Symptom

A few seconds later, Ran Qingmo descended from the sky, carrying a massive white tiger, and slammed it heavily onto the ground.

The White Tiger's two-zhang-long body looked like nothing more than an oversized kitten in Ran Qingmo's grip, pinned to the ground by the scruff of its neck and unable to move.

Ran Qingmo released her hand, pointed at the White Tiger sprawled on the ground, and walked toward Xu Yuan, asking softly:

"Is it... acceptable?"

Xu Yuan did not speak.

He saw that as soon as Ran Qingmo let go, the great tiger stealthily raised its head, its vertical pupils staring gloomily and fixedly at her back.

The next moment, The great White Tiger attempted to use its own life to demonstrate to Ran Qingmo the meaning of "give me liberty, or give me death."

The giant white beast lunged with a sudden burst of strength toward the woman's slender figure, only to be struck squarely on the skull by Ran Qingmo's backhanded sword scabbard.

In that instant, Xu Yuan vaguely caught sight of the White Tiger flying through the air, its eyes dazed as if its soul were about to ascend to the heavens.

"Boom!"

The White Tiger's massive body turned into a blur as it flew backward, crashing heavily into the roots of a hundred-meter-tall giant tree dozens of meters away.

Ran Qingmo paused in her steps toward Xu Yuan, glanced back at the tiger, and murmured with a hint of disappointment:

"It seems it is not yet acceptable."

She whispered a "wait a moment" to Xu Yuan and walked toward the rising dust, sword in hand.

After a moment of silence, a white blur suddenly shot out from the swirling dust, but instead of lunging at Ran Qingmo, it scrambled away, desperate to flee into the depths of the forest.

The human woman was too terrifying; it had to escape.

Ran Qingmo stepped down, and her figure vanished from where she stood.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud pierced the silent forest, startling a flock of birds into flight.

Ran Qingmo landed steadily, looked at the great tiger with its head buried in the dirt, motionless, and silently reached out to grab the fur on its head, dragging it back toward Xu Yuan at a leisurely pace.

Xu Yuan watched this scene, the corner of his eye twitching.

Coming to a stop, Ran Qingmo nodded at Xu Yuan:

"It should be acceptable now. Go up and try it."

Xu Yuan opened his mouth, glancing at the great White Tiger lying motionless on the ground.

The White Tiger's eyes were half-closed—it was clearly playing dead—and it glared at Xu Yuan with a hint of warning in its gaze.

Demonic beasts all possess intelligence, whether high or low; by now, the great White Tiger understood that this terrifying human woman intended to turn it into a mount for the human man before it.

Xu Yuan was silent for a moment, but out of trust in Ran Qingmo's strength, he walked step by step toward the tiger sprawled on the ground.

As soon as he approached, The White Tiger opened its half-closed eyes to stare at Xu Yuan, raised its head slightly, and let out a warning growl from its throat:

"Roar."

A scholar may be killed, but not humiliated.

"Bang!"

The woman standing nearby heard the sound and struck it directly with her sword scabbard.

"Awoo." The White Tiger submissively lowered its head.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan grabbed the White Tiger's fur and climbed onto its back.

The White Tiger's fur was smooth and soft; it felt very comfortable to the touch, reminiscent of petting a cat in his past life.

Xu Yuan tried to stroke the White Tiger's head, but ended up touching several swollen bumps.

"Roar," the White Tiger growled, baring its teeth.

"Bang!" Another bump appeared.

"Woo," the White Tiger obediently laid its head down.

Ran Qingmo slowly retracted her scabbard and said softly:

"Let's go."

As she spoke, she cast a sidelong glance at the White Tiger.

Under that single look from Ran Qingmo, Xu Yuan felt the great White Tiger beneath him tremble. It did not rush to stand up, but instead used its head to nuzzle the hem of Ran Qingmo's black robes.

Xu Yuan felt like laughing at the sight. Just as his lips began to curl upward, a sensation of chest congestion mixed with a faint itch suddenly spread through his heart.

"."

His smile vanished, and Xu Yuan frowned.

Over the past two days, he had experienced this itching sensation several times already.

It was likely the addictive nature of the "drugs" the original body had been taking; as long as he could hold out for half a quarter of an hour, the sensation would naturally fade away.

The thought had barely flashed through his mind, and Xu Yuan was preparing to speak up to delay their departure, but before the words could leave his lips, the itching sensation inside his chest suddenly spread wildly as if it were a malignancy, transforming within seconds into a maddening "craving."

An intense feeling of suffocation instantly caused Xu Yuan's vision to go black.

Xu Yuan instinctively gripped the soft fur of the White Tiger beneath him to steady himself, but waves of dizziness surged into his mind. His originally straight back hunched over bit by bit, his hand, which had been gripping the fur tightly, slowly loosened powerlessly, and his body uncontrollably tipped over to the side.

Ran Qingmo noticed Xu Yuan's abnormality immediately. She flashed over to support the falling Xu Yuan, her dark brows slightly knitted:

"What is wrong with you?"

Xu Yuan's vision was blacking out. He opened his mouth to speak, but a sharp, metallic, sweet sensation suddenly surged up from his throat.

"Ugh."

A large mouthful of blood splattered onto the brown ground. The agonizing sensation caused Xu Yuan to instinctively push away Ran Qingmo, who was supporting him, and drop to his knees.

His consciousness blurred. The pain and the suffocating craving forced Xu Yuan to dig his fingers deep into the soil.

This body had a problem.

This kind of pain, which seemed to originate from the depths of his soul, could not possibly be the result of mere drug abuse.

Xu Yuan's mind raced, recalling information related to the original body's father, Xu Changtian, but even after turning it over and over in his thoughts, he still had no clue.

The official guide, the game's plot, and the related novels contained no record of the original body having such symptoms, let alone any explanation for the cause.

Was it... the world's automatic completion?

A thought flashed through Xu Yuan's mind.

Even though Cangyuan had millions of words of text, it was still far too little for an entire world. The blank spaces not described by those words would naturally be filled in and perfected automatically.

But why would the world's completion cause this original body to have such symptoms?!

Xu Yuan tried to find clues in his mind to analyze, but his consciousness had already begun to dim, and the heaviness of his eyelids forced him to close his eyes in pain.

He did not know how much time had passed. When he woke up again, the stars had shifted, and the morning sun was gone.

Through the gaps in his fingers, Xu Yuan could vaguely see a bright moon and a sky full of stars beyond the tree canopy. He stared blankly at the night sky for a long time as the memories from before he lost consciousness surged back like a tide.

His brows furrowed slightly. Xu Yuan immediately sat up and touched his chest with lingering fear, but the source of the pain that had previously occupied his chest had already vanished.

"Awake?"

The woman's cool, faint voice drew Xu Yuan's attention. Turning his gaze, Xu Yuan immediately saw the woman in black sitting by the tree, eyes closed and resting in her familiar posture.

Xu Yuan looked around.

The surrounding environment had undergone a heaven-shaking change since he lost consciousness. The towering trees, reminiscent of the Pandora forest in the world of Avatar, had disappeared, replaced by a stretch of barren, snow-capped mountains.

It seemed that while he was unconscious, Ran Qingmo had carried him a great distance away.

Xu Yuan rubbed his brow and asked softly, "How long was I unconscious?"

"Four days," Ran Qingmo said.

Xu Yuan was somewhat surprised: "I was unconscious for that long?"

After a pause, Xu Yuan suppressed his surprise. Recalling the symptoms from before he lost consciousness, his eyes carried a hint of gloom.

Now that he was clear-headed, recalling that terrifying pain and suffocating sensation that seemed to stem from his very bone marrow, Xu Yuan was even more certain that drug abuse was unlikely to cause such a condition.

Given the personality of the original body's father, no one would dare give the original body such lethal drugs; their entire clan would be wiped out.

Could it be his constitution?

As a xianxia game with a national style, Cangyuan featured certain constitutions that were natural winners in life—Sword Embryos, Spirit Bodies, Dao Souls, Divine Bones, and the like—but after thinking it over, none of them matched his current situation.

Xu Yuan frowned, deep in thought.

While he was pondering, the woman's clear, tranquil eyes beside him slowly opened, and her cool voice drifted quietly to his side:

"Has your Alienation Syndrome ended?"