Chapter 129: Let Me Tell You Some Good News! Heavy Demonic Shadows Effect!
“He… does he have hemorrhoids?” Because his wife had been even more impacted by this, Ma Qi blurted it out almost subconsciously, but once he spoke he felt it was inappropriate. After all, the Chen Family Head had already offered an excuse, and this now sounded like he was pressing the issue.
Chen Han, however, said with a smile, “That is normal. There was a light drizzle yesterday, and now with the return humidity it is easy to get hemorrhoids. Add in an impatient temper and sudden outburst, the hemorrhoids split. Common sense.”
With the words “normal” and “common sense” thrown out like that, even though Ma Qi could marshal a thousand arguments to prove the Chen Family Head was talking nonsense, he still could not say them.
Chen Kai looked at Ma Qi’s constipation-like expression and knew that feeling all too well, so he hurriedly changed the subject. “Chen Family Head, after the consecration ceremony and the miraculous ‘creation’ of this sea of flowers, the Chen Clan will definitely have a stable number of tourists. When people from other villages come over to sell things then, we still need to pay attention to this matter.”
Chen Han smiled and said, “For that, we still need support from the county. After all, we do not have law enforcement authority and can only feel helpless about such people.”
“We have already applied for tourism police for the Chen Clan, and I will urge it again on my side,” Chen Kai said at once, and at the same time he received the answer he wanted.
The Chen Family Head agreed to let people from other villages come and sell things, but he did not want such incidents to happen again.
On this, he was satisfied and grateful, so after negotiating with the Chen Family Head, he hurriedly took his people back to the county to push again on the tourism police matter.
After Chen Han sent off the people from the county culture and tourism bureau, he returned to his own courtyard and saw Xiao Mi waiting for him.
“Where is Xiao Yu?” Chen Han asked.
“She is editing videos,” Xiao Mi explained.
“Then she has time, doesn’t she?” Chen Han asked with a teasing smile.
“Ah… you… need to show some restraint…”
…（omitted）…
Doing such absurd things in broad daylight was indeed a bit absurd.
After a long while, Chen Han looked at Xiao Mi in his arms and could not help asking, “You already put on hanfu, so why not wear the apron?”
Clearly, he was still a bit disappointed about that.
Really, he only wanted to complete the G-string Maniac title task; it was not for that charm +2 attribute.
Having a task hanging there unfinished always made one uncomfortable.
“Next time,” Xiao Mi replied sweetly.
She had noticed he really liked her wearing the apron, as if he had some special fetish.
Then she earnestly said, “But can you pay some attention to your health and control yourself a little?”
Hearing her concern, Chen Han leaned close to her ear and said, “Let me tell you some good news. Yesterday, when the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation gave his blessing and I was under that sweet dew, I felt very comfortable, and my symptoms clearly got much better.”
“In my daze, I seemed to hear the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation at my ear saying that someone was making wishes for me. The Heavenly Lord told me to hold a prayer ceremony at the same time every year, and he will continue to bless me. My illness will be cured sooner or later.”
At first he was carefully making it up, but in the latter half he went with the flow and was obviously overdoing the nonsense.
Who knew that as soon as he said this, Xiao Mi sat up in shock, the parts enhanced by the Yellow Spirit Gourd trembling into enticing curves.
Because yesterday she had felt the miracle of that heavenly sweet dew, and she had sincerely prayed to the Heavenly Lord, hoping he would cure him, and that if so, she would agree to anything, would serve the Daoist sect, and become a believer.
Now hearing Chen Han’s words, she immediately thought of yesterday, thought of her praying. If not for that, how could Chen Han have heard the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation say that someone was making wishes for him?
At this moment, it did not occur to her at all that Chen Han might be making it up. In her heart she believed he would never deceive her.
Moreover, after everything she had personally experienced, she believed the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation worshipped by the Chen Clan would give blessings.
Otherwise how to explain the Heavenly Lord’s blessing?
Otherwise how to explain that heavenly sweet dew?
But hearing Chen Han’s words, his illness was still not completely cured and would need the blessing at the prayer ceremony next year.
If the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation was going to bless him, one blessing should have been enough. Could it be because she had made a vow and needed to fulfill it?
She took this problem upon herself.
She truly did not doubt Chen Han’s words at all.
Thinking of this, she hurriedly got up, the places enhanced by the Yellow Spirit Gourd shaking again, and pulled Chen Han up. “Hurry and wash up, we are going to the county.”
Not long after, Chen Han was pulled out of the Chen Clan by Xiao Mi, got into a taxi, and headed for the county hospital.
He immediately started thinking through countermeasures.
His illness was already cured, and now Xiao Mi was dragging him for a checkup. Once they did imaging, they would see he was completely healed.
Now that Xiao Mi had brought all his medical records, the hospital would not be fooled once they checked him. Even if they claimed the doctor had misdiagnosed him, that would still create plenty of trouble.
After all, he had gone to the affiliated hospital in the city for his symptoms more than once to get painkillers.
As everyone knew, that type of painkiller was not something that could be prescribed casually. If it was a misdiagnosis and they had prescribed it several times, that could be enough to ruin a doctor, even make a hospital bear responsibility.
The director who treated him was a good doctor; he could not harm him. The key point was that if something like this came out, the hospital would investigate, which would cause a big stir and might even be widely reported in the news.
This kind of thing was different from the Heavenly Lord’s blessing or the sea of flowers blooming overnight.
Thinking about it, he immediately tried to guide his true qi to his lungs and control it to adhere to the surface.
His memory was quite good now. From having seen his own imaging before, he could roughly recall the composition of the shadow in his lungs. So, with inner vision, he could use true qi to cover the areas of that shadow.
Imaging examinations rely on machines, and the principle of medical imaging mainly uses different rays or energy waves passing through the human body, where differences in tissue density and thickness create contrast that appears as shadow images on the detector.
Cancer is essentially that the tumor’s tissue density and thickness differ. In fact, it is not only tumors; other substances inside the body can also create shadows for that reason.
Now that he covered his lungs with true qi, he would certainly be able to create the illusion of different tissue density and thickness, especially since the county hospital’s equipment was not as precise as those in the city or the province.
The car stopped at the county hospital, and they went directly to the relevant department, paid, and requested imaging.
There were not many patients in that department today, so the imaging was arranged quickly. After reading his records, they scheduled him for routine cancer patient follow-up.
They had seen plenty of such cases. Based on his file alone, the doctor felt there was no need for him to waste more money. But that could not be said out loud. If the patient wanted a check, then just do it; this month’s performance would increase a bit more.
The doctor did feel this patient looked familiar, like he had seen him somewhere before; it was probably from past visits.
Imaging at the hospital did not finish that fast. While they waited, Xiao Mi was clearly very nervous.
“Let’s go walk around. It has been a long time since I went shopping with you,” Chen Han said, seeing her like that. He took her hand and led her out of the hospital to stroll the county’s most famous commercial street.
When a woman goes shopping, she can forget many worries. Also, Chen Han indeed had not accompanied her in a long time, so unconsciously two hours passed.
Only then did they return to the hospital and get the freshly printed report, but Xiao Mi pulled him away directly without going to see the doctor.
“Not going to have the doctor look at it?” Chen Han asked with a smile. He had already seen that there was a shadow on the film and felt very calm, without any pressure.
“We will look at it ourselves. I checked some information on how to interpret shadows earlier, and we can compare it to your previous images from the city,” Xiao Mi explained quickly. “If the Heavenly Lord’s blessing really had an effect and we show it to the doctor, how shocked will they be? They will keep digging, and it might cause trouble later. So it is enough if we know ourselves.”
Chen Han smiled. Things were already in motion anyway, so he let her have her way. The main goal was to stop her from worrying so much in the future.
As Chen Han and Xiao Mi got in the car back to the Chen Clan, Chen Kai and Ma Qi were also leaving the county bureau. Looking down at the documents in his hands, Chen Kai finally let out a sigh of relief.
He had pestered and negotiated endlessly to finally get them to agree to send people to the Chen Clan the next day. Otherwise, even with the county’s signature, following the procedures would have taken ten days to half a month.
“Director Chen, shall we go take a look at the county hospital?” Ma Qi suddenly asked.
Chen Kai understood exactly what he meant. The one who had spoken rudely yesterday and grown hemorrhoids was in the county hospital, and the troublemaker from today had also been sent there, with news coming back that it was also hemorrhoids.
Knowing the inside story, he was naturally curious too, so he said, “Let’s go take a look.”
On the way out, he also called the county hospital.
When the two of them arrived at the hospital, a director was already waiting. As soon as they met, he said, “Director Chen, the matter you asked about has been investigated clearly. It is indeed two people, and those hemorrhoids are a bit strange. The one who came in yesterday had them removed, and they grew back very quickly.”
This made Chen Kai look at Ma Qi, and Ma Qi nodded, indicating that his wife had been the same.
Soon, Chen Kai and Ma Qi were outside two separate wards, looking at those two men.
Both were lying prone on their beds, wailing with every movement, eyes tearing from the pain.
Seeing this, and thinking of how the Chen Family Head had so matter-of-factly urged everyone to believe in science, Chen Kai and Ma Qi could not help wondering: did he truly not feel the slightest embarrassment?
The hospital director suddenly asked, “Director Chen, I saw the news online. It seems they showed disrespect to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation at the Chen Clan and were punished. Is that right?”
He lowered his voice at the end, as if trying to probe some secret.
Chen Kai almost reflexively said, “Director Wu, you are a doctor; you must believe in science.”
Ma Qi chimed in, “Yes, in our area we have rain and return humidity, rural pollen allergies, eating things that cause internal heat, bad temper; getting hemorrhoids from that is completely normal. Director Wu, as medical staff, you must have a firm stance and believe in science.”
“…” Director Wu opened his mouth. Were those two men’s hemorrhoids normal?
They grew back the second day after removal; how was that normal?
He had asked precisely because it was not scientific.
But could he say “not scientific” in front of this Director Chen?
If Director Chen casually made a comment at some meeting one day, would he still keep his position?
So he wisely kept his mouth shut.
…
The Chen Clan.
As soon as Chen Han and Xiao Mi got out of the car, she dragged him straight back to his courtyard and into the room.
The first thing Xiao Mi did was ask, “Where is the last imaging?”
That was of course stored in the warehouse, but Chen Han put on an act of opening the cabinet and took it out from the warehouse to hand to her.
Without hesitation, Xiao Mi took both sets of films and carefully compared them. After only a short while, joy appeared on her face and she threw herself excitedly into Chen Han’s arms. “The shadow is really much smaller. The Heavenly Lord’s blessing really worked.”
She was overjoyed, rubbing against him in his arms, and thanks to the Yellow Spirit Gourd’s effect, that pressure felt overwhelmingly clear.
It was torture.
“Chen Han, what do you think about me acknowledging Aunt-Grandmother as my master and cultivating with the Chen Clan?” This sudden proposal from Xiao Mi left Chen Han stunned and confused as he looked at her.
Why was she suddenly going to become a Daoist priest?
He did not understand at all.
Seeing him dumbfounded, Xiao Mi giggled. “Why that expression? Yesterday I prayed to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation. As long as you can get better, I am willing to serve the Daoist sect and become a believer.”
“Also, did you not say the Heavenly Lord spoke at your ear that someone had prayed for you? That was me. Now that the Heavenly Lord has blessed you, I have to keep my word. Otherwise what if he does not bless you next year?”
‘????’ Chen Han was even more confused.
Those words had been pure nonsense; there had never been any Heavenly Lord whispering in his ear that someone prayed for him, so how had Xiao Mi fully immersed herself in this?
Seeing him like this, Xiao Mi hurried to add, “Alright, stop looking like that. Your sect is not forbidden from marrying, and besides, isn’t cultivation about dual cultivation partners?”
“Uh, dual cultivation partners should not mean what you think,” Chen Han said in astonishment.
“As long as you get what I mean,” Xiao Mi hummed coyly.
“Of course I get what you mean,” Chen Han said, then awkwardly added, “but if you acknowledge Aunt-Grandmother as your master, you will be my martial uncle. Then this dual cultivation becomes defying hierarchy. That is not allowed.”
“Ah?” Xiao Mi froze at that. It did sound… a bit… messed up…
Chen Han could only say, “So do not formally become a disciple. Just follow along in cultivation and become a lay buddhist. As a lay buddhist, you can be a dual cultivation partner.”
“Then that dual cultivation partner does mean that, right?” Xiao Mi suddenly asked sweetly.
“…” Chen Han.
The two of them left the room together and went to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall to see Aunt-Grandmother.
“Patriarch!” Aunt-Grandmother greeted him respectfully when she saw him.
Chen Han replied politely, “Aunt-Grandmother, there is something I would like to discuss with you. Xiao Mi is very interested in cultivation in the Daoist sect and would like to follow you to cultivate. I hope you can guide her.”
Aunt-Grandmother looked at Xiao Mi in surprise. She certainly knew this young woman, who had helped the Chen Clan a lot and was appreciated by many in the clan.
Now that the patriarch had personally brought her, there was naturally no way to refuse. She said, “Then let me comb her hair and have her convert.”
Having the hair combed and converting to the three refuges was the basic prerequisite for cultivation in their Daoist sect. Once converted, she would be a Daoist layman.
As long as the Chen Clan issued the relevant documents, she could apply for a Daoist layman certificate.
The threefold refuge required time and procedures. Chen Han left Xiao Mi with Aunt-Grandmother, then returned alone to his courtyard. Just as he sat down, prompts suddenly appeared.
【Congratulations, the Cloud Barrier Cauldron has been successfully repaired. New function unlocked!】
Chen Han immediately looked into the warehouse. The repair runes flickering on the surface of the Cloud Barrier Cauldron had indeed vanished, and the entire cauldron showed a slight change. First, there were fewer cracks than at the beginning, and the color was deeper.
Some of the runes now had a faint translucence.
This should be the state after successful repair.
Thinking this, he quickly checked the Cloud Barrier Cauldron’s notes, which were indeed different.
【Cloud Barrier Cauldron: a life-saving magic treasure issued to some disciples of the Yin Mountain Sect. It has special functions and can refine Cloud Barrier Pills. Releasing a Cloud Barrier Pill can instantly create a few miles of cloud mist to shroud the surroundings, confuse the enemy, and buy time to escape. If the Cloud Barrier Cauldron self-destructs, it can instantly create more than ten miles of cloud mist as cover.
Defect: because this cauldron was self-destructed by a demonic cult rogue, its inscribed runes were damaged. The attributes of the refined Cloud Barrier Pills are incomplete. The specific attributes of the Cloud Barrier Pills depend on the finished product of refinement.
Limitations: Daily beginner refinement attempts （normal） 1/1 （after refinement you must replenish spiritual energy before refining again, and beginner and intermediate refinement consume differently!） Daily refinement attempts （refinement） 1/1 （spend 50,000 reputation to refine a normal Cloud Barrier Pill and add heavy demonic shadows effect to confuse the enemy!）
Intermediate repair: 1,000,000 reputation!
Cloud Barrier Pill materials: demonic beast grease and spiritual flowers and herbs that can burn to produce smoke!】
After reading the notes, the first thing to catch Chen Han’s eye was the requirement of one million reputation for intermediate repair. Seriously, it really was beginner repair followed by intermediate repair. Would there be advanced repair after that?
This kind of pay-to-win game scam, did the game system really have to copy it?
And even if you were going to gouge him, this was too much. One slash for one million reputation?
Even the most ruthless capitalists were not this ruthless.
But then he noticed the Cloud Barrier Cauldron’s new functions. There was now beginner refinement and intermediate refinement. Obviously, intermediate Cloud Barrier Pills would cover a much larger area.
Yet what really caught his eye at a glance was the added once-per-day refinement opportunity.
Spending 50,000 reputation to add heavy demonic shadows to confuse the enemy… that should be what he thought it was, right?
