Serpent Ancestor

Chapter 114: Fake Cultivator

Han Te's entire body surged with purple energy, his speed skyrocketing, and his purple hair danced wildly as if he were treading on lightning.

Man Jin, however, was prepared. At the same moment he gave chase, he threw out a pair of icy tusks that spun together, summoning a frigid wind that froze the air, creating an expanse of ice.

Han Te's speed immediately plummeted, and even his True Qi began to freeze, causing him to stall halfway.

His face turned ashen as he shouted, "Don't push me! If you push me any further, I'll have to use my killer move!"

Man Jin remained unfazed, charging forward with a thunderous roar. Compared to him, Han Te's figure was like that of a tiny ant.

Qian Dachun was curious. Did Han Te really have a killer move?

"Ten Thousand Swords, Unsheathe!"

Han Te let out a strange cry, and the dozens of weapons on his body all unsheathed simultaneously, connecting together to form a ship.

This ship, made of weapons, lifted Han Te up. With a burst of speed, it shot out in an instant, flying out of Rock Serpent City in the blink of an eye.

Not only him, but everyone who witnessed this scene was dumbfounded.

No one had expected that the numerous weapons on Han Te's body were not for killing but for forming a ship to escape.

"What a disgrace to the Core Formation Stage!" Qian Dachun cursed inwardly.

A Core Formation cultivator, with the same level of cultivation, fleeing without a fight was indeed a weirdo.

Qian Dachun returned to the Listening Wind Tavern and activated a one-time teleportation array, leaving directly.

…………

Xu Hei stared at the formation spirit, the fear in its eyes growing more intense.

At first, it flicked its tongue, issuing a warning sound, but as Xu Hei approached, the formation spirit's body began to tremble.

Xu Hei watched for a long time before calmly saying, "I know you were forced into this formation, not by choice. Would you be willing to leave with me?"

Xu Hei had killed many members of the Snake Catchers Sect and had examined the jade slips in their storage bags. Naturally, he knew that each Mountain Protection Array of the Snake Catchers Sect used the soul of a Golden Core Snake Demon as the formation spirit.

Some were cultivated by the sect, but most were captured from the wild.

Each formation spirit had a history of hundreds of years, like the one before him in Rock Serpent City, which had existed for three hundred years.

The formation spirit did not speak, still staring coldly at Xu Hei. Despite its inexplicable fear, its instinct to guard remained.

Xu Hei sighed inwardly and said no more. Dragon scales detached from his body, attacking the formation spirit.

Foundation Establishment cultivators had the ability to control flying swords.

After completing his first transformation, Xu Hei's new ability was to detach dragon scales, turning them into flying swords. However, this move had a drawback: it left him defenseless.

"Swish!"

The dragon scales sliced through the formation spirit's body, causing it to let out a shrill scream and become even more ethereal. But this also triggered its ferocity, and it lashed its tail at Xu Hei.

Xu Hei did not dodge. He condensed thick earth armor with True Qi and charged forward, colliding with the tail.

"Boom!!"

Xu Hei's body trembled slightly, retreating a bit, but the formation spirit was heavily struck, sent flying into the City Lord's mansion below.

Facing this third-tier formation spirit, Xu Hei had the upper hand. Of course, it also helped that the formation spirit had been repeatedly injured and was no longer at its peak.

The formation spirit rose again, biting towards Xu Hei.

"Mountain Embrace Seal!"

Xu Hei envisioned a great mountain descending from the sky, smashing onto the formation spirit's head and pressing it deep into the ground, its screams echoing. He then took out several sealing talismans, continuously throwing them to temporarily seal the formation spirit.

Xu Hei looked around and saw that the cultivators in the city were fleeing in all directions.

Some elders of the Snake Catchers Sect initially wanted to resist, but seeing the situation deteriorate and the formation spirit defeated, they gave up and chose to run.

Xu Hei had no interest in dealing with rogue cultivators, but he killed every member of the Snake Catchers Sect he encountered.

"Kill!"

With a thought, Xu Hei launched ivory needles, crafted from leftover materials, at the fleeing members of the Snake Catchers Sect.

The crowd was terrified, using protective magical treasures to shield themselves, but Xu Hei's gaze intensified. With his black True Qi burning, the needles' speed doubled, creating a piercing force.

"Thud, thud, thud, thud..."

Wherever the needles went, magical treasures were pierced, and the crowd fell like wheat being harvested.

Everyone had a blood spot on their forehead, killed instantly without even a chance to scream.

Aiming for the forehead was the most efficient way to kill!

Xu Hei conserved his True Qi, ensuring each strike was lethal.

For tougher Foundation Establishment cultivators, Xu Hei used dragon scales to target their foreheads, achieving the same result.

"Too terrifying, he's a demon!"

"Help!"

The crowd screamed and fled, using all their trump cards to escape, fight back, or beg for mercy, but none could escape death.

Xu Hei's strength was nearly invincible within the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Except for a few tough opponents with numerous magical treasures, killing others was as easy as slaughtering chickens.

However, after killing dozens, Xu Hei finally encountered a tough opponent.

This was a middle-aged man with a full beard, at the peak of Foundation Establishment, likely from Cui Yuan's generation.

Unlike Cui Yuan, who had a sacrificial spirit, this man grabbed those around him and threw them at Xu Hei!

Whether fellow disciples or passing rogue cultivators, he used them as shields to delay Xu Hei's attacks.

Xu Hei launched five attacks in a row, not even touching a hair on him.

"Still trying to escape?"

Xu Hei's eyes turned cold, ready to pursue, but then he wondered if the man was feigning weakness to lure him into a trap.

Seeing Man Jin returning from afar, Xu Hei felt reassured. Without hesitation, he charged at the man, recalling the flying dragon scales to his body, making them stand up like blades.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

Everything in his path was shredded to pieces as Xu Hei shot towards the bearded man like a straight line.

"Don't push me!"

The bearded man roared. Seeing Xu Hei's relentless approach, he made a decisive move, swallowing a shriveled Golden Core.

"A Golden Core?"

Xu Hei's eyes narrowed.

This Golden Core belonged to a Core Formation cultivator but was in a withered state, likely obtained from a long-dead corpse.

The man's desperate act made Xu Hei pause, quickly activating sixteen layers of Earth Shield and thirty layers of thick earth armor.

"Boom!!!"

The violent power of the Golden Core erupted from the man's body, surging backward.

Xu Hei's defenses shattered, and he fell back.

But his vast Divine Sense remained locked on the man.

The bearded man's Dantian, where his stable spiritual foundation was, rapidly transformed, forming a shriveled, semi-finished Golden Core.

"Has he formed a Golden Core?"

"No, it should be a False Core!"

Xu Hei thought of a term.

Foundation Establishment cultivators, if unable to form a true Golden Core, might settle for a lower-grade semi-finished Golden Core, a False Core.

Such cultivators might be stuck at the False Core Stage for life.

False Core cultivators were weaker than true Core Formation cultivators but stronger than peak Foundation Establishment cultivators.

This old Snake Catchers Sect cultivator, knowing he was in grave danger, sacrificed his future to form a False Core, just to survive.

After forming the False Core, he didn't turn to attack but used his boosted cultivation to burn his lifespan and flee Rock Serpent City at top speed.

In this brief burst, his speed was indeed comparable to a true Core Formation cultivator!

————

[Previously, I referred to the Core Formation Stage, Golden Core Stage, and Demon Core Stage as the same realm. I'll try to use consistent terms in the future to avoid confusion.]