Chapter 2603: Afraid of Death, You've Become Like This

Originally, the hall only had the Spirit Ancestor's furious shout, but suddenly a light laugh from another person appeared.

In an instant, the several Elders below were greatly startled, and the Spirit Ancestor on the jade platform turned ice‑cold in fury and shouted.

"Who?"

Immediately, their gazes began to sweep the hall, and at that moment, Huang Lao slowly emerged from the darkness, openly appearing before everyone.

"Huang Lao……………………"

"Senior, you………………………"

Upon seeing Huang Lao, several Elders of the Heavenly Spirit Tribe were startled—how could he appear here?

You know, the Spirit Ancestor's residence is the most heavily guarded place of the entire Heavenly Spirit Tribe, with formations protecting all around.

As if seeing through their doubts, Huang Lao turned his head and laughed.

"How strange that I could get in? I forgot where these formations came from—I want to break them, and it's not difficult."

Using human formations to try to stop the Human Race's strongest is really rather presumptuous.

Having said that, without waiting for the Elders' reply, Huang Lao turned his gaze to the Spirit Ancestor, facing the latter's complex expression of shock and anger, and laughed.

"Your strength has declined severely; I've been here for half a day, and you haven't noticed at all—you're likely about to fall from the Present Era's Strongest realm."

"You……………………"

Upon hearing this, the Spirit Ancestor gritted his teeth, his eyes full of killing intent; if not for his fear of Huang Lao, he would have already struck to kill this human.

But Huang Lao seemed completely indifferent to the Spirit Ancestor's anger, and went on speaking to himself.

"Tsk tsk, to have survived until now is practically a miracle; your origin has been heavily damaged, less than one‑tenth remains, and even your divine soul is only half left—if it were any other powerhouse, they surely wouldn't survive ten years, yet you have stubbornly lived for over a thousand years."

"Tsk tsk, someone like you who can survive is indeed rare in the world."

"This……………………"

As Huang Lao's words fell, the several Elders of the Heavenly Spirit Tribe present were all taken aback.

They knew the Spirit Ancestor's injuries were severe, even difficult to heal, so they could only rely on secluded retreat to slow the loss of life, thus barely clinging to life until now.

Of course, this was also told to them by the Spirit Ancestor himself.

But they never expected the Spirit Ancestor's injuries to be this severe; if so, how could he have survived until now?

For a moment, a flicker of strange light appeared in the eyes of several Heavenly Spirit Tribe Elders, their gazes silently shifting between Huang Lao and the Spirit Ancestor.

And this flicker of strangeness was undoubtedly caught by Huang Lao's keen perception.

So, without waiting for the Spirit Ancestor's reply, Huang Lao turned his gaze back and spoke directly.

"Want to know how he managed to survive until now?"

The Elders didn't reply, but their eyes already said everything.

As for Huang Lao, his smile widened, and a strand of golden light appeared on his hand at some point.

Upon seeing that strand of golden light, the several Heavenly Spirit Tribe Elders still hadn't recognized what it was, when the Spirit Ancestor on the jade platform let out a furious shout.

"You're courting death."

As if his tail had been stepped on, heedless of his own condition, he suddenly erupted and charged straight at Huang Lao.

"Spirit Ancestor……………………"

Faced with the Spirit Ancestor's sudden eruption, several Elders were stunned—what was he doing?

Yet facing the Spirit Ancestor's attack, Huang Lao was completely unfazed.

Just as he said, the Spirit Ancestor's injuries were even more severe than he had imagined, and his strength had plummeted to an absurd degree.

He could no longer be considered a Present Era's Strongest, and he and Huang Lao were not even in the same cultivation realm.

In such a state, speaking bluntly, where does he get the nerve to strike out?

Thus, the Spirit Ancestor's surge was quick, and his retreat was equally swift.

In just an instant, he was flung backward, knocked back by a single strike from Huang Lao, his body slammed hard to the ground as he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

He posed no threat at all; after repelling the Spirit Ancestor, Huang Lao looked at him with contempt.

"Earlier I said you could survive, but that wasn't quite accurate; it should be said that someone like you, who fears death, is also rare in the world."

"Senior, what do you mean?"

Finally, an Elder of the Heavenly Spirit Tribe could not hold back and asked.

The Spirit Ancestor's behavior is abnormal, and combined with what Huang Lao said, could there be some hidden secret here?

Upon hearing this, Huang Lao laughed.

"Do you know what this is?"

Huh???

Under Huang Lao's indication, several Elders unconsciously looked toward the strand of golden light in his hand.

They inexplicably felt a familiar sense of blood‑line connection, though they couldn't immediately place it, but deep down they were certain this thing must be related to their Heavenly Spirit Tribe.

Seeing the Elders' puzzled faces, Huang Lao cursed.

"As stupid as pigs, you don't even recognize your own Heavenly Spirit Tribe's spirit veins?"

The Heavenly Spirit Tribe differs from the Human Race; for humans who wish to Xiūliàn, the first step is to practice qi, drawing heavenly and earthly spiritual energy to impact the meridians, thereby making it possible to enter Xiūliàn.

But the Heavenly Spirit Tribe is different, or rather, compared to humans, the Heavenly Spirit Tribe is more favored by heaven and earth.

Heavenly Spirit Tribe members are born with spirit veins, allowing them to Xiūliàn directly, skipping the steps of drawing heavenly and earthly spiritual energy and impacting the meridians.

In human terms, it means possessing a special constitution, born with all meridians unobstructed, belonging to the ranks of geniuses.

Upon hearing that this strand of golden light was actually the spirit veins of the Heavenly Spirit Tribe's people, several Elders were stunned, their brows furrowed tightly.

How could the spirit veins of their Heavenly Spirit Tribe end up in Huang Lao's hands?

For a moment, several Elders seemed to think of something, their faces changing as they spoke in a sorrowful voice.

"Senior, didn't you give us one day? Why go back on your word?"

Did the Human Race attack the Heavenly Spirit Tribe? That's why Huang Lao appeared here; what about the Heavenly Spirit Tribe members outside? Were they slaughtered to near extinction by the Human Race?

Just hearing this, Huang Lao burst out laughing in anger, the contempt in his eyes utterly undisguised.

Saying you're stupid is really not unjustified; where did this spirit vein come from, do you know?

I don't know.

Several old ancestors shook their heads truthfully, and the Spirit Ancestor on the ground, seeing this, struggled to speak, but Huang Lao's earlier blow was truly heavy; at this moment he wanted to speak, yet blood kept gushing from his mouth, unable to utter a word.

And now no one has the leisure to attend to him; everyone's attention was drawn to that strand of spirit vein in Huang Lao's hand.

Facing the doubts of several old ancestors, Huang Lao didn't waste words and spoke directly.

This spirit vein was obtained by my Human Race when we slaughtered your Sea Gods; not just this one, there are many more. At the time I wondered why a spirit vein that the Heavenly Spirit Tribe inherently possesses would appear in the hands of those small fry, and the quantity is certainly not just one or two.

What……………………

Hearing this, several old ancestors of the Heavenly Spirit Tribe were dumbfounded.

How could the spirit vein of the Heavenly Spirit Tribe end up in the hands of the Sea Gods, and moreover the quantity is not small.

Yet these few Heavenly Spirit Tribe old ancestors know nothing about this at all; not only them, even the tribespeople seem to have noticed nothing abnormal—how could this be?

Surely it can't be that the Heavenly Spirit Tribe themselves voluntarily handed over the spirit vein, right?