Attack

Looking at the flickering campfire, Xu Yuan let out a soft sigh, followed by a faint chuckle.

No matter how complex the plot of Cangyuan had been, it was ultimately just a game; it was impossible for it to display every facet of a complete world.

In this world possessing the extraordinary, many of his past common-sense notions would only become the butt of others' jokes.

Here, falling ill didn't necessarily require medicine, and suffering from hypothermia in the wild didn't necessarily require a campfire for warmth.

Xu Yuan considered himself a person with strong adaptability, but faced with such a fundamental shift in world rules, habits cultivated over twenty-plus years still influenced his thought patterns for the time being.

As his thoughts wandered, Xu Yuan glanced at the giant python at the cave entrance.

Ever since he woke up, this giant python had been lying there staring at him, as if it recognized his face.

Without dwelling on it—though the transition from 2.5D pixel art to a first-person realistic perspective had changed the creature significantly—Xu Yuan still roughly guessed what species the giant python before him was.

Flame Spirit Python.

A relatively scarce elite fire-attribute material monster, possessing a certain level of intelligence, which could be tamed as a pet and later cultivated into a Flame Spirit Flood Dragon.

Back in the game, taming this kind of giant python was simple: just beat it into submission. It was a demonic beast that was extremely lecherous and cowardly.

In the game, Xu Yuan had looked down on such trashy creatures as pets, but the Flame Spirit Fluid they produced was good stuff; even in the late game, it was useful as an auxiliary ingredient for refining certain pills.

He couldn't refine pills at the moment, but Flame Spirit Fluid was a heaven-sent treasure that could be used directly.

Recalling the description of Flame Spirit Fluid in the guidebook, Xu Yuan's eyes flickered slightly.

Cleansing the marrow and cutting the meridians, purging cold-based illnesses, nourishing yin and strengthening yang. Snakes are inherently lecherous, and it carries a slight aphrodisiac effect.

Thinking of this, Xu Yuan suddenly remembered that this stuff was also one of the ingredients for the Acacia Powder, a supreme treasure in the evil world-line.

Lowering his gaze to the waterskin in his hand, he subconsciously glanced toward the other person in the cave.

After finishing what she was doing earlier, Ran Qingmo had silently sat cross-legged on the other side of the cave and closed her eyes to rest; her cold aura could be felt from far away.

Xu Yuan withdrew his gaze and silently put the waterskin down.

Flame Spirit Fluid was indeed good stuff, but in his current situation, he had to drink it sparingly, otherwise, if that big block of ice decided to hack him to pieces, he wouldn't even have a place to cry.

Thinking about these messy matters, Xu Yuan patted his damp, embroidered silk robe and stood up, preparing to let the giant python at the entrance dry it for him.

Being able to dry his clothes quickly without a fire was, in a sense, a hundred times more convenient than the dryers of his past life.

The sound of Xu Yuan's slow footsteps did not attract Ran Qingmo's attention; she remained sitting quietly, eyes closed in meditation.

Approaching the entrance and meeting the giant python's massive vertical pupils, Xu Yuan discovered that his adaptability in certain areas was truly quite strong.

He had been terrified when he first saw it, but now he could meet its gaze calmly.

As man and snake stared at each other, Xu Yuan raised a finger and pointed at his clothes.

The Flame Spirit Python just lay there staring at him quietly, not moving.

Xu Yuan took a deep breath and pointed at Ran Qingmo nearby.

A hint of human-like disdain flashed through the Flame Spirit Python's vertical pupils, and then, very "sensibly," it opened its mouth and extended its forked tongue.

Once the tongue emerged, a dry, scorching sensation immediately rushed toward him, and the moisture on his silk robe evaporated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The heatwave brought by the snake's tongue felt warm and comfortable against his body.

For a moment, the cave was completely silent.

But just as Xu Yuan's silk robe was about to be completely dried, A sudden change occurred!

A flash of insane killing intent suddenly surged in the massive vertical pupils of the previously docile and cowardly Flame Spirit Python, and the extended tongue suddenly transformed into an afterimage, mixed with a rushing heatwave, striking toward Xu Yuan's head!!

If an attack from such a behemoth landed, there would be no room for negotiation; Xu Yuan's head would simply explode.

This time, Xu Yuan saw it, but a human body simply couldn't dodge an attack of that speed.

The scent of death enveloped him like a tidal wave; he could only watch as the snake's tongue, carrying a fierce wind like an iron hammer, smashed toward his head.

At the moment of life and death, A blue sword light abruptly tore through space, and the spreading heatwave was instantly swallowed by a continuous, biting cold!

And that black-clad silhouette had already blocked his front at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

"Clack—"

With a crisp sound, the thin, thick snake tongue was severed and fell onto the cold ground, the residual nerves causing the segment to twitch incessantly.

The cave was silent for an instant.

"Hiss-ah!!!!"

With a sharp, painful shriek, the Flame Spirit Python's massive body began to struggle violently, causing the cave itself to tremble.

Ran Qingmo, standing in front of Xu Yuan, stared at the giant python with clear, tranquil eyes, gently pressed her hand to the sword hilt, and swung her blade casually.

In silence, a slash mark that pierced through the entire cave appeared on the inner wall of the entrance; through this mark, the gloomy, rainy weather outside was clearly visible.

And the Flame Spirit Python, which had been struggling incessantly at the entrance, suddenly froze.

Ran Qingmo sheathed her sword and slowly turned to look at Xu Yuan:

"What are you doing?"

Following the woman's cool, clear voice, the head of the Flame Spirit Python behind her was sliced diagonally into two, sliding away in silence.

"."

Xu Yuan watched this scene before him without replying, biting his lip hard.

Instead of feeling relieved at being saved, a chilling sensation crept up his spine, gradually taking root in his heart.

The Flame Spirit Python was a beast of no low intelligence; it was lecherous by nature and cowardly, and would never risk a desperate counterattack if it could survive even a moment longer.

Yet, this Flame Spirit Python had actually tried to kill him at the risk of its life, right under Ran Qingmo's nose.

Xu Yuan clenched his fists, bit by bit.

There could only be something it feared from the depths of its soul that compelled it to do so.

Looking at the massive corpse of the Flame Spirit Python, Xu Yuan suddenly felt a lingering fear.

If he had rashly entered the attack range of this Flame Spirit Python while Ran Qingmo was out gathering firewood earlier, he might have already become a corpse by the time she returned.

In the plot of Cangyuan, the Third Young Master of the Xu Family had a total of nine timelines where he died on the road while being kidnapped by Ran Qingmo, each with a different cause of death.

Due to Ran Qingmo's lack of common sense and negligence, dying of hypothermia was merely one of them.

Drowning while drinking water in a stream less than half a meter deep, falling off a cliff, being struck to death by a wooden club—

The various unlucky ways the Third Young Master died across different timelines were often mocked by players, but at this moment, Xu Yuan could not laugh.

Thinking about it carefully now, these absurd deaths were no different from a "suicide by shooting oneself in the back" in his past life.

It was not an accident.

Someone wanted him to die here in the Wanxing Mountain Range.

The rain outside continued to fall, and the horizon was dark and gloomy.

Xu Yuan let out a long breath, raised his eyes to look at the woman in black before him, and took a deep breath:

"Ms. Ran, we need to talk."