"You think I'm going to believe your bullshit?"
He sneered, his eyes filled with ridicule as he looked at her.
Despite his words, Jiang Yunnuan noticed his pupils constrict the moment he heard her, and the hand gripping her neck loosened ever so slightly.
'He says he doesn't believe me, but his mind is clearly reeling. Hah. Men!'
Jiang Yunnuan scoffed inwardly, but her face was a mask of utmost sincerity.
"Sigh… I'm telling the truth. How can you not believe me? You're breaking my heart…"
She suddenly turned her head to look at Fu Yuan and Ming Ye, who were diligently dressing their wounds.
The two of them were completely unperturbed, as if they had a built-in filter. They hadn't glanced in her direction once, seemingly unconcerned by her conflict with Si Xie.
'This won't do.'
Jiang Yunnuan resolved to pull them over to her side.
"Hey! If I die, you two will be ruined. Without your Cultivation, you won't be able to suppress the Beast Clan genes in your bodies. You might even completely degenerate into beasts. Are you really okay with that?"
According to the historical records of the Empire, the Human Clan faced a mass extinction event several hundred years ago.
To fight this calamity, the Human Clan extracted and fused genes from the Beast Clan in an attempt to acquire their immense power and evolve their own genes.
However, the experiment was not perfect.
The fusion failed completely for females. While males gained immense, sustainable power and their physical constitution improved by leaps and bounds, the process had a drawback.
This drawback was that the gene fusion caused beast-like traits to manifest on the human body.
Only those with immense power could completely shed their beastly traits and revert to their Human Form. They could then switch at will between their Human Form, Beast Form, and a Half-human and half-beast form, unlocking a perfect state of triple transformation.
Conversely, if their Cultivation was completely lost, the Beast Clan genes within them would no longer be suppressed. For some, this would result in the Devouring of their human genes by the Beast Clan genes, causing their bodies to gradually degenerate into mindless beasts, never to be human again.
A human mind in a beast's body—this was a fate no one could accept. Therefore, Contract Termination was the only powerful bargaining chip Jiang Yunnuan held in this negotiation.
"Contract Termination is a great deal, isn't it? Afterward, you'll no longer be enslaved by me, and you'll get to keep your Cultivation. Isn't that the best of both worlds? Why resort to mutually assured destruction?"
"Hey, you two, don't tell me you're so easily falling for this damn woman's bullshit?"
Fearing Fu Yuan and Ming Ye would be swayed by her words, Si Xie anxiously interjected.
"This damn woman is just scared! That's why she's using Contract Termination to trick us. The moment we fall for it, she'll use the Protection Law to keep lording it over us. She'll go right back to exploiting, oppressing, humiliating, and torturing us, just waiting for a chance to dig out our inner cores and hand them over to that other man! Jun Yao is a cautionary tale—don't you dare fall for it!!!"
Expecting him to try and sabotage her, Jiang Yunnuan wasn't discouraged at all. She put on an expression of remorse and grievance as she began her defense.
"Wait, there's something I have to clarify. It's true I dug out Jun Yao's inner core, but that wasn't my intention. I was being controlled, that's why I did such stupid, hateful things."
'What do the original owner's actions have to do with me?'
Although she had inherited this body, that didn't mean she had to take the blame for its past deeds. Jiang Yunnuan was determined to clear her name.
"Yesterday, when you threw me to the floor, I hit my head and suddenly came to my senses. After I woke up, I was filled with remorse and I've already returned the inner core to Jun Yao. If you don't believe me, go look for yourselves. The inner core is inside Jun Yao. I didn't give it to that other man."
She pinned the blame on Ling Ze without a shred of guilt.
He was the one who'd instigated the original owner to do it in the first place, so even if she threw the blame on him, he wasn't exactly innocent.
"Lies! Since when does Ling Ze have the ability to control people? You damn woman, you're getting better and better at spouting nonsense. Don't think you can keep deceiving us just by making up some story."
'Do we look that gullible?'
Si Xie gritted his teeth, his hand tightening around her neck.
"Ngh—let go a little, it's too tight!"
Jiang Yunnuan lifted her leg and stomped hard on his foot.
But she'd come downstairs barefoot after her bath for comfort. Her soft feet had no force behind them, and the stomp felt more like a tickle. Si Xie didn't even furrow his brow.
Infuriated, she stomped on his foot several more times.
"Go see for yourself if I'm lying or not! Is it that hard to verify? You just question me instead of checking the facts. I think you're just looking for a fight!"
"And another thing, it's perfectly normal that you don't know Ling Ze has an ability like that. Unless someone's a complete idiot, who would announce their trump card to the whole world?"
"Or are you that kind of brainless idiot? The type to immediately announce any secret you have to the entire world?"
Si Xie: "..."
'What the hell?'
'She actually made a lot of sense. He found he couldn't refute her at all.'
"I'll go look."
An indifferent voice suddenly spoke up. Jiang Yunnuan struggled to look over and saw Fu Yuan straightening his clothes as he stood up and walked toward one of the rooms. Only then did she notice that Jun Yao was no longer on the floor.
She figured Fu Yuan and Ming Ye must have moved him to his room after they returned.
Fu Yuan and Ming Ye had returned after daybreak. The moment they walked in, they saw both Si Xie and Jun Yao in a miserable state—one bound hand and foot, the other injured and unconscious.
They'd thought the house had been attacked by bandits. Without even tending to their own wounds, they rushed inside, untied Si Xie, and carried Jun Yao to his room.
Upon seeing them, Si Xie had agitatedly recounted Jiang Yunnuan's crimes. Only then did they realize the house hadn't been attacked by bandits—that damn woman was just acting up again.
After he finished speaking, Si Xie had run upstairs. Fearing he would do something rash, they had quickly followed, paying no mind to the issue of the Jun Yao Inner Core.
Now, after hearing what Jiang Yunnuan said, it was necessary to verify her claims.
"Sigh. Good to know there's still a smart person in this house. Unlike some people who are arrogant, self-righteous, stubborn, and unbelievably stupid…"
"You bitch, who are you calling unbelievably stupid? A fool like you has the nerve to call someone else stupid?"
Hearing her jab, Si Xie instantly flew into a rage, cutting her off. A blazing fire ignited in his beautiful, captivating silver eyes.
"Whoever answered, that's who!"
Jiang Yunnuan shot back without flinching.
But the moment the words left her mouth, fear set in. Afraid he might actually decide to kill her, she quickly added,
"Hey—let me remind you, Fu Yuan has gone to check. You'd better calm down until he gets back. My life isn't just my own; it's tied to all of you. If you make a mistake and kill me, it'll be too late for regrets…"