(MC POV)
Things mostly went back to normal after Elder Qing formally took up the Sect Master's role.
The girls reported to me that they mostly spent their free time in self meditation while I was dealing with that fiasco, how diligent of them.
I made sure to remind them to go out and have fun sometimes, it wouldn't do if they ended up like the past me who only knew how to cultivate and not live life.
In fact, since they were making such great strides in their training, I decided to give them another week off, telling them to spend some time in Jin city to do some shopping or just to relax.
Though they seemed reluctant to do so, they finally left after some insistence.
This arrangement suited me just fine since this would be the time when the Minor Sects are sending their supposed talented students to various Grand Sects to further their studies. The amount of support these Minor Sects receive from the Grand Sects would depend on the quality of the 'talented' students they sent.
If a Minor Sect shows that the students they nurture are of enviable quality, Grand Sects would support them with various resources to continue their teachings. But if their students are lacking, the Grand Sects that were sponsoring them might just choose to cut off support for them and leave them in the dust.
Elder Qing had the great idea that I should use my current younger body to our advantage by sneaking into one of such 'talented' groups. Without them knowing about my identity, I would be able to better weed out the bad influences from the real talents.
We all know that it's an established fact that those young masters with some bit of talent become really arrogant and start bullying their peers, causing those who possess more talent than them to have an obstacle on their road to becoming stronger.
Do you know how annoying that is to us?
I mean sure, to others it might look like the Sect was supporting those arrogant young masters by doing nothing for the 'weak', talented ones and letting the bully continue. Sometimes this is true since those young masters might be a certain Elder's great grandson or granddaughter so they hide this fact from everyone else.
But here, we want as many Practitioners to grow strong as possible. A Sect's strength comes from the combined strength of their members after all. To intentionally put down one or two disciples for preferential treatment for another is quite frowned upon.
And if other Sects catch wind that a certain Sect mistreats their disciples, Minor Sects would refrain from sending their students to that Sect and the Major Sects would also distance themselves from them.
So no, you wouldn't see the arrogant young master mistreating the potentially OP MC here.
Usually…
There might still be some problematic newcomers so the possibility is still there, that's why it's up to us to weed them out. There's always the black sheep after all, coupled with the fact that some humans are just trashy as hell and get off on the smallest power trips.
And since some of them have begun getting smarter by acting nice in front of the mentors before showing a completely different side after their backs are turned, the problem of discrimination and bullying has yet to be completely stamped out.
Originally I didn't want to do it. This was supposed to be my vacation time, damnit! I want to lay in my bed and sleep all day, waking up only to eat snacks before sleeping again!
I did my part for society already! I want to slack!
Of course, I couldn't say that out loud as my excuse.
But when I went back to think about it, it's not really a bad deal. I can just go to some Elder's class, pretend to learn from him, play along with my fellow 'new students' and not even worry about homework and training since I already knew everything.
Hey, I could even be the 'genius nobody' to bait out the arrogant young masters easily and get them out of the way quickly! If there really are a few, that is.
Oh wait, isn't this the standard set up for the start of an OP MC's school arc? It totally is, isn't it? Maybe I'll meet an OP MC within that group?
And if you're thinking that it's weird to have a school arc right now… All I can say is the chronological order for my life is pretty messed up.
So in the end, I accepted their proposition to infiltrate into our newest 'talented' group of student Practitioners.
So here I am, sitting in my pavilion located within my courtyard with Elder Qing… No, Sect Master Qing sitting opposite me.
Sect Master Qing was in the midst of pouring some tea for me while I munched on some peaches with my feet propped on the chair beside me. Sounds of construction were going on in the background which I ignored.
"Master Lin, we received five new applicants this year from four different Minor Sects. They told us they were the best talents that they had nurtured."
"Umu…" I nodded, still munching on a peach.
"Does Master Lin have any preference for which Elder to mentor your group? Is there anything you wish to tell the Elder that will be in charge? Maybe a change in teaching style?"
"Not at all."
"Ah, also… We received some new Requests from the Adventurer's Guild in Jin city. Could you take a look to see if they are appropriate for us?"
"Umu… I'll take a look at it later."
"Master Lin, there's also…"
Seriously man, aren't I just the advisor? Why the hell are you asking me for all this?! Having the Sect Master pour tea and report to his advisor in their courtyard is just weird no matter which angle you look at, right?!
Even when I pointed it out to him, he just claims that the Sect was imposing on me so it makes sense that he, as the Sect Master, would be so accommodating to me. And of course since he was new to the role, it made sense for him to consult me with these new responsibilities.
No, it doesn't make sense.
I've never been a Sect Master either, you know?!
I even had to reject their attempts at moving me to the Sect Master's courtyard three times today. In fact, why is Sect Master Qing not living there in the first place?
Why is he still staying in his old courtyard?
When I finally got the point across that I was not going to move from my current courtyard no matter what they did, I had to stop them from trying to expand my courtyard beyond its current size afterwards.
They claimed that as an assistant of the Sect Master, I should at least have a courtyard fitting enough of my station.
Unfortunately for me, this was something that they were unwilling to back down on no matter what, claiming it was a matter of Sect pride or whatever it was.
I was still going to resist the changes until they pointed out that they will improve my disciples' living conditions with the expansion.
That was when I gave up and decided to go through with it.
That's why I'm sitting here in the pavilion right now while the workers were expanding my courtyard in the background. Of course, let's not forget our new Sect Master personally coming here just to serve me tea and report to me for some reason.
"Oh, Master Lin, there's also some new things we want to implement around the Sect, could you just take a look at these documents?"
No seriously… There's something wrong with this scene isn't there?
Oh screw it, I just need to concentrate on joining in on that new student group and slack during that time.
Yep, that's going to be my vacation and no one can stop me from relaxing!
