Serpent Ancestor

At this moment, Xu Hei didn’t hide himself, quietly floating on the sea surface, drifting with the waves.

The bald man showed a look of delight, leaping onto the sea and grabbing Xu Hei from a distance, without actually touching him.

”Wang Hu, you’re really bold, daring to take something with an unknown origin. Aren’t you afraid it might be something evil?” A middle-aged cultivator on the ship sneered.

”Haha, what’s there to fear? At worst, I’ll sprinkle it with black dog blood to drive away any evil,” Wang Hu laughed heartily.

”Black dog blood, how about that black dog on Twin Islands?” the middle-aged cultivator joked.

”Screw you! Can we afford to mess with that?” Wang Hu cursed.

Wang Hu grabbed Xu Hei from a distance, returned to the whaling ship, and placed him on the ground.

”Master Li, can you see if this thing is useful?” Wang Hu asked.

An elderly man walked over, his hair white as a crane’s feathers, his clothes spotless, adorned with ink paintings of landscapes, typical of Penglai Island’s style.

Master Li stared at Xu Hei, observed for a moment, then calculated with his fingers, shaking his head, ”I can’t figure it out, but this thing has considerable power; it’s a good sword!”Wang Hu nodded, tried to put Xu Hei into a storage bag, but couldn’t, so he picked him up and sealed him in a room, planning to deal with it after returning to the gang.

Xu Hei had no particular thoughts, just wanted to hitch a ride to avoid any inspections, which were quite bothersome.

He had calculated the cultivators on this ship: two at the early Core Formation stage, two at the mid-stage, and the rest were Foundation Establishment cultivators, none of whom posed a threat to him.

However, the fact that they managed to kill a gun whale at the early stage of the demon core was truly unexpected; they must have special means to deal with large demonic beasts.

It’s known that the strength of whale-type demonic beasts can’t be measured by cultivation level; a whale at the early stage of the demon core can easily crush a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, surpassing levels as easily as eating or drinking.

The various weapons installed on this ship must be their method of hunting.

Xu Hei took out a Divine Pill, which was absorbed into the sword tip upon contact, and he fully refined it, waiting quietly to dock.

...

Before long, the whaling ship slowly entered the port.

Along the way, a formation’s light circle scanned the ship, and two cultivators came to inspect, but upon recognizing it as a Whale Hunting Gang’s ship, they let it pass without hindrance.

The Whale Hunting Gang held considerable influence on Star Island.

An hour later, the ship docked smoothly, and Xu Hei had finished refining the pill, his spiritual power significantly restored.

”Ever-changing Fish and Dragon!”

With a thought, Xu Hei broke free from the seal, creating a hole in the floor, planning to sneak into Star Island.

The reason for choosing this place to cultivate in seclusion was simple: Xu Hei feared being captured by the Sea God Sect.

He didn’t want to randomly find a place in the sea to cultivate in seclusion, only to be discovered. Although he believed he handled things well, why choose a risky place when there’s a safe one?

Xu Hei passed through the floor, arriving in the lower cabin.

This was where whale carcasses were stored, emitting a strong bloody smell. Xu Hei’s divine sense swept over the whale corpse; the demon core had been extracted, and the whale’s surface bore various wounds, with a large blood hole in the abdomen, piercing from the front to the back, likely the fatal wound.

Inside the whale’s belly was a newly formed baby whale, already lifeless.

Xu Hei felt a sudden surge of melancholy, but he didn’t dare linger, quickly scanning and preparing to leave.

Suddenly, Xu Hei stopped in his tracks.

He discovered a hidden door beneath the whale’s corpse, leading to a large room from which faint cries for help emanated.

These distress signals were inaudible to humans, only detectable by a demonic beast like him.

Xu Hei was reluctant to save anyone, as they were unrelated to him, so why bother? But among these signals was a familiar voice he had definitely heard before.

Xu Hei’s eyes flickered, and he immediately applied an Invisibility Talisman. After donning the old dog’s three-piece set, he flashed to the hidden door and slipped inside.

The hidden door was sealed with a formation, but under the sixth level of Ever-changing Fish and Dragon, the formation was like walking on flat ground, and Xu Hei easily flew in.

The Black Dragon Sword entered the room, and he saw a giant water tank, vast in area, containing various fish-type demonic beasts separated by nets.

Sea snakes, moray eels, dolphins, squids... all sorts of sea beasts were present.

”Boqi?”

Xu Hei’s gaze locked onto a dolphin, none other than Boqi, the sister of Bopu from the Dolphin Clan.

At this moment, Boqi’s fins were bound by chains, unable to move, only able to emit ”ee-ya ee-ya” cries for help from her mouth, beyond the frequency humans could perceive, audible only to her kind.

Besides Boqi, Xu Hei also recognized an acquaintance, slender with silver stripes, it was Hai Meng.

Hai Meng was confined with a group of sea snakes, also sending out distress signals, but the signals were blocked by the formation, barely transmitting through the walls.

If Xu Hei hadn’t passed by the whale’s corpse and happened upon the hidden door, he wouldn’t have heard these faint sounds.

Xu Hei harbored deep hatred for Hai Meng, as she had repeatedly tried to harm him. Unexpectedly, she had been captured by humans.

However, Xu Hei was also puzzled; both Hai Meng and Boqi had significant backgrounds, so how did they end up in human hands?

At this moment, footsteps approached from outside the hidden door. Xu Hei swiftly moved to the back of the large water tank, hiding himself. Although he had applied an Invisibility Talisman, he remained cautious.

Moments later, the bald man, accompanied by a wealthy merchant with a greasy face, approached the whale’s corpse. The merchant was dressed in luxurious attire, adorned with defensive magical artifacts, clearly a man of wealth.

”A gun whale, early stage of the demon core, with a 93% intact body, not bad, not bad. I’ll offer 380,000 Spirit Stones for it, how about that?”

The merchant’s laughter echoed from outside.

Xu Hei, hiding inside the hidden door, could clearly hear the conversation outside.

Such an astonishing price made Xu Hei gasp; catching a whale was indeed so valuable, no wonder it attracted so many.

”Haha, of course, we at the Whale Hunting Gang have been doing business with Boss Liu for years, the price is fair. However, I also have some private goods...”

The bald man lowered his voice, and Xu Hei couldn’t hear the rest.

”Oh? Show me!” Boss Liu said seriously.

At this moment, the hidden door opened, and three people walked in.

Boss Liu was the wealthy merchant, accompanied by the bald man and a one-eyed elder, all three at the mid-stage Core Formation.

”Oh? Just these?”

Boss Liu glanced at Boqi and the other sea beasts, showing a puzzled expression.

Although these sea beasts had considerable cultivation, with two even reaching the mid-stage of the demon core, their value couldn’t compare to the whale, not even a third.

He couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.

”Haha, Boss Liu might not know, but these sea beasts have significant backgrounds!”

The bald man lowered his voice, smiling, ”In fact, these two sea beasts are new disciples recruited by the Penglai Sea.”

He pointed at Boqi and Hai Meng, a look of pride flashing in his eyes.

Boss Liu’s eyes immediately brightened.

Disciples of the Penglai Sea, with such a status, the nature of the matter was entirely different.

Not to mention other uses, just taking them out to demand ransom from the Penglai Sea would yield a huge profit.

That’s just the most basic approach.

A more advanced method would be to imprint their souls and refine them into beast slaves. With the talents of these two demonic beasts, they could potentially reach the late stage of the demon core in the future, naturally increasing their value several times over!

Moreover, they were both females with excellent bloodlines, making them ideal for breeding, producing outstanding demonic beasts in quantity.

This is the qualitative change brought by talent, entirely different from the value of wild demonic beasts.