The Wager

Ran Qingmo had arrived.

Half of the thin veil covering her face had been torn away, revealing a glimpse of her flawless, breathtaking beauty beneath, swaying in the mountain breeze.

One glance, and it felt as though ten thousand years had passed.

Coming to his senses, Xu Yuan slowly stood up, his brows knitting together bit by bit.

Aside from the faint, detached look in her eyes that remained just as it had been when they first met, her physical state was visibly wretched.

Her sword-wielding right arm hung limply at her side, and a large portion of her black robes had been shredded. The clothing on her left shoulder was almost entirely destroyed, exposing skin as delicate as porcelain, from which several trickles of blood seeped out like crimson snakes, crawling down to her fingertips and dripping continuously.

He swept his gaze toward the massive snake head, three or four stories high, lying at Ran Qingmo's feet.

At the crown of the giant head grew seven lotus flowers; six of them were already in full bloom, looking startlingly lifelike.

After a moment of contemplation, Xu Yuan's pupils constricted sharply.

He recognized this giant python.

The Seven-Life Python.

A Seven-Life Python could shed its skin and cultivate anew seven times; upon the seventh, it could truly take on human form, its cultivation speed becoming entirely indistinguishable from that of a human.

It was a natural king among snake demons. If it were her, it was easy to explain why that Flame Spirit Python had been so desperate to kill him.

But, Why was she dead?

How could she die here?

Xu Yuan stared at the giant, dead-eyed snake pupils of the Seven-Life Python, a sense of absurdity and defiance spreading slowly through his heart.

This giant python was supposed to be one of the heroines in the future!

After she shed her skin for the seventh time and took human form, she would head to the Great Yan Dynasty, become a legal, big-breasted loli, and under the alias "Ji Qingyue," meet the protagonist of the story in Jingjiang City.

And yet, at this point in time, she had been slaughtered by Ran Qingmo just like that?

The gears of the plot he once knew so well had already begun to shift quietly because of his arrival.

While Xu Yuan was lost in thought, The black-clad woman atop the snake head moved her sword-wielding hand, waving it casually.

A flash of blood-red light streaked by, and Xu Yuan snapped back to reality to look.

A deep, bloody gash instantly appeared on the crown of the snake head where the seven lotuses grew, and then a small, blood-colored lotus was plucked from the wound and held aloft in the air.

The moment this object appeared, a pungent, overwhelming scent of blood swept across the entire mountain peak.

Snake Heart Lotus.

To be precise, a Six-Turn Snake Heart Lotus—worth a king's ransom and one of the top-tier medicinal materials in Cangyuan, capable of refining the Golden Scale Pill or the Blood Spirit Reincarnation Pill.

The Golden Scale Pill could be used to break through cultivation bottlenecks.

The Blood Spirit Reincarnation Pill was used for soothing the soul and merging the body, which was exactly what Xu Yuan needed most right now: to completely fuse his body and soul into one without leaving any flaws.

But at this moment, Xu Yuan had no heart to think about such things.

While playing Cangyuan, Xu Yuan had been quite fond of Ji Qingyue, that eccentric little loli, but that had only been the affection one holds for a "waifu" on a screen.

Compared to the death of a fictional character, he was now more concerned about whether the chain reaction caused by her death would affect the trajectory of the entire world-line plot.

The Wanxing Mountain Range, stretching for tens of thousands of miles, was the southwestern border of the Great Yan Dynasty. Further west lay a forbidden zone called the Ancient Abyss, where dozens of large and small exotic demon tribes had united to form a loose demon kingdom.

That was where Ji Qingyue came from.

Now that a noble princess of the snake clan had been decapitated by Ran Qingmo's sword, Xu Yuan had no idea if the Demon Emperor of the demon kingdom would, under pressure from the snake demon clan, take actions that contradicted the original plot.

However, Xu Yuan soon realized there was no need for him to think so much.

Because he might not even live that long.

After carving out the Snake Heart Lotus from Ji Qingyue, the black-clad woman on the snake head went limp, rolling down the curved surface of the massive python head toward the ground.

The moment Xu Yuan regained his focus, he stepped forward quickly to catch her falling, delicate body, calling out softly with a frown:

"Master Ran? Master Ran?"

He shook her shoulder gently, trying to rouse her, but her clear, beautiful eyes remained tightly shut.

After her fierce battle with Ji Qingyue, this woman, dressed in black as ink, had reached the point of total exhaustion.

Gradually, Xu Yuan noticed that the woman's weak breathing in his arms was becoming rapid. The fair skin exposed beneath her tattered veil turned a deep crimson, her chest beneath the black robes heaved quickly, and her body temperature was rising at a visible rate.

Watching the changes in Ran Qingmo's body, many thoughts flashed through Xu Yuan's mind, but in the end, he let out a long sigh.

He remembered that the Seven-Life Python didn't seem to have the kind of aphrodisiac poison that people loved to see in stories.

Therefore, Ran Qingmo's state must be due to something else.

It could be that she was circulating her Qi to heal her wounds, or perhaps it was a symptom of some other toxin taking effect.

But regardless of which it was, the current Xu Yuan could only watch helplessly.

The rudimentary first-aid knowledge he had learned in his past life was clearly incapable of treating the superhumans of this world.

The feeling of silently waiting for others to decide his fate was not pleasant.

If Ran Qingmo died, or if the subordinates of Ji Qingyue or his original body's father arrived while Ran Qingmo was still circulating her energy to heal, he would be unable to escape death.

But for now, all he could do was wait.

Xu Yuan carried her body to a large tree atop the mountain peak and propped her up against it, while he sat quietly by her side to keep watch.

Time ticked away, second by second.

The rising sun had long since climbed high into the sky, yet the flushed, feverish state of Ran Qingmo's complexion had not faded.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, A bleak, cold wind blew by, and Ran Qingmo's light, calm voice drifted over from his side:

"The cave dwelling you spoke of, where is it?"

She had awakened, though her voice could not hide her weakness.

Hearing the sound, Xu Yuan immediately turned his head to check her condition and replied:

"It is below Hanging Heaven Cliff."

He paused, then asked: "How is your condition?"

"..."

Hearing this answer, Ran Qingmo did not reply; she simply closed her eyes again slowly.

After a long while, With her eyes still closed, she whispered:

"The men of Xu Changtian's father are almost here."

"..."

Hearing this, Xu Yuan's pupils suddenly constricted.

Her voice was very soft, yet it resonated in Xu Yuan's mind like a bomb.

"What did you say?"

Ran Qingmo repeated it with her eyes closed, her voice devoid of any emotion:

"The men of Xu Changtian's father are almost here."

His heartbeat accelerated bit by bit as Xu Yuan slowly stood up:

"How much time is left?"

Ran Qingmo replied softly:

"Less than half a quarter of an hour."

Half a quarter of an hour?

Xu Yuan's mind shook. He took a deep breath and asked again:

"How is your body right now?"

Ran Qingmo leaned against the tree roots, opened her eyes, and glanced at Xu Yuan, answering his question with one of her own:

"You seem very uneasy. Why? I will not speak of your affairs."

Xu Yuan scanned the clouds and mist surrounding the mountain peak, forcing his wavering mind to steady, and said in a deep voice:

"Do you not know that soul possession can be detected?"

"..."

Ran Qingmo stared at Xu Yuan, looking completely bewildered.

It appeared she only knew that soul possession caused Alienation Syndrome, but was unaware that there were methods to detect it even after the syndrome had subsided.

Xu Yuan did not explain the mechanics of this world to Ran Qingmo; he quickened his pace of speech and asked again:

"Can your body still fly?"

Ran Qingmo was silent, then shook her head:

"I am heavily injured."

Xu Yuan raised a hand and rubbed his brow forcefully, asking in confusion:

"Then why were you able to sense that people were coming?"

Ran Qingmo replied as if it were obvious:

"Physical injuries do not have much impact on the consciousness."

Xu Yuan did not speak again, his mind racing as he frantically pondered his next move.

What should he do?

Stay here, wait for his original father's subordinates to arrive, and then begin to act?

At this point in time, the subordinates of the original body's father did not know that it was Ran Qingmo who had captured the original body; he could easily pin the blame on Ji Qingyue.

He could claim that Ji Qingyue had kidnapped him and that Ran Qingmo had saved him; in any case, Ji Qingyue was already dead and could not refute it.

But the problem was that in Cangyuan, it was only mentioned in passing that Xu Changtian was a playboy proficient in every vice, with no detailed description of his behavioral habits.

If his inconsistencies were discovered, he would have no choice but to wait for death.

What to do? What to do!

Countless complex thoughts flashed through his mind.

A moment later, Xu Yuan suddenly let out a long, resigned sigh.

He gave up.

Xu Yuan glanced sideways at the woman in black leaning against the tree:

"Can you walk?"

"." Ran Qingmo did not understand Xu Yuan's sudden question.

"Can you walk?" Xu Yuan repeated, his voice flat.

Ran Qingmo was silent for a moment, then shook her head.

Xu Yuan silently bent down, picked up the Snake Heart Lotus from the ground and tucked it into his robes, then slid his hands under Ran Qingmo's knees and back, lifting her into a bridal carry right before her slightly surprised eyes.

Ran Qingmo's body felt boneless and light; even this physically drained young master could lift her with ease.

"."

The air was silent for a moment.

Ran Qingmo did not struggle; forced into his arms, she merely stared at him calmly.

Ran Qingmo stared at Xu Yuan, but Xu Yuan did not look at her.

Holding Ran Qingmo in his arms, Xu Yuan walked toward the edge of Hanging Heaven Cliff and asked softly:

"Master Ran, do you want to die?"

"."

Ran Qingmo did not understand Xu Yuan's question, but she did not want to die, so she shook her head.

Catching this out of the corner of his eye, Xu Yuan smiled lightly:

"That's right, if we stay here and get caught by Xu Changtian's father's men, it's just a matter of dying sooner or later."

As he spoke, Xu Yuan had already reached the edge of Hanging Heaven Cliff with Ran Qingmo in his arms.

The cold wind whipped his robes, and he was only a single step away from the ten-thousand-foot abyss.

Ran Qingmo pondered for a moment, seemingly realizing what Xu Yuan intended to do, her voice tinged with confusion:

"You want to jump down with me?"

"Don't dare?" Xu Yuan laughed.

Ran Qingmo glanced sideways at the abyss, where immortal mists churned, her gaze like she was looking at a fool:

"But, this is Hanging Heaven Cliff."

Xu Yuan met her gaze for a moment and chuckled:

"Dying from the fall is still better than being tortured to death by the people from the Prime Minister's Estate, isn't it?"

Ran Qingmo thought about it seriously and said:

"Oh, then jump."

Xu Yuan was not in a hurry; instead, he looked at Ran Qingmo and said with a smile:

"Master Ran, shall we make a bet?"

Ran Qingmo did not understand why the man before her was being so sentimental; with a clear, indifferent gaze, she nodded:

"Speak."

Xu Yuan said:

"If we survive, you owe me a favor and must do one thing for me."

Ran Qingmo looked at the abyss below again:

"But we won't survive."

"I mean, in the event that we do." Xu Yuan chuckled.

Ran Qingmo was silent for a moment, then slowly spat out:

"Why should I owe you a favor if we happen to survive?"

"." Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan was rendered speechless; the life-or-death moment had already stripped away many of his reservations:

"If we manage to survive, it will surely be because my cave abode saved us. I feel like your life should be worth a favor, don't you think?"

Ran Qingmo pondered for a moment, finding his logic sound, and nodded.

"Fine. If we survive, I owe you a favor."

"Remember those words."

As the words fell, Xu Yuan stepped forward without the slightest hesitation.

The frigid wind atop the mountain peak caught the veil covering the black-clad woman's face, causing it to flutter away.

Everything in the world seemed to fall silent in that instant.

As they streaked through the clouds and mist, his five senses seemed to fade away bit by bit, leaving Xu Yuan with nothing but the sound of the wind rushing past his ears and the gentle, soft warmth of the woman in his arms.

After drifting through the clouds for who knows how long, He lowered his gaze to look at her, eyes already closed as she awaited death.

He suddenly recalled, Ran Qingmo's Fortune stat, it seemed, was ninety-three.