Serpent Ancestor

”Damn that Heavenly Puppet Sect, they’ve been eyeing us for half a year now. If it weren’t for them, Xuan Yangzi wouldn’t have faced such a calamity,” the gloomy elder muttered bitterly.

When the Qin Kingdom advanced, they didn’t take sides like the other four sects, and that was the problem.

”Enough talk, let’s go back and deal with that envoy.”

…………

Myriad Serpent Valley.

Xu Hei, Man Jin, and the Lion King had a simple division of spoils.

In this siege, Xu Hei didn’t contribute much; it was Man Jin who broke through the Mountain Protection Array.

And the one who killed the Nascent Soul ancestor was the lion pack.

Xu Hei only subdued a weakened formation spirit and killed a bunch of ants.

Even so, under Man Jin’s insistence, Xu Hei still got a third of the treasures, and the Lion King had no complaints.The lionesses wanted to say something, but a single glare from the Lion King silenced them.

Family hierarchy...

”How about this, I don’t want anything else, just the Spirit Stones,” Xu Hei said.

The two beasts exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously.

The lionesses’ eyes also showed a hint of joy.

Spirit Stones are mostly used as currency by cultivators or for daily cultivation needs, and they are of little use to demonic beasts.

Demonic beasts primarily cultivate their physical bodies by devouring heavenly materials and earthly treasures, as well as other demonic beasts and cultivator corpses.

Speaking of which, the cultivator corpses in Rock Serpent City were almost entirely eaten by the lion pack, and those weren’t even counted.

”Then take all these Spirit Stones; they are useless to me anyway!”

The Lion King took out the Spirit Stones he had collected, and Xu Hei exchanged various treasures for them.

Xu Hei didn’t care about ordinary low-grade Spirit Stones; his eyes were only on the square high-grade Spirit Stones.

There were five of them!

Adding to what Xu Hei had previously acquired, he now had sixteen high-grade Spirit Stones.

Xu Hei didn’t know how many the Demon God Cauldron’s true dragon needed to devour to be satisfied, but with sixteen, he could definitely give it a try!

”This time, I also gained quite a bit, including two gold-element spells that I need to study carefully,” Man Jin said.

The Purple Lightning Lion King gave Xu Hei a deep look and said, ”Xu Hei, right? My name is Lei Meng. If you have an urgent matter, you can use this communication jade slip to contact me. But if it’s not urgent, don’t bother me.”

He left a communication jade slip and departed with his lioness harem.

”Lei Meng...”

Xu Hei had a deep impression of this irritable lion who attacked cities at the slightest provocation.

”This Lei Meng is not simple. He might have already realized that the one who killed his wife wasn’t a disciple of the Snake Catchers Sect,” Xu Hei thought to himself.

In the previous battle, Lei Meng surrounded and killed the Nascent Soul ancestor, showing a state that was not like a hot-headed fool.

He might have long understood that Xu Hei was merely using him to attack the Snake Catchers Sect.

Xu Hei shook his head, not dwelling on it. Regardless of whether Lei Meng saw through it or not, the fact that he left a communication jade slip and shared the Spirit Stones already expressed goodwill.

…………

In the sky, Lei Meng’s wings flapped as he sped along.

Behind him, a lioness said, ”Great King, that little snake might be using you.”

”Yeah, Ninth Sister might not have been killed by the Snake Catchers Sect. What were the snake catchers doing at the mouth of Wu Mountain?” another lioness echoed.

”Does it matter?” Lei Meng retorted.

The lionesses were instantly speechless.

”Don’t be ungrateful. Think about how many people you ate this time.”

Lei Meng’s words plunged the harem into collective silence.

…………

After leaving a communication talisman, Man Jin also left Myriad Serpent Valley.

Xu Hei burrowed underground, creating a spacious chamber. Then, he took out all the square high-grade Spirit Stones.

He swallowed them one by one, pressing them against the surface of the Demon God Cauldron.

With his knowledge, Xu Hei initially thought the dragon-shaped statue on the surface was a Flood Dragon, but it was actually a true dragon.

Xu Hei only later understood the significance of a true dragon.

Since ancient times, true dragons have been unseen, and those remaining in the world only have thin dragon bloodlines, known as Flood Dragons.

For example, that third-tier formation spirit was a Jiao Python, not even a Flood Dragon.

Only those at the Elemental Infant stage and above might encounter a Flood Dragon.

”A true dragon is far above a Flood Dragon. What realm could that be...”

Xu Hei calculated that a true dragon required nine transformations, one for each major realm, which was beyond his imagination.

The first high-grade Spirit Stone was quickly absorbed by the dragon statue.

Xu Hei swallowed the second, then the third.

One after another, Xu Hei consumed seven stones, but it still wasn’t enough.

”Could it be a bottomless pit?” Xu Hei’s heart trembled.

He had killed so many people and washed an entire city, barely accumulating sixteen stones, which even a Core Formation Stage cultivator might not have.

Xu Hei steeled himself and continued devouring.

After consuming the eighth stone, the dragon statue began to emit a faint glow.

”Eight stones, plus the two I had before, that’s ten in total!” Xu Hei calculated.

”Boom!”

A thought surged into Xu Hei’s mind.

Then, that grand and distant voice echoed once more.

It was the voice of the true dragon.

”Ever-changing Fish and Dragon, a lower-grade dragon clan supreme technique...”

”Master this body technique, and you can grasp the wonders of myriad transformations, invisible to the naked eye, undetectable by Divine Sense, traversing forbidden zones, passing through formations, and escaping the void as if walking on solid ground...”

Countless pieces of information converged, flooding into Xu Hei’s memory.

Who knows how long it was before Xu Hei opened his eyes again, filled with deep shock.

”Ever-changing Fish and Dragon, a dragon clan body technique!”

Xu Hei had only ever learned elemental spells from humans and had never seen a demonic beast technique.

Let alone a dragon clan technique!

This Ever-changing Fish and Dragon body technique completely opened a new world for him.

”Ever-changing Fish and Dragon has nine levels.”

”The first level increases movement speed, making it impossible for anyone in the same realm to harm you.”

”The second level further increases speed, allowing you to create afterimages.”

”The third level multiplies afterimages, making the true body hard to find.”

”The fourth level solidifies illusions, enabling the creation of external incarnations.”

”……”

”The eighth level allows for initial shape-shifting.”

”The ninth level enables myriad transformations, mastering the Dao of change!”

Recalling the contents of Ever-changing Fish and Dragon, Xu Hei couldn’t help but gasp.

Nine levels, each more heaven-defying than the last.

At the later stages, one could even pass through formations without being detected.

Especially the final level, enabling myriad transformations.

Of course, no matter how you change, it doesn’t alter your essence; a fight would reveal you. It’s just a smokescreen.

Xu Hei wasn’t interested in transformations; his focus was on the body technique’s enhancements, which could save his life.

”Nine levels are too far off; I’ll start with the first level.”

Xu Hei estimated that with the difficulty of this technique, truly mastering the ninth level would take who knows how many years.

So, feeding the dragon statue Spirit Stones would yield a dragon clan supreme technique. It was a huge gain.

But Xu Hei suspected that next time, ten stones wouldn’t be enough. Who knows how many it would take.