"It's my fault, it's my fault," Duan Chen apologized repeatedly, feeling a bit awkward.
He had no idea about any contracts.
What's more, this golden snake hadn't explained things clearly at all.
He had completely misheard it as "appointment" (约) instead of "contract" (契约).
Jin An pouted, utterly speechless and annoyed.
Of course, it was impossible to tell if a snake was pouting.
"What rotten luck," he muttered softly.
Though he was complaining, there was little anger on his face.
In fact, he seemed slightly more interested.
Jin An recalled thoughtfully the images he had seen in Duan Chen's mind just now, and couldn't help but let out a strange chuckle.
"However, you have quite a lot of interesting things in your head."
"Oh, right, I saw your memories. You won't be angry, will you?"
He only asked this question now.
Duan Chen's face twitched for a moment.
Could he possibly say he would be angry?
Wouldn't that be suicidal?
This kind of "act first, then ask" behavior was simply asking for trouble.
However, he couldn't say that.
He was confident he could defeat Jin An, but his sixth sense kept telling him it was best not to.
"Of course not, you can look as much as you please." Duan Chen inwardly cursed, but outwardly said nothing.
When under someone else's roof, one had to bow their head. He wasn't a reckless fool who only knew how to charge forward.
Jin An chuckled.
But he didn't care whether Duan Chen was sincere or not.
"Heh, I doubt that's what you're thinking, kid. I'll ask you one last time, have you ever contracted a magical beast?" Jin An flicked his tail.
He was asking about contracting magical beasts again.
Duan Chen shook his head readily and honestly.
"Never."
Could such things even be contracted?
He thought to himself, but upon hearing his answer, Jin An clearly paused for a moment.
"Never?"
Jin An scrutinized Duan Chen suspiciously.
His gaze made Duan Chen uncomfortable for a moment.
It was as if his eyes were clearly saying, "Young man, you're no good."
"I see your physique is good, why haven't you contracted a magical beast?" Jin An immediately asked.
Duan Chen felt a surge of annoyance at being looked at like that.
"Is this something that can be contracted?" His tone also lost some of its politeness.
Jin An narrowed his eyes slightly, sensing something wasn't adding up.
He directly gave an order.
Duan Chen hesitated.
Just moments ago, Jin An had forcefully injected his spiritual power into his mind, startling Duan Chen.
He wasn't very willing to have his memories seen by others.
It felt like being completely exposed, without even wearing underwear.
Jin An impatiently flicked his tail.
"Release your spiritual power and let me in."
"This..." Duan Chen was hesitant.
Jin An became even more impatient.
A clear threat appeared in his golden eyes.
"You're unwilling?"
"I..." Duan Chen opened his mouth to say something, but Jin An interrupted him before he could utter a word.
Jin An displayed a semi-smiling expression.
That expression again.
Before Duan Chen could say anything, he heard the following words and his body instantly stiffened.
"Speaking of which, in that moment I glimpsed into your mind, I saw some sealed memory fragments. If you let me in to take a closer look, perhaps I can unlock them."
"You're still unwilling?"
Memories.
They were what he had always longed to explore.
Duan Chen fell into deep silence.
"Silence means agreement," Jin An said happily, wagging his tail.
"Hehehehehe."
His spiritual power entered his mind again with unstoppable force. This time, Duan Chen was prepared, so he gritted his teeth and endured without instinctively resisting, which made him feel slightly better.
It only took a moment.
Jin An's spiritual power withdrew from Duan Chen's mind.
His eyes were peculiar, and he kept murmuring to himself.
"So that's how it is, so that's how it is. I didn't expect you to be so interesting, kid."
"Interesting, interesting, truly interesting."
Duan Chen felt uneasy with these ambiguous words.
He couldn't help but ask.
"Lord Jin, what exactly did you see?"
"Hehehehe... No rush for that. First, contract me." However, Jin An didn't answer immediately, instead posing another question.
"Contract what?" Duan Chen frowned.
Jin An appeared extremely surprised.
"You haven't?" After saying that, he tapped his forehead with the tip of his tail.
"Oh, right, I almost forgot. I saw your memories just now, and indeed, you haven't." Jin An stated forgetfully, as if it were a matter of fact.
Then he added, as if it were natural.
"Since that's the case, let me do it."
This "let me do it" was not a suggestion to teach him.
Instead, he used his tail to draw a floating formation in the milky white lake water.
Then, the formation split into two, with one part entering Duan Chen's body and the other entering Jin An's.
"Ah..." Duan Chen's brow furrowed immediately, and a broken gasp escaped his lips.
The pain was excruciating.
It was so painful he was beyond help.
He endured it fiercely, feeling as if his bones were being ground to dust and reassembled.
After a long while, he felt his body suddenly lift.
With a splash, Duan Chen fell back into the milky white lake water.
He was pulled by the tail tip, drenched in the lake water.
After a very, very long time, Duan Chen finally felt the pain in his body slowly subside.
He opened his eyes in a disheveled state.
"Now you can tell me, right?"
However, all he received in return was a string of laughter.
"Hehehehehehehe."
"..." At that moment, Duan Chen really wanted to ignore everything and go smash Jin An's head.
But Jin An hadn't completely infuriated Duan Chen.
Perhaps it was because he had finally achieved his wish of being contracted, and was in a particularly good mood. He swayed his head and told Duan Chen some secrets.
"I would like to tell you, but you might not want to know."
Duan Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.
Before he could say anything, Jin An quickly elaborated.
"Moreover, if this question is revealed, it's highly likely to stimulate you, causing your current strength to plummet to a very terrifying level. Do you still want to hear it?"
Duan Chen fell into silence.