Long Chen finally reached the Empire of Du when he stopped. He kept sitting on the Snake Monarch, which was flying in a circle.
"Come on, decide. Are we to enter the Empire or not? Iâm getting tired!" The Snake Monarch complained as he took his 97th round in the same spot.
"Absolutely not! You promised!" Zhiqing told Long Chen sternly.
"I know I promised that I wouldnât enter if I wasnât perfectly fine but try to understand. We need to leave as fast as we can. Also, there is no risk. I can walk properly now, and I can also use my laws! As for the rest, Iâll recover completely soon enough!" Long Chen replied, trying to explain his side.
He knew that he had promised not to enter the Empire if he wasnât perfectly fine, but that was because he thought that he would be fine by now. He actually didnât think that he would be delayed because of this.
Unfortunately, his assumption had proved to be wrong! His words were coming back to bite him in the ass, maybe the same words that he had spoken too lightly last time.
"Mingyu, tell Zhiqing that Iâm fine enough to enter. She doesnât want to stand opposed on a technicality," Long Chen told Mingyu, trying to drag her to his side.
"Hey, donât try to drag me into this. I wasnât even there when this so-called promise was made, so I canât talk about this. But if you promised something to Zhiqing, itâs for her to let you break it," Mingyu replied as she washed her hands of this matter, not willing to get her hands bloody by taking sides.
"You!" Long Chen rolled her eyes at Zhiqingâs response. "Youâre too..."
Long Chen couldnât even finish his sentence before Zhiqing cut him off. "What you? Donât you know, sheâs being nice and siding with you by not blaming you for trying to break the promise."
Mingyu started laughing as she heard the words of Zhiqing as she had got the bullâs eye. Mingyu wasnât saying anything since she knew that Long Chen was at a disadvantage here since he was the one who had promised.
"Sigh, fine! Iâll tell you the truth!" Defeated, Long Chen said as he finally gave up and started talking.
"Actually, there are a few enemies that might start searching for me for some reason. And those enemies are really strong. I donât think I can face them in the condition I am in," he started explaining the truth.
"So I want to leave this world as soon as I can to be as far away from them as I can since theyâll be stronger than the Saint Realm Expert. So I want to leave. Leaving while not being perfectly healthy is much better than fighting the enemies while being unhealthy. And the longer I stay here, the worse the chances of that become," he added as he sighed.
As he told Zhiqing the truth, he waited to hear her response, only to be surprised that she was smiling.
"So I was right," she said to Long Chen.
" I already had a feeling that you had a reason to come here without being properly healed, and it wasnât because you were in a hurry to get to the treasures. I know that youâre not a greedy guy," she added.
"So thatâs the truth. You still arenât safe. And why didnât you tell us this before?" Zhiqing asked.
"I didnât want to worry you all unnecessarily," Long Chen said, sighing.
"You duffer. Why do you always worry about that! So what if we get worried a little bit? At Least we would be aware of the situation, unlike right now," Zhiqing chided Long Chen as he responded.
"If you canât feel free to tell us the truth, arenât we useless?" Mingyu also chimed in.
"Thatâs right! What are we even here for if we canât even share your worries? Are we even someone close to you or not?" Zhiqing asked Long Chen.
"Of course youâre close to me. Itâs just that... Sigh, alright. I donât have any good explanation right now. I guess you can blame my personality," Long Chen replied as he started looking elsewhere, hiding his gaze.
"Alright. Since leaving is important in this case, I give you the permission to break your promise. But only if you make another promise in exchange that you wonât break," Zhiqing said as she folded her arms like she was the mother and Long Chen was the kid.
"What promise?" Long Chen asked, wondering what she wanted.
"A promise that youâll leave this world successfully without any harm to yourself. Only do this if you believe you can do it while staying safe. Do you promise?" Zhiqing asked.
"That promise?" Long Chen asked as he smiled wryly.
Was that even a promise?
"Is there even a need for that? Of course, I will do that. Only an idiot would take a risk like that without being sure," Long Chen replied before he asked. "Iâm not an idiot who doesnât care about his life, am I?"
To his question, Mingyu and Zhiqing started looking elsewhere and didnât answer.
"Hey, why arenât you answering me?" Long Chen asked, surprised at their response.
"Moving on, do you promise or not?" Zhiqing asked as she ignored the previous question.
"I promise I will leave while keeping myself safe. Donât worry, I wasnât planning to fight anyone in a condition like this anyways," Long Chen replied, nodding.
As a compromise was reached between Mingyu and Long Chen, there was one who was more happy than everyone else.
The Snake Monarch was excited; finally, he was able to move!
"Finally, you two agreed! On the hundredth circle. This monarch is free of this torturous and vicious cycle. I can finally move!" he exclaimed excitedly as he started flying towards the city.
"Wait! You canât move!" Long Chen chimed in, stopping the Snake Monarch.
"Huh? Why not? Do you not want to enter now? Come On! Donât mess with your boss like this!" The Snake Monarch exclaimed, but he still stopped.
"Two things Iâm going to say. Firstly, you arenât my boss. And secondly, you canât enter the city. Entering that place with you is like entering with a big sign board that LONG CHEN IS HERE!" Long Chen told the Snake Monarch.
Unlike last time, the situation now is different. We need to be stealthy this time, so there is no clash with the Emperor of Du. Unlike before, this time Iâm in no condition to fight him," he further explained.