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Run? Xu Yuan stopped in his tracks and froze, then turned back in disbelief to look at the giant Buddha head. Its eyes, which had been glowing faintly in the darkness, were gradually dimming. A few details he had overlooked earlier suddenly surfaced in his mind, and in that instant, he understood something.
This was reality, not anime or movies. If an enemy could ambush and kill you, then they were not going to stand there striking a pose and waiting for you to notice them. And yet this giant Buddha had crept right up beside him without a sound, but had not attacked him immediately. It only chose to make its move against the woman in black after he had retreated to the edge of the hall.
Rain continued to patter outside the temple. Inside, the air felt cold enough to freeze solid.
Third Young Master… Me? Xu Yuan lowered his head and looked at this body of his, frail to an almost ridiculous degree, then slowly let out a long breath.
The way the giant Buddha had addressed him, the state of his body, and everything that had just happened gave him a growing suspicion about what kind of world he had transmigrated into. It was too similar. What had just happened was almost identical to one segment from Azure Point, that 2.5D pixel-style game he had just played.
The giant Buddha. The ruined temple. The young master in the embroidered robe. The woman in black, cold as ice… The only problem was that the original 2.5D pixel game had now become a first-person live-action horror experience, and the difference between the two was so huge that Xu Yuan had failed to connect them right away.
But now, that one line from the giant Buddha had jolted him awake. He had become the Third Young Master of the Chancellor's family. That poor bastard from Azure Point who, across 25 story branches, got killed 25 different ways.
And strangely enough, after realizing that, the iron grip around Xu Yuan's heart loosened a little. He lifted his gaze and looked ahead. Time seemed to slow for a moment. Rainwater dripped from the eaves, splashing into silver threads in the dark.
Now that his eyes had adjusted, he could vaguely make out that graceful figure walking toward him. Her footsteps were light, but each one landed clear and distinct.
Darkness spread quickly through the Buddhist hall. Outside, the cold wind of the rainy night howled without pause. At last, Xu Yuan met the woman in black's eyes, faintly luminous in the dark.
"You are..." His voice rang out in the darkness, gentle and smooth as flowing water. Just from the sound alone, one could imagine a refined young nobleman, polished and graceful as jade. So this Third Young Master probably had a pretty decent face too.
Thinking all sorts of nonsense even at a time like this, Xu Yuan continued, "...Ran Qingmo?"
Before he could even finish speaking, a sharp glint of killing intent flashed through her clear eyes. But seeing that bone-deep chill in her eyes, Xu Yuan actually relaxed completely. He had guessed right. This really was the world of that game!
Now that the situation in front of him had finally lined up with the plot he knew, Xu Yuan immediately remembered what this great lump of ice wanted. She was here to capture him, not kill him. She needed to use him to persuade his boss-level father, who was about to launch a war.
Whatever ridiculous way he might die later, at least for the moment, Xu Yuan was not in immediate danger. The pressure on him dropped sharply.
The two looked at each other for a few seconds. Then the cold gleam in her eyes gradually faded. She turned around and said in a flat voice, "Follow me."
Xu Yuan realized that she was planning to leave this place for good.
The corpses outside and the Buddha inside the temple had both been his father's men. Even though she had left none of them alive, this hideout was clearly no longer safe. But while she intended to leave, Xu Yuan absolutely could not just obediently follow her like this.
In Azure Point, the player could make different choices and reach a whole range of endings. And in quite a few scenarios, the little villain whose body he now occupied died on the road after being kidnapped by this human iceberg.
Those deaths had been brushed over in a line or two, but dead was still dead. So Xu Yuan stayed where he was, staring at her back in the dark, and made his voice as clear and even as possible.
"Miss Ran, do you know what you're doing right now?"
Miss Ran was the respectful way the protagonist in Azure Point addressed Ran Qingmo.
"..."
Xu Yuan’s sudden question seemed to catch the woman in black off guard. Her footsteps stopped. That sharp, blade-like gaze swept over him, causing goosebumps to rise all down his back. She said nothing. She only stood there quietly in the dark, looking at him.
Being looked at by a giant ice block was not a pleasant experience. Xu Yuan ran through the game plot again and again in his head, confirming that at this point in the story, she could not possibly kill him.
He kept his composure and said each word carefully, "You won't kill me."
Ran Qingmo made a casual motion with her hand, and a thick, long wooden staff flew up from the ground into her grasp. Holding the staff, she kept standing there and looking at him in silence.
Xu Yuan took a deep breath, then walked toward her. On the surface, he still wore an unhurried, composed expression. He said calmly, "Capturing me is meaningless."
Ran Qingmo still said nothing. Sword in one hand, wooden staff in the other, she continued walking silently toward the temple entrance.
Xu Yuan did his best to keep his voice steady and level. "A man like my father is not going to change his mind over whether I live or die."
This time, Ran Qingmo finally replied in a cool and light voice, "What are you trying to say?"
Outside, the rain still fell without end. Water dripped from the eaves in strings, splashing ripples across the puddles below.
The moment he heard her respond, Xu Yuan answered at once, "Naturally, I'm talking about why you captured me."
As he spoke, he even managed a faint smile. "You took me because you want to save the Sword Sect's 40,000 disciples…"
Before he could finish, time in the temple seemed to freeze. The murderous chill in the air surged violently. A storm of wind burst outward from the woman at the center, whipping Xu Yuan's sleeves until they cracked loudly in the dark.
A vast, invisible pressure began to radiate from her silhouette, half-hidden in shadow. She was only standing there, yet the force of it nearly drove Xu Yuan to his knees. He was forced back two steps. The hand hidden in his wide sleeve swung out, grabbing a wooden pillar beside him. He had to grip it hard just to keep himself upright.
In the darkness, the killing intent pouring off Ran Qingmo made every hair on his body stand on end. The sudden turn of events caught Xu Yuan completely off guard. He could not understand why those few words had provoked such a violent reaction from her.
Then, in a flash, his mind raced through the plot of the game, and Xu Yuan abruptly realized he had said the wrong thing.
To a player like him, the Chancellor destroying the Celeste Sword Sect was simply an established major event in the story. But for the people in this world, that plan was still in the preparation stage, buried so deep in secrecy that only his old man and a handful of most trusted confidants knew.
At this point in time, the Sword Sect's leader was still the honored Imperial Preceptor, and he was still an old friend who had worked alongside Xu Yuan's father for decades. If someone said the Chancellor of the Great Flame Empire intended to wipe out the Sword Sect, even the sect master himself probably would not believe it.
And although the original owner of this body was the Chancellor's legitimate third son, he was also a wastrel through and through. He was skilled at drinking, gambling, whoring, and generally being useless. There was no way someone like him should know a state secret of this level.
Cold sweat began running down Xu Yuan's back. Well, shit… I’ve really gone and done it now.
By now, Ran Qingmo had fully turned around. Her eyes glimmered with a faint blue light as she drew the sword in her hand and began walking toward him.
"How do you know that?"
