Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

Liu Zhu let out a loud grunt as his guandao shot out in multiple directions near-simultaneously, sending out four slashes at once. Two missed the target completely while the other two left a sizable wound in his opponent's side. At the same time a sword passed by Liu Zhu's side, leaving behind a minor wound after most of the force was absorbed by his resilient defenses. The two disengaged, both sides examining their injuries, before they sheathed their weapons. Liu Zhu nodded his head at the girl he was fighting before leaving the sparring grounds. "We'll call that a draw then. I'm going to bandage this."

This was Liu Zhu's first spar since he broke through to Early Bone and Marrow Tempering, and it was with someone at Late Bone and Marrow Tempering who was nearly two years his senior. His speed was, as expected, underwhelming, but by taking out 4 D.e.s.i.r.es as a trump card he was able to deal an unexpected blow to his opponent after around a dozen rounds of combat. The two called the fight there since they had no enmity with each other, but if it had been a life or death battle then it would've gone to a battle of endurance from there, so he had a slight advantage.

Liu Zhu silently cleaned and bandaged the sword wound whilst thinking. Last night many of the minor families throughout the city had sent juniors to celebrate his breakthrough, but the lasting impact wasn't as great as he'd expected. Everyone seemed rather impressed by him, but the internal factions didn't show signs of changing. As things were, there was still a significant chance of Liu Xuan becoming the second patriarch with the Ji Clan's backing. It turned out that the halo around the Ji Clan was even brighter than he'd expected.

As Liu Zhu sighed to himself, mulling over the problem, he heard a knock from behind him, jolting him out of his thoughts. He instinctively responded "Come in.", slipping his shirt back on now that he'd bandaged himself. When he turned around he saw Zhu Chao, who was smiling and holding a jade slip and a thin book. Before Liu Zhu could say anything Zhu Chao spoke, getting directly to the point of his visit. "Young Master Liu, your strength is exceptional, but your speed is lacking. Or at least I assume that's what you're thinking." Liu Zhu nodded, not surprised that Zhu Chao had noticed. It wasn't particularly hard to find out, but to fix it was another thing entirely. Without saying anything Zhu Chao handed over the book and jade slip over to Liu Zhu, gesturing for him to inspect them.

Liu Zhu glanced at the jade slip, and as he did noticed that it was slightly darker than the ones he'd normally seen. As Liu Zhu began examining it he let out an involuntarily gasp, surprised by the contents within. It was a movement technique of some sort, with many detailed diagrams of muscles and movements. It wasn't to an unbelievable extent, but the quantity and quality of information given about the technique were beyond anything Liu Zhu had seen. As Liu Zhu stood there, silent, Zhu Chao laughed and broke the silence. "That's a personal possession of mine. I didn't have a reason to take it out before, but given that your cultivation and talent both seem to meet the mark, I thought I may as well pass it on to you. It's not like I'll need it after I'm done here anyways." Zhu Chao paused before adding a final statement. "As a sidenote, I recommend that you don't show that to anyone. That type of jade slip isn't nonexistent in Yutian Country, but outside of the Five Families and the Royal Family, they're very rare."

Liu Zhu put the jade slip away after a moment, taking note of what Zhu Chao said. Next he flipped through the book Zhu Chao had handed him, which had drawings and diagrams strewn throughout walls of text, words and drawings flowing into each other in a tight scrawl. Liu Zhu felt like the handwriting was familiar, and realized after a moment that it belonged to Zhu Chao. "You wrote this?" "Mhm. It's not a technique, but that contains some observations of mine on how to leverage muscle strength properly in order to increase speed. I wrote it over the past few days, and hopefully you can get some use out of it."

Liu Zhu got up and bowed towards Zhu Chao. "Grand Elder Zhu Chao, thank you for the gifts. I'll do my best to improve." Zhu Chao gestured for Liu Zhu to stand properly. "It's no problem, you've earned it. I would've provided the same opportunity to your brother, but he wouldn't have taken advantage of it. Just do your best and I won't care regardless of the outcome." Zhu Chao left after saying this, leaving Liu Zhu alone with the items.

Liu Zhu looked over the jade slip and book more closely later. The jade slip described a movement technique that could be better described as a dodging technique. Instead of requiring the user to increase their movement speed, it taught them how to most effectively use their muscles to make small movements and to reduce the need to move quickly. It had a high requirement on the user's perception and instinct to use it in combat, but Liu Zhu was hopeful that he'd adapt to it in time. The few dozen pages of Zhu Chao's writings were mostly over how Liu Zhu could leverage his abnormal strength for powerful dashes or lunges. The movements weren't nearly as delicate as with the dodging technique, and it was only good at a mid to long range, but if Liu Zhu was able to learn something from it'd also be helpful in combat. Both items complimented each other well, and it was clear that Zhu Chao put quite a bit of thought into this.

The next few days Liu Zhu put his focus onto his movement, and at the same time news of his breakthrough reached the Ji Clan. Liu Xuan was happy about it and could be seen merrily drinking in a side room of the Ji Clan's mansion, while Ji Quxin stayed in her room, claiming to be ill. That night several letters were delivered by men in black, setting into motion a plan that managed to come together only a week after Liu Zhu's breakthrough.

On that particular day Liu Zhu woke up early, preparing to examine the family's businesses before visiting a couple of minor families the Liu Clan was close to in Vermilion City. The elders would normally do the latter, but given Liu Zhu's recent rise in prominence, plenty of minor families were fine speaking to him instead. Since the elders and the people he was visiting had no objections, Liu Zhu obviously wouldn't shy away from the opportunity to become more experienced and show his importance within the Liu Clan.

Liu Zhu went visited most of the businesses without incident, checking through ledgers as the sound of rain provided calming background noise. The streets were almost deserted that day, but while going from one business to another, Liu Zhu happened to run into someone carrying a few umbrellas, their face and body obscured by a thick raincoat. Liu Zhu didn't take much note of them, but as the two neared each other the passerby nudged one of their umbrellas, causing the end to poke into Liu Zhu's leg, barely piercing through the skin. Liu Zhu threw a glance at them, but wasn't able to make out their face as they continued to quickly walk away. The umbrella hitting him had hurt slightly, but Liu Zhu decided not to pursue the issue since it was probably just an accident. As he made his way to the next shop he began scratching his leg, which had started itching.

At first it was just his leg that was itchy, but the itching quickly began to spread over Liu Zhu's whole body, intensifying greatly. Liu Zhu swore to himself, wondering what plant he'd accidentally gotten a rash from, ignorant to the fact that he'd actually been poisoned. The itching was from a repeated cycle of the poison causing countless small wounds, his wounds recovering, and then the poison continuing to wreak havoc. After an hour of this the poison wore off, causing the itching to disappear, much to Liu Zhu's relief. And so the first assassination attempt of the day ended in a failure.

Once Liu Zhu finished visiting the family's businesses he began going from minor family to minor family, having short talks with various minor figures. The third family was located a ways outside the city, and it took Liu Zhu half an hour to get there. Upon arriving he was offered a slightly late lunch and accepted, chatting with the family's head as he did so. The man was a bit weak but otherwise pleasant, and so the time passed as they happily talked.

As the two spoke, gossiping about major families, the cook was making the soup inside the kitchen. When the cook glanced away a new hire poured a poisonous powder into the soup while the cook wasn't looking. Unfortunately not all of it dissolved by the time the cook returned to see how the soup was doing, and so the cook simply poured the soup out and started on a new batch, assuming that he'd messed up the recipe. As a result Liu Zhu's lunch passed without anything eventful happening, and he survived his second assassination attempt of the day.

Liu Zhu left the estate after eating and began walking back to Vermilion City. After five minutes of walking he heard a zooming sound, which quickly drew closer. Liu Zhu focused on the source of the sound and saw a figure dressed in black, holding a dagger, who was rapidly closing in on him. Before he could react the figure stabbed at him, dagger in hand. The dagger stopped inches away from his neck, and the necklace Zhu Chao had given him before leaving for the Yu Clan gently lit up, blocking the attack.

And so began Liu Zhu's third assassination attempt of the day.