Chapter 163 Hold it in yourself

However, it would be much later that Fan Yunfei became a legendary figure, and for now, he was only just beginning to realize that this world was not as simple as it seemed.

It was precisely because Fan Yunfei secretly possessed the identity of an Artisan that the Molan Hanfu Club was able to grow to its current scale, allowing him to firmly secure his position as the leader among a continuous stream of second-generation heirs within the club.

The reason why entering such a heavily guarded military zone felt as effortless as stepping into his own backyard was simply because this was not the first time he had been secretly brought here in this manner.

Yet, deep down, he was nothing more than a lazy salted fish! He truly did not want to get involved in matters like this!

It was simply too troublesome...

Fan Yunfei sighed again. After listening to the instructions given to him by the elderly man with whom he was already quite familiar, he felt an even greater ache in his teeth.

Seeming to sense his reluctance, the old man turned serious: "Just look at you! Don't assume that assigning you to look after those two is a bothersome task. They are figures that countless people would break their own heads just to suck up to! You brat have struck the absolute jackpot this time! If it weren't for how absurd it would look, even I would want to fight for this opportunity!"

Hearing this, Fan Yunfei widened his eyes and stared at the old man in disbelief. He knew the old man held a fair amount of appreciation for him—though that appreciation had brought Fan Yunfei no small share of trouble, the man was undeniably a benefactor to him. Furthermore, the old man's word was always law... So could this really be true? Was it actually like this?

He had originally assumed that the two people joining Tour Group 1—whom the old man had specifically asked him to attend to—were merely some privileged scions, and he had been worrying over how to take care of them. He never expected them to be truly monumental figures?!

And what kind of people could possibly be mentioned by the old man in such a tone? In the current climate, who else could be more sought-after than an Artisan? Could those two possibly be...?

At this thought, even though his ultimate goal in life was to be an ordinary person, live a peaceful existence, and stay far away from all trouble, a fiery warmth began to stir within Fan Yunfei's heart.

Five days later.

Chu Hanyu gently stroked the head of Zhang Ning, who was resting his head limply on his lap, feeling poorly and uncomfortable, and a slight curve formed at the corner of his lips.

Seeing his master smile this time, instead of the usual mental barrage of thoughts like *Master is truly both breathtakingly beautiful and overwhelmingly powerful*, Zhang Ning felt a rare wave of acute embarrassment and regret.

Oh heavens, my image... What must Master be thinking of me?

Zhang Ning and the others were currently seated on a large tour bus belonging to Tour Group 1 of the Molan Hanfu Club. Although it was called a large bus, the interior had clearly been specially modified, making it quite comfortable to sit in, easily rivaling a private sedan. Because of this, Zhang Ning had formed a very favorable impression of it initially. Since it was a tour, it should feel like a tour, and naturally, one had to ride a tour bus! Thinking this, Zhang Ning had hurriedly pulled his master to sit together with him, never expecting that such an utterly humiliating thing would happen—he actually got carsick!

Zhang Ning couldn't wrap his head around it. Having ridden in vehicles for well over a decade, how on earth could he suddenly fall victim to motion sickness?

In the end, Zhang Ning attributed the cause to the fact that he had been in the Azure Firmament Realm for a while and hadn't ridden in any conventional transportation for quite some time, which filled him with secret vexation. A child's body was truly inconvenient! He hadn't expected that even riding in a vehicle would require a period of readjustment.

Earlier, he had even worried whether his master might get carsick, having meticulously prepared some preserved plum candies just in case, only to end up having to sheepishly suck on them himself. Zhang Ning could not help but weep silently in his heart.

To his surprise, Chu Hanyu did not mind his somewhat useless state at all. Instead, he told Zhang Ning to lie down for a while on the back row, which still had plenty of empty seats, and Zhang Ning shamelessly chose his master's lap.

At this moment, seeing his master smile, Zhang Ning momentarily pushed aside his frustration and began to stare blankly at his master's face once again.

Sensing that his master's smile seemed somewhat unusual, and emboldened by their extremely close physical proximity, he asked in a soft voice, "Master, what are you thinking about?"

Hearing this, Chu Hanyu lowered his gaze to look at Zhang Ning, his warm fingers occasionally passing through the boy's hair with a gentle caress, and replied in a similarly hushed tone, "I was thinking of your eldest senior brother. He was also somewhat unaccustomed to these types of transportation. Though, rather than carsickness, it was flying magical artifacts that made him dizzy."

Zhang Ning looked surprised. "Ah? How could that be?"

Chu Hanyu nodded. "Indeed, people with cultivation who still get motion sickness from flying artifacts are one in ten thousand. Even he found it hard to believe, but at the time, he had already reached adulthood, unlike you, little Ning... He was far more useless than you are."

*Wait a minute, Master, I'm actually in my twenties too; I was practically about to graduate from university back on Water Blue Star...*

A complicated mixture of feelings washed over Zhang Ning, just as Chu Hanyu continued, "Guanlan even remarked before that if there were an afterlife, he would genuinely prefer to get carsick rather than ever feel dizzy from a flying artifact again."

"Is that so..." Zhang Ning's heart was a tangle of complex emotions, but his body was truly suffering from the lingering misery of carsickness. After a short while, he even felt a slight, uniform warmth spread across his entire body.

While mentally scolding himself for being so delicate, he gradually drifted off to sleep.

In a hazy daze, he seemed to dream of the appearance of the very first person he had ever killed—namely Chen Zilili, the traitor he went to eliminate to avenge his third senior brother, Zhuge Yi.

For some reason, Zhang Ning suddenly dreamed of Chen Zilili fumbling at the jade pendant hanging from his waist, followed by his final loss of strength to hold onto it, causing the pendant to slip from his hand and drop to the ground... Where had that jade pendant ended up again? It seemed he had stowed it away into his storage pouch himself.

Ah, right now, it was sitting in his storage grid.

Zhang Ning recalled that at the time, he had felt there was something unusual about the jade pendant. He had originally intended to ask his third senior brother or his master about it later, but due to one thing happening after another, he never found the opportunity. As time passed, Zhang Ning simply forgot all about it, only for it to resurface now in his half-asleep state. Zhang Ning told himself that as soon as he woke up, he must not forget about this matter again!

Just as he was thinking this, a sudden *thump* rang out as the car jolted over a bump. Zhang Ning instantly snapped awake and sat straight up, on high alert for any potential danger, while Chu Hanyu reassured him, "It's nothing."

Zhang Ning let out an "ah," and then heard the driver apologizing profusely to the passengers, explaining that he had accidentally run over a stray pebble.

Relaxing his guard, Zhang Ning blinked his sleepy eyes for a long moment, having completely forgotten the matter he had just dreamed about.

"Not going to sleep a little longer?" Seeing his master's gentle demeanor, Zhang Ning stopped pondering over the hazy, half-forgotten dream. Murmuring a couple of affirmative hums, he scratched the bridge of his nose and laid back down to resume his sleep.

Meanwhile, a young girl in the front row who had been turning back to peek at Zhang Ning turned her head back around at the same time. Anyone looking closely at the girl would have noticed that her eyes were already shining brightly and her pretty face was flushed crimson, as if she had thought of something terribly exciting.

Indeed, she was screaming inwardly: *Too cute, simply too cute! How can there be such an adorable boy, ahhhhh!*

The girl's name was Sun Huihui, and she was one of the very few girls among this group of travelers. In truth, this made a lot of sense; after all, this was a club famous for wild and uninhibited trips, featuring activities of immense intensity and scope that ordinary girls simply could not endure. However, Sun Huihui was far from an ordinary girl.

In recent years, she had suddenly developed a surge of overflowing energy far surpassing that of ordinary people. Even during this long journey on the tour bus—which had left most of the passengers feeling thoroughly miserable and exhausted—Sun Huihui hadn't felt the slightest bit tired. Immune to motion sickness, she had spent the entire trip intensely glued to her phone, playing games with absolute focus, right up until she was startled awake by the sudden bump.