Chapter 163

Inside the cave dwelling, the bloody smell had been cleaned away, leaving only a faint mixture of lime and medicinal herbs.

Wang Shan sat cross-legged at the deepest part of the cave, eyes tightly shut.

The sensation of Foundation Establishment was wonderful; the spiritual power inside his body was no longer gaseous but had turned into a thin stream that trickled through his meridians, each circuit bringing a strength and heft far beyond the Qi Refining stage. This was spiritual power liquefied—every gesture now held power.

"It feels good……" he muttered to himself.

But after the pleasure came the problem.

Each time his spiritual power completed a circuit, an invisible needle deep in his meridians would prick him—neither light nor heavy—not fatal, but annoying, like a creditor constantly reminding him of his debt.

He knew this was the aftereffect of activating the Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal. That forbidden art, which forcibly triggers an enemy's technique to backlash, could hardly come without a price.

【Warning: The host's meridians have sustained slight backlash damage.】

【Detection: The inherited forbidden arts Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal and Soul Thorn both carry high-level backlash risk; prolonged or overuse will cause permanent meridian damage, and in severe cases the mind will be eroded by bestiality, reducing one to a monster that knows only slaughter.】

The system's prompt was cold and direct.

Wang Shan opened his eyes, and before him seemed to reappear that scene—inside the Beast Taming Sect's mountain gate, countless disciples with blood-red eyes, their bodies mutated into half‑human, half‑beast monsters, madly tearing at their former fellow sect members.

So this was the price.

He twitched the corner of his mouth; this deal was truly… fair.

"I barely managed to live a second life; I don't want to become some neither‑human‑nor‑ghost thing."

He stood up, walked to a corner of the cave, where a pile of storage bags taken from the Wan family and the black‑clothed persons lay stacked.

"System, recycle everything."

【Recycling loot tally…】

【Third‑tier Magic Artifact "Black Wind Blade", second‑tier upper‑grade magic robe, various talismans and pills… total Spirit Plant Points recovered:.】

【Detected special item: Wan family core technique jade slip Ten Thousand Beast Method, recycle value Spirit Plant Points, recycle?】

【Detected special item: Black‑clothed Person organization Identity Token, recycle value 1250 points, recycle?】

"Keep the Ten Thousand Beast Method, and keep the token too." Wang Shan waved his hand. "Everything else, convert to points."

【Recycling complete, host's current Spirit Plant Points balance:.】

Seeing that long string of numbers on the system panel, Wang Shan finally felt a bit more at ease. Money—or rather, Spirit Plant Points—was the capital for establishing oneself anywhere.

"Exchange for the formula of third‑tier Clear Heart Pill, then accelerate analysis of the Beast Taming Sect inheritance, prioritizing the parts on 'backlash' and 'control'."

【Exchange successful, cost 8000 Spirit Plant Points.】

【Accelerated analysis underway, estimated consumption of Spirit Plant Points., duration three hours.】

Wang Shan hesitated not, directly confirming.

He took out his alchemy furnace and a few commonly kept spiritual herbs from his storage bag, skillfully firing up the furnace to concoct pills. For his current cultivation and soul strength, refining third‑tier pills was no trouble.

After an hour, three pills the size of longan fruits, exuding a faint clear fragrance, fell into the jade bottle.

He pinched one and tossed it into his mouth; the pill melted on contact, a cool medicinal power slid down his throat and quickly merged into his meridians. The needle‑like prickling sensation was indeed suppressed and eased considerably.

"Huu… as long as it works."

He took the remaining pills and left the cultivation chamber.

Outside in the cave hall, Li Hu and Zhang Mei were speaking softly; the two children, Wang Zhe and Wang Zhitao, lay side by side on a makeshift stone bed.

"Master!" Li Hu and Zhang Mei hurriedly rose; their injuries, thanks to Wang Shan's pills, were mostly healed, though their faces were still a bit pale.

Wang Shan waved his hand and walked to the bedside.

Wang Zhe had already awakened, staring big‑eyed at the cave ceiling, wondering what he was thinking. Seeing Wang Shan approach, he immediately sat up, his eyes full of filial affection and admiration: "Grandfather!"

"Hmm, how do you feel?" Wang Shan rubbed his head.

"Much better!" Wang Zhe patted his chest. "Grandfather, you're amazing! One slap sent that bastard flying!"

"They're just too weak," Wang Shan remarked offhand, his gaze falling on the still‑unconscious Wang Zhitao beside him.

The little grandson's brows were knotted, his small face showing a hint of abnormal cyan.

Zhang Mei whispered beside him: "Master, Zhitao woke once, cried out in pain, then fell asleep again. He took the detox pill you gave, but it seems…"

"The black‑clothed person's poison is vicious, aimed at corrupting one's qi and blood foundations; a third‑tier detox pill can only cling to life." Wang Shan probed Zhitao's pulse, pondered a moment, then said, "No matter, I'll think of a way; I'll surely cleanse it completely."

He knew clearly that this required a higher‑grade pill, or… finding a more special method within the Beast Taming Sect inheritance.

After comforting his family, he again walked alone back into the depths of the cave.

The inheritance node that had been activated earlier by his breakthrough and blood‑line resonance was now faintly glowing.

It was an ancient altar.

The altar was not large, about the height of a person, its entire body made of an unknown black stone, covered densely with runes and patterns a hundred times more complex than those on the previous cave walls. These patterns were no longer mere fierce beasts, but various rare and exotic beasts intertwined, coiled, and fused into an uncanny spectacle; at the center lay a deep vortex‑shaped rune, as if it wanted to suck in one's mind and spirit.

The whole altar was enveloped by a faint, almost imperceptible membrane of light, like an ancient object sealed in dust for a thousand years that had just awakened.

【System deep analysis…】

【Analysis complete. This is the Beast Taming Sect's core positioning formation, and also a one‑way transmission altar.】

【The formation points to the core forbidden zone of the Man Yun Mountain Range— the Ten Thousand Beasts Origin.】

【The Ten Thousand Beasts Origin: the ancient relic site of the Beast Taming Sect, the source of the sect's power and its downfall; detected within are extremely high‑level energy reactions and extremely dangerous unstable spatial laws.】

Ten Thousand Beasts Origin?

Wang Shan looked at these four characters, his heart jolted.

He instantly connected all the clues.

The fragmentary Ten Thousand Beast Method, the lethal "Ten Thousand Beasts Devouring Master" backlash, the complete inheritance he had obtained, and this altar pointing to an unknown perilous place.

The answer seemed to lie there.

There, perhaps, lay the ultimate method to resolve the backlash of Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal, higher‑level Beast Taming Sect arts, and even power capable of reshaping the entire Man Yun Mountain Range's landscape.

But the four words "extremely dangerous" were marked in blood‑red by the system.

This damned place is certainly no holy land; it might very well be the burial ground where the entire Beast Taming Sect was wiped out.

Won't you go?

The threat of the Wan family, that mysterious Black-clothed Person organization, the strange poison in the grandson's body, and the hidden dangers on my own person—each and every one of these feels like a great mountain pressing down on my head.

He is now like a mortal who has just obtained a divine weapon; he can wield it to wound enemies, but if he is not careful, the sharp weapon will also cut himself.

He must find the true "user manual," and even the "forging diagrams."

And that manual is located in the "Ten Thousand Beasts Origin."

Wang Shan reached out his hand and lightly touched the light membrane on the Altar's surface; a cold, ancient aura flowed from his fingertips.

New trouble has already come knocking; there's no dodging it. In that case, all we can do is… venture into even more trouble.