"......"
The air seemed as if death itself had descended.
Xu Yuan turned his head slightly and looked towards the woman beside him.
This somewhat familiar term, along with Ran Qingmo's gaze that remained tranquil as their first meeting, caused the hairs on his back to stand on end.
He suddenly understood where the bone-deep pain he experienced before losing consciousness had come from.
Rejection Syndrome.
Ridiculous, helplessness, and a hint of sudden realization.
[To reach Primordial realm: Enter through martial prowess, blood rebirth grants undying flesh. Enter through qi, solidify the spirit and soul to step out and seize others' souls.]
It was possible for beings in this world to take over others' bodies but who could have expected that even a transmigration across worlds could result in Rejection Syndrome for him.
Besides the howling cold wind, the vast snowy plain lay in eerie silence.
Xu Yuan was silent for a long time before he spoke softly,
"Rejection Syndrome?"
Ran Qingmo watched Xu Yuan and nodded,
"Yes."
Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes and let out an ambiguous chuckle,
"Mr. Ran, what do you mean by this?"
Ran Qingmo looked directly into Xu Yuan's eyes and said,
"You, are not Xu Changtian."
"....." Xu Yuan.
Her voice remained light, as if she were discussing something utterly mundane.
The speculation in his heart spoken aloud by the other party may have been due to the disarray caused by his prolonged unconsciousness, but Xu Yuan found that he was not panicked by having his identity discovered.
Now, he was confronted with only two paths.
Admit or deny.
If he denied it, what reasoning should he use to fool the other person?
If he admitted it, then what would be the consequences?
After a long silence,
Xu Yuan slowly rose and under Ran Qingmo's gaze, he took the waterskin beside him and took a gulp of the Spiritual Liquid to warm himself. He looked up at the towering peak above and then, by the moonlight, cast a glance towards the endless coast below the mountain.
In the four days of his coma, Ran Qingmo and the large white tiger had already dragged him halfway up Tianmen Mountain.
Having a rough draft in mind, Xu Yuan looked back at Ran Qingmo and said calmly,
"Whether I am Xu Changtian, does it matter to you?"
Without denying it, Xu Yuan calmly acknowledged it.
What Ran Qingmo needed was a "living" Xu Changtian, a Third Young Master who could be used to threaten the prime minister, but the specifics of how he was "living" didn't actually matter.
Moreover, the other party must have considered this, otherwise, they wouldn't have brought an unconscious him and followed the original route to Tianmen Mountain.
Ran Qingmo pondered seriously for a moment, then shook her head:
"It doesn't matter, but why don't you understand cultivation?"
As she spoke, her eyes genuinely flashed with a trace of baffled confusion.
The character change of Xu Changtian before and after his coma had indeed been clarified, but if the man before her obviously experienced a soul transmigration, why was he utterly ignorant about cultivation matters, like an infant?
Xu Yuan, holding the waterskin, sat next to Ran Qingmo, his heartbeat steady. He pointed to his head and said steadily,
"Because I've lost many memories, many things are fragmented."
"Including that cave abode you mentioned?"
"Naturally."
"What about those matters pertaining to Xu Changtian himself?"
"I don't know, perhaps the Cultivation Technique I practiced is special. Among these fragmented memories, there are some of my own, and unexpectedly some remnants of Xu Changtian's as well."
"Then… how did you come to know about Sword Sect?"
"....."
Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan did not continue to answer but merely smiled and shook his head,
"Mr. Ran, on this matter, haven't we agreed not to pry into each other's affairs?"
"......"
Upon hearing this, Ran Qingmo's eyes, visible beneath the veil covering her face, flickered for a moment before she ultimately nodded.
```
Seeing this, Xu Yuan seized the opportunity to lay his cards on the table and continued to say:
"Although you might not listen, I still want to advise you that that person will not swayed by me or, to be precise, Xu Changtian."
As he spoke, he exchanged a glance with Ran Qingmo and Xu Yuan enunciated each word deliberately:
"If you really want to prevent the destruction of the Sword Sect, there are better ways, and I can help you."
The destruction of the Sword Sect was an important plot point in the Cangyuan Chronicles, and by making good use of Ran Qingmo, Xu Yuan could reap many benefits.
However, Ran Qingmo's gaze did not waver in the slightest, watching him quietly.
Xu Yuan saw this and smiled faintly, no longer trying to persuade:
"My offer always stands, if you change your mind, you can find me anytime."
Ran Qingmo's refusal was not beyond Xu Yuan's expectations.
Although he and Ran Qingmo were now on the same side, their identities precluded the possibility of her truly trusting him.
She would accept his advice and go with him to the hidden cave dwelling mostly because his power was too weak to pose any threat to her...
Threat?
Wait a minute.
Xu Yuan's thoughts suddenly stalled.
He realized there was a flaw in his logic.
The premise of going to the cave dwelling was his insignificant strength posed no threat to Ran Qingmo, but the sudden onset of the "expulsion sickness" had invalidated that precondition.
To reach Primordial level, where Qi enters the realm and the spirit solidifies enough to leave the body and seize souls, one could be said to be unrivaled in the world.
If Xu Yuan remembered correctly, at this point in time, Ran Qingmo had not reached that level.
The cave dwelling Xu Yuan had spoken of must have appeared to her as something left in his wake.
In other words, in the eyes of Ran Qingmo, Xu Yuan had transformed from a good-for-nothing scion with no ability to threaten to a mysterious remnant soul capable of threatening her.
Xu Yuan gazed at the woman in black who had resumed meditating with her eyes closed, and numerous questions arose in his mind.
Had she not noticed this point, or had she noticed but did not care?
No, that can't be right; Ran Qingmo couldn't possibly be indifferent.
Confidence is not arrogance.
The formation restrictions in the cave dwelling of a Primordial level expert could indeed pose a threat to Ran Qingmo as she was now.
If that was the case, why did Ran Qingmo still dare to follow him to retrieve the cave dwelling?
With this thought, Xu Yuan gradually began to feel an ominous premonition.
After a moment of silence,
Xu Yuan slowly looked down at the water bladder in his hand, or rather the Spiritual Liquid within the water bladder.
The foundation of their alliance was based on the person behind the Flame Serpent wanting him to die on the road while being taken away by Ran Qingmo.
As the thought arose,
Xu Yuan realized something must have happened during the days he was unconscious.
And that event had forced Ran Qingmo to go to that cave dwelling with him.
The moonlight was like a waterfall, the silence as deep as water.
"Creak creak—"
Amidst the surging thoughts, the sound of footsteps in snow approached from afar, and Xu Yuan immediately turned to look. His heart relaxed slightly when he saw who the newcomer was.
It was the large white tiger.
However, at this moment, the tiger was a whole size larger than when he first saw it four days ago, seemingly having undergone some kind of transformation; it must have consumed a good number of Demon Cores while following Ran Qingmo.
Demon Cores can be very nourishing to Demonic Beasts, but are not directly consumable by humans.
The white tiger ran up, a more than two-meter-long snow wolf held in its jaws.
It ran up to Ran Qingmo, dropped the snow wolf beside her, affectionately rubbed its head against the hem of her black gown, then disdainfully glanced at Xu Yuan. Without eating its prey, it lay down next to Ran Qingmo and started to nap.
All returned to silence,
In the moonlit snowy mountains, the scene with the woman in black as dark as ink and the enormous white tiger was both harmonious and peaceful.
And Xu Yuan's gaze lingered on the back of the large white tiger.
There,
Where he had once sat,
A deep, bone-deep wound caught his eye.
```