Watching the campfire crackle to life, Xu Yuan let out a faint sigh, then gave a soft laugh. No matter how convoluted Azure Point’s plot had once been, it had still only been a game. There was no way it could ever show every last corner of a complete world.
In a world like this, one with the supernatural woven into it, a lot of what used to count as common sense would only make other people laugh. Getting sick did not necessarily mean taking medicine. Freezing out in the wilderness did not necessarily mean building a fire to stay warm.
Xu Yuan considered himself someone who adapted quickly, but when the rules of the world itself had changed, habits built up over more than twenty years still affected the way he thought.
Letting his mind wander, he glanced at the giant snake by the cave entrance. Ever since he woke up, the thing had been lying there staring at him, almost as if it recognized his face.
Xu Yuan did not dwell on it for long. Even though the jump from a 2.5D pixel-art style to a real first-person view had changed it a lot, he could still more or less guess what kind of creature this giant snake was.
It was a Flame Spirit Python, a relatively rare elite fire-attribute monster that dropped valuable materials. It had a bit of intelligence, could be tamed as a pet, and with later training could evolve into a Flame Spirit Flood Dragon.
Back in the game, taming this kind of python had been simple. Beat it into submission and that was that. It was the sort of demonic beast that was both lustful and cowardly, shameless to the core and terrified of dying.
Xu Yuan had never thought much of trash like this as a pet, but the Flame Spirit Fluid it produced was another matter entirely. Used as a supplementary ingredient, it could refine certain pills that remained useful even into the late game.
At the moment, he had no way to refine pills, but Flame Spirit Fluid itself was already a heavenly treasure that could be consumed directly.
Recalling the handbook’s description of it, Xu Yuan’s eyes flickered faintly. It could cleanse the meridians and marrow, dispel cold-related ailments, nourish Yin, and boost Yang. Snakes were lustful by nature, so it also carried a mild aphrodisiac effect.
At that thought, Xu Yuan suddenly remembered that this stuff was also one of the ingredients for Joyous Union Powder, a treasured drug in the demonic route storyline.
Lowering his gaze to the waterskin in his hand, he instinctively glanced toward the other person deeper in the cave.
After finishing all that just now, Ran Qingmo had quietly gone to the other side of the cave, sat down cross-legged, and closed her eyes to rest. Even from this far away, he could still feel that cold, distant air around her.
Xu Yuan pulled back his gaze and silently set the waterskin down. The Flame Spirit Fluid really was good stuff, no doubt about that. But in their current situation, he had better drink less of it. Otherwise, if that iceberg of a woman chopped him to pieces, he would not even have a place to cry about it.
Thinking all this nonsense over, he patted down his damp embroidered robe and got to his feet, preparing to have the giant python at the cave entrance dry it for him. Wet clothes that could be dried in moments without even needing a fire. In a way, it was a hundred times more convenient than any dryer from his previous life.
The sound of his slow footsteps did not draw Ran Qingmo’s attention. She remained seated in silence, eyes closed, resting.
When Xu Yuan got close and met the Flame Spirit Python’s enormous vertical pupils, he realized that in some respects, his ability to adapt really was impressive. The first time he saw it, he had been scared half to death. Now he could already look it straight in the eye.
As man and snake stared at each other, Xu Yuan raised a hand and pointed at his clothes. The Flame Spirit Python simply lay there, staring at him quietly without moving.
Xu Yuan took a deep breath and pointed toward Ran Qingmo beside him. A trace of eerily human contempt appeared in the python’s eyes. Then, with obvious reluctance, it opened its mouth and extended its tongue.
The moment that tongue came out, a wave of dry, scorching heat rushed straight at him, and the moisture on his robe began evaporating at a speed visible to the naked eye. The heat rolling off the snake’s tongue washed over his body in warm waves. It felt surprisingly comfortable.
For a while, the cave fell completely silent.
And just as the robe on Xu Yuan’s body was about to be fully dried, something changed without warning.
In the giant vertical pupils of the Flame Spirit Python, which had been meek and cowering just moments ago, a flash of crazed killing intent suddenly appeared. The tongue it had stretched out turned into a blur, carrying a blast of searing heat as it smashed straight toward Xu Yuan’s head.
If an attack from something that huge landed cleanly, there was no room for discussion. Xu Yuan’s head would burst open on the spot.
This time, he saw it. But an ordinary human simply could not dodge something that fast.
The stench of death flooded over him like a tide. All he could do was watch that snake tongue come crashing toward his skull like an iron hammer, trailing a violent gust of wind.
At the very edge of life and death, a streak of blue sword light suddenly tore through the air, and the spreading heat was instantly swallowed by an endless surge of icy cold.
Ran Qingmo had already appeared in front of him at a speed the naked eye could not follow.
CRASH! The long, heavy snake tongue was severed in one stroke and dropped onto the freezing ground. Its nerves had not fully died yet, and the severed piece kept twitching and writhing on the floor.
The cave went still for a single heartbeat, then came a shriek.
“SSSRAAAAHHHH!” With a sharp, agonized hiss, the Flame Spirit Python’s massive body began thrashing wildly, shaking the whole cave.
Standing in front of Xu Yuan, Ran Qingmo fixed the giant snake with her clear, tranquil eyes. Calmly, she rested one hand on her sword hilt and gave it a casual swing.
Silently, a slash mark appeared on the inner wall by the cave entrance, cutting all the way through the cave. Through that line, the dark, rain-soaked sky outside could be seen with perfect clarity.
The Flame Spirit Python at the entrance, which had been struggling nonstop just a moment ago, suddenly froze.
Ran Qingmo sheathed her sword and slowly turned to look at Xu Yuan.
“What were you doing?”
As her cool, even voice fell, the python behind her had its head split diagonally into two halves, which slid apart and dropped soundlessly.
Xu Yuan stared at the scene in front of him and said nothing. He bit down hard on his lip. There was no joy at having survived. Instead, a cold chill began creeping up his spine.
A demonic beast like the Flame Spirit Python was no fool. By nature, it was lustful and cowardly, the kind that would cling to life for even one extra second if it could. It would never risk death for no reason. And yet just now, right under Ran Qingmo’s nose, that python had still tried to kill him even if it meant dying for it.
Xu Yuan’s fist tightened little by little. That could only mean one thing. There was something it feared from the bottom of its soul, something terrifying enough that it had no choice but to do it.
Looking at the python’s enormous corpse, Xu Yuan suddenly felt a wave of delayed fear. If Ran Qingmo had gone out to gather firewood just now and he had carelessly stepped into the python’s range, then by the time she returned, he might already have been a corpse.
In Azure Point’s story, the Third Young Master died nine different times on the road after being kidnapped by Ran Qingmo, each story branch giving him a different death.
Freezing to death because of Ran Qingmo’s lack of common sense and general carelessness was only one of them. Drowning while drinking from a stream less than half a meter deep, falling off a cliff, getting his head smashed open by a wooden stick...
Players had always joked about all the absurd ways the Third Young Master died across the different routes, but right now Xu Yuan could not laugh at any of it.
Now that he thought about it carefully, those ridiculous deaths were no different from being shot in the back in his previous life and having it passed off as suicide. They were not accidents. Someone wanted him dead in the Myriad Ascents Mountain Range.
Outside, the rain still fell. The sky remained dark and oppressive.
Xu Yuan let out a long breath, lifted his eyes to the woman before him, and inhaled deeply. “Miss Ran, we need to talk.”