Chapter 127: Only with Bargaining Chips Do You Have the Right to Negotiate

Xiao Li couldn’t sleep a wink. The thought that her memories had almost been altered after she fell unconscious kept her from daring to even close her eyes.

And this world had no intention of letting her sleep peacefully.

Liu Changge had just left, and now a new batch of unidentified Death Warriors had arrived, their target once again being Liu Xueyin.

Rong Qing reported from behind the folding screen, "Princess, they have taken Liu Xueyin’s body."

Xiao Li hummed softly, indicating she understood.

This time, that force hadn’t spirited Liu Xueyin away. Instead, it had let her become a corpse, leaving her to lie there.

It had probably finally realized that the problem lay with Xiao Li, which was why it tried to solve the issue by altering her memories.

Had Xiao Li accepted everything after the tampering, the false memories would have overwritten the real ones. It was horrifying to imagine what would have become of her.

But it had gravely underestimated Xiao Li.

Even without those memories, Xiao Li had never been the type of woman to treat her husband as her entire world, nor would she ever abandon herself just because a man showed her a little kindness.

Besides, this whole transmigration business was ridiculous to begin with.

’Suddenly transmigrating into someone else’s body, a perfectly normal person swapping flesh—isn’t that horrifying?’

’The original owner of the body had a husband. It’s bad enough that you’ve occupied her body, but you’re going to fall in love with her husband, too?’

’Just because you’re wearing her skin, you think you’re not the other woman? Getting all lovey-dovey with her husband—is that supposed to be true love?’

And especially that cloying, submissive attitude—revolving around Lu Yanzhi, with her heart and eyes full of nothing but him.

Setting aside the dark memories of her past, even without them, there was no way that she, Xiao Li, would ever just transmigrate and immediately accept that she had a husband—let alone devote herself so completely that her entire world contained only that one man.

Although her will had been strong enough to prevent her memories from being altered, those fabricated scenes were now seared into her mind with terrifying clarity, as if they were her own.

They disgusted her every single moment.

She had to admit, this little trick had more stopping power than simply trying to obliterate her.

As for Liu Xueyin’s body, Xiao Li had anticipated that someone would come for it, so she had deliberately ordered Rong Qing to relax the guard and allow it to be taken.

She had no morbid fixation that would compel her to keep a corpse around for daily viewing.

She no longer hated Liu Xueyin—not enough to grind her bones to dust, at least—but she couldn’t be bothered to bury her either. So, she might as well let whoever wanted the body take it.

As for whether Liu Xueyin would be resurrected, that ceased to matter the moment Xiao Li stepped out of that room. If she truly became an eyesore again, killing her a second time would be a trivial matter.

In the short time she had spent sitting by Liu Xueyin’s side, watching her breathe her last, Xiao Li had a sudden realization: she probably couldn’t rely on that invader to leave this place.

Be it the World Consciousness or the invader, their powers were stronger by countless dimensions, yet in the end, they had to use the existence of the male and female leads to settle their contest.

That meant the male and female leads must possess something they were fighting over—or perhaps, they themselves were the crucial key.

Her task wasn’t just to kill Liu Xueyin, but to find that key and grasp it tightly in her own hands.

Only with leverage would she have the right to negotiate.

Begging others for help was always the inferior path.

Waiting was not in her nature, and begging was simply humiliating.

She, Xiao Li, would be her own god.

----

On that snowy night, flames lit up the sky. The blizzard winds were not enough to extinguish the massive blaze.

Those people had no honor. Xiao Li had already let them take the body, yet they still had the audacity to burn down her villa.

Feeling he had failed to protect his master, Yang Jun took his men to fight the fire, running back and forth in a frantic effort.

Wrapped in a heavy cloak, Xiao Li stood sheltered from the wind, watching the sea of flames. The firelight danced in her pupils. She wasn’t angry. On the contrary, her lips curved into a brilliant smile, though the shadows in her eyes were deeper and darker than the night itself.

’Let it burn. The bigger the fire, the better.’

The next morning, Xiao Li prepared to return to the city, a day earlier than she had originally planned.

She had gotten the medicine made by Cen An, dealt with Liu Xueyin, and even picked up Song Junzhan along the way. Now, it was time to go back and watch the show.

Xiao Li’s hand was severely injured, and even with medicine, it couldn’t possibly heal so quickly. Yet, she acted as if nothing was wrong.

With her right hand injured, she simply used her left to eat and drink tea, her posture so natural that she showed no sign of inconvenience.

Though she appeared calm and normal, there was a powerful, unnerving composure about her that was almost frightening.

She was unfazed by assassination attempts. Her hand had been pierced through, nearly causing her to bleed to death, yet she seemed to feel no pain at all.

Everyone knew the wound on her hand had yet to heal, but she showed not the slightest hint of discomfort, as if this was all perfectly natural.

A person like that, even if you didn’t know them well, inspired awe on this point alone.

Ruthless—to others, and to herself.

The retinue was assembled and waiting for Xiao Li to depart. Her face was a little pale, but it didn’t affect her spirits in the least. She strode out and, surrounded by her people, boarded the carriage.

Cen An watched Xiao Li as if she were a wolf, but the Princess didn’t spare his brother a single glance.

He and Song Junzhan boarded their carriage, which followed closely behind Xiao Li’s. The Princess’s carriage was so spacious and luxurious it could fit a double bed; one look told you it had to be comfortable.

’A ruthless woman, but she certainly knows how to enjoy life,’ he thought.

Guards on tall steeds surrounded the procession. They were armed from head to toe, and even their horses were clad in armor.

As the procession began to move, their steps were perfectly synchronized, exuding an intimidating aura.

Cen An remarked, "The Princess’s entourage wasn’t like this last time. Back then, they just wore standard guard uniforms. Look at them now... their equipment is so fine, I’m afraid it’s on par with the Emperor’s own Imperial Army."

Song Junzhan was silent. Cen An turned to him. "You have nothing to say?"

Song Junzhan looked at him calmly. "I never saw the Princess’s retinue before, nor have I seen the Imperial Army. What is there for me to say?"

Cen An: "..."

Fine, so much for that topic.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the carriage wall. "The Princess hasn’t spoken to you since yesterday, has she? If you ask me, she doesn’t want to be bothered with you at all."

Song Junzhan countered in all seriousness, "One, she is injured. Two, I have not yet formally become her subordinate. Why would she bother with me?"

Cen An ground his teeth in frustration. "You blockhead! You’re determined to jump into this pit of fire, aren’t you?"

Cen An was fuming. He’d been imprisoned for over two months and had only just been freed. He thought he could finally escape that devil of a princess, only for his brother to dive headfirst into her service.

Given the current situation, he had to treat his brother’s illness, which meant he’d have to follow Song Junzhan. And since Song Junzhan was following the devil princess, didn’t that mean he’d be seeing her often too?

Seeing her was one thing; he was more afraid of being forced into unpaid labor.

But most importantly, the image of the Princess touching Song Junzhan’s face with her blood-soaked hand yesterday was seared into his mind.

The Princess, looking down with cold, imperious disdain; Song Junzhan, head tilted back, eyes filled with devout anticipation as he offered his neck like a sacrifice.

The scene was so charged with ambiguity that he almost thought they were about to kiss.

’All this talk about simple allegiance and loyalty—he didn’t believe a word of it!!!’