Chapter 203 — The Chief Disciple

CHAPTER 203

The Chief Disciple

The monthly assembly was held in the main court, and the whole mountain came.

Inner-court disciples stood in front in clean robes. The outer court filled the back rows, shoulder to shoulder, with the poorest at the very edge. Shi Feng stood in the middle, where an inner disciple who lived in an outer hut didn't belong to either side. Zhu Liu stood behind him, clutching a stack of receipts as if they might protect him.

“Don't worry,” Shi Feng said quietly.

“I know you’ll handle it, Senior Brother,” Zhu Liu said. “I’m worried about what I’ll have to write down afterwards.”

On the dais, Nascent Soul Elder Tian Luo stood beside the empty high-backed chair. He Zhen read the month's notices in a flat voice: the new roster for the bell tower, a warning about wet charcoal, a reminder that the dining hall's second rice pot was not for sale.

Near the front, Gongsun Ce folded his arms. He had been watching Shi Feng's back since the morning bell.

At the edge of the court, a fat man in a clean apron pushed through the crowd. Tong Gui had put on his best robe and tied a bandage around nothing in particular. He carried a petition scroll above his head.

“Elder He Zhen! This humble merchant begs to be heard!” Tong Gui cried. “I've been robbed! Threatened! By a vagrant with a potato!”

“A potato?” He Zhen asked, frowning.

“A scorched madman with a potato, who claimed to be a Hall inspector!” Tong Gui pointed at Shi Feng without looking at him. “And that one carried the sack! The champion himself helped!”

Disciples turned to stare at Shi Feng. Some looked eager for a scandal. Others had already heard Deng Wu’s account and frowned at Tong Gui’s bandage.

“The champion robbed a coal seller?”

“With a potato?”

“Hold on, Deng Wu said the coal was half stones…”

“Shut up, you want to be next?”

Gongsun Ce smiled thinly. Shi Feng met his eyes and felt nothing in particular. He was thinking about the hut's cracked cauldron and yesterday's full sack of coal, delivered to its door with a receipt.

“Is the vagrant here?” He Zhen asked, sounding tired. “Point him out.”

Tong Gui spun around, searching the crowd. “He's, he's…”

A calm voice came from behind the dais.

“Looking for me?” the stranger called from behind the dais.

A figure strolled out from between the pillars. His robe was black and gold, spotless, with the chief disciple's badge pinned at the breast. His hair was combed. His boots were polished.

In one hand, he held a roasted potato.

Tong Gui stopped breathing.

“Greetings, everyone,” Lin Langtian said, walking up the steps and sitting on the arm of the high-backed chair like a man settling onto a favourite stool. “Lin Langtian. Chief disciple. Early Nascent Soul. Handsome. Humble. Please don't clap, I get embarrassed.”

Nobody clapped. Nobody breathed.

Then the court exploded.

“Chief Disciple Lin?!”

“That's him? I thought he'd be taller!”

“Early Nascent Soul! Same as the chief disciples of Martial Palace!”

“Wait, the champion was sharing potatoes with the chief disciple?!”

“Gongsun Ce called him a cavern servant yesterday! I heard it!”

“…”

Gongsun Ce's face turned the colour of old paper. His folded arms slowly came apart.

Shi Feng stayed where he was. He had known the stranger was strong. He hadn't known the stranger was the chief disciple of the whole sect.

Shi Feng thought, He never mentioned his position. He let me bargain with the chief disciple over a potato! No wonder he enjoyed himself.

He decided it was typical.

Tong Gui had dropped his scroll. His knees folded, and this time he didn't need any pressure to do it. “Chief Disciple! This humble one didn't know! This humble one…”

“Complaint heard,” Lin Langtian said cheerfully. “Complaint dismissed. Anyone else?”

Nobody moved.

“Good. Elder He Zhen, have someone honest check those scales every month,” Lin Langtian said. “Tong Gui shouldn’t be left to measure anything by himself.” He grinned at the frightened merchant. “And I’m only a vagrant in my spare time. Get it right next time.”

Two inner disciples quietly carried Tong Gui away by the arms. As the saying goes, he had kicked an iron plate, and he did not resist.

He Zhen rubbed his forehead and made a note. Tian Luo's mouth twitched, but the Nascent Soul elder said nothing. Lin Langtian was sitting on the arm of the sect master's chair, and everybody pretended not to see.

Lin Langtian finished the potato in three bites. He dusted his hands and looked down the long court until his eyes landed on Shi Feng.

He waved.

Two hundred disciples turned and looked at Shi Feng.

“Junior Brother Shi!” Lin Langtian called. “Don't look so shocked. I told you I was educational!”

“You said you were a senior,” Shi Feng said.

“Chief disciples are senior! It's technically true!” Lin Langtian said.

Zhu Liu stared at Lin Langtian, then at Shi Feng. He looked ready to sit down right there in the assembly. His senior brother had gone out for coal and returned with the chief disciple!

“One more thing,” Lin Langtian said, in a loud voice that was meant for the whole mountain. “This evening I'll visit Junior Brother Shi's hut. Chief-disciple business. Keep your cauldron warm, Junior Brother!”

He hopped off the chair arm and strolled away, whistling.

Shi Feng watched him go. Gongsun Ce was still staring at the dais as if the stone might explain itself.

Nothing good ever started with those words, Shi Feng thought, and went to check how much charcoal he had left.