Stuck in a Chinese novel

Liu Yu sat in her room, staring at the big TV, listening to the news anchor delivering the news of the new mayor's corrupt act in just the first week of his term. His biggest act against corruption, or just his own personal vile act was revealed to be his blackmail to the renowned actress, Xia Lu by instigating the arrest of her colleague.

There was a clear recording of their conversation, the lab report admitted the voice to match by 98.7% and Xia Lu herself testified.

The testimony would have been considered invalid and just an attempt by the Rising Star agency to prove the innocence of their actor, however, most of the public was in Xia Lu's opinion anyway, the nail in the coffin was the discovery of the mayor's various corrupt acts, most of which he had claimed to have never committed.

"Haha," Liu Yu laughed suddenly, startling her butler behind her. Her butler stared at her and asked, "What should we do, young miss?"

"Nothing." Liu Yu simply replied, "He's won this move. I don't know how he did it but he has revealed that he can mimic the voices of others. That's how he managed to get out of his case too."

The butler thought the same. There was nothing to prove Wei Jun's involvement in this case. Even if such an issue was raised, not many would be willing to believe it unless there was definite proof of it.

"Don't worry about it. For now, just shut him up, if he yapps of my involvement, my dear fiancée would have something to use against me." Liu Yu said as she sipped wine from her glass.

"Understood." The butler replied but didn't move from his spot. The instructions weren't done yet.

"Also, deploy a task force. He's alone in his office on Sunday, the perfect time to give him a gift." Liu Yu said, her instructions ambiguous but clear at the same time.

"I will have it done." The butler replied before he left. Liu Yu thought back to her conversation with Wei Jun. She knew Wei Jun wasn't done yet. There was still a move that was yet to come.

And she was right as the next news was the news about the selection of a new mayor, the other candidate for the Yuan Yin city. 'An ally with connections, huh? What are you planning to do?' Liu Yu thought inwardly as she took another sip.

******

"I hope you know what this means." Wei Jun said as he took his teacup and leaned back in the sofa seat.

"Now you're just embarrassing me, young master Ruan. How would I dare to not acknowledge your act of kindness that you selflessly did?" The new mayor, Chao Hu, flatteringly said. Wei Jun ignored the clear flattery and said, "Just support the campaign with all you got. As for money, don't worry about it."

Wei Jun's blatant mention of money that he had technically bought the mayor. It was an insult but Chao Hu didn't care. The seat he had been given, and the power that came along with it was worth every insult and even more.

"Of course, of course, young master Ruan. Your every command is my wish." He said with a flattering smile. Wei Jun scoffed. He hated this type the most but he also knew that this type was easiest to control.

All bark behind the back but a meek cate at the front. Wei Jun didn't care what this man said about him behind his back, all he cared how he acted when he was in front of him.

Also, there was another thing, "I hope you know what this means though, don't you?" Wei Jun made sure his position was as clear as the sky to the new mayor.

"Of course, young master Ruan. I only take orders from you." Chao Hu replied, a little apprehensive by how it was said but he couldn't say anything against it.

Wei Jun couldn't help but laugh, the scorn in his laugh visible to even the secretary standing behind the mayor. Wei Jun put down the teacup and stood up while leaving his last set of instructions, "Know this, I will be keeping an eye on you. And the insinuations on you might be worse than your predecessors."

Chao Hu kept his head down, not out of anger but out of fear. Wei Jun left the office without a word and made his way out. Coincidently on the way out, he bumped into a familiar figure he hadn't seen for quite a while now.

"Come to bribe the new mayor?" Zhao Hui asked. Wei Jun chuckled and replied, "One thing you need to know about me, detective, I don't do bribes." Wei Jun said before he passed Zhao Hui and made his way to his car.

Wei Jun made his way back to his office. For now, his movie was finished and all that was left was for the movie to be edited.

After that, the movie was set to be launched next Sunday so Wei Jun had quite a bit of time on his hands. His side hustles such as his actors doing commercials, some broadcasting, some modeling, also some businesses he had as a front for some of his dubious purposes, earned him quite a bit of a penny.

All in all, the business was going well. All Wei Jun had to focus now on was his cultivation. He didn't have any appointment until Monday so he was free for four days now.

Wei Jun arrived at his warehouse downtown after making sure he wasn't followed. He also informed Lao Chen, Xia Lu, and Li Wei of his going off the grid for a few days. Of course, they didn't know what he was doing. Xia Lu did bug him a little thinking he was going to meet girls but after a lot of promises of not doing such a thing, he was able to calm her down.

After he entered the warehouse, Wei Jun began to cultivate. This time, he was going to test the limit of his cultivation. He had done so for a whole day but he wanted to know where his limit while cultivating was.

According to the system, a mind couldn't do that for more than a few hours a day. Even closed-door cultivation was accompanied by the practice of many techniques and a lot of rest so the mind could be fresh for daily cultivation.

As Wei Jun sat down on the floor, he made sure to remove his clothes via the inventory, leaving him only in his underwear. He sat in a lotus position and began to feel that small core in his abdomen.

He was very busy these last few weeks so he hadn't done even a little bit of cultivation. So just until a few days ago, when he was practicing his Qi for a few hours which didn't yield him any results, he found something in his abdomen.

Not something physical but like a mass of energy, combined together to form a small ball but it wasn't really a ball. He couldn't tell what it was nor could he really find a good term to define it.

However, his support was useful in such a matter as always.

[That's a core]

'What a core?' Wei Jun asked.

[A core is like a condensation of your Qi]

[It takes place in your abdomen]

[Thousands of strands of Qi combine together to make a core]

'What's the use of a core?' Wei Jun asked as he had received no proper upgrade of any kind due to a core.

[You know the skill, Qi discharge right?]

'Yes.' Wei Jun replied to the system's question.

[In the description it says it allows you a small amount of control over your Qi]

[The control is a benefit of a core]

'So how does that benefit me?' Wei Jun asked.

[A skill would only upgrade if you increase your cultivation]

[However, the control of the skill, or in doing so, the control of your Qi can be increased in tandem with your core's stability]

'What's that mean?' Wei Jun somewhat understood but he still wanted to confirm.

[It's like this]

[You have a skill at level 1 at rank E]

[At rank E, the maximum that skill can go to is level 10]

[In this instance, the rank of the skill is your cultivation realm, and in that realm, a skill, or in this instance, your control can reach up to a certain point]

[It won't make it so that you can jump like that guy from Shannau City]

[But it will still grant you a more polished control over Qi, making sure it doesn't dissipate too much when used]

Wei Jun had the gist of the usage and he wanted to focus on that before he moved on to his next realm of cultivation.

The system also mentioned that it was a good idea. The more stable his core would be, the easier ascension to the next realm would be. Of course, that only applied in normal circumstances because the breakthrough setup didn't apply to Wei Jun.

Still, he decided it would be a good idea to cross every aspect of each cultivation realm before moving to the next realm.