Serpent Ancestor

"Why has this white mouse grown so big?" Xu Hei hurriedly asked.

"It's quite simple..."

Xu Bai activated the Gravity Technique, grabbed a Strength Pill from her gourd, and took a small white mouse out of her Spirit Beast Bag.

Then, she tossed the Strength Pill into the mouse's mouth.

She put the mouse down, and its body began to swell, its bones crackling, flesh growing wildly, and its tail curling up.

In the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the mouse had transformed into a fat, plump pig.

Because it was so fat, Xu Hei couldn't tell if it was a mouse or a pig.

"..." Xu Hei was so scared he almost fell over.

Damn it, is this the effect of the Strength Pill?

"In battles with demonic beasts, size is everything. As long as your body is big and strong, you can defeat your enemies! Even a mouse can beat a cat if it eats this Strength Pill," Xu Bai said proudly.

"Squeak!!"

The enormous mouse let out a sharp cry and rammed into the rock wall. With a loud crash, the wall caved in.

Xu Hei swallowed hard.

This strength had indeed increased significantly.

In a way, it really was a Strength Pill, no doubt about it.

But no one expected it to turn out like this. Xu Hei thought for a moment and decided against trying one himself.

Next time, he'd catch a cultivator and have them try it.

Xu Hei glanced at the remaining gourds of pills, which included Minor Essence Nurturing Pills, Awakening Pills, Bone Strengthening Pills, Blood Replenishing Pills, and others, all quite common.

The pills were still the same, and he recognized each one.

But as for their specific effects, only the heavens knew.

Xu Hei took out a brand-new storage bag and marked it with a skull symbol.

Then, he carefully placed these pills into the storage bag to avoid mixing them with other pills.

"What's this mark?" Xu Bai asked, puzzled.

"It's a bottom-of-the-chest mark, indicating that precious items are stored inside and shouldn't be shown to others lightly," Xu Hei explained seriously.

"Oh! I see." Xu Bai nodded heavily.

Xu Hei immediately left the cave dwelling.

He didn't know what Hei Huang would think when he saw these pills, but he didn't want to care.

At that moment, Xu Hei had a sudden inspiration and came up with an idea.

—Since Xu Bai couldn't refine proper pills, what if she tried making poison instead?

But this thought quickly vanished, and Xu Hei shook his head.

"No way, if she turns proper pills into this, making poison might end up killing herself."

Xu Hei shook his head vigorously, abandoning the terrifying thought.

He had heard of the risks of being a poison master; one wrong move, and you could poison yourself and the whole village, leaving nothing alive for miles around.

As a mildly venomous snake, Xu Hei had never used poison to attack his opponents.

He couldn't rely on her for pills in the future; he'd have to rely on himself.

Fortunately, this trip had yielded enough, so Xu Hei didn't have to worry about pills for now.

The only problem was that all his puppets were gone.

The materials for making puppets had long been exhausted, and only the Heavenly Puppet Sect had them.

Xu Hei had no choice but to settle for some hard rocks as substitutes.

Rock puppets were among the lower-level puppet techniques, easily distinguishable from the real thing.

Unlike his previous creations, which could pass for real.

"Let's make some rock puppets for now," Xu Hei thought to himself.

…………

A few days later.

Xu Hei hovered in front of a granite mine, where he had already dug a large pit.

In front of him was a pile of stone puppets, all purple, in various shapes: human, snake, dog, lizard, and more.

These were made from the granite he had dug up, with a strength barely reaching the late Qi Refining Stage.

Moreover, they couldn't cast spells and could only throw stones at most.

"Granite puppets, how poor must a disciple be to make these?"

Xu Hei was speechless. If the disciples of the Heavenly Puppet Sect saw this, they'd laugh their heads off.

They had seen poor people before, but never this poor!

Rocks were everywhere; this was no different from trash.

It was only because Xu Hei had Earth Spiritual Roots to support him that these puppets were even slightly useful. For anyone else, these puppets would be utterly useless.

Xu Hei sighed and stored the granite puppets in his storage bag.

He didn't idle around afterward.

Although he had made the puppets, he still needed to test their power.

Xu Hei found a flat, open area and had the puppets try to concentrate their attacks on a target.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

The puppets received the command and simultaneously launched a barrage of stones at the target, riddling it with holes.

This was the granite puppets' attack method, using Earth Element Spells, specifically the Flying Stone Technique.

To put it bluntly, they just threw stones.

However, with so many stones thrown at once, the scene was quite spectacular. It might even be enough to crush a cultivator to death, given the power of the granite.

"I wonder where that old dog has gone; I hope he brings back some materials."

Xu Hei thought to himself.

Then, Xu Hei had a sudden idea.

Could he increase the number of puppets?

If individual strength wasn't enough, he could use numbers. If thirty weren't enough, then fifty, a hundred, two hundred, three hundred...

Xu Hei's Divine Sense was now much stronger, so he might be able to control a massive army of granite puppets.

"Let's do it and see how many I can control," Xu Hei thought excitedly.

…………

Hundreds of miles away.

In the mountains, a bloodied figure was running frantically into the depths of the forest.

If Xu Hei were here, he would recognize this person as Xiao Chou, the disciple of the Mountain Movers Sect, often cursed as a bastard.

Ten miles behind Xiao Chou, two Snake Catchers were chasing him, both at the Foundation Establishment Stage. One of them was Hua Yuntian.

"Xiao Chou, you little bastard, how dare you attack me? Today is your death day; not even the gods can save you!"

Hua Yuntian's vicious voice echoed as he touched his severed arm, the anger in his eyes growing fiercer.

One of the Snake Catchers beside him said, "To be able to hold us off at the peak of the Qi Refining Stage, this kid is no simpleton!"

Both of them sped up, searching through the dense forest.

…………

In the following days, Xu Hei entered a long period of secluded cultivation.

With plenty of pills, his daily routine consisted of taking pills, cultivating, taking more pills, and tempering his body.

He also practiced his puppet techniques.

Xu Hei found that he could control up to a hundred granite puppets, but to be safe, he prepared a total of five hundred puppets.

He had already hollowed out the entire granite mine.

It was only because Xu Hei had enough pills that he dared to dig so recklessly.

With so many puppets, his storage bag couldn't hold them all, so Xu Hei stored them in a pitch-black jade stone, which had a huge space, more than enough to fit them all.

Additionally, Xu Hei spent some time each day patrolling the area to check for any signs of human activity.

With Hei Huang gone, Xu Hei had to stay vigilant.

They had caused such a commotion that humans were bound to send many cultivators into the mountains, so Xu Hei had to be on guard.

If any humans came near, he would immediately relocate.

Time flew by.

One day, Xu Hei released a small snake puppet for his routine scouting.

He had set up many sensing talismans around the area, which were extremely sensitive to spiritual power. If a cultivator passed by, the talisman would disintegrate on its own.

That day, he noticed that one of the sensing talismans had disappeared.

"Is there a cultivator here?"

Xu Hei was startled and sent out the small snake to investigate.

The sensing talisman's range was five hundred meters, or one mile.

The small snake searched through various areas and finally found bloodstains on the ground in an inconspicuous spot.

"Hmm? This person is injured?"

Xu Hei frowned and followed the blood trail, eventually finding a severely injured young man by a mountain spring.

Xu Hei had seen this person before.

It was Xiao Chou, the dark-skinned, honest-looking disciple of the Mountain Movers Sect.

Xu Hei didn't know him personally, but he had heard plenty about him from the gossipy women of the Purple Mist Sect.

It was said that this guy had formed a Dao companionship with Silver Bell but hadn't even held her hand. He had even given away his hard-earned Foundation Establishment Pills.

Calling him a weirdo was an understatement.

"Seeing you in such pain, I'll send you to reunite with that girl."

Xu Hei was about to finish him off but then stopped.

"Wait a minute! Aren't I in need of a pill tester? Isn't this a perfect opportunity?"

Xu Hei's eyes lit up.

He didn't dare try Xu Bai's pills himself and needed someone to test them. This was perfect!

However, this guy had managed to hold his own against Hua Yuntian, so he wasn't easy to control.

Xu Hei didn't want to risk capturing a dangerous individual.

"Poof!"

Just as Xu Hei was hesitating, Xiao Chou spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed by the spring, unconscious.

"Dead?"

Xu Hei controlled the small snake to approach and found that he wasn't dead.

The guy was barely alive, severely injured, and poisoned by snake venom, which prevented his wounds from clotting. He would bleed to death within half an hour.

If Xu Hei still worried about being hurt by this half-dead person, he might as well give up.

The small snake coiled around Xiao Chou and dragged him into a ground hole.

Xiao Chou lay there, completely unconscious. Xu Hei thought for a moment and decided to save him first.

He'd leave the rest to Hei Huang when he returned, as he was better at controlling people.

"You're losing too much blood; let's start with a Blood Replenishing Pill."

Xu Hei tapped the storage bag marked with a skull and took out a Blood Replenishing Pill.

Then, a human-shaped granite puppet carried the pill into the cave and placed it in Xiao Chou's mouth.

The pill melted instantly.

Xu Hei watched with his Divine Sense to observe Xiao Chou's reaction.

The Blood Replenishing Pill not only restored blood but also healed wounds and expelled poison.

In no time, Xiao Chou's wounds began to heal, stopped bleeding, and his breathing stabilized.

It looked like he was going to make it.

"Heh, this is my first time saving someone; I guess I'm doing a good deed."

Xu Hei chuckled to himself.

He took out a magical rope, intending to tie Xiao Chou up.

Suddenly, Xiao Chou's abdomen heaved, and waves of powerful blood energy surged from his body, inflating his blood vessels.

"Hmm?" Xu Hei was stunned.

When the blood energy reached its peak...

"Poof!!!"

Xiao Chou spewed a long stream of blood, shooting ten meters high and splattering on the cave ceiling.

Xu Hei was stunned for a full two seconds.

"My goodness!" Xu Hei's jaw almost dropped.

The effect of the Blood Replenishing Pill was too strong; one pill had such an impact?

But the absurdity didn't end there.

Once it started, it couldn't stop!

Xiao Chou kept spewing blood, like a human fountain, hitting the ceiling with high-pressure blood jets.

The intense blood energy caused the cave to rumble, showing signs of collapse.

"No, if this continues, it'll never end. I need to stop the bleeding."

Xu Hei thought quickly and had a granite puppet rush over to cover Xiao Chou's mouth.