Chapter 228: The Old Heavenly Master Goes Down The Mountain To Subdue Demons?
Chen Han looked at the task indicator map that had appeared and once again felt a surge of emotion.
Wasn’t it said before that the Chen Clan would guard a 25,000 square kilometer area?
So in fact this town and Linhe County’s county seat were only in the vicinity of the Chen Clan’s guarded area.
He really wanted the game system to tell him how far the county seat actually was from the Chen Clan.
Such a small range, and they still had the nerve to call it 25,000 kilometers? That was ridiculously overblown.
However, he was even more curious about what kind of people were on the outskirts of the Wu Tai Sect, since that gun had ended up being linked to a Wu Tai Sect demonic artifact.
He felt the old daoist priest should make a move again.
After all, he was not clear whether for this kind of demon purging mission he needed to act personally, or have Chen Clan people act, or whether reporting it to the police would also count.
In this uncertainty, he felt it was safest if he personally took action.
There was also another important point: demon subjugation would definitely involve fighting. He did not have law enforcement authority; if he injured or crippled someone, even if they were eventually caught, they could still bite back with a personal injury claim or something.
That kind of dispute would be a hassle.
So it would be best for the old daoist priest to make the move. The system showed no record of him; could they really go after someone who did not belong to this era?
This was a true scene of an old celestial master descending the mountain to subjugate demons.
Thinking this, Chen Han returned to the Chen Clan, planning to make some preparations before going to the county to subjugate demons. Just as he stepped into the courtyard, he saw his junior sister with an excited face, who, upon seeing him, said, “Senior brother, did you see? Uncle is blowing up online.”
Before she even finished speaking, she hurriedly handed her mobile phone to her senior brother.
Chen Han took the phone and saw a video playing on it. It showed uncle using a big slap fight to take down those bandits in one move, and the numbers were very hot, even making it into a trending topic.
He was very surprised. Had the video already spread online this fast?
He did not believe it unless someone was operating behind the scenes.
He opened the trending topic, and after watching two videos, he roughly understood.
《Linhe County’s report on the attempted kidnapping of a female tycoon. The case is currently under detailed interrogation and verification!》
This was the report from the Linhe County police.
《Kidnappers attempt to kidnap a female tycoon investing in Linhe County, but are easily taken down by a Chen Clan master!》
This was the video posted by the Linhe County culture and tourism account.
After watching, Chen Han understood that this was all led by the county. The goal was to make people know that a major group like Weikai had come to invest in Linhe County, so Linhe County was worth investing in.
Also, the Chen Clan still had considerable popularity online. The Chen Clan masters were already highly followed, and adding the words “Chen Clan master” happened to attract attention.
In an instant, the popularity was guided upward.
Online, the heat related to the Chen Clan masters quickly rose higher and higher, especially since people in this country all had a wuxia complex. The scene of Chen Lin finishing someone with one big slap fight spread quickly.
Many people were shocked when they saw the video.
After all, this kind of scene had only ever been seen in movies before. In reality, those martial arts experts, even ones on Douyin with huge numbers of fans, had never had any real fighting record.
Some so-called experts with several million fans had not even had a single real battle. Though they often issued open challenges to other martial arts bloggers online and quarreled fiercely, they were in fact very tacit about it; they only argued, with no real-time action at all.
So many people’s first reaction when they saw Chen Lin’s big slap fight video was to assume it was some kind of movie promotion clip.
Cai Yilin was one of them.
He was a small office worker with few hobbies other than watching movies. He happened to be waiting to get off work with several colleagues when the video popped up.
Their group’s plan had just been completed in the past few days, so they had rare leisure time. Seeing the video, he cried out in surprise, “Damn, isn’t this guy even tougher than Ma Dong-seok? What movie is this? When did another such beast of a man appear?”
Several colleagues curiously gathered around. Seeing the video, one of them immediately said, “This isn’t a movie clip. The title says Chen Clan master; it should be that Chen Clan!”
“What?” someone exclaimed.
The Chen Clan had quite a bit of popularity online, especially after those two events, and many people had watched their videos.
Cai Yilin found it somewhat unbelievable. Had this really happened in real life?
He instinctively opened the trending topic. After seeing the situation, he felt it was absurd, since he had never watched Chen Clan videos before; the impact on him was easy to imagine.
This scene of one person using a big slap fight on someone was something even many movies could not pull off. When those celebrities acted, even with special effects, it all looked soft and weak.
As he continued clicking through the trending topic and watched other videos, he and his colleagues were even more shocked, especially after seeing that the kidnappers with guns had been taken down. It felt truly incredible.
Opening the comment section, he saw others were just as amazed as they were.
“Who the hell said that no matter how good your kung fu is, you are still afraid of a kitchen knife? This Chen Clan master is not even afraid of people with guns!”
“Who said beyond seven steps the gun is fast, within seven steps the gun is both fast and accurate?”
“Looks like the saying ‘beyond seven steps the gun is fast, within seven steps the blade is fast’ has some basis. It depends on whether your strength is strong enough.”
“Seriously, when it comes to true kung fu, I only acknowledge the Chen Clan. Their record is verifiable and keeps getting stronger, unlike others who only brag online!”
“……”
This kind of discussion pushed the matter’s popularity even higher. Liao Shuang’s identity was indeed found out, and the fact that a big group like Weikai was investing in Linhe County was increasingly known, just as the Linhe County authorities had hoped.
However, the reason why a Chen Clan master had specifically gone to protect this Miss Liao Shuang of the Kaiwei Group also drew attention, and some even began to speculate maliciously.
For example, there was a very popular post: 《It is true that the Chen Clan master taking down the kidnappers is impressive, but it also shows that the Chen Clan curries favor with the powerful. They protected her because she is a tycoon. If it were an ordinary person, as if they would bother!》
There are always people who like to link everything to money and power.
In truth, in the daoist sect, in many cases they do not care whether you are rich, have power, or are ordinary.
When the daoist sect speaks of equality of all beings, it does not mean that everyone should enjoy the same rights, or that if you are richer or more powerful than me, you are sinful and your gains are illegitimate.
They do not see fairness as everyone being equal and receiving the same income.
This is not correct in the daoist sect.
It is like someone at a bank seeing a person not lining up and then shouting about why that person can cut the line, saying it is unfair, making a scene, and in the end being taken away by the police uncle.
They never stop to think that person is a super VIP of the bank. The bank needs their deposit and flow; it is the bank that is begging them.
Had there not been a real case before, where an ordinary person went to a government department to handle documents, queued up, dealt with complicated procedures, then saw the person in charge of the office warmly delivering documents to a man, and filmed it and posted it online claiming there was no fairness in this world and alleging collusion between officials and businessmen?
In fact, that man was the secretary of an investor, and that investment had been desperately sought by the local area. Once the factory was built, it would not only relocate a village of villagers and make a large number of people wealthy, but also create many employment positions.
In the end, the video stirred public opinion, the investor simply withdrew, and later it was said that the person who posted the video was beaten into the hospital by many villagers. No one knew what happened after that.
In the daoist sect, fairness absolutely does not mean favoritism toward the poor and weak. The idea of “I am poor and weak, therefore I am right” does not work there.
Because there are always people poorer and weaker than you. Complainers always look upward, not realizing that if fairness were implemented according to their standard, they might end up worse off than they are now.
The daoist sect’s principle is “inaction, yet nothing is left undone”. They believe that the dao is the origin of the world with its own operating pattern, and does not require human interference. This is called following nature; the great dao is emotionless. The heavenly dao will not help you because you are poor or weak, nor suppress you because you are lucky or successful.
If people can become rich or powerful, it is because they have adapted to the operating pattern of the great dao. The laws of today’s society are in fact part of the great dao.
And when some rich people are condemned by morality, or some powerful people are punished by law, that is also part of the great dao law.
Chen Han also saw this video, but he did not want to respond and could not be bothered to argue. However, a highly respected daoist priest from the daoist sect spoke up for him:
“For a long time, devout devotees have invited daoist sect daoist priests to act as mages or provide protection. Devotees who work for the daoist sect or donate money and possessions are creating good karma, and the daoist sect will repay that karma.”
“This is actually a very fair way of acting. When members of the daoist sect go down the mountain and do not beg, they mostly rely on fortune telling, feng shui reading, and helping people solve their troubles in exchange for karma.”
“For example, this Ms. Liao today. If she has donated a considerable amount to the Chen Clan, then the Chen Clan should repay that good karma. It is impossible for you, who have no connection and no karma with the Chen Clan, to demand that they treat you the same way.”
“Likewise, karmic ties can be big or small. Karma is not only about money; piety, interpersonal bonds, and fate are also factors. In short, all beings are not equal, but the dao treats all beings equally.”
Once this daoist priest’s words came out, many people understood what he meant.
A Chen Clan master protecting Ms. Liao and risking his life against the kidnappers meant that Ms. Liao must have had prior good karma with the Chen Clan. Even if it was through donations, karma is still karma.
If you have no connection with the Chen Clan, are only an ordinary tourist, have not donated money, and have no other established good karma, then expecting the Chen Clan to risk their lives for you is unreasonable.
It is like at work: would you be happy if someone who does less gets more salary than you? Or if for the same salary, you do twice the work of others? Would you accept that?
Those who did not understand still supported that internet celebrity’s remarks, continuing to talk about the Chen Clan currying favor and chasing money.
Ming Di naturally also saw this news. As a major beneficiary of piggybacking on the Chen Clan’s popularity, he immediately called his cousin Xu Bin and Zhu Xueqin over. “Did you see the Chen Clan news? We should also shoot a video and piggyback on the popularity.”
Zhu Xueqin looked puzzled. “This news has nothing to do with us at all. How are we supposed to piggyback on it?”
Xu Bin also nodded, since there was simply no way for them to have been involved in this matter.
It had not even happened at the Chen Clan.
“Piggybacking on popularity is an art. You have to be methodical!” Ming Di directly took his cousin and Zhu Xueqin back to that hillside platform. Using the Chen Clan as a background, they shot another simple video.
Ming Di: “Have you heard? A group of fellow practitioners plotted against that hall master of the crafting hall of the Chen Clan, and got slaughtered by him to the last. Such idiots, not even clear on his strength.”
“Now I’m just worried this will anger the Chen Clan and lead them to launch a demon eradication operation. So right now it’s best we do nothing, so we are not exposed and dragged down by those idiots.”
The video was quickly uploaded and rode quite a bit of popularity, though many people teased Ming Di.
“Ming Di, you demon person are really clinging to any bit of popularity you can get.”
“Haha, I should thank you for telling me about this. So that’s what really happened behind the scenes!”
“Fine, fine, with just one sentence from you, the case turned into a demonic cult rogue ambush targeting a Chen Clan master.”
“……”
As they teased Ming Di, they had no idea an old daoist had once again appeared at the Chen Clan. Tourists who spotted him were all very surprised.
This old daoist had gone viral before; some tourists had seen videos of him, so they recognized him at a glance.
This was the real eccentric.
But by the time they took out their phones to record, the old daoist was no longer in front of them.
In the parking lot, one police car sat ready. Deng Shuang and his colleagues got in, preparing to return to the county. They were the Chen Clan tourism police, and their shift had ended.
He was in charge of driving. Just as he was about to start, he heard the car door open and someone got in.
They were stunned. They had never seen anyone dare to openly open their car door and seat themselves.
But when they saw who had gotten in, they all froze.
An old daoist in a blue-gray daoist robe, with a face full of white whiskers.
It was that man, right?
For a moment, Deng Shuang and his two colleagues did not know how to speak.
Chen Han pretended to be casual, smiling as he asked, “You three don’t mind giving me a ride to the county, do you?”
“Ah, n-no, we don’t mind…” Deng Shuang replied instinctively, then started the car, driving out of the Chen Clan parking lot toward the county.
The person in the passenger seat had already taken out their phone and secretly sent a message to their captain, Huang Xin.
These past two days, Huang Xin had been working with Li Rui on the Liangmei Group case. But the case was so big that more and more people were involved; the city had even sent supervision down. Everyone knew the purpose and did not comment.
What made him envious was that Li Rui had gone out once and picked up another piece of merit for free. The kidnap gang case was no small merit, and if firearms were involved, the case would automatically be raised a level, and the merit would be even greater.
And it had fallen into his lap.
Huang Xin had just finished handling some case details and sat down when he received a message from his subordinate: “Captain, an old daoist priest just got into our car, the Chen Clan’s old daoist priest!”
At first glance, Huang Xin felt this subordinate was being ridiculous. If a Chen Clan daoist priest got into their car, they could just give him a lift. Why send a message about such a small thing?
But as he was about to put his phone down, something felt off.
Old daoist priest?
He instinctively replied, “Which old daoist priest?”
“Yeah, that one!”
Seeing his subordinate’s confirmation, Huang Xin could no longer stay calm. The appearance of that old daoist priest had already drawn the county’s attention. He himself had paid attention and even investigated, but there was no trace of that old daoist priest at all. He was like a dragon whose head could be seen but not its tail.
Now this old daoist priest had appeared again and gotten into his subordinates’ car.
He suddenly had a feeling that this matter was not simple.
