Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

Two weeks had passed since Liu Zhu began escorting the herb gatherers around the forest and enjoying a peaceful yet rather fulfilling time learning and cultivating. During this time his gains were greater than he'd expected. Firstly, he was becoming a competent herbologist rather quickly. Given his increased perception and natural affinity with the subject, there wouldn't be anything he could learn from these herb gatherers in another week or two. At that point he'd either need to go back to consulting books or look for a more competent teacher. Given that herbology was only a minor focus for him, in the near future he'd rather spend time cultivating and gaining more experience. After leaving the village it was unlikely he'd do much beyond occasionally reading up on the subject.

Besides the obvious increase in knowledge, Liu Zhu had made great strides towards Middle Bone and Marrow Tempering and mastering the movement technique Zhu Chao gave him. It'd been around three months since Liu Zhu had broken through to Bone and Marrow Tempering, so at his current rate of cultivation he could make a minor breakthrough within the next couple of weeks if he wished to do so. As for the movement technique, Liu Zhu wasn't particuarly skilled with it yet, but the superficial understanding of it he had was beneficial. After all, Liu Zhu considered his greatest weakness his speed, so any improvement in the area was appreciated. Although in that regards Zhu Chao's observations on properly leveraging one's strength to increase speed were currently more useful to Liu Zhu than the technique he was learning- these observations were relatively simple, but that also meant they were easier to learn from and integrate into his fighting style.

One night Liu Zhu was suddenly jolted awake by a strong pain near his forehead. As his eyes shot open he instinctively glanced around to see if anything odd was happening. This quick look around didn't reveal anything obviously dangerous, but even in his half-asleep state he felt that something was off. After a few seconds he realized what it was- the moon was out and everyone was asleep, but it was almost as bright as day. Before Liu Zhu could make an attempt to figure out why that was, he felt a dull, throbbing pain spread out from his forehead. He quietly grunted in pain as he stood up and put a hand to his head. His grunt shifted from annoyed to confused as his hand neared his forehead. A moment before it was supposed to touch it the hand was blocked, coming into contact with something that felt like bone before it could reach his forehead.

Despite not being able to tell what he had touched, a basic understanding of human anatomy was all Liu Zhu needed to know that it wasn't supposed to be there. As he lowered his hand he carefully looked around the camp, checking to see if he'd woken anyone up. After confirming that he was the only one awake he snuck away from the camp, hoping to find somewhere where he could see his reflection. He didn't have a mirror, so that would be the easiest way to figure out what was going on.

A few minutes after Liu Zhu's search began he found a pond. Upon spotting it he slowly approached, a nervous expression on his face. As he neared it the reflection of his head came into view, causing him to stop moving, his mouth hanging open like that of a fish. His hands reached towards his forehead again as he stared into the pond. After a moment the hands slowly came into contact with the source of his astonishment- a foot long pair of antlers that had suddenly grown out of his forehead.

Liu Zhu muttered to himself as he stood there, working back to try to figure out the cause of this... growth of his. "The only things I can think of that could cause this are that red pearl and whatever's lurking near my heart after falling in the cave. I... don't think it's the latter? Its been more than 10 months since that happened, so I don't think it would take so long for something like... this... to suddenly occur. It's more likely to be that pearl. It's related to beasts, and that 'Horned God' had antlers like these, so I suppose this is some sort of side effect. Still, I have no idea what triggered this, and that's what worries me. Shouldn't I have had some warning? I was completely normal last night."

"I hope these disappear soon, I can't show my face like this. Even if I don't understand the exact meaning of this that doesn't mean someone else won't, and on the off chance some random village worsh.i.p.s me as a descendant of their 'god' it would definitely bring a calamity upon me." Liu Zhu sighed and sat down by the pond, nervously hoping that the antlers would suddenly disappear or that this was all a dream he would wake up from. As he did so he continued talking to himself, trying to cheer himself up. "Still, I suppose it's not all bad. I can see really well in the dark, and now that I'm paying more attention I'm starting to notice a lot of smells I wouldn't be able to before."

Liu Zhu tried to maintain a hopeful optimism as he sat by the pond, but over time he became more and more worried. "I... won't have to cut these off and then hide my forehead, will I? ...And don't deer shed their antlers anyways? I'd have to deal with it again soon." He grumbled to himself with thoughts like these for the next couple of hours. Around sunrise he was beginning to seriously consider removing them by force so that he could return to the camp before anyone became suspicious of his absence, but then he suddenly noticed that the size of the antlers had decreased slightly.

Liu Zhu's expression lit up, a smile covering his face. "They shrunk! They must be temporary then, great, great! I really don't want to be hunted down like some sort of animal... still, these will take at least a few hours to disappear completely and I if I leave the herb gatherers alone for that long then I can say goodbye to this job. Plus, it'd be my fault if they thought I was patrolling nearby and then something attacked them because they were cooking breakfast. I need to hide these antlers, but I'm not letting anyone die from my negligence." At this point he finished talking to himself and thought for a moment. Seconds later he stood up as another smile covered his face. Still smiling, he walked over to his pack and began searching through it.

Minutes later Liu Zhu returned to the camp, where the first of the herb gatherers were beginning to wake up. His appearance immediately caught their attention as he waltzed into the clearing with his spare bedroll fashioned in a massive turban. This turban had been his 'genius plan' to hide the horns still jutting out from his head, but after enacting this plan he was quickly beginning to have some regrets. One of the men recovered from his shocked silence and was about to ask what was going on. Not wanting to answer any questions, Liu Zhu immediately interrupted him. "I'll gather some firewood, since you're up get ready to make breakfast." He dashed away after saying this, beginning to pick up wood just out of speaking distance.

Liu Zhu's odd attire was immediately noticed by the herb gatherers that morning, but despite their interest none of them asked him about it. Or more accurately, no one could ask him about it. Liu Zhu engaged in verbal warfare up through the afternoon, cutting off anyone who looked like they would ask him about it and dominating every conversation he was in. By noon even the densest people in the group had realized he didn't want to talk about it and dropped all thoughts of asking.

Fortunately the horns disappeared by one or two in the afternoon, freeing Liu Zhu from his dilemma. At this point he wanted to take off the turban, but realized that he couldn't suddenly take it off after acting so defensive about it. As a result he wore it for the rest of the day, still mentioning nothing about it. By the evening he'd calmed down and had a chance to think. He needed to take precautions in case this happened again. For the time being he would sleep somewhere where the others couldn't see him under the excuse of patrolling for vicious beasts. He would also continue wearing his makeshift turban for the near future. Once he figured out more about what was going on he could adjust his actions from there.