Serpent Ancestor

At the moment he heard that ghostly voice, Xu Hei's scalp tingled, and a chill surged straight to his head. Instinctively, he was about to turn and flee.

But in an instant, he stopped himself, standing motionless.

This place was 800 meters underground.

If the other party had discovered him, they would have attacked immediately. Why waste time with tricks?

Xu Hei waited for a moment, but nothing happened.

"What a despicable old man, he's trying to trick me!" Xu Hei gritted his teeth.

He had no idea what method the person used to project his voice so far.

Xu Hei didn't fall for it. He didn't even probe with his Divine Sense. Instead, he stayed still, quietly recovering his strength.

The gravity here was immense. Xu Hei had undergone long-term bone tempering and body refinement, making his physical body strong enough to stay here safely.

...

At this moment, beneath the earth.

Ye Haichuan was a hundred meters underground, his body merged with the rock, fully attuned to the underground pulses. Any disturbance, he would sense immediately.

"Your two demonic beast companions have already been captured by me. If you don't come out, I'll skin them alive."

Ye Haichuan continued to shout, his voice echoing through the underground, while he sensed for any movements.

After a long while, there was no response.

Ye Haichuan was certain that the other party was hiding deep underground. With the opponent's ability to burrow through rock, they were likely more than 500 meters deep.

This gave him a headache.

Five hundred meters. With his abilities, he could go down and search, but he feared the opponent might have set traps underground.

At such depths, the pressure was immense, making it hard to maneuver. One wrong move, and he could end up in a dire situation.

"You little beast, I'll give you the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn to come out and meet me. Otherwise, I'll go out and kill your two companions, then unite all the sects to hunt you down endlessly!"

Ye Haichuan shouted, his voice traveling down through the rock layers.

He had made up his mind. If the other party still didn't respond, he would have to give up. But he would never let the other two demonic beasts go.

Time ticked by.

Ye Haichuan wasn't in a hurry. He waited patiently for the other party to reveal themselves.

Suddenly, he seemed to hear something. His eyes widened, and without a word, he drilled rapidly into the ground.

"Hmph, you finally showed yourself!"

Ye Haichuan's eyes gleamed with cold light. At unprecedented speed, he rushed towards a certain direction, closing the distance between them.

Five hundred meters, three hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters...

"Rock Pressure!"

Ye Haichuan clenched his fist in the air. Instantly, the pressure of the rocks multiplied, crazily squeezing towards a central point.

"Crack, crack, crack!"

A burst of blood light exploded ahead. A large black snake emerged from the rocks, already crushed into a bloody mess, bones broken and tendons snapped. It was Xu Hei.

His body moved slightly. Ye Haichuan snorted coldly, and a spike shot out from the rock, piercing Xu Hei's neck instantly, spraying blood once more.

A shrill hiss came from ahead. Xu Hei struggled desperately, but it was futile, spilling a large amount of blood.

"Pierce!"

Ye Haichuan didn't dare be careless. He continuously used the Earth Piercing Spike, three spikes shooting out, piercing the large snake over and over, pinning it completely in the rock crevice.

Finally, the large black snake twitched and could no longer move.

Only then did Ye Haichuan reveal a cold smile.

"Eight hundred meters underground, you really are ruthless, hiding so deep that even I had to be extremely cautious."

Ye Haichuan's lips curled into a cold smile. A protective light shield rose around him as he passed through the rock layers, approaching the large black snake.

Before long, he reached the large black snake.

The snake's body was severely deformed, its aura completely gone. This made him slightly regretful. He had hoped to capture it alive, but eliminating such a huge threat and extracting some secrets from the corpse was still worth it.

But at that moment.

Ye Haichuan suddenly felt a sense of alarm.

"Something's wrong! Wasn't this too easy?"

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, killing a Spirit Communion Stage snake demon should have been easy, even easier than this, a mere snap of the fingers.

But now, he felt something was off.

He couldn't pinpoint the reason, it was purely his intuition from a century of cultivation!

As soon as this thought emerged, his hair stood on end, his pupils contracted to a point, and his heart surged with a tidal wave of shock.

What did he see?

In his Divine Sense, a large number of black-gold scales suddenly appeared behind him without warning, piercing through the rock layers, shooting towards his back!

Too close! The distance was too close, less than fifteen meters!

The opponent was hiding nearby!

"What is this?!"

At that moment, Ye Haichuan finally saw clearly. Not far from him, there was another large black snake, identical to the one he had just killed, covered in blood, its body shattered, swinging its tail fiercely towards him, smashing through the rock, coming down on him with a powerful strike.

It looked exactly like the one he had just killed.

"Earth Shield!"

"Thick Earth Armor!"

"Earth Flow Wall!"

In an instant, Ye Haichuan cast three defensive spells, activating the inner armor magical treasure on his body. But it was too fast, too close. Just as the gray light appeared on his body, countless scales shot into him.

"Thud, thud, thud..."

Blood blossomed. Ye Haichuan's physical body was pierced through, all his defenses shattered like paper, leaving him bloodied, his internal organs turned into a sieve.

He had tried his best to dodge, but in such deep places, surrounded by heavy rocks, it was hard to move. He barely avoided the vital points.

At this moment, Ye Haichuan realized he had fallen into a trap.

The one he had just killed wasn't the real snake, but a puppet, an almost lifelike puppet identical to the black snake!

What shocked him was that the puppet also bled, its skin also tore.

Looking at Xu Hei's wounds, he finally understood.

The blood, the flesh, the snake skin, even the internal organs, were all Xu Hei's doing, merging with the puppet.

What a ruthless snake! What a cunning tactic!

To achieve his goal, he even harmed himself!

What kind of opponent had he provoked?

"I must escape, I must get away!"

Ye Haichuan took out a talisman, activating it underground. A stream of air shot out from behind, carrying Ye Haichuan upwards.

"Smack!!!"

Xu Hei's tail struck his lower abdomen, instantly smashing half of Ye Haichuan's body, his legs exploding into a mist of blood, and his storage bag falling off.

The stream of air from the talisman carried half of Ye Haichuan's body towards the surface, creating a path through the rock layers, unstoppable.

"This is my limit!"

Xu Hei watched his opponent flee, wanting to chase but unable to move.

He had heard from Hei Huang that it's extremely difficult for cultivators to fight across levels. Some geniuses could do it, but to fight across stages was almost impossible, like defying the heavens!

Xu Hei had reached his limit, yet he still couldn't kill his opponent, just one step short, one step!

He had never risked his life for anyone.

But this time, he did.

For no other reason than the opponent's threat of endless pursuit against him and his companions!

From that moment, Xu Hei knew he had no way out. Some things, even at great risk, had to be done!

Xu Hei almost succeeded. If not for that talisman, Ye Haichuan would have been dead.

Xu Hei didn't mind. Everyone had life-saving items. He had managed to take the opponent's storage bag and push him to the brink of death, which was enough.

...

Ye Haichuan's heart pounded, the pain in his body bringing waves of weakness, almost making him faint. He swallowed a Blood Spirit Pill, suppressing his injuries.

He never imagined that he would suffer such a loss at the hands of a Spirit Communion Stage snake demon! He even developed a psychological shadow.

If not for the life-saving talisman, he would have died just now.

If not for the Blood Spirit Pill, he would have died from his injuries!

Both were his century-long accumulation, gifts from a senior at the Core Formation stage.

"What were those scales, why did my Spiritual Treasure have no effect, being pierced directly?"

Ye Haichuan's heart trembled, unable to comprehend, even feeling a bit of fear.

The situation just now was too terrifying. He never wanted to experience it again in his life.

"Whatever it takes, I must inform the sect. If this demon is not eliminated, it will be a great disaster!"

Ye Haichuan gritted his teeth.

Moments later, he broke through the underground and reached the surface.

But as soon as he saw the sunlight, a black dog's shadow appeared before him.

The dog was robust, pitch-black and shiny, with a bald tail, and its eyes gleamed with a sinister light.

The dog turned its head, looking at him, a ghostly smile curling its lips.

Ye Haichuan's pupils dilated, his mouth opened wide. Before he could scream, he accidentally crashed into a tree.

"Boom!"

The tree collapsed, Ye Haichuan spat blood, fell to the ground, and with one last breath, his vision went black, and his body stiffened forever.