Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

The morning after the beast horde was unusually calm. Many of the locals and cultivators had celebrated late into the night so instead of going about their usual morning routine they were sleeping in. Besides a few small squads keeping watching at the edge of Wolfden Village and the cultivators leaving for where the beast horde originated, almost no one was awake. The latter group was scattered, leaving the village when they pleased, sometimes alone and sometimes in small groups. Amongst them was Liu Zhu and Feng Jun, who were making their way there in a small group with a few other cultivators. There was no way their speed could keep up with the cultivators past Meridian Opening, many of whom had left even earlier, but if they kept a good pace it wouldn't be a problem to reach their destination ahead of most of the others. This gave them a faint possibility of sweeping up any leftover benefits the fastest cultivators couldn't claim for themselves. Of course to do so they'd have to act in an extremely disciplined manner, travelling until it got dark and waking up before dawn, all while keeping an extremely fast pace. Even for cultivators it wasn't an easy march. Still, the slightest possibility of benefits were enough to make them go through this. Raising one's cultivation wasn't easy after all.

After several days of this hurried march, which tested everyone but Liu Zhu's endurance, the group of five arrived at the beast horde's origin. It was a massive clearing with a hill measuring several hundred meters tall in the center. The parts that were visible were covered in grass and flowers, but the top was hidden from sight by a thick wall of plants. Surrounding the hill were scattered sets of tents, assumedly the camps of the cultivators who had arrived first. Besides these expected sights, Liu Zhu saw something extremely odd. Near the bottom of the hill many cultivators were simply standing still, facing the top of the hill. Some of them were slowly inching forwards, while others stood still, an oddly exhausted expression on their face. Most of these cultivators were cl.u.s.tered together in the bottom dozen meters of the hill, although a few cultivators which Liu Zhu recognized as being past Meridian Opening had walked a bit higher.

Seeing that the situation wasn't chaotic, a couple of cultivators in their group went to set up camp, while Feng Jun, Liu Zhu, and one other cultivator approached the statuesque group of people slowly advancing up the hill. As they approached the hill Feng Jun shouted out a greeting to someone he recognized, keeping his distance from the hill just in case. "Oy! You enjoying the view up there?" The man turned around, wearily grinning at Feng Jun. "Yes, the view of a bunch of sweaty, exhausted cultivators standing on a hillside was exactly what I was hoping for when I came here. I need a break, so I'll come down and brief you on what's happening." With that the man, face slightly pale, descended the hill to speak with Feng Jun.

The group returned to their small camp, where the tents were being rapidly assembled by the two cultivators they'd left behind. Before speaking further about what was going on the four hurried to find somewhere to sit, Feng Jun's friend wanting to rest before speaking any further. After a short search they found a log nearby and pulled it over, draping a cloth over it in order to construct a makeshift bench. Once they sat down the man who had been on the hill began speaking, catching his breath as he did so. "Despite what it may look like, we're not all standing there because we want to. The first group of cultivators arrived here, the rough location where the beast horde spread out from, and started looking around. After a look around they tried to climb the hill, as it was the biggest feature in the area. Confusingly though, they just... weren't able to. It's the same for everyone else. Whenever I try to climb up it feels like there's a weight on my c.h.e.s.t, restricting the strength in my body. It's exhausting. The stronger cultivators are able to get up a bit further, but at this rate I doubt anyone will make it up there. For the time being everyone is just using the pressure to help train, although I have doubts about how useful it is."

The man's explanation left many questions unanswered, but at the very least it gave some information to work off of. An awkward pause settled among the group as everyone processed this information. Eventually this was broken by one of the cultivators speaking. "I guess this is a bust then. I'll stay for a few days to see if something happens and then leave. What about you guys?" In response to this everyone gave answers that varied on the surface, but which could be roughly summed up as "I'll train here for a bit and see if anything happens before leaving." Among these only the definition of 'a bit' varied. Similarly to the others, Liu Zhu decided to stay for a while, intrigued about the odd hill. He'd come to the Northern Wastes to broaden his horizons and train, and this was a chance to do both.

Once the tents were set up and their things unpacked everyone slowly headed towards the hill, which now had even more people cl.u.s.tered about its lower reaches. Liu Zhu nonchalantly walked forward with the others, waiting for some sort of pressure, or a weight on his c.h.e.s.t to show up, but as he did he noticed that everyone else's pace was slowing down. Realizing that something was wrong, Liu Zhu slowed down to match their pace, although he was a bit slower than the rest in doing so. Feng Jun glanced towards Liu Zhu, faintly noticing this odd behavior. "I had my doubts, but he was right, huh? It's pretty harsh." In response to Feng Jun's comment Liu Zhu nodded, continuing to slow his pace down. He couldn't feel any pressure upon him yet, but it was clear that he was supposed to. It'd stand out far too much to just walk up the hill normally.

Eventually Liu Zhu found a height a few meters past where Feng Jun and the others stopped, which was mainly occupied by Meridian Opening and Blood and Viscera Tempering cultivators. He got a couple of compliments about his position, but since cultivation didn't directly correspond to where one stopped, it stopped after a few compliments and aroused little curiosity. After taking this spot up he pretended to struggle, eventually descending the hill after around an hour of feigned strenuous activity. Once that was over with Liu Zhu made up an excuse to leave the hill alone for the day and explore the nearby area. He wanted to inspect the hill further and see whether the pressure would affect him at all or if he could just stroll to the top without any trouble, but to do that he needed to wait for night to fall. It would simply be too conspicuous to do so now.