Serpent Ancestor

”Is that...”

Xu Hei was stunned.

It was the first time in his life he had seen the starry sky of the universe.

He saw a massive fireball, its light blinding—it was the sun.

And Xu Hei’s hometown, the Divine Continent Star, was just an inconspicuous planet orbiting the sun. The planets where other sects were located were the same.

As for the outer battlefield... Xu Hei looked back and saw only a fragment of a broken continent floating in the universe.

And the Spirit Realm...

When Xu Hei tried to search for the legendary Spirit Realm, he suddenly felt as if a pair of eyes from the depths of the universe were watching him.

Instinctively, Xu Hei looked back, but his face changed drastically as an immense pain overwhelmed him. He let out a scream and closed his eyes.

”Ah!!”Xu Hei covered his eyes, tears of blood streaming from the corners.

Everyone turned to look at him.

When Xu Hei opened his eyes again, he found he could see nothing. Outside the spaceship, there was only a pitch-black void—no starry sky, no continent fragments.

Night Owl raised an eyebrow and asked, ”What did you see?”

Xu Hei gasped for breath, and after a long while, he calmed down and said, ”Guess.”

”......”

Night Owl was silent for a moment. He said nothing, stood up, and walked over to Xu Hei.

”You can reorganize your words,” Night Owl said calmly, looking at him.

Xu Hei quickly replied, ”I saw nothing.”

Night Owl looked at Xu Hei for a long time before sitting back down.

The others also remained silent.

Xu Hei, however, was pondering what exactly was that presence in the depths of the universe that had been watching him.

He had only glanced back and seen nothing, yet he had almost suffered severe damage.

”I can’t just look around carelessly,” Xu Hei thought with lingering fear.

The journey ahead was smooth.

It was a starry sky passage leading directly to the Divine Continent Star. Before long, they descended onto the Divine Continent Star, in the Little Cang Realm.

Night Owl didn’t waste words, continuing to pilot the ship eastward until they finally reached the most fertile continent on the Divine Continent Star, the Western Cang Realm.

The Western Cang Realm was filled with sects and powerful cultivators, with over a hundred countries of various sizes. But the true overlord was only one—the Divine Puppet Sect!

This was a super sect that had stood since ancient times, with several Ancestors in the Divine Transformation Stage, and each era saw the birth of new Divine Transformation cultivators.

It was precisely because of the continuous emergence of Divine Transformation cultivators that the Divine Puppet Sect maintained its dominant position.

Other ancient sects, like the Medicine King Valley and the Heavenly Dao Gate, had long declined due to a lack of successors.

The Divine Puppet Sect never recruited disciples from outside; they only acted when they found truly promising talents.

…………

At full speed, it only took an hour for Xu Hei and his group to reach the mountain gate of the Divine Puppet Sect.

The Divine Puppet Sect was located in an ancient secret realm, isolated from the world, with a concentration of Spiritual Qi comparable to the outer battlefield.

It was an excellent place for cultivation.

Xu Hei had enough resources on him: four Supreme Spirit Stones, three half-Supreme Spirit Stones, over a billion lower-grade spirit stones, and various other resources.

What he lacked now was time and insight.

As for insight, relying solely on the Golden Lotus principles, he could attempt to break through to the Divine Transformation stage, a path guided by Lotus True Monarch.

Before long, the group dispersed, and Xu Hei was taken to a grand hall.

Inside the hall, Xu Hei saw many soul lamps. Some were extinguished, while others were burning, filling the hall.

”Xu Hei, leave a drop of soul blood and light the soul lamp.”

Night Owl took out a lamp and handed it to Xu Hei.

Without hesitation, Xu Hei squeezed out a drop of soul blood and placed it into the lamp, which immediately ignited.

Throughout the process, Night Owl was fully focused, watching Xu Hei’s every move. Only when the soul lamp lit up did he show a satisfied smile.

Xu Hei understood that once he handed over his soul blood, there was no escape, but he had no other choice at the moment.

The Divine Puppet Sect had stood for so long; they had seen all kinds of disciples and had plenty of ways to deal with him.

”Very well, from today, you are a core disciple of the Divine Puppet Sect. This is your token, and all the important details are inside.”

Night Owl handed a token to Xu Hei.

”Thank you, Elder Night Owl!”

Xu Hei bowed slightly and immediately left the hall.

With his Divine Sense, Xu Hei obtained a wealth of useful information.

The privileges of a core disciple, tasks, and daily cultivation were all detailed inside.

”A core disciple’s cave dwelling, a city under my management, and a specially equipped flying boat. If there’s a sign of breakthrough, I can even apply for up to two Supreme Spirit Stones.”

”How extravagant...”

After reading, Xu Hei couldn’t help but marvel at the wealth of the Divine Puppet Sect.

He immediately went to Heaven’s Secrets Pavilion, presented his token, and received a flying boat that belonged to him.

It was a wooden flying boat, capable of expanding and contracting, with a maximum length of a hundred feet. It was said to be the fastest flying boat on the Divine Continent Star, with automatic navigation capabilities.

Xu Hei boarded it and said, ”Take me to my cave dwelling.”

”Whoosh!”

The flying boat transformed into a stream of light, heading into the distance, leaving the Divine Puppet Sect. After about half an hour of flight, Xu Hei arrived in a mountain.

The place had a natural barrier, allowing only Xu Hei to enter and exit freely.

There were mountains and water, lush vegetation, and Xu Hei discovered a spiritual spring, from which spiritual liquid bubbled, forming a small stream.

This caused the plants in the mountain to be mostly medicinal herbs full of spiritual essence, valuable enough to sell.

”This is much better than the medicine garden in the ring,” Xu Hei thought to himself.

He transferred the spirit medicine from his ring and planted it on the hill. These were left by the Black Lotus, a person from Medicine King Valley, indicating their high value.

Tending to a medicine garden was a troublesome task, requiring constant attention, daily watering with spiritual liquid, and pest control.

The Divine Puppet Sect was experienced in such matters, having designed a wooden ox to guard the medicine garden and automatically till the fields, which was very convenient.

However, Xu Hei had ready-made tools.

He took out Jiang Nine Phoenix and placed her on the ground.

At this moment, Jiang Nine Phoenix was wearing clothes woven from spiritual herbs, her face gloomy, sitting silently.

The seal on her body, which she thought she could slowly unravel, she had tried to break with enough spirit medicine and spiritual pressure.

But she had tried several times, each time almost succeeding, only to fail and have the seal strengthen again.

After repeated failures, she realized she had been tricked. It was deliberately set up to give her hope and then despair.

”Xu Hei, you despicable scoundrel, if you have the guts, stop playing dirty!” Jiang Nine Phoenix glared at him, furious.

Xu Hei looked at her, bewildered.