<h4>Chapter 288: The Fang Family’s Banquet</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The Catalyst Essence Serum would be the bread and butter of Chen Fan’s cultivation toward Ethereal Enlightenment.


    After Chen Fan had gained the Azure Thearch Longevity Body, every step he took toward the next level required a tremendous amount of Spirit Qi. Of course, he could have taken his time and umted it slowly over time, but the earth was so deprived of Spirit Qi that it would take him at least three years or so to progress to the next level. That would mean at least ten years before Chen Fan could reach the Connate Spirit level.


    However, the Catalyst Essence Serum could greatly speed up the process.


    Catalyst Essence Serum was the diluted version of the Yun Wu Spirit Water, it could be used to speed up the growth of many of the Spirit herbs he found in the Medicine God Valley Sect’s vault. That, coupled with the Green Dragon Grand Array, Chen Fan fan would have arge number of Spirit Pills in his hands in no time. With these pills, he would be able to reach the Ethereal Enlightenment and enter the Divine Sea Level in less than two years. By then, he would no longer need to be so careful in certain situations. Even if he had to contend with an army, he should escape unscathed.


    “Is this Stock Solution number one?”


    Chen Beixuan stood inside the Biologyb at the Jin City University. He had changed his appearance into that of Chen Beixuan. He wore a whiteb coat and let his hair fall loosely over his shoulders. He held out a test tube full of a blue solution and murmured to himself.


    The liquid’s color was the deep blue of a sapphire.


    Chen Fan could sense the Essence Qi floating around in the solution. This Essence Qi was very weak, and was only one ten-thousandth the strength of Essence Gathering Pill and had only one hundredth of the Yun Wu Spirit Water’s effect. Chen Fan’s breath contained more Essence Qi than this entire vial of solution. Despite that, a smile finally broke over Chen Fan’s face.


    The trace amount of Essense Qi meant that Catalyst Essence Serum could finally be mass-produced.


    As long as he had gathered enough of the stock Serum, he could then start to refine them using yeast. The special bacteria in the yeast would consume the Essence Qi and other nutrients to make more Essence Qi.


    Although this one vial of serum would do nothing to a human, if it was consumed over a long period of time, it would help to strengthen one’s body and making one more suitable for cultivation. However, the effect would need twenty years or so to show up, by then, Chen Fan might not even be on this any longer.


    “It can be mass-produced now.”


    Chen Fan nodded and said. Xue Jiao and the other researchers were ted by their boss’s acknowledgment.


    “Professor Chen, this is one of the greatest inventions in human history. We have never even seen such active yeast. Although the effect of the serum was undetectable by modern equipment, test results on rats suggested that the specimens with a daily injection of the serum had much stronger physique than the control group.” Xiao Xue took out a few pieces of paper and said.


    Her excitement was shared by many people in theb, and their eyes lit up with glee.


    This liquid possessed unimaginable power and could be used on any organism, let it be animal or nt. Once it was mass-produced, it could change the course of human history and help the humans make a leap in their evolutionary journey.


    “Because it was not created using science.” Chen Fan shrugged.


    Other than a few pieces of equipment offered by the Aid International, the key equipment used to create this serum was a few Dharma Artifacts refined by Chen Fan. These artifacts created an environment that highly concentrated Spirit Qi for the production of the yeast serum. The birth of the Catalyst Essence Serum was thebined effort of science and cultivation.


    Chen Fan didn’t have time to savor his victory, he announced.


    “From now on, we need to work double as hard to stabilize our form and increase production.”


    “Professor Chen, what should we call it?” One of the third-year college girls asked.


    “Name?” Chen Fan tilted his head to the side and let out a mysterious smile.


    “Let’s call it the Vitality Serum”


    It wasn’t until the Vitality Serum was finally headed onto the production line, that Chen Fan felt things were turning around. The Zheng Family and the Loong family from Hong Kong had invested heavily in the development of the East Mountain project and the Green Dragon Grand Array was progressing by the day. Chen Fan had brought back with him countless Dharma Artifacts and materials for casting the array formation, which also helped to speed up the project.


    Chen Fan nned to nt all the herbs into the ground the day the grand array was finished.


    However, before he got to do that, Fang Qiong came and visited him.


    “While you are away, my parents wanted to invite you over for dinner many times.” The elegant looking girl looked annoyed. “They invited you for dinner tonight, it will be just you and my family. It’s nothing special, don’t let it get to your head.”


    “Oh? I guess my iws want to meet me?” Chen Fan smirked.


    “Oh... stop ... you! What are you talking about?” Spurred by her embarrassment, Fang Qiongnded her cute fist on Chen Fan’s chest. Chen Fan barely felt the strike, however, he yed along and shouted out a painful cry.


    “Fine, fine, you win!”


    After a while, Fang Qiong tucked a few strands of loose hair behind her ear and gathered herself. “Ever since my mom heard that you are also attending Jin City University, she has wanted to meet you. Don’te to my house empty-handed, bring some gifts for my parents, that’s basic etiquette.”


    She said patiently like an older sister trying to show the ropes to a little brother.


    “Ok, I got it.” Chen Fan let out a warm smile. However, a strange light shed in his eyes.


    “Finally, I am going to meet you again, Su Susu.”


    Su Susu was Fang Qiong’s mother and the person who contributed to the break up of Chen Fan and Fang Qiong.


    Chen Fan still remembered that when he and Fang Qiong were nning to take things to the next level, they even had the support of Fang Qiong’s father Fang Mingde. However, Su Susu remained unconvinced that Chen Fan would make her daughter happy. Shen Junwen must have something to do with it, but the root cause of Su Susu’s disdain was from Chen Fan’s family background.


    “Although our families were friends when we were little, and our dads were ssmates, Su Susu never liked us. She never showed her contempt on her face, but deep down, she looked down on the Chen family andughed at my father’s seemingly meager power. She had nagged Uncle Fang to move into the city, away from his husband’s loser friends.”


    “I think it was her presumption about me and my family that had driven her to protest so fiercely against my rtionship with her daughter.”


    Whatever happened in the past life was in the past and Chen Fan didn’t want that to affect his current life. In this life, he only wanted to stay with Xiao Qiong and help her achieve her life goal, and then apany her on the journey of cultivation. However, he couldn’t stop wondering what his mother inw was going to think of him during this lifetime.


    That being said, Su Susu’s opinion was irrelevant in this lifetime, no one could stop Chen Fan this time.


    The Fang family resided in a high-end residential development along the shore of Jin City River. Their neighbors were either rich tycoons or powerful politicians. So the Fang family frequently rubbed shoulders with the elites of the city and rightfully so.


    Over the decade, Fang Mingde had grown the Ming De Group into a multi-billion yuan corporation and became one of the elite ss.


    Chen Fan found his way to Fang Qiong’s house easily. He rang the doorbell and was greeted by Fang Qiong’s excited smile behind the door.


    “Come on in.”


    Fang Qiong took over the fresh fruits Chen Fan had brought with him and got a new pair of slippers for Chen Fan to change into.


    As soon as Chen Fan passed the threshold, he saw a woman wearing light makeup and Qipao standing in the living room, with her hands on her hips. Despite her slumped shoulders that had shown somenguidness in her, a sharp and shrewd light glinted in her eyes.


    She was in her forties, however, she looked like she was in her early thirties and could very well be Fang Qiong’s sister instead of mother.


    “Auntie Su, nice to see you.”


    Chen Fan bowed at thedy.


    Thisdy encased in Qipao was Fang Qiong’s mother, Su Susu.


    Su Susu smiled faintly and nodded a reply. She had the soft tenderness of a Jiang Nan woman, as well as alertness that kept her mind sharp. Chen Fan knew that Fang Qiong had inherited many of her traits from her mother, forbearance, dedication, and patience just to name a few. Although Su Susu was a good mother and a smart woman, Chen Fan couldn’t agree with everything she did.


    “Thest time I saw you, you were only in junior high. It has been six years! ” Su Susu was tall in stature and was about the same height as Chen Fan even without wearing high heels.


    She ordered Fang Qiong to make tea and walked into the kitchen. “There are still some dishes to be made, excuse me for a moment.” She said.


    “OK.”


    Chen Fan nodded.


    Chen Fan spotted the familiar sofa he had seen in hisst life and sat down. Seeing Fang Qiong fumbling around to make tea, he became light-hearted.


    Fang Qiong was a perfect girl in the eyes of others. She had a good personality and good grades; Later, when she finally took over the Ming De Group, she managed to grow it into one of the top pharmaceuticalpanies in China. However, shecked any skills in daily chores, such as making tea, cooking, and cleaning. Su Susu had scolded her many times but to no avail.


    Seeing Chen Fan’s smirk, Fang Qiong gave him a hot re.


    When her mother emerged from the kitchen, she had proved that she was much better at housework than her daughter. She had created eight delicious dishes all by herself, and each one looked as tantalizing as the dishes prepared by a master chef.


    “Uncle Fang, you are so lucky to be able to eat Auntie Su’s cooking every day.” Chen Fanplimented.


    “Uncle Fang is rarely home for dinner. He is busy, always.”


    Su Susu said lightly. Even the way she moved her chopsticks was straight out of the book of etiquette. Fang Qiong seemed much more casual and uncouth in her actions, and had invited Su Susu’s scolding re many times during the dinner.”


    “Xiao Qiong told me that your mother is now in charge of the Chens Group? Maybe it’s time for our two families to have a reunion. It’s been a while.” Su Susu said


    Despite the casualness in her tone, her voice sounded condescending and almost like amand.


    “Will do, Auntie Su”


    Chen Fan obliged, for now.


    He could feel that whenever she mentioned her mother, Wang Xiaoyun, a hint of embarrassment shed across her face. It was as if the two of them had some old drama that still needed to be sorted out.


    The dinner was quickly over with a heavy and silent mood.


    After the dinner, Fang Qiong saw Chen Fan out the door, at the behest of Su Susu. Even as Chen Fan stepped out onto the threshold, he could feel the icy gaze from Su Susu on the nape of his neck.


    As the two walked along the rushing river, Chen Fan suddenlyughed and said: “Do you think your mother like me?”


    “Why do you care?” Fang Qiong linked his hands behind his back and paused. She walked to the lip of the pavement and stood on her toe to for a stretch.


    “If she doesn’t like me, I might not be able to marry you.” Chen Fan half jested


    Fang Qiong suddenly became quiet and didn’t offer a reply.


    After a long awkward silence, she finally said: “Xiao Fan, to answer your question, I really have no idea what she thinks. I mean, I have been living with her for 18 years, but still, I just can’t read her.”


    Chen Fan walked up to the girl and said.


    “Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter what she thinks, I will never give up.”


    Fang Qiong quivered but didn’t speak. She moved her body closer to Chen Fan.


    Chen Fan wrapped his arm around the girl’s shoulder and then squeezed her lightly. Fang Qiong didn’t back away and inched closer toward Chen Fan. Just like so, the two quietly watched the river rushing by them, as reflections of the neon lights danced on the waves.


    “This is why I came back after five hundred years. For a moment like this, with you.”


    “I had lost you in myst life, so please let me have you again.”