Chapter 101: The Small World Passage Token

Amidst such an atmosphere, the Martial Venerables no longer bothered to maintain the facade of unity, walking in distinctly separate groups. Chu Hanyu, lost in thought, had fallen half a step behind. After a while, however, he sensed something was amiss. Where had the man gone? After a moment of silence, Chu Hanyu glanced to his left, only to see the man smiling at him, having also fallen behind in pace. Chu Hanyu's expression remained unchanged by the man's sudden appearance. "Is there something you need?" he asked flatly. The man rubbed his nose and said, "Can't I just come talk to you when there's nothing urgent? Can't we discuss personal matters if there's no major crisis?" Yet, hearing the man's somewhat humble tone, Chu Hanyu remained expressionless and replied coldly, "Of all people, you are the one I have no personal matters to discuss with." The man's smile stiffened. He was about to speak again, but Chu Hanyu had already stepped forward, catching up with Xing Qiluo and Yin Wuji. Upon returning to the Tianqing Realm, Yin Wuji temporarily parted ways with them, while Xing Qiluo returned to the Great Freedom Heavenly Devil Sect alongside Chu Hanyu. Unexpectedly, just as Chu Hanyu arrived at the sect, a man with an abyssal aura suddenly appeared before him. The man held a crescent halberd, his features handsome and refined, with a dot of cinnabar between his brows that somehow didn't impart the slightest feminine air. "Venerable," the man said in a deep voice. Chu Hanyu and Xing Qiluo exchanged a glance, their hearts sinking. This man was named Yang Fengming, one of the Palace Masters of the Great Freedom Heavenly Devil Sect. As a Martial Saint, he was a cornerstone of the sect's foundation, usually in closed-door cultivation to guard the sect. Most importantly, he was the Martial Saint in charge of the sect's defenses! His sudden appearance here could only bring to mind unfortunate events. Sure enough, Yang Fengming said, "Venerable, something has happened to the Third Prince."

Four hours later. Great Freedom Heavenly Devil Sect. Zhuge Yi's bedchamber.

Zhuge Yi suddenly awoke. To be honest, he had been sleeping so comfortably that he had no idea why he had woken up. He looked around, his body trembling as he immediately rolled off the bed, straightened his clothes, and knelt down with a solemn expression. "Master!" It turned out that Chu Hanyu had been standing not far from his bed, gazing at him with deep, solemn eyes for who knew how long. Zhuge Yi knelt, waiting for his master to speak. He figured his master would probably offer a few words of comfort? He wouldn't be scolded, would he? Zhuge Yi hadn't expected what Chu Hanyu said next, leaving him stunned for a long while. "I am sorry," Chu Hanyu said, "that I was not by your side at the time." Zhuge Yi had never heard of a master apologizing to a disciple, let alone so bluntly. Regaining his senses, he said with a choked voice, "This is certainly not Master's fault! It was your disciple who capsized in the gutter, and not just once, but twice... Besides, what Master is busy with is the most important matter. Your disciple knows what truly matters." After Zhuge Yi said this, he waited a long time without hearing a reply from Chu Hanyu. He didn't know that when his senior martial brother had met with disaster, Chu Hanyu had been preoccupied with the great worldly tribulation of the Tianqing Realm and a series of other so-called major affairs, leaving him unable to spare any attention for his only disciple. Now that the nightmare had nearly repeated itself, how could Chu Hanyu possibly express the shock, anger, and even fear in his heart upon hearing the news to outsiders? Let alone to his own disciple. Chu Hanyu steadied his mind for a moment before saying, "It is good that you are safe now." "Yes," Zhuge Yi replied, "your disciple is completely fine now." Chu Hanyu fell silent for a moment, then took out a dark jade token and said to Zhuge Yi, "This is the access token for that minor world. From now on, it is under your command!" Zhuge Yi was speechless for a long time, staring blankly at the dark jade token. After a while, he looked up to see Chu Hanyu holding it out, waiting for him to take it. Only then did he finally reach out his hand, though his mind was still trembling with shock, unable to contain himself. The access token for a minor world! How could Zhuge Yi not know what that was? It was something that only formed after a powerhouse truly refined and took control of a minor world. From then on, the minor world would be completely under their command, serving as a fallback, a blessed land for storing resources, and a multitude of other uses. One shouldn't think this was an ordinary item. Previously, the Great Freedom Heavenly Devil Sect had nearly fallen apart precisely because it happened to be in a period where all such access tokens had been lost, coupled with the sudden demise of the previous sect master. But that was a long time ago. After Chu Hanyu took over as sect master and took Qin Guanlan as his disciple, the Great Freedom Heavenly Devil Sect had flourished day by day. Now, the sect was once again at its peak, and its foundation was slowly accumulating. And now, by entrusting the minor world access token solely to Zhuge Yi, Chu Hanyu was essentially placing the survival of every single person in that minor world at Zhuge Yi's whim! However, Zhuge Yi was not blinded by joy. He knew full well the difficulty of refining a minor world; even his master must have expended a great deal of effort and energy, hadn't he? Zhuge Yi placed the jade token in his embrace, feeling as though the cold jade was scorching hot at this moment, filling his heart with warmth and profound gratitude. He hadn't expected that after all the twists and turns, he would still have to trouble his master to step in. He then heard Chu Hanyu continue, "Since you've slept enough, go find your second senior martial brother and have him teach you how to refine this access token." Slept enough? Right... he had actually slept soundly from daytime straight into the middle of the night... No, Master, I'm not that lazy! Zhuge Yi felt slightly embarrassed and wanted to explain, but he didn't have a face as thick as Zhang Ning's. In the end, he didn't utter a single word of explanation, respectfully agreed, and withdrew from the room, leaving only his junior martial brother Zhang Ning and Master Chu Hanyu behind. Wait, something's not right. Did Master deliberately send me away? Is he going to... However, the truth of the matter was far less sentimental than Zhuge Yi thought. The moment Zhuge Yi stepped out of the room, the look in Chu Hanyu's eyes as he gazed at Zhang Ning became complex and furious, making it utterly unimaginable that he was looking at his own disciple. Zhang Ning was not as sensitive to harmless gazes as Zhuge Yi, nor had the earlier conversation between Chu Hanyu and Zhuge Yi woken him. Seeing this, Chu Hanyu released his imposing aura to wake Zhang Ning. Yet, to his astonishment, Zhang Ning continued to sleep soundly, as if he felt nothing special about the aura of a Martial Venerable... This was truly the first time Chu Hanyu had encountered such a situation. However, he harbored none of the tenderness he had for his third disciple, Zhuge Yi, toward this brazen fellow who had made a mountain out of a molehill and had the audacity to impersonate his disciple. He reached out directly, intending to grab Zhang Ning by the collar and shake him awake. Yet, the moment he touched Zhang Ning, Chu Hanyu froze. This... this was... Chronos Dao energy? How could that be?! Though there was no possibility that he had misjudged it, Chu Hanyu still patted Zhang Ning several times to confirm his condition. It was indeed Chronos Dao energy, without a doubt. Chu Hanyu felt that perhaps he had been exposed to the outside world too little lately. Otherwise, how could he be so shocked by such a thing that his mind went completely blank for a moment?