Chapter 256: The Final Gift

That black crack that appeared from nowhere was like an ugly scar, branded upon the nascent Divine Nation's sky canopy.

Threads of ruinous aura, like the most poisonous tentacles, slipped in from the fissure, greedily sucking the vitality of this newborn world.

Wherever they passed, the ground that Wang Zhezé had painstakingly "renovated" to be warm and jade‑like instantly lost all luster, turning dry, yellowed, and cracked as if its life force had been drained for centuries.

"Brother!" Wang Zhitao let out a low roar, his muscles tensing instantly; beneath his skin, the black‑gold totem seemed to come alive, restless and wandering.

Wang Zhitao could feel that the infiltrating aura carried a taste that made him extremely uncomfortable, like rotten food—both disgusting and poisonous.

Wang Zhezé gave no reply.

He held up the jade tablet, motionless, but his knuckles had whitened from the strain.

All of Wang Zhezé's spirit was linked to the entire space through the jade tablet, and he could "hear" the house's moan.

Every law that composes this world trembled, wailed.

The opponent's attacks were too precise, too cunning. They were like the most experienced old hunters, not fighting a beast head‑on, but using poisoned fine needles to pierce the nervous center.

"Meat grinder… how to make…," Wang Zhezé's brain ran at an unprecedented speed.

He wanted to turn the whole space into a trap to lure the enemy, but that required time, a complex weaving and reconstruction of the laws.

Yet the opponent's "demolition" speed far exceeded his "renovation" speed.

At that moment, a will far grander, older, and gentler than the Outside World's erosion silently awoke from every corner of the space, from every inch of land and every breath of air.

It made no sound, yet a long sigh resonated in the hearts of Wang Zhezé and Wang Zhitao.

It was grandfather.

No, more precisely, it was Wang Shan, the Core of this world, making a decision.

"Hum—"

The jade tablet in Wang Zhezé's hand suddenly burst into dazzling light, its temperature soaring in an instant to the point of almost melting his palm.

"Brother?!" Wang Zhitao was startled, about to step forward.

"Don't move!" Wang Zhezé squeezed two words from between his teeth.

He couldn't move. An irresistible, vast as a sea of smoke, torrent of law surged through the jade tablet, brutally pouring into his spirit!

It was not mere energy, but information, insight, experience!

It was grandfather Wang Shan, after becoming the Law Core, who at this moment poured, without reservation and in a manner almost like "force‑feeding", all his understanding of this space, all his authority, all the hard‑won insights into using the Termination and Withering laws, straight into Wang Zhezé's mind!

In an instant, Wang Zhezé seemed to see.

He saw grandfather Wang Shan's spirit, within that desperate black‑gold pillar of light, how he chose to abandon his mortal body and merge himself with the raging trap energy.

He saw how the grandfather, like the most patient craftsman, painstakingly sorted and tamed the enemy laws filled with destructive will, turning them from killing knives into plows that create worlds.

He saw how the grandfather repelled the Shadow Guard's attacks, breaking down and devouring that energy, turning it into this house's first brick, its first tile.

Scene after scene, case after case, as if experienced personally.

This is no longer inheritance; it is a replica of memory, a handover of life.

Wang Zhezé felt his head about to explode, countless abstruse runes colliding, detonating, and recombining within his spirit. He clenched his teeth, fine beads of blood seeping from all seven apertures. He knew he could not black out. If his consciousness collapsed, this raging torrent of information would instantly tear his spirit to pieces.

On the other side, Wang Zhitao's fate unfolded in a completely different style.

A thick, dragon‑like black‑gold torrent of energy suddenly surged from the Core of the space, bearing a bleak, domineering will, and slammed straight at him.

Wang Zhitao had no time to react, instinctively crossing his arms to shield himself.

"Boom!"

He was knocked backward, his feet gouging two deep ruts into the ground.

"Damn!" Wang Zhitao felt as if a star had struck his chest, his organs displaced. Yet immediately, an indescribable, ultimate "deliciousness" surged through his limbs along that energy.

What was that taste?

Indescribable.

Like the most explosive volcanic lava, yet infused with the chaotic breath of a newborn world. Like the oldest death Withering, yet containing the most brutal twist of life.

Contradiction and conflict, yet perfectly fused together.

"Hungry…"

A thought roared wildly from deep within Wang Zhitao's Devouring Primordial Dominant Body.

It was not his own hunger, but the yearning of his very nature!

"Aaaah—"

Wang Zhitao let out a long howl to the sky; the black‑gold totem on his body, no longer faint, now fully and clearly manifested, like a divine‑demonic pact branded upon him. He ceased resisting, opened his mouth, and gulped the energy torrent in one fierce draw!

Hoo—

That law‑energy torrent, capable of bursting any Golden Core cultivator, was truly swallowed whole by him!

"Burp!" Wang Zhitao let out a loud belch, his bones crackling. He felt he was being stretched to death; every inch of flesh, every cell, was being forcibly reshaped, stretched, torn, and recombined by that domineering energy.

Pain! Extreme pain!

Yet at the same time, an unprecedented sense of power wildly blossomed within his body.

He felt, as if… "eating" had taught him something.

He looked down at his fist; a thought flickered, and a strand of black‑gold aura spilled from the fist's edge. He casually punched the adjacent patch of ground, yellowed by the decaying aura.

No whoosh, no thunder.

The black‑gold strand touched the ground, and something marvelous occurred. The yellowed earth seemed to reverse time, rapidly regaining vitality. No, not regaining.

It was… "twisting".

The yellowed rock first softened like dough, then quickly hardened, not into stone but into a black crystal shimmering with metallic luster.

Wang Zhitao was stunned.

His previous devouring meant consuming things and turning them into his own energy. But now, it seemed he could impart his "own flavor" onto other things.

Is this… grandfather's power?

At that moment, the entire space suddenly fell silent.

That gentle yet grand will that came from all directions vanished.

It was as if the backbone that had always supported heaven and earth quietly disappeared. It was as if the warm sunlight that had always bathed them was suddenly extinguished.

The space remains, the laws remain, but the soul that gave this place the meaning of "home" is gone.

Li Hu and Zhang Mei also sensed the change. It was an inexplicable unease, as if they had suddenly lost their most important support, making them restless.

"What's happening… why… I feel like crying?" Zhang Mei covered her chest, and her eyes inexplicably reddened.

Wang Zhitao's body ceased changing; he stood there dumbfounded, feeling the familiar aura dissipate, as if a huge void had been carved in his heart. He could no longer feel that kindly gaze that had always watched his mischief and trouble, yet forever supported him from behind.

"Grandfather…" he murmured, his voice tinged with a barely perceptible tremor.

On the other side, Wang Zhize finally recovered from the onslaught of the information torrent. He slowly set down the jade tablet, which had returned to normal temperature, and opened his eyes.

His eyes were no longer the clear sharpness they had been. Within them seemed to contain a starry sky, countless law runes flickering and flowing. The world he saw was now completely different from before.

He could "see" the faint magical energy flowing around Li Hu and Zhang Mei.

He could "see" the twisted law within his younger brother's body that had just been devoured and was being wildly digested by the domineering body, a law originating from their grandfather.

He could even "see" beyond the crack above his head the three bizarre artifacts that were "singing", and the Nascent Soul cultivator who, like a deep sea, merely by existing caused the spatial laws to wail continuously.

Everything became exceedingly clear.

He lifted his head and looked at Wang Zhitao.

"Zhitao." His voice was calm, yet carried an unprecedented weight, "Grandfather… has completely handed this home over to us."

Wang Zhitao jerked his head up to look at him, his eyes filled with bewilderment, sorrow, and a hint of disbelief.

"He's gone?"

"No." Wang Zhize shook his head, reached out, and gently brushed the ground beside him, the black crystal stone that Wang Zhitao had reshaped with his new power. "He's still here. He is this sky, this earth, every speck of dust beneath our feet, every breath of air we draw. With his final strength, he closed the door for us, then handed the key into our hands."

Wang Zhize paused, then lifted his gaze toward the ugly crack in the heavens, his eyes cold and devoid of any warmth.

"He used himself to secure for us one final chance."

"A chance?" Wang Zhitao clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white. "What chance? A chance to rush out and slaughter that ragtag bunch?!"

"No." A slow upward curve formed at Wang Zhize's mouth, a smile full of madness and resolve.

"It's… an opportunity to treat them to a feast."

He slowly raised the jade tablet in his hand; this time, the spatial laws no longer responded stiffly, but moved like an arm, like a part of his body, instantly aligning with his will.

"Don't they want to tear down our home? Don't they see us as meat on a cutting board?"

"Then we'll open the door and invite all the 'dishes' inside."

Wang Zhize's gaze fell on Wang Zhitao, his eyes as if looking at a freshly drawn, blood‑thirsty world‑class weapon.

"Zhitao, get ready to start the feast."

"This time the dishes will be plenty. Don't push yourself to death."

Before the words finished, the black crack above the heavens suddenly widened under the continued assault of external forces!

"Crack—!"

Amid the harsh shattering sound, a figure clad in a black robe, exuding the powerful aura of a late‑stage Golden Core, was the first to squeeze through the fissure. A grim smile curled on his face as he prepared to proclaim their victory.

However, what he saw were eyes that held an entire starry sky, and another pair of pupils blazing with black‑gold flame, filled with endless hunger.