The Strongest Cultivation Technique: Haotian Battle Intent

The Vast Heaven Sect occupied the entire Haotian Mountain Range. The sect itself was divided into eighteen palaces, but above them stood the Haotian Palace, where the sect master resided.

The Vast Heaven Sect's disciples cultivated under the elders in the eighteen palaces, but the Haotian Palace was different.

The Haotian Palace had no elite disciples or core disciples. It housed only the sect master's personal disciples.

Gu Mingchao had succeeded the previous sect master thirty years ago, yet in all that time, he had never taken a single disciple. Who could have imagined that today, he would personally offer to take Chu Xinghe as his disciple!

Everyone present froze.

The sect master's only personal disciple!

What an honor that was!

The sect master's personal disciple had another title... chief disciple!

That was right. The sect master's personal disciple was the Vast Heaven Sect's chief disciple.

Gu Mingchao had taken no disciples in thirty years. Chu Xinghe's acquisition of the Haotian Sword Casket had finally moved him today, and he intended to pass on his legacy to Chu Xinghe. If Chu Xinghe could inherit Gu Mingchao's legacy, then in the future...

Everyone was stirred. Countless gazes fell on Chu Xinghe. At this moment, all he had to do was nod, and he would become the sect master's personal disciple, rising in a single bound to become the chief disciple of the Vast Heaven Sect's current generation!

"I'm sorry, Sect Master. I don't want to become your personal disciple."

What?

Everyone was dumbfounded in an instant. Even Gu Mingchao stared at Chu Xinghe in disbelief.

He refused?

Chu Xinghe had actually refused?

He had turned down the chance to become the sect master's personal disciple and the chief disciple?

He was crazy... This fellow had to be crazy.

Even the great elder stared at Chu Xinghe in disbelief.

To be honest, when the sect master offered to take Chu Xinghe as his personal disciple, the great elder had been somewhat reluctant. After all, Chu Xinghe was such an outstanding disciple, and he didn't want him to leave the Spirit Crane Palace.

But thinking of Chu Xinghe's future, the great elder had held his tongue. As the sect master's personal disciple, Chu Xinghe would have a chance to become the next sect master, and the great elder didn't want him to miss that opportunity.

Even the great elder had assumed Chu Xinghe would nod and agree, but he had never imagined... Chu Xinghe had refused?

"Sect Master, I come from a little place called Kaoshan Village. I lost both my parents when I was young and grew up eating at the tables of a hundred families. Joining the Vast Heaven Sect is the proudest achievement of my life. Here, I've felt the warmth of my fellow disciples, and I met the great elder. He let me feel the warmth of a home and the care of parents for the first time. The day I joined the Spirit Crane Palace, I silently told myself that the great elder regarded me as his own, and I would regard him as my parent. A teacher for a day is a father for life. I want to stay at the Spirit Crane Palace and attend to the great elder."

Chu Xinghe spoke calmly and unhurriedly, but when he finished, silence fell over the crowd.

When Chu Xinghe refused the sect master, everyone had thought he was crazy. What a chance it was to ascend to the heavens in a single step!

But after hearing Chu Xinghe's words, even Gu Mingchao couldn't help being moved.

When faced with a chance to become his disciple, countless people in the world would fight tooth and nail to get in, yet Chu Xinghe had not forgotten his roots...

Gu Mingchao had thought little of it when he heard that Chu Xinghe had shouted in the Spirit Tomb that they must not forget their original aspirations. But at this moment, he was truly shaken by Chu Xinghe. This young fellow... he didn't merely pay lip service to his original aspirations; he truly never dared forget them.

"Xinghe... good... good... wonderful..." The great elder crossed to Chu Xinghe in a single step and pulled him into an embrace.

Those words had truly moved the great elder from the bottom of his heart.

The Spirit Crane Palace had seen disciples proclaim that the great elder was like a parent to them, but if they were actually offered the chance to become the sect master's disciple, they would probably have tossed those words beyond the ninth cloud long ago.

"Good child..."

A smile finally appeared on Gu Mingchao's face as well, a smile from the bottom of his heart.

When he had asked about Chu Xinghe earlier, he had discovered that most of the elders were praising him, and for a time he had wondered whether the great elder had arranged it.

Otherwise, how could there be such an outstanding child in the world?

But now, Gu Mingchao no longer had any doubts. This child not only possessed unparalleled talent, but also a character without precedent. Perhaps it was precisely because of his utterly sincere and pure nature that he had earned the Haotian Sword Casket's recognition.

"Good child, I'll allow you to stay at the Spirit Crane Palace. But your talent must not be wasted. I'll personally teach you Haotian Battle Intent!"

Gu Mingchao spoke again, and the crowd immediately erupted!

Haotian Battle Intent?

The sect master was going to teach Chu Xinghe Haotian Battle Intent?

Only the sect master's personal disciples were qualified to learn Haotian Battle Intent, and learning it was practically the same as being selected as a candidate to succeed him.

Very few people in the entire Vast Heaven Sect were qualified to learn Haotian Battle Intent.

No one had expected Gu Mingchao to remain willing to teach it to Chu Xinghe even after being rejected.

"Hurry and thank the sect master for teaching you..." The great elder was so excited that his eyes turned red.

He now truly regarded Chu Xinghe as his own son.

"Ah... thank you, Sect Master..." Chu Xinghe was stunned.

Damn it... What's going on? Why are you suddenly going to teach me Haotian Battle Intent?

When Gu Mingchao had offered to take him as a personal disciple, Chu Xinghe had actually been excited too. He had almost dropped to his knees and bowed on the spot.

But then it hit him.

It's already harder than ascending to heaven to get stripped of my core disciple status in the Spirit Crane Palace. If I become the sect master's personal disciple, what the hell chance will I have of losing that status? How will I ever get expelled from the sect?

Cultivate step by step until I become a Martial Emperor? Give me a break. Look at all these old men around me. A few of them are Martial Emperors, sure, but they've spent their whole lives cultivating.

My dream is to get expelled from the sect...

Chu Xinghe had even thought that by rejecting the sect master on the spot and slapping him in the face like that, the normal course of events would be for the sect master, if he didn't expel him in a rage, to storm off with a fling of his sleeves, make things difficult for him at every turn, and finally use his authority as sect master to expel him.

But why are you suddenly offering to teach me Haotian Battle Intent?

Even if Chu Xinghe wanted to refuse now, he couldn't. He really couldn't find a suitable reason.

"Good child, stay at the Spirit Crane Palace. From today onward, you'll be my personal disciple!"

The great elder, who had just been moved to tears, spoke up, and Chu Xinghe nearly cried.

So I couldn't escape becoming a personal disciple after all?

The only consolation Chu Xinghe could find was that, as the great elder's personal disciple, he would probably have a better chance of being expelled than as the sect master's.

Gu Mingchao nodded with a smile, while a group of elders came forward one after another to congratulate the great elder.

Seeing the envy on every one of their faces, the great elder's face once again blossomed into a chrysanthemum of a smile.

Gu Mingchao gave Chu Xinghe a Haotian Token before leaving. With it, Chu Xinghe could go to the Haotian Palace and learn the Vast Heaven Sect's strongest cultivation technique, Haotian Battle Intent, from Gu Mingchao.

Countless disciples around him gazed enviously at the gleaming Haotian Token in Chu Xinghe's hand.

After emerging from the Spirit Tomb, everyone had either already reached the second rank or would do so soon, so it was time for them to go to the Technique Repository Tower and choose cultivation techniques.

Although the Vast Heaven Sect had countless cultivation techniques, ordinary disciples were not qualified to learn the very best. They had to demonstrate enough talent, step by step, to impress the elders before they could be granted permission to learn stronger techniques.

But Chu Xinghe had reached the goal in a single step. He could directly learn the Vast Heaven Sect's strongest cultivation technique, Haotian Battle Intent.

Thus, although Chu Xinghe had rejected the sect master, the sect master was not angry in the slightest and still treated him as a personal disciple. Otherwise, he would never have taught him Haotian Battle Intent.

The Spirit Tomb Gathering was over, and most disciples had obtained spirit weapons, though whether they were the ones they wanted was another matter.

But the ones who had it worst were not these ordinary disciples. They were the fellows who had received inside information.

They emerged with the high-grade spirit weapons they had obtained, only to be showered with a furious scolding before they could even show them off to their elders!

What was there to be proud of? That scrap metal of theirs wasn't worth a damn! Look at their Senior Brother Xinghe: not only had he obtained the Haotian Sword Casket, but the sect master was personally teaching him Haotian Battle Intent!

Compare people and one would die of shame; compare goods and one would have to be thrown away.

Compared with Chu Xinghe, their own disciples couldn't even be counted as people, damn it. At best, they were goods!

After these favored children of heaven returned to their respective palaces, not a single one escaped. They all received various punishments.

When Chu Xinghe heard the news, he spat blood on the spot!

He dreamed of being punished, yet no matter how he courted death, he never got the chance. These fellows could get punished without doing a thing. How come such good fortune never fell on him?

News that the Haotian Sword Casket had acknowledged Chu Xinghe as its master, that he had refused to become the sect master's personal disciple on the spot, and that the sect master, far from being angry, had taught him Haotian Battle Intent spread throughout the Vast Heaven Sect in no time.

After that, from the elders at the top to the outer sect disciples at the bottom, no one was unaware of Chu Xinghe's name.

When Fathead Fish told Chu Cheng the news, he spat up two taels of blood on the spot.

That day at the Spirit Crane Palace, Feng Fei personally brought Chu Xinghe the robes that marked him as the great elder's personal disciple. They were still black, but besides the original gold-thread trim, the disciple robes now bore additional cloud patterns embroidered in gold thread.

"From today on, I'll have to call you Senior Brother Xinghe too," Feng Fei teased with a smile.

"Senior Brother Feng, it's one thing for the other senior brothers to tease me, but why are you doing it too?" Chu Xinghe looked as though he was about to get angry.

"Hahaha... all right, all right... Junior Brother Xinghe, is that better?"

After the joke, Feng Fei got back to work.

Chu Xinghe didn't disturb him. Instead, he left the room and headed toward the Haotian Palace.

Over the past few days, everyone had begun going to the Technique Repository Tower to learn cultivation techniques, but he couldn't go. After all, he could only learn Haotian Battle Intent from the sect master.

With the Haotian Token in hand, Chu Xinghe naturally made his way through without obstruction and soon found Sect Master Gu Mingchao in the Haotian Grand Hall.

When Gu Mingchao saw Chu Xinghe arrive, he smiled and waved him over.

"Xinghe, today I'll teach you Haotian Battle Intent. But before I do, there are a few things I must tell you, so you don't make mistakes later!"

Mistakes?

At those words, Chu Xinghe perked up on the spot. So another chance has come?