Chapter 184: Heritage Counterattack

Wang Shan's final command exploded like a clap of thunder in his mental world.

In the next second, that already gentle Sheng Ming Quan, as if receiving a king's decree, instantly boiled!

"Boom!"

An indescribable, utterly pure life energy transformed into an unstoppable torrent, surging along the connection between Wang Shan and the Black Jade Slip, violently charging into his sea of consciousness!

If the will of the "Ancestor of Ten Thousand Beasts" was a filthy mudflow, and Wang Shan's own Counter-Devouring power was raging volcanic magma, then this newly joined force was divine water from the highest heavens capable of purifying all things!

Three forces of utterly different natures, yet equally terrifying, collided ferociously within Wang Shan's tiny sea of consciousness!

"Ugh aaah—!"

A pain far exceeding physical dismemberment struck directly at the origin of his soul.

Wang Shan's body arched violently, like a boiled shrimp. Beneath his skin, dark golden scales, pitch-black beast markings, and emerald life radiance—three colors of light interwove, clashed, and annihilated like mad!

In the Outside World, Li Hu and Zhang Mei watched in horror as Wang Shan's body swelled and shrank at an extremely bizarre frequency, like a ball that could burst at any moment.

"Master!" Li Hu's eyes were about to split from rage, yet he dared not step forward.

"Grandpa!" Wang Zhitao, having just recovered some strength, struggled to go over, but Zhang Mei held him tightly.

"Don't go over! It's dangerous!"

Their voices, at this moment, had already become a blurry, distant buzzing in Wang Shan's ears.

His consciousness was on the brink of being completely torn apart.

Chaos, ultimate chaos!

Yet, amidst this energy storm potent enough to annihilate the souls of any True Immortal mighty expert, Wang Shan's will Core, compressed to the absolute limit, caught a trace of bizarre "harmony."

That Counter-Devouring power of the Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal, which had been tormenting him and making him wish for death, actually displayed a kind of... instinctive hostility and greed when facing the foreign king's will of the "Ancestor of Ten Thousand Beasts"?

It was like an evil wolf entrenched on its own mountain—though it bared its fangs at its own master, when another, more powerful tiger tried to invade its territory, it pounced without hesitation!

They... were tearing at each other!

A single thought, like the first ray of light cleaving through chaos, violently illuminated Wang Shan's nearly extinguished consciousness.

Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal... Ten Thousand Beasts Devouring the Master...

"Reversal" meant rebellion, defiance! "Devour" meant swallowing, plundering!

This cultivation technique, at its very root, carried a domineering arrogance of "I won't submit, I want it all"!

It Counter-Devouring the Zhuren because the Zhuren's will wasn't strong enough to suppress it, so it wanted to "devour the master."

But what if another, more powerful "beast" will invaded?

Would this technique's spearhead... change direction?

"Damn it... so that's what it meant..."

Wang Shan's soul let out a soundless wild laugh at the center of the storm.

What bullshit trap technique—this was simply a peerless ferocious blade! Those without ability couldn't grip it and would only be killed by the blade in return! Those with ability could use it to slay gods and butcher demons!

I... will damn well be the one who grips this blade!

Once this mad thought arose, it could no longer be contained!

Rather than passively enduring the crushing of three-way energy, better to strike proactively and turn this battlefield into his own hunting ground!

"Swallow... for me!"

He no longer resisted, no longer suppressed. Instead, he fiercely imprinted his last shred of will onto his own violent Counter-Devouring power, actively guiding it—like a starving fierce beast—pouncing toward the will-torrent of the "Ancestor of Ten Thousand Beasts"!

This was an outright gamble.

If he won the bet, he could use force against force, turning from guest to host.

If he lost... that would merely mean dying a bit faster, no difference!

In the Outside World, Wang Shan's hand gripping the Black Jade Slip suddenly clenched tight. The Jade Slip blazed with light, and the Sheng Ming Quan's energy seemed to receive clearer guidance—no longer crashing about wildly, but transforming into pliant barriers, precisely slicing the "Ancestor of Ten Thousand Beasts'" will-torrent into pieces, while barely protecting Wang Shan's soul Core.

With this momentary respite, Wang Shan's "Counter-Devouring plan" officially began!

"Roar!"

An invisible roar exploded in Wang Shan's sea of consciousness.

That dark golden power belonging to the Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal, under his direction, transformed into a greedy vortex, swallowing in one gulp a fragment of the "Ancestor of Ten Thousand Beasts'" will that had been separated by the life energy!

"Sizzle—"

It was like forcing a red-hot branding iron straight into his brain.

Countless chaotic, mad, venomous thoughts instantly exploded!

"Kill! Power! Mine! It's all mine!"

"No! I don't want to become a monster..."

"Beast Taming Sect... betrayal... why..."

One after another, the dying memories of failed cultivators surged like a tide, assaulting Wang Shan's mind.

Pain!

Even more painful than the three-way collision just now!

But within this pain, Wang Shan clearly felt that after his soul was tempered by this force, it had actually... grown stronger by a thread! Faint, but unmistakably clear!

It worked!

"Again!"

Wang Shan's soul roared wildly, completely throwing caution to the wind.

Like the most ravenous glutton, he actively guided the Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal's power, aided by the Sheng Ming Quan, and began madly slicing apart and devouring those scattered will-fragments.

Every act of devouring was a dismemberment of the soul.

Every act of digesting was an elevation of the will.

The horrifying mutation on his body's surface also entered a peculiar cycle. At the moment of devouring, the beastification intensified and scales grew wildly; but once he finished digesting a fragment and converted it into his own soul power, the beastification trend would bizarrely weaken by a fraction.

His body had actually achieved a terrifying balance amid this frenzied tug-of-war!

【…Warning… Zhuren's divine soul is being corrupted… No… an unknown fusion is occurring… It is strengthening…】

The system's voice came in broken fragments, riddled with the static of scrambled data, clearly unable to comprehend the bizarre scene unfolding before it either.

"Aooo—!"

A soundless yet cavern-shaking shriek erupted from the depths of Wang Shan's sea of consciousness.

It was the roar of the "Progenitor of Ten Thousand Beasts"!

It had sensed it! This "vessel" it had chosen, the most perfect one, not only refused to obediently submit to possession, but was instead treating it as a snack, gnawing it down bite by bite!

What utter blasphemy! What utter humiliation!

The colossal will began to contract, no longer spreading out to crush as before, but instead condensing into a sharp awl, attempting to pierce through the barrier of life energy and directly annihilate the core of Wang Shan's divine soul.

But Wang Shan was no longer a lamb awaiting slaughter.

"Only now you think of resisting? Too late!"

While frantically devouring the fragments at the edges to strengthen himself, he simultaneously pieced together countless fragments of incomplete information from those memory shards.

Beast Taming Sect… Ten Thousand Beasts Diagram… betrayer… Divine Descent Ritual…

Countless clues flashed through his mind; though he could not yet connect them all, they gave him a deeper understanding of the truth behind this secret realm.

More importantly, he had found this old monster's "scent"!

"You are not a single whole!" Wang Shan's divine soul let out a deafening roar. "You're nothing but a stitched-together abomination of resentment and energy! Tear you apart, and you are nothing!"

He guided the now-several-times-larger Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal vortex and ferociously charged to meet that awl of will!

"Boom—!"

Within the sea of consciousness, towering waves surged.

Wang Shan's divine soul shook violently, nearly dissipating on the spot.

But the awl of will condensed by the "Progenitor of Ten Thousand Beasts" was likewise covered in cracks from the impact, its radiance dimming.

It had been forced back!

Wang Shan had succeeded in forcibly driving this domineering ancient existence back to the edge of his own sea of consciousness!

Though the opponent remained incomparably vast and held an absolute advantage, Wang Shan had already reclaimed a foothold on his own territory!

A temporary stalemate—one that could be broken at any moment—took shape.

Wang Shan had won himself the most precious thing of all… time.