Most intersecting D-brane vacua in the literature contain additional massless adjoint fields in their low energy spectrum. The existence of these additional fields make it difficult to obtain negative beta functions and, eventually, asymptotic freedom. We address this important issue for N = 1 intersecting D-brane models, rephrasing the problems in terms of (open string) moduli stabilization. In particular, we consider a Z 2 × Z 2 orientifold construction where D6-branes wrap rigid 3-cycles and such extra adjoint fields do not arise. We derive the model building rules and consistency conditions for intersecting branes in this background, and provide N = 1 chiral vacua free of adjoint fields. More precisely, we construct a Pati-Salam-like model whose SU (4) gauge group is asymptotically free. We also comment on the application of these results for obtaining gaugino condensation in chiral D-brane models. Finally, we embed our constructions in the framework of flux compactification, and construct new classes of N = 1 and N = 0 chiral flux vacua. † Permanent address