Serpent Ancestor

Before leaving the sea area, everyone reviewed the mission once more and assigned tasks to each team member.

Xu Hei’s task was simple: just stay hidden behind everyone else.

Xu Hei suddenly thought of the three who had sacrificed themselves earlier and couldn’t help but ask.

”Those three were newcomers like you, with less than five years of experience. They went and never returned. This time, with us veteran members here, you don’t need to worry,” said the Sea Centipede.

...

Before long, the three teams reached the edge of the Penglai Sea, where a misty fog appeared ahead.

Captain White Tooth was the first to charge into the fog, followed closely by the other demonic beasts.

The Penglai Sea was easy to exit but difficult to enter.

Passing through the fog, the scenery ahead didn’t change much; it was still the vast ocean. However, Xu Hei could clearly feel that the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth had thinned, and the sense of space was different.

He had returned to the outside world.

White Tooth summoned a jellyfish-shaped Magical Treasure, which quickly expanded to encompass all the team members, making their figures instantly transparent and their auras completely hidden.

It was as if they had turned into invisible jellyfish.

Xu Hei found it quite fascinating but didn’t ask further, simply following silently behind.

Suddenly, a blood-stained scale flew in from afar, caught by White Tooth.

”Is this a communication talisman from the Ghost Fish?” White Tooth frowned.

He had just received a communication talisman not long ago, so why was there another one so soon?

This communication talisman had no Spiritual Power fluctuations, nor was there any information recorded with Divine Sense, just three carved words: Don’t come!

These words were carved, not imprinted with Divine Sense, so anyone could see them clearly.

White Tooth had a bad premonition. He quickly took out a soul lamp, which was the soul fire of the Ghost Fish.

At this moment, the flame in the soul lamp quickly dimmed and then extinguished right before everyone’s eyes.

In that instant, the entire scene fell into a deathly silence, and all sounds vanished.

Their gazes were fixed on the extinguished soul lamp, eyes wide open.

The extinguishing of the soul lamp could only mean one thing: the Ghost Fish was dead!

”Captain, this must be... a mistake,” the Porcupine Fish said with a trembling voice.

White Tooth remained silent.

Everyone else was silent too.

Not long ago, the Ghost Fish had sent back information, everything seemed fine, and then suddenly, a death warning was sent, followed by the extinguishing of the soul lamp.

From the sequence of events, it seemed like the Ghost Fish had just sent back information and immediately encountered a major crisis, hastily sending another message to warn them not to come.

Everyone felt a buzzing in their minds, unable to accept it.

”This is already the fourth one, and even the Ghost Fish has fallen!” the Electric Ray said with a gloomy face.

The first three investigators were all new members, with cultivation at the mid-stage of the demon core.

The Ghost Fish was a genuine Great Perfection of the Demon Core Stage, a core member like them, with exceptional stealth abilities. Even if he couldn’t win, he could escape or even evade the detection of Elemental Infant cultivators.

The death of the Ghost Fish was undoubtedly a heavy blow! They hadn’t even set out, and a core member was already dead.

Xu Hei suddenly felt that this journey was even more dangerous than he had imagined.

”The Ghost Fish has been our comrade in arms for thirty years; we must not let him die in vain!” the Electric Ray said solemnly.

”This matter cannot be left unresolved!” the Sea Centipede echoed.

All the demonic beasts looked towards White Tooth.

White Tooth suppressed the grief and anger in his heart and said solemnly, ”Scout Ghost Fish has died honorably. The mission will continue, but the difficulty must be reassessed!”

”I will report the information truthfully!”

White Tooth took out a communication talisman, recorded the information, and sent it into the space of the Penglai Sea behind them.

Afterward, the demonic beasts continued to move forward.

However, the atmosphere had become silent.

The Porcupine Fish hadn’t said a word from the beginning, and many demonic beasts looked at him, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Everyone knew that the Ghost Fish was his best brother, who had saved his life. But joining the hunting team meant being prepared for sacrifice at any time.

They recruited newcomers every year, but the number of team members never increased, indicating that sacrifice was the norm.

Perhaps the atmosphere was a bit stifling, so Xu Hei hesitated for a moment and said, ”I have an idea. After we finish this mission, I’ll...”

”Shut up!”

Before he could finish, everyone’s eyes turned to him, filled with strong disapproval.

Xu Hei was immediately speechless.

He hadn’t even said anything yet, so why were they telling him to shut up?

”Don’t say such things carelessly; it’s taboo when going to sea!” the Electric Ray said coldly.

”If you can’t speak properly, then don’t speak!” the Porcupine Fish also scolded.

”Yes,” Xu Hei quickly nodded.

He originally wanted to say that after this mission, he would treat everyone to a good meal to improve their relationships.

But seeing everyone’s eyes focused on him and Xu Bai, scanning back and forth with flickering gazes, it seemed they misunderstood something.

However, at this point, he couldn’t forcefully explain.

”Even daring to say such things, it’s really unlucky! Anyone who talks about getting married after completing a mission always ends up in trouble!” the Porcupine Fish cursed under his breath.

...

In the southeastern sea, two days’ journey from here.

The three teams moved quickly, reaching their destination by the second night at full speed.

The death of the Ghost Fish made White Tooth seriously consider whether to send the three newcomers back. After all, with the Ghost Fish gone, bringing three newcomers would only increase the risk.

But when he asked Xu Hei, the latter refused, so White Tooth said no more, only instructing the Porcupine Fish to protect the three.

The Porcupine Fish decisively refused and passed this tricky task to the usually silent Sea Centipede.

Xu Hei smiled wryly, feeling like he was really being treated as a burden.

White Tooth, holding the scale, arrived at a flat seabed and said, ”This is where the Ghost Fish last sent a message.”

All the demonic beasts spread their Divine Sense, searching the seabed for any clues.

But there were no traces to be found.

This place was unremarkable, with no signs of battle or blood, as if someone had been erased in an instant.

As for the teleportation arrays the Sea God Sect was skilled in, they also couldn’t detect any residual spatial fluctuations.

”We should ask the local sea beasts,” the Porcupine Fish suggested.

White Tooth nodded.

”In a radius of fifty thousand miles, there were originally six sea beast families. After the death incidents, these families have migrated, leaving only some wild species and small clan branches.”

”In addition, there are many human islands, originally with a population of a hundred thousand. But after these incidents, most have left, leaving only some pirates and rogue cultivators wandering here.”

”This was the first piece of information sent by the Ghost Fish.”

”According to the previous plan, everyone will investigate separately, but we need to increase manpower, with at least three members per team.”

White Tooth glanced at everyone and said, ”As for the three newcomers, I’ll personally lead them!”

”Yes!”

The members of the three teams quickly split into four groups.

The first three teams each had three members, evenly matched in strength.

The last team was composed of White Tooth, the Porcupine Fish, Xu Hei, Xu Bai, and Qingluan.

This formed four teams.

”Our four teams will investigate the north, south, east, and west directions respectively. We will regroup here at noon tomorrow. If there are any unusual situations, stop the investigation immediately and use secret methods to seek help,” White Tooth said seriously.