At that moment, a hoarse voice, like the final breath of life, rose from the dilapidated wooden bed.
"Is that you… Zhang Wen…"
Zhang Wen lifted his gaze at once. His calm eyes locked onto the emaciated young man lying on the bed. The eyes that had been tightly shut slowly opened. Though they were clouded and devoid of strength, a trace of awareness still lingered within them. He replied in a cold voice.
"Yes. It is me. What happened to you. Why have your cultivation and your trading house been destroyed to this extent."
Ming Yuan's lips trembled slightly. His breathing faltered for a moment before a faint voice slipped out.
"Zhang Lin… is he doing well…"
That question made Zhang Wen fall silent briefly. His gaze hardened slightly before he answered without evasion.
"You do not need to worry about him. Tell me now. What happened to you."
Ming Yuan let out a soft laugh. The sound was hoarse and filled with bitterness. A twisted smile appeared on his withered face.
"It was my own fault… I… was the one who destroyed everything… until nothing remained…"
His voice quivered faintly. His breathing became uneven. The eyes that were barely open trembled uncontrollably.
"My father… my mother… everyone has left me…"
"All of it… happened because I lost my reason… and caused everyone to die…"
Each word felt as though it were being squeezed from an empty heart.
"I am sorry…"
The entire room fell into silence once more. Zhang Wen listened without any change in expression. His eyes were cold and emotionless. There was no sympathy, no anger, only a calm acceptance of facts as they were.
Then he spoke slowly.
"Who did it."
Ming Yuan remained silent. His lips trembled slightly as his breathing grew heavier.
"I cannot say…"
"If I tell you… I do not know whether you would seek revenge for me or not. But I do not want you to be dragged into this matter."
Zhang Wen remained silent, then spoke slowly.
"Who did it."
Ming Yuan closed his eyes for a moment, as if gathering every shred of strength he had left.
"The power behind that person… comes from the greater world…"
"They are far too strong… even forces at the level of a Great Emperor are barely worth noticing to them…"
Zhang Wen stayed silent. There was not the slightest hint of shock or fear on his face. After a brief pause, he asked in a calm voice.
"It came from the Sacred Land of Chaos, did it not."
The instant those words left his mouth, Zhang Wen noticed it clearly. Ming Yuan's heartbeat faltered. His breathing caught. The eyes that were barely open twitched faintly before he answered too quickly.
"No…"
Zhang Wen observed everything in silence, then gave a small nod, as if accepting the answer despite already knowing it was a lie. He fell quiet again as several lines of thought connected rapidly in his mind. Then a name surfaced.
A name that had begun spreading widely over the past few months. A name accompanied by tyranny, blood, and the cries of countless victims.
The young master of the Wang clan.
That man was infamous for abducting beautiful women and turning them into attendants. Numerous factions and sects had suffered under his greed and authority. Cities had collapsed, clans had been exterminated, and once prosperous forces had been reduced to ruins, just like the trading house before them.
The dilapidated wooden room was silent, broken only by Ming Yuan's uneven breathing. Zhang Wen stood beside the bed, looking at the gaunt face that barely resembled the man he once knew. His expression was calm, but within him, he was weighing something in silence.
At last, Zhang Wen spoke. His tone was steady, neither hurried nor forceful.
"If I give you a chance. A chance to take revenge on that person. Even if that chance is only one in ten thousand, or one in a million. Would you still be willing to grasp it."
The question did not sound grand, yet it carried more weight than any oath.
Ming Yuan closed his eyes. His breathing trembled slightly, as if the words had torn open wounds he had buried long ago. After a moment, a hoarse voice sounded faintly.
"I do not want it… If fate wishes me to die… then please do not reach out. Let it remain my own matter."
He paused briefly before continuing in a voice heavy with exhaustion.
"I do not want you to end up facing the same situation as I am in now."
Zhang Wen closed his eyes before speaking.
"I am in a dire situation as well. I am being hunted by the Zhang clan, marked by the Gu Imperial Clan. I nearly died after being attacked by a Half-Emperor. My younger brother has gone missing, and his current whereabouts are unclear. But I can roughly guess that he is either in the Sacred Land of Chaos or the Phoenix Clan."
Ming Yuan slowly opened his eyes. His clouded gaze struggled to focus on Zhang Wen. He heard no boasting in those words. Only cold, unembellished truth.
Zhang Wen continued, his eyes never leaving him.
"To be honest, I am not speaking as your friend right now. I am speaking as a man who needs strength. I need someone capable like you. Are you willing to work under my command."
He paused slightly, allowing the words to sink in.
"You may feel that I am being extremely selfish. But I have a condition. You must form a Water Contract with me. If you ever attempt betrayal, whether through action, speech, or even thought, you will die."
Ming Yuan fell silent. A faint ache stirred within his heart before he let out a soft laugh. The sound was hoarse and filled with bitterness.
"Hah… It seems I am not the only one who has changed. You have changed as well, Zhang Wen."
Zhang Wen smiled faintly, his expression unchanged.
"I was betrayed by the person I called Mother for many years."
Ming Yuan's eyes widened slightly at those words. He drew in a deep breath, as much as his body would allow, before replying in a voice that carried barely any strength.
"Very well… If you truly have nothing left to lose, and are willing to pull a burden like me out of the garbage heap… then I accept your offer."
Zhang Wen stepped forward and placed his palm upon the emaciated body. Water energy slowly spread outward. The air in the room grew colder. Pale blue runes formed in midair before sinking into the bodies of both men.
The ritual of the Water Contract began in silence.
The terms were sealed without flaw.
Ming Yuan was forbidden from betraying Zhang Wen in any form whatsoever.
And should the contract be violated, death would be the only punishment.
Ming Yuan accepted the contract without hesitation. He had no idea that among all its conditions, something had been quietly hidden. This contract would last forever, until Zhang Wen died, or until Ming Yuan's cultivation surpassed Zhang Wen by five full realms. Only then would the binding shatter on its own.
Zhang Wen gazed at Ming Yuan's body with calm indifference. His eyes were cold and without ripples. Even though the other party's attitude was sincere, even though he had clearly shown that he did not wish to drag Zhang Wen into his own troubles, even though the system's affinity value clearly displayed how much admiration Ming Yuan held for him, none of it caused Zhang Wen's heart to waver in the slightest.
Whether words or system numbers, they were merely information. They could not prevent unforeseen disasters.
Because the most dangerous thing was never recorded as words, and never converted into numbers.
It was emotion.
Human emotion could not be measured, and could never be predicted. Today it might be sincerity. Tomorrow it might become hesitation. Today one might be willing to die for another, yet with only a minor factor beyond control, every thought could reverse in an instant.
Zhang Wen understood this well. Not because he had never trusted anyone, but because he had trusted before, and the price he paid was his own life.
Trust was not something that should be given to anyone. Not even to oneself at certain moments.
To him, the human heart was something far too difficult to comprehend. Whether in his previous world or this one, it changed according to circumstance, benefit, fear, or fragile hope.
Therefore, what he was doing now appeared extremely selfish and utterly lacking in sincerity toward Ming Yuan. Yet he still chose to place a collar around Ming Yuan's neck with cold resolve, and Zhang Wen did not care how Ming Yuan viewed him at this moment.
Not because he failed to value Ming Yuan's sincerity, but because he could not gamble on uncertainty.
Even if the probability of Ming Yuan betraying him was extremely small, he did not care.
He needed a method to deal with the worst possible outcome.
Everything required a safeguard.
Every decision had to be made under absolute certainty.
Because he knew better than anyone that betrayal never came from enemies.