Chapter 4699: I Must Take You In As My Disciple

The faces of the crowd could be summarized in three emotions—bewilderment, shock, and disbelief. They couldn’t understand what was going on here.

Why would Tu Yuanyuan, for no good reason, give her bestowment to Duan Liufeng? They shouldn’t be related to one another at all!

“Why are there two sets then?”

Instead of taking the bestowment, Duan Liufeng asked out of curiosity.

“One of them is from Tu Yuanyuan, and the other one is from the junior you have recruited, Chu Feng,” the elder from the North Tortoise Hall explained.

“Chu Feng? Lord Elder, could there be a mistake here? Chu Feng is of the lowest aptitude, so why would the high bestowment be given instead?” Elder Qian voiced his incomprehension.

He was the most concerned about the matter regarding Chu Feng as compared to everyone else.

“The results of Chu Feng’s aptitude test do reflect him to be of the lowest aptitude, but his cultivation has reached rank one Utmost Exalted level,” the elder of the North Tortoise Hall replied.

“Rank one Utmost Exalted level?”

Those words brought ripples of shock to the crowd in the palace.

As outer elders who had been recruiting new juniors every year, they had seen plenty of talented people. They knew that if anyone junior who had reached rank one Utmost Exalted level could skip the aptitude test and be instantly labeled as upper heaven aptitude.

They didn’t think that Chu Feng would actually have such a high cultivation level.

But what was even more unbelievable here was that someone of Chu Feng’s cultivation level was actually willing to acknowledge Duan Liufeng as his master! One must know that someone of Chu Feng’s caliber could definitely get into the East Dragon Hall without any problem. In fact, there would be plenty of elders who would fight to become his master there.

In a sense, it could be said that Chu Feng’s rank one Utmost Exalted level cultivation was even more impressive than the results of Tu Yuanyuan’s aptitude test.

Most of the crowd were simply shocked by the revelation, but Elder Qian was sweating profusely. Unlike the others, he had a conflict with Chu Feng earlier. If not for Duan Liufeng stopping him, he would have made a move to teach Chu Feng a lesson earlier.

For an outer elder like him to actually offend a talented junior whose cultivation was already at rank Utmost Exalted level despite his young age...

Just imagining the fate that would befall him made Elder Qian’s collapse onto the floor in shock. He looked even more pathetic than Elder Yu.

At the very least, there were still people who walked over to Elder Yu’s side to help him up and console him. However, there was not a single person who dared to lend Elder Qian a helping hand.

All of them knew that Elder Qian had offended Chu Feng, and they didn’t want to get implicated in this.

“Elder Duan! You have to save me, please! A person as magnanimous as you shouldn’t hold it against a lowly person like me. I’m begging you, please speak on my behalf to Chu Feng. I know that I have a foul mouth, but I don’t bear any ill will!”

Desperate, Elder Duan crawled toward Duan Liufeng and grabbed his thigh, crying pitifully before the elder from the North Tortoise Hall.

He couldn’t care less about his reputation and dignity anymore. All he wanted was to be able to survive this crisis, and the only one who could save him now was Duan Liufeng.

Perhaps out of fear that Duan Liufeng wouldn’t help him, he even kneeled down before him and began slapping his own face, cursing himself for his folly.

“Enough. Elder Qian, if I meet Chu Feng once more, I’ll mention this matter to him. However, it’s up to him to choose how he wishes to deal with this matter,” Duan Liufeng replied.

“Elder Duan, I believe that Chu Feng will definitely listen to your words. He has rejected the elders from the East Dragon Hall, West Tiger Hall, and South Vermilion Hall, choosing to come under the North Tortoise Hall instead,” the elder of the North Tortoise Hall said.

“He... chose the North Tortoise Hall?”

The outer elders were shocked to hear those words.

It was one thing if no elder chose Chu Feng and he had no choice but to enter the North Tortoise Hall, but for him to reject the offers from the East Dragon Hall to opt for the North Tortoise Hall instead... Such a course of action was truly incomprehensible.

“Why did Chu Feng reject the East Dragon Hall?” Elder Duan asked out of confusion too.

“That’s because he insists on having you as his master. Elder Duan, you should start packing up. You aren’t an outer elder anymore. From this day onward, you’re an elder of the North Tortoise Hall,” the elder of the North Tortoise Hall said.

“But... I haven’t agreed to accept Chu Feng as my disciple,” Duan Liufeng replied.

“I know. This is Elder Dao Qinian’s instruction. He said that regardless of whether you’re willing to take Chu Feng in as your disciple, from this day onward, you’ll be an elder of our North Tortoise Hall.”

“I’ll gratefully accept Elder Dao’s goodwill then.”

Even though Duan Liufeng rejected Chu Feng’s request to acknowledge him as his master, he accepted the offer to enter the North Tortoise Hall.

“Elder Yu, there’s no need to grief. This ought to belong to you, and I, Duan Liufeng, won’t take things that don’t belong to me.”

Duan Liufeng passed one set of the high bestowment to Elder Yu.

“Thank you, Elder Duan! Thank you!”

Elder Yu was grateful to receive the high bestowment, just that his words of gratitude never got to reach Duan Liufeng. The latter had left right away after passing the high bestowment to Elder Yu.

...

Soon, Duan Liufeng returned back to his own residence, but surprisingly, someone was already waiting for him at the entrance.

That person was no other than Chu Feng.

“Chu Feng, you sure are a difficult man to figure out!” Duan Liufeng couldn’t help but smile upon seeing Chu Feng once more.

Duan Liufeng rarely revealed such a joyful smile, but he was earnestly happy because he realized that his judgment about Chu Feng was right.

“Elder Duan, you can’t be thinking of rejecting my request once more, are you?” Chu Feng asked.

“Before I give you an answer, I want to know... why do you insist on having me as your master? After all, you have the option not to choose a master at all. There’s no reason for you to insist on me,” Duan Liufeng said.

“I’ve heard about Elder Duan’s story from Elder Dao,” Chu Feng said.

“Are you hoping that I’d recover my cultivation? That isn’t right either. You’ve already expressed your interest in becoming my disciple even before that,” Duan Liufeng replied.

“Indeed, the reason why I want to become your disciple isn’t due to that. I’ve to admit that you aren’t the only master I have, and it’s in a spur of a moment that I came to make that decision, but I’m not a reckless person. For some reason, when I saw you, I suddenly had a feeling for it. Perhaps it’s because I felt indignant seeing how they were mocking you, or that I feel that I owe you something and would like to make it up to you... Or maybe it’s just fate at work here,” Chu Feng said.

“Owe me something? What do you owe me?” Duan Liufeng asked.

“If it wasn’t for you bringing me into the Hidden Dragon Martial Sect, those people wouldn’t have gotten an opportunity to mock you.”

Chu Feng chose not to reveal the truth so as to not implicate the owner of the mysterious voice, but his slight feeling of guilt toward Duan Liufeng did play a part in his decision. After all, Duan Liufeng didn’t have any intention of bringing any juniors in, and he was the one who forced him into it.

“Chu Feng, think it through carefully. Your path would be much easier if you choose to take shelter under a large tree. With your talent, you could easily find an elder with both strength and influence to back you up. On the other hand, I can’t give you anything at all,” Duan Liufeng said.

“Due to my personality, I’m actually a person who often gets into trouble. Now that I think about it, it might not necessarily be a good thing for you to become my master either. The reason why I wanted to acknowledge you as my master earlier was so as to get back at the other elders on your behalf. However, if you aren’t willing to have me as your disciple, I don’t intend to force you into it,” Chu Feng said.

“If that’s the case, it looks like I have no choice but to accept you then,” Duan Liufeng said with a smile.