Chapter 124: Forgetting the Main Matter

After entering the hall, Chu Hanyu found Yin Wuji already half reclining on a couch, drinking without the slightest restraint.

Chu Hanyu considered the matters he wished to discuss with them. First was the method he and Xing Qiluo had discovered for entering the Netherworld Space during periods outside the Great Calamity of the Earth, along with what they had found while exploring it. Second was the matter of that demon-clan Martial Saint accidentally obtaining a crystal containing the origin force of the Azure Realm. Third was the crystal that might contain origin force from the outside world, which the mysterious powerhouse had given him, as well as the possibility of finding new ways to obtain such crystals...

Of course, because of Zhang Ning, Chu Hanyu was still hesitating over how much of this he should reveal.

The fourth matter, naturally, was Zhang Ning’s wish to become his disciple. Though all four matters had already been conveyed to the venerable ones by message, some things were best discussed face-to-face whenever possible.

As Chu Hanyu pondered this, he realized that neither of the two men before him had any intention of discussing serious matters. After briefly signaling the dancers to begin, Xing Qiluo sat down and filled everyone’s cups, giving the distinct impression that the gathering was merely for drinking with his brothers. Yin Wuji, on seeing Chu Hanyu enter, did sit up properly, but the first thing he asked was:

“Why haven’t I seen my daughter anywhere in the Great Freedom Demon Sect? Did you hide her?”

“...As if! She’s obviously hiding from you, her father.”

Chu Hanyu raised a hand and rubbed the space between his brows. At last, he understood how Xing Qiluo had felt back then.

He still remembered Xing Qiluo pointing at the other Demon Venerables and cursing, “One troublemaker, one reckless brute, and one woman who could obviously rely on her strength but insists on winning through palace intrigue! Is there really only one person in the demonic path who cares about serious matters?!”

He also remembered how his eldest disciple, Qin Guanlan, had been secretly laughing behind them at the time.

After all these years, circumstances had long since changed. Two of those people were already gone, and the one who cared wholeheartedly about serious matters had been replaced as well.

Chu Hanyu cursed inwardly: “If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have bothered with any of it. Stirring up trouble is much more fun!”

Meanwhile, Zhang Ning returned to Water-Moon Cave clutching his shattered heart, only to be told that the second half of his initiation ceremony would take place the next day, complete with formal rites and a feast for the guests. Only then did he realize that, for a while before this, he truly had been so nervous that every day had seemed like a year. Yet after coming to stay by his master’s side, he had gradually forgotten all about it.

What was wrong with him? Had his brain turned to mush?!

Zhang Ning was so mortified that he nearly died of frustration. “What exactly is tomorrow’s procedure? Quickly, tell me so I can memorize it, and then we’ll rehearse it again.”

Su Ye, who in Zhang Ning’s eyes knew everything under the heavens, straightened in bewilderment. “Rehearse it?”

Zhang Ning froze, then suddenly understood.

Could it be that the other world had no such thing as a rehearsal? Even his eldest senior brother had never thought to invent one?!

Zhang Ning slowly crouched down and covered his face with both hands.

“Senior Brother, why didn’t you invent things like this? Do you never prepare a draft before doing anything?”

The following day.

The Great Freedom Demon Sect.

Han Zun said impatiently, “We’ve accompanied you through this three times already. Why are you still so nervous? Even if you get a step or two wrong when the time comes, do you really think anyone will dare laugh at you? Why are you so concerned with these trivial details?”

Because I’m not as shamelessly confident as you, big brother!

Zhang Ning curled his lip. But when he looked toward his third senior brother, Zhuge Yi, his fourth senior brother, Han Zhifei, and Su Ye, Yu Zhong, Tang Dao, Su Shangwen, and the others standing a little farther away and watching him, he could not help feeling guilty.

They had all accompanied him through three rehearsals without a single complaint. They merely assumed that Zhang Ning wanted his initiation ceremony to be flawless, and their expectations and trust in him were absolute. How could he possibly let them down?

Thus, Zhang Ning drew a deep breath and said, “Everyone, don’t worry. I can do this!”

Only after Zhuge Yi and Han Zhifei each encouraged him with a pat on the shoulder or a ruffle of his hair did Zhang Ning realize that his second senior brother, Ming Chen, was absent. He must have been outside receiving the guests.

The customs of the Azure Realm and Water-Blue Star were somewhat different. During the ceremony, Zhang Ning first had to kowtow several times to Chu Hanyu. Only after the formal rites were complete would the names be announced, followed by his meeting the various guests and offering them wine. At the end, some close acquaintances might remain behind for a private gathering.

Zhang Ning had never imagined that the most important part would come first, which was why he had remained nervous until now.

He had, of course, been preparing for this from long before. He had simply assumed that the formal act of becoming his master’s disciple would come after all the other steps. Who could have imagined that it would be the very first thing?

Still, there was no helping it. The exact procedure naturally differed in certain details, so they could not simply copy the ceremonies of his senior brothers. The complete regulations had only been delivered to Zhang Ning two days ago. And after living with his master, Zhang Ning had been so blissfully content that he no longer knew whether it was day or night. He had spent more than half a month worrying himself sick, only to nearly forget the matter altogether in the end.

No one could really be blamed for that.

With only one incense stick’s worth of time remaining before the initiation ceremony, Zhang Ning quietly glanced toward the place where Chu Hanyu sat.

The ceremonial platform was fully furnished, yet there was only a solitary chair upon it. Zhang Ning had been puzzled at first, but later he understood. His master’s elders and peers had probably long since passed away, while his friends were not suited to sit there because of their identities. As for the elders, hall masters, and other figures of real authority within the Great Freedom Demon Sect—they might be treated with deference and held in breathless regard by outsiders, but within the sect, who was qualified to sit beside Chu Hanyu?

Thus, when Zhang Ning saw his master sitting alone above them, looking completely at ease, he could not help relaxing slightly.

What he did not know was that Chu Hanyu was not idle either. He was communicating with Xing Qiluo by voice within his mind. Of course, that was what it was called on Water-Blue Star; in the Azure Realm, it was known as transmitting one’s primordial spirit through sound. With both Chu Hanyu and Xing Qiluo in excellent condition, the connection was perfectly clear.

“You can’t be serious.”

Xing Qiluo’s slightly exaggerated voice rang out in Chu Hanyu’s mind, sounding as though he still had not sobered up from the previous night’s drinking.

“You’re not still agonizing over Ning’s status, are you? Is there really any difference to you between accepting him as a named disciple and accepting him as a direct disciple? Either way, you’ll give him special instruction and teach him properly. It’s nothing more than a title. Why make such a fuss? This wouldn’t even count as a problem in our Dark Nether Palace.”

Xing Qiluo was not exaggerating. The Dark Nether Palace truly had only one kind of master-disciple succession: master and disciple. It had none of the distinctions found in the Great Freedom Demon Sect between named disciples, direct disciples, and inheritors of one’s legacy. Nor did it have the troublesome divisions of the orthodox sects—outer disciples, inner disciples, core disciples, direct heirs, and so on.

The Dark Nether Palace valued stillness of mind and single-hearted devotion. Many of its people remained faithful to one path throughout their martial careers and emotional lives, to say nothing of master-disciple succession. Even the lineage of successive palace masters had always passed to a single heir, just as it had with Xing Qiluo and Han Zun.

“Who said I was hesitating over that?” Chu Hanyu retorted without the slightest courtesy.

Xing Qiluo clearly did not believe him. He continued sentimentally, “Still, accepting him as a named disciple would be rather nice. You yourself began as a named disciple. Now that you’re taking him as your disciple and letting him begin in the same way, it means the two of you share a deeper bond. That is what inheritance truly means.”

Chu Hanyu rather wanted to end the conversation.

Truly, if Xing Qiluo had not been sitting so far away, Chu Hanyu would have gone over and wrestled him by the wrists. What kind of thing was he saying? It was both mawkish and desolate. Anyone who heard him would think some old man was sitting by the roadside sighing over the meaning of life.