Chapter 234: Is The Chen Clan A Thousand-year Inheritance Family?
《Why is only the Chen Clan’s Quiet Heart Art effective?》
The next day, the trending topics were still related to the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》, and instead pushed down the popularity of Old Daoist Priest Chen.
Mainly, since the Linhe County authorities were leading on this matter, once the official announcement came out, to some degree Douyin could not continue to hype up Old Daoist Priest Chen’s incident.
It just so happened that the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 was trending, so all the attention shifted over to it.
As a platform, Douyin also needs trending topics, because they need to maintain their daily active data.
As the popularity rose, many internet celebrities started riding on the hype of the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》.
“After watching that Master Wu listen to the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 while painting in the video, I became very curious about the Quiet Heart Art. It just so happens I am near Wudang, so I made a special trip up to Wudang…”
“…Everyone can see, this is where Wudang chants scriptures for tourists. There are now Quiet Heart Art chanting sessions here as well, and they claim that this Quiet Heart Art can calm people’s moods and has other similar effects…”
“…All right, I have finished listening to the 《Quiet Heart Art》. To be honest, it does have some calming effect, but it is absolutely not as exaggerated as the descriptions of the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 online!”
“If the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 really had the effects described online, then why don’t the Quiet Heart Arts from other places in the Daoist sect have the same effect?”
“The names only differ by the word ‘Ancient,’ and that, along with the different musical notes, should be related. The Chen Clan’s Quiet Heart Art obviously has musical notes different from those here in Wudang.”
“Perhaps the Chen Clan’s inheritance of it is more complete!”
This internet celebrity personally experienced it, recorded a video, uploaded it, and even did an analysis. Many people agreed with the analysis, since the two Quiet Heart Arts were both recorded and uploaded, and one could clearly hear that their musical notes were different.
Maybe it really was that other places in the Daoist sect had broken inheritances, and the Chen Clan’s related inheritance was more complete.
While discussions online grew more and more lively, the Chen Clan and Chen Han welcomed two visitors into the courtyard.
One, of course, was Wu Ying, a reporter from the Provincial New City Daily, who had arranged with the Chen Family Head the day before for an interview about the Ancient Quiet Heart Art.
The other was a professor from the province specializing in ancient texts and books, a good friend of her father. After seeing her father’s video yesterday, he had come over to join the fun and was staying in the courtyard she had booked for her father.
This worked out nicely, so she invited this uncle to be a guest in the interview. She had also obtained information from the Chen Family Head that the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 was in ancient text.
However, she had explained certain things to this uncle, and he understood social nuances.
So, as soon as she entered the courtyard, she introduced, “Chen Family Head, this is a good friend of my father, Professor Chu Hong from the provincial museum, a researcher of ancient books and texts.”
“Professor Chu, hello!” Chen Han nodded and greeted politely.
“Chen Family Head, hello, hello!” Chu Hong was very enthusiastic. For him to appear here meant he had already learned something about the Chen Clan and knew some circumstances unknown to outsiders.
He was about the same age as Wu Sheng and, compared to young people, had more awe toward many things.
After introducing, Wu Ying asked, “Chen Family Head, shall we start the interview now?”
“Yes, let’s start,” Chen Han nodded.
Wu Ying’s scheduled interview was simple. She set up a small filming device and said to the lens, “Right now, discussions online about the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 are extremely heated. I believe everyone is very curious about the Chen Clan’s Ancient Quiet Heart Art. Today I have arranged with the Chen Clan’s Chen Family Head to bring you an interview about the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》.”
After that, Chen Han invited the two to sit at the table in the courtyard and began setting out the tea set. After brewing a pot of Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, he poured each of them a cup.
“Chen Family Head, the Chen Clan’s Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea is still just as good.” Wu Ying drank a cup of Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea and did not forget to give a little advertisement.
Only then did she start asking, “Chen Family Head, right now there are many discussions online about the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》. Many people say that the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 is different from the Quiet Heart Arts in other places of the Daoist sect. May I ask, where exactly are the differences?”
These questions were actually ones Wu Ying had previously gone over with him in private, so he immediately replied, “As for how this 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 differs from other Quiet Heart Arts in the Daoist sect, I initially did not know. This was passed down through the Chen Clan’s inheritance. We simply inherited it according to what was written in the book.”
Wu Ying nodded and said, “So, the Ancient Quiet Heart Art passed down by the Chen Clan really is different from those in other parts of the Daoist sect. The musical notes of the Quiet Heart Art in Wudang and other places are clearly different from the Chen Clan’s. I wonder, would we be allowed to take a look at the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 book passed down in the Chen Clan?”
“That is naturally not a problem.” Chen Han smiled, pretended to be ceremonious, and went into the hall to take out that volume of the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 from the game warehouse, then came back out after a while.
At the table, he placed the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 on it, without treating it cautiously like a piece of cultural relic. This 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 came from the game system and was not as fragile as other ancient books in reality.
But seeing this 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》, even just the cover, Chu Hong immediately stood up and said in disbelief, “Is this Master Liu’s book craftsmanship?”
Seeing how shocked Chu Hong was, Wu Ying knew that this 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 was not simple, and promptly asked, “Professor Chu, what is Master Liu’s book craftsmanship?”
Chu Hong quickly took out a magnifying glass and could not help examining the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》. “Every era has its own level of book craftsmanship, representing that era’s characteristics. Master Liu’s book craftsmanship was a refined style popular during an early period of the Song dynasty.”
“And I am most familiar with ancient book craftsmanship related to the Song dynasty. This is definitely Master Liu’s craftsmanship, and the ancient script font matches that era completely.”
“Moreover, the color variation, texture, smoothness, and fiber patterns of the paper all match the characteristics of that era.”
Hearing this, Wu Ying was surprised. “Professor Chu, are you saying that the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 has been passed down since the Song dynasty?”
No wonder she was shocked. Did this not mean that the Chen Clan’s foundation could be traced back to the Song dynasty?
One should know that even Wudang’s heritage was not that old.
Chen Han was also very surprised. Although he knew this book was certainly an ancient book, he had not expected the game system to set its time so early.
Chu Hong said with great certainty, “Indeed. My strongest expertise is in research on ancient books from the Song dynasty. There is no mistake.”
At this point, Wu Ying had already pointed the lens at the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 for close-up filming, then could not help asking, “Chen Family Head, may I film the contents of this 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》?”
This was exactly Chen Han’s plan, so he immediately said, “That is naturally not a problem.”
As he spoke, he took the initiative to flip open the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 so that Wu Ying’s filming equipment could capture the contents clearly.
However, he directly skipped over the parts related to formations and turned straight to the main text, letting Wu Ying film every word of the text and those annotations.
In fact, these contents were no different from the Quiet Heart Arts in the Daoist sect, with the difference likely lying only in some notes.
In the later part, the only unique section was that musical score, and it was precisely this musical score that made the chanting of the Ancient Quiet Heart Art different from the Daoist Quiet Heart Arts.
Therefore, Wu Ying naturally filmed this musical score more carefully.
When the filming was finished, both sides had a brief discussion around the Ancient Quiet Heart Art and then concluded the interview.
Chu Hong was reluctant to part with that ancient book, but he was very clear that it belonged to the Chen Clan, and he might never have a chance to see it again.
He truly could not help but feel emotion: the Chen Clan’s foundation was truly long and profound.
The Daoist sects in other places probably had very few ancient books preserved from the Song dynasty.
After Wu Ying took her leave, she did not hesitate at all. As soon as she returned to her lodging, she immediately started editing. With the online discussion about the Chen Clan’s Ancient Quiet Heart Art getting hotter and hotter, she edited at almost the fastest speed and sent it back to the Provincial New City Daily for review.
In fact, there was not much in the video that needed heavy reviewing, so the Provincial New City Daily released the interview video as quickly as possible.
The Provincial New City Daily also needed news popularity.
Over the last two days, Huang Tao had been thoroughly feasting on news about the Chen Clan, from witnessing Old Daoist Priest Chen in the live stream with his own eyes, to personally seeing Master Wu listen to the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 and create that painting.
Now everyone online was saying that painting was absolutely at a hall-of-fame level, ranking in the top five among modern painters, truly awesome.
These two experiences made him very sure that the Chen Clan was absolutely extraordinary, even if the Linhe County authorities were covering up the matter of Old Daoist Priest Chen.
He had his own conviction and felt that the Chen Clan’s inheritance was definitely unusual.
Just in terms of martial arts alone, without a deep foundation, how could they be so formidable?
Although other Daoist sects also had martial arts inheritances, purely judging from the videos online, they fell far short compared to the Chen Clan, let alone compared to that Old Daoist Priest.
So when he saw the news interview video about the Chen Clan’s Ancient Quiet Heart Art from the Provincial New City Daily, he immediately clicked in.
When he saw that the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 passed down in the Chen Clan could be traced back to the Song dynasty, he knew his guess was right. The Chen Clan’s inheritance truly was ancient.
He even specifically looked up Master Liu’s book craftsmanship and saw that it could be traced back as far as over 850 years.
But this only proved that the Chen Clan already existed at that time. It could not prove that was the starting point of the Chen Clan; it surely could be pushed even further back.
After all, people in ancient times believed in Daoist things even more. With such abilities, the Chen Clan would have been even more influential back then.
In other words, the Chen Clan of Linhe County had existed for over a thousand years.
What kind of heaven-defying family was this?
One should know that many royal families and noble lineages in ancient times had not managed to preserve themselves for so long.
Yet now the Chen Clan had actually passed down for such a long time and still maintained such a family scale. It was truly unbelievable.
This should count as a millennium clan, right?
Or perhaps not exactly. “Clan” was an ancient term, and such concepts are not officially allowed now.
But calling them a thousand-year family was absolutely no problem.
Many people still had doubts about this, but after looking into Chu Hong’s identity, they stopped doubting. Many experts in ancient texts and books also came forward online, stating that from the video they could preliminarily confirm it was indeed Master Liu’s book craftsmanship from the Song dynasty.
This completely caused a sensation and shock.
What kind of family could have a thousand-year inheritance?
This alone was astounding.
What was more, this was a Daoist Sect Heritage Family, carrying a certain miraculous aura, which made it all the more shocking.
For a while, this New City News video exploded in popularity.
Chu Ping and Chen Kai, who were already the most concerned about the Chen Clan, were among the first to see this news.
“It is truly incredible. Has the Chen Clan really been passing down for a thousand years?” Chu Ping exclaimed, full of emotion. He had known the Chen Clan’s inheritance was long-standing, but he had not expected it to be this long.
Chen Kai suddenly said mysteriously, “County Magistrate Chu, you know of True Person Zi Qing Bai Yuchan, right?”
Chu Ping nodded. This person was the founder of the Golden Core Sect Southern School and one of the five patriarchs of the Daoist southern sect from the Qingmin Region.
One could say he was a legendary Daoist figure widely known in the Qingmin Region.
Chen Kai spoke mysteriously again, “True Person Zi Qing was also from the Song dynasty. In his stories, there are many records of him engaging in Dao discussions with unknown old Daoists. There are no fewer than a dozen such entries. Could those people have had Dao discussions with the Chen Clan’s ancestors? After all, both sides were in the Qingmin Region. It is impossible that they had no intersection.”
“For example, there was one time when True Person Zi Qing was traveling in the Qingmin Region and accidentally entered a cultivation cave residence. There he found a Daoist priest whose breathing while meditating was long, subtle, and melancholy, as if merged with heaven, earth, and nature.”
“True Person Zi Qing stayed there for half a year, often discussing the Dao with that priest and gaining insights. In the end, he did not know the priest’s name. He only knew that the cave residence had the two striking characters ‘Gentle Breeze’ carved on it, so he recorded him as the Gentle Breeze Daoist.”
“County Magistrate Chu, do you think this Gentle Breeze Daoist could be an ancestor of the Chen Clan? After all, this is something truly recorded in True Person Zi Qing’s writings, yet no one has ever investigated this Daoist’s origin.”
Hearing this, Chu Ping really felt it was possible, especially now that they knew the Chen Clan had an 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 ancient book passed down from that era, which had been proven effective in modern times.
The key was that Old Daoist Priest Chen, in this Dharma-declining modern age, still had such abilities. Then what would the Chen Clan’s ancestors have been like in ancient times, a thousand years ago?
Afterward, another thought came to Chu Ping. “Since the Chen Clan is a thousand-year family, does that make our Linhe County a Millennium Ancient County?”
“It should,” Chen Kai nodded subconsciously. If a thousand-year family existed in a county, what else could it be but a Millennium Ancient County?
It seemed Linhe County could add another tag, and this tag would definitely have great appeal for tourists, especially with the suffix: plus, the county has the Daoist Sect Heritage Family Chen Clan with a thousand-year inheritance.
Then he continued, “Isn’t there a ruined Daoist temple site in the south of the city, where the deity enshrined is unknown? We had been thinking about repairing it and making it a small scenic spot.”
“Is it possible that this was related to the Gentle Breeze Daoist? Could he be an ancestor of the Chen Clan? True Person Zi Qing became one of the five southern patriarchs who are worshiped. Could the Gentle Breeze Daoist become an independent lineage?”
It was phrased as a question, but Chu Ping understood the meaning completely. Was it really important whether he was Gentle Breeze Daoist or not?
Not important at all. As long as it helped with tourism promotion, as long as it helped make the Millennium Ancient County title famous, as long as it could attract countless tourists and economic benefits.
Some things did not even need to be led by them. Now that the ancient city development in Linhe County was underway, even the beneficiaries in Youcheng would spontaneously do it.
On the contrary, the ordinary people might do it better, more enthusiastically, and more thoroughly than them.
By then, a palace temple with flourishing incense would appear.
And once Youcheng could draw twenty to thirty thousand tourists a day, plus the Chen Clan, if a bit of related information was leaked, large numbers of people from Linhe County would line up at the Chen Clan to make petitions.
There are many god parading activities in the Qingmin Region, and many of those deities did not even exist before, nor are they orthodox.
But due to economic needs, these have become popular in recent years. Each god parading activity brings in huge numbers of tourists and enormous economic gains. Many people travel thousands of miles specifically to participate.
For example, that very famous handsome deity. Rumor said the head family spent half a million last year to organize it, but the news did not mention that he was the biggest catering chain boss locally.
The key is that such things can be replicated. It mainly depends on whether there is an opportunity.
“Find a good time, find a good time,” Chu Ping did not respond directly, but muttered twice in a row.
After New City News exploded, people in the Daoist sect naturally noticed, and even people in the Buddhist sect took notice and had their own thoughts.
In Wudang, after the Chen Clan’s 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 became popular, Daoist Priest Chen had been studying the collection and various Quiet Heart Arts together with the sect leader and his senior brothers.
They did not believe that, with their long inheritance, they would lack something the Chen Clan possessed. There had to be something missing somewhere. Once they found it, they should also be able to achieve the same effect as the Chen Clan.
Daoist Priest Chen was the first to see this news video, because he already had many fans online and people would tag him.
But when he saw the news content, he was dumbfounded.
The Chen Clan had been passing down for so long? Their 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 inheritance actually existed before Wudang itself?
At the beginning of the Song dynasty, Wudang had not yet appeared.
So this Chen Clan, unknown to the outside world, had actually existed for such a long time?
This…
Suddenly he felt that he and the others had been a bit…
Sigh.
They had even felt that since the Chen Clan could pass it down, they also could. But it turned out that when the Chen Clan already existed, Wudang was not even there yet.
He suddenly felt very frustrated and stifled.
However, his eyes soon lit up, because that Chen Family Head had been extremely generous in allowing the contents of the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 to be filmed by that reporter, including the musical score at the end.
The Chen Clan was far too generous.
He immediately became excited and went to find the sect leader and his senior brothers. Without materials before, their research had been in vain.
Now they had complete materials and the musical score. There was no way they still could not work out this 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》.
The Chen Clan’s selfless generosity truly deserved admiration.
