Chapter 186

Inside his sea of consciousness, the huge mouth formed from endless resentment, reeking of a fishy wind capable of devouring heaven and earth, descended upon him.

Wang Shan's soul boat swayed in this storm, as if it would be ground to powder in the next second.

Yet his face showed not a trace of fear, only a bone‑deep anger and icy resolve after being duped for ten thousand years.

"Just because you lot, who even play yourselves to death, are failures, do you deserve to be called 'Ancestor'?"

His soul did not retreat; instead, it faced the pressure and actively activated the vortex of the Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal technique in his sea of consciousness.

"Come! Let this old man see whose teeth are harder, yours or my bones!"

Boom!

The huge mouth snapped shut, and Wang Shan's soul was instantly engulfed by boundless darkness and chaos.

That was not a simple mental shock, but the howls, resentment, and madness of countless twisted souls, like billions of ants gnawing at his will.

"Devour…… devour……"

"Power…… give me……"

"So painful…… kill me……"

Chaotic thoughts stabbed into Wang Shan's mind like steel needles.

"Get lost!"

Wang Shan's soul let out a silent roar of anger, and the vortex of the Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal not only wasn't shattered by the onslaught but, like a shark smelling blood, went berserk in reverse, actually beginning to tear apart and devour the resentment fragments charging ahead.

Fight madness with madness, curb frenzy with frenzy!

However, the opponent's numbers were simply too vast. For every strand he devoured, hundreds more surged forth; the pain of his soul being torn apart made him feel as if he were being sliced by a thousand cuts.

At that very instant of the soul clash, Wang Shan suddenly felt something odd.

This power…… the energy core of that vast will…… seemed not to exist only in his sea‑of‑consciousness battlefield.

It…… was everywhere.

Through the link of his soul, he could "feel" that the entire underground cavern, the outer layer of this so‑called Beast Source Core, the Sheng Ming Quan, the rock walls, even every thread of energy flowing in the air, all shared the same source as that will!

They are the flesh and blood of the Ten Thousand Beasts Ancestor, its extended tendrils!

They didn't stumble into a secret realm; they jumped straight into the monster's belly!

This realization made Wang Shan's scalp go numb.

No wonder this ghastly place is called the Beast Source Core; here…… it is literally the monster's energy heart!

The feel of this energy…… wait, why does it seem familiar?

Just like……

Just like the mutant demon beasts they had slaughtered all the way here from outside!

The crystal cores left by those dead demon beasts, with their lingering aura, aren't they exactly the same as the taste of this "old ancestor"? Only the concentration differs by heaven and earth!

An absurd notion exploded in Wang Shan's mind.

"System!" Wang Shan roared in his sea of consciousness, "Get out here!"

A cold electronic tone sounded in his mind.

【Host, the system is doing its utmost to maintain your soul's stability; please issue a command.】

"Analyze! Immediately! Right now! Re‑analyze all the mutant demon beast crystal cores we collected earlier!" Wang Shan's words came rapid‑fire, "Compare their energy composition with the source energy of this pile of trash in depth! Quick!"

【Command received…… beginning deep analysis…… sample count: 374……】

【Energy model comparison in progress…… similarity 99.7%……99.8%……99.9%……】

【Comparison complete.】

The system's voice remained emotionless, yet each word it uttered struck like a heavy hammer, slamming hard into Wang Shan's heart.

【Report to host: The 'mutant demon beast crystal cores' you collected are not traditional demon cores. Their essence is ordinary demon cores contaminated and assimilated by fragments of the Ten Thousand Beasts Ancestor's will, forming an energy crystal.】

Indeed so!

Wang Shan's heart began to race.

Those demon beasts were nothing but mobile energy packets unconsciously produced by that old monster!

"Continue! Besides exchanging these crystal cores for Spirit Plant Points, do they have any other uses?!" Wang Shan pressed, "Can the 'will fragments' inside them be stripped away? Can they be utilized?!"

This is the key!

If we could……

【Conducting feasibility analysis…… analysis complete.】

【The will‑fragment energy contained within these crystal cores can be high‑precision purified by the system, removing contaminating resentment, and transformed into a new resource: 'Will‑Fragment Essence'.】

【'Will‑Fragment Essence': a high‑purity soul‑nourishing substance that the host can directly absorb to strengthen the soul, boost mental power, and enhance mastery of techniques.】

【System assessment: 'Will‑Fragment Essence' is far more valuable than Spirit Plant Points of the same tier. Proceed with purification and conversion?】

Wang Shan almost burst out laughing at the last sentence.

He felt like someone who had been rummaging through a junkyard for half a day, only to be told that what he was stepping on wasn't scrap iron but a gold mine!

"Convert! All of them! Not a single one left! Immediately purify them all for this old man!"

He almost shouted it out.

【Command confirmed. Beginning batch purification……】

【Purifying……】

The next second, Wang Shan's system panel, as if gone mad, began frantically refreshing.

【Ding! Purification successful, obtained Will‑Fragment Essence x1, Spirit Plant Points +1000!】

【Ding! Purification successful, obtained Will‑Fragment Essence x1, Spirit Plant Points +1200!】

【Ding! Purification successful……】

【……】

A series of system prompt tones, like the most beautiful celestial music in the world, resonated in his mind.

Before, he had painstakingly killed and accumulated Spirit Plant Points, but compared to these over three hundred crystal cores, they were utterly insignificant.

In just a few breaths, the Spirit Plant Points balance on his system panel jumped from a barely sufficient number to an astronomical figure that made his own head spin!

And more importantly, it was those batches of purified essence, radiating pure light, the "Will Fragment Essence"!

"I've struck it rich…… this fucking is a windfall……"

Wang Shan's soul was laughing wildly.

After all that effort, the greatest treasure wasn't this damn Sheng Ming Quan, nor any inheritance, but the "junk" he had casually tossed into his system space as loot and a source of Spirit Plant Points!

These products, contaminated by the old monster, after being transformed by the system, actually became the best supplement for turning the tables on it!

Is there anything more ironic and satisfying than this?

"The Ten Thousand Beasts Ancestor's offensive still surged like a tide, but to Wang Shan now, it was no longer a terrifying foe."

This is a movable, inexhaustible super treasure house!

"System! Use one 'Will Fragment Essence' on me! Act directly on my soul!"

【Warning: The 'Will Fragment Essence' has been purified, but its source is the same as the Ten Thousand Beasts Ancestor's; excessive or improper use may accelerate the host's bodily beastly mutation, posing unknown risks. Confirm use?】

"Use!" Wang Shan had no hesitation, "If I don't use it now, am I waiting to die?!"

【Command Confirmation.】

A stream of cool, pure energy to the extreme instantly injected into his soul that was about to be torn apart.

That feeling was like a person on the verge of dying of thirst in a desert, who suddenly gulped down an entire flask of ice-cold sweet spring.

His originally chaotic and painful soul, nourished by this energy, instantly stabilized considerably. The torn rifts began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye. His thoughts became unprecedentedly clear; the previously hard-to-control Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal technique, like a wild horse breaking its reins, now gave him a faint sense of blood-connected mastery, as if moving his limbs with his fingers.

It works!

And it's extremely effective!

Wang Shan could clearly feel that his soul, after consuming this essence, had grown a notch. Although still tiny compared to the whole Ten Thousand Beasts Ancestor, it had gone from a leaf-sized boat ready to capsize at any moment to a small barge with some weight.

He again activated the vortex of the Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal; this time, the vortex spun faster, its pull stronger, and the efficiency of tearing apart those resentment fragments increased more than double!

"Hahaha……" Wang Shan's soul burst into loud laughter, his voice filled with long-repressed delight and wild abandon, "Old thing, thanks for the feast!"

"Today, I'll take your flesh to nourish my body!"

He no longer passively defended; instead, he actively wielded his strengthened soul like a sharp scalpel, precisely cutting into the torrent of that vast will, while frantically "scraping" the "raw materials".

Outside, in the mountain cave.

Wang Zhize and his two subordinates, who had been standing guard nearby, saw Wang Shan sitting cross-legged by the Sheng Ming Quan; although his bodily mutation had not ceased, the painful, twisted expression on his face was gradually being replaced by an odd, somewhat ferocious calm.

The dark-gold scales on his body seemed…… to have grown even brighter.