Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

The first thing Liu Zhu did after entering Wolfden Village was hurry to find a room. Despite the effort the village had put forth to provide room and board for the temporary flood of cultivators and various relief staff such as medics, there weren't many places left to stay. As a result it took him nearly an hour to rent a room in a small, brick house. Fortunately, after renting a room Liu Zhu didn't have anything else pressing to attend to, so he could put his full effort into attempting to form a squad for the upcoming beast horde

Liu Zhu's first stop was the largest gathering place in the village, a massive longhouse. It was built to host major social events, but it was currently serving as a dual tavern and cafeteria for the cultivators staying in Wolfden Village. The building was extremely loud, and the smell of cheap alcohol and warm food drifted through the air. Cultivators sat at long tables crammed together, talking and eating.

Liu Zhu decided to target anyone at Late Strength Rendering or higher. He couldn't be too picky since he might have trouble getting anyone at all, but if he went below that then whoever he recruited might be a burden instead of a help. His first few attempts were clumsy and mostly ignored by the people talking to him, but after the initial failures Liu Zhu became more determined and made his presence known over the hustle and bustle of the cafeteria. In response his rejections turned from simply ignoring him to outright telling him that they weren't interested. Of the people he asked six already claimed to be in groups, three said they weren't following some "snot-nosed brat" or some other similar phrase to battle, and the last couple said they were fighting alone.

After suffering around a dozen failures, Liu Zhu left the building and went towards a smaller tavern a few streets away. The customers inside were mostly cultivators, and so he tried his hand at finding squad members there. Unfortunately the first person he approached quickly declined and shooed him away, wanting to be left alone. As he moved onto the next person to ask if they wanted to fight under him in the beast horde he simply received a stern glare, which served as enough of a rejection in his book.

Dejected, Liu Zhu sat down and bought a meal. He considered heading back to the cafeteria to eat, but considering how crowded it was he'd much rather eat in a smaller tavern. It's not like the difference in price mattered to him anyways. As he waited for his food he heard footsteps behind him, and turned around to see a wrinkled old man at Late Flesh Tempering and a boy a couple years older than him at Middle Strength Rendering.

The old man sat down next to Liu Zhu as he introduced himself. "My name is Yin Yuhan. I heard you were recruiting for the upcoming beast horde?" A smile involuntarily came over Liu Zhu's face at the prospect of actually managing to recruit someone, and he nodded. "Yes, I'm currently forming a squad under someone at Late Blood and Viscera Tempering and was looking for members. You're interested?" "Yes, I am. Of course, you'd have to recruit both of us." As Yin Yuhan said this he glanced towards the boy at Middle Strength Rendering, who was staying silent. Liu Zhu replied quickly, making sure he got his response in before the old man changed his mind. "Sure! I look forward to working together!"

Since the boy, Yin Bai, was only a 15 year-old without any experience fighting, he'd had trouble joining a larger group. His situation was amusingly similar to Liu Zhu's, and it allowed Liu Zhu to pull in his grandfather by agreeing to recruit him. At this point he was desperate enough for recruits that he'd mentally lowered his recruiting standards, and he would have even accepted Yin Bai if he'd asked to join him by himself. This first success boosted Liu Zhu's confidence, and he told the two where he was staying before hurrying to find a third member before nightfall. In the worst case he'd be able to borrow one or two men from Feng Jun if he couldn't reach five people himself, but he needed to recruit at least three people. If he couldn't even do that, then he wasn't carrying his own weight.

As the day turned into the evening Liu Zhu went about his second round of attempted recruitment. He still received many, many rejections, but after several hours of attempts at recruiting a third squad member he succeeded. In the corner of a tiny bar, Liu Zhu spotted a man in his 40s drinking alone. Since he was at Early Flesh Tempering Liu Zhu approached him and tried to recruit him, and to his surprise he succeeded. Immediately after saying he'd join his squad the man began complaining about having to work under a kid. Liu Zhu was more than a bit annoyed by this, and had a hunch about why the man couldn't find any other groups to join, but held his annoyance in. As long as they followed his orders during the beast horde and could fight, it'd be fine. This wasn't the army, so he wouldn't pay too much attention to some idle complaining before then.

Despite looking for the rest of the night Liu Zhu couldn't find a fourth member, and in the end he figured he'd done all that he could. He could continue asking around the next day, but the chances of recruiting another person would probably be even slimmer than when he started. The best he could do was keep an eye on the new arrivals, try to recruit someone from them, and then speak to Feng Jun if it didn't work out.

As expected, Liu Zhu's attempt to snatch a fourth or maybe even fifth squad member from the next day's arrivals failed. As a result he reluctantly gave up and decided to meet with Feng Jun and ask if he could fill in the gaps. He'd done his best, and hopefully that would be enough.

Liu Zhu met Feng Jun in the cafeteria, where he was happily speaking to a few cultivators. As Liu Zhu walked in Feng Jun spotted him, gesturing for him to come over. Liu Zhu sat down, and before he could say anything Feng Jun spoke. "So, you got three men?" Shocked, Liu Zhu stared at Feng Jun like he'd seen a ghost. "You weren't exactly low-key trying to recruit people, I heard about it. Anyways, you did your best and I should be able to convince a couple of my friends to work with you. They might not be available much before the beast horde starts, but you gotta take what you can get, eh?"

As Feng Jun finished speaking he reached out to shake hands with Liu Zhu. "I look forward to working together." Liu Zhu shook his hand and smiled as he replied. "Same to you chief! Er, Sergeant? What exactly..." What followed was an awkwardly drawn out discussion of military rankings, followed by an agreement to just call Feng Jun 'leader' during the battle.