Serpent Ancestor

Chapter 42: The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind

Hei Huang weaved through a series of alleyways, with Xu Hei following closely behind, relentless in his pursuit.

Moments later, Hei Huang arrived at the city center, in a large marketplace. This place had few mortals; it was teeming with cultivators, with various shops buying and selling treasures.

Hei Huang stopped in front of an artifact refining shop, taking out a snake-shaped longsword, a curved blade, and a snake bone, and handed them over.

"Eight spirit stones in total. Deal or no deal?" Hei Huang asked in a low voice.

The shopkeeper took the items, pondered for a moment, then nodded, "Deal!"

After pocketing the spirit stones, Hei Huang continued onward, winding through the streets until he reached a shop that bought and sold medicinal herbs.

He took out a pile of herbs and asked, "Fifteen spirit stones in total. Deal or no deal?"

After some haggling, he received thirteen spirit stones.

Next, he visited a pill shop, a demonic beast material shop, and various other shops, selling off numerous treasures in exchange for spirit stones.

"So, this old dog is out here fencing stolen goods. Damn it! He’s pocketed so many treasures!" Xu Hei cursed inwardly.

He could clearly see that the old dog had swiped a large number of treasures from the storage bag and was secretly selling them off!

No wonder the storage bag from that Foundation Establishment avatar had no valuable treasures left; they had already been pilfered.

Xu Hei resisted the urge to rush out and bite someone, quietly following behind, watching to see how many spirit stones the old dog could sell, planning to make him cough them all up later.

...

Two cultivators in cloud-patterned white robes sped over from a distance, landing in the marketplace.

Upon seeing their robes, many stall owners showed expressions of reverence and quickly stood up to greet them.

These were disciples of the Heavenly Puppet Sect!

The Heavenly Puppet Sect, the number one sect in the Qin Kingdom, was the overlord of the kingdom, governing every city.

"Damn it, being assigned to this godforsaken place, I have to stay here for three years before I can return. How did I get so unlucky!" One of the cultivators with a horse-like face said with a gloomy expression.

"No choice, we haven't been able to reach Foundation Establishment, so we have to follow orders. Although Linjiang City is chaotic, if handled well, there are still some benefits to be had." The other, a handsome young man, said calmly.

Both of them were outer disciples of the Heavenly Puppet Sect, assigned to guard Linjiang City due to their lack of talent.

If it were any other city, it might be fine, but Linjiang City was the place all disciples least wanted to go: remote, chaotic, impoverished, and occasionally plagued by rogue cultivators. Just thinking about it gave them headaches.

The two first walked around the marketplace, collecting stall fees.

Then, they headed towards the Myriad Treasure Pavilion.

"Hmm?"

The horse-faced youth squinted his eyes, grabbing his companion and pointing at a short masked man ahead, "Did you notice that guy just now?"

"Yes, he probably committed murder and robbery and came here to fence the goods." The handsome youth said calmly. Such things were too common in Linjiang City for him to bother with.

The horse-faced youth said nothing, his figure flashed, and he disappeared.

Myriad Treasure Pavilion.

This was the largest chain business in the Qin Kingdom, accessible only to cultivators.

Hei Huang walked into the hall, waved a spirit stone, and said, "Get your manager here, I want to sell some things."

The receptionist immediately realized a distinguished guest had arrived and quickly called the manager to the hall.

"Take a look, how much is this worth in total?" Hei Huang threw out a storage bag.

The manager took it, scanned it with his divine sense, and immediately widened his eyes.

He took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Fellow Daoist, why don't we discuss this inside?"

Hei Huang nodded and walked into the reception room.

Xu Hei did not follow him in, waiting outside the Myriad Treasure Pavilion.

About the time it takes to burn a stick of incense later, Hei Huang came out.

He walked out of the Myriad Treasure Pavilion, looked around, and headed into an alley.

"What is he up to now?" Xu Hei wondered.

Just as he was about to follow, a horse-faced youth rushed into the Myriad Treasure Pavilion, quickly asking the manager, "What did that short man in black come here for?"

Beside the horse-faced youth was the handsome young man, both wearing the same cloud-patterned robes.

Seeing they were from the Heavenly Puppet Sect, the manager trembled in fear and quickly cupped his fists, "He sold many jade slips and magical treasures from the Snake Catchers Sect, exchanging them for a large number of body-tempering pills and late-stage demonic beast meat."

The manager did not hide anything, recounting everything truthfully.

"How much were those treasures worth?" the horse-faced youth asked again.

"About a hundred spirit stones." The manager answered honestly.

The horse-faced youth's eyes flashed, and he immediately chased after Hei Huang in the direction he had disappeared.

"Brother Yu, wait!"

Suddenly, the handsome young man stepped forward, saying seriously, "We just arrived, we should be cautious before figuring out the other party's background. That person is openly fencing stolen goods and leaving without hiding his identity, which means he's not afraid of being targeted!"

Yu Qiang sneered, "I just find his actions suspicious and want to question him, not do anything to him."

"..." The handsome youth frowned slightly.

Question him? In Linjiang City, who could withstand questioning?

Questioning was equivalent to a fight to the death, to kill and rob.

He shook his head and sighed, "I'll go with you."

The two chased after Hei Huang into the alley.

Xu Hei stood nearby, witnessing the entire scene, his mind racing.

"To attract the attention of Heavenly Puppet Sect disciples, this damned dog is really unlucky!"

Xu Hei didn't want to get involved, but Hei Huang seemed to have exchanged for many body-tempering pills and demonic beast meat. This meant Hei Huang hadn't completely pocketed everything and had bought some things for him.

He didn't care if the old dog died, but he didn't want his pills to be ruined.

"Let's follow and see."

Xu Hei suddenly sped up and followed.

He vaguely felt that the old dog's blatant fencing might be a trap.

Catching small fry was one thing, but these were Heavenly Puppet Sect disciples, big sharks. Wasn't he afraid of being swallowed?

"What a hassle!"

Xu Hei cursed inwardly, cursing the old dog's entire family a thousand times.

Hei Huang was in front, the two Heavenly Puppet Sect disciples in the middle, and Xu Hei at the back.

Unknowingly, this group chased all the way to the east of the city, the most desolate area.

The houses here were dilapidated, nine out of ten were empty, and almost no one was in sight. This place used to be a gang's stronghold, later wiped out by enemies, with several streets slaughtered clean, left abandoned ever since.

Now, it had become the residence of vagrants and stray dogs.

"Hmm? Where is he?"

Yu Qiang saw Hei Huang rush into a broken house, but when he walked over, he found no one, only a big black dog peeing in the corner.