Serpent Ancestor

Awakening Pills were originally meant to act on the primordial spirit, clearing the mind.

But now, they still act on the primordial spirit, making one equally clear-headed.

Just in a different way.

Hua Yuntian kept retching; he couldn't stand it and had to retreat, and the other person was the same.

They had tried to seal their mouths and noses with True Qi, but it was useless, as if even their souls could smell the stench.

Finally, Xu Hei appeared, took out a sealing talisman, and slapped it on the Awakening Pill.

"Seal!"

With a low shout, the sealing talisman wrapped around the Awakening Pill and put it away.

Only then did the stench slowly dissipate.

"Phew!"

Xu Hei let out a long breath.

He had never smelled anything so foul in his life. Normally, one would adapt to a stench after staying in it for a while, but this smell only got worse, not better.

It affected not just the physical body but also the spirit.

"This pill is too outrageous; it must never be tried lightly again."

Xu Hei was still in shock.

At this moment, Xiao Chou's face was pale, his eyes vacant, staring blankly at the ceiling as if he had lost his soul.

He was awake, but almost dead.

"Kill me, kill me..."

He kept mumbling.

Xu Hei sighed helplessly, slapped him hard, causing blood to spurt from his nose, and knocked him out.

Xu Hei took out some human bones, placed them on the ground, and then added some demonic beast fur, creating a scene as if someone had been eaten by a demonic beast.

In fact, this cave dwelling had indeed been a tiger demon's lair, but Xu Hei had long since killed it.

Carrying the unconscious Xiao Chou, Xu Hei left the place.

…………

About an hour after Xu Hei left.

Hua Yuntian and the middle-aged cultivator followed the blood trail to the cave dwelling.

There was a lot of dried blood, caused by Blood Replenishing Pills, demonic beast fur, and bones on the ground, along with some lingering stench.

The middle-aged cultivator observed for a moment and said, "That kid seems to have been eaten by a demonic beast."

"Serves him right," Hua Yuntian said coldly.

The two glanced at the cave dwelling's environment, felt a chill, and quickly left without lingering.

On a nearby tree, a small scouting snake quietly watched their backs disappear.

"Hua Yuntian, and another Foundation Establishment accomplice."

"Since someone has found this place, I need to find a time to move."

Xu Hei thought to himself.

He knew these two were here to hunt Xiao Chou, but Xu Hei wouldn't let his guard down because of this. It only showed that humans could search this place at any time.

Xu Hei needed to find a new place to settle, to prepare for the coming winter.

Xu Hei knew that deep in these mountains, there were many powerful creatures, like the Wild Giant Elephant, a place where human cultivators dared not tread, making it a safe haven.

…………

Three days later.

Xiao Chou had recovered from his dazed state.

He picked up the water bottle on the ground and took a big gulp; it was his first action in two days.

Then, he sat cross-legged to restore his depleted Spiritual Qi.

Having gone through life and death, he had come to understand that life was too short to live for a woman. If it weren't for that woman, he might have reached Foundation Establishment long ago.

He even felt a vague sense of gratitude to the person who had killed Silver Bell. It had freed him from the love curse, breaking his chains.

"Senior."

He looked at the stone man at the cave dwelling's entrance, pondered for a moment, and cupped his fists, "Is there anything this junior can do to help?"

The stone man ignored him.

At that moment, Xu Hei was outside the cave dwelling, conducting a hundred-man drill.

In short, he was simultaneously controlling a hundred granite golems to perform the Flying Stone Technique.

"Fire!" Xu Hei commanded with his mind.

Hundreds of stones flew out, raining down on a small hill, smashing it into rubble, creating a spectacular scene.

Xu Hei thought of the cannons and catapults used by mortals, launching such giant stones. With enough quantity and size, they could easily destroy a city.

"Such a dense attack could even kill a cultivator," Xu Hei thought.

Moreover, he could attach Fire Explosion Talismans to the stones to increase their power. With the advantage of numbers, he could definitely kill someone.

As a demonic cultivator, coming up with such an attack method made him quite the weirdo.

However, Xu Hei hadn't tested the exact power yet.

"I just happen to have a live target in the cave dwelling; why not let him try?"

Xu Hei thought of Xiao Chou and had an idea.

At the cave dwelling's entrance, the stone man turned its head to Xiao Chou and spoke, "Repeat what you just said."

Xiao Chou was stunned, then cupped his fists again, "Is there anything this junior can do to help?"

"There is!"

The stone man nodded, revealing an ugly smile.

Xiao Chou couldn't help but shiver, feeling he shouldn't have asked that question.

A stick of incense later.

Xiao Chou was tied up with ropes, standing in an open area.

In front and behind him stood ten stone men, holding giant stones, glaring at him menacingly.

"Xiao Chou, this is a test. Defend yourself against the attack of ten stone men with all your might and see if you can survive!" Xu Hei's voice rang out.

Xiao Chou's mouth twitched violently. Damn it, at least untie me first.

Suppressing the urge to curse, he trembled and asked, "What if I survive?"

"Then we'll increase the number of stone men to twenty," Xu Hei replied.

"..." Xiao Chou's face turned black.

……

Moments later, Xiao Chou was carried back to the cave dwelling, heavily injured.

He had withstood the attack of thirty-three giant stones.

But Xu Hei felt that Xiao Chou hadn't given his all. He could rival Hua Yuntian, so why could he only withstand so few stones? He seemed too weak.

Afterward, Xu Hei put away the stone men and left the place to conduct his daily inspection.

After a round of inspection, Xu Hei's face turned grim.

Today, five sensing talismans were missing.

If only one was missing, it might be someone passing by.

Two or three would mean someone was lingering nearby.

Five could only mean one thing: someone was specifically investigating this place.

"It seems this place is no longer safe," Xu Hei thought.

Moreover, Xu Hei found many blurred footprints, left by humans.

But after careful inspection, Xu Hei found that the footprints were always from one person, indicating only one person was active nearby.

Of course, it could also be a disguise, with one person in the open and many in the dark, deliberately confusing him.

"Who could it be?"

Xu Hei pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"Forget it, whoever it is, let's retreat first."

Xu Hei quickly returned to the cave dwelling and urgently said to Xu Bai, "Pack up, we're moving."

"Okay!" Xu Bai nodded, reacting quickly, and put all the spiritual herbs and spirit medicine in the cave dwelling into the storage bag.

Xu Hei had practiced this with her before; she was always ready to move.

A cunning rabbit has three burrows.

Xu Hei's cave dwellings were not just one or two; he had pre-selected multiple locations for hiding and seclusion.

However, frequently changing places meant the spirit medicine couldn't grow, and intruding into unfamiliar territory could lead to conflicts with demonic beasts over territory. Unless necessary, Xu Hei didn't want to move.

Now that humans had intruded, he had no choice.

One thing was certain: he was being watched, although he didn't know by whom.