It's a Long Story

Chu Fan chuckled nervously, he couldn't make his story sound too profound and he couldn't make it sound to casual also. He clapped his hands together and sighed.

"Hoo. It's a long story. Let's talk over lunch shall we senior sister Duan Mu."

He was stalling for time, and this was the best course of action that he could think of at the moment.

*Rumble*

The student's stomachs began to rumble as they noticed it was actually lunch time. Duan Mu looked around at her students and noticed that she too, had been making noises from her stomach also. She blushed and looked at Chu Fan, thinking over his proposition.

"Okay, but you are to give me a detailed explanation as to how you have progressed so much in such a short amount of time. Let's go eat lunch everyone, to the cafeteria."

"Hooray!"

All the students jumped for joy as they wanted class to be over with quickly. Most of the students wanted to eat and start cultivating with their weapons as soon as possible.

The group of students all made their way to the cafeteria. Along the way, Chu Fan would receive glares from Yi Mo Chou's juniors as they walked behind Hun Lian. They were still a little doubtful of Chu Fan, but they would have to grin and bear with his existence if it meant Hun Lian's happiness.

Yao Lingyan and Hun Lian clung to Chu Fan, making all his fellow disciples confused and envious. They wondered why Yao Lingyan, another male disciple, would be so close to Chu Fan. And they wondered how Hun Lian came to be so close with this fatty, and what the nature of their relationship was.

Chu Fan could only nervously chuckle as he felt the glares at him, marking him as a possible target for questioning later. He chose to remain silent until reaching the cafeteria. When they arrived, he sat everyone down first and entered the kitchen.

"Ah. What am I supposed to say?"

Chu Fan confided in the puppets as they could not speak or tell others of what Chu Fan told them. They were his friends also, but they served as listeners to his issues whenever he couldn't solve his problems as instantly as usual. He spent many minutes talking to himself about what he could do. Noticing he was in the kitchen, he had a momentary flashback of useful information he had created back then. He snapped his fingers and smiled.

"That's right! How could I forget about 'the old master' that 'taught' me how to cook?"

With his confidence restored, he marched out of the kitchen with a plate of food in his hand and went to get seated with his friends and classmates. The cafeteria was restless as, in the time that Chu Fan spent hiding in the kitchen, word spread of his spectacular victory and mid-battle breakthrough into Foundation Establishment.

Duan Mu had long finished her meal and was waiting for Chu Fan to make an appearance. Seeing him come out of the kitchen, she walked over and sat at the table which Chu Fan sat at. He was happily eating and chatting away, acting as if he forgot all about Duan Mu.

Soon, a crowd of his fellow classmates and fellow disciples formed as they all wished to hear Chu Fan's explanation; it wasn't everyday that a twelve year old makes a breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment stage after only cultivating for half a year.

"Junior Disciple Chu Fan. Would you be so kind as to elaborate how you managed to enter the Foundation Establishment stage at such a young age? And how you did it in only a half a year's time?"

All the students looked at Chu Fan and leaned in, they did not want to miss a single word of his explanation. Swallowing the food in his mouth, he chased it down with a big cup of water.

"Ahh! So, the thing is, this happened when I was five years old. I had met a travelling cultivator who loved cooking. He sought shelter in the Zhu Family Estate one rainy day. Noticing some potential in me, he taught me how to cook and taught me a thing or two about cultivation. Over the years, as I meditated over his teachings, I entered a brief state of insight. Though it did not last long, I was able to progress my cultivation by leaps and bounds."

Duan Mu still seemed suspicious of Chu Fan, but she could only accept his explanation. For, only through a lucky chance like meeting an immortal cultivator or stumbling upon a treasure could he have accomplished so much in such a short amount of time.

"Chu Fan, might I have the name of your master?"

Chu Fan choked on his words.

"Ahem! Master does not like his name to be known much. But I can tell you of his title?"

Duan Mu nodded.

"That will suffice."

Chu Fan smiled from ear to ear.

"Master claims to have two titles: he claims himself to be 'The God of Cookery' while others call him 'Divine Demon Butcher'."

As the words, "Divine Demon Butcher" left Chu Fan's mouth, everyone shivered. Duan Mu covered her mouth while Da Bao and Tian Han placed their hands over Chu Fan's mouth, the three boys fell to the floor. Struggling, Chu Fan broke free and stood up brushing himself off. Yao Lingyan gave Chu Fan a serious look.

"Chu Fan, you can't just simply mutter such a name in the Skyward Sword Sect."

"What it's just a name right?"

Chu Fan looked around, the students no longer wished to know of Chu Fan's "lucky encounter" and began to leave the cafeteria. Hun Lian looked off in the distance with a deep hatred in her eyes, she stood up and pointed at Chu Fan.

"Chu Fan, you bastard. Who is the Divine Demon Butcher to you?"

Chu Fan was stunned by her sudden anger. Why would Hun Lian be so mad at the mention of her ancestor?

"Mm, I guess he would be my master. What is he to you?"

With tears in her eyes, Hun Lian pouted.

"That doesn't matter. Why have you recognized him as your master? He is the sworn enemy of the sect. How could you use his teachings?"

Chu Fan shook his head.

"He is himself. Though I recognize him as my master, he does not dictate whether or not I am evil or good. That is for me to decide as a person. Even the most righteous of heroes have evil intentions and the most ferocious of villains can help the powerless."

She pouted as it was all she knew to do. The moment that Chu Fan had found the Heaven Cleaver and the cultivation manual that came with it, he had acknowledged the God of Cookery as his master. Without it, he would have never survived to this day.

"You- You! Ugh! I hate you so much right now!"

Hun Lian stormed out of the cafeteria with her posse of bodyguards, crying all the way home. Da Bao, Tian Han, and Yao Lingyan wanted to interfere but they could not do anything. They could not argue against Chu Fan who held the correct view on the matter.

Duan Mu left to report her findings to the the elders while Yao Lingyan and the others left out of awkwardness.

"What the hell did I get myself into?"

..............................................

After that day, many disciples did not dare visit the cafeteria. Those that did, avoided making any form of contact with Chu Fan. Occasionally Yao Lingyan would visit Chu Fan and ask how he was doing, he would tease her for a short while and she'd go back to her cultivating.

During this time Chu Fan would spend many days just cultivating and forgetting about his fellow disciples. But after a month of not having any real company, he started to feel lonely. Bored, Chu Fan began to browse through his tablet. He pulled up his inventory and saw something that intrigued him very much.

"My philosopher stone. My combat beast!? I completely forgot. There is no expiration date right?"

He began upgrading his philosopher stone to the max, he spared no amount of blood essence from Dokimon Cards. Doing this made his philosopher stone guaranteed to produce a never before seen combat beast.

He got all excited, prancing about as he took out his philosopher stone, and held it in the air like a trophy. After calming down, he went into his room and locked the door behind him. He placed the philosopher stone on his bed and pricked his finger with a needle.

*Drip*

He placed three drops of his blood on the stone and waited for several seconds.

".....Is it faulty? I was expectin-"

Light emitted from the stone and it began to shake violently. Chu Fan could only close his eyes and turn away as the blinding light only seemed to intensify.

Hearing no more shaking, Chu Fan turned around to see something all curled up. The combat beast uncurled itself and stretched itself. Chu Fan was amazed by the appearance of his combat beast. It was a really weird hybrid beast. It's head was that of a horned wolf with long whiskers. It's body was of a reverse-scaled dragon, with fur layered over the scales. And the color pattern of his combat beast made it look like a panda bear, black and white. At the moment, it was the size of a medium-sized dog.

Yawning, it turned to see Chu Fan. Immediately, it imprinted this person as its master. Smiling the combat beast leapt at Chu Fan, knocking him to the floor. It began licking Chu Fan's face.

Struggling for a bit, Chu Fan finally got his combat beast off. Chu Fan began to think to himself.

"What should I call you then?"