Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

Border City's arena was crowded, the seats packed up through the nosebleeds. Given that space in Border City came at a premium and that the founders of the arena had never expected the city to grow to such a size, every single seat went for a high price. To deal with the large numbers of seats and the demand for them to be vacated as quickly as possible, the Border City arena implemented a system which had come from abroad around more than half a millennium ago. They would sell tickets for a given number of matches, note down the seat number, and then once the matches were over immediately sell the seat to someone else for however many matches. This required a team of well-educated people constantly updating a chart behind the scenes, but in exchange it removed the need for ticket-checkers and guards to wander around the arena and remove people who overstayed their welcome. This system made the arena-goers feel more comfortable and maximized the amount of time each seat was being sold. When this system was introduced it received great praise from businessmen throughout Yutian Country, and it's still studied by young merchants like Dai He up to this day.

Despite the relatively high cost of tickets, it didn't matter to Liu Zhu. The price only inconvenienced mortals or wandering cultivators- anyone from a decently-sized influence, even one on the level of the Liu Clan, wouldn't need to care about it. He bought a ticket for five matches in a decent position and then took his seat. The first few matches would be men versus beasts, the fourth would be between two Meridian Opening cultivators, and the last would be the highlight of the afternoon- the talented junior on a 20 match winstreak, Meng Zhao, versus one of the top talents of a major family. Both of them were at Late Bone and Marrow Tempering, and both were at a level of strength far above the cultivators who normally fought in Border City's arena. As a result the match had attracted a lot of hype, and everyone who was interested was forced to buy tickets at least a few matches beforehand- after all, almost no one was going to watch the opening acts and then leave right before the climax.

The first match didn't look like it'd be particularly exciting, but Liu Zhu decided to watch anyways. After all, he'd spent good money on that ticket- if he didn't make the most of it then it'd be a waste. The first match was between a woman at Early Flesh Tempering and some sort of wolf-variant vicious beast. This match dragged on for around ten minutes, and in the process both sides sustained fairly heavy wounds. In the end the vicious beast launched an all-out strike, using up the last of its strength in an attempt to settle victory in one massive strike. Unfortunately for the beast the woman saw the attack coming and countered it, slicing open the wolf's stomach from below and killing it before it could even touch her. This explosive conclusion was rather exciting to those there for betting or entertainment, but the match was at a rather low level and Liu Zhu was a bit bored. As people who had just bought tickets entered the arena, Liu Zhu heard someone start talking to the right of him. An older man at Qi Refinement or Qi Emission had been sitting there, and was now speaking with a boy at Late Bone and Marrow Tempering who seemed to be just a bit older than Liu Zhu.

"I have a ticket for the next four matches a couple rows in front of you- how many matches is your ticket for?" The old man looked confused, but still responded to the boy after a short delay. "I'll be here for the next four as well." The boy took out his ticket upon hearing this. "Alright then, want to switch seats? You'll have a better view up there. I just want to talk to the guy next to you." The older man grunted and swapped tickets with the boy, taking his new seat while Liu Zhu glanced at the boy, trying to figure out if he knew him. After a few moments he was sure he hadn't seen him before, leaving him perplexed. As he sat down, Liu Zhu questioned him. "Did you scam him with a fake ticket? I don't believe we're acquainted."

The boy laughed upon hearing this and shook his head. "No, I don't need to scam people just for a seat. I guess you don't recognize me then?" Liu Zhu, still puzzled by the situation, shook his head. "Have we met?" The boy stopped laughing as he responded. "If you don't recognize me then I suppose not. You're probably one of the outer disciples then? I'm Duan Ping, that son of the third elder." After a moment of consideration Liu Zhu gave the fake name he'd been using in The Northern Wastes. He was unwilling to give his real name to someone he didn't recognize, but Duan Ping seemed to have some status, so maybe it'd be beneficial to befriend him. "I'm Zuo Shi." Duan Ping paused after hearing this and began muttering to himself. "...Zuo Shi? I don't remember there being a Zuo family. Were you recruited from the outside?"

Beginning to realize that this was some case of mistaken identity, Liu Zhu tried to clear up the situation. "...I don't know what influence you're from, but it would make sense if there's no Zuo family in it. There is no Duan family in the influence I'm a part of. We aren't related to each other." Duan Ping stopped talking after hearing this, looking incredibly confused. As he tried to figure out how he'd misled himself, someone else interrupted their conversation.

"Brother Liu, I didn't realize you'd come to Border City! It's nice to see you!" Shocked to hear his real name Liu Zhu turned around, preparing to run if needed. Fortunately he saw the face of Yu Bai, who seemed genuinely surprised and happy to see him, and not that of an assassin. "Brother Yu, I didn't expect to run into you either! How is your father?" "Good, good, apparently my older brother learned quite a bit with your Grand Elder and so my father seemed pleased." Before the conversation went any further Duan Ping interrupted by clearing his throat. "...Nice to meet you, I'm Gin Dune. Liu Zhu, which name of yours should I remember?"

Liu Zhu wasn't sure if he was being mocked for giving a fake name or if Duan Ping was actually supposed to be maintaining some level of secrecy, but he didn't care much either way. "...Er, that's my real name, but I'd prefer if you used Zuo Shi. While we're on this topic, you should probably come up with a better name yourself- you sound like you just came up with it in a matter of seconds." As Yu Bai looked on, bemused, Duan Ping clicked his tongue, a smug look on his face. "Of course I came up with it in a matter of seconds! I have dozens of fake names! If I thought of good ones every time then it'd take far too long! What, do you expect me to keep a list of fake names?"

Liu Zhu and Yu Bai blankly stared at Duan Ping, baffled at his explanation. Duan Ping was left unfazed by this, and still looked like he was explaining something obvious. At this instant he was probably the smuggest person in the entire arena. Eventually Yu Bai broke the awkward silence, ignoring Duan Ping and turning to Liu Zhu. "Um... why would you be using a fake name?" Liu Zhu awkwardly squirmed for a few seconds, considering whether he should explain the specifics before responding. "That... sorry, it'd be best not to explain the specifics. Just don't refer to me by my real name in public."

Yu Bai decided not to dig deeper after hearing this and then addressed the elephant in the room. "So, this man is..." "Yes, him, he's my new acquaintance. He's, uh... do I have to use that fake name? You should really consider a better one." As Liu Zhu once again questioned Duan Ping's dubious choice of name, Duan Ping did budge slightly. "Yes, but if it sounds better then I suppose you don't have to use the full name. What about Brother Gin?"

As Duan Ping said this Yu Bai and Liu Zhu began laughing uncontrollably. Extremely confused, Duan Ping hurriedly questioned them. "Is... is there something wrong with calling me Brother Gin?" The two's laughter only intensified with his query, but after a bit they calmed down. Liu Zhu was the first one to gasp out a response in between breaths. "Brother Gin... Brother Gin is the name of a brand of alcohol local to the the region where I live. It's extremely popular. Oh... oh... oh my god, that's great." Duan Ping quieted down, finally somewhat embarrassed. As the three regained their calm they were interrupted by loud cheering- by the looks of it a match had just ended.

The three decided that they should probably watch what they'd come here for and leave the bantering for later, and Yu Bai returned to his seat, which was a short ways away. Before he did so he mentioned that he'd come here with his older brother, who was intending to participate in the competition to become the expert refiner's disciple. Apparently his brother was chatting with some other juniors at a gathering place somewhere else in the city. Liu Zhu made plans to head there with him after Meng Zhao's match, and Duan Ping inserted himself into these plans as he had nothing better to do. Neither Yu Bai nor Liu Zhu objected to this, as while they had no idea what influence Duan Ping was a part of, it was probably on pars with theirs at the very least.