Serpent Ancestor

”Is this girl possibly disabled?”

Everyone speculated.

Luo Gang had no choice but to take Ah Yin back first. After all, she was Xu Hei’s friend, and her abilities were peculiar, making her very suitable for exploring dangerous environments, which might be useful in the future.

He left two people to guard the place, while the rest returned to Liefeng City, their territory.

A month later, the two guards also left, leaving only a casual informant to stay and watch for any news of Xu Hei.

...

The Outer Battlefield is divided into five major regions: Southern Barbarian, Eastern Wasteland, Northern Desert, Western Mountain, and Central Plains.

The Tianhen Sword Sect’s base is not in the Eastern Wasteland but in the core area of the Central Plains, considered the most prosperous part of the Outer Battlefield and the place with the most powerful sect relics.

Compared to the barren Eastern Wasteland, where all relics have been thoroughly explored, the Central Plains occasionally still have undiscovered sites.

However, the reason they remain undiscovered is due to the extreme danger.The Tianhen Sword Sect’s base is located in a city atop a mountain peak, as if the mountain had been sliced off by a sword, leaving a flat open area where a city was built, named Tianhen City.

After being rescued, Lin Tianhe lay unconscious for a whole month before waking up.

The first thing he did upon waking was to inquire about the identity of the red-haired woman, only to be told not to ask and to pretend it never happened.

Lin Tianhe wasn’t foolish; he immediately realized the gravity of the situation. He then described Xu Hei’s sword formation to his senior brother.

His senior brother, named Ye Dashan, had the appearance of a stern middle-aged man.

”Channeling the power of the stars, the heavenly and earthly forces, one hundred and eight swords, even capable of trapping that woman...”

Ye Dashan’s pupils contracted, and he exclaimed, ”That’s right! It’s very likely him. Even though I was just a shadow at the time, the form of that sword formation couldn’t deceive me!”

”This person must not be allowed to live!”

The matter was of great importance; Xu Hei had discovered their secret and could not be let go.

Stealing Supreme Spirit Stones was a minor issue, but if Xu Hei were to leak this matter, it would be catastrophic.

Subsequently, the Tianhen Sword Sect dispatched a large group of experts to ambush near the Divine King’s Hall relics, ready to capture Xu Hei at any moment.

However, after learning about the situation, Ye Dashan suspected that Xu Hei might have died underground.

One month passed, then two months... until half a year went by, and Xu Hei never appeared, nor was there any news.

Reluctantly, the Tianhen Sword Sect disbanded the ambush team and returned home; they couldn’t keep watch over someone whose life or death was uncertain.

Of course, a bigger reason was that keeping people there might arouse the suspicion of the Yan Dao Sect, which could lead to the discovery of their secret, and that would be troublesome.

In the end, they only left a few informants to watch, just in case.

...

The Northern Desert, a more desolate place than the Eastern Wasteland, in the far north.

Jiang Nine Phoenix, clad in red flames, landed on a towering giant tree. Her body was covered in red feathers, her legs had turned into eagle claws, and her skin was visibly pale, with a head full of white hair, looking as withered as an old man.

”Phoenix, what happened to you?”

A concerned voice suddenly came from the giant tree beneath her feet, and a human face appeared on the tree’s surface, resembling a handsome man.

”Tell me, who hurt you!”

The face spoke in a somber tone.

”This is my own matter, it has nothing to do with you,” Jiang Nine Phoenix said coldly.

The face was silent for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, ”Phoenix, your life essence blood...”

”I said it has nothing to do with you! I will handle my own affairs, I don’t need you or anyone else’s help. Remember what I said, I don’t want to repeat it a third time!”

Jiang Nine Phoenix’s voice was icy cold. Although she appeared frail and aged, her eyes still held the same cold arrogance as before, unyielding to anyone.

Even the face on the giant tree couldn’t help but avert its gaze, letting out a soft sigh.

”I respect you. What you’ve lost, you can certainly reclaim on your own! But if anyone bullies you, I will not allow it!”

After saying this, the face disappeared, and the tree returned to its original state.

...

Deep underground in the Divine King’s Hall, in the magma zone.

The Fire Phoenix Seal still hung high above, emitting a terrifying pressure that enveloped the area.

Under the constant pressure, Xu Hei’s physique grew stronger than before, and his once unstable true essence became more solid through continuous refinement.

After half a year of honing, Xu Hei’s foundation was solid enough, and he had absorbed half of Huangfu Duanlong’s memory inheritance.

The life of a Divine Transformation cultivator was incredibly tumultuous. Even though he was born into wealth and prominence, everything he experienced was legendary.

He built his foundation at eight, formed his core at fifteen, and then ventured out, joining the once-flourishing Yuntian Sect, which was later destroyed in a beast tide.

During the beast tide, his master went missing, and his senior sister died in battle. He fled with his senior sister’s Elemental Infant, hiding in a cave, and vowed to slaughter all demons and evils for revenge.

However, his senior sister lured him into consuming a spiritual herb that dissipated his divine sense, turning him into a living dead.

The senior sister he respected most intended to snatch his body!

At the critical moment, a demon spider crawled into the cave, disrupting his senior sister’s plan, giving Huangfu Duanlong a chance to counterattack and survive.

The day before, he had vowed to slaughter all demons and evils, yet he was saved by one, which felt like a huge irony to Huangfu Duanlong.

Before his senior sister’s Elemental Infant dissipated, she told him that the beast tide was actually orchestrated by his master, who had begun this revenge plan when joining the Yuntian Sect.

Huangfu Duanlong, disheartened, achieved enlightenment in despair, comprehending the ”Only I” state, and thus stepping into the Elemental Infant stage.

At that time, he was only twenty years old.

In the following five hundred years, he faced numerous crises, surviving by the skin of his teeth, and gradually reached the Great Perfection of the Elemental Infant stage. He mastered artifact refining, talisman crafting, and formation setting, excelling in the six arts of cultivation, and engraved all his insights in the memory inheritance for future generations.

Among them, Huangfu Duanlong was most proficient in artifact refining, his achievements in which were the greatest Xu Hei had ever seen.

At the Great Perfection of the Elemental Infant stage, he had already crafted a quasi-fifth-tier Divine Transformation magical artifact, the Mixed Yuan Eight Treasures Fan, using the celestial thunder pool.

”A fourth-tier magical treasure can still be self-refined, but a fifth-tier magical treasure, possessing earth-shattering power, requires the aid of the forces of heaven and earth for even a slight possibility,” Huangfu Duanlong’s voice said.

Later, to upgrade this magical artifact to a true fifth-tier, Huangfu Duanlong ventured to the Outer Battlefield several times, seeking suitable artifact refining environments.

He traveled through the Eastern Wasteland, Northern Desert, Southern Barbarian, Western Mountain, and Central Plains, finding several excellent locations, but failed to upgrade several times.

Throughout this journey, Xu Hei was both amazed and terrified.

Finally, in a place called the Void Realm in the Central Plains, Huangfu Duanlong successfully upgraded the Mixed Yuan Eight Treasures Fan to the fifth tier.

The specific process was not recorded in the memory light cluster.

Because the Void Realm could erase memories, those who came out remembered nothing of what happened inside, only that after Huangfu Duanlong emerged, the magical treasure had completed its upgrade, and he had acquired many precious materials.

Of the over a hundred people who accompanied him, only nine survived.

”The Void Realm can actually erase memories.”

”So Senior Huangfu traveled to so many places in the Outer Battlefield,” Xu Hei marveled in his heart.

This memory was crucial for Xu Hei; aside from anything else, the experiences, maps, and insights from this journey were invaluable.

Of course, this was the Outer Battlefield from hundreds of thousands of years ago. Whether it was still accurate was another matter, but it certainly held reference value.

After that, relying on the self-crafted fifth-tier magical treasure, Huangfu Duanlong spent fifty years completing the final step of the Divine Transformation stage, comprehending the heavenly way, transforming from ”Only I” to ”True Self,” and successfully achieving Divine Transformation.

”Junior, the path to Divine Transformation lies in one’s own understanding of the state, not in borrowing from others. My path is only for reference, remember, remember!” Huangfu Duanlong said.

At this point, half of the memory light cluster remained.

The latter part involved a series of events after Huangfu Duanlong’s Divine Transformation in the Dragon Subduing Sect.

Xu Hei withdrew his divine sense, exiting the memory inheritance, and returned to reality.

It had been over half a year since Xu Hei was suppressed, and his cultivation had reached the peak of the initial Elemental Infant stage.

”These memories are too important for me. I originally planned to break through to the mid-Elemental Infant stage, but it seems I need to hone myself a bit more,” Xu Hei thought to himself.

Huangfu Duanlong took only twenty years to reach the Elemental Infant stage.

But from Elemental Infant to Divine Transformation, he spent a full five hundred years.

The honing of the foundation is crucial; if one breaks through too quickly, the cultivation might advance, but without sufficient understanding of the state, it would only waste time and achieve nothing.

Xu Hei glanced at the Fire Phoenix Seal.

Now he understood that the Fire Phoenix Seal suppressing him was not a fifth-tier magical treasure, just a quasi-fifth-tier.

A true fifth-tier magical treasure possesses the power of the Divine Transformation stage, capable of destroying the heavens and earth. Whether for cultivators or magical treasures, advancing to Divine Transformation is no easy task.

Xu Hei took out a gourd of spiritual liquid and drank a large gulp.

He didn’t plan to use it to enhance his cultivation but to nourish his physical body and refine his meridians. Reaching the mid-Elemental Infant stage was his goal, but not yet.