Stuck in a Chinese novel - Chapter 158

Chapter 158: Core disciples
Chapter 158

The core disciples of any sect were treasures of that sect.

Their status was higher than any other. They were like a class monitor, whose authority couldn’t be questioned in any way because they were the teacher’s favorite.

Some even had immunity when it came to certain sets of rules. They could kill outer and inner circle disciples and get away with it unless there were some complications involved, such as politics.

As Wei Jun entered the core courtyard that led to the main part of the palace, all eyes turned to him. He, who had almost zero interaction with the sect, could see some faces he found some familiar faces.

One of them was Ju Bai Lu, who ran away. That was how Wei Jun had named him since he didn’t know his real name. Ju Bai Lu was looking at him with clear hatred, surrounded by his clique.

And then there was his lovely newly wedded wife who was looking at him with a smile. But only Wei Jun could see the truth behind that smile.

Finally, Wei Jun another familiar face standing next to Liu Yu. He had seen her this morning, and also when he woke up to find everything different.

His maid. Or, to be more precise, his wife’s maid, or servant, whatever fitted the situation best.

‘I didn’t think she would blatantly show it like that,’ Wei Jun said inwardly before it clicked him inside as to why. The news of his split personality was breached. Liu Yu knew about it.

Wei Jun just gave all of them a cursory glance before he followed Lin Ruan who made her way to Sun Ruan. Sun Ruan stood along with the elder who was Liu Yu’s master, Elder Zhiang.

But there were some other old men, along with old women, who were old but pristine, without a wrinkle on their faces. There were also some young men and women about whom when Wei Jun asked Lin Ruan, he came to know that they were newly appointed elders from the core circle.

When Wei Jun gauged their power, they were strong, at least three times stronger than him, Qi stat wise of course. He was confident as long as it was a pure physical match, he was stronger than many other cultivators. Maybe even Sun Ruan.

“We greet Elder Ruan,” Lin Ruan said. Wei Jun followed suit for the sake of not standing out.

“Haha! It’s good that you both made it here. Now quickly, greet the other elders. There are some new faces around,” Sun Ruan said while pointing at the newly appointed elders.

Lin Ruan nodded and once done with the old elders, they also greeted the younger ones, out of which, a few men flirted with Lin Ruan which she dismissed with a polite smile and some women made straight moves on Wei Jun whom he just stared at, without any apparent expression on his face.

“Now, leave us. Go be among your peers,” Sun Ruan said. Lin Ruan and Wei Jun weren’t given any special treatment from the looks of it, now were they heavily flattered by the new elders so they could win some brownie points from the old elder.

Wei Jun made sure to take in every small detail he could. He noticed some elders were hostile, from their gazes to the way they answered to their greeting, Wei Jun could get a hold of the situation.

He also noticed the absence of a certain person. The sect master. He wasn’t there. The elders were but not the sect master.

It was the law of the sect; the elders were of the same rank. So the more elders you had on your side, the more influential you were in the absence of the sect leader.

Currently, Wei Jun counted a total of fifteen elders, old and new combined. Sun Ruan had four on his side, making him the largest force in there. His haters, or at least those who were hostile to him, were four in number.

After that were the six new elders who may or may not have chosen a faction yet. Although the elders were equal in authority, seniority mattered. So although the young elders were equal in authority to the old ones, they needed to be careful about who to make enemies and who to not.

‘Two factions…’ Wei Jun thought inwardly, and from the looks of it, Sun Ruan had the leading faction.

“Elder Zhiang, was he also in grandfather’s faction?” Wei Jun asked Lin Ruan while they were descending the stairs and making their way to the core disciples.

“Neutral. Well, almost neutral because he couldn’t recklessly decide on a side. On one side was the sect master’s brother and on the other was the strongest elder in the sect who was adequately favored by the sect master.” Lin Ruan whispered, making sure their conversation remained between them.

Wei Jun didn’t need to know anymore. He understood the gist of the situation clearly from just those words. Sun Ruan was strong but the other party had the advantage of being the sect master’s brother.

But the reason that Sun Ruan was still in the competition was that he was the strongest after the sect master. So currently, for the battle of succession, there were only two candidates and one of them had the edge of power while the other one had the advantage of nepotism.

Still, Elder Zhiang, Liu Yu’s master was on the side of Sun Ruan so it didn’t make sense why she was on the other party’s side.

[Maybe she is on no one’s side]

That was also a possibility and knowing her nature, the odds of that were pretty high. Wei Jun looked at her. She was chatting with the girl who was supposed to be his maid.

Wei Jun didn’t know what was going through her mind but she was a power-hungry woman and there was no doubt she would go far, very far, for her goals.

‘But…’ Wei Jun had given her enough warnings. If she didn’t back off now, he wasn’t going to take it easy on her anymore. Until now, all he had taken was materialistic, but now, he was going to take away a lot more.

Lin Ruan and Wei Jun arrived among the rest of the disciples. Some of the disciples came to them and stood with them, engaging in conversation with Lin Ruan.

Wei Jun could tell who these people were. They were from the same side of the faction. For some reason, Liu Yu was also with them, along with her maid.

“How are you, my dear husband?” She asked with an affectionate smile.

Wei Jun stared at her for a moment while the others remained quiet, looking at their interaction, “I’m doing fine, thanks.”

“Xao Min tells me that you didn’t come home for a few days, where were you?” Liu Yu asked.

“I was busy sorting some things out.” Wei Jun straightforwardly replied.

“Is that so?” She asked before she came forward, awfully close to Wei Jun, and circled her finger on his chest as she asked, “I don’t have to worry about another woman, do I?”

Wei Jun stared at her once again, this time, with no pretend in his eyes. Liu Yu chuckled and continued, “I especially hate it when you are with that wench Xia Lu.”

Wei Jun remained consistent, his eyes unwavering. If this level of provocation was enough to make him angry, he wouldn’t have been a successful man in his life.

Wei Jun just stared at her, no reply out of his mouth. Liu Yu also noticed that behavior and couldn’t help but shake her head slightly. She knew that her provocation wasn’t going to work no matter what she did so she said, “Ah, there is someone I would like you to meet.”

She then looked at the man approaching them with his own group. That man was none other than Ju Bai Lu. Lin Ruan stared at him but she didn’t comment on anything. All said and done, he was the blood of the sect master even though he wasn’t highly regarded.

Any remark on him was a remark on the sect master and that would be detrimental for everyone, his allies or otherwise.

“Nice to meet you,” Ju Bai Lu said with a smile as he extended his hand and introduced himself with a smile, “I’m Ju Bai Lu, the nephew of the sect master.”

[Translation: Know your place. You connection less weakling]

‘Shut it,’ Wei Jun shot the obvious translation of the system.

Wei Jun didn’t take the hand. He just looked at him in the eyes. He hadn’t introduced himself as the son of an elder but the nephew of the sect master.

The meaning behind that sentence couldn’t have been clearer. It was just as the system had said, Ju Bai Lu was threatening Wei Jun.

Wei Jun smiled and said, “How’s your arm?”

Ju Bai Lu’s expression changed. He tried very hard to keep that contorted expression full of anger to keep off of his face.

“What do you m—” Ju Bai Lu was about to ask but Wei Jun interrupted him by saying, “It would have been quite severe seeing as you ran away with your tail between your legs.”

The contorted expression was no longer suppressed.

And to make it worse, Wei Jun added one final touch, “I gave you a nickname after that. “Nephew Runaway”. How about that?”

“You crazy fu——“