Chapter 203 - 156: You Should Learn the Self-Cultivation of a Pet

He snapped back to his senses, quickly grabbing a nearby bath towel and haphazardly draping it over Jiang Yunnuan.

"What’s wrong?"

Sensing something was wrong, Jiang Yunnuan opened her eyes, only to see him kneeling on one knee. Vines had pierced and bound his limbs, waist, and abdomen. His handsome face was contorted in pain, giving him a ferocious look.

"Fu Yuan..."

Jiang Yunnuan’s pupils trembled and her mind went blank. With a horrified cry, she lunged toward him, but her arm was suddenly seized, and she was yanked into an embrace.

At some point, a cold and aloof figure had appeared beside her.

Yan Chen. It really was him. He was back.

His return meant he had successfully overcome his tribulation. Her days of anxiety and concern had finally led to a wonderful outcome; she should have been overjoyed.

But the scene before her washed away all joy, leaving her unable to feel happy in the slightest. All that remained was anger and panic.

She grabbed his wrist and roared, her voice trembling with rage.

"Yan Chen, what in the world are you doing? Let him go, now!"

"We haven’t seen each other in so long. Are you sure you want to make me angry over him?"

He reached out and brushed the hair from her face. His chilly, profound gaze stared at the pristine corner of her eye, his irises turning pitch-black, concealing a world-ending aura.

Before he left, he had told her that he would help her remove that mark when he returned. But she had clearly never taken his words to heart.

His gaze traveled downward, only to see that she wasn’t wearing a single stitch of clothing.

After the earlier struggle, the bath towel Fu Yuan had draped over her had long since fallen to the floor.

Now, her flawless body was completely bare, exposed to the air—a sight so perfect it made one’s blood boil, stirring an urge to pin her to the ground and ravage her at once.

Yet she seemed completely oblivious. Her eyes, which had turned an inky blue after sharing her bloodline, gazed at him, her look a mixture of forbearance and pleading.

"I don’t want to make you angry, but can you please let him go? Don’t kill him... Yan Chen, I’m begging you, please spare him, won’t you??"

"Spare him?"

Yan Chen let out a short laugh. His quiet, deep voice betrayed no emotion, yet it was enough to make one’s blood run cold and their skin crawl.

"Do you know what happened to the last person who dared touch my property?"

"His entire body—flesh, bone, and blood—was sucked dry, as if he had simply evaporated. Not a single trace was left. He vanished completely, as if he had never existed in the first place."

"A Half-step Ultimate Venerable? Heh. I suppose he’ll make for decent nourishment."

His gaze flickered, landing on Fu Yuan on the floor.

Hearing this, Jiang Yunnuan felt as if she’d been plunged into an icy abyss. A chilling dread spread through her, and she stared at him with wide, terrified eyes.

"I... I’m your pet, that’s true, but Fu Yuan is my Contractor! It’s a perfectly legitimate arrangement. Didn’t you already know that?"

"It’s perfectly natural for him to touch me! And you’re going to kill him over that???"

’I never imagined he’d want to kill Fu Yuan the moment he returned, and all because of this!’

Yan Chen narrowed his eyes. With his long, flowing hair and billowing robes, he looked cold and transcendent, like an Immortal who floated above the mortal world. Yet the words that came from his mouth were utterly vile.

"So what if it’s natural? Did I give my permission?"

"Little pet, you should learn some proper pet etiquette. When a pet mates, and with whom, all requires the master’s explicit permission."

His utterly humiliating words pushed what little sense of shame Jiang Yunnuan had to its limit. She was so furious she felt the urge to kill.

’If Fu Yuan’s life wasn’t in this monster’s hands, I’d bite that mouth of his to shreds so he could never speak again.’

Upon hearing their exchange, a tremor went through Fu Yuan. He gritted his teeth and began to struggle with all his might.

His struggles seemed to enrage the vines. Like leeches, they dug deeper into his body and began to feed frantically.

As his blood and Energy drained away, he seemed not to notice. He gritted his teeth and looked at Jiang Yunnuan, a strange hint of joy in his eyes.

"Nuannuan... so, he’s not your Contractor, is he?"

Jiang Yunnuan: "..."

’Is it my imagination?’

’Why does he seem... suddenly happy?’

’His life is in danger, yet he isn’t worried at all. How on earth can he be happy right now?’

She nodded emphatically, just about to reveal the whole truth, when her body was suddenly slammed against the wall. In the next instant, bone-chilling water sprayed down, drenching her completely.

Her legs were pulled apart as his hand reached between them, washing her with anything but gentleness.

Jiang Yunnuan instinctively turned to look at Fu Yuan, only to see him struggling violently, frantically tearing at the vines.

But not only did he fail to break free, the vines multiplied, quickly enveloping him completely and forming a massive green cocoon.

SMACK—

The crisp sound of a slap echoed. Jiang Yunnuan had struck Yan Chen hard across the face, her own palm going numb from the impact.

"He’s my mission objective, just like you! If you insist on killing him, then we can all just die together!"

’If Fu Yuan dies, my mission will fail instantly. Then this entire world will collapse because the BUG can’t be fixed.’

"What do you mean by that?"

Ignoring the slap to his face, Yan Chen turned off the shower, lifted her chin, and stared at her with cold, pitch-black eyes.

Not wanting to provoke him further, Jiang Yunnuan reached out and gently rubbed the spot she had just struck. She softened her voice, patiently trying to persuade him.

"I can’t reveal the full story. I can’t tell you the specifics, but you cannot kill him."

"If he dies, I will die, and so will you. I am not exaggerating to scare you. Please, let him go, won’t you? Any longer and it’ll be too late."

"You just successfully passed your tribulation. To do it, you endured the Nine Thousand Thunders and suffered immensely. Do you really want to throw all that away and perish here with both of us?"

At her words, Yan Chen’s gaze wavered. He turned to look at the giant cocoon of vines, momentarily unsure if she was telling the truth.

However...

He didn’t want her to die. He wasn’t willing to gamble on her life.

"Yan Chen, please don’t kill him, alright? Your tribulation must have been exhausting. You just got back; you should be resting. Aren’t you tired? If you spare him, I’ll give you a nice massage, how about that?"

Jiang Yunnuan’s voice was utterly fawning.

Without waiting for a response, she placed her hands on his shoulders and began to massage them with just the right amount of pressure.

"You have no idea how much we’ve missed you while you were gone. Fu Yuan thought about you every day, too. He even asked me where you went several times. He cares so much about you. Could you really bear to kill him?"

"Cares?" Yan Chen sneered. "Do I look like someone who’s easily fooled? Him, care about me? If it weren’t for the vast difference in our Cultivation that keeps him from being a threat, do you really think he would tolerate my existence?"

Yan Chen sneered again, yanking her hands from his shoulders. His cold eyes were filled with mockery.

Jiang Yunnuan quickly tried to defend her story.

"Fu Yuan is very magnanimous! He has a great capacity for tolerance. Of course he would tolerate you."

"Are you implying that I’m the petty one? That I’m the one who lacks a capacity for tolerance?"

Jiang Yunnuan: "..."