Serpent Ancestor
Chapter 564: Evildoers in power

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Two more cannon blasts came, landing at the only exit, flames roaring, killing a swath of people, forcing everyone back into the city.

Qin Xuanji glanced at Xu Hei, who wore a puzzled expression. He said nothing, just nodded, then waved his hand.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

Thousands of cannons appeared, lined up and positioned at various points around Tianhen City, blocking every possible exit, aimed at the crowd inside.

After Qin Xuanji's disappearance, he had been trying to decipher the code he left in the Void Realm.

Memories from the Void Realm couldn't be taken out, but he left himself crucial hints by arranging puppets in coded formations.

And just a year ago, he finally cracked the code.

"Void Realm, Inner Demon, do not enter."

These were the messages Qin Xuanji deciphered.

Though simple, just two sentences, they were enough for Qin Xuanji.

The Void Realm could erase memories, and even words etched on the body would vanish, but there were always ways to leave oneself hints.

The Black Dragon was a puppet he painted black, and another he crafted into a dragon shape, placed together to form the characters for Black Dragon.

Who was the Black Dragon? Without a doubt, it was Xu Hei!

And the events in Liefeng City further confirmed this; Xu Hei must not be provoked.

Often, choice outweighs effort! One wrong step, and there's no turning back. Qin Xuanji couldn't afford mistakes; only two years remained until the passage opened, his last chance!

"Fire!" Qin Xuanji shouted.

The cannon fire launched, descending like a meteor shower into Tianhen City, erupting with earth-shaking explosions, killing a swath of bodies, from which bloodlines flew out, absorbed into Qin Xuanji's body.

That was the blood-condensing crystal core refined by Ji Shu.

Originally intended for use in Liefeng City, but after Ji Shu was body-snatched by him, the plan was shelved.

Just as well, using it here wasn't too late!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"...

Thousands of cannons fired simultaneously, bombarding Tianhen City, flames soaring, buildings collapsing, debris flying, cries of despair everywhere, the scene as hellish as the previous bombardment of Liefeng City, if not worse!

However, Qin Xuanji was long accustomed to it. The war between Qin and Chu, with corpses piled high and rivers of blood, was truly tragic!

Massacring a city wasn't his first time.

"We can't sit and wait for death, everyone follow my command, fight your way out!"

"Kill those outside, only then do we have a chance to survive!"

"Follow my orders, charge!"

Inside Tianhen City, though the core leadership was dead, there were still some late Elemental Infant stage experts who could form teams to counterattack.

But in the face of Qin Xuanji's cannon formation, one died as soon as they went out, a team died as soon as they went out, human wave tactics were meaningless. Even self-detonation couldn't stop the cannon assault.

In less than a stick of incense, over a thousand people died at the east gate.

A true puppet master could single-handedly oppose a nation, and at this moment, Qin Xuanji had that kind of presence.

Xu Hei only observed for a moment before understanding Qin Xuanji's intent.

"Another demonic cultivator massacring a city, absorbing the blood essence of the dead, likely preparing for Divine Transformation."

Xu Hei paid no mind to the other's actions.

This person hadn't participated in the siege of Liefeng City and had just nodded in goodwill towards him, likely not daring to provoke him, which was enough; Xu Hei didn't care about anything else.

Xu Hei's figure flashed as he entered the City Lord's mansion, sinking underground to the location of the treasury.

In front of the treasury door stood an elder guarding it, his cultivation at the late Elemental Infant stage, similar to the fallen Mo Yun.

The white-haired elder glanced at Xu Hei, listening to the cannon fire outside, and merely sighed with closed eyes, "Mo Yun couldn't defend Tianhen City, he failed."

"And what about you?" Xu Hei stared at the white-haired elder.

The elder stood up, lightly tapping his finger, and the treasury door behind him automatically opened, revealing its contents to Xu Hei.

It was a place filled with countless spirit stones, with a formation locking the spiritual qi inside, preventing it from escaping.

Through the formation, Xu Hei saw a storage ring, thirteen storage bags, and five Spirit Gathering Pearls, each containing at least one crystal-like Supreme Spirit Stone.

Xu Hei roughly calculated, there were five intact Supreme Spirit Stones, and three incomplete half-Supreme Spirit Stones.

The storage bags and storage ring likely contained lower-grade spirit stones, estimated to total over a billion.

"Fellow Daoist, I can't stop you, and I won't make a futile struggle. You can take the lower-grade spirit stones, but the Supreme Spirit Stones are for our sect's Ancestors. If you take them, you'll face pursuit from two Divine Transformation stage cultivators," the white-haired elder said calmly.

Xu Hei sneered, "If I don't take them, will they spare me?"

"..." The white-haired elder fell silent, then said, "If you don't take them, there's still room for reconciliation."

Xu Hei nodded, "Alright, I'll listen to you."

"Poof!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a bloody hole appeared in the elder's forehead, pierced by Xu Hei's finger.

However, the elder's body merely dissipated, quickly vanishing.

What remained was just an External Incarnation.

As for his true body, it had long blended into Tianhen City, becoming an ordinary resident. Even his clothes had changed, his appearance altered, indistinguishable from rogue cultivators.

Compared to Elder Mo Yun, this person was a coward and a scoundrel, yet he survived.

Because he had willingly opened the treasury, Xu Hei easily walked in without any obstruction.

With a wave of his hand, Xu Hei collected all the storage bags and the storage ring.

As he expected, each storage bag contained ten million lower-grade spirit stones, totaling 1.3 billion, wealthier than any Elemental Infant stage cultivator, comparable to a Divine Transformation stage's fortune.

The storage ring contained some precious materials, pills, talismans, and magical artifacts, belonging to the Tianhen Sword Sect's public assets, used to reward disciples and distribute salaries.

Yet Xu Hei felt the arrangement of the materials inside was somewhat disorganized, as if something was missing.

Could it be that old man embezzling? Conveniently blame it on him?

But it didn't matter; since he had the spirit stones, Xu Hei didn't care about anything else. The spirit stones he gained this time not only compensated for the losses of the insect swarm but also earned him a fortune, enough to last a hundred years.

Of course, he didn't intend to leave the corpses of the dead cultivators in the city untouched. Though they were low-level cultivators, their combined storage bags also amounted to a considerable fortune.

Little by little, he would gather as much as he could.

Xu Hei immediately left the City Lord's mansion, spreading his divine sense, and began searching the corpses.