"How about you take me to your friend's home right now, Daoist Wu? There's no time to lose."
Lu Xuan set down the wine cup in his hand and looked expectantly at Cultivator Wu.
"I don't know whether he's home right now... but since Daoist Lu is in such a hurry, it must be something important. In that case, I'll take you there."
Seeing Lu Xuan like this, and having plenty of free time himself, Cultivator Wu led Lu Xuan out and headed for the snake-catching cultivator's home.
After walking for about two quarters of an hour, the two arrived before a blue-black stone house.
The stone house was fairly spacious, but as they drew near, they felt a chill, sinister coldness.
Lu Xuan followed Cultivator Wu into the stone house. His skin was pricked by the cold, gloomy air, and dense gooseflesh rose involuntarily all over him.
As soon as they entered, a jade-green python slithered out and stopped not far from the two of them, hissing as it flicked its forked tongue.
"Little Green, come back. It's Uncle Wu."
A slightly childish voice came from deeper inside the stone house. Immediately after, the voice changed into soft hissing whispers. The jade-green python before Lu Xuan and Cultivator Wu turned into a streak of green light and returned the way it had come.
A boy of thirteen or fourteen walked out from inside, and the python instantly burrowed into the boy's sleeve.
Although the python was massive, from the outside, there was no sign at all that another python was hidden inside the boy's thin, small body, as if the two had fused into one.
Only then did Lu Xuan get a clear look at the boy. He was small and thin, with a pale face, eyes narrowed into