Chapter 160: Breakthrough in a Desperate Situation

Wan Honghai's hand, covered in wrinkles and calluses, was like a withered eagle's claw, carrying the surging Spiritual Power of the Late Foundation Establishment stage, about to grab Wang Zhize's collar.

The greed and cruelty on his face were entirely undisguised.

A brat still wet behind the ears deserves to possess such a treasure?

That old dog in the depths of the cave—even if he luckily succeeded in Foundation Establishment, he must be in chaotic breath and utterly weak right now, exactly when he can be butchered at will.

Today, not only would he avenge Wan Tianjue's blood feud, but he would also seize the treasure and exalt the prestige of the Wan family!

The Black-clad Leader moved like a phantom, silently shifting to the other side. His attention had already passed beyond everyone and was cast toward the darkness deeper within the cave. There, a faintly visible ancient Altar emanated an aura that made his heart palpitate.

The "key" was certainly important, but this Altar seemed to involve an even greater secret.

Let Wan Honghai, that fool, scout the path first.

Just as Wan Honghai's fingertips were about to touch the fabric.

"Stop."

A voice rang out.

The voice was not loud, plain and even, yet like an invisible heavy hammer, it smashed viciously into the chests of Wan Honghai and the Black-clad Leader.

Wan Honghai's movement suddenly stiffened.

He turned his head in astonishment, looking toward the direction the voice came from.

From the darkness deep within the cave, a figure walked out.

His build was still that of the scrawny old man, but his entire aura had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.

The Wang Shan from before was a stubborn stone that appeared hard.

But the Wang Shan at this moment was a bottomless cold pool, calm on the surface, yet hiding dark currents beneath that could devour everything.

His eyes were like an ancient well without ripples—no anger, no killing intent, only a dead stillness.

Yet it was precisely this dead stillness that made Wan Honghai and the Black-clad Leader simultaneously feel their scalps go numb.

"Wang Shan! You… you succeeded in Foundation Establishment?" Wan Honghai could hardly believe it.

How long had it been? Interfered by his Spiritual Sense pressure and still facing the Heavenly Tribulation, how could this old thing possibly succeed? Even if he succeeded, he should be half-dead!

"Heh, succeeded?" The corner of Wang Shan's mouth curved into a smile without warmth. "Thanks to you, I feel… not bad."

Within the Dantian Qi Sea, golden liquid Spiritual Power flowed slowly, and every cycle brought a powerful illusion of controlling heaven and earth. This feeling was too wonderful.

He saw Li Hu and Zhang Mei, collapsed in pools of blood, their breath so faint it was nearly extinguished.

He saw Wang Zhitao, pale with fright, yet still desperately shielding his younger brother.

He saw Wang Zhize, clutching a jade slip, trembling all over, his eyes full of fear and dependence.

And he saw Wan Honghai, who was about to lay hands on his grandson.

"You, just now, wanted to use this hand to touch my grandson?" Wang Shan's voice remained plain, but he vanished from where he stood.

"What?"

Wan Honghai only felt his vision blur, and an indescribable sense of crisis erupted from behind him!

Too fast!

He had no time to react at all, couldn't even muster his Protective Spirit Power to its limit.

A palm lightly pressed against his back.

There was no earth-shattering boom, no violent clash of Spiritual Power.

It was like a gentle pat between old friends.

"Is this all you've got?" Wan Honghai was about to sneer, but the expression on his face instantly froze.

A bizarre power to the extreme drilled into his Meridians through that palm.

This power did not attempt to destroy, but was like a primer, a catalyst.

"Pfft!"

Wan Honghai suddenly felt that within his dantian, those heterogeneous beast powers he had painstakingly refined to drive the Ten Thousand Beast Method were like wildfire doused in oil, instantly out of control!

"Roar!" "Hiss!"

Countless chaotic beast roars did not come from the Outside World, but raged madly within his own body, in his Meridians, in his Qi Sea!

The cultivation method he was so proud of, at this moment, became the deadliest poison.

Spiritual Power Counter-Devouring! No, even more terrifying than Counter-Devouring! This was… a cultivation method going out of control!

"My Spiritual Power… No! How could this happen!"

Wan Honghai screamed in terror, feeling his body about to be torn apart by the violent beast powers within.

He desperately tried to suppress it, but that foreign bizarre power was like a grandmaster who knew every weakness of his cultivation method, always able to give a gentle flick at the most critical node, reducing all his efforts to nothing.

"Blergh—"

A mouthful of black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs sprayed out wildly. Wan Honghai's entire body flew backward like a torn sack, smashing heavily against the hard cave wall with a "boom," then slid to the ground, convulsing, with blood seeping from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

One move!

With just one move, the Wan family's Supreme Elder at Late Foundation Great Perfection was crippled just like that?

The Black-clad Leader nearby had his pupils contract sharply, his body beneath the cloak taut like a fully drawn bow.

He saw it clearly.

Wang Shan's palm strike did not rely on brute force at all, but utilized some technique he could not comprehend to directly detonate the hidden danger within Wan Honghai's cultivation method!

What terrifying insight and skill!

"This person… must not be spared!"

The Black-clad Leader made a decisive call, no longer harboring any thought to wait and see. His hands rapidly formed seals before his chest, and a mass of dense black qi gathered in his palm, transforming into a sinister and vicious black short spear that silently shot toward Wang Shan's glabella.

There was no sound of tearing air, only a yin coldness that could freeze the soul.

But Wang Shan did not even glance at the short spear.

He merely lifted his foot and stamped lightly on the ground.

"Hum—"

The ground of the entire cave seemed to come alive.

Runes invisible to the naked eye flashed and vanished along the course of the Earth Vein.

The originally steady flow of Vein Qi instantly became distorted and chaotic.

That soundless black short spear, halfway through its flight, seemed to strike an invisible, uneven wall; the cold energy contained in the spearhead was instantly disrupted, twisted, and torn apart, ultimately dispersing into a wisp of black smoke in midair with a "pfft."

【Ground Vein Distortion Rune】!

A method from the Yushou Sect Inheritance that borrows the power of the Earth Vein to lay formations!

"Not good!" The Black-clad Leader's heart pounded wildly.

His secret art had been broken so effortlessly that it had already exceeded the bounds of his understanding.

He wanted to retreat!

But Wang Shan's figure blurred once more.

The next moment, a fist carrying an unstoppable, fierce aura had already appeared before his chest.

It was that Body Refining stage technique, the 【Splitting Stone Hand】.

But driven by Foundation Establishment Spiritual Power, this single punch was enough to split mountains and crack stones!

The Black-clad Leader was battle-hardened after all; in this critical moment, he crossed both arms in front of his chest, and his Protective Spirit Power surged out frantically.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud.

The Black-clad Leader felt a torrent of overwhelming force rush upon him; the bones in both arms groaned under the unbearable load, and his entire person was violently forced back seven or eight steps, each step leaving a deep footprint in the ground.

A sweet taste rose in his throat; he forcibly swallowed back the blood that surged up, but his aura had already become thoroughly chaotic.

The cave fell into an eerie dead silence.

Wan Honghai lay twitching on the ground like a dead dog, his fate unknown.

The Black-clad Leader clutched his chest, his aura unsteady, and the gaze beneath his cloak was filled with terror and wariness.

And Wang Shan merely stood there quietly, as if he had just casually swatted away two flies.

Two Foundation Establishment experts—one at Late Stage Great Perfection, the other also a capable hand at Foundation Establishment Middle Stage or above—had come together with imposing menace, yet in the span of a single exchange, one was dead and one wounded?

Was this... a cultivator who had just reached Foundation Establishment?

What kind of joke was this!

"You... who exactly are you? What you're using isn't the Wang Family's technique!" The Black-clad Leader's voice was hoarse, carrying a trace of trembling.

Wang Shan did not answer him.

He turned and walked step by step toward his family.

That cold, deathly still aura vanished in an instant, replaced by a reassuring gentleness.

He first went to Li Hu and Zhang Mei's side, crouched down, took out two Healing Pills from his robe, and carefully fed them.

"Old friend, sister-in-law, you've been through a lot. Sleep for a while; everything will be fine when you wake up."

Then, he walked over to his two grandsons.

Wang Zhitao had already groggily come to; seeing Grandpa, he burst into tears with a "waa."

Wang Shan patted his head, then looked at Wang Zhize, who was clutching a jade slip tightly and staring at him with wide eyes.

"Xiao Ze, don't be afraid. Grandpa is here."

His voice was very soft, very gentle.

Wang Zhize's tears also fell, but he didn't cry out loud; he just held out the jade slip in his arms toward his Grandpa.

"Grandpa..."

Wang Shan smiled and shook his head: "I gave this to you. It's yours."

He stood up and turned once more to face the still-shaken Black-clad Leader.

At this moment, Wang Shan's figure, in the eyes of the two children, was like a deity.

In the cave, the aftershocks of battle had not yet fully dissipated; the stench of blood and rich spiritual energy mingled together, forming an oppressive yet peculiar atmosphere.

Wang Shan had completed his transformation from Body Refining to Foundation Establishment, and also completed his shift from prey to hunter.

His legend seemed to have just drawn back a bloody curtain.