Serpent Ancestor

Xu Hei woke up, not knowing how much time had passed.

His body was in tatters, with two pigs having taken a few bites out of him. Their teeth ground against his snake skin, making a "creak" sound, but they couldn't bite through and retreated to the corner.

"Pain! Such pain!" Xu Hei convulsed in agony.

This was the worst injury he had ever suffered. His body was nearly torn apart, his meridians shattered, his skin completely cracked, and his demon core was gone.

The fact that he could wake up was already a miracle.

He struggled to move his body, crawling to the other side to avoid being nudged by the pigs.

"My demon core is gone."

Thinking of this, Xu Hei felt like crying. It was the foundation of his cultivation, and now, it was completely destroyed!

However, he was suddenly startled.

Where his demon core used to be, there was now a small black cauldron, sitting quietly.

The cauldron had eight legs and was round in shape, covered in complex patterns. A Flood Dragon was carved on it, coiling around the cauldron, head to tail, lifelike as if it were a living creature.

This cauldron was the so-called "Demon God Cauldron" that the boy had mentioned.

He could see the things inside his body, which was strange! His gaze could look inward and outward, even with his eyes closed, he could see the area within ten meters.

It was as if there was a third eye in the void, allowing him to see everything around him without obstruction.

"Strange."

Xu Hei shook his head. This wasn't an illusion; he could indeed see, just like how Chen Fan had spied on him. Now he could spy on others in the same way.

"Divine Sense?" A term popped into Xu Hei's mind.

How he developed Divine Sense was unclear. It was said that only legendary cultivators possessed Divine Sense.

At the same time, some new information appeared in his mind.

It was the route for the circulation of True Qi, each step crystal clear and somewhat familiar.

"This is that boy's cultivation method!"

Xu Hei's eyes brightened. He didn't know what use this cultivation method had, but he was sure it could heal injuries!

Xu Hei wasn't one to hesitate. Once he made up his mind, he immediately calmed his mind and began to operate the cultivation method.

Gradually, strands of Spiritual Qi drifted over from the heavens and earth, intertwining and forming a dragon of Spiritual Qi that flowed into his body.

This scene was exactly the same as when Chen Fan was healing his injuries last night.

A tingling sensation spread through his body, the pain easing. Xu Hei let out a long breath, running the second route, Spiritual Qi entering his body, circulating, and slowly healing his wounds.

***

After a stick of incense.

Xu Hei opened his eyes again and looked inside his body.

"It really can heal injuries!"

Xu Hei gasped, his heartbeat quickening.

In the wild, severe injuries were almost a death sentence, but having a healing method was like having an extra life. How could he not be excited?

Moreover, he had a vague feeling that this cultivation method was primarily for cultivation, to improve one's realm, and healing was just a side effect.

After just a few moments of breathing exercises, his body was filled with Spiritual Qi, and he felt light and refreshed, as if he had taken a spiritual herb.

"Strange! My demon core is shattered, so I shouldn't be able to store Spiritual Qi."

Xu Hei was puzzled. The cauldron had replaced his demon core. Could it be that this cauldron had become his demon core?

He tried to move his body to expel the small cauldron, but it didn't budge. Xu Hei had to give up.

"Even a random boy is so powerful. Humans truly are the spirits of all things. I must never provoke humans again!"

Xu Hei secretly vowed and quickly left the pigsty.

Before leaving, he glanced at the three pigs, and in a fit of rage, swallowed the fattest one whole before swaggering away.

He fled to the wilderness, found a tree hole, and fell into a deep sleep.

***

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

During these days, Xu Hei had been cultivating that mysterious method. His injuries had healed, and he had expelled a lot of impurities, forming a pile, and he had even shed his skin once.

This made him realize that the method not only healed injuries but also improved his physique, cleansing his meridians and purifying his marrow.

The only thing he was dissatisfied with was that his body size had shrunk by half, now only a little over two meters.

"A fat pig is two meters long. How am I supposed to swallow pigs now?" Xu Hei frowned.

A snake could swallow prey much larger than itself, but there was a limit.

However, with the reduction in size, his speed and strength had increased significantly, and his flexibility had also improved, allowing him to stretch several times his length. This gave Xu Hei some comfort.

With the previous experience, Xu Hei no longer dared to go to human towns, only catching small prey in the wild.

***

Soon, a few more days passed.

On this day, Xu Hei suddenly opened his eyes, and new knowledge appeared in his mind.

—The cultivation system!

Human cultivators were divided into the Qi Refining Stage, Foundation Establishment Stage, and Core Formation Stage.

Demonic beasts corresponded to the Spirit Communion Stage, Foundation Establishment Stage, and Demon Core Stage.

"My current realm is at the peak of the first layer of the Spirit Communion Stage, equivalent to the peak of the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage for humans."

Xu Hei muttered to himself. This was the new knowledge he had just acquired.

Since swallowing the Human Elixir and the Taoist, he had occasionally gained human knowledge, and this time, the knowledge seemed to come from that boy named Chen Fan?

This suspicion was not unfounded. Recently, he had often dreamt of Chen Fan, and unfamiliar memories would appear.

Besides, there was another thing that puzzled him.

"I lost my demon core, which is like a human losing their dantian. I should have become a cripple, but my cultivation has instead improved."

Xu Hei instinctively looked inward, at the Demon God Cauldron where his demon core used to be.

Strands of cloud-like Spiritual Qi gathered inside the cauldron. This was the Spiritual Qi he had absorbed through his breathing exercises.

"It really has replaced the demon core!"

Xu Hei was secretly shocked. He racked his brains but couldn't figure out what was going on. The human knowledge he had gained offered no explanation.

But he had no time to think about it.

The problem he faced now was that he was hungry again!

The cultivation method allowed him to absorb Spiritual Qi from the heavens and earth, but just absorbing Spiritual Qi wasn't enough. He also needed a large amount of blood and energy.

Demonic beasts couldn't practice inedia; they needed a lot of food!

Xu Hei could only drag his body, glance at the village at the foot of the mountain, shake his head, and turn to climb up the mountain.

He didn't want to go to the human world anymore. It was too dangerous there. He'd rather starve than go back to the pigsty.

Xu Hei extended his Divine Sense, searching for food along the way.

All afternoon, he ate a nest of bird eggs, a squirrel, and a wildcat. He even chased a rabbit down the mountain.

This amount of food was less than a third of a fat pig.

Xu Hei's food requirements were growing larger, and this was far from enough. He needed to hunt larger creatures.

Xu Hei glanced down the mountain again and spotted a watermelon field, lush and green, stretching across the hillside.

The field was far from the village, with only one farmhouse nearby.

At this moment, Xu Hei suddenly saw a black wild boar in the watermelon field, munching on a watermelon with loud grunts.

The wild boar wasn't very large, about a meter and a half long. Given Xu Hei's current size, it seemed just right for a single bite.

Xu Hei was tempted.

He was facing the first major decision of his snake life: hunting a large beast.

"Would attacking a wild boar be dangerous?"

Xu Hei hesitated. He didn't want to face large beasts unless absolutely necessary, but he had no choice. His appetite was too big, and for survival, he had to take risks.

"According to the cultivation system, I'm now at the peak of the first layer of the Spirit Communion Stage, and this wild boar hasn't developed intelligence, so its level is lower than mine! Logically, I should be able to take it down easily!"

Xu Hei's mind raced. He wasn't an ordinary beast; he could think, and that was his advantage. He had to make good use of it.

"To be safe, I'll take it slow."

Xu Hei finally decided to take the risk and hunt the wild boar.

***

He crawled to the edge of the watermelon field, wrapped his tail around a large stone, and cautiously approached.

Along the way, he also picked up some small stones and held them in his mouth.

In fact, with his strength, killing a wild boar wasn't difficult. He had once been the Snake King of this area, swallowing many people and also killing wild boars. But thinking back, he realized he had survived purely by luck.

Now that he had intelligence, he had to be extra cautious. He didn't want to get hurt; he was afraid of pain.

When he was within ten meters of the wild boar, Xu Hei suddenly raised his neck, opened his mouth, and gathered his internal energy at his throat.

"Poof!"

A stone shot out of his mouth like a cannonball, hitting the wild boar's head.

"Bang!" The wild boar's head caved in, blood splattering everywhere, and it fell to the ground.

Xu Hei was overjoyed and spat out another stone, smashing another hole in the wild boar's head.

He approached, raised the stone in his tail, and smashed it down hard, repeatedly, until the wild boar's head was a bloody mess, and it stopped moving, its blood no longer flowing.

Spitting out the remaining stones in his mouth, Xu Hei breathed a sigh of relief.

"It should be dead, but even dead, it might come back to life."

Xu Hei still felt uneasy, so he broke its four legs and crushed its bones to prevent it from coming back to life.

Only then did he feel safe enough to start measuring.

Comparing it to his own size, he found it just right for a single gulp.

"It's said that wild boar meat is tougher than domestic pig meat. I hope it lasts longer."

Xu Hei calculated in his mind, opened his mouth wide, and swallowed the wild boar whole.

The wild boar's fur was rough, its skin tough, and it took longer to digest. The good thing was that it kept him full longer.

Xu Hei started swallowing from the head, and soon only two legs were left outside.

As the boar meat entered his body, Xu Hei could clearly feel a surge of heat rising within him. The wild boar meat was quickly digested, turning into pure blood and energy, giving him a sense of fullness. This was the benefit of food!

***

Moments later, the wild boar was completely swallowed. Xu Hei suddenly coughed violently and spat out a black crystal the size of an egg, which fell to the ground. It was a demon core.

"This is... the wild boar's demon core?"

Xu Hei's scales stood on end, his eyes wide open.

No, how could a wild beast have a demon core? Could it be...

Looking at the bloodstains on the ground, Xu Hei realized belatedly, gasping in shock, "This was a Pig Demon?"