Drip… A drop of clear water slowly fell from a stalactite on the ceiling of the cave. It landed in the pool below, sending ripples spreading across the surface. In the stillness, even that tiny sound was startlingly clear.
Xu Yuan had no idea how long he had been unconscious in the dark, but now awareness gradually flowed back into his body like water entering a channel. His eyes twitched faintly. A moment later, he slowly opened them. Perhaps because he had been out for too long, his vision was still unfocused, and the dim surroundings in front of him were little more than a blur.
Then, in the silence, a light female voice drifted over from beside him. “You’re awake.”
“Mhm.” Xu Yuan answered in a low voice on instinct. At the same time, his vision gradually sharpened, and he finally saw who had spoken.
Ran Qingmo was sitting quietly at his side, turned slightly sideways in meditation. The two of them were very close, close enough that even through their clothes he could vaguely feel the warmth coming from her smooth legs.
It felt a little strange. He could not understand why Ran Qingmo was sitting so close to him. His stiff thoughts slowly began turning again, and Xu Yuan pushed himself upright bit by bit from the ground. Then he suddenly realized why she was sitting so close.
He was still gripping her slender wrist. He was holding on so tightly that red marks had already appeared on her fair skin. As the memories from before he blacked out flooded back, Xu Yuan remembered that this had been his final obsession before losing consciousness.
With the Third Young Master’s abysmal Luck stat of three, even unconscious, he had not dared let go of Ran Qingmo. But now that they had entered the cave exactly as intended, Xu Yuan released her hand, rubbed his brow, and explained softly, “Sorry. I didn’t have a choice.”
“Thank you.” Ran Qingmo shook her head and looked straight into his eyes with those clear, beautiful pupils. Her gratitude was sincere, serious, and completely genuine.
Xu Yuan, however, was caught off guard by that sudden thanks. He did not quite understand why. But after thinking for a moment, he quickly understood. This iceberg of a woman in front of him had no idea that entering this hidden cave required something as vague and mystical as Luck. In her eyes, it was probably because he had dragged her along even while falling unconscious that she had been able to enter safely too.
Thinking that through, Xu Yuan had no intention of explaining anything.
A lovely misunderstanding like this can go right on continuing. Heh. Smiling faintly, Xu Yuan lifted his eyes to look at her as well.
“Miss Ran”
But the instant his gaze landed on her, his mind jolted. She was not wearing her veil. The black silk she had kept over her face the whole way had quietly drifted away when they fell from the cliff. This was the first time Xu Yuan had seen her without it covering her face.
Once the perspective shifted into first person, every word Azure Point had exhausted itself using to describe her beauty now felt laughably thin in front of her real face.
Xu Yuan steadied himself and gave a faint, amused shake of the head. No wonder those novels were always going on about their heroines looking like immortal fairies. Only now did he truly understand.
His gaze returned to calm. Looking into her beautiful eyes, he said softly, “Miss Ran, the words thank you are the least valuable thing in this world.”
As he spoke, Xu Yuan braced a hand on his knee and rose from the ground. Staring at her with a smile, he said, “We survived, which means I won the bet. You now owe me a favor.”
“Alright.” Ran Qingmo tilted her head up slightly and fell silent for a moment. After a pause, she asked softly, “What do you want me to do?”
Hearing that, Xu Yuan smiled faintly. “Save it for later. I don’t need anything from you just yet.”
With that, he withdrew his gaze and began looking around at their surroundings instead. This seemed to be a cave. White beads embedded in the stone walls gave off a dim glow, something like the legendary luminous pearls.
With that faint light, Xu Yuan could more or less make out the entire place. The cave residence was not very large. Using the measurements from his previous life, it was probably only about twenty square meters. A pool of water and a round jade bed roughly ten feet across were all it contained.
At the sight of this, Xu Yuan’s brows slowly began to knit together. The size of the cave, the jade bed, the pool, none of that surprised him. But where was the huge golden treasure chest that was supposed to be beside the bed? All the goodies in this hidden cave were stored inside that chest!
“What’s wrong?” Ran Qingmo seemed to notice the change in his breathing. Her clear voice drifted over softly.
Xu Yuan gathered himself, steadied his breath, and replied casually, “Nothing. I just realized my memory seems to be having some problems.”
“Oh.” Hearing that, Ran Qingmo said nothing more and simply closed her eyes again, sitting in meditation to regulate her breathing.
Xu Yuan walked toward the jade bed at the innermost part of the cave. Now that he had calmed down, he judged that the disappearance of the treasure chest was probably the world auto-correcting itself.
A shiny golden chest sitting inside a mysterious ancient cave really would have looked absurdly out of place. Since it had already been confirmed that this cave would pull people in based on their fortune, then the items placed here in Azure Point could not possibly have vanished.
Walking up to the jade bed, Xu Yuan lowered his eyes and examined the large round thing carefully. The whole bed was pure white, like carved jade, and gave off a faint, hazy glow. There was no bedding on it, but there were two rectangular pillows. If there was anywhere on this bed that could be hiding something, it would only be beneath those pillows.
After a brief hesitation, Xu Yuan slowly reached out and grabbed one. The pillow felt cool in his hand, almost like dark ice. He moved it aside, and sure enough, beneath it lay an ancient black ring.
The moment he saw it, Xu Yuan immediately realized what it was. A storage ring. A Sumeru Ring. He had never expected to find one here, and all at once he felt that the world’s auto-correction really did have its charms sometimes.
In some cultivation worlds, everybody and their dog had a storage ring. Not in this one. Here, a Sumeru Ring was a treasure of the highest order. The fact that even an expert like Ran Qingmo still had to carry things around in a travel pack said enough on its own.
The guidebook had given an explanation for that too. A Sumeru Ring involved cutting and folding space itself. If these things were common as dirt, then would that not mean any random smith on the street was a master of spatial manipulation? Whatever the case, the world replacing that golden treasure chest with a Sumeru Ring was a truly delightful surprise.
Xu Yuan picked up the ancient black ring and held it in his palm, grinning from ear to ear. But the smile faded almost as quickly as it came. A fine treasure was still useless if he could not use it. A Sumeru Ring had to be activated with source qi, and right now he was still nothing more than an ordinary man.
Taking a slow breath, Xu Yuan casually tossed the ring over to Ran Qingmo, who was still sitting nearby.
She caught it and lowered her gaze to inspect it. She had seen something similar at her master’s place before, so she recognized it at a glance. Yet even with such a supreme treasure in hand, there was no change in her expression. Her eyes only held a faint trace of confusion as she looked back at Xu Yuan. She did not understand why he had thrown the ring to her.
Meeting her gaze, Xu Yuan smiled slightly and said softly, “There’s medicine inside for your injuries, and some of my things from before. I can’t take them out right now, so I’ll have to trouble you to help.”