Serpent Ancestor

Southern Forest of Chu Kingdom.

A Foundation Establishment elder had died, a rare event that hadn't happened in years.

The Carefree Sect, Purple Mist Sect, and Tai Xuan Sect all stepped forward to clarify that they had nothing to do with the incident, providing alibis for their powerful members.

The Snake Catchers Sect, being high and mighty, naturally had no need to kill an elder from a subordinate sect and then deliberately cover it up.

This matter sparked widespread speculation.

"It must be him, it must be him!"

Chen Daoling's eyes were bloodshot as he recalled the Snake Demon that had nearly cost him his life.

Those eerie scales could pierce through any defense, a memory that still haunted him. Ye Haichuan must have been careless and fallen victim to those scales.

"That Snake Demon is exceptionally cunning, as sly as a fox. Besides him, I can't think of anyone else," Chen Daoling said with certainty.

The Carefree Sect believed it was the work of that chicken thief, the big black dog that could fly and escape.

Soon, the Mountain Movers Sect's investigation results came out.

Along with Ye Haichuan, two inner disciples had also died. Ye Haichuan had gone there because he received a message from the two.

What exactly the disciples had said was unknown, but it was easy to find out that man-eating Demonic Beasts had appeared in that area.

A week later.

The Snake Catchers Sect issued a bounty order to capture the Black Snake Demon and the Black Dog Demon.

Capturing one would reward a hundred Spirit Stones, and finding a clue would reward fifty Spirit Stones.

This caused an uproar among all the sects.

Many small sects mobilized their disciples to search the mountains, as fifty Spirit Stones were a fortune many cultivators could only dream of in their lifetime.

…………

Deep in the forest, in a hidden cave within a canyon.

Xu Hei woke up, his damaged snake skin had already healed, and his flesh and bones had regrown, restoring him to his peak condition.

His muscles glowed with a dark luster, displaying incredible resilience, seemingly even stronger than before he was injured.

The scales on his tail had regrown, now covering one-fifth of his body.

"What kind of cultivation technique is Xu Hei practicing? This healing speed, and those scales on his back…"

The more Hei Huang observed, the more puzzled he became.

He initially thought Xu Hei's technique was on par with his Heavenly Demon Technique, but now it seemed he had underestimated it. This technique was likely an ancient legacy, specifically suited for snake cultivation.

The suitable one is the best. Hei Huang completely abandoned the idea of teaching Xu Hei the Heavenly Demon Technique.

His only concern was whether such a powerful technique was complete.

If it was incomplete and could only be cultivated to a certain level with no further progress, it would be useless.

Just like the puppet technique he had acquired, which only had the first level of the Human Puppet Technique, limited to the Qi Refining Stage. No matter how powerful, it was still useless.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, the Demon God Cauldron inside Xu Hei's body trembled violently, beginning to frantically absorb the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth. The spiritual liquid compressed rapidly, showing signs of transformation.

"Late Spirit Communion Stage."

Hei Huang's eyes flashed, and he immediately took out formation flags, setting up a formation, while also taking out a large number of pills, ready to feed them at any moment.

This battle had turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Xu Hei, giving him the opportunity to break through. Everything seemed to fall into place naturally.

Although it was delayed from the late stage of the month as Hei Huang had mentioned, Xu Hei's foundation was incredibly solid. Even before the breakthrough, he was already at the late stage.

Three days passed.

Inside the Demon God Cauldron, the spiritual liquid droplets merged, forming a thumb-sized spiritual water ball.

Within the water ball, a stream of spiritual energy flowed out, spreading like the branches of a tree, coursing through Xu Hei's entire meridian system.

This spiritual water ball was Xu Hei's core. When the water ball expanded to fill the entire Demon God Cauldron, it would signify the Great Perfection of the Spirit Communion Stage.

At that time, he could attempt to compress the water ball and establish his spiritual foundation.

Xu Hei opened his eyes, his True Qi now twice as dense as before. The transition from mid-stage to late-stage was another transformation.

Spirit Communion Stage, level seven.

Although he had broken through, Xu Hei still felt a sense of powerlessness when facing Foundation Establishment cultivators. Their long-range spells that could destroy everything with a wave of the hand were still out of his reach.

Not enough! This level of strength is still not enough!

Killing Ye Haichuan was purely a stroke of luck and coincidence. If Xu Hei had to do it again, he wouldn't be confident in replicating such a miracle.

"This big snake is fixed for you."

Hei Huang tossed in a large snake puppet, the same one from before, now fully repaired.

Xu Hei glanced at it and nodded, "Thank you."

He stored the snake away.

If it weren't for Hei Huang's Invisibility Talisman and this snake puppet, he wouldn't have been able to kill that cultivator.

Xu Hei took out three storage bags and placed them on the ground.

Hei Huang glanced at them and obediently left, "I'll go for a walk."

"No need, there's a share for you," Xu Hei said.

Hei Huang's eyes lit up, and he immediately scampered back, sitting on the ground with a cheeky grin.

"And you two, come in as well," Xu Hei called out to the cave entrance.

The white snake and the wolf king excitedly ran in, sitting obediently by the side.

Both of them had long since recovered from their injuries and had made significant progress in their strength.

The wolf king was now at the third level of the Spirit Communion Stage.

The white snake, surprisingly, had reached the fourth level of the Spirit Communion Stage.

This was the mid-stage, and such rapid progress without many resources astonished Xu Hei. It was much faster than his own progress back in the day.

The little white snake looked at Xu Hei with starry eyes, hesitating for a moment before timidly asking, "What should I call you, Great King, Senior Brother, or…"

"Stop! Just call me Xu Hei."

Xu Hei quickly interrupted her, stopping her from continuing.

Hei Huang grinned mischievously, "Little Xu, let her finish. Could it be that you two have some unspeakable relationship?"

Xu Hei's face remained expressionless as he said:

"I was planning to share with everyone, but forget it."

"Hey? Come on, what did I do to offend you?"

"Get lost!"

"…"

After a round of bickering, Hei Huang had no choice but to back down.

"Xu Hei…" The white snake's eyes brightened as she asked, "Then, can I call myself Xu Bai?"

"…"

Xu Hei fell into deep thought.

This was a serious question.

"Ha! With names like these, you two definitely have something going on!" Hei Huang pointed accusingly.

Xu Hei bit down on the black dog's leg, causing him to howl in pain and not dare to make another sound.

"Fine, you can be called Xu Bai," Xu Hei agreed.

The little white snake immediately became elated, her eyes sparkling as she muttered to herself, "I'm Xu Bai, I'm Xu Bai, I have a name now, I have a name now…"