Serpent Ancestor

In the process of Xu Hei acquiring the cultivation technique.

Under the mound of earth, Qin Shuang'er lay quietly beside Sun Jian's ashes, a look of relief in her eyes. Suddenly, her body ignited without fire, gradually turning to ashes.

Xu Hei opened his eyes, took a deep look at the mound, and placed a stone tablet in front of it.

He seemed to want to carve something, but felt his talent was insufficient, so he turned and left.

Humans are emotional beings. They may seem heartless, but it's all for survival, for becoming stronger.

Demonic beasts are also emotional beings. A mother beast can risk her life for her cubs.

If there's anything truly heartless, it would be things like stones or lifeless puppets.

Xu Hei didn't know if being heartless would allow one to live longer, but for now, he couldn't do it.

Since Xu Hei began cultivating, his primary belief was that for survival, one could abandon everything. Of course, this belief had not changed to this day.

"I'm going to establish my foundation. This time, I'm fully prepared. I won't come out until I've succeeded."

Xu Hei made up his mind. No matter what happened outside, he wouldn't leave his retreat.

The resources he had prepared were more than enough to reach the Foundation Establishment stage from scratch, let alone now.

…………

Chuyang City, Southern Region of Chu Kingdom.

This city was the gateway to the Southern Region of Chu Kingdom. As long as the city stood, the Southern Region would be safe. But if it fell, the entire Southern Region would be accessible, making it the most strategic city.

A hundred miles outside Chuyang City, the Qin Kingdom's army had been stationed there for a month.

The Astrology Bureau had ceded many cities, with almost everyone guarding this place for this crucial battle.

Inside the Qin Kingdom's main tent.

Qin Xuanji suddenly opened his eyes and took out a soul jade, covered in cracks and already shattered.

"Sigh!"

Qin Xuanji was silent for a long time, then let out a sigh.

This was Sun Jian's soul jade.

This young man had average talent, reaching only the early Foundation Establishment stage after fifty years of cultivation. But his determination and ruthlessness were remarkable, and he had developed feelings for Qin Xuanji's daughter, Qin Shuang'er.

As the Grand Elder of the Heavenly Puppet Sect, Qin Xuanji naturally couldn't allow his daughter to follow someone with such mediocre talent, leading to conflicts and even threats to sever ties.

Qin Xuanji hadn't paid much attention to the two, only saying that if they could lead an army to capture a city, he wouldn't stop them.

In the end, the city fell, but Qin Shuang'er perished.

"Forget it. Once we take Chuyang City, I'll bring you both back to the Qin Kingdom for burial."

Qin Xuanji closed his eyes, a pang of sorrow in his heart.

…………

Time flew by, and the months passed like a shuttle.

In April, the most crucial battle since the Qin Kingdom's invasion began outside Chuyang City. Over a million troops from both sides clashed in an epic battle.

The southern forests of Chu Kingdom entered a long period of peace.

Without human hunting, the flora and fauna rapidly proliferated, and some rare spirit medicines appeared.

Xu Hei swallowed two Foundation Establishment Pills in succession. After breaking through to the twelfth layer of the Spirit Communion stage, he made a bold move towards the Foundation Establishment stage.

"Boom!!!"

A loud explosion echoed within Xu Hei's body. The spiritual liquid in the Demon God Cauldron boiled, compressing rapidly towards the center, forming a solid, square platform at a slow pace.

At this moment, the spiritual energy within a thirty-mile radius seemed to be drawn in, converging madly towards this place and being absorbed into the cave dwelling.

Even the clouds in the sky above roared in, piling up into mountains and seas of clouds.

From a distance, the sky over this place could only be described as spectacular.

Many spirit-communing demonic beasts looked up in shock at this unprecedented celestial phenomenon.

Fortunately, no humans were around. Otherwise, they would have thought a rare treasure was emerging.

Soon, the spiritual energy within thirty miles was drained, and the energy from beyond thirty miles was also being absorbed, forming a vast vortex of spiritual energy pouring into the cave dwelling.

Despite this, Xu Hei still felt the spiritual energy was coming too slowly.

"Not enough, not enough!"

Xu Hei's heart stirred, and a thousand spirit stones fell from his storage bag, placed all around.

As soon as the spirit stones appeared, the concentration of spiritual energy in the cave dwelling skyrocketed, but it didn't take long for Xu Hei to absorb them all.

The spirit stones quickly lost their color, turning to residue and disintegrating into ashes.

Fortunately, this measure was effective. Under the frenzied devouring of the Demon God Cauldron, Xu Hei's spiritual foundation gradually took shape.

He took out a bottle of Minor Essence Nurturing Pills and swallowed them whole, along with the remaining demonic beast meat, for the final push.

A month later.

The celestial phenomenon in the sky persisted, with rays of light shooting up.

At this moment, the spiritual foundation within Xu Hei's Demon God Cauldron was complete, emitting terrifying spiritual resonance that shot into the sky, scattering light at the horizon.

Initially, the light was white, gradually turning pale blue.

"Pale blue spiritual energy, this is perfect Foundation Establishment."

Xu Hei thought to himself, maintaining his focus and continuing to absorb the remaining spirit stones.

The light in the sky deepened from pale blue to deep blue and continued to transform.

According to Hei Huang, beyond perfect Foundation Establishment, the color would deepen further.

Three days passed, and the light turned pale purple, as if purple energy was coming from the east, a magnificent sight.

Such a phenomenon could be considered a wonder of the world!

Xu Hei didn't know that in ancient times, perfect Foundation Establishment had several levels: pale blue, deep blue, and purple.

Most cultivators achieved only the first level.

Purple spiritual energy was extremely rare even in the peak of ancient times, requiring not only the twelfth layer of the Qi Refining stage at Great Perfection but also top-tier cultivation techniques, supreme spiritual roots, and perfect comprehension.

All these conditions were indispensable!

Such a cultivator, once successfully establishing their foundation, would be a terrifying existence, causing calamities.

If Xu Hei were in that era, achieving purple spiritual energy, or even deep purple, would be easy.

But now, with the scarcity of spiritual energy, even with the most extraordinary talent and powerful techniques, true perfection was unattainable.

Under the purple light, the creatures in this area also benefited, undergoing evolution, an additional boon from the purple energy.

Xu Hei's scales grew rapidly, soon covering his entire body, except for a spot between his eyebrows.

No one knew how much time had passed.

The celestial phenomenon gradually dissipated, the clouds scattered, and the purple energy returned to the cave dwelling.

The vortex of spiritual energy also vanished.

All movements in the world came to a complete halt.

Xu Hei opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of air.

At this moment, he no longer appeared as the previous Black Yin Snake but as a new species covered in Black Gold Scales.

His body was three meters long but could stretch freely, with flexibility beyond imagination, reaching over ten meters.

The spiritual foundation within the Demon God Cauldron was complete, emitting purple spiritual energy that flowed through his meridians, a type of energy Xu Hei had never heard of.

"Now, I am at the early Foundation Establishment stage, but the Flood Dragon hasn't appeared."

Xu Hei pondered.

His divine sense locked onto the Demon God Cauldron, trying to contact the Flood Dragon statue, but there was no response.

This contradicted the previous agreement that once he established his foundation, he would be told the truth.

"Senior, are you playing me?" Xu Hei transmitted.

The Flood Dragon remained silent.

Xu Hei sighed. Since he had already established his foundation, it didn't matter if the Flood Dragon appeared or not.

However, Xu Hei soon discovered a problem.

His cultivation had stagnated.

His mysterious cultivation technique seemed to only allow him to reach the early Foundation Establishment stage, with nothing beyond.

Xu Hei took out a Minor Essence Nurturing Pill, a second-tier pill for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

He swallowed it in one gulp and quickly refined it according to his previous cultivation steps, but his cultivation didn't budge, and his true qi didn't increase at all.

"Indeed, my cultivation has stopped. The previous cultivation technique is now useless," Xu Hei thought.

The Heavenly Puppet Sect's techniques were divided into layers: the first layer, the second layer, the third layer...

Xu Hei's mysterious technique seemed to have only the first layer, a fragment.

It really was missing a crucial piece.