"Little Brother."

Just then, a gentle voice echoed through the manor. When Bai Junran saw who it was, the sharp aura around him instantly vanished. "Second Sister," he said warmly, "what are you doing here?"

The main branch of the Bai Family had two daughters and one son.

The side branches, however, were sprawling and had numerous members. That Bai Chen, for instance, was from one of the Bai Family's side branches. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"I heard you lost the Soul Stealing Flute, is that right?" Bai Chuyan came forward, looking ready to call him to account. "Back then, I asked you to give me the Soul Stealing Flute, but you were too stingy to part with it. Now you give it to an outsider, and it ends up lost!"

Bai Chuyan feigned anger, her aloof beauty taking on a unique charm. Had anyone else been there, their eyes would have popped out of their sockets.

Too bad for her, she was facing her own brother.

Bai Junran heard her and put an arm around Bai Chuyan's shoulder. "My dear sister, it's not that I was unwilling to give it to you. The Soul Stealing Flute requires Soul Power to be played. Your Soul Power is too weak, so having it wouldn't do you any good."

"Then couldn't I have just kept it as an accessory without playing it? Now it's all for nothing, and the flute is gone."

"It's not gone for good," Bai Junran said confidently. "Zhou Qin was killed, and the Soul Stealing Flute was surely taken. It will return to its rightful owner sooner or later."

Bai Chuyan immediately asked, "Do you know who did it?"

"To be precise, I don't think it was a human. Come with me, Sis. I have something interesting to show you."

The siblings left the manor and entered a grand hall. They sat on a sofa, and Bai Junran took out a nearby laptop. He tapped a few keys, and a spectacular scene suddenly filled the screen.

On the screen, beneath a pristine, cloudless sky, the massive, golden shadow of a snake roared at the heavens, exuding an extraordinary majesty. Below it, a dense crowd of people shouted excitedly, "Long live the Snake King!"

"This..."

Bai Chuyan was utterly stunned by the scene.

"Perhaps our Bai Family has been away from Bai Town for too long. A Snake Spirit has actually appeared there, using trickery to delude and bewitch the populace." A contemptuous smile played on Bai Junran's lips.

Bai Chuyan was very sharp and quickly connected the dots. "Little Brother, are you suggesting that this Snake Spirit is the one who killed Zhou Qin?"

"That's most likely the case. Although Zhou Qin could only control mosquitoes, he had the Soul Stealing Flute I gave him. When he played it, tens of millions of mosquitoes would blot out the sky. He wouldn't have been easy to defeat."

"For that Snake Spirit to cause such a huge commotion, it must be at least Rank Two. It's not surprising that Zhou Qin died at its hands."

Bai Junran continued in a low voice, "What a fine Snake Spirit. I've taken quite a liking to it. Unfortunately, when I sent my men to investigate, they discovered it was no longer in Bai Town."

As he spoke, a sharp glint flashed in his dark, deep eyes, and Killing Intent began to radiate from him.

'What a clever Snake Spirit. It must have known I would come after it, so it fled in advance.'

"THWACK..."

Bai Chuyan suddenly rapped him on the head. "Don't give me that look, like you're about to devour someone."

"Sis, my mistake." Bai Junran gave an embarrassed smile. Though they were born into a great family, it was clear the siblings shared a very deep bond.

In the Bai Family, Bai Junran's status was immense, second only to one person and above all others. His Cultivation was even more terrifying; at only twenty years old, he was on the verge of breaking through to the level of Rank Three Creatures—a truly frightening prospect.

In comparison, while Bai Chuyan was also a Human Awakened, she and her younger brother were worlds apart.

"Oh, right, Little Brother," speaking of snakes, Bai Chuyan finally remembered the purpose of her visit. "Something major happened at Wencheng University today."

Bai Junran just gave a wry smile. "Sis, are you reminding me that I have to go to school in a few days?"

"Do I need to remind you about that? I'm talking about something serious." Bai Chuyan rolled her eyes. "A swarm of snakes suddenly appeared on campus today. There were over a thousand of them, and they terrified many of the students."

"A swarm of snakes?"

Bai Junran's eyes suddenly lit up. 'Speak of the devil,' he thought.

"Did these snakes do anything strange on campus?"

"Not really. The snakes didn't seem to want to hurt anyone. They just appeared on campus for no apparent reason."

Bai Junran suddenly broke into a wide, happy smile, his eyes narrowing slightly as he murmured to himself, "'So, Cat Spirit, you're hiding at Wencheng University.'"

"What did you say, Little Brother?"

Bai Junran was overjoyed. "Sis, you've really done me a huge favor."

She was confused, not quite understanding.

"Sis, you think it's strange that a swarm of snakes appeared on campus, right? Well, I know why."

"Why?" Bai Chuyan pressed eagerly.

Bai Junran answered, "A while back, I found a Snake King Stone, but a Cat Spirit ate it."

"Now, it seems highly likely this Cat Spirit is hiding inside Wencheng University, wouldn't you say?"

Bai Chuyan was puzzled. "Snakes? A cat? What's the connection between the two?"

"You may not know this, Sis, but the Snake King Stone was supposedly left behind by a Snake Demon that had achieved Great Success in its Cultivation. No matter where this stone is, it will attract large numbers of snakes."

"So many snakes suddenly appearing on campus... doesn't that say it all?"

Only the presence of the Cat Spirit that swallowed the Snake King Stone could attract countless snakes to follow it.

Bai Junran stated firmly, "As long as the Cat Spirit that swallowed the Snake King Stone remains at Wencheng University, the number of snakes on campus will only grow. Before long, I'm afraid the entire school could become a Snake Cave."

The origin of the Snake King Stone was extraordinary. It had been acquired on a place called Snake Island.

The entire island was filled with snakes—at least a million of them. The Snake King Stone was found in a bottomless Snake Cave there.

Bai Junran had paid a hefty price to obtain the Snake King Stone; quite a few Awakened Martial Cultivators had died in the process.

He guessed the Cat Spirit hadn't known it was a Snake King Stone, mistaking it for some kind of Heavenly and Earthly Treasure and greedily swallowing it.

No matter how intelligent the Cat Spirit had become after gaining sentience, it could never have imagined that from then on, swarms of snakes would follow it everywhere, leaving it with nowhere to hide.

After listening, Bai Chuyan took a moment to process everything before she finally understood what her brother meant. "But," she said doubtfully, "the swarm of snakes on campus has already left. It wasn't as terrifying as you described, and it certainly didn't become a Snake Cave."

"They left?" Bai Junran was taken aback. "Don't tell me the Cat Spirit realized something was wrong and fled Wencheng University?"

'The snakes would only leave if the Cat Spirit left.'

Bai Chuyan quickly explained, "That's not the reason. The swarm of snakes left because of an Awakened Martial Cultivator. He seems to have the ability of Snake Control."

'A Martial Cultivator?'

Bai Junran felt things were getting more and more interesting, taking on an air of baffling mystery.

"Sis, what about this Martial Cultivator you mentioned?"

Bai Chuyan began, "Little Brother, the Martial Cultivator I'm talking about can not only perform Snake Control, but he's also incredibly powerful."

"Could he be a Snake Race controller?" Bai Junran wondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Awakened Abilities don't overlap. I remember that Dr. Snake of Shanye Group, Chen Mo, is a Snake Race controller."