Double Dare

Yao Lingyan walked over to Chu Fan with a cheerful smile on her face.

The palace had been very lively ever since Chu Fan's arrival. Her mothers and father seemed to be livelier now. The only thing that could make her any happier was if her grandfather came out of seclusion.

She arrived to see Chu Fan browsing through the aisles aimlessly.

"Chu Fan, what are you doing? Why was father talking about making bread?"

Chu Fan turned to her, finally noticing her presence as she distracted him from his train of thoughts.

"Ah, well, royal father-in-law and I were making some treats earlier for your royal mothers. After helping make those buns, I was allowed to choose any gift I wanted from this library."

Yao Lingyan thought for a bit and realized Chu Fan was the one behind the creation of those cinnamon buns earlier. It couldn't have been her father who created such a delicacy, he had never set foot in a kitchen to cook before.

Chu Fan continued his browsing of the bookshelves, leaving Yao Lingyan to her own nostalgic thoughts.

"You know I spent a lot of time here during my childhood? My father would spend his days and nights here whenever any of my mothers were mad at him. I would come and keep him company here."

Chu Fan nodded his head showing that he was still listening.

"So you and your father are really close aren't you?"

She nodded in agreement. She paused and stayed silent, lost in the thoughts going through her head.

"So what will you do now, knowing who your birth father is?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. He doesn't really matter to me. If he never wanted me and mother; I don't want him either."

Tears began to form as she convinced herself that she didn't need certain answers from her biological father.

"Besides, my father is the one who raised me, who lulled me to sleep when I couldn't, and taught me how to be a decent person. As far as I'm concerned, I have all the family I need here."

She then blushed and turned her head away.

"And most of all. I have you, that's all I need." She muttered in a low voice.

Chu Fan heard her words and smirked.

"What's this about me? I'm all you'll ever need? My sweetness, how you make my heart flutter restlessly."

Yao Lingyan thought of something the moment Chu Fan said "flutter."

"Ah, would you like to see something interesting?"

Chu Fan nodded without any hesitation. He knew there was something special about this library, he just didn't know the method to trigger it.

Yao Lingyan took Chu Fan to the top floor; there she started tugging at certain books along the way.

Chu Fan quietly followed along the way as they started from the top floor, making their way down to the ground floor.

When they reached the ground floor, Yao Lingyan rearranged the brush and inkstone on the desk. She placed the brush on top of the inkstone pointing it the tip of the brush south.

*Wooo*

A sound rang as an array was triggered, lighting the floor they stood on. The books that Yao Lingyan had been tugging on earlier fell off the shelves but remained hovering in midair.

They began to hear birds chirp as the flying scrolls started to flap about like birds.

It was an unforgettable sight to marvel at.

Soon, the floor startled to tremble as the shelves at the ground floor came forward and parted ways; revealing a secret room.

"Father and Grandfather would always sigh at this part."

In the secret chamber sat a lone pedestal with a cultivation slip. A single ray of light shone on this pedestal.

"Wow, so amazing. Let's go look."

Yao Lingyan nodded in agreement. She too, was very curious as to see what her father and grandfather were always so depressed about when they saw this cultivation manual.

"It's dangerous to go alone. Take me with you."

She was shaking when she said that. Chu Fan smirked and shook his head as he walked past her.

Chu Fan lead Yao Lingyan as she held his robes while silently following him. In her early childhood, she was always afraid of the path of darkness that lead to the pedestal.

When they arrived, Chu Fan was humming a tune in his head. In his head, he was currently a green tunic wearing warrior right now, getting a new useful gadget.

He paused before grabbing the cultivation slip, for he was afraid that a sage-like entity would appear.

He grabbed the cultivation slip and raised it high into the sky,

"Ba-na-nun!" he sang to himself.

Yao Lingyan shook her head at his silliness.

"What's it say Chu Fan?"

Chu Fan lowered his hands and read the etched words on the slip.

"Birds of a Feather?"

He scratched his head as he was puzzled by the name of this cultivation slip.

"This can't be right. Why would such a plain sounding technique be hidden here?"

Yao Lingyan shook her head. She knew why her father and grandfather would always sigh now.

"So it's like that."

Chu Fan turned to her as it seems she had information relating to the cultivation slip.

"Ah, Chu Fan, this cultivation slip is related to one of the Glacial Falls Kingdom's royal ancestors."

Chu Fan nodded as he silently listened.

"He has become somewhat of taboo subject and was forgotten with time. His name was Yao Feng."

She kept explaining to Chu Fan who quietly sat by like a student listening to a lecture.

Yao Feng was a bastard son to begin with. He was the son of a maid and the emperor. In a night of drunkenness, the emperor slept with his mother; resulting in his birth.

Jealous of the maid and her bastard prince, the crown empress ordered his mother to drink poison. Yao Feng, though, was kept a prince in the palace.

Yao Feng grew up an eccentric and unorthodox prince. He was a genius in cultivation, but showed no motivation. He drank all day and night, watching the birds in the skies.

Eventually he was banished by the emperor, where he began living an ascetic lifestyle drifting to and from many locations.

He returned to his birthplace when he was ready to ascend mortality and leave this realm.

When he returned he was greeted by his brother who had been crowned the emperor; the latter not giving him any respect.

He then gave the emperor at the time a cultivation manual and kowtowed before leaving silently.

Dwelling over the subject of his return, the emperor at the time came to a realization that their father had wronged Yao Feng. Yao Feng had always thought of his home and paid his filial dues before ascending mortality. He was a respectable and pitiable existence.

The cultivation manual remained untouched by the royal family as the emperor deemed the royal family to be unworthy of such a treasure; so he created this library to keep this cultivation manual hidden.

Chu Fan was getting giddy; he was sure that he had hit the jackpot now. He didn't care about the simplistic nature of the name at all. He understood from what Yao Lingyan said that Yao Feng didn't care much about things like prestige; thus a simple name felt suitable for this lightness skill.

He dove his mind into the cultivation slip.

He was amazed to find that this cultivation slip was a heaven-tier slip like the God of Cookery's.

To be able to create a heaven-tier, one had to infuse a part of one's will and life essence into the cultivation slip. It meant dedicating one's life to their life's work.

This kind of confidence and devotion to their life's work made Chu Fan happy to have stumbled across it, he was effectively becoming the hero of his story.

The mnemonics began to appear one line at a time.

"So mystical." Chu Fan muttered.

Yao Feng was a legendary genius, he had compiled and created a lightness skill manual based off of the many flight patterns of various creatures. The cultivation had nine levels; each level itself focused on a different flying creature.

The first level focused on the common fly.

A person appeared in the next instant, he looked like a somber and heroic scholar. He had dark-brown hair with white streaks flowing down his untied hair, making him look a giant condor. He also had the distinct green eyes of the royal bloodline.

Chu Fan guessed this person to be Yao Feng as such a realistic phantom could only be created from the injected life-force of the creator.

He bowed sincerely before taking his stance. He then began to vibrate as his arms and legs shook erratically.

His demonstration started slow to show the entry-level cultivator of his technique the correct method of practicing.

He started accelerating until his limbs seemed to disappear. The objective of moving erratically was to mimic the motion a fly made; it moved in an erratic pattern that didn't allow the enemy to detect it with their eyes.

Soon, his entire figure disappeared as he moved about, with Chu Fan unable to detect and lock onto a definite position.

Chu Fan drew his mind out after seeing such an awe-inspiring demonstration.

"Woah! Let's try this out."

Chu Fan lead Yao Lingyan out of the secret chamber and closed it.

*Rumble*

Everything returned to normal, as if nothing had ever been moved.

Chu Fan took a deep breath and moved to an area with ample space for him.

He then began to swing his hands about, looking like an wacky waving inflatable person from his previous life.

"Pfft! What are you doing Chu Fan?"

He ignored her laughter and continued with his crazy and erratic flailing.

After a while, his arms started to feel weightless as he directed his qi into his movements. His hands started to blur and only after-images could be seen.

Yao Lingyan was shocked to see Chu Fan succeed in whatever he meant to do.

"Eh, it's a starting point I guess."

He had began to grasp the essence of the lightness skill and smiled.

"Wow, Chu Fan is that from the manual?"

He nodded to answer her question.

"Such a treasure was hiding right under our noses."

She only sighed as it seemed like Chu Fan was fated to discover this manual. She would not fight with him over such a trivial thing.

At this time, they both noticed how dark it had become and headed to their rooms to sleep.

A week passed after that night as no significant event had occurred after that day.

The palace returned to it's peaceful state like before. The city had died down a bit from it's crazed sensation over Angel Buns.

The emperor was spending more time with his three wives who were much happier at the moment as they glowed with a certain youthful aura.

Chu Fan practiced his lightness skill and body refinement skill together day and night.

He practiced Birds of a Feather until his body was sore and tired, then he'd reinforce his body with qi like the Codex of Infinite Vigor instructed.

He would constantly run in and out of the toilet every day, so much so that the servants and cooks thought their pigs would grow bigger than expected this year.

He had effectively mastered the first level of the lightness skill, allowing him to start with the next level. His body refinement skill, had also reached the second level.

To accomplish a feat like that would anger even the most talented of individuals. especially because by regular standards, it would take a person at least a month before they could fully grasp the essence of the cultivation skill.

Chu Fan was happy with his results and wanted to demonstrate his new skills to Yao Lingyan.

He had a eunuch guide him to her residence.

Her residence was a beautiful one. It was laden with many flowers and butterflies flapping about. Her grandfather had personally designed everything, he even oversaw its construction. Her courtyard had an array, keeping everything within at a constant and livable temperature as well as keeping it dust free.

When he stepped into the courtyard of the residence, he heard laughter and giggling.

He peered around a corner and saw that Yao Lingyan was happily chatting with her friends, Yi Ai and Yi Bai.

Chu Fan walked over with a gleaming and confident expression on his face. He bowed to Yao Lingyan's two friends.

"Chu Fan offers his greetings. I have come to see Yao Lingyan today. I apologize for interrupting your joyous talk."

The two sisters covered their mouth as they giggled.

Chu Fan didn't know how to greet them because he didn't know which name belonged to which sister. Yao Lingyan had explained to him a week ago that the method of telling the two apart was to use their differing hairstyles, but he didn't want to assume. He would let them introduce themselves.

"Yao Lingyan, your little fat dragon here has very good etiquette."

Chu Fan bowed with a smile.

"This little fat dragon is not worthy of such praise."

The twins laughed and Yao Lingyan blushed as she rolled her eyes.

"Chu Fan these are my childhood friends: Yi Ai and Yi Bai."

They curtsied as they were introduced to Chu Fan. He performed a fist-hand salute.

He knew how to differentiate them now. Yi Ai was prone to having a waist length pony-tail hairstyle with a red jade phoenix hairpin, whereas Yi Bai kept her hair tied to shoulder length with a white jade tiger hairpin.

"This lowly commoner is blessed to meet and be in the presence of these two beauties. This lowly commoner is named Chu Fan."

Yao Lingyan balled her fist, it seemed like Chu Fan was being too glib-tongued at the moment.

"Relax Yao Lingyan, we could never steal the man that the princess had promised herself to."

The two sisters only laughed and comforted their friend. They held no interest in this flattering child; in their eyes he was too young.

"Right, my sweetness shall have my love. May I be struck by the heavens if I have any thoughts of other women."

The moment he finished that sentence a stray lightning came from the cloudless skies where it crashed into the array formation.

*Boom*

Had the array formation not been there as a protective barrier, Chu Fan would have had to be reborn again.

Yao Lingyan turned to look at him with a vicious stare.

"You dare think of other women besides me."

Killing intent surged in the air as her anger skyrocketed.

Chu Fan gulped as he never thought the heavens would really attempt to strike him down. He had always had the thought of marrying multiple wives in the back of his head; he just didn't think his most deepest hidden desires would betray him this much.

She charged at him, out for blood as she felt betrayed at the moment. At the most she would just rough him up a bit and maybe have him confess who this/these other lady/ladies name(s) were.

She began to rain punches on him before he could think.

Chu Fan saw everything as his eyes were now quicker than Yao Lingyan's movements.

He saw it a suitable time to demonstrate his lightness skill and began to move erratically, becoming a blur to Yao Lingyan.

Before Yao Lingyan knew it, her fist landed on a mere after-image of Chu Fan.

Chu Fan reappeared behind her and he hugged her, not allowing her arms any room to move.

She struggled a bit before Chu Fan began blowing into her ear canal; making her body fall to the ground limp from his teasing. He let her go and backed away.

"Stop it."

She had calmed down and accepted the fact that most men in the world married more than one wife. She had hoped that Chu Fan was not one of those men, but to her dismay he held thoughts of a harem also.

She pouted as she was forced to accept a possible harem in Chu Fan's future.

"Fine, you can marry others but they have to pass my inspection first."

Chu Fan shook his head as he motioned to help her stand up from the ground. He then patted her free of any dirt and patted her on the head.

"Silly girl. After seeing royal father-in-law struggle with his three wives, I might reconsider the thought."

Yao Lingyan smiled at Chu Fan's words.

"Oh yeah! What did you do earlier? All I saw was an after-image of you; and then you were behind me."

Chu Fan pinched her cheek.

"That's why I came here to see you today. I made some progress with that lightness skill, and I came here to show you."

As he finished his words, Yi Gui walked around the corner carrying some Angel Buns.

Yi Gui had been there at the residence earlier with his sisters, but he was sent to the kitchen to bring some Angel Buns over. In the time that he had gone to retrieve the buns, Chu Fan had arrived at Yao Lingyan's residence.

He nearly dropped the Angel Buns as he stepped back, almost losing his balance.

He rushed forward, handing Yi Ai the tray of sweets before storming towards Chu Fan.

Yi Gui placed his hands on Chu Fan's right hand wrist and threw it aside, freeing Yao Lingyan's cheeks from Chu Fan's fingers.

"Hands off the princess."

Chu Fan inspected Yi Gui who looked rather energetic today.

"You seemed to have truly made an astonishing recovery, given how much of a pitiful condition you were in following our duel last week. It's also none of your business how I touch my woman."

The two sisters and Yao Lingyan were blushing at how bold Chu Fan was to declare the latter as "my woman."

"I don't care how much you say that she's yours. In my eyes, you'll never be worthy of the princess."

Chu Fan folded his arms together.

"Oh! And you think your worthy?"

Yi Gui blushed; he was not ready for such a question. He took a quick glance at Yao Lingyan to see how she reacted; but only received an awkward glance.

"Yeah, I'm more worthy than some lowly commoner cook at least."

Chu Fan shook his fingers at Yi Gui.

"Let's have another contest then."

Yi Gui stared at him.

"Alright then. But this time it's not a duel we'll be having." he declared.

"Oh? What do you have in mind then?" asked Chu Fan.

"I owe you a bucket of Frost Plums right? Let's compete on whoever can get the most while evading those treants."

Chu Fan saw no purpose in accepting this proposal, so he only shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"Haha, too scared huh? I double dare you to accept the proposal. Or you're not a man."

Chu Fan froze.

"What did you just say? I'll do it then."

The three girls standing at the side could only shake their heads as they watched the two moronic boys have a battle of prides.

"Okay then. I'll give you a weak to prepare. Now remember, the Frost Plums only grow on the treants at the moment as the plum trees have only begun to blossom."

Chu Fan stood there silent.

"Scared, huh? Well, you can always back out. Just admit that you aren't worthy."

Chu Fan turned around and started walking away.

"See you in a week. We'll meet up here. No backing out."

Yi Gui was delighted as he thought he had beat Chu Fan.

Chu Fan left the residence without a word, inside he was actually very excited. He was going to go hunting for a magical fruit.

He didn't return to his room though, he headed toward the palace garden.

When he arrived, he marveled in the sight of the palace garden. It was grand in all aspects; and it was littered with many magical plants which could be hundreds of years old.

In the far off corner of the garden was a greenhouse made for the more tropical plants that were more sensitive to cold environments.

Chu Fan entered the greenhouse and was bedazzled by the sight.

The greenhouse itself was chock full of colorful magic plants, each one having a distinct characteristic.

He walked by like a child in a candy shop as he was in awe of every plant he saw.

"Wow, never in my wildest dreams did I expect these magical plants to look so beautiful."

He was lost in his mind as he basked in the beauty of the plants.

"Hehehe, so you are a man of horticulture also."

Someone had arrived a moment after Chu Fan.

He turned to see the owner of this voice and was delighted when he saw who it was.

"Chu Fan offers his greetings royal brother-in-law."

He bowed to the prince.

"Please, no need to be courteous. Just call me by my name, Yao Cong."

The figure that appeared after Chu Fan did was Yao Cong; just the person he was looking for.

Chu Fan was looking for information on the treants, and who better to ask than the elder brother of Yao Lingyan who was a renowned plant expert of the kingdom.

"So, Chu Fan, have you come to observe the beauty of these plants today? Or are you looking for me?"

Chu Fan bowed in response to him.

"Both, I come to you for advice on a certain matter."

He began to explain his predicament and how he needed as much information on treants as possible.

The two chatted for quite a while as Yao Cong had many books about plant-based creatures.

Chu Fan had a great time listening to the Yao Cong rant about magical plants and the creatures born from them.

In Chu Fan's mind, he saw a lot of potential in these magical plants and plant-based creatures. He wanted to try cooking them at some point.

Yao Cong eventually got to the topic of treants; the ones that Chu Fan would be getting his Frost Plums from were called Frost Treant.

Frost Treants were skinnier than the average treant and they were smaller also. This meant that they were of a lower level of strength, with strength comparable to a fifth level qi condensation cultivator.

But this didn't mean that these treants were not to be taken lightly, as they made up for their lackluster strength with their poisonous branch claws that could give a cultivator frostbite while draining them of any and/or all their qi.

They continued chatting until they were interrupted by Yao Lingyan and the Yi twins.

The girls walked into the garden with smiles on their faces. They were happily chatting about the latest gossip in town.

Yao Lingyan and the girls had abandoned Yi Gui after scolding him. If he couldn't come to respect Yao Lingyan's choice of lover, he didn't deserve to be her friend as he clearly didn't understand her.

They understood that Chu Fan had to at least have a hidden aspect of his personality that appealed to Yao Lingyan's tastes and preferences in men.

When Yao Cong noticed who it was, he stood up like a soldier seeing a general. He bowed to the two women and kept quiet.

Chu Fan had observed Yao Cong's reaction to the girls; he obviously liked one of the sisters.

He nudged Yao Cong's shoulder and mouthed some words to Yao Cong. He knew that Yao Cong, being a scholar, could make out his words without any difficulty.

"Which one of the Yi twins do you prefer?" he mouthed, followed by a wink with his right eye.

Yao Cong's eyes widened as he had been found out. Chu Fan had figured out that he liked one of the sisters.

His left eye began to twitch as he tried to hold in his emotions. He didn't want to lash out in front of the girl he liked.

The girls approached and curtsied, greeting the prince.

"Your loyal subjects offer their greetings to the second prince."

Yao Cong cleared his throat and waved his hand.

"Don't be courteous. We are all equals here."

Chu Fan was staring at Yao Cong at the moment.

"Brother Cong, I brought Yi Ai and Yi Bai here to see your magnificent plants. Won't you give us a tour?"

Yao Cong was stupefied. He was not prepared to give a tour of the place; he didn't know what he would do if messed up and embarrassed himself in front of the girl of his dreams.

He stood silently for a while, turning things awkward.

"Of course we can. I can personally give you a tour. Yao Cong had just given me tour earlier. I can list the plants, no problem at all."

Chu Fan accepted the suggestion to give the girls a tour before Yao Cong could come up with an excuse to run away.

"Right this way girls."

Chu Fan began listing the plants, giving them the wrong names. And Yao Cong stood silently at the side shivering in anger. He wanted to speak up and correct Chu Fan but could not. He feared he would give the wrong impression to the girls that he was a mean person.

Chu Fan continually named the plants wrong and repeatedly gave false information about the plants.

*Snap*

Yao Cong had had enough with the tomfoolery.

"What nonsense are you spouting Chu Fan? Everything you've said is wrong. I can tolerate you giving these plants funny names; but I cannot tolerate your misinformation of these plants. If ever, in the future, Yi Ai or Yi Bai needed any of these plants; your words could come to harm them. I'll take over from here."

After ranting, Yao Cong turned away and started listing the many plants by their correct names and characteristics. Yao Lingyan and Chu Fan were the tail of the group.

"Insolent fool, you know better than to anger Yao Cong. You've accomplished a feat that not many have ever wished to achieve."

Chu Fan robbed his nose in embarrassment.

"Of course I know. But how else would I have made him relax in front of the Yi sisters."

He pointed at the talking group. Yao Lingyan looked over and saw that Chu Fan was correct.

Yao Cong was currently smiling as he showed off his most prized plants, while the two sisters were ever so curious with these magical plants.

Chu Fan saw Yao Cong's eyes fixated on Yi Ai; this sister was the one he had a crush on.

Chu Fan snapped his fingers, getting Yao Cong's attention.

"Yi Ai!" he mouthed to Yao Cong; the latter froze instantly as he had been figured out.

"Brother, surely you must be bored with watching plants grow at the moment. How about we go see my combat beasts?"

The group of people turned to see the speaker of those words.

Leaning at the entrance was none other than Yao Gang, the eldest prince. He tried to look very cool with his arms folded across his chest while gnawing on a silver toothpick in his mouth.

"Combat Beasts? I'm willing to go." Chu Fan said with a raised hand.

"It's settled then, we shall make our ways to the Combat Beast Stables." said the prince.