Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

The night after Liu Zhu grew antlers, he was awoken once again by their appearance. Significantly less panicked than the first time, he spent most of the night focusing on the antlers, trying any method he could think of to make them disappear. Unfortunately none of his ideas yielded any results. Undeterred, this process of experimentation and failure continued every night for the next week. While Liu Zhu wasn't able to assert any conscious control over their appearance or disappearance, he could tell that they were taking less time to disappear each night. Whether that was due to his efforts or the disappearance of some other stimuli, he had no idea. Either way this improvement gave him some relief, as while Liu Zhu was a cultivator, he was not yet at the stage where he could survive without sleep. The day he gained control over when the antlers appeared would also be the day he was finally able to get a good night's sleep, and it would be a great day indeed.

During this time Liu Zhu broke through to Middle Bone and Marrow Tempering and had more or less finished learning anything these herb gatherers could teach him. It was time to leave. After spending more than three weeks accompanying these herb gatherers he announced that he would be leaving the next time they returned to the village. The herb gatherers seemed disappointed, partially because it was still their peak season and it would be hard to find another capable escort and partially because while he had seemed 'eccentric' to them recently, he was one of the only people who had shown so much interest in their work. The night before they were set to return to the village, the herb gatherers stopped working early and prepared a small celebration in the camp. A few men brought out some alcohol they'd stashed away in their packs, while others rolled up their sleeves and showed off their family recipes and other local cooking. Liu Zhu wasn't one to drink and he had been to more lavish parties, but he still appreciated the genuine gesture of goodwill from the villagers. It had a certain warmth more formal occasions usually lacked. That night he took a break from his cultivation, drinking a bit and playing some sort of local card game with the villagers. The next morning they returned to the village and exchanged goodbyes before going their separate ways. Liu Zhu hadn't spent long here, but it had been a valuable experience in several ways.

Liu Zhu had decided where he was going long before leaving the village. The two most populated areas and the best places to gain experience for relatively weak cultivators were Border City and the center of The Northern Wastes. In Border City there was plentiful work, a constant flow of rare and interesting goods passing through the city, and many talented people to learn from. Unfortunately, a thriving city came with its drawbacks. Due to the position of the city and the combined strength of the cultivators there, there were very few dangers nearby. As for the center of The Northern Wastes, its population was comparable to Border City if you combined the five largest tribes' population, but if you knew where to look there were far more danger zones. Of course Liu Zhu couldn't venture into the true danger zones, but there were still plenty of good spots in that area where he could temper himself, unlike near Border City. That's why Liu Zhu was intended to head for the center of The Northern Wastes. Unfortunately he needed to make a detour to Border City first, as the increased presence of vicious beasts and bandits further into The Northern Wastes made travelling alone more dangerous. While Liu Zhu would most likely be safe, he'd rather not take chances. Plus, if he had someone to show him around once he arrived it would be easier to figure out where to go from there.

Liu Zhu took five days to reach Border City. During this time he ignored the roads and just took the most direct path there, cutting through anything in his way. He took this route because roads weren't particularly important for lone cultivators and it gave him a chance to practice identifying various plants and herbs he'd been told about over the past month. By the end of this trip, much to Liu Zhu's relief, he stopped growing antlers every night. He wasn't sure if this was a coincidence or due to his own efforts, but either way he was pleased. It'd be best if he could control when they appeared and when they disappeared as they were useful in some situations, but if he had to settle for one extreme or the other he'd rather not have them appear at all. Mainly because he didn't want his head mounted above a fireplace by some eccentric cultivator or someone drinking his blood trying to gain the power of their god. He assumed most sane people wouldn't go so far, but unfortunately sanity went out the window when power and religion came into the picture.

Upon arriving at Border City, Liu Zhu noticed that it seemed more crowded than usual. The path leading into the West Gate was flooded with massive amounts of cultivators, merchants, and travelers, the guards struggling to sort through them all. After nearly 20 minutes of waiting he was allowed to enter the city. Once he was past the gate Liu Zhu headed directly towards the center of the city, planning to find a place to stay before searching for Feng Jun. He was willing to go with any group heading towards his destination, but Feng Jun was an amiable fellow and they seemed to have some rapport, so it would be best to check if he was interested before searching for anyone else heading for the area.

The search for a free room took a bit longer than expected due to the influx of people, but Liu Zhu was still done before noon. After putting his things away at the inn and eating lunch he went to the center of the city and paid a visit to the NW Job Agency. The NW Job Agency was where Liu Zhu had initially gotten information on the beast horde and was the largest source of cultivator-focused work in the city, so they would probably be the easiest place to find information on Feng Jun among the 150,000 plus people in the city. Unfortunately, they weren't willing to give much information out. While they did confirm that Feng Jun was currently in the city, they were not willing to provide an address, not even commenting on whether he had a permanent residence or not. Liu Zhu's emotions were split between some frustration at being stonewalled and slight relief that this group wasn't freely giving out personal information to anyone who asked. Even if Liu Zhu had given a fake name and age, the extra layer of security was nice.

Since Liu Zhu knew that Feng Jun was currently somewhere in Border City, he decided to visit some of the taverns catering to cultivators and see if anyone knew how to contact him. Feng Jun wasn't particularly powerful, but from what Liu Zhu knew he had operated out of the city for several years to a decade and made a point of forming connections with other people. Tracking him down would be easier than finding most wandering cultivators.

Reality lived up to Liu Zhu's expectations, and within a couple of hours he had Feng Jun's home address. In exchange he'd spent a small amount to bribe people with drinks, been forced to visit far too many near-identical looking taverns, and had used up all his patience on a rather drunk-looking cultivator who had led him on for half an hour before telling him anything useful. Liu Zhu went to the address he was given and arrived at a small building at the edge of the city. It was split up into a few floors, each one belonging to a single person. It wasn't much, but given that the land prices in Border City were said to be horribly overpriced, it was more than what most people had.

Liu Zhu knocked on the door and after a moment it popped open, Feng Jun appearing in the entryway. He seemed surprised upon spotting Liu Zhu, but smiled nonetheless. "Junior Brother Zuo, I didn't expect to run into you again, you suddenly disappeared while we were investigating that hill. Its been a couple of months, hasn't it?" Feng Jun waved Liu Zhu in as he said this. Liu Zhu took a seat on a old leather chair next to a bookshelf, while Feng Jun sat down on a couch opposite from him. A amateurishly made wooden table with papers scattered all over it filled the gap between them. As Liu Zhu took a seat he responded to Feng Jun's question. He clearly couldn't tell the truth about why he had disappeared, but he didn't want to appear flaky so he needed to give a believable lie. "I was called back to my sect due to some urgent business. I apologize for not informing Senior Brother Feng ahead of time, but I had to hurry back."

Feng Jun nodded in response to this, not particularly surprised. He noticed that Liu Zhu had made a breakthrough to Middle Bone and Marrow Tempering, and with a cultivation of Middle Bone and Marrow Tempering at what he thought was 15, it made sense for Liu Zhu to be associated with some sort of influence. "I was just curious so I won't delve any further. Let me prepare some tea and we can talk about whatever you came here for." As Feng Jun said this he went into the adjoining room to prepare tea, while Liu Zhu glanced around the room. After a few minutes Feng Jun returned, a simple tea set in hand.