I'll Trade You

In *Cangyuan*, if a player wanted to obtain a Sumeru ring, aside from going through the immense effort of gathering rare materials to have someone craft one, Xu Yuan knew of another place where one could be acquired. The method was quite simple. During early-game questing, one would pass through a map called Mount Tianyuan. All a player needed to do was head into the deepest part of that map, where they would encounter an old man with white hair and three blood-red question marks floating over his head in a bamboo grove. He would offer quests to the player, but anyone who wanted the Sumeru ring couldn't speak with him—they had to pull out their weapons and jump him the moment they met. Fortune favored the bold, after all. As long as the old man was killed, he was guaranteed to drop a Sumeru ring, and one packed full of natural treasures to boot. "..." As past memories flickered through his mind, Xu Yuan smiled faintly and shook his head, shifting his gaze toward the woman in black across from him. Although her master possessed a Sumeru ring, Ran Qingmo had clearly never handled one before. Her beautiful eyes stared wide at the ring as she fiddled with it for a long while before barely managing to extract a few items from within. Three bottles of pills, two archaic books, and a red brocade robe. Aside from those, there were a dozen or so empty jade bottles and jade boxes. Having retrieved these, Ran Qingmo looked up at Xu Yuan, her eyes blinking. "That's all." "I know." Xu Yuan gave a slight nod, sweeping his gaze across the books, bottles, and jars resting flat on the ground. Compared to the game, the storage ring held a few extra empty jade bottles and boxes, but everything else matched without discrepancy. One cultivation method, one secret art, a Blood Jade Glazed Robe, and three bottles of pills with different effects. The Nine-Returning Pill, a miracle medicine for healing. The Blood Spirit Body-Melding Pill, used to calm the soul and fuse the flesh. The Doomfall Pill, an indispensable requirement for cultivating the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art. In the outside world, any single one of these would be a first-rate treasure. Xu Yuan's gaze ultimately settled on the three pill bottles. Reality was not a game; items did not come with floating labels. Although Xu Yuan knew what the three bottles contained, he had no way of telling them apart. Still, it didn't matter. Right now, he had an "old master" beside him to act as his guide. With that thought, Xu Yuan looked at the woman beside him. "Mr. Ran, my memories regarding these pills are somewhat lacking. Would you mind helping me identify them?" "..." Hearing this, Ran Qingmo glanced at Xu Yuan, her expression carrying a hint of oddity and suspicion. She found his selective amnesia strange, yet she couldn't put her finger on what was off about it. Pondering for a moment without arriving at an answer, Ran Qingmo nodded in agreement. "Mhm... this bottle is the Nine-Returning Pill. This bottle is the Blood Spirit Body-Melding Pill. And this bottle... this bottle..." When she reached the last bottle of pills, Ran Qingmo's delicate brows furrowed slightly. She stared unblinkingly at the small bottle for quite some time, but in the end, she still couldn't make sense of it. "This bottle... I don't know." "It doesn't matter if you don't," Xu Yuan replied softly. It was only natural that Ran Qingmo wouldn't recognize the Doomfall Pill. The Doomfall Pill had been concocted specifically to harmonize with the cultivation of the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art, while the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art itself had lain in this cave estate ever since its creation. One could say that, aside from Xu Yuan who had once been a player, no one else in this world even knew of this art's existence. Stepping forward, Xu Yuan picked up two of the bottles. He glanced at the remaining bottle, paused, and said softly to Ran Qingmo: "Mhm... you keep this Nine-Returning Pill to heal your injuries." "..." Ran Qingmo immediately looked up, her quiet, dark eyes flickering slightly. She knew the value of the Nine-Returning Pill. Gently pursing her red lips, Ran Qingmo looked at Xu Yuan and suddenly asked, "Um, could you give me a jade box?" "A jade box?" Xu Yuan glanced at the scattered jade bottles and boxes, smiling casually. "Just take one." "Oh." Ran Qingmo nodded. Taking a jade box in hand, she opened it, then reached one slender, pale hand into her robes right in front of Xu Yuan, rummaging around. "..." Gathering his words anew, Xu Yuan asked softly, "What are you doing?" Ran Qingmo said nothing. Silently, she withdrew the Snake Heart Lotus from her robes and placed it into the jade box. Xu Yuan was somewhat surprised at the sight. He remembered placing that thing into his own robes before jumping off the cliff. Most likely, while he was unconscious, this big block of ice had quietly retrieved her spoils. He found it rather amusing. Closing the lid, Ran Qingmo straightened her collar, stood up, and handed the jade box to Xu Yuan, murmuring softly: "I... I'll trade you this for it." "..." Looking into her earnest eyes, Xu Yuan went silent for a moment. Then, with an amused smile, he didn't refuse. "Alright, I'll accept. Put it in the Sumeru ring for me." "Oh." Ran Qingmo nodded, and with a single thought, the jade box in her hands vanished. With that, silence fell over them, neither having anything left to say. Ran Qingmo didn't feel awkward at all. Glancing at Xu Yuan, she took the Nine-Returning Pill she had traded for and went off on her own to a corner of the cave estate to tend to her injuries. Xu Yuan, on the other hand, leisurely gathered the Blood Jade Glazed Robe and the two ancient tomes from the ground and sat down on the jade bed in the cavern. This was his cave estate. He slept on the bed, and Ran Qingmo slept on the ground—perfectly reasonable.