The question left most of the onlookers dumbfounded, hesitantly waiting for someone to respond. After a few breaths a boy stepped onto the dueling grounds, breaking the silence as he introduced himself. "Tian Ru, only son of Elder Tian. 13, Late Flesh Tempering. Glad to make your acquaintance." Liu Zhu was surprised that someone else below Bone and Marrow Tempering took him up on his offer, but figured he must have some level of confidence to do so. As he tried to gauge Tian Ru's strength, he introduced himself. "Liu Zhu, second son of Liu King, the Demon General. 13, Early Flesh Tempering. Same to you."

"Let's begin then?" Liu Zhu nodded in response to the question, causing Tian Ru to dash forward, no weapon in hand. Liu Zhu hastily threw aside his guandao and approached Tian Ru as he saw this. The two neared each other, immediately throwing punches at each other. Liu Zhu's attack narrowly whizzed past Tian Ru's side as he dodged, while Tian Ru's attack managed to strike Liu Zhu directly in the chest. Unfortunately it dealt almost no damage, and before Tian Ru could prepare to dodge again, Liu Zhu struck him in the side.

Tian Ru stumbled back a few steps but kept standing, much to Liu Zhu's surprise. He stared at Liu Zhu as he took a fighting stance again, a grin on his face. "I can't believe you overcame the defense I'm so proud of with such an ordinary blow. Interesting!" Tian Ru charged towards Liu Zhu and the two exchanged blows once again.

In the second exchange of blows the outcome remained unchanged, as Liu Zhu withstood Tian Ru's attack, unfazed, before forcing him backwards. This repeated a few more times before Tian Ru gave up, breathing heavily but surprisingly still standing. "I'll be back to spar with you again after I make a breakthrough. I hope you'll accept my challenge then." Liu Zhu gave a simple 'sure' in response as Tian Ru hobbled off the stage, looking oddly happy for someone that just got beaten up.

Liu Zhu was also interested in Tian Ru, as he was surprised that someone at Flesh Tempering could take that many blows from him without even falling down. Besides that there was his odd fighting style- he could've drawn back, played it safe, and tried to make it a battle of endurance at any time, but he instead charged forward and kept going blow for blow with Liu Zhu. He wasn't sure if this could be called pride or stupidity, but it made Liu Zhu interested in fighting him again. Speed was currently his weak point, so he matched up well against people who decided not to dodge.

No one else approached Liu Zhu to spar after Tian Ru's defeat. Everyone in Flesh Tempering had clearly seen that they weren't a match for him, while everyone at Bone and Marrow Tempering was unwilling to step forward. If they won, it'd bring no glory because they're a whole stage of cultivation higher, but if they lost they'd never live it down. It was just best to stay silent and wait for this standstill to end.

Liu Zhu left having a polite but slightly awkward chat with a few juniors. He wanted to make friends here, but his display earlier made it an inconvenient time to do so. He figured it'd be best to wait a day or two before trying to make friends with anyone. After coming to that decision Liu Zhu found his lodgings and where'd he'd be training. Immediately after doing so he locked himself up and practiced with his guandao for the day, excited for the real lessons to begin the next day.

At dawn Liu Zhu and Yu Qiang met up in order to train. Once they met, Liu Zhu noticed that unlike the day before, an eight-foot long guandao cast in a shiny, golden metal was slung across Yu Qiang's back. It was clearly a weapon fit for an Acupoint Opening cultivator, and Liu Zhu was immediately impressed by it. He would be happy to admire it and try to figure out more about what it was made of and its forging process for hours, but it wasn't a good time. Besides, it would be disrespectful- someone who devoted themselves into training a certain weapon would oftentimes be attached to their weapon. Asking to examine their weapon like that for no good reason may as well be asking to feel up their wife. It'd be courting death.

After observing Liu Zhu's usage of the guandao, Yu Qiang immediately began drilling the fundamentals into him. The sweep, the thrust, the slice, and all the other basic moves were demonstrated by Yu Qiang several times as Liu Zhu tried to mimic his form. Liu Zhu repeated each attack over and over and over as Yu Qiang watched, correcting him as he did so. Due to the boundless vitality within Liu Zhu he never ran out of energy while practicing, and so Yu Qiang never gave him a break. His entire morning was spent improving his form and his understanding of the strikes while Yu Qiang told him what he did wrong. His afternoon was more of the same, but without supervision.

Normally this process would be boring, but for a cultivation nut like Liu Zhu, there was nothing quite as enjoyable as training and making measurable progress. This personality went well with Yu Qiang's plan to form a stable foundation for Liu Zhu, and as time passed Liu Zhu cooped himself up, cultivating and training. He would've abandoned his thoughts of making friends within the Yu family completely if it weren't for Tian Ru, who occasionally dragged him out of cultivation to hang out. During Liu Zhu's excursions with Tian Ru he also became acquainted with Yu Bai, Yu Qiang's second son. The three of them got along well despite some rivalry between Tian Ru and Yu Bai, and so Liu Zhu's secondary goal of making friends who could help him ally with the Yu family was achieved without much effort on his part.

After several weeks of simply practicing the so-called "fundamentals" and reducing extraneous movement, Liu Zhu started to learn about maintaining momentum in between attacks. This was important when using a guandao or any polearm as properly controlling the momentum behind the weapon allowed one to seamlessly switch from one strike to another, gradually increasing the force behind each as they did so. This was similar to the theory behind many techniques that had multiple strikes growing in power leading up to a final, massive strike.

While the specifics of Liu Zhu's training changed, his routine stayed much the same. He trained his guandao technique and cultivated day and night, only interrupted by bodily needs and the occasional appearance of Tian Ru, who would refuse to take no for an answer, dragging Liu Zhu away from his training no matter how long it took. Eventually six weeks had passed and Liu Zhu's guandao technique had advanced greatly. On top of that, he already felt himself nearing Middle Flesh Tempering. Given that it had only been a couple of months since his breakthrough to Flesh Tempering Liu Zhu was surprised, but at this point had stopped questioning the abnormal growth in abilities. He'd already discovered as much as he could about what had happened to him, so it was up to him to take advantage of it now.

One afternoon, after Liu Zhu finished his morning training with Yu Qiang, he heard a knock on the door. He pretended not to hear it at first, but as it continued Liu Zhu sighed and opened the door. Standing there was Tian Ru, who pushed his way past Liu Zhu and into the room. "I'm trying to get the hang of how to best combine these movements into each other, if you could come back..." Tian Ru ignored Liu Zhu's complaints as he interrupted him. "I understand, I understand, but you need to take breaks- without them your progress will slow down, no matter how much practice you put in. Anyways, one thing led to another and most of the juniors are going hunting tomorrow. You're coming along."

Liu Zhu surprisingly didn't protest the arrangement, understanding that there was some truth behind what Tian Ru said. Plus, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested in exploring the area. He'd barely been outside, but the forest nearby was supposed to be dense with flora and fauna. He might come across something interesting if he went along with them.

Without the protest Tian Ru had expected their conversation ended quickly, leaving Liu Zhu to return to his training while looking forward to the hunting trip.