The first few days of Liu Zhu's trip went by without much fanfare. He simply rode his horse along the dirt roads stretching throughout the countryside, admiring the multitude of forests and farms along the way. Occasionally a merchant or traveler would pass by the two, but the route they'd taken wasn't very populated. Overall the experience had been surprisingly calm. It was just riding horses, taking breaks, riding some more, and then camping for the night. This pattern broke on the third afternoon after Liu Zhu and Elder Chu left the Liu Clan's estate, as they entered into a city.
"Does your friend live here?" Elder Chu nodded as the two entered into the city. The entrance led directly onto the main street. Despite the small size of the city, the main street was lively and citizens walked to and fro while merchants hawked their wares. Elder Chu turned to Liu Zhu after looking around. "I'm not sure if there's a stable nearby, so I'll just bring the horses with me. Do you want to come with me or look around the city for a bit?" Liu Zhu handed his reins to Elder Chu as he answered. "I'll look around and meet up with you again later." Elder Chu nodded as he began to lead both horses away. "Alright then, come to the red brick manor with the statue of a lion out front when you're done. As long as you go along the main road you can't miss it." Liu Zhu grunted in response as he walked away, curious about whether there was interesting to see in this small city.
Unsurprisingly, there wasn't much to see in a city of under 20,000 people, which could barely qualify to be a city. Liu Zhu was aware of a couple of ruined forts nearby, but they were too far away for him to visit without spending at least half a day. In the end he just looked through some shops instead. After around an hour of this he gave up on finding anything notable, deciding to grab a meal before meeting up with Elder Chu. The restaurant he chose was empty besides two teenagers eating, and Liu Zhu ordered some food before pulling out a book and silently waiting.
As Liu Zhu waited for his food, he heard the young man and woman sitting a few tables away start speaking louder. He tried to ignore them and focus on his book, but the volume of their conversation continued to grow louder before he heard something smash. Glancing up, he saw that their plates were lying on the ground, shattered, and that the girl was backing away.
The teenage boy angrily laughed as he walked forward. "I've asked you politely time and time again, so why is it that you continue to spurn me? I just want to... get to know you better Fairy Lin. Alright?" The girl seemed distraught and clenched her fists as she retorted. "I'll let you off if you drop this, but if you continue my master will have to get involved." The volume of their conversation increased as the man laughed. "Your master? Why would my Fang family be afraid of an old bag of skin and bones like her?" The woman's face scrunched up in frustration as their argument continued.
As all this was happening, Liu Zhu saw the cook hide in the back and realized that he wouldn't be able to eat as long as this was going on. He normally wasn't willing to stick his neck out for others without knowing the details of the situation and the local powers, but now that this was inconveniencing him the situation had changed. Sighing, he decided to try to defuse the situation.
Liu Zhu cleared his throat as loudly as he could, drowning out the conversation. The two looked over at him, temporarily pausing their argument. Liu Zhu spoke up, putting on a polite front. "It seems like the cook isn't going to do anything as long as you're arguing, and I'm still waiting for my food. Maybe it'd be better to take this outside?"
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Liu Zhu avoided taking sides with this response, not knowing the specifics nor whether getting on the man's bad side would affect him in the future. He seemed like an asshole, but Liu Zhu wasn't in the business of dealing with people's misconduct unless it actually affected him. The man sneered as he heard this, and looked Liu Zhu up and down. "If you don't like it you can go outside. Now apologize and leave or you won't have a good time in this city."
Liu Zhu took a short breath in before sighing. He didn't realize that this person would be so undiplomatic and refuse to give him any face. Well, he had already ridden the tiger so he couldn't back down now. Despite being 16 or 17 the boy was only at Early Bone and Marrow Tempering, so even if he couldn't win Liu Zhu had confidence in not losing. He had easily been able to take Dai He's blows, and the difference between Late Flesh Tempering and Early Bone and Marrow Tempering couldn't be that significant. "I was trying to be polite, but it seems you've rejected my kind intentions. I don't really care about your argument, but keep me out of it."
Liu Zhu got up as he said this, staring the boy down. A derisive grin covered the older boy's face as he looked down at Liu Zhu. "You really want to pick a fight with Fang Wu, the young master of the Fang family? I never thought I'd see the day." He chuckled as he approached Liu Zhu, cracking his knuckles. "Don't worry brat, I won't cripple you. Although if you really want to make amends you could kowtow now, hm?" In response Liu Zhu struck out at Fang Wu, ignoring his taunting.
Fang Wu stood still, a smug smile covering his face, as he allowed Liu Zhu to punch him. Unfortunately his arrogance cost him, and once the strike landed Fang Wu's face immediately changed, his smugness replaced with alarm as he stumbled backwards. "Your strength is impressive, but I'm a whole stage above you. I'll do you a favor and show you the true power of a Bone and Marrow Tempering cultivator before you anger someone you shouldn't. Consider this a lesson- It'll only cost a few broken bones."
Fang Wu charged forward, attacking Liu Zhu. Liu Zhu wasn't fast enough to properly counter the blows and was struck several times in quick succession. Pain spread throughout Liu Zhu's body with each blow, but the actual damage for each one wasn't significant, and so he countered by simply punching back. Fang Wu was too arrogant to back away from someone a stage below him and five years younger than him, so their fight turned into a contest of endurance. If Liu Zhu only got a hit in for every two or three that landed against him it'd be fine- he'd just endure it.
This contest dragged on and Fang Wu's face slowly changed from confidence to astonishment, and eventually to a mix of anger and pain. Fang Wu had landed dozens upon dozens of punches against Liu Zhu, but each of them only left a minor wound. What was more, the wounds immediately began healing as they fought, meaning that he was dealing frighteningly little damage. Liu Zhu couldn't withstand this forever, but outlasting Fang Wu was easy. Eventually Fang Wu backed down, in a miserable state, and turned to leave.
Fang Wu left, shouting a few choice threats as he did so, and limped away down the street. Liu Zhu sat down, slightly annoyed, as the girl glanced down the street for a moment before silently leaving in the direction opposite of Fang Wu. As she did, Liu Zhu's food arrived. Liu Zhu happily glanced down at the plate, glad to get his hard-earned meal, before he saw that it wasn't what he ordered. The waiter embarrassingly took it back as Liu Zhu sighed, wondering what god he'd angered to have such bad luck. When did getting some lunch turn so difficult?