CHAPTER 375: CHAPTER 375: TIGER SECT GRANDMASTER

Chen Guan was taken aback. Although in this era, becoming an apprentice is not unusual, just like young Qinghua, who has a powerful master.

But Chen Guan couldn’t just casually take a stranger as a mentor, and besides, he never thought about becoming an apprentice.

He originally didn’t follow the technique route, purely skill output, rarely using fighting skills in daily life, so what was the point of having a master?

"I’d rather just pay you back." Initially a bit reluctant to pay back the money, Chen Guan now just wanted to settle it with money.

"Young man, you probably don’t know of my name, do you?" Hu Sanqian twirled his white beard and said, "My name is Hu Sanqian, and outsiders gave me the nickname Tiger Sect Grandmaster."

Indeed, after Hu Sanqian announced his name, Chen Guan had heard of him.

It was in his research on the Changbai Mountain Secret Realm that he came to know of someone like Hu Sanqian.

Hu Sanqian was originally a Tiger Fist master, who later, through continuous research, expanded the reach of Tiger Fist.

In addition to having a passion for accepting apprentices, his disciples were scattered throughout the Changbai Mountain Secret Realm and Black City. After so many years, there could be a hundred thousand of them, and that’s just the disciples, excluding the grand-disciples trained by the disciples.

In the Changbai Mountain Secret Realm, Hu Sanqian is indeed a well-known figure, and his Tiger Fist certainly has substance.

Many cultivators from the Changbai Mountain Secret Realm and surrounding Black City had followed Hu Sanqian to learn Tiger Fist.

The Changbai Mountain Secret Realm was discovered just over a hundred years ago, and Hu Sanqian has been taking apprentices there for over a hundred years.

Now many of his disciples are Grotto Heaven powerhouses, and some have even entered the Great Cave Heaven, yet he remains in the Changbai Mountain Secret Realm, mingling around.

Apart from advancing Tiger Fist and constantly making innovations, his level truly hasn’t progressed much.

His disciples gave him a respectful title, calling him "Tiger Sect Grandmaster," and people around here gradually started calling him that.

In the Changbai Mountain Secret Realm and Black City areas, the name of Hu Sanqian is still very influential.

"The name Tiger Sect Grandmaster is well known, but I don’t plan on learning this fist. I’ll still repay you the ginseng money." Chen Guan didn’t want to make enmity with Hu Sanqian but also didn’t want to become his apprentice.

"Young man, the opportunities to change your destiny in life are few and far between. You should seize them well. I no longer frequently accept apprentices. Today, I see you have some talent, which stirred in me the thought of accepting you as a last disciple to pass on all I’ve learned. If you miss this opportunity, I may not have the mood to accept apprentices again in the future." Hu Sanqian said casually.

Chen Guan thought to himself: "If I refuse again, I’m afraid it would damage Hu Sanqian’s reputation, and it might really turn into enmity. Hu Sanqian has so many disciples and grand-disciples, causing trouble with him would be burdensome. If it really turns into a fight, I’ll need to ensure everything is done quietly with no traces."

Thinking swiftly, Chen Guan smiled at Hu Sanqian and said, "Tiger Master, I too have a technique in Tiger Fist; why don’t you take a look? If you can unravel it, I’ll take you as my master, how about that?"

"Tiger Fist... haha... just go ahead and use it... anything else I wouldn’t dare boast... but as for Tiger Fist... there’s no technique I, Hu Sanqian, can’t understand... not to mention one move... even if it’s ten or a hundred moves... if I can’t break them cleanly on the spot... I’ll turn around and take you as my master..." Hearing that Chen Guan intended to use Tiger Fist in front of him, the Tiger Fist master, Hu Sanqian thought: "Isn’t that just showing off in front of an expert?"

"No need for that, let’s just learn from each other through sparring." Chen Guan said, then assumed a stance, and displayed the Black Tiger Heart Stealing technique.

This move, like Fierce Tiger Roar on the Hill, comes from the Tiger List rewards. However, unlike the Fierce Tiger Roar on the Hill, this move looks plain and seemingly useless, its power pathetically weak.

Moreover, this move consumes very little Primordial Energy, and it’s not Chen Guan’s preferred type of secret skill.

Thus, he rarely used this move.

On rare occasions when he studied it, he found it wasn’t as insignificant as it seemed.

This solitary secret skill, Black Tiger Heart Stealing, consumes so little Primordial Energy mainly because it’s not primarily a Primordial Energy attack secret skill.

Its main purpose is to naturally position the body in the Black Tiger Heart Stealing stance under the circulation of Primordial Energy.

Yes, it’s about assuming a stance, not attacking.

Rather than an attack secret skill, Black Tiger Heart Stealing is more like a secret skill’s opening move.

An opening move is generally a ceremonial technique in martial arts, used to greet the opponent and say, "Come on... I’m ready... let’s have a thorough fight..."

Or used to provoke the opponent: "Come on, hit me, you fool."

Every school has different opening moves, but regardless of which school, they all adhere to one important principle: adjust one’s stance to a position conducive to exerting force.

The main goal is to facilitate using the various techniques of one’s own style, whether advancing or retreating, rather than being a simple ceremonial gesture.

The Black Tiger Heart Stealing secret skill serves as an opening move among secret skills.

Its true purpose isn’t the heart-stealing strike upon attack but the intimidation generated before any move is made.

Once this secret skill is used, Chen Guan’s body naturally assumes a stance akin to a tiger gathering strength, ready to face any attack from any direction, directly targeting the opponent’s exposed flaw during an attack with a heart-stealing strike.

Seeing Chen Guan’s stance, Hu Sanqian’s expression turned serious immediately.

He was a true Tiger Fist Grandmaster, not in vain, and just by taking one look, he could tell the extraordinary nature of this move from Chen Guan.

Hu Sanqian observed closely and realized that no matter the position from which he launched an attack, he would inevitably bear the brunt of Chen Guan’s thunderous counterattack.

Chen Guan’s stance could be described as a flawless opening move, resembling a tiger gathering strength, ready to issue a lethal strike at any moment, making it exceedingly difficult to approach him.

The more Hu Sanqian scrutinized, the more serious his facial expression became; other people’s opening moves generally revealed some flaws.

It’s not that the opening move itself had flaws, but issues arise from normal human responses like breathing, heartbeat, blood vein pulsing, subtle body movements, or even sunlight exposure and wind blowing against the body, all of which could affect and mar the perfection of an opening move.

However, Chen Guan stood there like a painted tiger, unlike a living person, motionless, void of any normal human reactions, consistently maintaining his imposing presence as if he could never make a mistake.

After watching for a while, tiny beads of sweat began to appear on Hu Sanqian’s forehead.

He realized that unless using force, there was no way to break Chen Guan’s opening move.

Yet he had previously said he would dismantle Chen Guan’s Tiger Fist cleanly. If he now resorted to force, wouldn’t that be like slapping his own face?