Suddenly, the water around him went dead still.
The erratic, ambient vibrations of the smaller fish and lesser beasts swimming in the shallows vanished entirely. The ecosystem had gone completely silent.
Yoriichi's eyes widened in the pitch-black water. A primal, suffocating danger sense exploded in his mind, louder and more terrifying than anything he had felt in this world. It wasn't the blind, aggressive hunger of an Iron-Fin Shark; it was the cold, calculated presence of an apex predator.
He didn't hesitate. He didn't waste a single millisecond looking over his shoulder.
Yoriichi violently kicked his legs, abandoning his stealthy glide. He aimed his body straight upward, swimming frantically back toward the safety of his cell. His heart hammered against his ribs, consuming his precious, limited oxygen at a rapid pace.
Just as the jagged outline of the upper reefs came into view, something cold and incredibly slimy brushed against his left boot.
Before he could react, a massive, muscular appendage wrapped entirely around his ankle like an iron vice. The sheer physical strength of the grip was staggering. With a violent jerk, Yoriichi was pulled backward, dragged violently down toward the abyss.
He didn't panic. Pushing his mortal vessel to its absolute limit, Yoriichi twisted his torso in the water. He drew his right leg back and delivered a brutal, perfectly aimed heel kick directly into the thick, fleshy appendage binding his left ankle.
The heavy, physical strike worked. The slimy grip loosened just enough for Yoriichi to rip his leg free. He immediately resumed his desperate ascent.
But the predator was not a creature bound by standard physics.
Out of the absolute darkness, a massive shadow flickered. It vanished entirely from Yoriichi's Transparent World vision for a microsecond, only to instantly reappear directly in front of him. A colossal tentacle, thick as a tree trunk, slammed into his chest with the force of a battering ram.
BAM!
Yoriichi was launched backward like a broken doll, colliding violently against the rocky bed of a subterranean cliff.
A muffled groan escaped his lips, a string of precious silver bubbles rising to the surface. He felt the distinct, sickening crack of at least two of his ribs fracturing. Without Dou Qi to form a protective armor, his body had taken the full, unadulterated impact.
Ignoring the blinding pain, Yoriichi pushed himself off the jagged rock, his crimson eyes locking onto the dark water before him.
The darkness seemed to peel back, revealing a true nightmare.
Two massive, glowing yellow eyes, each the size of a carriage wheel, stared at him with chilling intelligence. Dozens of long, pitch-black tentacles writhed around its central body, constantly vanishing into thin air and reappearing elsewhere like phantoms. The aura radiating from the beast was suffocating, crushing the water pressure around it.
'A Rank 4 Magical Beast,' Yoriichi realized, a cold chill running down his spine. 'Mid-stage. This is a Trench Phantom Octopus.'
It was the undisputed overlord of the Riverlands. A creature that spent years even a decade, sleeping stealthily in the deepest trenches, it was a profound headache even for a Dou Wang to capture. It didn't just possess terrifying physical strength; its true horror lay in its abnormally high Soul Power, allowing it to cast sensory illusions that caused its prey to unknowingly swim directly into its crushing beak.
When it had finally opened its eyes after a long slumber, it had sensed the uniquely dense, delicious aura of a human in its territory. It had not hesitated to ascend.
As Yoriichi stared into those glowing yellow eyes, the freezing water around him suddenly rippled and warped.
The abyssal dark vanished.
Yoriichi blinked. He was no longer underwater. He was lying on a soft, warm mattress, staring up at the familiar, carved wooden ceiling of his private courtyard in the Xiao Clan estate. The morning sun was shining brightly through the window, and he could hear the distant, cheerful voices of clan servants.
He felt a brief wave of profound confusion. 'Was the prison just a dream?'
But his Transparent World vision, inherently tied to his own vast Soul Power, immediately flared. The sunlight lacked warmth. The voices lacked internal circulatory rhythms.
'An illusion,' Yoriichi instantly recognized. He forcefully closed his eyes and exerted his sheer, unyielding willpower, shattering the false reality like fragile glass.
He snapped back to the freezing, dark reality of the trench.
Hovering a dozen yards away, the Trench Phantom Octopus tilted its massive head, its glowing eyes narrowing in sheer bafflement. How could a weak, powerless human with a sealed Dantian instantly resist its innate soul manipulation?
Intrigued, the beast decided to play with its food before devouring it.
With a blur of motion, two phantom tentacles appeared directly beside Yoriichi, wrapping tightly around his arms and pinning them to his sides. He struggled, but the Rank 4 physical strength was entirely insurmountable for a mortal.