Serpent Ancestor

They used the pretense of searching for the snake demon to enter the mountains without restraint, giving them the opportunity to infiltrate the Qin Kingdom. Otherwise, they would have definitely been discovered by the Astrology Bureau.

"Why isn't Xuan Yangzi here?" Qin Xuanji asked calmly.

"Master has made his stance clear. He won't get involved in the conflict between the two kingdoms, as long as the Snake Catchers Sect is not interfered with," Wu Mochou replied with a respectful bow.

Qin Xuanji nodded, "Good! As long as he doesn't interfere, once our Heavenly Puppet Sect enters the territory, the Snake Catchers Sect will remain as it is."

"What about the attitudes of the other sects?" Qin Xuanji looked at the others present.

At this moment, everyone cupped their fists and said in unison, "We will follow the orders of the Heavenly Puppet Sect."

"Very well!"

Qin Xuanji nodded in satisfaction and then added, "As for the snake demon and the dog demon, there's no need to pretend to search the mountains anymore. The fact that he can control the corpse of the Mountain-moving Patriarch clearly indicates he has stolen our sect's Puppet Mechanism Technique. Just half a year ago, two of our outer disciples went missing in Linjiang City. They must have obtained it from them."

"Once I conquer the Southern Region of the Chu Kingdom, I will personally investigate. If he has stolen our puppet techniques, he will either become a disciple of our sect or die!"

With that, Qin Xuanji filled a cup with wine and raised it, "May this cooperation be successful. I toast to you all!"

"To the senior!"

Everyone raised their cups and drank in one gulp.

…………

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, it was deep winter. Today was the New Year in the human world, and mortal cities were decorated with lanterns and streamers to welcome the spring.

But for demonic beasts, there were no such festivals.

In a cave dwelling deep in the mountains.

Xu Hei opened his eyes and exhaled.

The True Qi within his body had completely calmed down, the flesh and blood of the demonic beast had been fully digested, and the effects of the Foundation Establishment Pills had been exhausted.

However, his aura still remained at the Great Perfection of the Spirit Communion Stage, with only a slight increase.

"Foundation Establishment... failed?"

Xu Hei frowned, deep in thought.

At this moment, the spiritual liquid in his Demon God Cauldron was still in a liquid state, only slightly more viscous than before. In the center, there was a small solid piece, but it had not yet formed a complete spiritual foundation.

If a complete spiritual foundation was a step, Xu Hei had only managed to create a single brick.

This left Xu Hei puzzled. He had followed Hei Huang's instructions, made thorough preparations, consumed an entire great demon, and supplemented with a large number of Minor Essence Nurturing Pills.

Yet he had only managed to create a single brick!

Xu Hei didn't know what realm he was currently in. Above the ninth level of the Spirit Communion Stage... the tenth level?

The black gold scales on his body covered two-thirds of his body, still far from the full coverage he had envisioned, clearly not meeting his expectations.

"What went wrong?"

Xu Hei pondered for a long time and suddenly had a flash of insight, recalling a previous dream.

In that dream, the old dragon had said that his cultivation technique was missing something.

Perhaps it was this missing part of the cultivation technique that had caused his Foundation Establishment to fail!

"Your path will be ten times, a hundred times more difficult than others! But once you succeed, you will be ten times, a hundred times stronger than others!"

"Descendant of my clan, you must comprehend, truly comprehend!"

"The complete cultivation technique is within your heart!"

Recalling the words from the dream, Xu Hei sighed and locked his Divine Sense onto the flood dragon in the Demon God Cauldron.

"Old man, stop speaking in riddles. Just tell me what you mean!"

Xu Hei was quite frustrated and directly transmitted his thoughts to the flood dragon, but the latter remained motionless.

Xu Hei shook his head and decided to go to the neighboring cave dwelling to warm up by the fire.

A fireplace had been carved into the wall of the cave, filled with burning firewood, providing warmth to the room.

Xu Bai was coiled in front of the fireplace, brewing a pot of unknown medicinal soup.

Xiao Chou had just returned from outside, covered in snow, seemingly having just finished hunting.

His arm had returned to normal, but it was covered in snake patterns, which were gradually spreading across his body.

Initially, he had been hysterical, wanting to cut off the arm. But after discovering its incredible strength, he had been grinning foolishly, treating it as a treasure.

Xu Bai had wanted to cut it off for him, but he refused.

"This is the legendary Qilin Arm, with Qilin patterns on it. It has the strength of ten thousand elephants in a single punch. This is my great fortune!" Xiao Chou said seriously.

"Then you should be careful. These snake patterns might spread across your entire body in the future," Xu Bai reminded him.

"Haha, what do I care? I'm a cultivator. Why would I care about my outer appearance? At worst, I'll just buy a Beauty Pill in the future," Xiao Chou laughed.

Compared to strength, this was insignificant.

After all his experiences, Xiao Chou deeply understood that strength was the true path!

Xiao Chou patted the snow off his body and, seeing Xu Hei approaching, quickly came over with a smile, "By the way, Senior Hei, do demonic beasts have any festivals?"

"No," Xu Hei shook his head.

"We humans have a festival called New Year's Eve. Every year on this day, we go home to reunite with our families," Xiao Chou said with a smile.

Speaking of which, Xiao Chou hadn't been home for five years. Ever since joining the Mountain Movers Sect, he thought of his parents every year on this night.

"What is home?" Xu Hei asked, puzzled.

"You don't even know what home is? It's the place where you were born and raised," Xiao Chou rolled his eyes.

A thought flashed through Xu Hei's mind, and he immediately thought of a place.

Xu Bai also looked up, thinking of the same place.

—Myriad Serpent Valley!

That was where they were born, where their ancestors had lived for generations.

"Your home is Myriad Serpent Valley, right? I heard it's being turned into a slaughterhouse by the snake catchers. From your perspective, that's quite pitiful."

Xiao Chou shook his head, not dwelling on the topic, and took out a bag of flour and meat.

"Haha, it's New Year's Eve today. I'll make dumplings for you, with dog meat filling! That star of calamity isn't here, and I've been wanting to eat dog meat for a long time," Xiao Chou laughed, drooling.

Xu Hei's mouth twitched.

He forgot to tell Xiao Chou that Hei Huang had left a Divine Sense mark on him and could hear everything he said.

Before long, a pot of dumplings was ready.

Xiao Chou ate with great relish, while Xu Hei tried one but found it tasteless. His mind was preoccupied with the concept of home.

To him, home had always been just a territory, and territories could be exchanged.

But listening to Xiao Chou, it seemed to mean something different.

Just as Xu Hei was deep in thought.

Xu Hei suddenly sensed something and took out a piece of jade. This was given to him by Hei Huang to detect human cultivators.

At this moment, a small red dot appeared on the jade.

"A human cultivator approaching?" Xu Hei looked puzzled.

However, the red dot was very small, indicating only a Qi Refining Stage cultivator. What was such a low-level cultivator doing in these deep mountains? Seeking death?

But then, Xu Hei was shocked to see that the red dots on the jade were increasing, becoming denser and denser.

One, two, three, five, ten, twenty, fifty...

There were too many to count!