Serpent Ancestor

Ji Ying didn’t take flight but landed directly on the ground, looking rather deflated.

The palm strike just now had affected Ji Ying as well.

However, compared to Xu Hei, Ji Ying was much less injured thanks to the protection of dragon scales and could still move freely.

Xu Hei, on the other hand, had fractures in all his bones except for the intact dragon bone in his tail.

Xu Hei took out a storage bag containing an eyeball and placed it in front of Ji Ying. The eyeball was entirely golden, with flames swirling inside, looking extremely bizarre.

”Eat.”

Xu Hei commanded.

Ji Ying approached but recoiled as if electrocuted the moment it touched the eyeball, retreating far away, its body trembling with fear.

”Afraid?”

This left Xu Hei even more astonished.Ji Ying could even consume corpse puppets, yet it was afraid of this eyeball.

This made Xu Hei’s heart grow heavier, with a strong sense of dread rising within him.

This must be a treasure! Whether it was Ji Ying’s reaction or the relentless pursuit from the other side, everything highlighted the value of this eyeball!

But no matter how valuable something is, you need to be alive to keep it. The other side had been chasing him non-stop, even deploying a late Qi Condensation stage elder who could track his location. Xu Hei couldn’t keep this item; he had to get rid of it!

”Could it be the flames? Is it like the Thunder Tribulation Pearl, where piercing it would cause an explosion?”

Xu Hei stared at the golden eyeball, his eyes flickering.

After a brief contemplation, he put the golden eyeball away, planning to heal first and then find a suitable place to discard it.

Xu Hei looked around. This was an unfamiliar place, devoid of the ruins of the underground city, with only some undulating black mountains.

He had no idea where he had been teleported to.

This was the downside of the Small Teleportation Talisman Xu Hei had crafted. The talisman teleported randomly and over long distances, easily sending him to strange places.

”Ji Ying, check if there’s any danger nearby,” Xu Hei ordered.

”Buzz!”

Ji Ying took flight and patrolled the surroundings. After a few simple circles, it returned and landed, conveying waves of dissatisfaction.

Xu Hei helplessly realized that the Corpse Beetle was hungry again.

Perhaps it was due to its injuries.

With no other choice, Xu Hei chopped off a head from the butcher and tossed it over.

”Buzz!”

Ji Ying immediately became excited, rushing over and devouring the head in no time.

After finishing the meal, it finally started working, wandering around the vicinity.

Xu Hei also took the opportunity to focus on healing.

After about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense.

Suddenly, Ji Ying seemed to have discovered something, issuing a hostile warning and darting toward a mountain ridge.

”Boom!”

It seemed to have collided with a dull metallic object, causing Ji Ying to fly back and hover in front of Xu Hei, eyes filled with anger.

”Someone’s here?”

Xu Hei quickly hid his true body underground and brought out the butcher puppet, moving forward.

His physical body was injured, but his Divine Sense was unaffected, making the puppet the best choice.

From behind the mountain ridge, footsteps could be heard, and a monk wearing a kasaya walked over from the other side of the slope.

The monk was tall and muscular, holding a crescent moon staff in his right hand, a broken bowl in his left, with large prayer beads hanging from his waist, yet his gaze was extremely gentle.

Upon seeing the monk, Xu Hei’s pupils contracted.

”Demon Monk Ku Xuan?”

Xu Hei recognized him as one of the Chu Tian Alliance members who attacked the Mountain Movers Sect that day, Demon Monk Ku Xuan.

Xu Hei hadn’t expected to encounter someone from the Chu Tian Alliance here.

At this moment, the butcher glared with its dozen eyes, rotating on its head, its body swelling with countless pustules, staring at Ku Xuan with overwhelming murderous intent.

A normal person, upon seeing the butcher, would either flee in terror or be too mentally overwhelmed to react.

But Ku Xuan merely paused slightly, put away his staff and bowl, and clasped his hands together.

”Amitabha.”

”Benefactor, it seems we have met before.”

Ku Xuan began with a Buddhist chant, then looked up with a gentle smile.

Xu Hei just quietly watched him, saying nothing and making no move.

”Benefactor, human faces are human faces, Buddha faces are Buddha faces, all beings have their own faces. I see the benefactor’s dignified appearance, a perfect forehead, a face like a Buddha, with pure six senses, surely someone destined for the Buddhist path.”

Ku Xuan looked at the butcher’s dozen ugly faces, not only unfazed but smiling as he spoke eloquently.

”……”

Xu Hei was speechless.

He recognized every word the monk said, but why couldn’t he understand them when strung together?

How did he see that this butcher was destined for the Buddhist path?

Xu Hei had heard from Xiao Chou that there were many strange people in the Chu Tian Alliance, and today he had witnessed it.

”Why do you think we’ve met?”

Xu Hei spoke with all the mouths, deciding to respond to Ku Xuan’s earlier statement.

”Eyes are the windows to the soul. Even if I haven’t seen you, you must have seen me.”

Ku Xuan looked at Xu Hei’s eyes and smiled.

Xu Hei was taken aback.

He suddenly felt that this demon monk wasn’t speaking nonsense but had some insight.

Xu Hei could roughly judge a person’s emotions and thoughts through their eyes, especially those with little experience, who were easier to read.

This wasn’t even his own eyes but the butcher’s, yet Ku Xuan could tell they had met. It was indeed impressive.

Xu Hei didn’t dwell on this and instead asked, ”Where is this place?”

”This place is outside Wuyou City, at the forefront of the ruins,” Ku Xuan replied.

”Wuyou City?” Xu Hei was puzzled.

”Wuyou City means carefree and joyful, referring to that underground city,” Ku Xuan continued.

Xu Hei thought carefully. That city was full of corpse puppets and dangers, hardly carefree, likely named in ancient times.

At this moment, another person arrived.

This person was burly, with skin as dark as steel, wielding a Star-shattering Hammer, making loud noises as he walked, exuding a strong oppressive aura. It was Demon Man Zhang Tie.

”Master Ku Xuan, who is this person...”

Zhang Tie’s pupils contracted upon seeing the butcher, showing a wary expression.

If it weren’t for Ku Xuan communicating with it, he would have smashed it with his hammer.

”This is the rumored ninth danger in the world, Benefactor Butcher,” Ku Xuan said with clasped hands.

Zhang Tie stared at the butcher for a while, squinting his eyes, and said, ”This is clearly a corpse puppet, and it’s being controlled by someone. Its true body should be behind it. Let the true body come out and speak!”

Despite his rough appearance, Zhang Tie was actually sharp-minded, immediately seeing through Xu Hei’s nature.

Having fought against the Qin Kingdom for years and countless battles with the Heavenly Puppet Sect, he had long developed the ability to see through puppets at a glance.

”Amitabha! All forms are illusory, even what you see with your own eyes can be false. Whether it’s the true body controlling the puppet or the puppet controlling the true body, what difference does it make?” Ku Xuan said.

Zhang Tie was left speechless.

When this person appeared, Xu Hei felt like retreating. He didn’t want any interaction with someone at the Core Formation Stage, as it was too dangerous.

His true body had already quietly retreated a thousand feet away.

In these ruins, not only was the range of Divine Sense limited, but the control range of puppets was also restricted. However, with Xu Hei’s speed, escaping wouldn’t be an issue.

But suddenly, Xu Hei thought of the golden eyeball.

That mysterious eyeball, he didn’t know how to handle it, but if he gave it to the Chu Tian Alliance...