Serpent Ancestor
Chapter 590: Religious sect tradition

Ji Qian knew that this move was extremely risky. The victor among the three could come knocking at any time, but he wasn't afraid of death.

After all, he was already two thousand years old. Even if he didn't take this gamble, in less than a hundred years, his lifespan would end, and he would vanish into smoke.

Rather than waiting for death, he might as well make one last gamble. He was betting that the three wouldn't have the strength to track him down.

As for whether he could succeed, he could only leave it to fate.

Ji Qian shook the Soul-Calming Bell, knocking everyone unconscious. Then, he stripped five people and placed them in five positions, while he sat in the center.

He then began to cast a spell, intending to refine these five people. But just at that moment, he was shocked to look toward the entrance of the cave dwelling.

He had set several hidden sentries a thousand miles away from the cave dwelling, and now, all those sentries had been wiped out. A terrifying aura was rapidly approaching, crashing toward him.

"How could it be so fast?!"

Ji Qian was horrified.

That aura, like a meteorite from the heavens, gave an overwhelming sense of invincibility. The difference in strength was too great. Xu Hei could defeat the other two and arrive with such terrifying speed—how could Ji Qian possibly resist?

Ji Qian decisively abandoned the thought of resistance. As for escaping, it was impossible. Where could he run to? Even if he fled, with the speed the other had shown, he would be caught sooner or later.

His trump cards had already been exhausted dealing with Zhao Nanqi. Using hostages as leverage? What a joke. With that demon's nature, he would probably kill both him and the hostages together.

"What should I do? What should I do?"

In that brief moment, countless thoughts flashed through Ji Qian's mind, and numerous life-saving methods flickered through his heart.

"That's right, this is the headquarters of the Divine Puppet Sect. I need to attract the attention of the higher-ups!"

Ji Qian no longer hesitated, ignoring Xu Hei's impending attack. He raised his hand and absorbed the five women, their skin rapidly cracking as streams of blood gushed from their bodies.

Two of them, with weaker constitutions, died on the spot, sucked dry, while the other three quickly withered.

While absorbing these five, Ji Qian also gestured, causing the unconscious Jiang Nine Phoenix to fly over uncontrollably. Originally, he planned to use her last, but now, Ji Qian could only give it his all. He needed to break through the bottleneck. If he had a chance to reach Divine Transformation, the higher-ups would surely save him and not sit idly by while he was killed.

At that moment.

Xu Hei's eyes were cold as he gripped the trembling wooden sword at his waist. From a thousand miles away, he flung it forward.

"Whoosh!"

The Wutong wood sword crossed the void, igniting in mid-air, and immediately executed the teleportation technique.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

With three consecutive teleports, the unreachable distance was instantly bridged. The sword landed on the cave dwelling's gate, shattering the indestructible formation with one strike, along with Ji Qian's head.

"Ah!!"

Ji Qian screamed as his head was pierced by the sword, exploding completely.

Xu Hei arrived on the scene immediately after. Without hesitation, he unleashed the Star-Moon Nine Transformations, merging nine swords into one, and unleashed a chaotic slash at Ji Qian's position, hacking him into a bloody mess.

"Die, die for me!"

Xu Hei roared, slicing Ji Qian into countless pieces of flesh. The Elemental Infant was also destroyed, and he summoned fire to burn everything to ashes before calming down.

He looked at the devastated cave dwelling, panting heavily.

Without the control of the Soul-Calming Bell, everyone who had been knocked out gradually woke up. They looked at Xu Hei's towering figure, utterly shocked.

Jiang Nine Phoenix opened her eyes, seeing only Xu Hei standing in front of her, while Ji Qian's remains were slowly burning in the flames. The charred Wutong wood sword lay silently on the ground, silently recounting everything that had just happened.

...

At the headquarters of the Divine Puppet Sect, inside the sect master's hall.

A wooden sparrow sculpture stood on a stone pillar, with a person sitting on the top of the adjacent stone pillar—Night Owl.

"Night Owl, the person you brought back killed a core disciple in the first year, and then an inner sect elder, right under our noses. What do you think?"

The sparrow sculpture spoke with a half-smiling voice.

Night Owl chuckled, "Sect Master, everything cannot be rushed. Didn't we come through the same way back then?"

The sparrow sculpture was silent for a moment before saying, "The double star convergence is less than a hundred years away. If there's only output and no input in a hundred years, you know the consequences."

"Of course," Night Owl smiled, "If there's no effect in a hundred years, I'll personally retrieve the lost spiritual qi."

...

At the headquarters of the Divine Puppet Sect, Xu Hei killed an elder. He thought some law enforcers or the like would appear, but after waiting for a while, no one came.

"So that's how it is."

Xu Hei exhaled, as if he had expected this.

There were over a hundred people that Ji Qian had taken on board, but Xu Hei had no interest in them. He simply carried Jiang Nine Phoenix and the exhausted wooden sword, leaving the place.

The people who survived the ordeal quickly scattered and fled, but each of them deeply remembered Xu Hei's image.

Riding the flying boat, he sped all the way back.

Returning to his sect's mountain gate, Xu Hei said nothing and threw Jiang Nine Phoenix into the medicine garden.

Jiang Nine Phoenix fell, covered in mud, her body bruised and battered. She had long lost her previous arrogance and defiance, only lowering her head, clutching her grass skirt in silence.

Xu Hei ignored her and walked straight toward the cave dwelling.

Faintly, he heard a "thank you" from behind, followed by a faint sobbing.

Xu Hei didn't know what to say, shook his head, and entered the cave dwelling to begin inventorying his gains.

Zhao Nanqi had escaped, but the wealth of Ji Qian and Shen Shaopeng had fallen into his hands.

A total of fifty million spirit stones, one supreme spirit stone, seven top-tier fourth-grade magical treasures, various spirit medicines, pills, and numerous spiritual treasures of heaven and earth.

Although the wealth wasn't comparable to Xu Hei's, it was still rare among Elemental Infant cultivators.

Noteworthy was a palm-sized golden bowl called the Star-Sealing Bowl, capable of sealing the Creation Furnace, indicating its considerable value, though its grade was yet unknown.

The second was Shen Shaopeng's golden beans. These beans seemed ordinary but contained a universe within. When unfolded, a single bean could transform into a giant puppet capable of endless transformations.

The saying "sow beans to create soldiers" referred to these golden beans.

Although not reaching the fifth-tier puppet level, they were very close, comparable to the Star-Moon Sword.

Of course, the most important was the Creation Furnace. This treasure couldn't be stored in a storage bag, so Xu Hei had transported it back using the flying boat.

"I've accumulated so much spiritual liquid; it should be enough for me to cultivate to the Great Perfection of the Elemental Infant stage," Xu Hei thought to himself.

As a Flood Dragon, the spiritual qi required for his cultivation was several times that of others, making it difficult to accumulate to perfection. But the Creation Furnace was prepared by Zhao Nanqi for Divine Transformation, so the amount of spiritual qi within was imaginable.

He didn't believe that absorbing all this spiritual liquid wouldn't bring him to perfection.