Chapter 58: Source Power Crystal

At present, Chu Hanyu was completely unaware of all these strange “common sense” rules; he had only grasped one thing: the Demon Lord of the Divine Cauldron was obsessed with his daughter! As soon as Chu Hanyu arrived at the Boundless Sect, he was pulled inside by Yin Wuji, who appeared rugged and cold. Chu Hanyu initially assumed Yin Wuji was a thorough martial fanatic, eager to drag him into a fight! His heart leapt with anticipation.

Unexpectedly, once inside, Yin Wuji handed him a jug of wine, invited him to drink, and began pouring out his grievances, behaving like a resentful housewife. He spoke at length about how his daughter was once so well-behaved and sweet, but as she grew older, she became distant, wouldn’t cling to him, and lately, had even run away from home!

Though he knew where his daughter had gone, he was still worried and didn’t dare follow her. Over the years, he had played both father and mother to her—wasn't that difficult enough? Why did his precious daughter still think of her righteous mother who abandoned both husband and child? And so on, endlessly.

After a while, he shifted to praising his daughter’s beauty and her unparalleled martial talent, as if he hadn’t just been complaining about her heartlessness.

Perhaps Chu Hanyu’s eyes betrayed his boredom, for eventually, Yin Wuji stopped his seemingly endless rambling. “What? After all this, you haven’t understood my meaning?”

Chu Hanyu blinked. “Weren’t you speaking plainly?”

Yin Wuji was infuriated by Chu Hanyu’s feigned ignorance. “My daughter has been recruited as a disciple by your fifth pupil into the Grand Freedom Demon Sect, and she’s now under his tutelage! I’m warning you—”

Yin Wuji raised his brow, about to issue a stern threat; after all, his beautiful only daughter was the apple of his eye. Yet, upon hearing this, Chu Hanyu’s expression turned even fiercer than his. “Rest assured! I will never allow your daughter to have any chance to corrupt my disciple!” With that, he swept his sleeves and departed, the chair he’d been sitting on vanishing into smoke and dust from the force of his emotional outburst.

Yin Wuji took quite some time to recover, muttering, “Isn’t it the opposite? Mine’s the daughter, his is the bratty boy! This Chu Hanyu!... Is he really that protective of his disciple?”

Elsewhere,

Chu Hanyu stormed out, instinctively sensing the direction of Zhang Ning, and sped toward it, a strange urgency in his heart as if his precious cabbage was about to be snatched away.

However, Chu Hanyu ultimately failed to meet Zhang Ning. His inexperience with spatial powers caused him to overshoot several times, nearly bouncing back and forth across Zhang Ning’s location (with excessive force). Yet, as he exerted his powers, Chu Hanyu felt a unique sensation growing stronger—a clarity sharpening his mind.

Thus, “Chu Hanyu” went offline, and Chu Hanyu himself came online.

The awakened Chu Hanyu ignored the reason he appeared in the heart of the Hundred-Thousand Mountains, his indifferent eyes gazing straight toward the center of the range.

“So I can’t see through it? This unsettling feeling… Another Martial Lord is about to emerge, and not one of our race? Perhaps… not even from our Azure Heaven Realm?”

Further speculation was pointless. Chu Hanyu sent a message to Xing Qiluo as a precaution, wrapped himself with several arrays, made other preparations, and plunged through space again. When he reappeared, he found himself inside a cave.

At a glance, Chu Hanyu nearly lost his mind.

A massive lion-shaped monster lay there, sleeping soundly, clutching a crystal the size of a football—so beautiful it seemed otherworldly, a transparent source crystal, precisely what Chu Hanyu and his fellow Martial Lords had been desperately seeking.

Chu Hanyu was about to explode with rage! The Azure Heaven Realm’s source power was so depleted it could barely persist, causing each successive world calamity to worsen. Not long ago, only five years past, the Moon-Stepping Demon Lord perished because of this; before that, an Immortal Lord was reduced to ashes… and so was his eldest disciple!

Yet, the constant influx of talent and techniques had reached a critical juncture, always pushing the world toward renewal! But with so little source power, if the Azure Heaven Realm somehow managed to ascend into a great world, that would be fine. If the ascension failed… the entire realm and its countless billions of lives—except for the Martial Lords—would not escape disaster!

For this, they had even chosen to be the eternal sinners of the Azure Heaven Realm, from the previous generation onward. Despite the flourishing of myriad techniques, they upheld martial arts above all else, marking the path of cultivation with a deep scar!

For the sake of the realm, they sacrificed everything, resorted to any means, refused to ascend…

And now, some unknown monster had struck lucky, obtained the source crystal, and instead of integrating it into the Azure Heaven Realm, was simply gnawing on it!

That was not something a living being should possess. The consequences of power without virtue were dire. Judging by the trace of chaotic demon energy on it, the laws it comprehended could never support such mighty power. If it succeeded in breaking through to Martial Lord, it would be a mindless, indiscriminate force—precisely what the world calamity desired.

Thinking of all this, Chu Hanyu could no longer restrain his fury. With a flick of his wrist, he drew forth the long-unused Firelash, his personal divine weapon, and squared off against the lion monster's awakening gaze.

Beside the wine-fruit tree,

Meng Meng, feeling guilty, dropped her fruit and said, “What was that? What can’t you mix with this fruit?”

Zhang Ning laughed, “Wine-fruit shouldn’t be eaten together with the sour Dizzy-fruit. Dizzy-fruit alone makes one insensitive to pain; wine-fruit alone tastes sweet. But together, they’re usually used for certain adult amusements… you know, I’d be a rogue if I said more! …Are you shaking my tree?”

Meng Meng replied, “I’m not. Go on!”

Zhang Ning continued, “Oh, oh, even so, it’s a normal use, but combined, it causes terrible consequences. Never satisfy someone who has eaten both fruits at once, or they’ll forever be obsessed, their mind consumed by desire, reduced to a puppet and plaything for others! Ahem… Of course, don’t ask how I know this secret (system library)….”

Meng Meng murmured in dismay, “But I’ve already eaten…”

Zhang Ning was startled, glancing down from the tree, and saw a half-eaten Dizzy-fruit!

Just as he was about to lose his temper, his gaze caught something in the distance. Meng Meng, hearing his silence, felt at fault. “Sorry, are you so angry you can’t speak? …Is there any solution?”

Zhang Ning simply said, “Miss Meng, do you think we’ll make it past this trial?”