retreating for a few dozens of meters, Alexander sat down cross-legged.
Patiently birthing a clone, Alexander had to wait for two weeks. His clone ready, Alexander sent it ahead, to probe this hidden place.
Nothing happened until the clone stepped where Alexander retreated. It did not appear as if anything happened. At that time, Alexander asked the clone to retreat, which it did without trouble.
Stroking his beard, Alexander ordered the clone to pass through the blue screen of light.
The clone immediately did so and passed by without suffering from anything noticeable.
Asking it to come back, Alexander saw the clone retreat again.
About to go inside himself, Alexander stopped, ordering the clone once again to reenter the gate and explore what laid further in. His clone was already a peak Greater Existence, so it did not matter if something dangerous attacked. Unless it was beyond this realm, nothing would happen to the clone.
After exploring the giant palace hall beyond the blue screen of light, the clone came back unscathed.
Absorbing the clone, Alexander nodded. After standing back up, he followed his own footsteps inside.
After entering, Alexander immediately tried to retreat. But to his dismay, he could simply not. The screen of light seemed capable of even stopping him.
'I knew it. Cheap tactics!' Grumbling, Alexander did not seem to care, walking deeper inside the giant hall, its ceiling reaching hundreds of meters.
Immediately, he saw what his own clone witnessed as well. Ten statues of stone. Each was representing a person and stood around 20 times their supposed real size. They were giants of stone, staring at the pathway between them.
Walking across it, Alexander saw another screen of blue light in front, guarding the entrance.
'Oh? Is it going to be like this?' Gazing at each statue, Alexander probed them with his Divine Sense. Not sensing anything much, he did not bother, directly rushing at the first one on the right side, already behind him.
This sudden action caused the statues to speak.
"What?!"
"Does he know?"
"What did that idiot do? How come this newcomer could see through us?!"
Complaining, they did not have time to do anything else, as Alexander struck the statue with all his might, which surprisingly, did not scratch the dungeon's structure. However, the power contained was still there, destroying the statue in one blow, blood gushing out like a fountain.
"Argh!" The miserable cry of a middle aged man later, the statue had been reduced to rubble with blood still flowing from it.
"How is this possible?! Palm Lord Yshui has been killed?!!"
Silence reigning, the statues slowly transformed into humans. They seemed identical, as if the statues had taken a real human height and turned from stone to skin and flesh, colors reappearing in the process.
"Brat! How dare you kill brother Yshui? Do you want to die?" A brawny middle aged man with a brown mane for a beard talked loudly, but still kept composure.
"You guys tried to ambush this Alexander, and this Alexander cannot ambush you back? Arrogant!"
The remaining nine people's expressions turning solemn, the same brawny man spoke.
"Alexander you said? How did you figure it out? There is no way you could see through our technique, even with a powerful Celestial Sense."
Smirking, Alexander pointed at an elderly man with long and straight grey hair. The man looked like a spear when standing, completely straight as well.
"Huh? Are you saying Divine Elder made a mistake and was found out by you? Did you become suspicious then?"
"Do you really want to know? I'll make it simple so that I can ask you questions after. I entered, and the statues were all suspicious to begin with. With the gate blocked ahead, it became even more suspicious. And when I stared at that man's statue, I already knew. After all, he looks exactly like Hophe Ghylar! I heard that the Dragon Mansion had a powerful ancestor beyond the Greater Existence Realm and that he conquered the whole Celestial Realm. Is he not this guy?"
Raising a brow, the Divine Elder in question nodded.
"Good eye junior, this humble one is indeed Dervedos Ghylar!"
"Well, since I answered all of you, why not throw some light onto my doubts?"
Exchanging glances, they all nodded. A middle aged man with black hair taking a step forward, he introduced himself.
"I am Martial Saint Sullivan, and like everybody else here, am a member of the Sealed Ten Heavens! We are stuck in this boring dungeon and cannot find a way out. Since little brother here has joined us, why not discuss about this?"
'Very weird, these guys are acting as if someone did not even die. They don't seem upset over it, which means that they either don't care or actually yearn for this outcome!'
Alexander had many doubts, and seemingly, no one would answer him truthfully. They were all stuck here and did not know how to get out. This point seemed fishy to him. He could clearly tell that something was going on.
He only had to figure out what and heading further in would not be a problem. He could even use a clone, even though he would never do so when watched by someone, especially unknown like them.
"We can discuss, we can discuss!"
'We can discuss until your tongue slip and you doom yourself. Even if you all are beyond the Greater Existence Realm, I don't feel threatened by most of you. This place will soon reek with the so called Heavens' blood.'