Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

"This is it- The Butterfly Loft, one of the best venues in the city and where most of the visiting juniors have gathered to socialize." As Yu Bai said this he pointed to a relatively large building near the city center. The building stood out among its surroundings, toeing the line between being fancy and gaudy. An old man with a cultivation Liu Zhu couldn't sense stood in front of the building, speaking to anyone trying to enter. The three approached him, and upon seeing them he nodded at Yu Bai. "Welcome back Young Master Yu. May I ask for the other young masters' names?"

In response to this request both Liu Zhu and Duan Ping paused. Liu Zhu was pausing because he was wondering if he'd be blocked at the door for using a fake name, while Duan Ping paused to pull a small jade token out of his pocket. He tossed it to the old man too quickly for Liu Zhu to get a look at it, and after spending a moment examining it the old man respectfully nodded and handed it back to him. "You're more than welcome in." Immediately after saying this he got out of the group's way and waved them in. "Basic amenities are being provided by the Ki family for the time being. If you want anything not provided then speak to one of the waitstaff and they'll give you a price."

Liu Zhu was curious as to what the token was, but decided against asking about it. Since Duan Ping hadn't mentioned it on his own initiative, that meant that it either didn't matter or that it wasn't Liu Zhu's place to know. Since the old man seemed to care enough to not even ask about Duan Ping's identity after seeing the token it probably did matter, but for some reason Liu Zhu couldn't be told about it. The first possibility that came to mind was that the old man was important enough to know about it, but that seemed unlikely- he did work for an establishment owned by the Ki family, but that didn't mean he was an important figure in it- if he was than he would in their headquarters, not working a full-time job in Border City. A slightly more likely possibility was that this information actually wasn't that important by itself, but that Liu Zhu couldn't know about it in more detail because Duan Ping already assumed they were part of the same influence and had given out his name. Liu Zhu couldn't imagine why that would be the case but it was the only other possibility that immediately came to mind so he filed it away as an explanation before turning his attention to the festivities.

Juniors from across The Northern Wastes and the rest of Yutian Country were scattered throughout the room. The vast majority of them were from major and minor families, although a scattered few were juniors from the Five Families' who were visiting here for the upcoming refining competition. As the three walked forward Duan Ping stopped, staring at a table full of food. He cleared his throat as he slowly distanced himself from Yu Bai and Liu Zhu. "It'd be rude to ignore the hospitality of one of the Five Families, so I'll be taking my leave for now. More importantly than that, I see lobster. I may or may not have been on the road until yesterday, so good food sounds tempting to say the least." As Duan Ping left the two behind, led astray by the offer of free food, Yu Bai led Liu Zhu to where his older brother was.

Yu Bai's older brother, Yu Fu, was speaking with a woman in her early 20s and two other men his age. Upon noticing Yu Bai approaching Yu Fu waved in his direction. "Little brother, I see you made it back. How was Meng Zhao's fight against Mao Jia? Mao Jia got destroyed, right?" Yu Bai gestured for Yu Fu to come over as he responded. "Yes, he got destroyed. If he's the best talent they have then maybe the Mao family won't be a major family soon." Noticing Yu Bai's gestures Yu Fu paused his conversation and approached the two of them.

"Older brother, this is Liu Zhu, the boy who visited our family while you were training at the Liu Clan. Liu Zhu, this is Yu Bai, my older brother." The two shook hands and quickly exchanged compliments, but as Yu Bai was preparing to introduce him to the others Liu Zhu interrupted him. "Sorry for the awkwardness, but for the time being I can't use my real name. I'd appreciate it if you could just call me Zuo Shi while I'm here." Yu Fu paused, clearly confused, but after a moment just shrugged and began introducing him to his friends.

The group Yu Fu was with was composed of himself, another junior from a minor family, the child of a large merchant family from the capital around the same age, and the woman in her early 20s, who was apparently a member of the Ki family. Everyone exchanged introductions upon Liu Zhu and Yu Bai's arrival, and Yu Fu chatted with Liu Zhu a bit about his time at the Liu Clan, although he did remember what Liu Zhu said and excluded any names.

"Ah... ha, that really was a good time. I mean, your older brother really can party. I'll have to pay him a visit sometime. Your Grand Elder was very powerful as well, he gave off quite the pressure during training. It was completely different from my father." "Mhm, my brother is quite the... special person. Anyways, how'd you get acquainted with a member of the Ki family? I wouldn't think you'd get many chances to interact with them." "Oh, that? It's not really a big deal- a few years ago we met at the Yutian Martial Conference and she gave me some tips on refining armor. I wouldn't say we're good friends, but I gain from our conversations and she seems to enjoy them."

As Liu Zhu replied, traces of mild bemus.e.m.e.nt appeared on his face. "The Yutian Martial Conference? I wouldn't have expected that, our clans are about the same size but we've never been able to get a slot." Yu Fu coughed upon hearing this and threw a glance at his brother, who awkwardly shrugged. "That... er, your clan has had a slot, I heard that one was given to you days after your Grand Elder arrived. That being said, I haven't heard it mentioned for a long time and every year the slot remains empty. I only know you still have the slot because our families are always listed near each other on the paperwork."

Liu Zhu was surprised upon hearing that Zhu Chao had just decided that neither he or his brother should be going to Yutian Country's largest gathering of juniors without their input, but in hindsight it made sense. Until recently Liu Zhu would've just embarrassed himself if he tried to compete, and it would've made him more frustrated about not being able to break through to Flesh Tempering. As for his brother... he might have had a decent showing, but given his antics there was a chance he could piss off someone that he really shouldn't have. It'd be safest just to keep him at home.

Liu Zhu quickly jumped away from this awkward topic and got the conversation back on track. The woman from the Ki family didn't show much interest in the conversation and only chatted with Yu Fu about refining for a bit. Liu Zhu was able to follow their conversation and was honestly more interested in it than what he was chatting with the others about, but didn't interject out of politeness. After a bit she left, leaving their group to chat among themselves.

After around an hour Liu Zhu left the group. Initially he was planning to speak with Duan Ping for a bit, but after seeing that he was still vacuuming in food like a human interdimensional ring at the catering table, he abandoned the idea. At that point he decided to speak with some of the juniors around his age and try to make connections. He couldn't give out his real name, but to be honest that didn't change too much since the Liu Clan wasn't a major force anyways. People would just assume he was part of some minor force they hadn't heard of, and that wouldn't be too far from the truth- the only reason most people would know about the Liu Clan would be because of his father. Of course it'd be a bit awkward reintroducing himself in the future, but that was a future problem for future him.