White-Robed Chief

Chu Li put down his teacup and asked, “Is Duan Wuya well respected among the students here?”

Zhou Hange nodded. “He is the leader of the normal students.”

“Normal students…” Chu Li pondered.

Chu Dazhi replied, “We have two kinds of students in the Crouching Bull Mountain. One type originates outside of the mountain. The other type is students who are the offspring of the older students of this mountain.”

Chu Li asked, “Do both the sides hate each other?”

“Not really,” Chu Dazhi said, “though there’s a difference between the two. We cannot play together. We are already separated from the very beginning, and we have our respective leaders as well. Our side has Murong, and they have Duan Wuya.”

“Murong Liang?” Chu Li became serious and nodded. “Well, that is reasonable. He is the son of Elder Murong anyway.”

Chu Dazhi said, “We only listen to Senior Zhou. We only pushed Murong as our leader because he is the son of Elder Murong. No matter what, we still only follow Senior Zhou.”

Zhou Hange waved his hands and smiled. “Don’t say that. I am not that well respected.”

“Senior Zhou you are too humble!” Chu Dazhi blurted, “We all understand.”

Zhou Hange replied, “I really don’t do anything.”

“That is the reason why everyone likes you – it’s because you don’t do anything,” Chu Dazhi replied, “you are fair to everyone. You never boast about anything, and your dad is an elder too, so everyone just follows you around.”

Zhou Hange laughed. “The last one was the main point right.”

“Interesting.” Chu Li slowly nodded. “Who is stronger?”

Zhou Hange replied, “I am at the same level as Duan Wuya.”

Chu Dazhi suddenly piped in, “I hate Duan Wuya though. He is so arrogant and full of pride; he thinks that everyone else is unworthy!”

“Zhou Hange, you are weak in comparison with him.” Chu Li turned and looked at Duan Wuya before calmly continuing. “He is a grandmaster.”

“Ah?” Chu Dazhi was shocked.

Zhou Hange was surprised too and immediately sought confirmation. “Really?”

Chu Li nodded. “I reckon that he just went through isolated cultivation. You guys didn’t hear anything about it?”

“You must go into isolated cultivation at least once per year once you become an innate master,” Zhou Hange said.

Chu Li continued. “He is at Murong Liang’s level. They both keep their abilities hidden.”

Zhou Hange’s face turned sour. He always thought he was equal to Duan Wuya, but it was all just illusion. He was so far behind Duan Wuya!

Chu Dazhi asked curiously, “Is he really a grandmaster?”

Chu Li glanced but did not answer him.

“This guy is talented!” Chu Dazhi shook his head in disbelief.

Chu Li said, “You guys are a step behind him. Focus and work harder, alright?”

“Yes.” they enthusiastically nodded.

After this, they relaxed and enjoyed their meals.

“Did you hear? Another senior was killed,” a voice talking nearby said in a hushed tone.

Chu Li raised his eyebrows when he heard this.

He looked towards their table and saw that Li Weiran was the one talking.

Li Wenran was trying to talk softly as he continued. “It happened in the morning. It still hasn’t spread through the sect.”

“Another one?” The ugly man said, “Why are the elders refraining from taking action? We can’t just keep taking these attacks like sitting ducks, we are the Crouching Bull Mountain!”

Li Weiran quickly shushed him. “Keep it down, Senior Huang! The elders are not refusing to act. It’s just that these people are so cunning that they can’t find them!”

“I don’t believe that we, the Crouching Bull Mountain, somehow cannot beat these guys.”

Huang Tao snorted. “If they were really strong, they wouldn’t need to be sneaky and stay out of sight!”

“Senior Huang!” Li Weiran shook his head. “Do you really think the elders are useless? Our enemies are too strong!”

Huang Tao gave a loud snort and turned towards Duan Wuya. “Senior Duan, do you think they are really strong too?”

Duan Wuya replied, “Yes they are.”

“Then why are they so sneaky?” Huang Tao replied, “They are just annoying us to hide the fact that they are weak!”

“The elders are not stupid.” Duan Wuya sighed. “The elders would always send someone to protect our students every time they need to leave the mountain. Somehow, they managed to beat our guardians, which is proof that our enemy has grandmasters.”

“They might have grandmasters, but we have more grandmasters than them!” Huang Tao said.

Duan Wuya shook his head. “We cannot just send all our grandmasters after them. We still need to protect our sect. I suspect that they aren’t just using one grandmaster for their mission. If not, they wouldn’t be able to distract our elders at the same time.”

“The problem is just that we can’t find him!” Huang Tao shook his head in anger and seethed. “If we can find out where they are hiding, then we can completely destroy them!”

“Yes, we need to!” Li Weiran cried.

Duan Wuya just shook his head in silence.

Chu Li looked at their surroundings. The others were still enjoying themselves. It was obvious they were still oblivious to this.

“Bang!” A tall teenager hit the table and yelled, “What, Senior Gu is dead?!”

The teenager sitting opposite him simply nodded with a solemn face.

“Senior Gu was so powerful, and yet he was killed?” The teenager yelled.

The other guy sighed and replied, “I heard a grandmaster killed him!”

“Ah!” The teenager cried out in frustration.

They had a drink together the day before Senior Gu left. Senior Gu had asked him to train harder so that he could join him to venture down the mountain next time.

But then now they were separated forever, and he just couldn’t accept it.

The surroundings became silent.

“Senior Sheng, it is true that Senior Gu is dead,” Li Weiran said, “but we will avenge him!”

“Yes, we must!” The others joined in as their faces turned purple with rage anger.

Huan Tao was very dissatisfied. “They shouldn’t have banned us from leaving the mountain! Due to this rule, the outsiders dare to bully us. If we were allowed to leave, then would they still have the guts?!”

The others suddenly turned quiet.

Huang Tao continued his rant. “If this happened in the earlier days, then we wouldn’t need to wait to take our revenge. Who had the guts to bully us? Now they know we are banned from leaving, which is why they are killing our people without any worries!”

“Junior Huang!” Duan Wuya shouted.

Huang Tao ignored him and continued yelling, “Those elders are getting stupid and cowardly. If this continues then our reputation will be destroyed!”

Chu Dazhi yelled, “Junior Huang, what are you planning to do!”

“I want to tell the elders to remove the ban!” Huang Tao shouted.

“Yes, stop the ban.” Some of the people joined in.

To this group of enraged men, being banned from leaving the mountain was the same as being kept in a prison. They were waiting for the moment to leave, and now that Huang Tao had started to battle cry, they were all fired up.

Zhou Hange stood up and said, “Seniors and juniors, this ban was issued by the mountain leader and is not the idea of the elders. Don’t forget that the leader sees with much more clarity than us, he wouldn’t have given this order without a reason.”

“Hmph, I just don’t think we should be banned,” Huang Tao said. “Even if we are facing strong enemies, we still shouldn’t be hiding from them. We should fight back!”

“What if we can’t beat them?” Zhou Hange asked.

Huang Tao replied, “We still have to fight!”

“Then be prepared for the clan to be destroyed!” Zhou Hange replied, “It’s easy to resolve issues with violence, but it is hard to be patient. You don’t understand the situation that the leader and elders are facing. You guys are living a comfortable life, yet you are spouting all this shit. Stop making a fool of yourself!”