Chapter 087 - Ill Trade You

Chapter 087 - I'll Trade You

By the time Xu Yuan, Ying’er, and Ran Qingmo, who had come looking for them halfway, returned to the ruined remains of the Xu residence, Xu Changge had already been waiting inside for quite some time.

Xu Yuan was not surprised. Earlier, after Ying’er had set him down on a rooftop in the city and left for only a few breaths, he had noticed that his eldest brother had somehow appeared in the air above the Xu estate.

At the time, Xu Changge had merely glanced at him from afar, then descended straight into the estate.

Now, Xu Changge sat quietly on a large stone, eyes lowered as he toyed with an ancient-looking ring. His azure robe was spotless, not a speck of dust on it, fluttering lightly in the wind.

As Xu Yuan approached, his attention was immediately drawn to a bloodstained cloth bundle placed beside Xu Changge. He remembered that this eldest brother of his seemed to have a Sumeru Ring. So why had he not put the bundle inside?

After a brief hesitation, Xu Yuan sent out his soul intent to see what was inside. But what he saw in the bundle made his breath catch. It was a woman’s head. Her eyes were closed, and she looked as if she had died peacefully.

His soul intent swept over it. Then, the woman’s eyes suddenly opened.

Xu Yuan went silent. It was the head of a second rank cultivator. No wonder he had not put it in the Sumeru Ring. While he was still frozen in shock, he suddenly saw Xu Changge toss the ring in his hand toward him.

He caught it, lowered his eyes for a look, and a flicker of surprise appeared in them. It was a Sumeru Ring. Empty, but the space inside was more than twice as large as the one he had before. But didn’t his eldest brother know he already had one? What was the point of giving him another?

Xu Yuan opened his mouth to ask, but Xu Changge did not give him the chance. His calm gaze shifted past Xu Yuan and landed on Ran Qingmo behind him.

Seeing this, Ran Qingmo instinctively tightened her grip on her sword hilt and took half a step back, a faint wariness in her posture. This Xu Changge was dangerous.

Xu Changge looked into Ran Qingmo’s eyes and spoke in a gentle, unhurried voice. “Miss Ran, we parted in a hurry last time. Changtian owes you thanks for taking care of him in the Myriad Ascents Mountain Range.”

Hearing this, Ran Qingmo silently pulled her sword hilt a little higher, and her cultivation art began to circulate quietly.

Xu Changge raised an eyebrow, lowered his gaze, and stared at her sword hilt for two seconds. A trace of regret flashed through his eyes. If the woman before him had been born ten years earlier, then perhaps there truly would have been someone of his generation in this world who could stand shoulder to shoulder with him. What a pity.

“Miss Ran, I have no intention of fighting you. Since Changtian does not intend to pursue that matter, then as his older brother, I naturally will not either.”

With that, Xu Changge slowly rose to his feet and walked over to Ran Qingmo. Gathering in his sleeves, he bowed solemnly to the woman before him. “Thank you for lending a hand.”

After the bow, Xu Changge turned and glanced at Xu Yuan, then looked at the ice sculpture behind Ran Qingmo.

Xu Yuan remained silent.

Xu Changge repeated the same gesture as before.

Xu Yuan gave a soft cough. “Ran Qingmo, could you hand that soul body and Qin Mo’s corpse over to us?”

Ran Qingmo blinked, then nodded. “Sure.”

The moment she finished speaking, the two ice sculptures, frozen together into one piece, were tossed onto the ground by her.

Xu Yuan smiled faintly at the sight, only to realize that his eldest brother was still staring at him with that same calm expression. Then he suddenly seemed to understand why his brother had given him this Sumeru Ring.

Although Zhou Chen and the other two had fought with everything they had for a long time, most of what they had done was basically useless stalling and attrition.

The Sage’s remnant soul in the soul ring had, for all intents and purposes, been sealed in ice by Ran Qingmo alone. That made it 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, he could not very well just rob her of her rightful spoils.

After a brief hesitation, Xu Yuan took off the Sumeru Ring from his index finger, emptied it, put on the new one with the larger storage space, and handed the old ring to Ran Qingmo.

“Ran Qingmo, I’ll trade you this for it.”

Ran Qingmo’s clear, quiet eyes flickered slightly. She stared at the ring at Xu Yuan’s fingertip without speaking, and did not take it.

Xu Yuan pondered for a moment, then smiled softly. “Take it. The favor from before was for you helping me kill them. This Sumeru Ring is to trade for that Sage’s remnant soul inside that soul ring.”

Ran Qingmo pressed her lips together and looked at Xu Yuan for two seconds. Her calm, clear eyes gave away nothing of what she was thinking, but this time, she did accept it.

“Mhm. Okay.” She gently took the ring and slipped Xu Yuan’s Sumeru Ring onto the index finger of her right hand.

After a short pause, she also removed the bulging travel bag from her back and put it inside.

Watching the two of them finish their little exchange, Xu Changge seemed to sigh helplessly. Then he casually waved his hand.

Crack... Crack... The ice sculpture, like ten-thousand-year profound ice, let out a series of fine cracking sounds. Fractures began spreading across it at a visible speed.

Xu Yuan immediately turned to look. Before his eyes, the ice sculpture sealing the plot’s protagonist inside shattered outright, turning into dust that scattered between Heaven and Earth.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan felt it was a little unreal. Although Ran Qingmo had told him herself, until the other party’s head had actually hit the ground, that faint unease in his heart simply would not go away.

After all, the two serpent princesses who had died earlier could have been female leads in Azure Point, but they could also have been passersby. Qin Mo, however, was truly the protagonist in every single story branch.

Now that he had turned to dust, there was absolutely no chance he could still be alive. Qin Mo was truly dead.

As his thoughts drifted, Xu Yuan gently shook his head. Sure enough, there was no such thing as a plot protagonist.

Judging from his experiences, Qin Mo’s opportunities and fortuitous encounters did indeed fit the protagonist template. But then again, could the same not be said of Xu Changge, Ran Qingmo, or even the Chancellor back in the Imperial Capital?

Qin Mo had been hard to kill only because he possessed traits that made him hard to kill. Whether it was his own ability to fight above his realm, the old grandpa on him, or Qin Weijiu’s help, all of these were reasons why he was so difficult to kill.

Drawing his thoughts back, Xu Yuan focused on the Sage’s remnant soul.

After breaking free from the ice, the Sage did not go mad again. He swept a glance around, roughly understood his situation, and then 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. Without even thinking, he said, “Pills.”

Xu Changge chuckled softly. With a casual wave, more than twenty bottles of various pills he had brought from the Imperial Capital flew out of his Sumeru ring and were all tossed to Xu Yuan.

“Father asked me to bring these to you.” After a pause, Xu Changge smiled lightly and said, “Anything else?”

Xu Yuan hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the soul ring in Xu Changge’s hand.

The corner of Xu Changge’s eye twitched. He pretended not to see it. But 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. He glanced at Ran Qingmo beside him, then turned back and asked softly, “Xu Changge, I want to use this chance to go out and travel a bit. Is that all right?”