Serpent Ancestor

Although they hadn’t fought Li Changge before, the intelligence from the Blood Refining Sect indicated that the Taiyi Sword Qi was Li Changge’s life-bound artifact. There were nine strands in total, each requiring years to refine. How could he give it away so easily?

In the blink of an eye, the Sword Qi was upon them.

At that moment, Wei Wudao seemed to notice something, a strange look flashing in his eyes. He took out a silver bell and gave it a gentle shake. The Taiyi Sword Qi suddenly cracked with countless fissures and stopped in front of him.

The Sword Qi transformed into a slightly illusory human face. Who else could it be but Li Changge?

Wei Wudao sneered, letting out a sigh of relief, ”Ha, I thought it was really the Taiyi Sword Qi, but it turns out to be a wisp of divine sense. What a false alarm!”

Ji Qing also realized, ”I was wondering why Li Changge would be willing to give a strand of Taiyi Sword Qi to Xu Hei. So that’s how it is.”

Since it was formed from divine sense, as masters of the Ancient Tomb Sect, they were most adept at dealing with divine sense techniques.

”Formed from divine sense?”

Xu Hei stared at the illusory face, seemingly understanding something, his expression growing darker.

Formed from divine sense, with this wisp, the other party could not only locate Xu Hei but also control this wisp from afar.Indeed, there are no benefits without reason in this world! After the transaction was completed, the other party gave Xu Hei an extra sword-shaped jade talisman, clearly with ulterior motives!

However, after experiencing so much, Xu Hei instead found Li Changge’s actions reasonable and perfectly normal.

”What is this place? Why can’t I sense my true body? Are you from the Ancient Tomb Sect?”

Li Changge’s wisp of divine sense stared at Wei Wudao and Ji Qing, then glanced at Xu Hei behind them, his thoughts racing.

”Clang!!”

Wei Wudao shook the bell again, and Li Changge’s divine sense shattered instantly.

”Fellow Daoist Xu, we didn’t expect Demon Blood Vines to appear here. It was a miscalculation on our part. We must take our leave now. Take care!”

Wei Wudao grabbed Ji Qing, their primordial spirits igniting instantly. Their bodies transformed into a streak of black light, escaping the pursuit of the Demon Blood Vines at an incredible speed, flying towards the distant horizon.

Xu Hei, left behind, naturally couldn’t leap over the thorny thicket and had no choice but to retreat.

Fortunately, the Sword Qi formed from the divine sense had destroyed the nearby restrictions, preventing Xu Hei from being trapped.

”Whoosh!”

Xu Hei unfurled the Night Demon Wings, using his flying sword to clear the path, speeding through the thicket. At the same time, he summoned the Demon God Cauldron for protection. This was his maximum speed without using teleportation.

To make matters worse, as the Demon Blood Vines saw the two escape, they turned around and chased after Xu Hei.

In the face of such a fierce creature, Xu Hei’s Night Demon Wings were utterly ineffective.

”This creature is extremely sensitive to blood energy. The stronger the bloodline, the more it attracts the Demon Blood Vines. There’s no doubt that if I and those two were to escape simultaneously, the Demon Blood Vines would unhesitatingly hunt me down,” Xu Hei thought to himself.

These two had been putting on an act all along, with this very intention. If they had warned him earlier about the Demon Blood Vines ahead, Xu Hei would never have taken this path.

Wei Wudao and Ji Qing were now on Xu Hei’s must-kill list!

Although Li Changge had also schemed against him, that wisp of Sword Qi did help somewhat, so Xu Hei could only pretend not to know.

”Boom boom boom!!”

Suddenly, the ground ahead began to shake violently. Xu Hei looked up to see a massive wave of black vines surging from all directions, blocking his path.

At the same time, a ghostly wind began to howl, and green lights appeared everywhere, both in the sky and on the ground. These were the wandering souls drifting in the area.

”It’s over!”

Xu Hei’s heart sank to the bottom.

Trapped in the thicket, with ten fierce creatures behind and ghost vines and wandering souls ahead, he was besieged on all sides with no escape.

There was only one option left: hide inside the Demon God Cauldron!

With this thought, Xu Hei didn’t hesitate any longer. He immediately summoned the Demon God Cauldron, climbed inside, and sealed the opening.

”Clang!!”

The moment he entered the Demon God Cauldron, a thick Demon Blood Vine burst from the ground, wrapping tightly around the cauldron. Its terrifying strength twisted, and its spiral-shaped fangs clung to the cauldron, producing a sharp screeching sound as they scraped against the surface.

Xu Hei sat quietly inside the Demon God Cauldron, motionless, not daring to release his divine sense, simply waiting in silence.

After a long time, the Demon Blood Vine, unable to extract anything, found its sharp fangs unable to pierce the cauldron’s exterior.

Eventually, the Demon God Cauldron was dragged underground, pulled towards some unknown location.

It was only after being dragged for half a day that it slowly came to a stop, its destination unknown.

Xu Hei released a sliver of divine sense and found himself surrounded by a vast expanse of vines, with no less than three Demon Blood Vines nearby.

Sensing Xu Hei’s divine sense, the Demon Blood Vines began to stir again, immediately lunging forward to attack the Demon God Cauldron once more.

Xu Hei withdrew his divine sense, furrowing his brow as he pondered how to escape.

”A mature Demon Blood Vine is enough to rival a late Divine Transformation cultivator, and there are three of them here. If I go out, I’m dead for sure!”

”If only the people from the Blood Refining Sect were here. With their abundant blood energy, they would surely be favored by the Demon Blood Vines.”

After thinking for a long time, Xu Hei sighed and turned his attention to the other items sealed within the Demon God Cauldron.

The first was a strange pill he found in the outer hall, extremely toxic. Just a whiff had caused heavy casualties among his Spirit-Eating Ants.

The second was a colorful mushroom he had snatched from Xiong Yan, which had a strong lethal effect on divine sense, even affecting mid-Divine Transformation cultivators.

The third was a stone tablet left by Hei Huang, which had absorbed the magic marrow crystal.

To escape, Xu Hei could only pin his hopes on these three unknown items.

Of course, if all his unconscious Spirit-Eating Ants awoke and evolved into Black Needle Ants, combined with his army of Thousand Illusion Ants, he might be able to break out.

But doing so would result in too great a loss.

Another option was to use Dragon Soul Descent, but Tu Sen had tampered with it, and there was a high chance it would summon the demonic dragon.

Moreover, given the methods Tu Sen had shown back then, they might not even work well in this environment.

After much contemplation, Xu Hei finally grasped the pitch-black stone tablet.

With a thought, he activated the Heavenly Demon Technique, absorbing the demonic energy from the stone tablet.

The demonic energy from the magic marrow crystal was being slowly extracted. The Heavenly Demon Technique wasn’t Xu Hei’s primary cultivation technique, and he was only at the third level.

But given the opportunity with the magic marrow crystal, Xu Hei naturally wouldn’t miss the chance to cultivate it to the fifth level.

In terms of destructive power, the Heavenly Demon Technique might not match the White Emperor’s techniques, but in terms of strangeness, it was the most bizarre Xu Hei had ever seen. Perhaps in the upcoming environment, it would prove to be exceptionally effective.

While cultivating, Xu Hei also let the Demon God Cauldron release a trace of demonic energy, spreading it to the outside world to see if there was any reaction.

Xu Hei hadn’t held much hope, but suddenly, the nearby Demon Blood Vines slightly recoiled, showing a hint of retreat upon touching the demonic energy.