Serpent Ancestor

Xu Hei’s heart tightened immediately, and he halted his steps. In the next second, a fierce blade of wind swept past in front of him, slicing a gap into the stone wall.

”A killing formation?”

Xu Hei frowned slightly, and his true sword silently flew out, embedding itself into the stone wall. At the same time, a thick layer of whale bone armor formed on the butcher’s body, charging forward and ignoring the interception of the killing formation, directly grabbing at the opponent.

”Stop immediately! Otherwise, I’ll destroy this place. Even if I die, you won’t survive either!”

Hou Siping’s gaze was cold as he shouted, ”I know the killing formation can’t do anything to you, but destroying this place is no problem!”

Upon hearing this, Xu Hei immediately stopped, halting ten meters away from him.

Hou Siping remained expressionless, pointing to the wellhead above, ”I’ve placed ten seals at the wellhead. If the oil well collapses, you won’t be able to escape in a short time and will be buried. This place is full of heavy oil; you don’t want to face such a perilous situation, do you?”

”Even if your skills are extraordinary, you have a fifty percent chance of surviving, but you must bear the other fifty percent risk!”

Hou Siping stared at Xu Hei, his eyes calm.

His cultivation was at the late Core Formation stage, but after long suppression, he couldn’t exert even half his strength, and he didn’t have a single magical treasure. Without a magical treasure, a cultivator is like a warrior without a weapon, facing Xu Hei at full strength would be a dead end.Yet, in such a short time, he found a way to survive.

Of course, this was what he considered a way out.

In his view, Xu Hei wouldn’t risk everything for a possible danger.

Xu Hei remained expressionless, inwardly sneering.

He had to admit, this person was indeed cunning. All the arrangements were reasonable. Being sent to assassinate him and gaining the trust of the steward was itself a testament to his abilities.

Such an opponent, if at their peak, would be far more troublesome than Hai Teng.

This was a strong survivor who had faced life and death, not one of those favored by the heavens.

”Speak, who sent you!” Xu Hei said coldly.

Hou Siping looked troubled, ”If I tell you, will you let me go?”

”If you don’t speak, I’ll risk everything to kill you. Whether I survive or not is none of your concern, but you definitely won’t live!”

Xu Hei’s tone was icy, his eyes filled with killing intent, ready to strike at any moment.

Hou Siping gritted his teeth, struggling for a while, ”I can tell you, but you must let me go.”

Xu Hei locked his gaze on him, nodded, ”Alright!”

”Good!” Hou Siping took a deep breath, ”It was the scholar living next to you, Lin Ziye, who sent me.”

”Him...” Xu Hei squinted his eyes.

Immediately, he felt something was off. This villain was so cunning, could he be randomly naming someone to deceive him?

Although Xu Hei already had suspicions about that scholar, he wouldn’t easily believe it based on a few words.

”What evidence do you have?” Xu Hei asked.

”Evidence?”

Hou Siping’s face stiffened, ”I have nothing on me, no evidence. But Lin Ziye doesn’t associate with anyone, yet he approached you. Isn’t that unusual?”

”And as far as I know, he arrived a week ago, just three days before you.”

At this point, Hou Siping stopped speaking, leaving room for Xu Hei’s imagination.

Hou Siping knew not to say too much, allowing room for imagination. Some things, when others say them, are useless; they must be imagined by oneself to be truly believed.

Xu Hei fell into contemplation.

”My friend, I’ve told you everything, you should keep your promise.”

Hou Siping smiled slightly, retreating.

Xu Hei remained unmoved, as if truly pondering.

When Hou Siping retreated to a certain position, his gaze suddenly turned cold, and he pointed at the void.

In an instant, the hidden killing formation on the stone wall activated, targeting Xu Hei. The formation layered upon itself, reaching over nine layers.

”I was waiting for my true essence to recover, what were you waiting for?” Hou Siping sneered inwardly.

He had said so much just to stall for time, waiting for the formation to complete and his true essence to recover to a critical point, delivering a fatal blow!

With his current cultivation, relying on spells was not feasible; he could only depend on formations. Simultaneously activating nine advanced third-tier killing formations consumed a tremendous amount of true essence.

Now, it was barely enough, but he was confident it would succeed in one strike!

”Swish, swish, swish...”

In an instant, blades and shadows filled the air, fierce winds howled, and sharp blades sliced through the stone wall, attacking Xu Hei endlessly. Even a mountain of flesh would be cut into pieces.

Xu Hei remained expressionless, a slight cold smile on his lips.

”I was waiting for the flying sword to pierce through, what were you waiting for?” Xu Hei said coldly.

”Wha...”

Hou Siping’s pupils shrank, and at the same moment he activated the killing formation, a cold light suddenly shot from behind him.

It was a flying sword, breaking through the stone wall behind him, slashing towards him at a speed far surpassing the killing formation!

This flying sword was entirely pitch black, shaped like a curved serpent, covered in sharp scales, with a head and tail. It was more like a flood dragon than a sword!

”Ever-changing Fish and Dragon!”

Xu Hei’s true form, with Ever-changing Fish and Dragon fully activated, crossed the killing formation’s barrier, ignoring all formation restrictions, as if walking on flat ground.

The power of the sixth layer of Ever-changing Fish and Dragon was unleashed to the fullest.

This sword, he named it the Black Dragon Sword!

”Poof!”

Hou Siping didn’t even have time to scream before his throat was pierced by the sword, his head flying off, and even the Golden Core within him was picked out by Xu Hei with a single strike.

It was too fast, faster than any killing formation, this was Xu Hei’s full-force strike!

After Hou Siping’s death, the killing formation’s residual power fell on the butcher, cutting blood marks, but it only lasted a moment before quickly dissipating.

The nine killing formations completely calmed down.

Hou Siping died with his eyes open, unable to believe his foolproof setup failed here.

His pupils contracted, eyes bulging, mouth agape, eyes filled with despair, powerless to resist death’s arrival.

”Speak, who sent you! Otherwise, I’ll turn your body into a corpse puppet, and your soul will be trapped in the soul banner, never to reincarnate!” Xu Hei coldly shouted at Hou Siping’s head.

”I didn’t lie to you, it was Lin Ziye...”

Hou Siping closed his eyes.

Xu Hei nodded, absorbing the headless corpse into the butcher’s body. The wounds on the butcher quickly healed after absorbing Hou Siping, restoring completely.

Though the contamination remained, the wounds were healed.

Xu Hei then used his true form to swallow the shriveled Golden Core. Although Hou Siping’s true essence had been suppressed for a long time, it was still of good quality for a late Core Formation stage.

”There’s no rush to leave. I’ll refine the Golden Core here, and maybe some heavy oil, and hopefully break through to mid-stage Core Formation. Meanwhile, I’ll see if anyone comes down to check,” Xu Hei thought.

After consuming the Golden Cores of Xu Sheng and Hou Siping, Xu Hei felt his cultivation loosening. With ten days to half a month of closed-door cultivation, he might gain something.

Even if he couldn’t break through to mid-stage Core Formation, stabilizing at the peak of the early stage shouldn’t be a problem. After leaving, he could take a Qingyuan Pill, close-door cultivate for a month, and break through to the mid-stage in one go.

The early Core Formation stage was far from enough for Xu Hei now; it wasn’t reliable against late-stage cultivators. The encounters with Hai Teng and Hou Siping made him realize this deeply.

”Hehehe...”

Suddenly, an eerie laughter echoed in the empty oil well.

Xu Hei shivered, his gaze shifting to lock onto Hou Siping’s remaining head.

The laughter was coming from that head.

Xu Hei’s gaze was fixed, his brows furrowed, he hadn’t misheard.

”Hehehe...”

The laughter appeared again, Hou Siping opened his eyes, a sinister smile on his lips, his pale gaze fixed on Xu Hei, emitting an eerie laugh.