"Maybe he thought that you already knew it. I thought the same thing after all," Zhiqing replied to Mingyu as she thought about it.
From what she understood, Mingyu had more knowledge than her. She herself thought that Mingyu mustâve known about this. It wasnât out of bounds for Long Chen to believe that.
"Maybe," Mingyu muttered as she glanced at Long Chen.
"Why isnât he waking up? Did you suck his soul dry already so that heâs still resting inside?" Zhiqing asked teasingly.
" Nope. His consciousness already left my Martial Space. I donât know why heâs not waking up. Could something have happened?" Mingyu replied in a concerned tone as she looked at Long Chen.
The others started looking at Long Chen as they also grew concerned.
*****
While the girls were worried about the reason Long Chen wasnât up, Long Chenâs consciousness was inside his own Martial Space.
He was standing before the red core as he tried to see if there were any changes to his core after absorbing the excess energy of Mingyuâs core.
As he observed his core, he found it to be more energetic. The core looked even redder and even more powerful. Previously it already looked like it contained the energy of the entire universe, but now it looked like it contained even more energy.
" I wonder how powerful my world will be after I reach the realm when I can form my own Inner World," Long Chen muttered as he looked at the red core.
"With the Red Core, Iâm sure youâll be able to form a world that is nothing like anyone has ever seen. The world would be vaster than normal people, and it would be much more incredible. Only your imagination will be your limitation," Xun explained to Long Chen.
"I sure hope so. Anyway, what is that guy doing there?" Long Chen asked Xun as he looked towards his Heart Devil, who was sitting near his Martial Soul on one knee like a faithful servant.
"When that guy had appeared here, he was so dominant that he had me lose my sense of purpose so many times. I hated him, and when you said that he was evolving and it would be even more difficult for me to contain my emotions, I was genuinely concerned. A completely different thing happened, though. Instead of becoming more savage, it became clever and stopped disturbing me."
" As time passed, he grew even less involved, and now itâs like he doesnât even exist. Didnât you say that he would keep becoming more and more savage with time, and I would be in danger?" Long Chen asked Xun.
"Why is it that I saw the complete opposite of it? It grew less and less dangerous with time, and now he doesnât even move. Were you pulling my leg to make me work hard?" Long Chen inquired.
"No. Why would I joke about that? This was what it was supposed to do from the information I had about this. This Heart Devil was supposed to be a real devil. I donât know how it became like that either," Xun replied as she looked in confusion.
"Donât lax yourself, though. It might just be the silence before the storm. Keep tempering yourself for whatever comes in the future," She told Long Chen.
" That can be it, but I have a feeling that itâll be something different. I hope that it wonât be too bad, though," Long Chen muttered as he nodded his head.
Long Chen glanced around his Martial Space one last time before he left the place.
Long Chen slowly opened his eyes and saw all the girls sitting before him. All the girls were looking at him with concern on their faces.
"Why are you looking at me like Iâm dead or something?" Long Chen asked in confusion.
"Did Mingyu really suck you dry so much that you had to recuperate for ten minutes longer than her?" Zhiqing asked him jokingly. Now that she knew that he was fine, she was back to her teasing self.
"You want to give it a try as well?" Long Chen asked jokingly as he caught Zhiqingâs hands and pulled her into his arms while he closed her lips with his lips.
Zhiqing was so stunned that she didnât even know what happened before a warm set of lips closed her lips.
Long Chen kissed her for a few minutes before he released her.
"Why are you so out of breath? Are you really saying that I sucked you dry with just one kiss?" Long Chen asked as he placed his hand on Zhiqingâs reddish cheeks. He was replying to her in her own language
"Anyway, to answer your concerns, I was not sucked dry. I can still do it with all of you many times. I was just looking around my own martial space," Long Chen continued as he shook his head.
"If your flirting is done, can this king continue ahead? Iâm getting bored here."
Long Chen suddenly heard the Snake Monarchâs grumpy voice.
"Oh? Weâre already at the edge of the Crystal sea?" Long Chen asked as he looked around, and he was right.
They were standing right at the edge of the safe zone where sea monsters didnât appear. He remembered telling the Snake Monarch not to pass through the safe zone before he was out of Mingyuâs Martial Realm, and the Snake Monarch listened.
"You listened to me. Thatâs good. Anyway, you can continue. Weâre done here," Long Chen told the Snake Monarch to continue ahead.
The Snake Monarch again started flying.
"How are you feeling now? Is that problem still there?" Long Chen asked Mingyu.
"No. Itâs solved. In fact, I feel better than I ever did before," Mingyu said as she smiled brightly.
"Thatâs good," Long Chen nodded his head.
"Oh, right. Before you listened to her problem, you were talking about something. What was that?" Zhiqing asked Long Chen.
"Talking about what?" Long Chen asked her in return. He didnât remember what she was trying to say.
"When you said that you have something important to talk to us about after you heard about Mingyuâs problem. Iâm talking about that," Zhiqing asked Long Chen.
"Ohhh, I remember. Thatâs right. It is something really important," Long Chen exclaimed as he remembered.
"Thatâs right. That was it about?" Zhiqing inquired as she looked at Long Chen.
âWhat could be so important?â The other girls also wondered as they looked at Long Chen and waited for his explanation.
" I was thinking about it for quite some time, but I have all of you with me, and I love all of you equally," Long Chen said as he looked at all the girls.
"The problem is that I am unable to keep you all with me at once in any dangerous place, and if I just let you stay in the fake world, then that wonât be fair either. I want to give all of you the best I can, but I have been failing so far," Long Chen said softly.
"Itâs fine. We know that itâs not feasible to wake with a group as big as ours. You can leave us at the Fake World," Mingyu said to Long Chen as she smiled.
"Yeah. Donât concern yourself. Thereâs our family in the Fake world too. Grandfather, Mother, and now even father is there," Xue and Mei replied as they saw the concern on Long Chenâs face.
" My mother is there too. My whole Clan is there as well. Donât be concerned," Ming Lan said as she smiled innocently.
"I know, but itâs not enough if you canât have time with me, and with you all, I canât find you all my pure care together. Thatâs why I have come to a decision," Long Chen said as he looked at the girls in full seriousness.
" What decision?" Mingyu asked Long Chen. She wanted to be sure of what he was thinking about.
"I was thinking about sharing, like deciding a certain amount of time for each of you. It can be one day or two. Any longer would be just as bad," Long Chen let out with as he sighed.
"Ah, so you mean keeping one of us with you for two days, then the other one, and then so on? That does sound better than not getting any privacy," Zhiqing instantly agreed. This was what she wanted. She wanted to spend her time with Long Chen, and she wanted that time to be only hers, but she didnât want to be misunderstood, so she never said anything. When Long Chen talked about this idea, it was as if he had read her thoughts.
Xue and Mei were excited as well since they were the weakest and most silent girls there that didnât chime in too much. With this method, they would have two days each to spend with Long Chen and to be truly there for him without considering about hurting anyoneâs feelings.