By the time Xu Yuan, Ying'er, and Ran Qingmo—who had caught up with them halfway—returned to the ruins of Xu Manor, Xu Changge had already been waiting inside for quite a while.
Xu Yuan was not surprised by this.
Earlier, when Ying'er had set him down on the rooftop above the bustling streets, within a few breaths he had noticed his eldest brother already hovering above Xu Manor.
At that time, however, the other man had only cast a glance his way from afar before descending straight into the manor.
At this moment, Xu Changge sat quietly upon a large stone, his eyes cast downward as he idly toyed with a quaint, ancient-looking ring. His dust-free cyan robes fluttered gently in the wind.
Drawing near, Xu Yuan had his attention caught by a blood-stained cloth bundle placed beside Xu Changge.
He remembered his elder brother seemed to possess a Sumeru ring. Why hadn't he put it inside?
Hesitating slightly, he extended his intent-soul to see what was wrapped inside the cloth bundle.
Yet what he saw inside made his breath hitch slightly.
It was the head of a woman, her eyes closed, looking as though she had died peacefully.
As his intent-soul swept over it,
then—
the woman's eyes snapped open.
"..." Xu Yuan.
Fuck—literally just grass, right?
The head of an Origin Realm cultivator.
No wonder he hadn't put it in a Sumeru ring.
While he was still dazed, Xu Yuan suddenly saw Xu Changge toss the ring he had been holding over to him.
Catching it in hand, Xu Yuan lowered his gaze to inspect it, a look of surprise surfacing in his eyes.
It was a Sumeru ring. It was empty, but its internal capacity was more than twice that of his original one.
Still, didn't his brother know he already had one? What was the point of giving him another?
Xu Yuan parted his lips to ask, but Xu Changge gave him no opportunity to speak. His calm gaze drifted to Ran Qingmo behind him.
"..."
Seeing this, Ran Qingmo instinctively tightened her grip on her hilt and took a wary half-step back.
This Xu Changge was dangerous.
Xu Changge looked into Ran Qingmo's eyes and said in a gentle tone, "Mr. Ran, our last departure was quite rushed. I must thank you for looking after Changtian back in the Wanxing Mountain Range."
"..."
Hearing this, Ran Qingmo silently drew her hilt upward by a fraction of an inch, her cultivation technique quietly circulating.
Xu Changge raised an eyebrow. He lowered his eyes, staring at her sword hilt for a couple of seconds, a faint trace of regret flickering across his gaze.
If this woman before him had been born ten years earlier, there might truly have been someone in his generation capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with him.
What a pity.
"Mr. Ran, I have no intention of fighting you. Since Changtian doesn't intend to pursue that matter, naturally I, as his elder brother, will not either."
Saying this amidst the dead silence, Xu Changge slowly stood up, walked over to Ran Qingmo, gathered his sleeves, and solemnly bowed to the woman before him.
"I, Xu Changge, thank Mr. Ran for lending a hand."
Straightening from his bow, Xu Changge turned to look at Xu Yuan beside him, then shifted his gaze to the ice sculptures behind Ran Qingmo.
"..." Xu Yuan.
"..." Xu Changge repeated the motion.
Xu Yuan cleared his throat softly. "Ran Qingmo, would you mind handing over that soul body and Qin Mo's corpse to us?"
Ran Qingmo blinked her eyes, then nodded. "Okay."
With that—
*Thud!*
The two conjoined ice sculptures were dumped onto the ground by her.
Xu Yuan offered a faint smile at the sight, only to find his elder brother still staring at him with an impassive expression.
"..." Xu Yuan.
Xu Yuan suddenly seemed to understand why his brother had tossed him that Sumeru ring.
Although Zhou Chen and the other two had fought with all their might for so long, their efforts had amounted to little more than stalling and attrition.
The Saint's remnant soul inside the soul ring had essentially been frozen by Ran Qingmo alone.
This was her spoils of war.
With Xu Changge's strength, he could have simply demanded that Ran Qingmo hand it over, but because of Xu Yuan, Xu Changge, as the elder brother, couldn't very well pocket someone else's spoils outright.
After a moment's hesitation, Xu Yuan took off the Sumeru ring from his index finger. After emptying its contents, he put on the larger one and held the original out to Ran Qingmo.
"Ran Qingmo, I'll trade you this for it."
"..."
Ran Qingmo's serene eyes flickered slightly.
She stared at the ring between Xu Yuan's fingers, neither speaking nor reaching out to take it.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan pondered briefly and chuckled softly. "Take it. The favor from earlier was for helping me kill them, and this Sumeru ring is in exchange for that remnant soul's soul ring."
Ran Qingmo pursed her lips and gazed at Xu Yuan for two seconds. Her quiet eyes revealed nothing of her thoughts, but this time, she accepted it.
"Mm. Okay."
Gently taking it, she slipped Xu Yuan's Sumeru ring onto her right index finger.
Pausing for a moment, she unslung the bulging knapsack from her back and stored it inside.
Watching the two finish this whole exchange, Xu Changge let out what seemed to be a helpless sigh. Suddenly, he waved his hand casually.
*Crack, crack—*
The ice sculpture, frozen like myriad-year profound ice, emitted a flurry of fine cracking sounds as fractures spread at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan immediately looked back.
Before his very eyes, the block of ice sealing the plot's protagonist shattered directly into powder, dispersing into the air between heaven and earth.
At this sight, Xu Yuan felt a sense of unreality.
Even though Ran Qingmo had told him herself, as long as the man's head had not severed and fallen, that faint unease could never truly be dispelled.
After all, while the two snake demons who died earlier could be female leads or mere passersby in Cangyuan, Qin Mo was truly the protagonist across every single worldline.
Now reduced to dust, there was absolutely no chance of survival left.
Qin Mo was truly dead.
As his thoughts drifted, Xu Yuan shook his head gently.
As expected, there was no such thing as an invincible plot protagonist.
Judging by his experiences, Qin Mo's fortune and opportunities were indeed of the protagonist mold, but couldn't the same be said for Xu Changge, Ran Qingmo, or even his old man in the Imperial Capital?
The only reason Qin Mo had been so hard to kill was that he possessed traits making him difficult to eliminate.
Whether it was his capability to fight above his cultivation realm, the old master lingering on his person, or the assistance from Qin Weijiu, all of them contributed to how hard he was to kill.
Reining in his thoughts, Xu Yuan focused his gaze on the Saint's remnant soul.
Having broken free from the ice, the Saint did not go mad again. Glancing around and broadly grasping his predicament, he obediently slipped back into the soul ring.
Xu Changge bent down, picked up the soul ring, and turned to ask, "Changtian, you did well this time. Is there anything you want?"
Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow at that and replied without a second thought, "Pills."
Xu Changge gave a light chuckle and waved his hand. Over twenty bottles of assorted pills brought from the Imperial Capital flew out from his Sumeru ring straight to Xu Yuan.
"Father asked me to bring these to you."
Pausing, Xu Changge smiled softly. "Anything else?"
Hesitating slightly, Xu Yuan glanced at the soul ring in Xu Changge's hand.
The corner of Xu Changge's eye twitched, and he pretended not to notice.
Yet after several breaths of silence, he still explained, "Father has a use for this thing. Pick something else."
Xu Yuan had only been testing the waters anyway. Glancing at Ran Qingmo beside him, he turned and asked softly, "Xu Changge, I'd like to take this opportunity to travel abroad. Would that be all right?"
Chapter 83