Chapter 143: with translation of chapter title

Ghost Sorrow Cliff, core battlefield.

Roar—!

The Red Flame Flying Lizard King's mournful roar almost tore the eardrums. Wan Tianjue's face turned deathly pale; a deep claw mark down to the bone on his chest oozed blood. He forcibly activated the Ten Thousand Beasts General Compendium Stele's method, but not only failed to subdue the beast completely, he was instead struck by its dying counterattack, worsening his injuries.

Trash! All trash!

He stared fixedly at the equally dying fourth-tier beast, his anger having no outlet. In the end, this anger found an excellent vent.

Wang Shan! That damned old dog!

If it weren't for hunting him down, why would I have come to this damned place, why would I have wasted myself on a beast like this!

Wan Tianjue's Spiritual Sense suddenly spread out, relying on the faint mark he had left on Wang Shan earlier, instantly locking onto an area on the other side of the mountain range.

Found you! Die!

With a single-handed gesture, seven or eight lurking beasts with eerie aura let out howls and charged out. These beasts varied in form—wolves and snakes—but without exception, their eyes glowed with an ominous blood-red light, and a faint black aura coiled around them, their movements subtly forming a coordinated attack formation.

……

"Boss, something's off!" Li Hu pressed his ear to the stone wall, his face somewhat pale, "The ground is shaking, lots of things are rushing toward us!"

Without him saying, Wang Shan already saw on the system light screen seven or eight red light spots rapidly approaching.

【Alert: Detected seven high-energy beast responses, moving rapidly toward the host's position.】

【Data Analysis: The beasts have been partially modified by the Ten Thousand Beasts General Compendium Stele's power, their actions are coordinated, their attacks carry a weak corrosive effect. Locked onto the source: Wan Tianjue.】

"Heh, can't beat the big one, so you come pinch our soft persimmons?" Wang Shan gave a cold chuckle, "Really picking the timing."

These beasts are completely different from the scattered stragglers we encountered before. Their eerie coordination means they are no longer lone-wild beasts fighting individually, but a unit.

Troublesome.

"Boss?" Zhang Mei had already gripped her longbow, fingers on the bowstring.

Wang Shan was about to speak when the system light screen flickered wildly again, a piercing red alarm nearly filling the entire screen.

【Highest-level alert! An unknown force is rapidly approaching! Target: the host's area! Threat level: extreme!】

On the other side of the light screen, more than a dozen black dots were moving at the same astonishing speed, flanking from another direction.

"When will it end?" Li Hu sweat beaded on his forehead, "These black-clothed folks are also coming to join the fun?"

"They're not coming for us." Wang Shan narrowed his eyes, watching the black-clothed group's trajectory, "Or rather, not entirely for us."

Outside Black Stone Town, a concealed array node.

The leading black-clothed person saw several light points suddenly light up on the array plate, his voice hoarse as he said, "That direction—are the Wan family people active there?"

"Chief, the energy fluctuations are similar. It should be a scout sent by Wan Tianjue."

"Hmph, the Wan family also wants a piece of this place? They don't know life from death." The chief's eyes flashed with slight contempt, "Send a team over to wipe them out cleanly. Don't let them interfere with our guiding of the earth vein."

"Yes!"

At the command, a black-clothed squad silently detached from the main force and, like ghosts, lunged toward Wang Shan and the others' position.

Inside the cave, the atmosphere instantly became oppressive to the extreme.

"Boss… we're being attacked from front and rear!" Li Hu paced anxiously, "We're surrounded like dumplings!"

Before them was Wan Tianjue's mutant beast squad; behind them, the scheming mysterious black-clothed people. The two forces were like two sides of a tightening iron clamp, aiming to thoroughly crush this small piece of 'meat' that they were.

"Don't panic." Wang Shan's voice remained steady, "They've come at just the right time."

"Huh?" Li Hu froze.

"At this point, still okay?"

"Not panicking, how do we pick up the bargains?" Wang Shan countered, his hands moving lightning-fast.

Without even looking, he grabbed a large handful of various talisman papers and array plate fragments from his storage bag, murmuring incantations.

"System, activate the 【Array Stacking Concealment Rune Combination】, optimize it for the Ghost Sorrow Cliff earth vein, complete within three breaths!"

【Command received, optimization scheme generating……optimization complete!】

Wang Shan rubbed his hands together; those talisman papers and array plate fragments instantly turned into streams of light that sank into the surrounding stone walls and vanished.

In an instant, the entire cave and everyone inside it seemed to have their presence completely erased from this world. Whether Spiritual Power fluctuations or the vitality of living beings, all vanished completely.

Li Hu and Zhang Mei astonishingly discovered they could not even feel the presence of their companions beside them.

"Boss, you…"

"Shh." Wang Shan made a silencing gesture, pointed at the light screen, "Watch the show."

After doing all that, Wang Shan pulled out the corpse of the third-tier Red Flame Flying Lizard they had killed earlier.

"Li Hu, go." Wang Shan pointed to a fork in the road to the southeast, "Throw this thing into the middle of that path, then come straight back—don't take an extra step."

Although Li Hu was bewildered, he still hoisted the heavy beast corpse, crouched low, and rushed out, returning shortly after.

"Boss, thrown."

"Mm."

Wang Shan said nothing more, just stared at the system light screen, his lips unconsciously curling upward.

Soon, the beast squad sent by Wan Tianjue rushed to that fork. Their original target was Wang Shan's hiding cave, but they were drawn to the corpse in the middle of the road that emitted the same species' scent and a bloody smell.

Sss—

The leading serpentine beast flicked its scarlet tongue, as if trying to discern something.

Just then, another squad arrived.

The black-clothed squad silently appeared at the other end of the fork and immediately saw the group of eerily aura beasts surrounding the corpse.

"These are the Wan family's beast controllers." The black-clothed squad leader gave a cold snort, "Sure enough there's an ambush. Attack, quick and decisive!"

Their order was to 'sweep clean'; they never considered communicating with the opposition.

Instantly, more than a dozen black bolts infused with icy curse power shot viciously at the beast horde.

And that group of already bloodthirsty, ferocious mutant beasts, upon smelling that curse aura that made them extremely uncomfortable, were instantly enraged. They regarded these black-clothed people as the murderers who had slain their companions!

Roar!

Without even a greeting, the two sides fiercely collided in this narrow passage!

For a moment, the monsters' roars, eerie black light, corrosive poison, and raging Spiritual Power… in this area thrown into chaos by Earth Vein energy, a massive brawl erupted completely.

"They're fighting! They're really fighting!" Li Hu stared, stunned, and couldn't help but lower his voice to shout.

"They… how could this…?" Zhang Mei also felt somewhat incredulous.

"Because they all think they're the hunters, seeing anyone as prey that wandered into their territory." Wang Shan explained offhandedly.

He didn't use any clever framing tactic; he simply took advantage of both sides' arrogance and this place's chaotic environment, throwing down a fitting 'bone' at the right time and place.

A bone enough to make two starving dogs bite each other without distinguishing right from wrong.

"Let's go, change places to watch the show."

Wang Shan led the group, and while the outside battle darkened the sky, they quietly slipped out through another hidden passage.

The new hiding spot offered a better view, allowing them to clearly see the far-off dog-eat-dog farce.

Wang Shan had the system record the combat data of both sides, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, while shifting his view back to the valley where the Purple Monkey Flower grew.

On the Light Screen, that patch of purple light seemed to grow a bit brighter.

Good, let them all fight and seize.

The fiercer the fight, the more chance this true 'Yellow Sparrow' has to silently snatch the sweetest fruit.