Chapter 216: Concentrated Mission

As the chief direct disciple, Su Che could visit the Patriarch’s Hall at any time to meet the supreme patriarch. In this regard, his privileges surpassed even those of the peak elders. Peak elders existed constantly, but on average, only one chief direct disciple emerged every seven or eight hundred years. Only a few truly understood the true meaning of the title “chief.”

Thus, he didn’t need the company of the Mysterious Truth Elder this time. As soon as Su Che landed on the Patriarch’s Peak, a disciple in the early Foundation-building stage from the inner sect came forward and greeted him respectfully, “Greetings, Senior Brother Tianyu. Please follow me.”

Su Che knew these were the serving disciples of the Patriarch’s Hall. Being assigned to work on the Patriarch’s Peak was considered a great fortune, as these disciples all had extraordinary backgrounds.

Fifty zhang away from the hall, the serving disciple bowed and stepped back silently—far enough that he wasn’t qualified to go any further.

Upon entering the hall, Su Che saw the supreme patriarch along with the three ancestral masters—Qing Xuan and Guang Wu. For some reason, the ancestral masters Mu Ye and Zi Xiao were not present.

Following his usual habit, Su Che prepared to bow as a disciple, but this time, a gentle force from the supreme patriarch stopped him.

“The chief direct disciple only needs to kneel before our sect’s founding ancestral master. There’s no need to bow to others,” the supreme patriarch said softly.

“Oh?”

Su Che was clearly stunned. He hadn’t realized the chief direct disciple held such status.

“You’ll gradually understand the meaning of being the chief direct disciple in time,” said Ancestral Master Qing Xuan with a smile. “If I told you everything now, it might scare you into losing sleep.”

“Yes, Ancestral Master,” Su Che replied with a bow, guessing in his heart that the role of chief direct disciple must entail great responsibilities and duties—surely not easy to bear.

“Sit down and talk,” the supreme patriarch said, pointing to a cushion below.

After thanking him, Su Che sat down. Soon, a simply designed bracelet floated in front of him.

“A storage bracelet!”

Su Che quickly caught it.

“Put it on,” the supreme patriarch said. “Our sect’s top disciples can no longer use things like the Cosmic Bag.”

It was a matter of the sect’s reputation, and the cultivation world placed even greater emphasis on such matters.

Su Che nodded silently and put on the storage bracelet. As soon as his mind penetrated it, he felt a slight dizziness. With a snap, the bracelet contracted on its own and disappeared beneath his skin, leaving no trace at all.

Su Che suddenly understood—it was a form of automatic ownership. From now on, anyone other than him who wanted to open this bracelet would first have to erase the mental imprint on it. Doing so required not only extremely high cultivation skills but also mastery of this art. If the mental imprint were forcibly erased through violent means, the storage space inside the bracelet would collapse, and its contents might end up in some unknown dimension, never to be recovered. After the ownership was established, Su Che penetrated his mind once again and saw that the storage space was quite vast, measuring twenty zhang in length, width, and height, capable of holding countless items. Although the Immortal Prison didn’t particularly value such things, since it was a gift from his master, there was no reason to refuse it. In that huge storage space, a single white Dao robe floated alone. Its style was similar to the disciple robe he was wearing now, with the difference being that three golden threads were embroidered on the cuffs and collar. Regular disciples only had three silver threads. Undoubtedly, there was only one robe with golden threads in the entire Tianxuan Sect. If observed carefully with the power of the Eye of Dharma, countless tiny runes could be seen on what appeared to be ordinary fabric, forming dozens of extremely complex arrays. This clearly showed that this robe was a high-grade magical artifact. “It’s a pity that the robe for the chief direct disciple is a top-grade treasure. You can’t wear it until you reach the Golden Core stage,” said the sect leader with a meaningful smile. “This is because past sect masters never imagined that a disciple in the later stages of Foundation Establishment could become the chief direct disciple. So, figure out how to get your own robe before reaching the Golden Core stage.” “I understand,” Su Che nodded. He knew well that the so-called “figure it out by yourself” meant a simple method: pull out the two silver threads from his current inner disciple robe and sew in three golden threads… It was the only way to make do, as his cultivation level was too low—he wasn’t even at the early Golden Core stage yet… Next, it was time to discuss the important matters. Another jade slip floated in front of Su Che. The sect leader said, “I’ve assigned you a few tasks. Try to complete them all within a month.” “Tasks? I already have tasks so soon?” Su Che was puzzled and asked instinctively, “Weren’t we told that after becoming the chief direct disciple, I could enter the Holy Martial Hall to inherit cultivation techniques?”

“For you, it’s not necessary yet!” Grandmaster Guangwu took over the conversation, his tone carrying a peculiar sense of frustration: “It’s better to master one skill thoroughly than to be mediocre in ten. You focus on fire-based cultivation techniques and possess an elite spiritual treasure of the fire type—strengthening these two aspects should be your top priority.”
“An elite spiritual treasure?”
Su Che was slightly surprised to learn that his bronze treasure gourd was actually an elite spiritual treasure second only to Dao artifacts.
“I guessed you didn’t realize its true value,” Grandmaster Guangwu said resentfully. “With such a precious item, you’ve gone and wasted it with some Earth Fire… I’m almost annoyed by you…”
He temporarily suppressed his anger and spoke in a calmer tone, continuing, “The tasks assigned to you are to gather several truly high-grade spiritual flames. First, improve your own cultivation level and the power of your spiritual treasure. As for the cultivation techniques of the Sacred Martial Hall, once you reach a bottleneck in your cultivation, you’ll have plenty of time to receive the inheritance.”
“Yes, Grandmaster.”
Su Che replied respectfully, thinking to himself, “It seems that although the grandmasters don’t know I’m practicing the top-tier technique, Fire God Art, they’ve already figured out that the next step—reaching the Core Formation—is closely related to gathering various spiritual flames…”
“Yes,” Lao He replied. “These Yuan Ying elders have sharp eyes!”
At that moment, the Supreme Patriarch spoke again, “The cultivation world is in chaos. As the chief disciple of our sect, you will face many challenges from disciples of other sects in the future. By then, it won’t be friendly competitions but brutal battles to the death. Your cultivation level is still too low. If possible, reach Core Formation as soon as possible.”
Su Che nodded. “Indeed, reaching Core Formation is related to gathering various spiritual flames. Thank you, Grandmaster, for providing so many sources of spiritual flames.”
Su Che had already guessed that the jade slip in his hand must contain detailed information about various spiritual flames. This information was extremely valuable; otherwise, he wouldn’t know where to find them.
Moreover, since the grandmasters disdained Earth Fire so much, the spiritual flames they provided must be of very high quality.
“Obtaining these spiritual flames isn’t easy. Be careful and don’t underestimate them,” Grandmaster Guangwu warned solemnly.
Su Che quickly agreed.
The Supreme Patriarch also smiled and said, “The path of cultivation lies in constantly challenging oneself, enduring various hardships, and overcoming obstacles. So, no one will help you with gathering spiritual flames—you’ll have to work hard on your own.”

“I understand,” Su Che nodded in response. “As the chief true disciple, I must not become a parasite within the sect. I am willing to face any challenge.”
“The threat from the Taiyi Sect remains unresolved. After leaving, do not reveal your true identity. Try to return to the sect within a month—by then, your Xuanju Peak should be almost complete,” added Master Qingxuan finally.
“By then, the title of chief true disciple of the Tianxuan Sect will be known throughout the entire cultivation world.”
…
Half an hour later, Su Che returned to Xuanji Peak. First, he went to the residence area for true disciples and found Duan Tianya’s cultivation cave.
Inside the cave, it wasn’t just Duan Tianya alone—Ruyi, Fengjun, Songtao, and Lingyun were also there.
Su Che had long heard that the five of them belonged to the same small faction, and today he saw it with his own eyes.
“Greetings, Senior Brother Tianyu.”
Although Su Che was still wearing the robes of an inner sect disciple, at this moment, these five true disciples of Xuanji Peak all bowed respectfully to him.
Especially Songtao, ranked seventh, appeared extremely embarrassed.
He could still vaguely remember what Songtao had said to him that day on the mountain path, “Run a errand for me at Tianji Peak, and I’ll reward you with twenty spirit stones…” It hadn’t even been a year, yet that inner sect disciple who had reached the highest level of Qi cultivation had now become the chief senior brother among over two hundred thousand disciples in the sect.
Just now, the five of them had gathered together, marveling at how incredible all this was… Now, Songtao was even more dazed, thinking it might all just be a dream. Perhaps when he woke up, he would still be that humble inner sect disciple, while he would remain the lofty true disciple senior brother…
It was all just a dream…
Since Su Che was now the senior brother of everyone, he naturally wouldn’t dwell on that minor incident from before. A senior brother should possess the grace and composure befitting his position.
That’s why Su Che came here and, in front of them, took out the Tianmu Jijian from the bronze treasure gourd and handed it to Duan Tianya.
Although he fully had the right to keep the spoils from the arena battle, logically speaking, it was merely a competition among peers, not a real battle. From a higher perspective, as the senior brother, he should return the item to his junior brother.
“Thank you, senior brother,” Duan Tianya smiled as he put away his beloved sword.
“You’re welcome, junior brother,” Su Che said with a smile. “How about we have another match on the Competition Peak in half a year?”
“It would be an honor.”

Duan Tianya agreed readily, also understanding from Su Che’s words that he would surely be able to form a pill core within half a year. To this day, no one questioned Su Che’s confidence. After Su Che left, the five members of the small faction sat down again, all in silence. After a while, the perceptive Ruyi asked softly, “Song Tao, why do you always look so strange every time you see him?” “Huh? Nothing much…” Song Tao was stunned and certainly refused to mention the embarrassing incident from that day. Only then did he realize it wasn’t a dream—it was just that the other person didn’t want to dwell on it. Duan Tianya smiled faintly and said in a low voice, “After all, we share a bond as fellow members of Xuanji Peak. Getting closer to him in the future can’t hurt.” The other four nodded gently. To be honest, they were still a bit unaccustomed to having such a senior master as their leader. “I’m wondering what Yu Qing will think when he returns to the sect and learns about these changes.” Duan Tianya looked up and smiled, “I’m really looking forward to it…”