Serpent Ancestor

Chapter 178: The mirror of the heart, instinctive choice

Xu Hei's crafted puppets were neither human nor ghost, so he felt no aversion to corpse puppets; they were just another type of puppet to him and certainly not something demonic.

However, in the eyes of humans, that might not be the case.

"Is the owner of this tomb really an ancestor of the Divine Puppet Sect? And what is his relationship with the descendants of Gongshu?" Xu Hei pondered deeply.

Xu Hei refrained from jumping to conclusions. He carefully analyzed the inscriptions on the stone tablet from beginning to end.

Xu Hei had only been cultivating for three years, but he already possessed an insight that ordinary people lacked.

—"These inheritances include Hairless Hopping Zombie, Green-haired Flying Zombie, Purple-haired Yaksha..."

—"The Divine Puppet Sect crafted countless puppets, yet little did they know, they themselves were the best puppets."

Xu Hei scrutinized these two sentences and pondered for a long time, his pupils suddenly contracting.

Individually, these sentences seemed harmless. But together, they were deeply unsettling.

Typically, the patriarchs of sects would leave their inheritances within the sect before their death, like the Mountain-moving Patriarch.

But this person had come to Wu Mountain, excavated a massive tomb, and left behind so many corpse puppets that attacked indiscriminately.

This was indeed very peculiar.

…………

Inside the stone chamber of the second trial.

A golden figure clad in armor appeared on Bai Luo's body surface; this was the Golden Body Manifestation, his most powerful trump card.

Although this move relied on external objects, it also came at the cost of his cultivation.

Originally, he planned to use it only when obtaining the final inheritance, as the sect's patriarch had envisioned. But now, if he didn't use it, he feared he would die here.

Once the Golden Body Manifestation appeared, the six formations ahead were all destroyed by brute force, unable to stop him in the slightest.

However, he halted before the last three formations.

These three formations were clearly a level more powerful!

"If I force my way through, even if I succeed, my cultivation will plummet!" Bai Luo's face was gloomy.

At this moment, his hatred for the person in the shadows was beyond words.

If that person appeared before him, he would surely devour their flesh and gnaw their bones to vent his anger.

But he was also contemplating whether it was worth continuing.

His trump cards were nearly exhausted. If he continued like this, what would he have left to compete for the final inheritance? He might end up losing the watermelon while picking up sesame seeds!

"This is merely a magical treasure of the Earth Path, yet I've lost so much for this tower! Had I known, I wouldn't have come in!"

"But now, giving up is not something I'm willing to do. If I don't capture and execute that despicable person, I won't be at peace!"

Bai Luo's heart was filled with dark hatred, nearly losing his rationality.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, took out a compass, and spat a mouthful of blood onto it.

Outside the pyramid.

Lei He seemed to sense something and took out a similar compass, which began to rotate automatically, seemingly transmitting some kind of message at a certain frequency.

This pyramid isolated everything; communication talismans and Small Teleportation Talismans were unusable. Only this parent-child compass could function, allowing them to sense each other.

"You, go in!"

Lei He looked at Zhou Wendie and pointed to the pyramid entrance.

"Me?"

Zhou Wendie's eyebrow arched, and she thought to herself, "Now they want me to go in, are they trying to use me as cannon fodder?"

Zhou Wendie maintained a cold and calm demeanor throughout, never showing anger even when blocked outside, nor did she choose to leave.

This showed that Zhou Wendie's scheming was much deeper than Bai Luo's.

At this moment, she immediately saw that Bai Luo must have encountered trouble and had no choice but to ask for help.

Letting Lei He in might trigger even more powerful mechanisms due to his high cultivation, making the situation uncontrollable, so they chose her.

"That's exactly what I intended."

Zhou Wendie, her mind racing, nodded and walked into the entrance tunnel.

She passed the stone tablet without stopping and directly entered the first trial.

Upon entering the stone chamber of the first trial, she immediately leaped into the air, clinging to the ceiling like a spider, entering a stealth state.

One of her eyes turned golden, with flames burning within, capable of seeing through all illusions.

With one glance, Zhou Wendie saw the butcher below and also saw through the mechanism design here.

At the same time, she saw the familiar face on top of the butcher's head, seemingly staring straight at her.

It was her sister, Zhou Wenjun.

Zhou Wendie's pupils instantly filled with blood, a wave of grief and anger surging in her chest.

"Silence!"

Suddenly, she uttered a cold command, suppressing that grief and anger.

"With just this bit of emotion, you can't control yourself. How can you achieve great things?"

Zhou Wendie's voice was icy, as if she had become a different person.

She had no intention of helping immediately.

She was waiting, waiting for Bai Luo to be unable to hold on and leave this place, before she would enter.

What belonged to her, no one else could take, including Bai Luo!

As for the one who took her other eye, she wouldn't let them go either.

Zhou Wendie flicked her finger, sending a butterfly blade flying out, instantly slicing off the face on the butcher's head.

Flames ignited in her eyes, burning the face to ashes.

"Sister, rest in peace."

…………

Half a day later.

Xu Hei finally stepped through the gate to the next trial because he had no other path to take.

Inside the stone chamber of the final trial, there was nothing but a solitary mirror.

As usual, Xu Hei tossed the Cat King in front of the mirror. When nothing happened, he had no choice but to approach the mirror himself.

At that moment, Xu Hei suddenly felt his consciousness fly out, entering the mirror as if his soul had left his body.

"Buzz!"

The scene before his eyes changed rapidly as Xu Hei plummeted at high speed.

In the next moment, Xu Hei found himself in a strange world.

It was a pitch-black realm, eerie with ghostly energy. The sky burned with demonic fire, and the land was scarred, with black lava bubbling up and countless spirits drifting by, resembling a hellish scene that would terrify anyone.

However, Xu Hei was not just anyone.

"Where is this, and what am I supposed to do?"

Xu Hei looked around in confusion, realizing he had also become a spirit, but in the form of a snake.

"It's said this trial is called 'Heart Inquiry.' Heart Inquiry? How does one inquire?"

Recalling the inscriptions, Xu Hei was deep in thought when he suddenly noticed his thoughts slowing, unable to generate any additional ideas.

He couldn't even manage to think calmly!

His rationality was fading, his thoughts rigidifying, leaving only instinct, pure instinct.

His eyes turned vacant.

"Fiend! You will die a horrible death!"

"Help, save us!"

Cries of murder and pleas for help echoed nearby.

Xu Hei turned his head and saw a cultivator exuding evil energy, with blood-red eyes, slaughtering wantonly within a family. Numerous cultivators and mortals were being massacred.

To his shock, Xu Hei recognized the blood-red-eyed evil cultivator as Wang Ding!

Also known as Wang Xiaoniu after he changed his name.

And the family being slaughtered was Wang Ding's own Chen Family.

At this moment, Wang Ding had lost all reason, wielding a flying sword and killing indiscriminately, regardless of whether they were bystanders or innocents, men or women, young or old.

"How could Wang Ding..."

Xu Hei wanted to think calmly, but no matter what, he couldn't.

He couldn't even discern whether what he saw was real or not, leaving only his instinctive choice.

"No need to pretend, make your choice."

A voice echoed in his heart.