The snake never ate the boy.
On the contrary, it even delivered food to the boy on a daily basis, allowing the latter to slowly recover from his injuries while remaining in the safety of the extensive network of caves and tunnels.
That said, there seemed to be something strange about the food.
Not only did his injuries recover at breakneck speed, but the boy also felt his body becoming much stronger, his mind much sharper. He had no idea at the time, but what he had been eating was actually the meat of spiritual beasts – meat that contained dense energy that even cultivators would have found beneficial.
In fact, ordinary mortals simply did not have the ability to properly absorb the dense energy content within this meat. If not for the snake demon's secret intervention, the boy would have long died from an uncontrollable explosion of energy.
But now, this energy was being properly absorbed into his body, serving to aid his recovery and even strengthen his physique.
***
"The sun!" the boy stretched out his arms as though he was embracing the warm rays shining down from above.
Having remained underground for a full week, this was the first time that he was seeing the sun ever since falling down the steep slope.
"Looks like you are all recovered now. Quickly go back to your family then. I don't have time to keep babysitting you!" the snake demon said. "Just go straight in this direction and you will soon arrive at the place where I found you!"
"Mm! Thank you for everything these few days, Old Snakey!"
"Pui! What Old Snakey? You are the Baby Humany instead!" the snake demon snapped before his long green body with black spots slowly slithered back into the cave.
The boy waved the snake demon goodbye as the latter returned to the cave, then turned to leave without lingering any longer. As much as he appreciated the snake demon, he missed his family even more.
The snake demon had already pointed the way for him, so all he had to do was head in that direction. Unfortunately, it had not even been five minutes when he heard a growl coming from above.
He turned his head up only to see a purple-coloured leopard leap down from the treetop, landing barely a few metres in front of him.
"Ohhhh, hello!" the boy was surprised for a moment, but quickly started waving to the purple leopard.
The purple leopard narrowed its eyes, then started to creep towards him. In response, the boy similarly started walking towards the purple leopard, reaching out to pat it on the head.
Zhao Yunxiao did not know whether to laugh or cry. It would appear that after staying with the snake demon for just a few days, the boy's sense of danger towards wild beasts had become almost non-existent.
As the distance between the two closed to around a metre, the purple leopard suddenly bared its fangs.
"Fool!"
A familiar flash of green suddenly appeared from the corner of the boy's eyes, slamming into the purple leopard just as the latter pounced.
Bang-!
The impact sent the purple leopard straight down into the ground, with enough force to create a crater around it. The skull of the purple leopard caved in, strange liquids bursting out of all its orifices to mix with its blood.
It was dead in an instant.
"Old Snakey! What did you do?!" the boy grabbed his hair in shock, but quickly calmed down the next moment. "Oh, wait. Is it food?"
"...Is it food? You are asking if it is food?" the snake demon was dumbfounded for a moment, its long green body trembling in rage. "You are the food here! If not for me, you would already be dead! Turned into mincemeat and broken down by stomach acids!"
"Me?" the boy blinked blankly. "But I'm fine right now?"
"Are you even listening to what I say? You would have been dead if not for me!" the snake demon snapped back.
"Really? Well, I guess I'm lucky that I have you then!" the boy shrugged.
"...Dumbass kid, you have gotten far too comfortable."
The snake demon ended up escorting the boy for the rest of the journey. It might not be a long distance, but this forest was a place where death could come right around the next corner.
Since that was the case, it figured that it might as well just directly bring the boy to his destination so that it could quickly get this over and done with.
"Hmm?" the boy blinked in a mix of confusion and anxiety as he looked at the empty field in front of him. "Why is there no one here?"
"Are you sure this is where you parted from your mother?" the snake demon asked impatiently.
"I'm sure..."
"Tch, what's with that gloomy face? It doesn't suit you!" the snake demon said. "It's not like they stay here, so it's only natural that they won't be here all day long. After seeing you fall down the slope, perhaps they are actively looking for you below!"
"Don't lie. You would know if they are looking for me down there, wouldn't you?"
"..."
"I know you would."
"Well, perhaps they are currently resting after having searched for you for days!"
"Old Snakey..."
"Damn it, Baby Humany, I told you not to call me th-"
"Can you bring me home?"
"Wha?! Who you do think I- Fine, whatever. Perhaps it would be good for me to go take a walk outside of the forest after so long as well. But do you remember where you stay?"
Just like that, the snake demon and the boy went on a short journey, with the former taking on the form of a human to avoid being too conspicuous.
Fortunately, the boy's memory was extremely good for his age. Purely from memory, he managed to retrace the exact path that he and his mother had taken before, allowing the snake demon to bring them straight back to his home city.
His servants recognised him immediately, immediately bringing him to the main hall where three people were engaging in a solemn discussion – a beautiful young lady, a suave young man, and a middle-aged taoist priest. Regardless, the discussion was cut short the moment they noticed the boy stepping through the door.
"Ming'er!"
The beautiful young lady exclaimed in the same tender voice that had tried to stop the boy before, her voice quaking with emotions. She shot up from her seat, rushing forward to wrap her arms tightly around the boy.
"Where have you been? Do you know how worried Mother has been?" his mother asked only after a full minute, slowly pulling back from the tight embrace to look him in the eyes.
"Sorry, Mum..." the boy looked down guiltily. He could see the tears welling up in his mother's eyes, and that made him feel even more regretful about his careless actions from before.
"No, no, don't be sorry!" his mother pulled him in tightly once again. "It is all Mother's fault. I should have been more careful!"
At this moment, the other two men slowly walked up from behind his mother. After casting a warm gaze at the boy, the young man turned to address the snake demon who was currently standing behind the boy. "May I know how to address you, Sir?"
"This is Old Snakey! He is the one who helped bring me back!" the boy answered excitedly, eager to introduce his new friend to his parents.
"Ming'er, don't be rude. How can you address your saviour in such a way?" the young man chided.
"No, your boy is not wrong," the taoist priest interjected at this point, a fiery glint flashing across his eyes that were locked onto the snake demon. "Because this thing here... is a true snake demon!"
"A snake demon?!" The young couple exclaimed simultaneously, shock apparent in their eyes as they backed away from the snake demon.
"Don't worry, Old Snakey won't harm us!" the boy assured.
"Nonsense! It is not a matter of whether demons will seek to harm us; it is only a matter of how and when they intend to harm us!" the taoist priest drew his sword, pointing it straight at the snake demon.
"What nonsense? You are the one spouting nonsense here!" the boy retorted.
"Silence, Ming'er! You are too young to understand the realities of life!" the young man said. "Bring him back to his room!"
"No, Dad, you don't understand! Old Snakey is not like that!"
"Come, Ming'er!" his mother forcibly dragged him away from his new friend.
"Wait, why are both of you acting this way? Why are you listening to this random old fogey?" the boy shouted. "Old Snakey saved me!"
"Hush, Ming'er!" his mother quickly covered his mouth. "The esteemed priest is someone whom we have only managed to invite after spending a fortune and relying on numerous connections. He is the only one willing to help us search for you in the forest!"
"Speak, foul demon! What evil intentions do you have in bringing the boy back here? What are you coveting from this innocent family?" the taoist priest drew his sword, pointing it straight at the snake demon.
"...There is nothing any of you have that I could possibly want. Not the family, and not you. Since the boy is safe now, I will take my leave," the snake demon turned around to leave.
"Wishful thinking, foul demon! Now that your identity has been exposed, you can forget about leaving with your head intact today!" the taoist priest scoffed. "Let me show you the power of the one people call Holy Sword Lian!"
A powerful storm picked up within the hall – an inevitable side effect due to the sudden eruption of energy from the taoist priest. His sword suddenly emitted a bright golden light, appearing as though it was a treasure bestowed by the heavens.
Zhao Yunxiao could not help but feel shocked at this moment. He could not tell for sure what cultivation level the taoist priest was at, but this level of energy was definitely above that of the Origin Core realm!
Time seemed to have come to a stop as the golden sword drew a beautiful arc through the air, arriving before the snake demon in an instant. The boy did not even have a chance to realise what was happening, much less call out to the snake demon in warning.
That was the case for the young couple as well, neither of whom was able to react whatsoever.
However, the snake demon was not nearly as helpless.
It continued walking casually towards the door, not even turning around to face the oncoming sword strike. Instead, its robes fluttered for a moment, during which a green flash appeared only for the slightest of moments.
The young man, the young lady, and the boy – all of whom were ordinary mortals – had no clue what happened exactly, but the outcome was clear as day.
The taoist priest's advance halted, the golden light from his sword ended, and the light of vitality vanished from his eyes. His body remained standing, but a gaping hole had now appeared on his chest – a hole that allowed the trio to peer straight through him from behind, witnessing the snake demon casually walk away like it had nothing to do with any of this.
Drip-!
Fresh blood crept out from the sides of this gaping hole, staining the taoist priest's robes as it trickled to the ground in the form of a thin but continuous stream.
The young couple's eyes widened in terror, while the boy's eyes lit up in excitement.
The untethered do not refrain from making friends, all lives are equal as long as our values are aligned.
All was good when values were aligned, but what about when that was not possible?
How was one supposed to deal with those who swore by a set of completely different values?
Zhao Yunxiao felt like he had just seen the snake demon's answer to that question, and likely the Untethered Sage's as well.
[The untethered do not refrain from making friends, all lives are equal as long as our values are aligned. But when our values are not aligned, the untethered do not refrain from taking all lives.]
Those words suddenly appeared in Zhao Yunxiao's mind.
He did not know if they were born of his own imagination or if they were part of this scenario in the first place. Either way, he felt that these words would serve as the perfect description of the belief that had driven the Untethered Sage's actions throughout his life.
The moment Zhao Yunxiao made the connection between those words and the Untethered Sage that he had read so much about, his surroundings started to rapidly lose colour, reverting back to a world of white nothingness.