Knowing the Trade

"Well, at least your back to your normal self. Let me tell the others of the good news before we go shopping."

Yao Lingyan left to tell the others of Chu Fan's awakening.

And while Yao Lingyan was away, Chu Fan attempted to walk after four long years of slumber.

He was propped up on his back and he sang a song while wiggling attempting to exert force with his leg muscles.

"This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home. This little piggy had roast beef. This little piggy had fun. This little piggy went 'Wee, wee, wee.' all the way home."

He began to wiggle his toes and eventually he could bend his ankle. He tried to stand but relied on surrounding objects for stability and support.

He tried to walk a distance but fell and landed flat on his face. As he got up and brushed the dust off himself; he sniffed and wiped his red nose.

Suddenly loud footsteps could be heard as there seemed to be a stampede outside.

Word had gone around that the brave little head chef had fought off would-be kidnappers of the sect chief's daughter; sacrificing his life and future for the sect. They had began to revere him as a gallant warrior, worthy of their praise and friendship.

Even the other prestigious sects upon hearing that a mere studying chef disciple of the school was able to fend off the likes of the Lunar Fox Gang at such a tender age were shocked. They too, began to respect the sect more because they couldn't fathom the tenacity and might an outer or inner disciple potentially possessed.

Hearing that the heroic head chef of the academy had finally awoken from his four year coma; many disciples flocked over to catch a glimpse of this young hero.

Chu Fan, curious as to the commotion outside; peered his head out of the front door. He had crawled over to the door and opened it to see who was outside. And his eyes met the many disciples who were full of anticipation.

"Eh, why is our head chef crawling?"

The disciples were expecting the image of a stern and upright person to burst out from inside beaming with pride; not to witness a crawling fat kid struggling to stand up.

From the crowd, a group of four students made their way to the front to find Chu Fan on the ground.

This group consisted of Yao Lingyan, Da Bao, Tian Hai, and Hun Lian.

"Chu Fan, what are you doing trying to walk already. Are you alright?" asked Hun Lian as she ran over to pick him up.

Da Bao and Tian Hai looked at each other and understood it was best to disperse the crowd.

"Fellow disciples, the awakening of a mere studying disciple and head chef of the set shouldn't warrant this much attention. Remember, we only have two years time before the international sect tournaments. Shouldn't we be cultivating and preparing for such an event? I'm sure the peak masters wouldn't be too delighted to hear that their disciples might have too much leisure time on their hands. So much so that they come to spectate another disciple's awakening." spoke Da Bao.

"Right, the peak masters love giving out lectures and meaningless tasks to those who they see dilly-dallying, wasting precious cultivation time." reassured Tian Hai.

The other disciples looked at each other and couldn't help but gulp. They knew the peak masters wanted great results at the inter-sect tournaments.

In recent years, the sect had been on the decline and results were not too favorable. The tournament came once every six years and this time, the sect chief wanted better outcomes. Therefore he promised that the people who placed first in their divisions would be granted a wish or treasure accordingly.

The disciples quickly congratulated Chu Fan on his waking up and bid their farewells as they left to cultivate and/or keep themselves busy.

Seeing the crowd disperse, Yao Lingyan let out a sigh of relief as they were left alone and able to talk.

"Chu Fan, you can already get out of bed by yourself?" they asked.

"Wait, I have something I made just for this occasion." Da Bao said as he ran inside.

He came back outside with a stick; it was a cane. He handed it to Chu Fan who received it with both hands.

"This is your personally made walking stick. I've configured it with some defensive arrays. By twisting the handle you can switch it in and out of defensive mode."

Chu Fan began fiddling with his new magic treasure. By switching the cane into defensive mode, it transformed into a shield that was as tall as Chu Fan.

"Awesome, thanks Da Bao. You truly are a big treasure trove." he followed with a chuckle.

Da Bao only shook his head.

"Ah, where is Zhu Zhong. That little piggy isn't even here to greet his sworn brother when he finally woke up. I'm gonna have to put him in a headlock." Chu Fan stated.

Everybody fell deathly silent.

"What? What's happened to Zhu Zhong?" he asked in a panic.

Hun Lian spoke up, "Master sent him and senior brother Xin Hai into a twilight realm to test their fate and find treasures. Only senior brother Xin Hai returned badly injured. He said he doesn't know if Zhu Zhong made it out alive." she stopped speaking after that because she was still devastated about Zhu Zhong's disappearance.

"That was a year ago, and we still have no news of Zhu Zhong. At the time he left for the twilight realm, he was only at the fourth level of Qi Condensation. We can only assume that he's perished. I'm so sorry Chu Fan." Yao Lingyan stated as she comforted Chu Fan.

As she patted his shoulders, Chu Fan began to shake.

"Pfft, hahaha. That's it. He'll be fine. Zhu Zhong, that pig headed fool. When he has his mind set on something he'll achieve it. He won't die in a mere twilight realm and its low-level beasts. If anything he'll come back stronger than ever, just you guys wait." he bellowed.

He had fully deduced that Xin Hai had abandoned Zhu Zhong in the twilight realm to die. Knowing his novels, the hero would only come to some lucky encounter on the verge of death. Zhu Zhong would not only survive, but become stronger by unfathomable leaps and bounds.

"We should do well to cultivate diligently and await Zhu Zhong's return or we'll be forever in his shadows as immortal cultivators."

"That's right, Zhu Zhong can't die that easily. I'll cultivate and become strong enough to stand beside Zhu Zhong." Hun Lian said, full of confidence.

"Ah, that's right. Yao Lingyan said that you wanted to go into town to buy some Dokimon Cards?" asked Tian Hai.

"Yep, I might have a way to cure myself." stated Chu Fan.

The other disciples could only look at themselves and go along with Chu Fan. They pitied him and willingly went along with the madman before them. They wanted to humor any desperate hopes Chu Fan had of cultivating again.

And so they headed into town and made their way towards the biggest toy shop in town.

Along the way there, Chu Fan and the rest discussed details of the upcoming inter-sect tournaments, its prizes, and most promising contestants.

They told Chu Fan of the events that occurred during his four year coma and he laughed at most of the things they told him. His cafeteria barely had any disciples that went to eat as they had grown tired of the repeated single menu. Those that ate there frequently were students who were extremely frugal or tight on pocket money and fasting pill.

"Eh, I was asleep for four years, how come I'm still so fat?"

The other four began to scratch their heads and dodge his gaze.

"Uhh, hehe. Well that's a story in and of itself." Hun Lian answered.

"Well, for the first couple of years before Zhu Zhong left; we all took turns feeding you. And when I say that, I mean we fed you five times a day." Tian Hai said as he started to blush at his stupidity.

"We didn't realize that we were feeding you so much until before Zhu Zhong's departure. It was at that time that we actually sat down to discuss who would take over Zhu Zhong's feeding time slot. We noticed our stupidity, but it was too late." Da Bao stated as he bowed.

"But don't despair; your appearance now is a lot skinnier than what you looked like a year ago. We put you on a strict diet after that and you look the way you do now." Yao Lingyan said as she patted Chu Fan on his shoulder.

Chu Fan stood in place with his mouth agape and emotionless. He was truly fated to remain a fatty in this life also. He quickly came to a realization of the comedic situation that had occurred and could only laugh.

"Hahaha! You as*ho**s!" he said as he gave chase to the other four disciples who had a running start.

"Hahaha! Catch us if you can. It's great exercise for you anyway."

"That's right, catch me and I'll buy you a set of magic armor."

"I'll match you up with any girl you want if you can catch me."

"I'll have father give you some body refinement cultivation slips if you can catch me.

And the comedic scene of four youthful young disciples laughing and teasing a seemingly elderly fatty with a walking stick played out for the commoners of the metropolis to see.

"Are these kids rehearsing a comedy?"

"Damn kids! Stop mocking the elderly!"

"Hahaha, look at that fatty with the walking stick. So cute."

Eventually the group of five disciples arrived at their destination out of breathe.

Catching his breathe, Tian Hai pointed out, "Ha- This here is the city's biggest trading card store: Twisted Cards of Fate. If you can afford it they'll build you a deck completely based off your personal attributes. And they of course sell other toys and goods."

"Woah, look at all the things they have. Wha- They even have figures in this world?" Chu Fan gasped.

Chu Fan was in his own little paradise. He had never been to a store like this before and the things he saw here piqued his curiosity.

They slowly made their way to the crowded counter where Dokimon Cards were sold. Many other children were also staring intently at the vast array of Dokimon Cards.

"Oooh! A rare once in a life-time, six-star steel-armored turtle-dragon card. I have to have it. Miss clerk, how much is it?"

"That card alone is 1 gold coin young master. Are you buying?"

"Uhh. I only have 30 silver coins with me today. I saved all my year's allowance for this."

"Humph! Window shoppers, we of the Twisted Cards of Fate have no time for those who serve to waste our time. Are you buying anything or what?"

"Ah, yes sir. I'll just get two of the ten card packs, please."

"That's better, young master. Now, if you'll please follow me to the register. I'll ring you up."

The child silently and quickly followed the pretty female clerk to the register followed by a crowd of children who were his friends.

Chu Fan and his group were all viewing the cards available and were dazed by the vast selection of cards available. They chose to wait for a clerk to assist them.

When the female clerk from earlier had finished ringing up the other children; she made her way to the group of five young disciples.

"Ah, greetings to Skyward Sword Sect Chief's daughter and her group of friends. What brings you here today?"

"Ah, big sister, we are here today because my friend here is interested in buying some Dokimon Cards today." she said as she pointed at Chu Fan.

The clerk looked at Chu Fan and sized him up. She looked down upon him, and judged him to be unworthy of being friends with the young mistress of the sect.

"Ah, this young master. We welcome you to our humble establishment today. Any friend of the young mistress shall be treated with utmost care. Please have a good look at our merchandise." the clerk said while smiling.

As the other children lowered their heads to look at the cards, the clerk mouthed to herself.

"Damn fatty, I know you can't afford anything here. Riding on the coattail of the young miss."

Chu Fan knew these kind of people the best. In his past life he came across many people like this and subsequently learned to read lips from all the badmouthing others made of him.

These people hardly gave any other people with little to no background any respect they deserved for being human. And he smirked as he devised a plan in his head to get back at this person.

"Ah, big sis. Seeing as I can hardly afford any of these rare cards immediately; I might have a better chance of buying packs instead and hope for a rare card to appear in it instead." said Chu Fan.

"Yes, a wise decision indeed." said the clerk.

"Ok, I'll buy 50 packs that have 10 cards each. Here's a gold coin. The rest is a tip for big sister's kindness and hospitality." he said as he tossed a gold coin at her.

Her eyes flashed as the coin flew into the air and landed in her hands. She was in a daze as she wasn't expecting Chu Fan to have so much as a silver coin.

"Chu Fan, what are you going to do with five hundred cards?" asked Yao Lingyan.

"A master does not reveal all of his secrets. Just wait for the results." Chu Fan retorted.

"Ah, I'll ring up the young master right away." the female clerk scurried away.

She knew not to underestimate Chu Fan anymore. But still seeing that Chu Fan was unworthy, she chose to give him 48 dummy packs full of scrub and uncommon cards. And she gave him only two packs of cards with decently rare cards.

She rang him up and happily gave him his bag full of card packs.\

"Ah, let's go sit down over there and see if you got any rare cards Chu Fan." said Hun Lian.

"Yeah, let's do that. I'm so excited to see what I got. Hopefully I get more than four rare cards throughout these packs. I'll be a little disappointed if I don't get much." Chu Fan said with a pouting lip.

"Don't worry. If you don't get enough rare cards, I'll personally ask the big sister clerk to trade it for you." Hun Lian reassured him.

"Umm, I'll hold you to it." He smiled brightly as he eventually made his gaze towards the shop clerk. He began to grin menacingly.

The shop clerk had overheard their conversation and could only hope that the two rare packs she gave Chu Fan would be enough to ward off their decision to trade their regular and uncommon cards for more costly and rare cards.

As he began to open his card packs, Chu Fan was happy at first to see these new and undiscovered cards before him. But his fun quickly dissipated as he began to open more packs and see the repeating amounts of card before him.

Eventually they opened a rare pack and were excited again as they had two rare three-star rare cards in the pack. And they continued with momentum opening the rest of the card packs. Eventually the last of the packs was opened and to their amazement, it was the other rare pack. Although in this pack there was only one four-star super-rare card.

Chu Fan wore the face of disappointment. Two rare cards and one super-rare card only gave him the satisfaction of having 4 rare cards.

"This is so depressing, I spent one gold coin and only got the equivalent of having four three-star cards. " he sighed.

He motioned Hun Lian to come over and proceeded to whisper into her ears.

"Mmm! You can count on me." the naive and cute Hun Lian said.

The three others could only shake their heads as they knew Chu Fan was taking advantage of Hun Lian's innocent nature.

"Big sis, we bought so many packs but we aren't satisfied with the cards that we got. The overall value of the cards that we got don't even amount to what we spent." she said to the shop clerk.

Stunned, shop clerk only looked at the cute and pouting young mistress.

"Can big sis help me to impress the others and trade in some cards for a more reasonably rare card? Please? Just put the difference on my father's tab, Okay?" she whispered to the shop clerk.

Conceding defeat here, the shop clerk said, "Fine, but since the young miss has asked personally this time, I'll do this free of charge. Have your little friend over there come choose a card."

"Ah there's no need big sister, we've already decided to trade 100 of our uncommon cards for this six-star steel-armored turtle-dragon card. Do we have a deal big sister?" she said as she extended her hand.

The shop clerk had fully lost today, she could only declare that she fully underestimated the fat kid sitting before her today. He, despite being so young, clearly knew the trade better than her.

She sighed and said, "It's a deal."

She thoroughly gave up to this fatty and his manipulative ways as she could not win.

And so the victorious group made their way back to the sect with their great haul of cards.

Chu Fan split from the group and headed towards his cafeteria. When he arrived he noticed it had very few students.

"Hu-, I've got a lot of work ahead of me. Well, no use brooding over it."

He made his way to the kitchen where he was greeted by the puppets with a bow.

The disciples that saw him enter watched in awe as the head chef of the kitchen had finally awoken from his long and deep slumber.

They gobbled down the last morsels of their food before approaching Chu Fan with tears in their eyes.

"Head chef, what took you so long? We've been eating the same thing for lunch and dinner for four years. Please give us something else to eat, we're so tired of porridge and roast duck."

"Hahaha, I'll think of something to make up for my absence. Just go back and wait for tomorrow."

And so the crying disciples bowed and bade farewell to Chu Fan as they headed back to their dorms.

Chu Fan was brimming with ideas. He wanted to accumulate as many sect points that he could, because he had only amassed a mere 43,000 sect points.

He listed the things he wanted to implement for extra sect points: to-go lunch and dinner boxes, delivery meals for introverts, and a ticket system for certain food selections. All this he would slowly implement over time.

After drafting up his plans and making a weekly menu, he set off towards the bathhouses to prepare his cure.

When he arrived he pulled up the tablets interface and put the cards into the storage. The cards themselves began to be sorted into various categories of rarity based on the blood essence.

He pulled up the item upgrade screen and chose the blood essence option. Where he selected 25 of the Dokimon Cards.

"Immediate upgrade chosen! Compensation accepted!"

The icon for the pills began to glow and change color.

"Upgrading of 'Silver-Back Metamorphosis Pills' to 'Earth-Tier Meridian Refining Pills'."

Chu Fan's excitement could not be contained as he began jumping for joy.

"Yahoo! The pills have been refined of their poison and I can surely cultivate again."

He quickly prepared a cold water bath tub. After taking some time to clear his mind and thoughts he sat himself in the cold tub.

"Brrr-, It'll all be worth it." he said as he plunged himself in the cold water.

Chu Fan understood that the pills were yang in nature and would fill his body with unbearable heat. So he made the tub of water ice-cold, so as to absorb the high amounts of heat that his body was expected to emit.

He sat in the lotus position and popped one of the pills into his mouth. Immediately a flowing warmth began to spread throughout his body. Knowing that is was working he began to sense how the qi flowed in his body and he guided it towards his damaged and blocked meridians.

In a short matter of seconds, the qi in his body began to surge ferociously. Like a tidal wave of lava, the qi began to eat away and tear down the walls blocking his meridian. It brought unbearable pain on Chu Fan as he broke out in a cold sweat.

"Dammit, this is going to slowly. At this rate, it'll take me all night before I finish."

And so he popped in all the remaining four pills and closed his eyes as he braced for impact.

"Boom! Pop! Boom! Pop! Pop! Pop!" were the sounds his body was making.

"Ngrrrgh! Aaaaaah!!!" he screamed as he could not bear the searing pain anymore.

The qi from the pill tore its way throughout his body; breaking down the blockages and ravaging the destroyed meridians. Everything had occurred in an incense stick's time.

What followed was a warm heat running through and coating his meridians.

After he was done, all the water in the tub had evaporated and he was covered in a layer of impurities.

Alongside freeing himself of the blockages and repairing his meridians, he had stepped into the second level of Qi Condensation instantly.

"Whooo! I'm back in it and this time I'm gonna win it." he exclaimed with excitement

Noticing how dirty he was, he proceeded to take a bath and make his way to his dorm.

When he arrived, the others were waiting for him with desserts and cakes. They had waited to celebrate Chu Fan's awakening. He heard them from outside as they were making a commotion inside the dorm room.

He promptly coughed and made made loud noises with his walking stick.

The room grew silent as Chu Fan waited for the others to hide.

He pushed the door open and was greeted with a loud bang as Da Bao launched one of his magic treasures that turned into a exploding fireworks display over Chu Fan's head.

"Congratulations Chu Fan on wak-"

They fell silent for a moment as they sensed the change in Chu Fan's cultivation level; indicating that he had somehow miraculously cured his predicament.

"H-how? How did you do it? You've fixed your meridians."

Tian Hai used his eyes to see the qi movement in Chu Fan's body and saw that it no longer stagnated and flowed smoothly.

"Hmph! something so simple like a blocked meridian is nothing to me. I'm Chu Fan, a person born to defy the heavens and walk the path of immortality. Hahaha!"

"Bwahahaha!" the others laughed.

They figured it was better not to interrogate Chu Fan over the matter. They were happy for their fellow cultivator that was lucky enough to get a second chance at immortality.

"I especially made these northern desserts for you today." said Yao Lingyan.

"These are my favorite cakes made by my mother. I helped make them for you." said Hun Lian.

With tears in his eyes, he said, "Thanks Everyone! Let's all eat."

And they celebrated until it was too late and the sect chief personally to pick up his daughter.

He congratulated Chu Fan on waking up after being in a com for so long.

He noticed the change in Chu Fan's cultivation level but made a point not to delve into how Chu fan had come to cure himself of his blocked and damaged meridians. Rather he was happy that the little fatty had finally gotten a chance at immortality again.

"Disciple Chu Fan, how about to celebrate your waking up and as a way of thanking you for saving Hun Lian; how about I make you an official outer-sect disciple? Of course you'll still have to remain our head chef though."

In a frantic hurry, Chu Fan ran over hearing those words.

"This disciple happily agrees. I never thought I'd have the chance to be an outer-disciple again. Thank you, sect chief for your benevolence." he bowed sincerely towards the sect chief.

When they finished cleaning up everything it was midnight and the others were tired from their long day of laughter and excitement.

Chu Fan and his dorm-mates went to lay on their beds. Da Bao and Tian Hai fell asleep instantly from their exhaustion.

The only two awake were Chu Fan and Yao Lingyan; laying on their beds staring at the ceiling.

"Chu Fan, these past four years have been kind of boring without you. Honestly, when I'm around you, I feel like I never left home."

"Oh, so how was life in the palace?"

"Hm? Life in the palace was fun. My brothers always bought me new toys and foods to eat. Mother and Father were loving and gave me anything I wished for."

"So what made you want to leave that and come here?"

He was truly curious as to what brought her here, away from a life of luxury.

"Every fifteenth of the month, my body is plagued by a cold qi buildup. Without medication to treat me, I could die. I asked my mother why I was afflicted with this disease."

"And what did she say to you?"

"My mother dodged the question; she only told me that my disease would go away after I get married. I later found out by accident that I'm not the emperor's biological daughter. This prompted me to come here and hopefully find my biological father."

"Oh, so your hoping to find answers."

"Eventually. Ha- It helps having someone to tell this to. I hope you can keep this a secret from the others."

Saluting the air, Chu Fan said, "Yes, Princess. Your wish shall be fulfilled."

"Hehehe. It's getting late now, let's sleep."

"Alright, good night."

And so the two finally closed their eyes.

Morning would eventually come and the others left for class.

Chu Fan left for the cafeteria to set up for breakfast. After that as done, he headed to the classes for lectures.

After lectures finished, he headed towards the Forest Peak library.

Along the way he would get disciples who followed him out of curiosity. The crowd followed him until he arrived at the foot of Forest Peak.

They stopped and watched as the fat kid in front of them skipped his way forwards until he was in front of the silent sweeping elder.

"Greetings from disciple, Chu Fan, elder." said Chu Fan as he bowed with deep respect.

"Doesn't he know who that is?" they asked in fear.

Suddenly, while they were gossiping amongst themselves, they felt a gaze.

The sweeping elder locked eyes with the disciples; and the disciples felt a sense of dread around them as goosebumps arose from all parts of their bodies. They quickly dispersed and disappeared without a trace of them ever being there.

Wiping the sweat off his brow, Chu Fan sighed.

"Wooh! I thought they'd never stop following me. Thank you elder for your help."

Chu Fan then quickly headed towards the library.

The silent elder only smiled at the skipping chubby child in front of him.

Chu Fan knew that the disciples feared the sweeping elder, because of how silent and void the area was of disciples. And so he chose to use this to his advantage.

When he arrived at the library, it had a decent amount of disciples studying.

He chose a silent corner in the upper levels of the library and produced the cultivation slips he had acquired four years ago.

Rubbing his hands together, he said, "Alright, which one's first?"