Serpent Ancestor

Three Berserk Insect Kings, all dead, their vitality completely severed.

Xu Hei retrieved their corpses and handed them over to the newly born insects in the Insect Emperor’s ring for consumption. These Spirit-Eating Ants were still larvae and needed some time to mature before they could be sent into battle.

This battle had cost Xu Hei dearly.

Aside from the mere three thousand Black Needle Ants and the low-level Thousand Illusion Ants, Xu Hei had almost no insects left to rely on.

He swept his divine sense over the storage artifacts of Xiong Yan and the other two.

Supreme Spirit Stones, Xiong Yan alone had thirty, while the other two combined only had ten.

As for magical treasures, aside from those the other two didn’t have time to use, quite a few were preserved, but Xiong Yan’s treasures were almost entirely destroyed.

That light wheel capable of restraining insects was also shot to pieces by Xu Hei using the Black Needle Ants, and it was uncertain if it could be repaired.

Additionally, there was a blood cauldron storing a large amount of fresh red blood, containing the essence blood of at least tens of millions of cultivators. The malevolent energy it formed was so dense that it dyed the stone chamber’s walls blood red.

Faintly, it could even affect one’s mind, with the unwilling roars of those people echoing, causing various hallucinations.Xu Hei quickly put away the blood cauldron.

Similar evil artifacts were possessed by the other two elders as well, but none were as intense as Xiong Yan’s. Who knows how many people he had killed; compared to this group of butchers, Xu Hei was like a small fry.

”This item is too heavily tainted with malevolent energy; I’d better not get involved with it to avoid affecting myself,” Xu Hei thought to himself.

Just like how he never used the Dragon Slaying Sword, if something was contrary to his nature, he would avoid using it.

Finally, Xiong Yan had a specialized storage artifact, a crimson bead. Xu Hei hesitated for a moment, not breaking the bead’s seal, and simply placed it inside the Demon God Cauldron.

Xu Hei left the stone chamber and came to the outside world.

The Old Tree was coiled outside the door. Although it had successfully snatched a body, its strength was still somewhat affected.

”Old Tree, there are many sealed stone chambers here. Do you have a way to open them?” Xu Hei asked.

The Old Tree sneered, ”Kid, back then, Old Green Demon set up restrictions to prevent me from stealing them. Do you think I, just a split soul, can break them?”

Xu Hei was momentarily speechless.

After hesitating for a while, Xu Hei asked again, ”The three from Yan Dao Sect could open them, and you can’t?”

”What did you say?!” The Old Tree was instantly furious, glaring and puffing its beard, ”I, the dignified split soul of the Heavenly Demon Scattered Person, how could I be inferior to them?”

Xu Hei chuckled, ”Yan Dao Sect has inherited from ancient times, with countless predecessors studying formations to this day, accumulating knowledge over generations. It’s normal for you to be inferior to them; there’s no need to feel ashamed.”

The Old Tree’s eyes shifted, suddenly calming down, and it coldly laughed, ”Heh, kid, you don’t need to provoke me. Using this trick on me, you’re still too green.”

Xu Hei’s expression stiffened.

”However, I won’t hide it from you. Although I can’t do anything about this restriction, there’s another way to retrieve the pills inside without breaking it,” the Old Tree added.

”Oh? What method?” Xu Hei quickly asked.

The Old Tree deliberately played coy, smiling, ”Guess.”

”...” Xu Hei was at a loss for words.

Seeing Xu Hei’s expression, the Old Tree felt a bit smug and said, ”Kid, don’t try to play tricks on me. You can’t handle it.”

It pulled up its roots, forming two leg-like structures, and wobbled towards a sealed stone chamber.

Xu Hei hurriedly followed.

Outside the stone chamber, the Old Tree said, ”Bring me three Supreme Spirit Stones and a Void Stone!”

Xu Hei quickly produced a Void Stone and three Supreme Spirit Stones.

He had obtained quite a few Void Stones from the Ancient Tomb Sect.

The Old Tree suspended the Void Stone in mid-air, and after some unknown incantation, the three Supreme Spirit Stones were instantly consumed, merging into the Void Stone.

The restriction on the stone chamber seemed to be triggered, rippling for a moment before dissipating.

After about a day.

The Void Stone vanished, transforming into a small, palm-sized circular space black hole, leading who knows where.

”Reach in and grab whatever you can find; I don’t care what you pull out,” the Old Tree instructed.

Without hesitation, Xu Hei reached into the black hole and indeed felt something inside!

Xu Hei quickly pulled out a pill bottle.

Seeing this, Xu Hei moved with lightning speed, his arm darting in and out, pulling out one pill bottle after another.

At this moment, inside the stone chamber.

If someone were there, they would see a crack in the space, with a long, rubber-like arm reaching in, grabbing the pill bottles one by one.

”Hurry, it’s closing!” the Old Tree shouted urgently.

Seeing the black hole getting smaller and smaller.

Xu Hei’s speed was astonishing, reaching in and out hundreds of times in a single breath, until there was nothing left to grab, and he withdrew his hand.

The black hole closed and disappeared.

In front of Xu Hei, there were already eighty pill bottles and over twenty jade boxes, each containing Spirit Medicine.

”See? This is how you retrieve things without breaking the restriction!” the Old Tree said proudly.

”Amazing, truly impressive!” Xu Hei was genuinely impressed.

The Old Tree could actually create a spatial passage connecting to the inside of the stone chamber, bypassing the restriction’s detection.

If this were in the outside world, it would be one thing, but this was the Flying Spirit Garden, an independent high-level space.

In terms of teleportation (or escape), Hei Huang was indeed a master!

”But Xu Hei, my spatial passage only lasted for two breaths, and you managed to grab everything. You’re quite fast. If you ever have Dao companions, won’t you be unstoppable?” the Old Tree teased with a strange laugh.

”???” Xu Hei was utterly confused.

Without further ado.

The two immediately began inspecting the pills.

Without exception, all were fifth-tier pills for use during the Divine Transformation Stage. As a cultivator who ascended by breaking through the void, Green Emperor’s casually refined pills were priceless treasures for those in the Divine Transformation Stage.

Among them were three Purifying Lotus Pills, previously purchased for Hai Teng, which could suppress the violent power of laws and treat injuries caused by laws.

There were also seven Revitalizing Heavenly Heart Pills, long extinct in the outside world, which could accelerate the recovery of the primordial spirit!

Most notably, there were four Divine Fusion Pills, which Xu Hei was particularly interested in!

”My heavens!” Xu Hei gasped, realizing there were even more than what Yan Dao Sect had opened before.

Xu Hei strongly suspected that this stone chamber was carefully selected by the Old Tree, the most bountiful one.

Additionally, there were Demon Suppression Pills to alleviate inner demons, Evil Dispelling Pills to ward off evil and break misfortune, Crimson Cloud Pills to aid cultivation, Soul Shocking Powder to enhance divine sense, Spirit Transformation Powder to boost spiritual power, and so on.

These were all beneficial pills.

As for the negative poison pills, Green Emperor had left some as well, but after inspecting the first one, Xu Hei experienced a poisoning reaction, with his arm feeling like a melting candle, prompting him to quickly retreat and seal the pill bottle.

”Alright, these are basically all the pills left by Old Green Demon!”

The Old Tree then looked towards the inner hall door of Guanghan Palace, pondering, ”This person left all the fifth-tier pills here. Is this a way of settling affairs? What exactly is in the inner hall that warrants such caution?”