After agreeing to the transaction with Ryan, Lumine immediately took out a cup from her Serenitea Pot and ran to the entrance of Ryan's cave dwelling.
She took a mouthful of water to rinse her mouth, then spat it out at Sanka with a 'poof' before walking back to Ryan's side.
Ryan, with his large belly, also struggled to move from his bed and sat on the edge of it.
"Here, you go rinse your mouth too."
Lumine, having walked back, refilled the cup with clean water from her Serenitea Pot and handed it to Ryan.
"Ah? Why do I need to rinse my mouth too?"
Holding the cup Lumine handed him with both hands, Ryan tilted his head in confusion.
"You want to collect my saliva, don't you? It'd be a bit unhygienic without rinsing... wouldn't it..."
Lumine said subconsciously, but halfway through, she realized something was off.
"?"
Ryan blinked his eyes, bewildered.
"W-what are you thinking?! That's not how you collect it!"
Realizing what she meant, Ryan hastily waved his hands, his fur bristling as he spoke.
"Well, anyway, it can't hurt for me to rinse my mouth."
Lumine, realizing her mistake, also blushed slightly but calmly spread her hands.
"...Anyway, I'll return this to you first."
Ryan said, returning the cup to Lumine.
After Lumine took the cup, Ryan took out two Pure Heart from his qiankun bag.
Then Ryan found an empty glass bottle.
Ryan's usual bottles were uniform in style, not traditional gourd-shaped medicine bottles, but rather long-necked, narrow-mouthed glass bottles similar to a Yuhuchun vase.
To be precise, they resembled the potion bottles used for alchemy elixirs sold in Mondstadt.
"Traveler, chew these Pure Heart, and once they're thoroughly chewed, spit them into this bottle."
Ryan handed the Pure Heart to Lumine and explained, holding up the glass bottle.
"Okay."
Lumine nodded, then sat down on the bed next to Ryan and took the Pure Heart he offered.
She remembered that Ganyu liked to eat this, but she had never tried it herself and wondered what it tasted like... With that thought, Lumine put both Pure Heart into her mouth and chewed them.
Pure Heart, being a medicinal herb, had a bitter taste that made Lumine's expression change slightly.
And just as Lumine was chewing the Pure Heart, outside the cave... "Cave dwelling, cave dwelling... Is this the cave? Let's go in and see..."
Paimon cautiously floated down from above to the cave entrance, somewhat uncertainly peering inside.
Soon, she noticed some furniture inside the cave, which confirmed she hadn't taken the wrong path.
She took a closer look and saw that both Lumine and Ryan were there, sitting on the edge of the bed...
"...Eh?"
However, at this moment, Paimon froze in place.
The two were sitting close together on the edge of the bed, and Lumine was turned sideways, her back to Paimon, leaning towards Ryan.
"Traveler, you need to hold it..."
Noticing Lumine couldn't stand the bitterness and was about to spit out the Pure Heart, Ryan quickly reminded her.
The glass bottle had a narrow opening, so if she didn't hold it, she might spill it outside.
"Uhm...!"
Lumine immediately responded, then held the mouth of the glass bottle and spat all the chewed Pure Heart into it.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey... This stuff tastes so bitter and awful! Why does Ganyu like to eat this kind of thing?"
Having spit out the Pure Heart, Lumine couldn't help but exclaim.
It wasn't that she couldn't handle bitterness, but the taste of chewing raw medicinal herbs was still quite terrible.
And according to Ganyu, Ryan's herbs weren't picked in the morning, making their taste even worse.
"Uh... maybe Senior Sister is just used to eating it?"
Ryan scratched his head; he personally didn't like eating medicinal herbs either.
"Waaah! Traveler, ah, ah, ah!"
Just then, Paimon's cries suddenly rang out.
Lumine quickly turned around, only to see Paimon flying over and flutter into her arms.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Lumine hugged Paimon, asking in confusion.
"Waaah... Traveler, I was only gone for a little while, how could he trick you already...!"
Paimon wailed mournfully, clinging to Lumine's embrace.
"Huh?"
Paimon's words left both Lumine and Ryan a bit bewildered.
They were just making a fair trade...
Lumine comforted Paimon for a while, and Paimon eventually calmed down, but still hid by Lumine's side, watching Ryan warily, as if guarding against a thief.
Ryan, meanwhile, put away the 'alien' saliva Lumine had spit out, feeling a slight regret in his heart. If Paimon hadn't suddenly appeared, he might have found an opportunity to ask for a strand of Lumine's hair.
Now, looking at Paimon, he guessed she wouldn't let him touch Lumine's hair at all.
"Alright, alright, Ryan, you seem to have pretty much recovered your mobility. Paimon and I will leave first. You rest a bit more."
After comforting Paimon and noticing that Ryan's belly had shrunk considerably, Lumine finally bid him farewell.
Previously, Ryan's belly was larger than that of a woman in her tenth month of pregnancy, but now it was only about six or seven months in size.
"Okay, then see you next time. Our transaction isn't a one-time thing, I'll look for you again later."
Ryan nodded, waving goodbye to Lumine with reluctance.
"Mm, but don't forget my Reward."
Lumine acknowledged and reminded him.
"Then take this pill first. I'll give you a share once I've refined it."
Hearing Lumine's reminder, Ryan took out one of the Sweet Sweet Pills he had previously refined and handed it to her.
Lumine's eyes lit up, and she quickly hugged Paimon and leaned closer to take the Sweet Sweet Pill from Ryan's hand.
"Then we're off~"
Afterward, she happily hugged a bewildered Paimon and left Ryan's cave dwelling.
"I really misjudged it. Turns out the Traveler is the most precious material..."
After Lumine and Paimon left, Ryan leaned back against the headboard of his bed and muttered.
"But this isn't bad either, exchanging pills for medicinal ingredients..."
"If she's so agreeable, it shouldn't be difficult to exchange another Sweet Sweet Pill for some of her blood next time..."
Ryan began to scheme how to obtain more precious materials from Lumine.
Subsequently, Ryan lay on his bed for a good while until nearly evening, when his belly finally returned to its original state, and the anger he had absorbed from Azhdaha was assimilated by his body.
During this time, he also distributed a portion to his tail.
The anger from a thousand years of sealing, coupled with the madness of erode, the amount of these emotions was no less than Osial's anger. After absorbing them all, Ryan also felt his body seemed to have grown much stronger.
"Hoo hoo... This is the first time I've felt such satisfaction. Is this what it feels like to be full...?"
Ryan rubbed his now flat belly and walked to the entrance of the cave dwelling, looking out towards Jueyun Karst.
"Then let's see what kind of Dragon Pill I can refine from the Traveler's 'alien' saliva."
Ryan, having just eaten and digested, was full of energy and eager to proceed with his next refinement.
However, his previous refinement of a Dragon Pill had consumed almost all of his medicinal ingredients, so he needed to specifically prepare some more.
If one were to ask what medicinal ingredient in Jueyun Karst was both easy to obtain and rare, it would undoubtedly be the Fulong Tree.
With that thought, Ryan transformed back into a white fox and leaped down from the mountain, moving nimbly through the mountains towards the direction of Nantianmen...