Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

Despite being everyone being told that they were free to chat among each other, almost no one did. After all, the servants would make you leave immediately after finding a mistake on your test- who would want to talk to someone when you could be kicked out mid-conversation? That would be too embarrassing for words. This situation caused an awkward atmosphere to form around the event. Those who were worried about whether they passed found spots away from the crowd to obsess over their answers, while those who either had some confidence or who were just here to rubberneck went to the pavilion they'd initially gathered at to eat.

Liu Zhu was among the latter group, as he was around 70 to 80 percent sure he hadn't gotten any questions wrong. As he went to get some food, he was... surprised to say the least. The "refreshments" mentioned consisted of water, lemonade, and some greasy food from nearby street stalls. This food could just reflect Refiner Long's preferences, but that seemed unlikely. Combined with his earlier behavior, the underlying message was clear- he didn't want to waste any of his time or money on those with no ability. If you were treating his competition as a street festival, you would get treated like you were at a street festival.

Whether the choice of food had a message behind it or not, food was food. Liu Zhu grabbed a few kebabs and some lemonade and found a place on the grass to lie down. He calmly waited there, systematically devouring his way through the food as he listened to names being called out in the background. Within 15 minutes there were only 100 people left, and after half an hour the number had dwindled to under 70. Just lying down and just watching the sky while he ate was actually quite relaxing for Liu Zhu, who didn't take much time to do things like this. Sure, the atmosphere was a bit... off, but waiting for the perfect situation to relax just meant that you never would.

After nearly an hour spent waiting, something other than the endless stream of names could be heard. "Everyone who failed has had their name called out. The remaining 28 may enter the foyer." Upon hearing this Liu Zhu smiled to himself and made his way into the mansion. He wasn't too worried about the preliminaries, but the test still wasn't easy so hearing that he passed had made him happy.

The foyer was a rather b.a.r.e but stylish room, and as Liu Zhu entered he noted that the furniture appeared similar in price to the Liu Clan's. A chandelier provided lighting for the enter room, and seating was scattered throughout, although it wasn't enough for all 28 of the potential disciples left. At the far end of the room Refiner Long could be seen sitting down with a sheet of parchment. He had now switched out of his working clothes, and was in an expensive-looking black robe.

Once everyone entered the room the head servant took the sheet of parchment from Refiner Long and began speaking. "I will now announce the rankings among those who passed. All of you answered the questions correctly, but due to factors such as age and how in-depth your answers are your ranks may vary. All of you are scored on a scale of 1 to 100. 1st, Hi Min, 80 points. 2nd, Kin Wei, 78 points. 3rd, Ki Xinya, 71 points. 4th, Ki Cai and Hi Qinyue, 70 points." The list went on and on, and unsurprisingly juniors from the Five Families made up the first eight spots on the list. Liu Zhu waited for his name, excited, and to his surprise it was announced earlier than he expected. "12th, Liu Zhu, 58 points." Immediately after that, he was greeted by another pleasant surprise. "13th, Yu Bai, 56 points." Upon hearing Yu Bai's name Liu Zhu glanced around the room, and after a moment saw Yu Bai, who had also glanced at him. The two nodded at each other before breaking eye contact. The two of them didn't know each other too well, but it was still nice to see that they knew someone else still in the running.

The rest of the names were read off without any further surprises, ending with 28th place, whose points matched their position. When the names were all read off, Refiner Long stood up, gesturing for everyone to follow him. The group followed, and after snaking through his mansion they reached the backyard. Refiner Long then stopped in front of a small hut. It appeared dirty on the outside, had no windows, and the door was made of iron. Upon arriving at the hut Refiner Long began describing the second part of the competition. "This is the site of the first real test. I'll give you all a lump of ore varying based on your age- if your cultivation is too low to use it, that's your problem. Your job will be to refine it into a brick. Nothing fancy, just make me a brick. Simple, right? Now, who wants to go first?"

Liu Zhu stepped away from the group, volunteering himself. There was some risk to going first, but Refiner Long seemed like someone who would appreciate not having his time wasted- if he had to stand around waiting for someone to volunteer then he might just increase the test's difficulty. Refiner Long simply nodded at Liu Zhu before muttering "Er... Liu Zhu? 13 years, 11 months?" Liu Zhu confirmed this, and upon hearing his response Refiner Long entered the shed for a moment. When he returned he tossed a chunk of ore to Liu Zhu, muttering something about it "being about right".

As Liu Zhu caught the ore, he immediately noticed something- it was heavy! Before he could figure out much else, Refiner Long spoke again. "You'll have a few minutes to study it. After that you have as long as you can last to turn it into a brick. Time starts now." Liu Zhu didn't expect the situation, but quickly composed himself. He would need to determine what type of ore this was quickly if he was going to successfully refine it into anything. He closely examined the color of the ore, its l.u.s.ter, the fine particles that he could rub off of it, anything that might help him identify it. As he did so he focused completely, trying his best to shut himself off from the world around him.

After two minutes of intense concentration, Liu Zhu reached his answer- it was Etrium Ore. The piece he had was a low-quality strain, but there was no mistaking it. Etrium Ore required a very high temperature to properly smelt, and the force required was even more than Liu Zhu had imagined from the weight. Someone would either need great technique or unyielding strength and endurance in order to properly shape this ore into a weapon at his level. While Liu Zhu didn't excel in the former, he didn't think anyone with his cultivation was stronger or had more stamina than him- he could do this.

"Are you ready?" Liu Zhu nodded in response to Refiner Long's question, causing him to push open the iron door and usher him into the shack. The first thing Liu Zhu noticed was the heat. It felt so hot that Liu Zhu wouldn't be surprised if any water brought in here immediately started boiling away. In the center of the room was some sort of fire pit full of brightly burning flames, and next to it was a rack full of well-maintained refiner's tools and an anvil. Besides the many ores and other materials scattered throughout the room, there were also several barrels full of liquid that were surprisingly not boiling despite the ridiculous temperature in the shack.

Seeing Liu Zhu pause upon entering, Refiner Long smiled at him. "Hot, isn't it? You'll need it to smelt the ore." Liu Zhu immediately realized that he was right- the melting point of Etrium, even low-quality Etrium, was very high. It was only natural for it to be this hot. With this remark he regained focus, made his way over to the anvil, and placed down the ore. Next he grabbed some tongs and thrust the ore into the fire, rapidly heating it up. It would need to as hot as possible to properly smelt it. After a couple minutes Liu Zhu deemed that he'd gotten the ore as hot as he could and put the chunk of ore, now red-hot, back on the anvil. At this point he put aside the tongs and grabbed a hammer. As he grabbed the hammer he walked over to a nearby container, smearing a type of "smelting powder" on his hammer. Its function was to wear away at the ore as the hammer was slammed down on it, eating away at the weaker impurities in the ore while leaving behind the strongest material, in this case Etrium.

Liu Zhu slammed the hammer down on the ore repeatedly. During this process he used all of the power of his body in every strike, mustering every bit of strength he could. All his focus was put towards the smooth transfer of his strength from the body to the hammer, towards his attempt at smashing the ore and fanatically trying to remove the impurities within it. As he smelted the ore beads of sweat began to drip down his forehead in a torrent, lingering for a moment but boiling away as they rolled down his face.

As Liu Zhu tried to remove the impurities from the ore, he realized something- the fire's temperature was too low. At this rate he wouldn't be able to purify the ore to a high standard, not with his abilities. The only problem was that if the temperature was raised, he wasn't sure how long he could last. The higher it went, the higher the drain on his strength would be. He stood still for a moment, thinking about it, before lowering his hammer and turning towards Refiner Long, who was staring at him from the other side of the room. "Refiner Long, I can't smelt out all the impurities from this Etrium Ore with this temperature. Could you raise it?"

Upon hearing this request Refiner Long seemed shocked, but after a moment broke into a wide grin and began laughing. Refiner Long's boisterous laughter filled up the cramped room as he grabbed a device similar to a bellows. "Raise it? That's a good one. Sure kid, I can raise if you can handle it! You have balls, so best of luck to you- if you'll pass out I'll make sure to grab you."