Serpent Ancestor

He stayed here because he had one move left, the Jianmu Overlord Body, which he hadn’t used yet. However, this move couldn’t be used to relocate; it could only be fixed in place. By then, he would be invulnerable and could completely hold this person off.

But after witnessing Xu Hei’s divine ability, that unrealistic thought was long forgotten.

”Run!”

The thorn-covered man turned and fled.

”Isn’t it too late to run now?” Xu Hei said coldly.

”Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...”

Countless white flying insects emerged from the ground beneath the thorn-covered man. They were all Spirit-Eating Ants raised by Xu Hei, covering the sky and numbering eighty thousand, all released at once.

Once the Spirit-Eating Ants appeared, they swarmed onto the thorn-covered man like a storm, biting him relentlessly.

”Jianmu Overlord Body!”

With a loud shout, the thorn-covered man emitted a green light all over his body. His lower half transformed into a tree form, rooted into the ground, and his surface was covered with thorns, turning him into a half-man, half-tree.Under the endless green light, even the Spirit-Eating Ants couldn’t get close to him or break his defense.

Xu Hei glanced at him and didn’t continue the assault. Instead, he controlled the Spirit-Eating Ants to fly towards the other three severely injured individuals.

The other three, slightly weaker, had been crippled by a strike from the Flame Demon Ancestor and Xu Hei. At this moment, they were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, and it didn’t take long before they were devoured clean by the Spirit-Eating Ants.

The cores of those three were carried over by the Spirit-Eating Ants, and Xu Hei stored them in his storage ring.

At the same time, the Night Sky was also refined by Xu Hei, leaving only a small black bead the size of a fingernail, which was a storage artifact.

Additionally, what was refined from the Night Sky wasn’t spiritual qi or primordial spirit power but a mass of black, viscous mist, whose purpose was yet unknown.

Xu Hei stored the black mist in a bottle and then looked at the thorn-covered man.

”Fellow Daoist, I am Qing Wufeng of the Thorn Clan. If you let me go, I can pretend nothing happened.”

”I have activated the Jianmu form, making me invulnerable. Not to mention someone of the same realm, even someone a realm higher would find it hard to hurt me. I advise you not to waste time on me!”

Seeing Xu Hei approaching, the thorn-covered man hurriedly shouted.

”Jianmu form...”

Xu Hei stared at the thorn-covered man.

This move was identical to when Qing Shuang used it to save herself, half-man, half-tree, sealing his own movements in exchange for unparalleled defense.

In a situation where the strength was similar, it was indeed impossible to harm him.

Unfortunately, their strength wasn’t just a little different.

In Xu Hei’s view, even among those in the late-stage Divine Transformation, combat power could be divided into several tiers.

The strongest tier was naturally represented by the Thorn King and the three Grand Elders of the Wood Spirit Clan, who were just a step away from ascension and could be called half-step Void Shattering.

Next were Qing Shuang, Qing Xuan, and Xu Hei after activating the three-phase fusion, along with the Flame Demon Ancestor, Night Sky, and others.

The third tier consisted of those ordinary late-stage Divine Transformation cultivators outside, possessing decent divine abilities and magical treasures, like Li Changge.

As for the natives who were just dealt with, they could only be classified as the fourth tier, easily killed in one move, with no resistance, and even some mid-stage Divine Transformation Chosen from outside could handle them.

The one in front of him was at most in the third tier.

”Can’t move, huh? Let me give it a try.”

Without another word, Xu Hei directly took out the Demon God Cauldron and placed it on the man’s forehead.

”Swallow for me!”

With a thought, Xu Hei fully activated the Demon God Cauldron, and the person inside began to scream miserably.

The green light on his surface visibly weakened, his plant body withered, and green sap separated, quickly absorbed into the cauldron.

”How can you break my Jianmu Overlord Body?” Qing Wufeng exclaimed in horror.

No matter how much he didn’t believe it, the fact was right in front of him.

However, this person was quite tenacious, with green light continuously emerging to resist the cauldron’s devouring, making it difficult for Xu Hei to finish him off quickly.

At this moment, there was movement behind him.

From the miasma passage, a purple object emerged—it was Han Te’s head.

”Han Te?” Xu Hei was taken aback.

At this moment, Han Te looked panicked and shouted, ”Mr. Xu, run! The space inside is collapsing!”

”What did you say?” Xu Hei asked in disbelief.

”The battle just now was too intense, triggering a chain reaction. The spatial cracks are increasing and are about to spread out!” Han Te said in panic.

After saying this, he didn’t look back, stepping on a pitch-black giant sword and transforming into a streak of light, flying away into the distance.

Xu Hei dared not delay, no longer paying attention to the half-man, half-tree Qing Wufeng, and turned to flee.

Sure enough, not long after Xu Hei left, he heard cracking sounds from the miasma restriction. Like shattering glass, a series of spiderweb-like spatial cracks spread out, directly destroying that restriction.

Then, the cracks quickly spread a hundred feet away, and in the blink of an eye, they reached Qing Wufeng.

”No!!”

With a scream, Qing Wufeng was swallowed into the cracks. No matter how invulnerable he was, being sucked into the cracks meant certain death.

Xu Hei felt a lingering fear and quickly accelerated, stepping on his flying sword and fleeing at high speed.

At that moment, Xu Hei suddenly heard a faint, ethereal voice in his ear.

”Leave this place, and never return!”

”This is hell!”

The voice was distant, and Xu Hei could only vaguely hear it.

He instinctively turned to look back.

In the depths of the pitch-black crack, the figure of an ancient cultivator faintly appeared.

He gazed at the departing people, his cloudy eyes no longer confused, his expression solemn, as if giving a warning.

Xu Hei said nothing and, in the blink of an eye, disappeared into the distance.

”Hell?”

”What exactly is inside?” Xu Hei furrowed his brows, deep in thought.

He certainly didn’t believe in the so-called hell.

But there must be something terrifying inside, enough for the remnant thoughts of that ancient cultivator to be preserved until now, just to prevent others from entering.

However, if it was merely something that incited fear, why stop others? He himself was already dead; did he still care about the fate of the Dark Star aliens?

This made Xu Hei very curious.

But now wasn’t the right time to investigate. Xu Hei was almost out of energy and could only escape as quickly as possible.

...

This time, due to the internal strife of the Wood Spirit Clan, the exploration ended without results. Qing Xuan and Qing Shuang, it was unknown if they had escaped. But with their skills, they shouldn’t have died in such a place.

Xu Hei didn’t stop for a second, flying straight out of the Immortal Burial Valley and then sprinting all the way.

He didn’t return to the Wood Spirit Clan but instead found a secluded place in a high-gravity danger zone and stopped.

This place was in a crevice of a pitch-black mountain, a hiding spot Xu Hei chose nearby.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go further, but in his current state, he was simply too exhausted to flee any further.