Chapter 273: Uprooted from the Roots

The Shadow Owl's source‑burning death‑blow had not fully unfolded when it was seized head‑on by a suddenly appearing black gaping maw.

It was not a real mouth, but a vortex formed from pure devouring desire.

At the vortex's center was Wang Zhitao.

"No—!"

The Shadow Owl let out a warped scream, its tone filled with the terror of life being ripped from its root.

The "Illusion" and "Reality‑Illusion" laws he boasted of now resembled two eels tossed into a meat grinder, thrashing desperately, only to be torn and broken apart by that irrational force, then turned into pure energy and greedily sucked into the vortex's depths.

Li Hu and Zhang Mei instinctively stepped back, the scene before them far beyond their comprehension.

A Flower God stage strongman, a being they regarded as godlike, now resembled a sugarcane being crushed by a juicer.

His body withered and shrank at a visible speed, skin clinging tightly to his bones, the sheen draining from his eyes, the breath of life vanishing swiftly.

It lasted only a few breaths.

"Burp!"

A loud, satisfied belch echoed through the dead‑silent stronghold.

The black vortex that Wang Zhitao had become suddenly contracted and re‑coalesced into his humanoid form.

He patted his belly, a faint satisfied flush spreading across his face; the black‑gold pattern beneath his skin swirled like a sated wandering dragon, spun joyfully once, then vanished.

"Taste… okay, just a bit insubstantial, not very chewy," he smacked his lips, offering a candid post‑meal review.

As he spoke, a barely perceptible wisp of gray‑white energy mist drifted from his mouth corner, like a speck of residue leaking from an overfull stomach.

The mist floated lazily, then deliberately split into two streams, each slipping into Li Hu and Zhang Mei's bodies.

Both jolted, feeling a cool, mysterious force coursing through their limbs and marrow; the oppressive pressure on their souls from the earlier duel with the Shadow Master vanished, and even their cultivation bottlenecks seemed to loosen slightly.

"What… what is this?" Li Hu widened his eyes, glancing at Wang Zhitao, then at his own hand.

"My brother's manners are poor, he left some 'vegetable scraps', don't waste them."

Wang Zhize's voice sounded calmly.

He had stood in place the whole time, as if the heart‑pounding devouring moments ago were merely a trivial pre‑meal performance.

His eyes were half‑closed, countless glimmers flickering at his brow.

The Shadow Owl's Flower God stage soul, together with his lifetime memories, now raced through his mind like a film fast‑forwarded countless times.

The stronghold's detailed layout, member list, codes, contact methods, superior information… everything was sorted and filed clearly in his mind.

"Interesting," Wang Zhize suddenly opened his eyes, a faint curve tugging at his mouth, "So there's not just one fish, but a slipperier one hidden beneath the waterweed."

From the Shadow Owl's memories, he uncovered a secret hidden deep within the stronghold.

Besides the obvious Shadow Master and Shadow Owl, there was a deputy codenamed "Shadow Charm".

That individual's cultivation might be slightly inferior, but he excelled at concealment and mental assassination—a true venomous snake.

"Brother, what else? Where? I'm still hungry!" Wang Zhitao's eyes lit up again, like a child whose belly could never be filled.

"Don't rush, she'll come out on her own."

As Wang Zhize spoke, an invisible divine thought centered on him spread instantly like rippling water, enveloping the entire mountain‑shaped stronghold.

He didn't deliberately search; instead he did something far worse.

He extracted the purest, most primal despair and terror from the moment the Shadow Owl was devoured, then amplified it thousands of times with his divine thought, flooding every corner of the stronghold.

It was like tossing a huge slab of bloody flesh into a tranquil pond.

For the hidden Shadow Charm, that aura was essentially the most terrifying Alert.

"Who?!"

From a shadow deep within the stronghold came an uncontainable gasp.

Immediately after, a spirit force finer than a hair, colder than ice, like a hidden poison needle in the shadows, silently crossed the distance, racing straight for Wang Zhize's brow!

The strike was formless and invisible, even Wang Zhitao beside him didn't notice.

Li Hu and Zhang Mei both let out a muffled hum; they felt the world spin, their temples pierced by two icy steel needles, brains buzzing as if something slick were forcing its way in.

Yet the poison needle capable of piercing a Nascent Soul cultivator's soul, just as it was about to touch Wang Zhize's brow, seemed to slam into an invisible wall.

No, it wasn't a wall.

Deep within Wang Zhize's soul sea, the Core of the law, transformed from Grandfather Wang Shan, simply glowed gently and mildly.

A ring of warm yellow aura rippled outward.

That vicious, icy, murderous spiritual shock, like a drop of ink falling into warm tea, raised not even a ripple before being completely dissolved, purified, and even… rebounded back along its path!

"Pfft!"

In the shadow, a painful muffled hum sounded.

A petite figure tumbled uncontrollably from a twisted play of light, clad in tight black leather armor that accentuated her fierce figure; yet her seductive face was pallid, a strand of blood at the corner of her mouth, and her gaze at Wang Zhize was filled with incomprehensible horror.

Her mental assassination rebounded? And the opponent's soul… what is that? A warm ocean? How could anyone possess such a resilient yet gentle soul barrier!

Shadow Charm gritted her teeth against the excruciating pain of her soul being torn, knowing she had encountered a monster.

She bared her silver teeth; her peach‑blossom eyes instantly rippled, emitting an invisible charm force that sought to sway Wang Zhize's mind.

It was her signature skill; countless heroes had drowned in those eyes, only to have their lives taken by her.

"Playing with spirit power before me?" Wang Zhize said, watching her clumsy act as if a child brandishing a broadsword before Guan Yu.

He was too lazy to wield his grandfather's power, merely forming a single thought.

"Definition: you have fallen in love with yourself."

Words spoken, law followed.

The bewitching art in Shadow Charm's eyes, capable of overturning all beings, froze instantly.

The next second, the target in her gaze shifted from Wang Zhize to empty space, as if a perfect, soul‑overturning version of herself stood there.

Her expression turned obsessive, fervent, adoring… she fell into an extremely bizarre self‑infatuation, murmuring to herself.

"Ah… why am I so beautiful… these eyes, this figure… I love you…"

Li Hu and Zhang Mei stared dumbfounded.

"Damn… what kind of move is this? Falling in love with oneself? That's even more painful than killing her, right?"

Li Hu felt his worldview had been shattered countless times today, and now he was being trampled under the feet of the two Wang brothers, ground into powder.

Wang Zhize ignored Li Hu's complaint, extended his hand, and snatched at the chaotic Shadow Enchantress in midair.

The Shadow Enchantress's body stiffened, her eyes rolled white, and she lost consciousness completely.

Regarding the Shadow organization's deeper secrets, a heavily concealed coordinate for a secret teleportation array leading to a core stronghold, and…

A vague intelligence report about the Lord's recent important plan was also taken into Wang Zhize's possession.

"Zhitao." Wang Zhize said lightly.

"Got it, brother! This is dessert!"

Wang Zhitao responded excitedly, then turned into a black shadow and lunged again.

This time the devouring was faster and more thorough.

When Wang Zhitao steadied himself again, he closed his eyes to sense, and a curious expression appeared on his face.

"Brother, this woman's energy seems to make my mind… a bit clearer? It can even influence others' thoughts, how fun."

He not only obtained fragments of the "Charm" and "Spirit" laws, but also gained a brand‑new insight into how to wield spiritual energy.

Thus, the two highest officials of this stronghold—the Shadow Lord (Shadow Vulture) and the deputy Shadow Enchantress—were entirely turned into nourishment for Wang Zhitao's growth.

Wang Zhize withdrew the divine thought that had shrouded the entire stronghold, and his gaze swept over the black‑clad assassins trembling in fear.

Some of them were merely cultivating Qi in Foundation Establishment, others had already reached Golden Core or Nascent Soul, yet in Wang Zhize's eyes there was no distinction.

He raised his hand and, pointing at the hundreds of assassins kneeling below, snapped his fingers lightly.

"Definition: you all are mere mortals."

In an instant, an irresistible supreme rule descended.

All members of the Shadow organization, regardless of cultivation level, felt something inside their bodies instantly ripped away.

The magical power honed for a hundred years, the Dao principles understood for many years, vanished without a trace as if they had never existed.

They became the most ordinary mortals, even weaker than ordinary people.

"My cultivation! My magical power is gone!"

"What's happening? My Golden Core… my Golden Core is gone!"

"No! Spare me!"

Desperate cries and pleas for mercy blended into one.

Wang Zhize gave them no further glance, turned around, and said to Li Hu and Zhang Mei, whose fists were already clenched and eyes reddened behind him:

"These people all took part in the massacre of grandfather."

"Now, they are yours to deal with."

Li Hu lifted his head, looking at the assassins who had once been lofty and treated lives like grass, now kneeling like a herd of slaughtered swine and dogs, tears streaming down.

He recalled the gruesome death of his grandfather Wang Shan, and the helplessness and despair he and Zhang Mei felt while being pursued.

A long‑suppressed flame erupted thunderously in his chest.

He gripped his knife tightly, exchanged a glance with Zhang Mei, and saw the same resolve and hatred reflected in her eyes.

The Wang Family's vengeance begins here today, reclaimed piece by piece with their own hands.