Chapter 187: Deadly Temptation

Outside the Ten Thousand Beasts Origin, the yin wind was as sharp as a knife.

Wan Tianxiong's figure darted through the twisted stone forest, his complexion far from good. In one hand he held the gleaming golden 【Soul-Suppressing Banner】, in the other he gripped a dark-gold 【Binding Demon Rope】; the aura of his Golden Core stage that should have made myriad beasts submit, yet here it was like a mud cow sinking into the sea.

"Damn it, how can my Spiritual Sense only reach this short distance?" He stopped, brows furrowed.

Normally his Spiritual Sense could cover a radius of a hundred li, but now an invisible force pressed it down to within a hundred zhang around him; beyond that lay a chaotic gray mist where nothing could be seen or sensed.

This damned place, everywhere exudes eeriness.

The air was filled with a strange odor of decay and rebirth intertwined, like taking a piece of wood rotten for ten thousand years and sprouting new shoots on it; just smelling it made one's chest feel suffocated.

"Wang Shan, you old piece of trash, do you think hiding in these desolate mountains and evil waters can save your life?" Wan Tianxiong muttered to himself, boosting his spirits.

He simply didn't believe that a nobody who hadn't even reached Golden Core could overturn the heavens. With the sect's two great strange treasures in hand, hunting down a fleeing branch remnant should have been a cinch.

"Roar!"

A roar unlike any known beast exploded from the shadows to the side; a pitch-black creature with three blood-red eyes, leopard-like in form, lunged forward. The foul wind hit his face, and that savage aura even made Wan Tianxiong feel a sudden palpitation.

"Ignorant beast!"

Wan Tianxiong snorted coldly, the 【Binding Demon Rope】 shooting out like a spirit snake, whistling through the air as it lashed toward the monster.

According to past experience, as soon as the Binding Demon Rope touched an ordinary great demon, its demonic power would be sealed instantly, rendering it immobile.

But the next scene made his pupils contract sharply.

The golden rope coiled around the monster's body, yet it did not bind it tightly as expected. The monster exhaled a puff of black aura, and the golden light on the Binding Demon Rope seemed to be stained with ink, quickly dimming, its force likewise waning.

The monster winced in pain, let out a hiss, and actually broke free of half the loop, then lunged to bite Wan Tianxiong's arm!

"What?!"

Wan Tianxiong had no choice but to recall his treasure and clumsily sidestep. Though he avoided the vital spot, the monster's claw wind still tore a slit in his sleeve.

He swung the 【Soul-Suppressing Banner】, its golden surface unfurling a soul‑seizing light that shot straight at the monster's head. This treasure, specifically aimed at beast souls, had never failed before.

However, the monster merely paused, the madness in its three red eyes intensifying as it roared and lunged again.

"Not afraid?"

"Something's off, these beasts… why aren't they afraid of my 【Soul-Suppressing Banner】?"

Wan Tianxiong's heart jumped. He flew backward while pinching a seal, activating the 【Ten Thousand Beasts Method】 within him. An invisible aura spread out—this was the Wan Clan's fundamental art for commanding beasts, possessing an innate bloodline suppression over demonic creatures.

But this time, as his technique circulated, he felt a sluggish resistance, as if his wheels were stuck in mud. Worse, the monster wasn't suppressed at all; instead, like an enraged bull, its assault grew even more ferocious.

Wan Tianxiong had to expend a large amount of Spiritual Power, consecutively blasting three palm‑thunder strikes, before finally blowing that seemingly weak monster to charcoal.

Looking at the corpse on the ground, black smoke curling from it, a layer of cold sweat appeared on his back.

This was already the seventh such monster he had encountered in the two hours since he entered. Each was incredibly violent, fearless of death, and moreover showed a strange resistance to his prized beast‑controlling art and treasures.

What made him even more uneasy was that he could feel each time he activated the 【Ten Thousand Beasts Method】, a tiny tremor of Spiritual Power stirred within him, as if it wanted to break free of his control.

This art…… is it being weakened here? Or…… does it show signs of backlash?

An absurd thought popped into his head.

Wan Tianxiong shook his head, trying to dispel this ominous premonition.

He pressed deeper, but the surrounding scenery began to twist more and more; a boulder he had just passed reappeared ahead in the blink of an eye. He felt as if trapped in an invisible maze—no matter which direction he went, he would eventually loop back to the starting point.

"An array? Or a natural seal?"

He released his Golden Core aura to the fullest, yet it only made the nearby pebbles tremble slightly; the distant gray mist showed not the slightest ripple.

Chasing Wang Shan now looks like a joke.

He can't even tell direction anymore—what talk is there of pursuit?

"Wang Shan…… did you deliberately lure me here?" Wan Tianxiong's voice echoed in the empty stone forest, carrying a barely perceptible tremor.

The roles of hunter and prey seemed to have reversed without him noticing.

He tried to take out the Communication Jade Talisman to contact his clansmen outside. After pouring Spiritual Power into it, the talisman merely flickered weakly before falling completely silent, like a useless stone.

Sure enough, the space here was cut off.

Isolated and helpless.

Roar! Hiss!

From all directions, pairs of blood‑red eyes lit up in the gray mist, their multitude making his scalp tingle. Endless mutant demonic beasts surrounded him on all sides.

"A bunch of trash!"

Wan Tianxiong bellowed in anger, the dignity of his Golden Core stage utterly provoked. He put away the now‑ineffective 【Binding Demon Rope】, planted the 【Soul‑Suppressing Banner】 at his side for protection, and with both hands forming seals he hurled massive spells at the beast horde.

Booming sounds rang nonstop, shattered stone and flesh flying together.

He was like a volcano on the verge of eruption, venting all his pent‑up frustration and rage upon these monsters.

Yet these monsters seemed endless—kill a batch, and another surged forward.

After an hour, Wan Tianxiong leaned against a rock wall, panting. The proud robes of his sect were now in tatters, stained with foul blood and dirt.

He fished out a bottle of pills from his storage pouch, tossed them into his mouth without a glance, then crushed a precious Defensive Talisman to give himself a shield.

The pills were meant for his attempt to break into mid‑Golden Core, the talisman a life‑saving gift from his ancestors. Now both were wasted on these lowly beasts.

"Damn it! Damn it!"

He slammed a fist into the rock wall, his joints aching.

As a Golden Core Elder of the Wan Clan sect, when had he ever suffered such humiliation? Toyed with by a branch‑line waste who ought to have been dead long ago!

Now the question was no longer whether he could kill Wang Shan, but whether he himself could escape this damned place alive.

He could feel that if he lingered, not to mention exhausting his Spiritual Power, the mere corrosion of this bizarre environment on his arts would be enough to damage his foundation, even…… cause him to fall here.

Resentment, fury, and even a trace of fear he himself refused to admit, ran rampant in his heart.

He lifted his gaze toward the depths of the gray mist, where it seemed a pair of invisible eyes stared back, mocking, coldly watching him—the prey fallen into the trap.