-The arrival of the Fang Family-
Filtering through the crowd, Jie arrived on the extreme front. There he saw a group of old men, probably the elders of this Jiang Clan were conversing amicably with a bunch of old men wearing a different set of clothes. Although there were no uniforms for these old men, from what he gathered from Jiang Chao's memories, all the elders and disciples from a family had to wear their family insignia on their chests. It's compulsory, even the chosen heirs and the patriarch had to follow this rule.
For the sake of convenience, everyone had already permanently stitched the insignia into their clothes. This morning when Hou'er brought him his clothes, he found a small insignia of flowing river stitched to his sleeves. This was the insignia of their Jiang clan, which depicts the flowing river. The old men of Jiang Clan all had the same insignia stitched onto various parts of their clothing, like their chest, or sleeves or their hats.
As for the old men from the Fang family, they all had an insignia of a tree stitched into various parts of their clothing, like the old men from Jiang clan. Jiang Jie noticed a huge amount of psionic fluctuations coming off their body. Although none of them could be comparable to the four old men or Wang Rong he met last night, they still were above common masses. In fact, now that he inspected clearly, some of these old men's psionic or qi fluctuations were a bit stronger than the old men of the Jiang Family.
"So that's what going on! Heh! This should be interesting." Jiang Jie muttered to himself as he understood the gist of the situation after seeing the old men converse with each other. Actually, everyone was too busy admiring the elders of both clans, so they didn't notice Jiang Jie standing beside them. Now that he muttered something, someone finally noticed him.
"Ah! Third young master! Since when are you standing here?" the disciple who spotted him couldn't keep his voice low and ended up shouting loudly. His loud shout aroused everyone's attention.
"What do you say? Third young master? Where?" another disciple who had heard the shout instantly asked as he looked around.
"Idiot, he was standing right in front of us. Are you blind?" the disciple who shouted earlier chided the second disciple.
"What!? what is he doing among us normal disciples? Didn't he supposed to greet them right in front?" the second disciple wondered.
"How would I know? Why don't you ask yourself?" the first disciple said while shrugging his shoulders.
"You two, I can hear you loud and clear. If you gonna talk behind my back, do it somewhere I can't at least hear you." Jie's calm voice came from their front startling them in the process.
"I am sorry, young master." The second disciple apologized.
"Me too, I am sorry." The first disciple gnashed his teeth for being beaten by the second disciple and apologized.
Although Jiang Chao's cultivation wasn't up to the mark, no one ever belittles him inside the family. Especially in front of him. Even though they were stronger, and in this world, the one with a stronger fist was always right, they were still the disciple of the very family Jiang. How can they belittle the family's young master?
The brothers mocking each other is a different matter, but they were all outsiders. Their involvement would bring calamity upon themselves and their family. Of course, this mindset didn't occur naturally. Thanks to a few 'volunteers' who were willing enough to be the 'scapegoat' the disciples all learned their place. In the end, it was loud and clear to everyone here, 'so what if I am a waste, I am still the scion of a powerful family.' A dead camel is still bigger than a horse, but they couldn't even comparable to the horse, they could only be a goat.
That's why, even if the disciples would join the camp of the three chosen heirs, they would still not go out of their way to mock or belittle another scion, or even normal heirs for the matter. All the main family in the royal capital had a few heirs fighting for the throne every generation. These heirs would always from their own group and recruit disciples. By the time they come of age, they had to show their achievement in front of the family. If it is up to satisfactory, they will inherit the patriarch position. If not, the next person in line would be chosen.
The Jiang family was no different. The first and second young master formed their own groups. Even the fourth young master who was only 10 years old this year had his own group, only the third young master never formed his own group. Nobody knew why though. Some guessed that it was because his strength and talent were too low so no one is willing to join. Some speculated that it was because he was already set to become the next patriarch, so there was no need for him to compete. But nobody knew the real reason.
Even so, the third young master would always be the elder's favorite. Nobody knew why though. Everybody knew that he was doted by the patriarch the most, but nobody knew why he was a favorite of the elders. Of course, everyone knew the true background of Jiang Chao and thought that his mother had gone into seclusion. Only the people of the inner circle knew the truth. This matter was never allowed to spread outside since it was a slap to the patriarch's face, it's his shame.
"That's all right. Say, why do these old men were showing off their power? Are they afraid that if they don't show off, we wouldn't recognize them as elders?" Jiang Jie asked as he looked back at the two disciples.
"No, that's not it. These old men were disciples of their respective family from their childhood and formed a rivalry with our elders. Every time they meet each other, they would show off their power and cultivation to each other. It's a form of gloating to them." the first disciple answered hastily, afraid that the second disciple would speak before him again.
"So that's how it is. Thank you. By the way, you said that the heirs are supposed to greet them in front, what does that mean?" Jie asked the second question which formed from the snippets he heard from these two's earlier conversation.
"Eh! About that…I heard that all the heirs should go and welcome these old men at the front gate." The second disciple stuttered. He suddenly remembered that the one he was talking with was actually the third young master. For him to be not invited to welcome the guests at the front gate, they could clearly see how vicious the competition really was.
"Ho! So that's how it is! That means Jiang Tao did come to relay me this message it seems. And left without saying anything. So vicious!" Jiang Jie smilingly said as if its none of his business, which in reality wasn't. He was an outsider of this family, stealing the name. Even if this family goes to ruin, it had nothing to do with him.