Chapter 206

Cave Entrance, the wind whimpered, like ghosts wailing.

The pressure from a Golden Core cultivator was no longer a vague perception through the mountain rock, but had turned into a substantive pressure, like a heavy iron curtain, pressing firmly against the Cave Entrance. The air became viscous, each breath felt like inhaling gravel.

Wang Shan stood at the edge of that darkness, his half-human, half-beast body merging with the twisted shadows of the vines. He felt no tension at all; instead, he was like an experienced old hunter, observing the approaching footsteps of his prey.

"Hide? Why would I hide?" he muttered to the empty space ahead, his voice hoarse, with a metallic grating quality, "I went to all this trouble to remodel my home like this; not inviting guests in to sit would be a waste."

【Warning: Target Wan Tiande has broken through the outer third layer of the illusion formation, estimated to reach the Cave Entrance in ninety-seven breaths. His treasure "Breaking Barrier Vessel" has an extremely high energy reaction; regular physical barriers cannot effectively block it.】

The system's cold alert tone rang in his mind.

"Ninety-seven breaths? That's enough."

Wang Shan not only did not retreat, but stepped forward, standing at the light-and-shadow boundary of the Cave Entrance. He clearly knew that Wan Tiande's goal was to capture him alive, for the unique Ten Thousand Beasts Origin within his body. An enemy who wants to capture alive is much easier to deal with than one who only wants to kill.

Because greed itself is the best trap.

"If you want to eat fish, you have to put down some bait."

Wang Shan grinned, then closed his eyes, sinking his mind into his body. That violent, chaotic, madness-inducing transformative power, under his will now, became as docile as a tamed vicious dog.

He carefully extended his Spiritual Sense, gently pinching off a thread from the source core.

It was a strand extremely faint yet pure to the extreme. It was not mere Spiritual Power, but a mixture of Wang Shan's own soul imprint, life origin, and the characteristics of the Ten Thousand Beasts Reversal cultivation method… a kind of "flavor".

To the members of the Ten Thousand Beasts Gate, this flavor was more tempting than the sweetest blood food.

"Go."

Wang Shan flicked his finger.

That strand of dark-gold qi drifted silently out of the Cave Entrance, like the faintest wisp of green smoke, instantly dissipating in the Outside World's air.

It dissipated quickly, yet did not truly vanish; instead, it became an imperceptible beacon to ordinary people, a crystal-clear marker on the Spiritual Power level, pointing directly to this transformed death Cave.

……

Outside the Cave, dozens of li away.

Wan Tiande was piloting an antiquated-style flying vessel, its hull radiating light as it forcibly shattered every Seal along the way. A compass floated before him, its needle spinning wildly, obviously countering this place's Chaotic Magnetic Field.

"Damn old fox, really knows how to hide!" Wan Tiande's face darkened. The seals in this damned place kept popping up; though they couldn't hurt him, they annoyed him endlessly.

Just then, his nose twitched slightly, and his expression froze.

A faint trace of qi suddenly appeared in his perception.

At first, he thought it was an illusion, but the next moment that qi became clear.

It was a… throbbing from the deepest part of the bloodline! It was the aura of the most primal, purest Ten Thousand Beasts Origin that the Ten Thousand Beasts Gate had sought for hundreds of years!

"Found it!"

Wan Tiande's eyes instantly flashed with greed; all his previous impatience vanished.

Though this aura was faint, it was incredibly pure, yet mixed with a trace of chaos and loss of control.

"Hahaha! Indeed, forcibly fusing the Beast Source has triggered the Counter-Devouring! He's about to lose control!" Wan Tiande burst into laughter, the last doubt in his heart dispelled.

In his view, this must be the source qi that Wang Shan inadvertently leaked while resisting the Counter-Devouring—a heaven-sent opportunity!

He hesitated no longer, pouring all his Spiritual Power into the Breaking Barrier Vessel beneath his feet.

"Move forward at full speed, Elder!"

The flying vessel let out a hum, turning into a stream of light, racing at full speed toward the Cave along the deadly "bait" aura.

……

"Hehe, he's taken the bait."

Inside the Cave, Wang Shan opened his eyes, his dark-gold pupils full of mockery.

【Target speed increased by three hundred percent, estimated to arrive in twenty breaths.】

"Good timing!"

With a thought, Wang Shan activated the "Environmental Resonance" ability; his will spread along the bloody rune network on the rock walls, engulfing the entire Cave.

"Roar!"

"Squeak!"

"Hiss—"

Near the Cave Entrance, the small demonic beasts lurking in the dark corners, mutated by the local energy radiation, seemed to have been simultaneously injected with the most violent stimulant; their eyes instantly turned blood‑red, they lost all reason, retaining only the most primal killing instinct.

A fist‑sized 'Spine‑backed Rat' instantly swelled up, the spines on its back all standing erect, and it frenziedly rammed its head into the rock wall. Several Black‑scaled Water Snakes lurking by the water twisted their bodies and lunged ashore, biting anything they saw.

In an instant, the area around the Cave Entrance fell into utter chaos, dozens of low‑level mutant demonic beasts descending into indiscriminate mutual slaughter and violent howls. To an outside observer, the scene was nothing less than a tragic drama of an out‑of‑control beast tide, with the master besieged.

Having finished all this, Wang Shan turned and walked back into the depths of the Cave.

Li Hu and Zhang Mei, following earlier orders, were stuffing the last few attack Talismans into the crevices of the rock wall; their faces had turned pale, clearly frightened by the ordeal.

"All set?"

"Rep… reporting to the Ancestor, everything is set!" Li Hu's voice trembled a little.

"Very good." Wang Shan nodded, paid them no further heed, and walked straight up to the two grandsons.

Wang Zhizhe's little face was clenched tight, his hands clenched around the Beast‑Sealing Source Pearl, his big eyes full of tension and resolve.

Wang Shan crouched, extended his large hand covered in scales, but instead of patting the boy's head as usual, he merely touched lightly the hand that held the pearl.

"Zhizhe, remember this: you're not hiding here; you're our family's artillery. When Grandfather shouts 'Stir,' you muster all your strength—even the strength of suckling—and stir this lake water into a pot of porridge for me. Understand?"

"Understood!" Wang Zhizhe nodded firmly.

Wang Shan then looked at Wang Zhitao, who remained silent but kept himself positioned in front of his brother.

"You, you have only one mission."

Wang Zhitao raised his head and looked at his grandfather.

"Let your younger brother survive."

Wang Zhitao said nothing, but the stubbornness in his eyes already said everything.

"Very good."

Wang Shan stood up, and finally took a look at the "Ten Thousand Beast Garden" he had built with his own hands.

He knew, this was a high-stakes gamble: gambling on Wan Tiande's greed, gambling on his own control of this forbidden land, gambling that his grandson could shoulder the responsibility at the crucial moment.

But he had no choice.

For the two little ones behind him, for the Wang family's meager bloodline, not to mention a Golden Core Elder, even if the Heavenly King himself came, he would have to tear a piece of flesh from the other side!

He slowly retreated into deeper darkness, his entire aura converging, as if he had turned into a cold stone.

The hunter is already in position.

【Target has broken through the final barrier.】

【Distance…… three, two, one!】

Boom!!!

With a tremendous roar, the camouflage barrier made of vines and rocks at the cave entrance was instantly shattered by an unstoppable force.

Rocks flew through the air, smoke and dust filled the space.

A domineering figure bearing the pressure of a Golden Core appeared at the cave entrance.

Wan Tiande has arrived.