Chapter 197: Secret Realm Beneath the Lake

Wang Shan gripped that warm, smooth Black Jade Slip, a familiar sting radiating from the depths of his soul through his fingertips.

The Counter-Devouring force of the *Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal*, like a pack of starving wild dogs, rampaged through his Meridians, gnawing at his sanity.

He stared at the jade slip, then glanced at his grandson Wang Zhitao, whose eyes were full of worry, and Wang Zhize, who clutched his younger brother's arm with a tense look on his face.

Flee? Hide?

No use.

This mutation of his body, this descent of his soul, was more lethal than any pursuer.

Rather than passively waiting to become a monster capable only of howling, he might as well... gamble big!

"Ancestor, you..." Li Hu saw that his complexion was off and was about to speak.

But Wang Shan ignored him. He bit the tip of his tongue hard, the sharp pain clearing his mind for an instant. He forced out a drop of dark red blood. Unlike normal blood's vivid hue, this blood bead carried a stale and violent aura, suspended at his fingertip, trembling faintly.

"Go!"

He flicked it with his finger, and the blood bead landed squarely in the center of the Black Jade Slip.

There was no burst of dazzling light as imagined.

That drop of blood was like falling onto a scorching desert; without even a wisp of blue smoke, it was "eaten" clean by the jade slip.

"And... it's gone just like that?" Li Hu scratched his head, somewhat baffled.

Zhang Mei also frowned, feeling that things wouldn't be that simple.

The next second, a sudden change erupted!

"Bzzzz—"

A low hum, as if from primordial antiquity, erupted from the jade slip. The originally plain and unremarkable Black Jade Slip now glowed entirely with brilliant fluorescence, its light pure and sacred, forming a stark contrast with the violent aura in Wang Shan's blood.

Immediately after, as if receiving some command, all those runes slumbering for eons on the rock walls along the entire Cave lake shore awakened in an instant!

Streams of light flowed rapidly along the veins of the runes, converging toward the center of the lake from all directions, illuminating the entire underground Cave as bright as day.

"Crash—!"

The calm lake surface completely erupted, no longer a mirror but turning into a pot of boiling water. The lake water churned and spun violently, and a massive vortex slowly took shape at the center of the lake.

Two completely different energies intertwined and shot skyward from the depths of the vortex.

One was life energy refined to the utmost purity; a single whiff refreshed the mind, as if it could cleanse all filth.

The other was an impure, chaotic aura brimming with primal bestiality, identical to the Counter-Devouring force within Wang Shan's body, yet even more ancient, even more terrifying!

"Mother of mercy! There's something haunted under this lake!" Li Hu was so scared he plopped down on the ground, scrambling backward.

Just then, the system's cold and urgent Alert sounded in Wang Shan's mind.

【Emergency Alert: Detected resonance between mutated bloodline source and "Celestial Pivot Core Seal"! Forcibly activating this region's highest authorization—"Origin-Returning Purification Program"!】

【Warning: This Cave is a secret experimental site for "Beast Origin Factors" left behind from antiquity by the Beast Taming Sect. Once the purification program is activated, it will indiscriminately convert and purify all energy within the area!】

Wang Shan's heart sank sharply.

A secret experimental site?

【Warning: The Zhuren's mutated constitution and the energy nature of the "Origin-Returning Purification Array" are in fundamental conflict. This forced purification is both the Zhuren's sole opportunity to temper the body and guide the direction of mutation, and the ultimate challenge that may lead to the Zhuren's total loss of control and annihilation of body and soul!】

【Evaluating... Success rate: Unknown. Consequence of failure: Complete bestial transformation, sanity obliterated!】

The cold words pierced into Wang Shan's mind like so many knives.

Opportunity? Challenge?

To put it plainly, it was a roulette game wagering his life, with the Grim Reaper sitting across the table.

Lose the bet, and he wouldn't even qualify to become a madman—he'd simply vanish from this world.

"Grandpa!" Wang Zhitao seemed to sense something, his little face deathly pale, gripping his pant leg tightly.

Wang Shan looked at his grandson, then glanced at that terrifying energy vortex that had already expanded to dozens of zhang wide.

A majestic storm of energy swept in, making clothes flap violently, nearly making it impossible to stand steady.

He laughed instead.

The laughter was hoarse, like an old bellows being pulled, making Li Hu and Zhang Mei's hair stand on end.

"What's there to fear?" Wang Shan spoke in a low voice, not knowing whether he was saying it to his grandson or to himself. "The worst outcome is just death, isn't it? I've been afraid of everything in this life, but I've never been afraid of death!"

He shoved Wang Zhitao away, stepped forward, spread his arms, and actively met that world-destroying energy vortex.

"Come!"

With a furious roar, he actually used his inhumanly powerful willpower to forcibly channel that massive energy vortex into his own body!

"Ancestor! No!" Zhang Mei shrieked.

"Boom—!"

Endless energy, like a flood bursting through a dam, poured into Wang Shan's body in an instant.

"Ugh, ahhhhh—!"

Indescribable agony swept through every inch of flesh, every cell.

If the Counter-Devouring of the *Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal* was a million ants gnawing at his marrow, then now it was ten thousand red-hot steel blades madly cutting and churning inside his body!

"Crack... crack..."

The bones inside his body emitted a teeth-grating sound of distortion. Beneath his skin, patches of fine, dark golden scales with eerie patterns burst through the flesh one after another. His frame was stretched amid convulsions, his muscles bulging unnaturally, as if his entire being was being forcibly reshaped into another kind of creature.

Li Hu and Zhang Mei were completely dumbfounded, watching helplessly as the familiar Ancestor turned into a... monster.

Yet, in this boundless purgatory of agony, Wang Shan's consciousness caught a peculiar sensation.

A connection.

A connection with all things in this space, one he had never experienced before.

He could "see"—no, "feel"—that the nearby "Crimson Blood Dragon Whisker Grass" was trembling with excitement from the energy's surge. He could feel the corpse of the bizarre snake whose head he had crushed not far away; though life had faded, the "Beast Origin Factors" constituting its body were slowly dissipating, returning to this land.

He could even clearly sense the life pulse of every Spirit Plant, the stillness of every rock, each like a unique melody playing in his mind.

What is this?

A ridiculous thought sprang up.

He endures the excruciating pain of his body being torn, splits off a thread of his consciousness, and attempts to "communicate" with a Spirit Plant by the lakeside that had become somewhat wilted from the earlier energy shock.

He says nothing, only issues a command in his mind.

—Come back to life.

In the next instant, a miraculous scene unfolded.

That wilted Spirit Plant, at a speed visible to the naked eye, became supple and plump again, radiating vigorous life. Moreover, its tip gently curved, swaying lightly toward Wang Shan's direction, as if… paying homage.

Li Hu rubbed his eyes, then gave his own thigh a hard pinch.

"Sss… it hurts! This isn't a dream! Zhang Mei, did you see? That grass… that grass has become sentient! It's bowing to the ancestors!"

Wang Shan's mind, however, was crystal clear.

So that's it!

So that's how it is!

This damned transformation is not merely a simple curse or erosion!

It is binding itself to the most fundamental primal law of the Ten Thousand Beasts Origin! With each deepening of the transformation, each painful torment, it is accompanied by control over some rule of this world!

Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal—what it reverses is not heaven nor earth, but it turns the cultivator themselves into a part of the Beast Source, becoming the… ruler of this land?

This Beast Taming Sect—are they a group of geniuses or a bunch of lunatics!

"System!" he roared in his mind, "Stop feeding me those useless drivel! Begin deep analysis immediately! Analyze this 'environmental resonance' ability, digitize it! Combine the inheritance data in the jade slip, and find me a way to control it! Now!"

He needs a plan—a scheme to turn this damned Cave into his own home ground!

While he was frantically thinking, the energy vortex sweeping his entire body seemed to reach a critical point.

Something marvelous happened.

That massive purification energy, together with the Counter-Devouring force of Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal within him, after the initial fierce clash, surprisingly reached a strange equilibrium.

The purification energy no longer tries to annihilate the Counter-Devouring force, and the Counter-Devouring force no longer wildly destroys his vitality. The two are as if held by an invisible giant hand, using his body as battlefield and furnace, beginning a higher‑level fusion and metamorphosis.

The pain continues, the degree of transformation keeps deepening, and he can feel himself drifting farther from the human form.

Yet his reason, at the heart of this storm, remains more clear‑headed and calm than ever before.

He knows he has bet correctly.

At least, he has temporarily suppressed the most lethal Counter-Devouring.

He, survived.