Serpent Ancestor

Xu Hei silently cursed Wang Zhen’s ancestors. He had promised it was food, but it turned out to be something else entirely. The tentacle he cut off still moved.

This was clearly an indescribable magical treasure.

Fortunately, it was Ah Yin who was there, someone who struggled to say even two words. If it had been Xu Bai, Xu Hei suspected she might have slapped him.

Luckily, he had taken the tentacle out to test it beforehand, only to discover it wasn’t edible.

”That damned bastard Wang Zhen, couldn’t he have said so earlier?”

Xu Hei sat on the ground angrily and said, ”This tentacle was a gift from Wang Zhen. He said it could be eaten—smoked, fried, or grilled—but it moves. I was deceived too.”

Xu Hei explained the situation thoroughly.

As for whether Ah Yin believed him, that was beyond his control.

”Xu Hei, you really are in a sorry state,” came Ji Ying’s gloating laughter.

”Get lost!” Xu Hei snapped irritably.In the end, Xu Hei took out some spiritual fruits and herbs for Ah Yin to eat.

The young girl ate quickly, one bite after another, her mouth full of juice.

”Thank you,” Ah Yin said, wiping her mouth.

Her short silver hair, hollow eyes, expressionless face, and frail, petite figure made her look like a young girl in her early teens.

She had been like this five years ago, and she was still the same now, without any change.

Xu Hei thought of Wang Qin, who had grown up into a graceful young woman, while the Silver-haired Witch remained unchanged.

”Where’s your storage bag?” Xu Hei asked, puzzled.

”I accidentally ate it,” Ah Yin replied.

Xu Hei was speechless. In other words, this girl had nothing on her and could only rely on herself. It would be a miracle if she could unleash her full strength.

Xu Hei didn’t ask further and returned to his room, closing the door behind him.

He took out his storage bag and retrieved the four items he had collected earlier.

”The Extinction Gang wants me to hand over their stuff. These worthless things aren’t even valuable. Strange,” Xu Hei frowned.

To say they were valuable, there were three fourth-tier magical treasures and several fourth-grade talismans, which weren’t exactly worthless.

But were they really worth the trouble of demanding them back personally?

Xu Hei examined them carefully and finally focused on a pile of small blue pills.

These pill-like items were only the size of a fingernail, and each storage bag contained a few. Xu Hei couldn’t determine what they were.

If anything was suspicious, it was these unfamiliar pills.

”What secret do these pills hold? Could they be a means to control subordinates?”

Xu Hei had no intention of tasting them and put them away carefully.

For this trip to the Divine King’s Hall, Xu Hei needed to be fully prepared, and external assistance was essential.

He took out the Simulated Combat Tower and entered it, sending a message to Luo Gang.

Then, he brought Luo Gang into the arena.

However, this time, they weren’t there to spar but to exchange information.

”Fellow Daoist Xu, have you come to the outer battlefield?” Luo Gang chuckled.

Earlier on the ship, Xu Hei had contacted Luo Gang in advance and agreed to meet in Liefeng City if possible.

Xu Hei got straight to the point, ”Do you know about the Divine King’s Hall ruins?”

”Oh? The ancient ruins in the eastern wasteland? Of course, I’ve heard of them.”

Luo Gang nodded slightly and recounted, ”The Divine King’s Hall was a super sect in ancient times, extinct before the ancient era. But because it was a blessed land with abundant spiritual qi, it was occupied by various forces until a great catastrophe twenty thousand years ago, when all cultivators perished, and the spiritual qi vanished, leaving it desolate.”

Xu Hei nodded slightly and relayed what Xue Yang had said.

”A cavern discovered?” Luo Gang squinted his eyes and said, ”If there really is a cavern, even if there are treasures inside, they wouldn’t be left by the Divine King’s Hall but by later generations.”

”However, knowing Xue Yang’s nature, there must be a treasure in the cavern that can help him break through to the Divine Transformation Stage. Otherwise, he wouldn’t go through so much trouble to set this up.”

Luo Gang’s analysis was thorough, much more reliable than Xu Hei’s wild guesses.

Xu Hei asked, ”What do you think, Fellow Daoist Luo?”

”Hmph! If there’s really a treasure that helps break through to the Divine Transformation Stage, how could Liefeng City miss it? Fellow Daoist Xu, I will infiltrate the area and have people surround it. Even if Xue Yang brings a group of helpers, we need not fear him,” Luo Gang said solemnly.

”That sounds good,” Xu Hei nodded.

Xu Hei didn’t fully trust Luo Gang, but based on his conduct so far, he didn’t seem like a villain.

When Xu Hei was in the Core Formation Stage, Luo Gang had helped him comprehend the concept and answered all his questions without reservation. Trusting him was better than facing Xue Yang alone.

...

Xu Hei didn’t linger long. After giving some instructions, he quickly exited the tower and put it away.

Taking out the Simulated Combat Tower in such a place was very risky. If discovered, it would inevitably lead to a fierce battle.

From Luo Gang, Xu Hei also learned about Xue Yang’s strength.

Xue Yang, one of the top ten experts in the eastern wasteland, would be at least sixty stars if converted to the combat tower’s star rating.

Of course, using star ratings to measure strength was very inaccurate. Many factors determined victory, not just trump cards but also environmental factors and concept restraint.

Unless it was above a hundred stars, where one could ignore all the flashy tricks, that would be a different story.

...

Outside the Divine King’s Hall ruins, on a rugged sand dune.

A middle-aged man and a horse-faced young man stood on the dune, both from the Tianhen Sword Sect.

”The news has been leaked to Xue Yang. Since that thief has the ability to steal Supreme Spirit Stones, he won’t miss this place!” the horse-faced young man said coldly.

”Even if he comes, with so many people here, how will you single him out?” the middle-aged cultivator asked.

The horse-faced young man confidently replied, ”He was able to find our Tianhen Sword Sect’s spiritual eye, indicating he has a strong sense of perception! The cavern here is real, the treasure is real, and the danger is real too.”

”In such a complex environment, it shouldn’t be hard to single out the person with the strongest perception, right?”

The middle-aged cultivator nodded slightly, approvingly, ”Not bad, you’ve improved.”

”No matter who it is, anyone who can discover our spiritual eye must not be left alive!”

They understood that if they didn’t eliminate that person and retrieve the Supreme Spirit Stones, they would face severe punishment.

This was the foundation of their Tianhen Sword Sect, and they couldn’t afford any mistakes.

To lure Xu Hei out, they were willing to use this super bait, confident he would take the bait.

...

Two days later, Xu Hei arrived at the gates of Sansha City as agreed.

Besides Xue Yang, there were five Elemental Infant stage cultivators, all experts he had recruited or already knew.

These five were all in the late Elemental Infant stage, each more formidable than the last.

”Two early Elemental Infant stage cultivators?”

An elderly man with white hair scrutinized Xu Hei and Ah Yin, his gaze settling on Xu Hei.

”This girl has spatial escape techniques, so she has some value. But what value do you have?” the white-haired elder asked Xu Hei with a half-smile.

As he spoke, Xu Hei felt a gust of wind on his face, and an invisible large handprint was about to strike his face.

The white-haired elder attacked without a word.

Xue Yang made no move to stop him, merely watching quietly.

Ah Yin stepped forward, blocking the handprint, and closed her eyes, as if resigned to her fate.

”Whoosh!”

A breeze blew by, and the handprint vanished.

The white-haired elder chuckled strangely, ”Oh, I see.”

A chubby cultivator nearby also laughed, looking at Ah Yin with a peculiar expression.

As for the other two, one showed disdain, while the other looked impatient, urging, ”Our time is precious, don’t waste it here.”

Only then did the group set off for their destination.

Xu Hei had already made up his mind to kill the white-haired elder who had just tested him, but now was not the time.

What he needed to do was hide his strength, letting this group underestimate him. This was the strategy Xu Hei and Ah Yin had agreed on before setting out.

The Divine King’s Hall ruins were located in a wilderness tens of thousands of miles away.

The group traveled for about half a day before reaching their target location.

It was a sunken terrain, full of pits and crevices, with many ravines and gorges, making it a treacherous landscape. This wasn’t initially so rugged but had evolved over years of battles.

Of course, the terrain was very stable, and ordinary Elemental Infant cultivators could no longer alter the landscape.

This only indicated that battles above the Elemental Infant level had occurred here multiple times.

At the center of the sunken terrain, countless ruins and collapsed buildings could be seen, with broken cave dwellings and scattered swords and weapons everywhere.

These structures were remnants of the ancient Divine King’s Hall, and despite the ravages of time, some remnants still survived.

Some buildings were entirely made of spirit stones, but these stones had long lost their spiritual power.

Within the Divine King’s Hall ruins, many rogue cultivators had come, clearly having heard the rumors spread by Xue Yang. Whether true or false, they came to see for themselves.

Xu Hei began to suspect that the reason Xue Yang said they would act in two days was to give these people time to spread the news, attracting more people.

”Why attract outsiders? Do they need cannon fodder, or is there another reason...” Xu Hei speculated.

The thin spiritual qi in the air reminded Xu Hei that there might be a device underground absorbing spiritual qi. But that wasn’t the main point; Xue Yang’s goal was.

”Follow me!”

Xue Yang led the way to a crack in the sunken terrain and jumped straight down.

This crack was one of many and not particularly noticeable.

The group followed, descending tens of thousands of feet before reaching a cave entrance.

Without a word, Xue Yang entered the cave, which twisted and turned like a narrow path. He took out a lamp, and under its light, the stone walls expanded slightly, widening the passage.

A group of rogue cultivators followed at a distance, curious to see where Xue Yang was headed.