Serpent Ancestor

”Greetings, my surname is Xu.”

Xu Hei cupped his hands. After all, no one knew his name, so there was no need for an alias.

”Xu... Are you planning to join us or act alone?”

The cultivator with thick eyebrows and big eyes was very straightforward, speaking rapidly, ”Let me make it clear first, our group is under the jurisdiction of the Chu Tian Alliance. We’ve all signed a series of peace agreements, which prohibit us from initiating harm, and we must unite against external threats. Treasures go to whoever gets them first. If you’re willing, you can join; if not, you can go to the other side.”

He pointed in another direction, where only a small group of people gathered in threes and fives, scattered around.

Xu Hei glanced over and found that most of them were demonic cultivators, like Wu Chou from the Blood Robe Sect.

Except for a few who were independent, almost all rogue cultivators had allied with the Chu Tian Alliance for added safety.

No matter their conduct, righteous cultivators like Xu Qingfeng always gave a sense of security.

Xu Hei pondered briefly and asked, ”What kind of contract?”

The cultivator in front of him directly took out a scroll of golden paper, which was filled with various rules.”Just infuse a trace of Divine Sense, and this contract will take effect. If you violate it, there’s no need for us to act; your Divine Sense will collapse on its own,” the person said calmly.

Xu Hei glanced at it; it was something left by Xu Qingfeng, with many rules written on it.

Without saying more, Xu Hei retreated to the other side, standing with the demonic cultivators. He would never sign such a contract.

Seeing Xu Hei refuse, the cultivator didn’t ask further, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes as he returned to the crowd.

As Xu Hei landed, the five nearby demonic cultivators quickly retreated, keeping their distance from him.

”Blood Robe Sect?”

To Xu Hei’s surprise, the aura and attire of these five were very similar to Wu Chou, whom he had killed, indicating they were from the Blood Robe Sect.

In Wu Chou’s Storage Bag, there was a Blood Robe Token, suggesting he held a significant position in the sect.

”What’s the situation here? Tell me.”

Xu Hei looked at a female cultivator who seemed easy to bully and asked.

The female cultivator remained silent, continuously retreating with a wary expression.

”Not talking?”

Xu Hei raised his hand and used the Gravity Technique to pull her over, holding her in his grasp.

”How dare you!”

”Spare me, senior!”

The other four wanted to shout, but the woman in his hand began to wail, leaving everyone stunned.

”Senior, I’ll tell you. This is a Blood Corpse Cave. Inside the cave dwelling, there are many ancient pills preserved to this day, and an ancient medicinal garden. But the Chu Tian Alliance has tried several times and hasn’t cleared out the blood corpses, so they’re discussing strategies.”

The female cultivator in his hand spoke with a tearful face.

Xu Hei nodded slightly and released her. She immediately retreated back to the other four, who dared not act rashly, only nervously stepping back.

The strongest among them was only at the late Foundation Establishment stage, and Xu Hei’s earlier display had directly intimidated them.

”Is this all that’s left of your Blood Robe Sect?”

Xu Hei asked curiously. In his impression, such demonic sects should have been thriving.

Recognized for their identity, the five weren’t surprised. They exchanged glances, a bitter look flashing in their eyes.

Originally, they had twenty people enter, including two Nascent Soul ancestors, but they all died. One ancestor perished to a corpse puppet, and the other was drained dry by the Thirteenth Ancestor of the Snake Catchers Sect.

The group remained silent, but Xu Hei could glean some information from their eyes. He asked again, ”Why didn’t you join the Chu Tian Alliance?”

”It’s not that we didn’t want to; the Chu Tian Alliance refused.”

The female cultivator from before explained.

”Just because you’re demonic cultivators?” Xu Hei was surprised.

”Exactly.” The female cultivator nodded.

”...” Xu Hei fell silent.

At that moment, there was a commotion from the cave dwelling.

Everyone looked over to see a ghostly, phantom-like girl with silver hair floating out from the eerie cave dwelling.

The girl had silver hair, a petite figure, and looked like she was in her early teens. She was quite beautiful but exuded an extremely cold aura that warned others to keep their distance.

”Silver-haired Witch,” Xu Hei’s eyes narrowed.

The Silver-haired Witch, in her translucent state, flew out from the cave dwelling and approached.

”How is it?”

”What’s the situation inside?”

The core members of the Chu Tian Alliance quickly went up to inquire, with Xiao Chou among them.

The Silver-haired Witch’s form gradually solidified as she said, ”I saw the ancient medicinal garden. There are at least twenty plants with ten thousand years of age.”

”Ten thousand years!”

Everyone gasped.

In today’s world, even thousand-year-old medicinal herbs are rare, let alone ten thousand years old, which are priceless and of unimaginable quality.

”Moreover, there’s a hundred-thousand-year-old Golden Thunder Bamboo.”

The Silver-haired Witch added.

This left the entire Chu Tian Alliance stunned, with Zhang Tie’s eyes almost blazing with desire, itching to rush in and harvest it immediately.

However, there were too many corpse puppets inside the cave dwelling, continuously emerging from the ground. After clearing wave after wave, he dared not venture in recklessly.

Although others didn’t know what they were discussing, their expressions revealed that they must have discovered something extraordinary.

And just then.

A strong wind blew across the sky, with a hazy light shining down from beyond, appearing at the top of the cave dwelling, with a hint of Dao resonance emerging.

”It’s a Historical Projection!”

”Retreat quickly!”

Everyone retreated, their eyes warily watching above the cave dwelling.

Historical Projections appear without any pattern, possibly remnants of ancient Dao resonance or some kind of world rule at work.

Most projections are harmless, but some contain the divine might of ancient cultivators, and just a trace can be deadly.

It was Xu Hei’s first time seeing a Historical Projection.

In the sky, blurred scenes appeared: caves, figures, houses, like a mirage in the desert.

It was like a reflection of historical scenes, crossing the river of time, presented before their eyes.

The scenes seemed to be inside the cave dwelling.

In the images, a young, tall alchemist sat cross-legged, placing medicinal herbs into a pill furnace.

Xu Hei’s pupils suddenly contracted when he saw the alchemist.

He actually recognized this alchemist!

It was the ancient cultivator’s corpse he had excavated from a stone at the stone gambling house!

And that pill furnace was the very one Xu Hei had refined.

”How could it be such a coincidence?”

Xu Hei’s heart surged with waves of shock.

But he said nothing, his expression calm, watching coldly.

The projection from ancient times seemed to accelerate, quickly playing out. The cultivator refined a large number of pills, placing them into pill bottles, one of which had the words ”Longevity Pill” on it.

Seeing the Longevity Pill, everyone’s eyes lit up with desire; it was a pill countless people dreamed of obtaining.

But the most astonishing part was yet to come.

Next to the Longevity Pill, there was another pill bottle labeled ”Nascent Soul Pill.”

”My heavens!”

”It’s actually a Nascent Soul Pill!”

Seeing this, everyone’s eyes burned with fervor, almost going mad.

The Nascent Soul Pill is taken by cultivators at the Great Perfection of the Core Formation Stage when forming a Nascent Soul, its value beyond description.

If the Longevity Pill merely extends the life of a Nascent Soul ancestor by sixty years, the Nascent Soul Pill gives them hope of forming a Nascent Soul.