Attack

Watching the lit campfire, Xu Yuan sighed softly, then let out a chuckle. No matter how intricate the plot of Cangyuan had once been, in the end it was merely a game, incapable of showcasing every facet of an entire world. In this world of supernatural powers, much of his former common sense would only make him a laughingstock. Falling ill here did not necessarily require medicine, nor did suffering hypothermia in the wilderness strictly call for a fire to keep warm. Xu Yuan considered himself highly adaptable, but faced with such fundamental shifts in the rules of the world, habits formed over twenty-odd years still influenced his way of thinking for now. Letting his thoughts wander, Xu Yuan glanced at the giant python at the mouth of the cave. Ever since he woke up, the serpent had been crouching there, staring at him as if it recognized his face. Without pondering too deeply—even though the shift from a 2.5D pixel-art style to a realistic first-person perspective made it look drastically different—Xu Yuan could still make a rough guess as to what species the python belonged to. Flame Spirit Python. A relatively rare elite fire-attribute material mob endowed with a degree of intelligence. Players could tame it as a pet and later cultivate it into a Flame Spirit Flood Dragon. Back in the game, taming this giant python was simple enough: just beat it into submission. It was a demon beast notorious for lust and cowardice. Xu Yuan had looked down on using such a trashy creature as a pet in the game, but the Flame Spirit Fluid it produced was indeed good stuff. The pills refined with it as an auxiliary ingredient remained useful even in the very late game. For now, he had no way of refining pills, but Flame Spirit Fluid happened to be a natural treasure that could be consumed directly. Recalling what the guidebook said about Flame Spirit Fluid, Xu Yuan's eyes flickered slightly. Cleanses the meridians and purges the marrow, expels cold afflictions, nourishes yin and bolsters yang. Serpents are lascivious by nature, carrying a mild aphrodisiac effect... Thinking of this, Xu Yuan suddenly remembered that this stuff also seemed to be one of the ingredients for Hehuan Powder, a supreme treasure on the unorthodox villain route. Lowering his gaze to the waterskin in his hand, he subconsciously glanced toward the other person in the cave. After finishing everything earlier, Ran Qingmo had simply sat cross-legged on the far side of the cave in silence, closing her eyes to rest. Her chilly aura could be felt even from a distance. Xu Yuan withdrew his gaze and quietly put down the waterskin. Flame Spirit Fluid was certainly good stuff, but given his current circumstances, he had better drink less of it. Otherwise, if that giant block of ice decided to chop him into pieces, he wouldn't even have anywhere to weep. Musing over these stray thoughts, Xu Yuan patted the damp, embroidered silk robe he wore and stood up, intending to have the giant python at the entrance help dry him off. To quickly dry wet clothes without a fire was, in a sense, a hundred times more convenient than the clothes dryers of his previous life. The soft sound of Xu Yuan's footsteps did not draw Ran Qingmo's attention; she remained seated in quiet repose, eyes closed. Drawing close, meeting the giant vertical slits of the Flame Spirit Python's eyes, Xu Yuan discovered that his adaptability in certain areas really was quite formidable. He had been frightened upon first seeing it, yet now he could stare back without flinching. As man and serpent locked eyes, Xu Yuan raised a finger and pointed at his clothes. The Flame Spirit Python merely lay there, staring at him quietly without moving. Xu Yuan took a deep breath and pointed toward Ran Qingmo nearby. A glimmer of human-like disdain flashed through the python's slit pupils, and then, thoroughly yielding to cowardice, it opened its maw and extended its forked tongue. As soon as the tongue emerged, a wave of dry, searing heat washed over him, and the moisture on the silk robe evaporated at a speed visible to the naked eye. The blast of heat carried by the tongue felt delightfully warm against his body, remarkably comfortable. For a time, silence reigned in the cave. Yet just as the silk robe on Xu Yuan was about to be completely dry, a sudden change occurred! In the giant vertical pupils of the Flame Spirit Python, which had seemed so docile and cowed, there suddenly flashed a gleam of mad killing intent. Its flicking tongue abruptly blurred into an afterimage, whipping straight toward Xu Yuan's head with a blast of blistering heat! If a strike from a behemoth like this landed, Xu Yuan's head would burst open without the slightest room for debate. This time, Xu Yuan saw it coming, but a mortal body had no hope of dodging an attack of such speed. The aura of death enveloped him like a surging tide; he could only watch as that tongue hurtled toward his head like a gale-driven sledgehammer. At this life-and-death juncture, a sudden flash of blue sword light slashed through the air, and the sprawling heatwave was instantly swallowed by an unbroken chill! And that slender figure in black had already interposed herself before him with speed imperceptible to the eye. Smack! With a crisp sound, the long, thick tongue was severed, falling onto the cold ground, where residual nerve impulses kept it squirming continuously. The cave went still for an instant. "Hssss-aaagh!" With a sharp hiss of agony, the Flame Spirit Python's massive bulk began to thrash violently, shaking the entire cave until it trembled. Standing before Xu Yuan, Ran Qingmo stared calmly at the giant serpent with quiet, cool eyes. Resting a hand lightly on the hilt of her sword, she drew and slashed in a casual sweep. Silently, a slash mark cutting through the entire cave appeared along the inner wall at the entrance. Through this fissure, the gloomy, rainy weather outside was clearly visible. And the Flame Spirit Python, which had been thrashing continuously at the entrance, froze in an instant. Ran Qingmo sheathed her sword and slowly turned to look at Xu Yuan. "What are you doing?" Accompanied by the woman's faint voice, the head of the Flame Spirit Python behind her was severed diagonally in two, quietly sliding off... "..." Xu Yuan watched the scene before him, offering no reply, biting his lip hard. Rather than any relief at being saved, a chill that made his spine tingle crept up within his heart. Demon beasts like the Flame Spirit Python were by no means unintelligent. By nature lustful and cowardly, so long as it could scrape by for another breath, it would never risk its life to turn on its captors. Yet just moments ago, right under Ran Qingmo's nose, this Flame Spirit Python had actually risked its life to kill him. Xu Yuan slowly clenched his fists. The only explanation was that something it feared from the bottom of its heart compelled it to do so. Looking at the python's colossal carcass, Xu Yuan felt a sudden surge of lingering dread. If he had rashly stepped within the Flame Spirit Python's strike range while Ran Qingmo was out gathering firewood earlier, he might already have been a corpse by the time she returned. In the storyline of Cangyuan, the Xu family's Third Young Master died on the road while being abducted by Ran Qingmo across nine different routes, each death unique. Dying of hypothermia due to Ran Qingmo's lack of common sense and negligence was merely one of them. Drowning while drinking from a stream less than half a meter deep, falling off a cliff, having his head cudgeled in with a wooden stick... Players often joked about the Third Young Master's absurdly unlucky demises across the various timelines, but right now, Xu Yuan could not laugh. Thinking carefully about it now, these bizarre deaths were no different from the "suicides" back in his previous life where someone shot themselves in the back. They were not accidents. Someone wanted him dead in this Wanxing Mountain Range. Outside, the rain fell unabated; the horizon was black and gloomy. Xu Yuan let out a long breath, lifted his eyes to look at the woman in black before him, and took a deep breath. "Mr. Ran, we need to talk."