9 Getting Into the Flow of Things

Four Years ago, before going into a coma; Chu Fan had acquired a decent number of cultivation slips and a knife manual.

"What should I train in first?" he asked himself.

He pondered over what he wanted to study first and finally decided to study the Heaven-Guiding Palms Technique first as it was a cultivation manual suitable for introductory level cultivators.

He sunk his conscience into the cultivation slip where he was transported to another mystical realm of space. Mnemonics started to appear and shadow figures danced about as they executed the fist routines in proper order.

Chu Fan pondered over the mnemonics until he remembered them; then he began executing the fist routine while directing the qi in his body accordingly. He felt stronger each time he executed the fist routine, but eventually he lost that feeling.

"Eeh!? Something feels off about this fist routine. The Qi doesn't flow correctly, it's like being a arcade fighting character with a small combo list."

He drew his mind out of the cultivation slip and thought for a second before snapping his fingers.

"Right, I have the tablet."

He put the cultivation slips into the tablet storage space and pulled up their information. And he arranged them by rarity.

He was amazed to find that the most rare amongst his collection was the God of Cookery's knife cutting slip, Limitless Culinary Knife, was a two-star Heaven-tier rated slip.

And he sucked in a mouthful of air before exclaiming, "Whoa, so formidable. For a mere culinary knife technique to be ranked in the Heaven-tier. I've struck gold, big time."

He knew that he could utilize these knife techniques in fighting also but he didn't have much high hopes for it; so receiving such news made him hopeful for his future cultivation. He knew that he would have to be patient and that such knife techniques could only practiced when cooking so he could only patiently wait to practice when he next cooked.

The last of the group of cultivation slips he held was a decent four-star mortal tier cultivation slip. It was the one he had graciously extorted from Xin Hai four years ago, the Deity-Alluring Fist.

Apparently the Heaven-Guiding Palm Technique and Spirit Sword Formation were of very low level; only getting half-star mortal-tier rating. They were named Heaven-Guiding Palm Technique(modified) and Spirit Sword Formation(modified) by the tablet.

Over the countless years that the sect had been around, their beginner cultivation techniques had been changed, lost, badly copied, and revised many times; leading to the degradation of the techniques themselves.

And so Chu Fan chose to upgrade them as much as he could.

Pulling up the upgrade screen he selected the Heaven-Guiding Palm Technique.

"Upgrade from Heaven-Guiding Palm Technique (modified) to Heaven-Guiding Palm Technique (original). Please Confirm: 'Yes' or 'No'."

Chu Fan quickly pushed "Yes" and another screen popped up.

"To upgrade cultivation slip, payment is needed. Please insert 15 blood essence shards or 500 gold coins."

Chu Fan selected 15 of his most common cards and entered them into the payment slot.

With a bright flash the cultivation slip transformed into a different color, going from a light-green to a darker shade of green.

He chose to upgrade it again at the cost of 30 cards this time, followed by another 60 cards. It had become a three-star mortal-class technique by the time he was done with it.

It's new name was "Heaven-Guiding Palm Technique (+2)" which made Chu Fan chuckle.

He moved his attention next to the Spirit Sword Formation slip and chose to upgrade it as well.

"Welp, I have 271 cards left, I might as well upgrade you too."

And so he swiftly upgraded the Spirit Sword Formation slip until it was named "Spirit Sword Formation (+2)". He had only 166 Dokimon cards left only; comprised of the uncommon and rarer cards he had.

He looked at the other slips for a while wondering if he should upgrade them too but decided against it as he needed to spend his blood essence shards, AKA Dokimon Cards, very frugally.

For the meantime, he could only set aside the two other slips: Deity-Alluring Fist and Limitless Culinary Knife.

He closed the interface and dived back into the Heaven-Guiding Palm Technique slip. And this time everything was different.

The mnemonics that appeared were more profound and shone brighter than it did previously. And the phantoms themselves became clearer and bore distinct human features. Their moves flowed more elegantly as Chu Fan could feel the flow and power coming from their movements.

Chu Fan's level of perception was amongst the genius levels due to him having lived through two lives, so making breakthroughs at such elementary stages of immortality was an easy feat for him.

He began to breathe and feel the qi course through his body. As he performed the fist routines, he felt his body become more and more fortified.

The Heaven-Guiding Palm Technique had a total of ten levels in its cultivation. Chu Fan had made his way past the first level and into the second level. In this level, snaps could be heard as the palms traveled at fearsome speeds, and sudden changes the move variations would cause the air itself to snap.

And again he began to absorb more and more qi until he eventually heard a crack in his head. He had effectively entered the third level of Qi Condensation.

He felt content with making a breakthrough and felt it was a good time to rest and stabilize his qi. He understood that if he made advancements too often in a short period of time, he'd end up putting himself in a deep ditch.

And so he got up and headed towards the bathhouses as he again was wrapped in a layer of impurities. Although his trip to the bathhouses took less time as he felt a lot lighter and full of energy.

He ran as hard as he could, waving at his fellow disciples as he ran past them.

The essence of the Heaven-Guiding Palm Technique revolved around breathing, both in and out. Meaning that qi could be utilized to control the wind, pulling it inwards and thrusting it outwards.

Using his insights on, he eventually propelled himself with an angled palm thrust. He flew in the air and was constantly accelerating as he kept thrusting at a downward angle.

"Woosh!" the sound he made as he zoomed pass the disciples.

"Wow, I've never seen a fat kid run that fast before. What magical flight treasure does he have? I'll have to get me one in the future."

"What's that flying in the air? A bird? A flying sword? No! It's the head chef of the sect!?"

Even the majestic flying birds of the sect were baffled by the scene playing in front of them.

The sight of a flying fat twelve-year old was one for sore eyes. The ability to fly was only obtained by having a flying sword or treasure, or by reaching a certain stage of cultivation.

As Chu Fan flew through the air, he basked in the rays of the sun as he was able to view parts of the sect from a birds eye view.

Then the thought finally occurred in his mind.

"Wait....Oh, this is bad...How do I land?"

He started to panic as he had never really anticipated that he would be accelerating at these kinds of speeds when gliding like so.

And so he made a last ditch attempt at slowing himself down; he concentrated and performed the strongest palm strike he knew so far and summoned all the wind qi that he could. He had unintentionally created a sonic boom as he thrust his palms before him.

"Boom!" was the sound that he made as he came to an abrupt stop.

He passed out as a result of the whiplash and large amount of qi he had expended earlier. He had barely stepped into the third level and it was not wise to use too much qi before stabilizing his cultivation. And he promptly passed out from the whiplash and qi exhaustion.

He woke up seconds later to fell the dreaded sensation people felt when falling down to the ground. He could only brace for impact.

"Hnnn! Damn you idiot. You try to be cocky once and you screw it up by overdoing it."

He grit his teeth and closed his eyes as he knew he would be seriously hurt or land in a pool of water.

He waited and waited until he felt his body become lighter and the wind became gentler.

"Hm? This is strange. Where's the part where I fall into a pool of water? Or splatter on the ground?"

He opened his right eye to peak at what was going on. For a split second he thought he saw his sister, Chu Mei.

But to his surprise, it was a saint-like beauty holding him in a bridal carry position.

"This little brother disciple, what are you doing flying?"

Chu Fan quickly thought of an excuse and said, "Uh, I was testing out a flying talisman and it fell off of me. Thankfully big sister disciple was here to save me by her grace and beauty."

"Hahaha, you little glib-tongued child. I seem to know you. Are you our sect's head chef by any chance?" asked the beautiful female disciple holding him.

"Ah, Elder sister Chu Shen. Yes, this disciple is also the head chef of our sect, Chu Fan."

Chu Shen and Chu Fan finally landed like feathers, almost weightless.

They dusted themselves off and smiled at one another.

"You know, you have yet to fulfill your promise. I've waited four years for that meal you promised me." Chu Shen teased.

Chu Fan blushed as he scratched his head in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry for making you wait four years. I'll make it up to you by making you dessert also. Come by the cafeteria for dinner tonight and bring any guests. I promise I'll be there tonight."

"Oh, then can I trouble you to invite some of your fellow peak disciples to the event then? I'll make sure to bring some of my fellow sister disciples and hallmaster. Deal?"

Chu Fan knew well that Chu Shen liked Zhong Chen from Forest Peak. Thus, she invited the other disciples from Forest Peak as an opportunity for the two of them to interact.

"Un! Deal, you invite your fellow disciples and I'll invite mine. I'll go now. See you later."

And so Chu Fan made his way to the bathhouse and cleaned himself before scurrying off to Forest Peak in search of his fellow disciples.

As he approached the foot of Forest Peak, he saw the sweeping elder and approached him with a big smile on his face. He figured he would invite the sweeping elder also because he had promised him to a meal four years ago.

"Greetings to elder. This disciple, Chu Fan, has been instructed by River-Flowing Peak's direct disciple for a late-night dessert gathering in the cafeteria. I was wondering if you could help chaperone."

Chu Fan waited for a response, but he was answered with a stare and silence from the elder.

"Ah, don't despair, River-Flowing Peak's Hallmaster will also be present to help you chaperone if you agree to it." he reassured the sweeping elder.

Hearing Chu Fan's words, the elder's eyes widened and he nodded without hesitation.

"Thank you elder, for agreeing. This disciple is very grateful of your consideration."

Chu Fan was puzzled as he bowed. This elder seemed to think for a long time whether or not he wanted to agree; and yet he didn't hesitate to agree when he heard that the other hallmaster was coming.

He shook his head as he didn't want to forget his important task at hand and made his way to invite the others.

He first invited his dorm-mates who accepted his invitation without any hesitation. Yao Lingyan agreed at the very mention of dessert.

He then began to invite his other peers from Forest Peak. Zhong Chen was the last person he asked.

The process of finding Zhong Chen was a very tedious one because he was a very busy person. He helped the hallmaster with many of his daily tasks and today, he was teaching the younger disciples at the training grounds.

When Chu Fan found him, he happily ran to his side and greeted him with a fist-hand salute.

"Greeting from junior disciple Chu Fan to senior brother Zhong Chen!"

"Mm! Greetings junior disciple brother. Congratulations on waking up. We at Forest Peak are happy to have a young hero like yourself amongst us. I was just about to come find you anyways. So here, your new identity badge."

Zhong Chen handed Chu Fan his new leaf shaped identity badge, of which he received with both hands.

Chu Fan quickly dripped some blood on the new badge and a light flew from his old badge into the new one. He handed over his old badge to Zhong Chen and bowed.

"Thank you senior brother Zhong Chen."

Zhong Chen warmly smiled and nodded at Chu Fan.

"You're welcome, junior disciple. Now, what is the reason that you have sought me out today?"

Being reminded of his current task at hand, he scratched his head as he looked at his senior brother with a smile.

"Ah, thank you for reminding me. Some students of the River-Flowing Peak have invited some of our Forest Peak's disciples to share in a late night dessert with them at the cafeteria. I was wondering if you'd like to come also."

Hearing Chu Fan mention desserts, Zhong Chen made a disinterested face which he straightened right away as he made eye contact with Chu Fan.

"Ah, I might have to decline your offer. See, I don't really have a taste for sweet things."

Chu Fan was a little disappointed, he had went out of his way to invite his senior brother and was outright declined just because he didn't like sweet things. He turned away and walked slowly with his head held low.

"Ai, senior sister Chu Shen will be especially disappointed. I feel bad for her to be the only one of her generation there for the event that I arranged specifically for her."

Hearing the mention of Chu Shen, Zhong Chen seemed to teleport right in front of Chu Fan; causing the two to bump into each other. Chu Fan fell over on his behind; and from the ground he saw the light gleaming from Zhong Chen's eyes as he smiled at the chubby kid laying on the floor.

"Did you just say that Chu Shen from Forest Peak will be there? That changes everything."

Noticing his sudden change of character he picked Chu Fan up and dusted him off.

"This junior brother, you should have mentioned earlier that Chu Shen would be going also. I feared that I'd be the only one from my generation going so I hesitated. But seeing as the direct disciple of River-Flowing Peak will be making an appearance, I shall also be present as it is my duty as the direct disciple of Forest Peak. Also, I'll make it my mission to keep miss Chu Shen entertained."

The mood became lighter as Chu Fan and Zhong Chen chatted for a bit about the event that was to happen. And even better, Zhong Chen offered to gather the students attending the event to decorate the cafeteria while Chu Fan cooked.

And so the party made their way to the cafeteria, gathering disciples along the way.

They eventually grew to the size of a small gang, totaling 35 disciples. They were all led by Chu Fan and Zhong Chen, who were happily chatting along the way.

"Eh, Chu Fan. I heard you had barely started cultivating before you went into a coma. How have you healed your meridians and reached the third level of Qi Condensation in a mere two days?"

Scratching his head, Chu Fan chuckled as he tried to stall for time and muster up a plausible excuse.

"Ah, senior brother is very keen on his assessment of my cultivation. I just happened to stumble upon some pills an elder left before they transcended. The two pills I found helped me out of my predicament and reach the third level of Qi Condensation."

Hearing his words the disciples following them sucked in a mouthful of air, as they didn't expect that the fatty before them could be so lucky as to find such wonderful treasures.

"Where? Where did you find these pills?"

"What? There are still some undiscovered treasures around the sect? I figured they would have all been found by now."

"Do you have any other treasures on you? I'm willing to trade you all of my sect credits for any treasures you have."

The disciples all began asking him questions about where he had been and if he had any other treasures he could spare. Berating him with their words.

"Quiet, Chu Fan found such pills as he was fated to find them. He has a right to keep and use them for himself as he has an affinity to them. Stop pestering him about it."

Chu Fan felt a lot closer to his senior brother at this moment. And he looked at his senior brother with great admiration.

The following disciples went quiet as they could not refute the words of their senior brother. This alone would spark a sect-wide search for possible treasures that any alumni might have left for future students. This alone would go on for a years time.

Continuing on their path to the cafeteria, the students marched in queue like an army ready for combat.

They arrived at the end of the lunch period and ate together before preparing for dinner.

Chu Fan headed into the kitchen and instructed the puppets to assist him in his preparation of his desserts. And the other disciples began to decorate the dining hall for the event, occasionally they would peak into the kitchen to see what Chu Fan was making. To their dismay, they could not tell what dessert Chu Fan was preparing.

Chu Fan was preparing a dessert that they had never seen before, the process and ingredients Chu Fan used were puzzling to them. They figured it was useless to ask Chu Fan the name of such dessert as they wouldn't be able to comprehend it.

Before they knew it, Chu Fan had produced about 150 tea cups and began to pour three separate soups into the cups.

The dessert Chu Fan was making was a three-tiered mousse comprised of: a peanut mousse at the bottom, a heart mango mousse middle, and a vanilla mousse top. He would later garnish it with a mint leaf and a pinch of rock salt to bring out the sweetness. For now he would transfer it over to the vegetable locker to chill until it was ready to serve.

Chu Fan then began to prep for dinner as he was in the kitchen and he instructed the puppets to start helping him prep.

Eventually, the fragrance of a savory meal wafting in the air and putting his fellow disciples in a trance as they could not shake off such an alluring scent. Everybody shifted their attention to the kitchen to see what it was that Chu Fan was cooking.

"Chu Fan, what delicacy are you cooking up now?" asked Da Bao.

"Stir-fried truffle pig intestines with ginger and chicken gizzard larb. Vegetarian dishes are stir-fried mushrooms and mountain greens as well as an assortment of deep fried vegetables. Just wait, it'll be delicious."

The disciples looked at each other with puzzled faces.

"Intestines? Is the cafeteria lacking in funds?"

"Larb? What in the heck is that? I've never heard of anything like that before."

"Our head chef must have gone mad after being asleep for four years."

"Aiya, don't fret about it. I heard from rumors that he was trained by a wandering immortal chef how to cook. Maybe this is one of those exotic dishes."

They began to discuss amongst themselves until they saw a figure glaring at them. These eyes belonged to their senior brother, Zhong Chen. And he was not amused that they were chit-chatting while everyone else worked hard.

"If you have the free time to talk, you must be done with the tasks that I gave you. Go help the other disciples finish the decorations before our guests arrive. Quickly! Go!"

And so they dispersed, aiding the nearest disciple that looked busy. They were greeted with teasing smile and chiding remarks where they blushed in embarrassment.

Zhong Chen then approached Chu Fan while smiling.

"Chu Fan, you definitely are cooking up a delicacy this time, the smell is so enticing. I can't wait to finally try your food. We're almost finished with the decorations. We hope you'll be done cooking and join us for dinner also."

Chu Fan nodded his head as he looked at his senior brother.

"Un! I am just about done with cooking also. I'll come join you fellow disciples when I'm done. The dinner rush is about to begin and the puppets can handle the rest."

He quickly finished cooking and washed up and headed out to eat with the rest of his fellow disciples who were waiting for him.

When he sat down, the other disciples from the other peaks had arrived for dinner and began to eat also.

Zhong Chen gave a toast to Chu Fan.

"Here, we celebrate and toast our junior disciple for his heroism and ability to cook. Cheers!"

And so all the disciples of Forest Peak raised their bowls of juice and water as they toasted Chu Fan.

"Cheers!"

"Bottoms up!"

Eventually River-Flowing Peak's disciples began to make an appearance. They were all dressed elegantly and walked in a very graceful manner.

The way they entered almost seemed to be coordinated as Chu Shen was in the center as she stood out in the way she dressed and her aura she emitted.

Chu Fan turned to see may of his fellow disciples smitten by the numerous girls and women standing before them. Even Zhong Chen was not an exception; he bore the face of an entranced man who had taken a heavy dose of anesthetic.

Seeing such beauties enter the dining hall, the various male disciples began to approach, greet, and introduce themselves. Their was a large crowd around the entrance of the dining hall.

Chu Fan looked around the room until he met eyes with Yao Lingyan who sized herself up to the elegantly dressed woman and harrumphed.

"Hmph! A bunch of fools you are to be so impressed by such plain looking women."

She was jealous of these girls. In fact, she too, had wanted to dress up elegantly like these women. But were it not for the fact that she was in disguise as a boy, she would have been amongst these beauties.

"Aiyoo! Junior Brother, you don't know it yet. When you find the right person, looks have no meaning." said Tian Hai as he shook his index finger at Yao Lingyan.

"And how do you know so much about the matters of love Tian Hai?" asked the curious Chu Fan.

"Hmph, you dare to question the ability and knowledge of the Unparalleled Love Guru of Forest Peak?" said one of the fellow disciples sitting close by.

"Eh, Chu Fan, I'll have you know that the Love Guru here has helped over a dozen of our fellow disciples conquer the women of their dreams despite their looks." said another.

"Haha, I'll have you know that I've set up more couples than you can ever think of. It takes you for years to set up a little over a dozen couples. I can cut that time by a half." said Chu Fan.

"Oh, it sounds like you want to set a wager, name your price." declared Tian Hai.

Happy to hear that he'd accept any terms, Chu Fan gave his bet.

"Simple, if I win, you shall give me the title of 'Unparalleled Love Guru of Forest Peak'. And if I lose, I'll call you strip down and run around the sect declaring you are the best."

Seeing that he seemed to benefit from this wager, Tian Hai agreed without hesitation.

As they finished their conversation, Chu Shen walked away from the crowd and headed towards Chu Fan's table. She curtsied and greeted the table of disciples.

"Junior Brother Chu Fan. What a pleasure it is to be here today. Ah, greetings to fellow disciple Zhong Chen. It seems Chu Fan has invited you to enjoy his dessert also; I'm happy you could also make it."

Zhong Chen was baffled by the beauty that had approached him; his mouth was agape as he felt he was dreaming.

"Hahaha! Senior Brother is just at a loss of words as he has been graced by your beauty. Isn't that right senior brother." said Chu Fan as he smacked Zhong Chen on the shoulder.

Zhong Chen fell off his chair and recovered from his fall as he thrust his right palm into the floor. He landed majestically and was blushing. He coughed before he could muster up the innumerable amount of words in his head.

"Yes, I chose to come here and keep you company. Seeing as we are the only ones here from our generation; the age gap would make conversations with the younger disciples feel awkward. Also, I was taken aback by your beauty earlier and was at a loss for words. I meant no offense to you when I did not reply earlier." he said as he blushed.

Chu Shen began to fan herself as she turned beet red. She was not expecting such a direct answer like that. She had wanted to tease this fool some more, but seeing as he was a very frank person, she would have to rethink her strategy.

"Thank you for your compliments Zhong Chen. We shall talk later after dinner."

"Mm, it's a promise you can hold me accountable for."

And the blushing senior disciple Chu Shen walked over to the table where many female disciples could not wait to hear the news that she had.

Chu Fan almost coughed up a mouthful of blood at this glib pair of naive adults. They had been so immersed in their cultivation that they had neglected to experience things like love and public displays of affection.

When he looked over at Zhong Chen, he saw that the strong and stoic senior brother before him seemed to be having a panic attack. He had managed to hold whatever shred of calmness he had while conversating with the one he admired.

"What do I talk about? What do I do? I've merely passed the first trial."

Chu Fan shook his head and put his hand on Zhong Chen's left shoulder.

"Senior brother, don't fret. This junior brother has a plan. Just wait until the desserts are served and I'll tell you my plan at that time. Okay?"

Seeing Chu Fan's smile, Zhong Chen could not laugh or cry as he cold only try to rely on this little fatty to perform a miracle.

At the side, Tian Hai chose to spectate and see Chu Fan's method of approach. He had used his innate talent to view the qi fluctuations in the two direct disciples as they interacted with one another. And it was evident that they liked each other.

A person's qi fluctuation was determined by the state of mind of the person. As long as they remained calm, the fluctuation would flow like a river stream in it's natural state. When agitated, the qi in one's body would move around erratically.

Tian Hai's ability was effectively a cheat ability useful for things like charisma building, dating-simulations, and visual novel choice making.

Chu Fan turned around to continue eating. But he was interrupted when a small delicate hand landed on his right shoulder. He turned to see whose hand had disturbed his meal time.

To his absolute horror, it was none other than the sect chief's daughter. He was afraid because he had forgotten to send her an invite.

She had found out about it while curiously following a group of elegantly dressed female disciples from River-Flowing Peak. They had been looking forward to the event as soon as they heard about it; so they talked about it in detail as they made their way to the cafeteria. And Hun Lian had heard about it all: the dessert, the party, and most of all; that she hadn't been invited.

She was furious, but not enough that she too wouldn't go out of the way to come to the event as under dressed as she was earlier. She had went to her living quarters where she donned the most elegant dress she had in her closet, a neon green frost spider silk dress. She also wore a special hair clasp that she had received from her grandfather before he was deceased; it was to be worn on her wedding day.

She had arrived last and she was throwing a tantrum as she thought Chu Fan was willfully neglecting her as a friend.

"Chu Fan, you damn fatty. How could you forget to invite me? I thought we were friends. Yet you didn't remember to even invite me to eat desserts with you."

Chu Fan was puzzled by the pretty yet angry girl berating him.

He calmly got up and patted her on the head.

"Hun Lian, I'm sorry. I was busy preparing for the event and forgot to invite you to the event. We've been through life and death together. I would never willingly neglect to include you. I'll make it up to you next time okay." he said firmly.

Hun Lian could only keep her head down in silence as she completely misunderstood the situation.

"That's a promise right?" she said as she extended her right pinky towards Chu Fan.

"Of course it is." he said as he interlocked his right pinky with her's.

Chu Fan noticed that Hun Lian seemed to be over-dressed for the occasion now.

"Now how come your dressed so pretty today, is this all for me?" he said as he pinched her cheeks.

"Ow, stop that glib talk. You damn fatty rascal." she said as she pushed his hands away.

She rubbed her, now sore, cheeks and turned her face away as she blushed. She ran to hide and sit next to Chu Shen; she would occasionally look at Chu Fan and stick out her tongue. And of course, he would reply by blowing kisses at her.

The crowd was eating it up. Seeing this scene of two small children acting cutesy together made their hearts flutter as they basked in the glory of spring's bountiful gifts.

There were some disciples that were not amused by this sight as they felt Chu Fan was unworthy of acting this way towards Hun Lian; and they would plan to report it to the discipline committee later.

Yao Lingyan was among those that were not amused at all; but she wasn't one to rat out a friend. And so she buried her face in her bowl as she angrily ate and stuffed her mouth so she wouldn't spew the many profanities she thought of. She almost seemed to be jealous.

And so the disciples continued eating, chatting, and jeering each other to court the others.

When the dinner period was finished, Chu Fan instructed the puppets to clear out any disciples that weren't invited to the event; with the exception of Hun Lian.

Chu Fan headed into the cold storage locker to fetch his desserts and presented them after garnishing them.

He instructed the puppets to start handing out the desserts, whereas he would make his way to his senior brother who was now trembling in a corner.

"Senior brother, are you okay? Let's begin this briefing."

Chu Fan had decided that the first couple he would bring together would be the two naive and glib-tongued direct disciples here today. He didn't know if he would regret it or not.