Chapter 146: Escaping Ghost Sorrow Cliff

The icy river water dripped down his hair tips, soaking the collar of his back neck, raising a shiver of goosebumps. Wang Shan climbed out of the pool onto the shore, unable to wring out his drenched clothes, and immediately contacted Li Hu.

"Huzi, how's the situation?"

"Sir! Are you alright? We've already followed the route you gave and are about to reach the rendezvous point!" Li Hu's voice came through the specially made Sound Transmission Talisman, carrying the relief of surviving a calamity and a barely suppressed excitement.

"I'm fine, and you both did well." Wang Shan's words were concise, but his gaze pierced the trees, looking toward the two Spiritual Senses still clashing deep within Ghost Sorrow Cliff, "Now is not the time to rest. Hear my command: change direction immediately and head to the Three Forks I marked earlier."

"Change course? But sir, that place isn't far from the Black-clothed Person's previous camp…"

"It needs to be close." Wang Shan's voice was low but carried an undeniable calm, "Do you remember the storage bag we took from that unlucky Wan Family member? It contains several Beast Control Token Fragments from the Wan Family, and a Second-tier Beast Corpse I crippled—bring them both along, okay?"

"Got them, all got them!"

"Good. When you reach the Three Forks, toss that beast corpse in the middle of the road, then casually scatter the Wan Family's token fragments nearby, making it look like a frantic escape with abandoned items."

On the other end of the Sound Transmission Talisman, Li Hu fell silent for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Sir, you intend to… frame the Wan Family?"

"More than that." Wang Shan's mouth twitched—not a smile, but a cold calculation, "What about Zhang Mei? Have her take the poisoned Short Blade we seized from the Black-clothed Person and embed it into the vital spot of that beast corpse. Remember, drive it in deep so it looks like a lethal strike."

"Excellent! Truly excellent!" Li Hu's tone changed.

"Stop flattery, get it done! Afterward, erase all traces immediately, and meet me behind the waterfall three li west of here—that's our final rendezvous point." Wang Shan cut off the transmission, then set his bearing, his figure melting back into the complex shadows of Ghost Sorrow Cliff.

He didn't rush to the rendezvous point; instead, he circled around, moving through the forest like a ghost. He needed to verify personally that the pieces of his chessboard had all obediently landed where they should.

Sure enough, half an hour later, two raging Spiritual Senses swept to the Three Forks, one after the other.

"Wan! Tian! Jue!" The Black-clad Leader's hoarse voice seemed capable of stripping a layer of skin; his Spiritual Sense clearly "saw" the poisoned Short Blade belonging to his subordinate lodged in a beast corpse, and beside it, several Wan Family-exclusive Beast Control Token Fragments lay scattered.

Iron evidence like a mountain!

Almost simultaneously, Wan Tianjue's Spiritual Sense also detected the scene. His focus, however, was entirely different: "What a black‑slick hidden‑rat! Not only snatched my Purple Monkey Flower, but also killed my Wan Family people and destroyed my Wan Family's beast! Do you really think I'm made of mud?!"

In his view, this was clearly the Black-clothed Person's move after getting the loot: cleaning up the side disciples he sent to search, then deliberately leaving the beast corpse and his token fragments to humiliate him!

The two Spiritual Senses that had been frantically hunting Wang Shan now seemed to have found an outlet, colliding violently with each other!

"Boom!"

The invisible energy shockwave spread outward, turning the trees around the Three Forks into dust in an instant.

"I'll be waiting!"

"I will shred your corpse into ten thousand pieces!"

After a brief standoff, both sides' forces simultaneously restrained their power, no longer searching the void for the elusive thief, but directing all their fury and murderous intent at each other.

A larger-scale melee was about to erupt in the core of Ghost Sorrow Cliff.

"Heh, dog bites dog." From a distant cliff, Wang Shan took it all in, then turned and left without looking back.

Behind the waterfall lay a natural cave, damp but sufficiently concealed. When Wang Shan arrived, Li Hu and Zhang Mei were already waiting there with two children.

"Sir!" The two, upon seeing Wang Shan, finally let their hanging hearts settle completely.

Wang Shan waved his hand, first approaching his grandson Wang Zhitao, feeling his breath. Though still unconscious, his breathing was much steadier than before. Wang Shan transferred a strand of pure Spiritual Power into his body, temporarily stabilizing his condition.

"How's it outside?" he asked Li Hu.

"They've started fighting, sir! Really started! Like they've gone mad!" Li Hu's face still flushed with excitement, "When we pulled out, we saw Wan Family members colliding with those Black-clothed Persons, and they opened fire without a word, spells flying everywhere, beasts roaring—that scene…"

Zhang Mei was much calmer; she handed over a Water Bag: "We've already cleaned all the traces. The Earth Vein energy of Ghost Sorrow Cliff is getting increasingly chaotic; they're now too preoccupied to investigate us further."

"Fine." Wang Shan took the Water Bag, drank a mouthful, "But we shouldn't linger here; we must leave Ghost Sorrow Cliff's area as soon as possible. Rest for a quarter hour, then set out."

Everyone nodded rapidly, hurrying to regulate their breath and recover.

Wang Shan, however, was not idle; he pulled from his bosom the Black Jade Slip he had obtained from a Wan Family cultivator. Earlier, deep within Ghost Sorrow Cliff, the item reacted violently; now that they've left the core area, the scorching sensation had lessened considerably, leaving only a warm, mellow touch.

He tried to probe a thread of Spiritual Power into it.

"Hum…"

The Slip quivered lightly, and a faint yet extremely ancient, desolate stream of information flooded his mind. It was neither a cultivation method nor a map, but fragments of nearly indecipherable runes and some intermittent images.

【System Prompt: Detected special energy resonance. 'Yu Shou Zong Ley Lines Key (Fragmented)' information stream unlocking 1.7%… Synchronizing unlocked information…】

"Yu Shou Zong Ley Lines Key?" Wang Shan's heart gave a jolt, "A key? Is this thing the key to unlocking Ghost Sorrow Cliff's secret?"

He suddenly recalled the system's earlier analysis: Ghost Sorrow Cliff was a relic of the Beast Taming Sect's experimental field. Thus, this Slip was likely a relic of a high-ranking Beast Taming Sect figure, perhaps even one of the crucial tokens controlling the entire experimental field!

No wonder Wan Tianjue and those Black-clothed Persons fought to the death; perhaps the Purple Monkey Flower was merely a decoy, or just one of the targets. Their true aim was likely something left by the Beast Taming Sect deep within Ghost Sorrow Cliff's underground.

And this "key" accidentally fell into his own hands.

Wang Shan only felt the Slip in his hand become instantly scorching. This wasn't some destiny; it was a massive trouble! If the news leaked, not just Foundation Establishment cultivators, but even Golden Core or Nascent Soul old monsters would be drawn here.

"It seems… the Man Yun Mountain Range is no longer stayable," he decided silently.

A quarter hour later, the party quietly left the cave beneath the waterfall, following the concealed route Wang Shan had long planned, slipping toward the outskirts of the Man Yun Mountain Range.

Along the way, they could still feel waves of Spiritual Energy Fluctuation coming from the direction of Ghost Sorrow Cliff, where the battle evidently continued, even intensifying.

Wang Shan and his companions did not look back.

Three days later, they finally emerged from the depths of the Man Yun Mountain Range unharmed, arriving at a scarcely visited dense forest.

"Here, then." Wang Shan surveyed the area, finding a hidden mountain cave covered in vines, "Li Hu, Zhang Mei, set up Guard Formation outside, I'll open a temporary cave dwelling inside. For the next period, we won't go anywhere."

He looked at the sleeping Wang Zhitao in his arms, felt the restless Spiritual Power Bottleneck within himself, and his gaze became unwaveringly firm.

"I will enter Closed Meditation, Foundation Establishment!"

Wan Family, Black-clothed Persons… these swords hanging overhead gave him no sense of safety. At the Qi Training Stage, one's cultivation is merely an ant at the mercy of others in this ruthless cultivation world. Only through Foundation Establishment, gaining true power, can one control one's destiny.

He knew escaping Ghost Sorrow Cliff was only temporary. A veteran fox like Wan Tianjue would never cease easily. Once the turmoil at Ghost Sorrow Cliff settled, they would eventually realize and cast suspicious eyes again at the "missing" Wang Family elder.

The time left for him was dwindling.

The blood‑soaked storm at Ghost Sorrow Cliff continued, and no one knew who the ultimate victor would be.

And the instigator, Wang Shan, already bearing the most crucial loot and the Black Jade Slip that held a colossal secret, vanished from everyone's sight, ready to face the most pivotal transformation of his life.