Serpent Ancestor

Xu Hei divided the remaining two tentacles into many pieces, roasting half and curing the other half to dry in the sun. He would occasionally take them out for a snack, living quite comfortably.

In the blink of an eye, nearly a month had passed on the island.

The previous gains had been fully absorbed by Xu Hei, and he now had a large collection of magical treasures.

The storage bag from the Snake Catcher didn’t contain anything valuable, except for a spell jade slip about beast control, which Xu Hei might find useful.

The main treasures came from the mechanism boxes.

”The Ten Thousand Poison Gourd can absorb all poisons and store them inside, releasing them at critical moments to kill enemies.”

”The Water Control Pearl, when held in the mouth, allows control over all seawater within a hundred-mile radius, speeding up underwater travel.”

”The Earth Vein Fire Seal connects to the earth’s flames, using volcanic eruptions to attack, killing and cooking simultaneously.”

The magical treasures Xu Hei could use were mainly these three.

The others were either too low in level or too high, completely unusable.For instance, the highest-level magical treasure Xu Hei obtained was a tiger-headed cannon, reaching above the fourth tier, requiring a sufficient amount of spirit stones to activate.

Even if Xu Hei used all his current spirit stones, it wouldn’t be enough to activate it once.

”Magical treasures above the fourth tier are all mechanism puppets, likely crafted by the City Lord of Wuyou himself,” Xu Hei speculated.

He still had two mechanism jades left unused and wanted to try his luck with high-level items, not wanting to waste them on ordinary boxes.

Although he couldn’t discern any pattern, the grade of treasures seemed entirely random.

Xu Hei put away the treasures, planning to go out to sea and catch some seafood.

Having finished the giant octopus, he wanted to try something different, like sharks, jellyfish, clams, sea turtles, lobsters, and even whales, which he found quite tempting.

He didn’t want to touch the tentacles from the butcher, as they were too much of an eyesore.

Before leaving, Xu Hei set up a killing formation to ensure he wouldn’t be discovered, erased his traces, and left the small island.

……

A few days after Xu Hei left.

In the distance, a cloud of auspicious clouds floated on the sea surface, speeding towards the island. On the cloud stood four people: an elderly man in a Taoist robe, a middle-aged man with a beard, and two young individuals, a boy and a girl.

The elderly man in the Taoist robe was none other than Tianji Shangren.

The middle-aged man with the beard was Liu Buqun.

The other two were Wang Ding and Wang Qin.

”Penglai Island is far away, and there’s a stronghold ahead where I often rest. Let’s take a break for two days,” Tianji Shangren said calmly.

Soon, they descended onto a solitary island.

With a wave of Tianji Shangren’s hand, a phantom pavilion appeared in the middle of the island, suspended three meters in the air, gradually solidifying. It was a cave dwelling he had meticulously crafted before.

Wang Ding and Wang Qin were stunned; this was the power of an immortal!

Liu Buqun looked around hesitantly and asked, ”Is this place safe?”

Tianji Shangren smiled and said, ”Even if someone passes by, they won’t discover the formation on the island unless a late Core Formation stage cultivator searches inch by inch with their divine sense.”

Liu Buqun nodded slightly. This person’s cultivation wasn’t very high, but his ability to conceal was impressive.

Tianji Shangren stepped on the auspicious cloud and flew into the pavilion, disappearing with the group. The pavilion also vanished from the island, as if it were just an illusion.

……

Deep Sea Area.

Xu Hei wandered for two days, finding nothing but some small shrimps.

Only then did Xu Hei realize that the giant octopus from before was purely a stroke of luck.

Additionally, he discovered that the demonic beasts in the ocean communicated using a strange sound wave, inaudible to ordinary humans, only detectable by demonic beasts.

Xu Hei captured a Foundation Establishment stage dolphin and studied it for two days, finally learning some tricks.

”Tell me, where are the Core Formation stage demonic beasts?” Xu Hei demanded.

”In that trench, there are many great demons at the demon core stage! Please don’t hurt me; I’ll tell you everything. Just don’t eat me,” the dolphin pleaded pitifully.

”Trench?” Xu Hei raised an eyebrow and said, ”Lead the way, and I won’t eat you!”

”Yes!” The dolphin quickly led the way.

Following the guidance, Xu Hei continued forward and finally reached the trench after half a day.

The trench stretched for ten thousand miles, located in the middle of the seabed, like a giant abyssal mouth, devouring everything, instilling a natural sense of fear.

However, Xu Hei felt no fear.

”You can go now.”

”Thank you, Flood Dragon Grandpa!” The dolphin quickly swam away.

Xu Hei gazed at the trench, slowing his approach.

The outside of the trench was dark blue, while the inside was pitch black. The deeper he went, the dimmer the light became, with only faint glimmers of light scattered around, possibly from some kind of luminescent creatures.

Xu Hei continued to dive, spreading his divine sense. The water pressure increased, even suppressing his divine sense. His dragon scales closed, emitting a faint cracking sound.

Xu Hei kept diving, and after an hour, he couldn’t see his hand in front of him, seeing nothing at all.

The rocks on both sides became narrower, as if the trench had reached its bottom.

But Xu Hei could smell traces of spiritual qi, right at the deepest point.

After a moment of silence, Xu Hei conjured an external incarnation to lead the way.

”If I can’t handle it, with my Ever-changing Fish and Dragon technique and the Water Control Pearl, escaping shouldn’t be a problem,” Xu Hei thought to himself.

The incarnation continued to dive, passing through a narrow passage, and suddenly, the view opened up.

He arrived at a vast bottom space.

”Huh?”

Xu Hei let out a soft exclamation. Beneath the trench, there was another world, vast in area, with a wide field of vision.

Even the light here was slightly brighter, with a faint blue hue.

When he focused his gaze downward, he was stunned.

Below, there was a massive seabed, vast and boundless. On the seabed lay an indescribably enormous corpse.

The corpse was a thousand meters long and five hundred meters wide, a hundred times larger than the previous octopus!

Compared to this corpse, the octopus was tiny.

Xu Hei was instantly shocked by the sight.

At this moment, most of the corpse was reduced to bones, with only a small portion of flesh remaining, being gnawed on by various sea creatures.

The sea creatures that could reach this place were not weak, at least at the Foundation Establishment stage.

There were also some at the demon core stage, equivalent to human Core Formation cultivators, leisurely eating on the side.

Strangely, these demonic beasts did not fight each other. After eating a portion, they would retreat to the side to refine, not disturbing others’ meals.

”Another one has come.”

Many sea beasts noticed Xu Hei, but they only glanced at him briefly, not paying much attention. Most didn’t even look at him, continuing to eat.

After finishing, they would retreat to the side to refine, allowing other sea beasts to take their turn.

There were fish, shrimp, insects, and all kinds of demonic beasts.

Their common trait was that they didn’t quarrel, seemingly following an unspoken rule, silently abiding by it.