Zhou Hao and Murong sat at opposite ends of the ice table, far apart. This style of dining suited only romantics; it certainly did not suit the two of them.
After all, it was exceedingly difficult to make a woman who did not even understand romance appreciate the romance in it.
And so came the current scene: Murong was eating. Mm... just eating normally, without speaking, vividly demonstrating what it meant to neither speak while eating nor talk while sleeping.
Zhou Hao naturally knew this was not how a couple should act, but in this atmosphere, he had no idea what to say.
After thinking for a moment, he coughed twice. "Ahem, ahem. Well... shouldn't we talk about something?"
"What do you want to talk about?" Murong elegantly ate her steak. With a thought, the delicate pastries in the middle of the ice table slowly floated before her and gently settled onto her plate.
The corner of Zhou Hao's mouth twitched involuntarily. Are you some kind of eating machine? You haven't stopped since you started.
He pondered for a moment, considering which topic to begin with.
Before he could speak, Murong raised her head and looked at him in puzzlement. "Didn't you say we were eating? It seems like you haven't touched your chopsticks."
Three black lines trickled down Zhou Hao's forehead. Was eating the important part? What they should do during the meal was the important part.
But... looking at the dishes that had color, fragrance, and flavor in abundance, he could not help swallowing.
He had not eaten anything in a long time, either. Now that he had the chance to feast, why think about couple stuff? He should fill his stomach first.
Thus, he began focusing on eating as well. Trying to make Murong understand what a couple was like was harder than climbing to the heavens anyway. Let nature take its course! He could not be bothered with it anymore.
Murong stared blankly at Zhou Hao as he began wolfing down his food, then frowned in distaste and reminded him, "Watch your manners."
Zhou Hao glanced at her, swallowed the food in his mouth, and said, "It's been so long since I've eaten anything this delicious. I can't stop."
Murong paused slightly, then nodded in understanding. Still, she reminded him, "Although I had the imperial chefs remove most of the energy from these dishes, it's still not advisable for you to eat too much in your current condition."
When she had ordered the imperial chefs to prepare the food, she had specifically taken Zhou Hao's level of strength into consideration.
"What happens if I eat too much?" Zhou Hao stopped his chopsticks and asked.
Murong looked at him with smiling eyes and pointed at his body.
"If you eat too much, you'll become like this—your whole body will turn red, the food inside you will condense into highly concentrated energy, and then it will act upon your body. After that, you'll feel pain."
As her words fell, Zhou Hao's reactions proved them one by one.
"Ahh!" Zhou Hao's entire body burned with heat. He cried out in agony, glared at Murong through gritted teeth, and roared, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Murong smiled. "I reminded you in time. Your intake is right at the critical threshold. As long as you endure the pain, your strength will undergo another qualitative leap."
"Ahh!" Zhou Hao had no time to speak. He felt his body hurting more and more, the pain so intense that he rolled all over the floor.
Yet alongside the pain, the aura radiating from him grew increasingly powerful, his momentum rising step by step.
Spirit Profound Sixth Stage, Spirit Profound Seventh Stage... in one stroke, he broke through into the Spiritual Consciousness Realm. His cultivation continued to rise, not only refusing to stop, but not even slowing down.
Very quickly, he broke through Spiritual Consciousness First Stage and Spiritual Consciousness Second Stage, only gradually stopping at Spiritual Consciousness Fifth Stage. In the end, he was stuck at the boundary between the fifth and sixth stages; he needed only an opportunity to break through once more.
After successfully breaking through, Zhou Hao lay on the floor, gulping down great breaths of air.
Murong came before him and bent down to look at Zhou Hao. At the same time, the chill emanating from her body slowly seeped into Zhou Hao's body, helping ease his pain.
Zhou Hao silently looked at her and said weakly, "Thank you."
Murong sat down on the floor beside Zhou Hao, propped up her chin, and asked, "Don't you blame me? For making you suffer so much pain?"
Zhou Hao shook his head. "I don't. All the meridians in my body have been unblocked. Thank you."
He solemnly thanked Murong again. This time, his greatest gain was not the rise of an entire major realm, but the unblocking of all his meridians.
One had to know that fully opening all the meridians throughout one's body was an achievement only attainable in the Divine Realm. In other words, he had already laid the foundation for the Divine Realm.
From now on, whether in cultivation speed or in fighting, he would become far more formidable.
Murong let out a soft laugh and suddenly asked, "Does this count as girlfriend behavior?"
Zhou Hao froze for a moment, then looked at her suspiciously. "You didn't help me unblock my meridians just for this, did you?"
Murong shook her head. "Not exactly. I helped you for my own sake too—more precisely, for our future child."
Zhou Hao frowned slightly and asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"
Murong answered seriously, "I cultivated the Spirit-Womb Art. Under normal circumstances, the stronger our cultivation, the less likely we are to conceive offspring. But the Spirit-Womb Art combined with the Spirit-Womb Ring can keep my eggs active, thereby increasing my chances of becoming pregnant.
"But there is a problem, and that is you. Your sperm must also reach the same level as my eggs. But since my strength is far greater than yours, my physical condition and yours are as far apart as heaven and earth. So when the sperm and egg are unequal, there is still a chance of hitting the mark, but it is very slim. Only when you possess a certain degree of strength, or reach my current level, can the success rate gradually increase."
Zhou Hao nodded in sudden realization. "I understand."
After thinking about it, he said, "So does that mean we don't need to be a couple anymore?"
For some reason, he felt a little disappointed when he said that.
Murong shook her head. "No. Not only do we need to be a couple, we also need to be husband and wife."
"Huh?" Zhou Hao's face was full of question marks. Hadn't they found a way to make pregnancy possible? Why continue with this unreliable method of getting pregnant? And it had even escalated—from not being a couple to becoming husband and wife directly.
Murong smiled. "Let's give it a try. It's not as though we have anything to lose."
Hearing this, Zhou Hao nodded lightly. That was true enough. They had already had sex who knew how many times; from that perspective, becoming a newlywed couple did not seem inappropriate.
After thinking it through, he nodded. "All right! We won't be a couple. We'll be husband and wife."
Murong dispersed the chill within Zhou Hao's body. "All right, get up and walk around."
Zhou Hao cautiously pushed himself up. Eh? He discovered that his body was not sore at all.
Murong smiled, stood up, and asked, "How do you feel?"
"Great." Zhou Hao smiled.
Even better than after taking the Body-Reforming Pill.
Murong nodded in satisfaction, pointed at the food on the ice table, and instructed, "Put these dishes away. Don't eat too much at once, and don't eat them every day. Although most of the energy has been removed, it is still more than you can bear."
Zhou Hao accepted them without ceremony. These dishes were treasures, and they would not spoil for a long time in a Ring of Holding. Taking them out to satisfy his cravings whenever his mouth itched would be quite nice.
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