Serpent Ancestor

As they were momentarily stunned, a portal of light opened beneath Wang Qin’s feet, and a formation instantly took shape.

Ye Lu’s hand moved like a swift wind, striking out with a palm that caused the void to collapse and left a massive palm print on the ground. But Wang Qin’s figure had already vanished, transforming into a stream of light that teleported into the cave dwelling.

”There’s actually a Minor Teleportation Formation!”

Ye Lu’s gaze turned cold as he realized that the little maid seemed quite important, with so many defensive measures placed on her.

Had they known earlier, they would have captured the maid to use as leverage, possibly forcing the opponent to comply, which might have worked wonders.

But who could have predicted that the opponent would save a maid at the Qi Refining Stage?

”Brother Ye, judging by this, the opponent is likely breaking through to the mid-stage Core Formation, which confirms Mr. Li’s suspicion that this person is the Snake Demon!”

Xie Yunfei glanced at the phenomenon in the sky and said solemnly.

Ye Lu nodded without saying anything, raising a palm to strike the cave dwelling’s door. Thunder erupted from his palm, crashing against it with a deafening roar, purple light exploding as the heavens collapsed and the earth caved in.

However, the door of the cave dwelling seemed welded shut, not moving an inch, only rippling with layers of waves.”No wonder it’s a third-tier A-class cave dwelling, truly tough!”

In Ye Lu’s hand appeared a palm-sized eight-sided thunder seal. When fully activated, a giant dragon of lightning emerged from the seal, roaring as it charged at the cave dwelling’s door, causing another loud crash. The world shook continuously, and terrifying shockwaves rose a thousand feet high.

A full-force strike from someone at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core, how terrifying! Xie Yunfei immediately summoned eight formation flags, planting them around to reflect all energy fluctuations back, preventing them from spreading.

They intended to kill without causing too much commotion, to avoid attracting the attention of some old monsters and causing unforeseen changes.

However, after several consecutive attacks, the cave dwelling’s door still only rippled, showing no signs of collapsing.

Instead, the phenomenon inside the cave dwelling grew increasingly intense, with divine thunder from the nine heavens, stars falling, the Five Elements reversing, the heavens collapsing, and the earth caving in, presenting various terrifying scenes before the two, leaving them aghast.

”What kind of phenomenon is this?”

”It’s just a breakthrough to mid-stage Core Formation, why is the momentum so terrifying?”

They all knew that some prodigies would cause phenomena of heaven and earth when breaking through. Even some sea beasts could manifest such phenomena, but they had never experienced the power of these phenomena.

No wonder this snake, with just early Core Formation stage cultivation, wiped out their entire ship; its talent was indeed terrifying.

”We must not let him break through!”

A ruthless glint flashed in Ye Lu’s eyes. He slapped his chest, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the eight-sided thunder seal, which instantly expanded to over a hundred feet, like a small mountain, with nine thunder dragons appearing, circling around it.

Seeing this, Xie Yunfei took out more formation flags, planting sixteen of them to isolate energy fluctuations.

”Go!”

Ye Lu pointed forward, and the thunder dragons roared, charging at the cave dwelling’s door one after another.

…………

Inside the cave dwelling.

Xu Hei coiled into a snake formation, quietly spiraling at the center point, drawing a vast amount of spiritual qi from the ground, mixed with the power of the stars, into his body, to be refined by the Demon God Cauldron.

Wang Qin lay unconscious beside him.

Ignoring the commotion outside, Xu Hei buried heavy oil underground as the energy source for the defensive formation, continuously supplying spiritual power. As long as the opponent’s attack power didn’t exceed the Elemental Infant level, they could never break in.

Even if it reached the Elemental Infant level, it could withstand a few rounds.

Besides, the opponent was acting so stealthily, likely not daring to cause too much commotion. If they destroyed the back mountain of the Immortal Pavilion, it would be hard to settle.

As for how he was exposed, Xu Hei had a few guesses.

But it didn’t matter now; what he needed to do was break through with all his might.

Meanwhile, Ji Ying was also lying beside him, frantically devouring the heavy oil, causing various phenomena, though these were covered by the formation outside, saving them the trouble.

As time passed, barrel after barrel of heavy oil was consumed, yet the formation remained solid and unbreakable. This was not only due to the built-in formation of the third-tier cave dwelling but also the formation collection Xu Hei learned in Wuyou City. With these combined, the opponent couldn’t break in with just these means.

A day later, the attacks outside ceased.

The two took out formation flags, scattered spirit stones, and began setting up a formation as well.

In the blink of an eye, another two days passed.

On this day, it had been a full week since Xu Hei began his seclusion.

Suddenly, a talisman floated over from afar, landing before the cave dwelling’s door.

This talisman was entirely gray, and if Xu Hei saw it, he would recognize it as the Minor Annihilation Talisman!

”Crack, crack, crack!!”

The Minor Annihilation Talisman activated, and countless cracks appeared in the space where the cave dwelling’s door was, like shattered glass, instantly disintegrating into a vast dark vacuum area.

No matter how strong the defense, it couldn’t hold under spatial cracks, and Xu Hei’s cave dwelling door was finally breached!

As the cave dwelling broke open, the two activated a formation, completely covering the area, forming an isolated barrier.

Simultaneously, the shattered void quickly healed, and the space was restored.

”Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The two figures flashed, shrinking the ground to inches, almost simultaneously appearing inside Xu Hei’s cave dwelling.

They looked at the imposing horned serpent with various phenomena presenting and, without hesitation, summoned their strongest magical treasures, launching an attack on Xu Hei.

At the same time, Xie Yunfei split off an external incarnation, reaching for the unconscious Wang Qin in the deepest part.

”Boom, boom, boom, boom!!!”

At that moment, a series of crackling explosions erupted beneath their feet, and countless black heavy oils gushed from the ground, forming a massive fountain that gathered together, unleashing a terrifying suction force.

The two were shocked, hurriedly retracting their magical treasures and retreating, but it was too late. This time, Xu Hei detonated hundreds of barrels of heavy oil at once, forming a lake of heavy oil that not only sucked them in but also engulfed Xu Hei himself.

”Is this heavy oil!?”

”Where did he get heavy oil?”

The two reacted quickly. Xie Yunfei crushed a Small Teleportation Talisman, instantly teleporting a thousand feet back, escaping the range of the heavy oil, but his incarnation was swallowed and shattered. Ye Lu’s body was enveloped in a bubble, blocking the heavy oil, and his true form turned into a flash of lightning, rising from the oil into the air.

Ye Lu realized that this snake was not easy to deal with, having too many backup plans, and it might not be possible to take him down quickly. He changed his plan, targeting Wang Qin in the deepest part of the cave dwelling.

”Crack!”

Suddenly, everyone heard a faint cracking sound echoing in their ears.

The phenomena inside the cave dwelling suddenly vanished, the wind stopped, the thunder ceased, the Five Elements disappeared, and all the commotion was gone.

Only the cracking sound remained, emanating from Xu Hei’s abdomen.

At this moment, the Golden Core in Xu Hei’s abdomen was covered in cracks, and with a crisp sound, it completely split open, a more rounded and larger Golden Core emerging from the shattered core.

This Golden Core was entirely pitch-black, rapidly spinning above the Demon God Cauldron, emitting a terrifying true essence pressure, ten times stronger than the early Core Formation stage!

Mid-stage Core Formation was officially achieved!

In the lake of heavy oil, a pair of cold, merciless vertical pupils slowly opened, locking onto the two.

At the same time, a voice filled with overwhelming killing intent resounded through the heavens and earth: ”You are courting death!”