Jiang Hao thoroughly looted the snake den, stuffing everything he fancied into his storage space. Saying he scraped it clean to a depth of three feet would have been an exaggeration—two feet was more like it.
After leaving the snake den, he came to the tree hollow where the girl had been hidden. Opening the bundle, he checked on the child. The little girl was breathing evenly and seemed unharmed. Plump and rosy-cheeked, she was utterly adorable.
Such a beautiful child, and that Black Snake Spirit had wanted to eat her. Despicable.
He took out the Purple Gold Gourd and activated the formation.
"Yin Fire Scorching!"
The snake demon, who had barely caught its breath for half an hour, was once again subjected to agonizing torment. Green flames burned across its snake body and soul, and it writhed and struggled on the ground in pain.
The Man in Black beside it trembled uncontrollably, terrified that he would be next.
Just then, a voice rang out.
"Where did you steal this child from?" Jiang Hao asked.
The Man in Black knew he was being questioned. Seeing the Black Snake Spirit's fate, he dared not hesitate in the slightest. He dropped to his knees with a thud and cried, "Reporting to Immortal, she is a girl from the Cui Family in eastern Qiantang City."
At that moment, the Cui Family residence in Qiantang County was brightly lit. All the maids and servants had risen, frantically searching everywhere, while the main hall was shrouded in gloom.
The Cui Family was one of Qiantang's prominent households. They operated silk shops, with their own silk-weaving workshop and several storefronts. Master Cui was forty-seven this year and had one son and one daughter. His son, Cui Wang, had passed the scholar examination, married, and had a