Chapter 225

Inside the cave, deathly silence was terrifying.

Two children lay on the ground, their bodies twitching, faces deathly pale, as if pulled from water, cold sweat soaking their clothes. Painful groans escaped their throats, faint yet heart-wrenching.

Li Hu and Zhang Mei were pinned to the ground by an invisible force, unable to lift a finger. They could only stare in terror at the black peak named Wang Shan, feeling a soul‑shaking dread that could crush everything.

Grandfather…… really lost control.

That thought made Li Hu's heart and gallbladder split.

However, the terrifying beast made no further move. It simply stood still, and on its massive body, the horrifying wounds that had just split from the loss of origin were healing at a visible speed, black blood flowing back inside, as if time were reversing.

In its scarlet beast eyes, ferocity and chaos still surged, yet deep in this ocean of chaos there was a faint light, like a reef in raging waves, stubbornly holding fast.

That was the last humanity belonging to Wang Shan.

He was engaged in a silent war with another 'it.' The price was that for each second he remained conscious, his soul and spirit would be worn away a fraction.

He had no time left.

"Ze'er…"

A fragmented mental echo, as if from the depths of the Nine Abyss, rang in Wang Zheze's mind.

Wang Zheze, under a massive influx of information, shuddered violently; he endured the excruciating pain of his brain about to burst and looked toward the huge black shadow.

"Grandfather…"

"Jade slip…" Wang Shan's voice carried indescribable fatigue and pain, "Look… look clearly…"

Following this command, the black jade slip in Wang Zheze's hand suddenly burst into blinding light! This time it was no longer the previous gentle guidance, but a near‑brutal infusion.

Countless twisted, ancient runes emerged from Wang Shan's beastly form, breaking free of flesh and blood, turning into streams of black data that surged madly toward the jade slip.

"Ah!"

Wang Zheze let out a piercing, tragic scream.

He 'saw'.

He saw an endless, swirling dark nebula—the Whirlwind Trap Zone. He saw the ancestors of the Beast Taming Sect frantically trying to communicate with that nebula, ultimately drawing fire upon themselves, being corroded by an incomprehensible 'contamination' and turning into twisted monsters.

He also saw an even more horrifying truth.

The so-called 'Flesh-and-Blood Key' is not at all a key used to open a door.

It is a coordinate, a beacon, and moreover… a sacrifice.

When a lifeform utterly corrupted by 'high‑dimensional pollution' and perfectly fused with the forbidden land's origin appears, it becomes the 'key.' To open the seal's core, one must utterly sacrifice this 'key'—using its flesh, spirit, and very existence to plug a gap in the seal, thereby gaining a brief 'door' into the core area.

And he, Wang Shan, is the most perfect 'Flesh-and-Blood Key' of these thousands of years.

The Lord's goal from the start was not to kill him, but to 'use' him.

"No… don't… grandfather!" Wang Zheze instantly grasped his grandfather's intent, he cried out, wanting to struggle, but was pinned in place by that information flow.

Wang Shan paid no heed to his grandson's pleas.

He imprinted all his understanding and mastery of that twisted law energy, together with the Beast Taming Sect's millennia‑old curse and fate, without reservation, entirely into the jade slip.

He wished to use his own sacrifice to sever this curse for his descendants, or rather… to transmute that curse into the sharpest blade in their hands.

After doing all this, the glimmer of humanity in Wang Shan's beast eyes had dimmed to near invisibility.

Summoning his last will, two items flew from his body and landed straight before Li Hu.

They were Wantiande's storage ring, and that petite, exquisite Breaker Vessel together with the ancient Star‑Fixing Disk.

"Li Hu…"

"Old… grandfather?" Li Hu's voice trembled uncontrollably.

"Breaker Vessel… Star‑Fixing Disk… take them… go…"

A strange information stream flowed into Li Hu and Zhang Mei's minds, containing the most basic control methods for these two treasures. Simple and crude, yet enough for them to use.

"No matter… what happens…" Wang Shan's voice grew ever weaker, as if it might vanish at any moment, "Protect them… the jade slip… will guide you…"

Li Hu and Zhang Mei froze.

They finally understood, grandfather had not lost control.

He was… entrusting his after‑affairs.

An indescribable sorrow seized their hearts in an instant, making their breathing difficult.

Wang Shan no longer paid them any heed.

He slowly, slowly lowered his mountain‑peak‑sized huge head.

The ferocious claw that could easily rend the Protective Body Light of a Golden Core cultivator now trembled violently. It extended cautiously, as if fearing to shatter a priceless treasure, toward Wang Zheze's crown.

Wang Zheze stopped his wailing, lifted his head, and with tear‑filled eyes gazed at the enormous claw now within reach.

He felt no fear, only a sorrow that penetrated to the marrow.

He reached out his tiny hand and pressed it actively against that icy, rough, stone‑like giant claw.

"Grandfather…"

The giant claw paused slightly, then gently settled on his head—more a resting than a caress.

A final, warm thought flowed along the bloodline connection into Wang Zheze's heart.

Therein lay no hatred, no curse, only endless expectation… and love.

Wang Zheze could hold back no longer; tears burst forth.

Wang Shan finally gave his two grandchildren a deep look; their tiny forms reflected in his scarlet beast eyes. There was reluctance, there was affection, but in the end it all turned into a resolute, dead silence.

As head of the Wang family and their grandfather, this was a duty he must bear.

The entrusting is done.

He slowly raised his head, that ferocious beastly head turning toward the blasted‑open dark mouth behind him, leading deeper underground.

"Roar——!"

A roar devoid of any human emotion shook heaven and earth.

In those scarlet beast pupils, the last trace of humanity's light was completely extinguished.

What replaced it was the tyranny and coldness of ruling over all under heaven.

His massive body stood in the center of the Cave, motionless, like an ancient black statue that had endured since time immemorial, exuding a desolate, tragic aura.

He waited.

Waiting for the enemy's arrival, and also waiting…… for his own destiny as the "Key".