Serpent Ancestor

What you fear most often comes true.

Just as Xu Hei was worrying about when the Serpent Fruit would ripen, it suddenly did.

The moment the Serpent Fruit ripened, its scent wafted through the cracks in the soil. Without hesitation, Xu Hei rushed forward and swallowed all three ripe fruits.

"Hmm?"

Above ground, Mu Yun's eyes widened, his gaze fixed on the ground.

Just now, he sensed a slight fluctuation of spiritual power from the ripening of the Serpent Fruit. Though he couldn't pinpoint the exact location, he knew it was deep underground.

"It's underground!"

Without hesitation, he sank his feet into the ground and burrowed into the earth.

It was a common spell among cultivators, the Earth Escape Technique.

At the mid-stage of Qi Refining, one could learn the Five Elements Spells, gaining abilities that mortals would consider god-like. This was the fundamental difference between the mid-stage and the early stage.

If one were only at the early stage, they could only rely on talismans and magical treasures to exert their strength.

"Underground?"

Zhao Wenzhuo's eyes flickered, his brow furrowed.

"Senior Sister Song, I wrongly accused you earlier. It was all my fault, and I apologize."

"Who knows what kind of expert is hiding underground? We should leave quickly to avoid causing trouble."

Zhao Wenzhuo cupped his fists and bowed apologetically.

Song Shiyu said nothing, her expression cold as she turned and left.

A flash of coldness appeared in Zhao Wenzhuo's eyes as he followed her.

At this moment.

Although Xu Hei hadn't released his divine sense, he could clearly feel the vibrations underground, and a sense of impending danger filled his heart.

"He's coming down. It's the Earth Escape Technique from the Five Elements Spells!"

Xu Hei's mind, filled with human knowledge, had information about this technique.

The opponent was coming for the Serpent Tree. Xu Hei hesitated no longer, biting into the Serpent Tree and burrowing deeper underground.

The opponent clearly didn't know the exact location and had gone in the wrong direction, failing to find Xu Hei.

After burrowing a distance, Xu Hei spat out the Serpent Tree and began to fully operate his cultivation technique to digest the energy of the Serpent Fruit.

"Hurry up and refine it! Hurry up!"

Xu Hei roared internally.

At this moment, being chased by a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, Xu Hei felt an unprecedented sense of crisis. This wasn't brought by a demonic beast, but by a human.

Compared to the clumsy bodies and minds of demonic beasts, the danger humans posed was more than ten times greater!

Because you never knew what trump cards the opponent had, whether they were hiding their true cultivation, or if they had hidden protectors.

Everything was unknown.

Xu Hei's nature was not to take risks. Without more than ninety percent certainty, he wouldn't make a move! Let alone now, when the opponent's cultivation surpassed his own, their magical treasures surpassed his own, and their spells were overwhelmingly superior. Xu Hei couldn't find a single chance of winning.

He could only hide! He could only run!

Xu Hei bit into the Serpent Tree, continuously burrowing through the ground. After escaping a certain distance, he stopped and desperately refined the Serpent Fruit.

Meanwhile, the opponent also used the Earth Escape Technique to pursue him.

However, the speed of the Earth Escape Technique was far slower than on land and consumed a large amount of true qi, requiring occasional pauses to adjust, which slowed the pursuit.

Mu Yun had already discovered that the opponent was hiding underground. Although his divine sense couldn't lock onto the opponent, he had found the escape route.

"Quite the escape artist! The opponent's Earth Escape Technique is no weaker than mine, but I wonder what their cultivation level is."

"Hmph, no matter your cultivation level! With the magical treasure left by my master, as long as you're not a Foundation Establishment cultivator, I can kill you without fail!"

Mu Yun guessed that the opponent was likely a newbie who had just entered the mid-stage of Qi Refining, too scared to even show their head, only focused on running away, clearly lacking confidence in winning.

This only strengthened his resolve to pursue.

"Daring to steal from a snake catcher, you won't escape death today!"

Mu Yun swallowed a Rejuvenation Pill, his speed suddenly increasing as he swiftly moved through the soil.

Xu Hei also pushed himself to the limit, desperately opening a path through the earth.

"Refine it!" Xu Hei roared internally.

Suddenly, as if responding to his call, the Demon God Cauldron erupted with a strong suction force, drawing the Serpent Fruit inside. The fruit dissolved at a visible rate, releasing pure energy that nourished his entire body.

Xu Hei was overjoyed; it had finally begun.

As long as the Demon God Cauldron was operating, he could refine while escaping, doing both simultaneously.

The spiritual qi mist within the Demon God Cauldron quickly reached its peak.

The black-gold scales on Xu Hei's tail were rapidly transforming, with the eighth scale undergoing a swift metamorphosis, faster than ever before.

The eighth scale, the ninth scale!

In the blink of an eye, the transformation was complete!

The scales stopped at nine, seemingly reaching the limit, while the spiritual qi mist also overflowed, no longer increasing.

Xu Hei immediately realized he had reached a bottleneck in his cultivation, the Great Perfection of the third layer of the Spirit Communion Stage.

For humans, this would be the Great Perfection of the third layer of the Qi Refining Stage.

The next step would be the mid-stage.

At this moment, the remaining Serpent Fruit in the Demon God Cauldron was rapidly being digested, but the spiritual qi seemed to fluctuate, sometimes overflowing, sometimes retracting, unable to break through the barrier.

Xu Hei gritted his teeth and made a ruthless decision, tearing off a branch of the Serpent Tree along with half its bark and swallowing it.

As soon as the Serpent Tree entered his body, dramatic changes occurred.

It was like throwing a red-hot iron into calm water; the water immediately boiled. The spiritual qi mist in the Demon God Cauldron rapidly expanded, becoming increasingly intense.

When it reached its limit, it began to compress inward, with droplets of spiritual qi liquid appearing within the mist.

No longer mist, but droplets, dotting the inside of the Demon God Cauldron.

Xu Hei's physical body also underwent a dramatic transformation. His muscles swelled, his bones trembled, his fangs grew, and even his long-stagnant body lengthened.

"Hiss hiss hiss!!!"

Xu Hei let out a painful cry, unable to move a step further, stopping in his tracks.

Spiritual qi compressed, his physical body transformed.

An old snakeskin slowly peeled off his body, revealing a brand-new form emerging from the old skin.

Shedding skin symbolized rebirth; every breakthrough Xu Hei made involved shedding his skin.

Fifteen meters away, Mu Yun, who had been tailing him, finally stopped. His eyes were filled with disbelief, his divine sense locking onto the front as if he had seen a ghost.

"This, this is..."

He thought he had seen wrong, repeatedly confirming it before gasping in shock.

His mind was somewhat frozen, unable to believe that after chasing all day from morning till night, he wasn't pursuing a cunning cultivator but a snake?

He knew that demonic beasts could achieve Spirit Communion, hence the name Spirit Communion Stage.

But what kind of demonic beast was this? He hadn't seen a single person, just a snake burrowing through the ground, carrying a tree. This wasn't just Spirit Communion; this was practically becoming a spirit!

What puzzled him even more was that this tree seemed to have been dug up by someone. How did it end up in the hands of a snake?

Mu Yun's thoughts raced, and he hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to approach.

He considered the possibility that a powerful being had snatched a body and was rebuilding their cultivation in a demonic beast's form. But such a thing was too outrageous to believe.

"This demon can't be killed; it must be captured alive. It might even attract the attention of the headquarters!"

Mu Yun made up his mind, his eyes burning with determination.