Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

As Liu Zhu approached the two items on the ground, a long, thin jade slip in a dull red and an ordinary-looking red pearl broken into two, he suddenly heard something. He stopped in his tracks, confused and wary, as incomprehensible words started sounding out in a deep, drawn out voice. He wanted to figure out where they were coming from, but the source of the voice was impossible to determine, almost as the voice was originating from in his head. This voice stopped after around after half a minute, and a few seconds later were replaced by one he could understand.

"...on the off chance that the one who accesses this chamber is not intelligent enough to understand my language or is from a different bloodline, here's a simpler message that even non-sentient beasts may understand. Consume the pearl-like object I've left here. It will grant you sentience, giving you a chance to become equal to those sentient races like the humans, and possibly rule over millions. Eat it, and help pass down my bloodline. If your blood was strong enough to undo the seal and come here, then you'll be able to withstand it. Please." As Liu Zhu heard this second message, he was flabbergasted for several reasons. The first of these was how the message was transmitted. Instead of hearing words, he seemed to hear feelings rebounding through his head, as if the intent of the message was being taken and only later translated by his mind. The other, more important, reasons for his surprise, arose from the content of the message. If he was to believe what he'd just heard, there were sentient "races"- not just humans. Besides that, the ordinary looking pearl on the ground was some sort of object that could grant beasts sentience. It all just seemed too odd to be true. Liu Zhu took a moment and sat down, processing the situation.

After coming terms with the situation and realizing that there was almost no chance of some ancient figure setting up something like this as a joke, Liu Zhu took the pearl-like object in his hand. It was a couple inches in diameter, and split into one large piece and one piece many times smaller. The outside was smooth, but the inside was filled entirely with small crystals in a deep crimson. "Eating this would make a vicious beast sentient if it was strong enough? Hm." After a short pause, he continued muttering to himself. "...Wonder what it would do to me."

Liu Zhu stared intensely at the smaller portion of the pearl for a moment before placing it aside and scanning through the jade slip. Inside was some sort of body tempering technique for vicious beasts. This technique was a slight surprise, but in the wake of hearing that beasts could gain sentience, it didn't matter much. Liu Zhu simply shoved the jade slip in his pack as he currently couldn't make use of it. No matter what he wasn't a vicious beast, and it was highly doubtful he could use any of their cultivation methods. The best use for it would be to wait until he either found some sort of beast that could actually make use of it, or to sell it off when he found a way that wouldn't get the entire country after him for the implications of the jade slip.

Once the jade slip was dealt with Liu Zhu's attention returned to the pearl. It was supposed to grant sentience to beasts, but he had no idea at all what it'd do to humans. The composition of humans and beasts were, for the most part, vastly different. It might kill him as often as not. As he mulled over it, he sighed to himself. "I could use this to raise some sort of contract beast, but... I have no such beast and it's doubtful I ever will. I've heard of beast tamers, but there's probably only a handful of them in Yutian Country anyways. Ugh. It said if I was able to undo the seal to this room I'd be able to survive eating it. I'll probably be fine then?" While saying this he took the smaller of the two pieces, hesitantly putting it on his tongue and swallowing.

A few moments passed with nothing happening, and Liu Zhu began to fill that he was silly for considering the risks of such a course of action. As he was thinking this, a burning feeling spread throughout his stomach before beginning to flow through his veins. Surprised, he exclaimed "Oh? It's taking effect?" Liu Zhu stood there as the feeling slowly intensified, but was before long was forced to lie down as the burning feeling turned into a scorching pain rampaging throughout his body. In response to this unyielding force throughout his body, his meridians tore open once again, as they were only viable path for the energy. When this happened all the vitality within his body became strained to the max, struggling to keep him alive through the near-catastrophic injury. Fortunately the force near his heart immediately sent overflowing vitality to every corner of his body, saving him from the grips of death.

This kept Liu Zhu alive, but it doesn't keep him from feeling the pain. The immense, unimaginable pain spreading throughout every single inch of his body. He struggled to open his eyes, only to see that his body was covered in endless tears and scratches which healed ridiculously fast, only to immediately tear open again. Blood quickly began to cover his body and the ground around him. At this point it was clear that the energy in the pearl was far too much to absorb, but the force near his heart kept him clinging to life, allowing vitality to permeate every inch of his body and simultaneously holding back the energy within him, keeping part of contained while the rest raged through every blood vessel and meridian within him.

All Liu Zhu felt was pain as he stuck to the floor, covered in a mix of dried and wet blood, the energy continuing to split open every part of his body. As the hours dragged on its energy made its way towards his brain and seemed to sink into it. It felt like needles were being constantly stabbed into his skull, but he gritted your teeth and wait it out. Or to put it more truthfully, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and wait it out. Liu Zhu couldn't die right now even if he wanted to, nor was he passing out from the pain for some reason, so the only option was to constantly bear with it.

After an unknown period of time the pain began fading, and so Liu Zhu glanced through the crack in the ceiling trying to estimate how much time it had been. As he did so, he saw the sun almost directly above him. Noon. It was only a couple of hours until noon. "That... took over six hours? " Liu Zhu grunted this out, still somewhat pained, while he examined himself. He felt no different from before besides the pain, and the only difference in his surroundings was the blood spread around him, almost sticking him to the ground.

Liu Zhu shuddered slightly upon seeing this. "So I bled myself to the floor, and in exchange... nothing seems to have happened." As he muttered this, slightly annoyed, he stared at the rest of the pearl. "I suppose I could cut my losses now... or maybe." Now quiet, he tore himself from the ground and grabbed the red pearl, closely examining it. "That portion cracked off from here so it's already weakened. Maybe if I..." As he said this Liu Zhu suddenly attacked the pearl at what seemed like the weakest point using 4 D.e.s.i.r.es. In response several pieces cracked off, both small, but nearly twice as large as the one he'd just eaten.

As Liu Zhu stared at the two pieces he'd cracked off, he steadied his breathing and tried to calm down. Once a few minutes passed like this, he slowly put down both of the pieces before carefully taking hold of the smaller of the two. "'No matter the results we need to put our lives on the line to seize every chance we get.' I agree with that, and I should act on it now." Upon saying this, he clenched his eyes shut and tossed the piece into his mouth, preparing to tide through the pain again for a slim chance to benefit.