Chapter 215: The Chief Heavenly Feather Disciple

Duan Tianya was extremely intelligent and rational, seeing many things more clearly than other direct disciples. Even before the 100th match, he had prepared himself for defeat.
His confrontation with Su Che was merely to prove to everyone that he, Duan Tianya, was no weakling either!
But in the end, he could only lose—there was no way to win.
Duan Tianya had long realized that Su Che wasn’t driven by greed or a desperate desire to become the chief direct disciple. For him, each match was just another challenge, another opportunity to hone his skills and unleash his potential.
The ones who truly cared about the title of “chief direct disciple” were Venerable Mysterious Mechanism, the Supreme Patriarch, and the four Supreme Elders.
Venerable Mysterious Mechanism wanted Su Che to become the chief direct disciple—not only out of concern for him but also so that Mysterious Mechanism Peak could gain the associated fortune. With such fortune, the luck needed for the infant cultivation stage would be secured.
The Supreme Patriarch and the four Supreme Elders also needed a chief direct disciple within the sect. Only with this fortune and hope could Tianxuan Sect survive the current chaotic era in the cultivation world, and even advance further to write a brighter chapter.
Su Che had braved countless obstacles and survived 99 matches. This final match seemed poised to fulfill the wishes of many powerful figures. So, could Duan Tianya win? And if he did, what benefit would he gain?
Not a single bit!
Even if he won, he wouldn’t become the chief direct disciple. Instead, it would disappoint Venerable Mysterious Mechanism, the Supreme Patriarch, and the Supreme Elders, and might even earn their resentment. In essence, Duan Tianya would offend the most powerful figures in the sect.
“I can lose, but I still need to prove my strength to everyone. I also want to show through my actions that I understand your efforts, which is why I’m willing to yield.”
“For the sake of the sect, I, Duan Tianya, am ready to give my all!”
That was Duan Tianya’s mindset.
Although he might not truly defeat Su Che, simply pretending to lose would allow him to earn a favor from all the powerful figures in Tianxuan Sect.
On the Battle Arena of a Hundred Battles, Duan Tianya might lose, but he would still be a winner.
……
Of course, the biggest winner was undoubtedly Su Che—undefeated in all 100 matches, having conquered all the direct disciples.

Duan Tianya’s final leniency was his own matter and had nothing to do with Su Che. Besides, Su Che didn’t need anyone to show leniency for any reason. Winning was winning—there was no need for explanations; that was the rule of the arena battles. On the Competitive Peak, cheers rang out for over a minute before things gradually quieted down. Everyone knew it was time for the Supreme Patriarch to announce the result. The nearly 500-year-old Supreme Patriarch walked slowly over to Su Che, his voice low but audible to everyone: “The Tianxuan Sect has a history of a thousand years, yet it has never had a chief disciple. It’s truly regrettable. Over four hundred years ago, I also struggled for this position but failed to succeed in the end…” “Today, I send my disciple Su Che, with his advanced foundation cultivation level and as an inner disciple of Xuanji Peak, to compete in a hundred battles and achieve a hundred victories, thus rightfully earning the honor of chief disciple!” Whoa… Cheers erupted again. After a few moments, the Supreme Patriarch raised his hand, silencing the crowd once more. “According to our sect’s tradition, the position of chief disciple allows one to establish their own peak as a place for cultivation…” At these words, the Supreme Patriarch waved his hand, and immediately a huge water mirror over ten zhang tall appeared above the arena. Gradually, a map of mountains emerged on the mirror—showing the hundreds of peaks in the central region of the Tianxuan Mountain Range, including the ten major peaks and the central Supreme Patriarch Peak. “Su Che, as the chief disciple, I hope you will continue to strive and set an example for the more than two hundred thousand disciples of our sect,” said the Supreme Patriarch gently. “Yes, I will surely work hard,” replied Su Che with a bow. The Supreme Patriarch nodded and pointed at the map on the water mirror: “You can choose a location on this blank area. Within a month, a giant peak will be erected for you. Then, you can name it yourself.” Su Che was amazed—erecting a giant peak! What an impressive feat! The Supreme Patriarch didn’t mean for Su Che to pick an uninhabited mountain as his cultivation site. Instead, by selecting a blank area, the Tianxuan Sect would move a giant peak thousands of zhang tall from another location to become Su Che’s personal peak. The ‘Zixiao Peak’ of Patriarch Zixiao, the ‘Qingxuan Peak’ of Patriarch Qingxuan, and so on, were all created in this way. Next, if his master, Venerable Xuanji, advanced to the Yuan Ying stage, he too would be given a similar giant peak.

However, Su Che became the top direct disciple of Tianxuan Sect, and in terms of building a peak, he even surpassed his own master. Such a massive project could not be accomplished even if five Yuan Ying ancestors worked together; it was necessary to set up countless floating arrays on top of the giant peak to overcome gravity and keep it suspended in the air, then have many people drag it to the location designated by Su Che… Only a super sect like Tianxuan Sect in the cultivation world could accomplish such a task. Yet Su Che also knew that this was not like those costly and labor-intensive projects in the mortal world that involved piles of bones—for cultivation sects, it was rather a form of training and tempering, as well as a grand exercise requiring unity and seamless cooperation. There were many benefits, with minimal consumption, as the materials used for the arrays could be recycled without causing unnecessary waste… Therefore, Su Che did not hesitate and quickly chose an empty area next to Mysterious Peak, responding, “Elder Master, I’ll choose this place.” According to the map, this location was only over 300 li away from Mysterious Peak, and it could be reached in less than fifteen minutes, allowing him to return frequently to visit his master… “Good!” With another wave of his hand, an image of a giant peak appeared on the water mirror at the location chosen by Su Che. It was slightly shorter than the ten main peaks, about 6,000 zhang in height. Deciding how to name this peak was originally Su Che’s own affair, but since he felt his ability to come up with names was quite poor, he took this opportunity to bow again to the sect leader and pleaded, “I still don’t have a dao hao. I humbly ask the Elder Master to bestow one upon me.” The sect leader understood his intention, nodded silently, and began calculating. The dao hao of the top direct disciple of Tianxuan Sect indeed should be bestowed personally by the sect leader. Given the sect leader’s profound cultivation level, it should be easy for him to determine which character was fated for Su Che. After several calculations, he arrived at the character “yu.” Yu? “This character is really…” The sect leader was momentarily troubled. Having this “yu” character in someone’s dao hao didn’t sound very good. It might not matter for those in the demonic path, but Tianxuan Sect was a great sect of the immortal path—having a “yu” character in the dao hao of its top direct disciple was indeed inappropriate.

Thus, the Supreme Patriarch transmitted a message and asked, “Su Che, I’ve calculated that you are fated to be connected with the character ‘jù,’ meaning prison. What do you think of that?”
“Prison?”
Su Che immediately thought of his own Immortal Prison. “Of course! I’m naturally connected to this character. It would be strange if I weren’t.”
He replied right away, “Supreme Patriarch, I really like this character ‘jù.’ Whether it sounds good or not doesn’t matter at all.”
“Hmm.”
The Supreme Patriarch could tell that Su Che agreed without hesitation, suggesting he must have already understood this aspect.
“The titles of past chief disciples have all started with the sect’s character ‘Tian’…” The Supreme Patriarch pondered for a moment before making a decision. “Your title shall be Tian Yu, and your peak can be named Xuan Ju Peak. What do you think?”
“Thank you, Supreme Patriarch,” Su Che said, bowing in gratitude.
Su Che knew that although he was connected to the character ‘jù,’ as the eldest disciple of Tian Xuan Sect, a title like ‘Tian Ju’ would indeed seem quite strange. So, he changed it to a homophone, ‘Yu.’
The Supreme Patriarch nodded gently and then announced loudly to everyone, “Chief Tian Yu, establish Xuan Ju Peak!”
Following his words, two huge characters appeared in the air: Tian Yu.
Boom!
On the stands, over a hundred thousand disciples of Tian Xuan Sect bowed in unison:
“Salute to Senior Brother Tian Yu!”
Below the arena, a hundred direct disciples also bowed together:
“Salute to Senior Brother Tian Yu!”
The voices of hundreds of thousands of people echoed through the sky, filling the world with the name “Senior Brother Tian Yu.”
At this moment, even Su Che, who usually cared little about fame and profit, couldn’t suppress his excitement.
The Supreme Patriarch quietly stepped back, leaving only Su Che standing in the center of the arena.
“Salute to Senior Brother Tian Yu!”
Repeatedly, three times in a row, as thousands of voices called out, Su Che bowed in return time and again…
Thus, the Hundred Battles Arena came to an end.
It would take a month to build Xuan Ju Peak. During that time, Su Che didn’t have to stay on Xuan Ji Peak all the time; he could go to the sect’s sacred martial arts site, the Holy Martial Hall, to inherit its profound and extensive martial arts techniques.
As the chief direct disciple, he was eligible to learn all of Tian Xuan Sect’s advanced techniques, except for the “Tian Xuan True Scripture,” which only the Supreme Patriarch could practice.
In fact, the Tian Xuan True Scripture wasn’t as unattainable as one might think. Many of Tian Xuan Sect’s advanced techniques were created by past Supreme Patriarchs after studying the Tian Xuan True Scripture.

To be precise, the Tianxuan True Scripture represents the understanding of the “Tao” by successive sect leaders. Before stepping down, each leader was entitled to add a section to the scripture, limited to 100 characters at most. Thus, it is not merely a combat technique but a form of advanced inheritance. Even if Su Che were to obtain it, he would find it as incomprehensible as a book without any words. After fighting on the Hundred Battles Arena for seven days straight, Su Che was utterly exhausted and needed to rest for several days, perhaps even sleeping for three days and nights. Unfortunately, just on the second day, he was summoned to the sect leader’s hall by the Supreme Sect Leader and the four Grand Elders.