Chapter 167

Wang Shan held one, led another, with two subordinates almost moving by instinct following behind, he stepped with one foot onto that cold, ancient Altar.

He was given no time to prepare.

The stone slab runes under his feet suddenly lit up; the dim light, no longer a gentle flicker, turned into a greedy vortex that instantly swallowed the silhouettes of all five.

The world spun.

Wang Shan felt his body as if thrown into a rapidly spinning millstone; his viscera, bones, skin, and even his soul were torn, stretched, and twisted by an irresistible force. He could even 'see' his arm stretched into a noodle, then instantly compressed into a point.

This feeling was worse than death.

All he could do was clutch Wang Zhitao tightly in his arms and grip Wang Zhize with his other hand like an iron vise; he could be ground to powder, but these two children must come to no harm!

"Ah——!" Zhang Mei's anguished scream was shredded to nothing by the spatial turbulence, not a sound escaping.

Li Hu didn't even utter a groan before completely losing consciousness under that force.

No one knew how long had passed—perhaps an instant, perhaps ten million years.

That rending force vanished abruptly, replaced by a tremendous flinging power that hurled them out violently.

Plop! Plop!

Several people hit the ground like torn sacks.

Wang Shan was the first to react, ignoring the excruciating pain as if his bones were about to fall apart, he swiftly rolled over, shielding the two children beneath him, and warily scanned the surroundings.

That sight caused even his well‑traveled mind, honed over two lifetimes, to freeze for a moment.

The sky was gray‑purple, bearing a pallid, cold‑less sun.

The ground was dark brown, damp and soft, feeling like stepping on rotting flesh.

They were in a primeval jungle, but none of the trees here were normal—some resembled twisted, struggling human figures, some trunks were covered in dense, eyeball‑like nodules, and some branches looked like pallid hand bones, thrusting straight up toward the sky.

Not far off stood colossal ruined stone structures, their broken walls and remnants overgrown with blood‑red vines, exuding an ancient, unchanging desolation.

The air was filled with an indescribable odor—part putrid plant stench, part an overly rich, almost cloying vital breath.

The two opposing smells mixed together, and inhaling them made one want to retch.

"Sir… what… what kind of ghost‑ridden place is this?" Li Hu stumbled to his feet, stared at the scene before him, and asked stammeringly, his face full of bewilderment and fear.

Zhang Mei also cradled the unconscious Wang Zhitao, her face ashen as she shrank behind Wang Shan, unable to speak.

"A ghost‑ridden place?" Wang Shan muttered to himself, "I'd say it's worse than any ghost‑ridden place."

Before his words faded, the system alarm in his mind blared again, this time sharper than any prior warning about Wan Tianxiong.

【Highest‑Level Environmental Alert! Current Area: Ten Thousand Beasts Origin (Outer Perimeter)!】

【Warning! The spatial structure here is extremely unstable, the energy field chaotic; random spatial rifts and local collapses may occur at any moment!】

【Warning! Detected pervasive unknown high‑intensity corrosive energy! It has unpredictable mutagenic effects on living beings!】

A string of warnings made Wang Shan's scalp tingle.

Random spatial collapses? This damn thing isn't just walking down the road and possibly getting sliced in half at any moment?

"System, immediately scan the surrounding earth‑vein energy composition!" Wang Shan roared in his mind.

【Scanning…… Earth‑vein energy analysis complete.】

【The earth‑vein energy here consists of two core forces: one is "Primordial Vitality," pure and mighty, the source of all growth; the other is "Eerie Stillness," which corrodes all things and is the root of twisted mutation. These two forces form a strange symbiotic balance here, extremely dangerous yet also extremely unique.】

Wang Shan's eyelids twitched as he listened.

Both life and death, growth and decay—what kind of place is this? Are the old fogies of the Beast Taming Sect cultivating here? No wonder they played themselves into extinction.

Suddenly recalling something, he hastily pulled from his bosom the black jade slip that had remained warm.

As soon as the jade slip appeared, it hummed and emitted a soft black light; its formerly warm surface now grew hot. The unsettling chaotic energy around seemed to be pushed aside by this glow.

【Prompt: Detected host item Beast Taming Sect Heritage Jade Slip resonating deeply with this area's earth‑vein energy. This jade slip can, within a small radius here, mobilize earth‑vein power to temporarily stabilize the spatial structure, forming a protective zone.】

This truly is a lifeline!

Without a word, Wang Shan lifted his gaze, locking onto a relatively intact ruined stone hall not far away.

"Everyone, follow me—quick!"

He gave a low shout, took the lead, and Li Hu and Zhang Mei, daring not to hesitate even a bit, scrambled after him.

As soon as he stepped into the stone hall's range, Wang Shan immediately poured his Foundation Establishment spiritual power frantically into the jade slip.

"Order!"

The ancient runes on the jade slip lit up one by one; as Wang Shan slapped his palm on the ground, a visible black halo spread from him, enveloping the entire ruined stone hall.

Inside the halo, the heart‑pounding sense of spatial disorder and the pervasive eerie aura were instantly shut out, and the air grew a bit fresher.

Li Hu and Zhang Mei plopped onto the ground, gulping huge breaths as if they'd just been fished out of water, their bodies soaked in cold sweat.

"Did… did we survive?" Li Hu wiped sweat from his face, his voice trembling.

However, the refuge had just formed, and before Wang Shan could catch his breath, his spiritual sense caught several strong, mixed auras rising suddenly from deep in the forest.

Each of those auras was no weaker than a Foundation Establishment‑stage demonic beast, yet they were tinged with a sense of chaos, madness, and distortion—nothing like what a normal demonic beast should have. It was as if a dozen different wild beasts had been forcibly stitched together, brimming with discordant savagery.

What's worse, Wang Shan felt his own spiritual power beginning to stir uncontrollably within him.

The backlash left by his use of the Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal, which he had temporarily suppressed with pills, now—like a shark smelling blood—began to stir under the influence of this eerie energy, faintly showing a tendency to intensify.

Stabbing pains like needles shot through his meridians, as if something were trying to burst out of his flesh and blood.

"Damn!"

Wang Shan couldn't help but mutter a curse.

This place's air is practically poison to him; if he stays long, not only will he fail to solve the problem, he himself will likely turn into a monster first.

"Sir, are you all right?" Zhang Mei noticed his brief stiffening.

"I won't die." Wang Shan waved a hand, but his gaze grew exceedingly grave.

Outside, powerful foes closed in; inside, the backlash intensified; and the strange poison on his grandson Wang Zhitao's body began to show signs of flaring up in this eerie environment, his little face alternating between green and pale.

It was a case of internal and external troubles, a dead end.

He lowered his head to look at the jade slip in his hand, then glanced at his grandson in his arms whose breath was weak.

Coming here is a gamble.

But looking at it now, the danger of this gamble far exceeds his imagination.

"Li Hu, guard the entrance; if anything approaches, give an immediate warning." Wang Shan's voice returned to calm, a calm born of being driven to desperation.

"Yes, master!" Li Hu immediately grasped his great sword, took his stand at the Stone Hall doorway, and nervously stared at the twisted forest outside.

"Zhang Mei, take good care of Zhitao."

"Mm." Zhang Mei nodded firmly, holding the child tighter.

Wang Shan sat cross-legged, pulled Wang Zhize to his side, placed one hand on his forehead to send gentle Spiritual Power to soothe his startled soul, and with the other hand tightly grasped the hot jade slip.

He closed his eyes, and his Spiritual Sense sank entirely into the system and the jade slip.

"System, using the jade slip as a medium, analyze this surrounding area for me—I need to find the safest place, a way to suppress the Counter-Devouring within my body, and clues to cure the poison on Zhitao's body! Quick!"

Now is not the time for fear and despair.

Since we have already stepped into this deadly land, we can only carve out a path of survival within it.

Li Hu and Zhang Mei stood left and right, shielding the two children, gazing at Wang Shan's wrinkled yet extraordinarily calm face. They did not know what the future held, but they knew that this old man before them was their sole reliance in this man-eating world.