Chapter 194: This Stone Tablet Is Pretty Badass!
Chen Han was subconsciously drawn in and looked over at Chen Kai.
The words “stone tablet” caught his attention, making his expression turn incredulous.
No way?
After hanging up the telephone, Chen Kai immediately said, “Chen Family Head, they dug up a stone tablet while repairing the road over there. It looks quite old. There are some text and runes on it. The person in charge doesn’t understand those characters and runes, they only recognized the two characters for Chen Clan.”
When Chu Ping heard this, he also thought of something and subconsciously asked, “Is it that stone slab we saw when we came over?”
Chen Kai nodded and said, “It should be that stone slab. Now it seems that it should be related to the Chen Clan, and it also records something. Maybe it will let us learn something about the Chen Clan’s past.”
These words immediately piqued Chu Ping’s interest. He quickly invited, “Chen Family Head, let’s go take a look together. This stone tablet is clearly an item of the Chen Clan. At that time, it might need to be returned to its rightful owner.”
“Mm!” Chen Han nodded. He also wanted to confirm whether it was as he had guessed, and left the courtyard together with Chu Ping and Chen Kai.
After getting into the car, Chu Ping told the driver to drive faster and left Shangyuan Village.
…
The road section from the county to the Chen Clan had already begun construction earlier. Zhang Xiao, as the person in charge of the contract, was extremely diligent and responsible.
He knew the county attached great importance to the Chen Clan. Just seeing that this National Style Event of the Chen Clan had sold more than five thousand tickets, he understood that if there were any problems with this road widening and repair, he would definitely be in trouble.
So he would come from time to time to check on the roadwork progress, and unexpectedly, today they dug up a stone tablet.
At first it was covered in mud, and they thought it was just a whole stone. After taking a careful look, they found there were actually characters on it.
He had someone rinse it lightly with water, and it turned out to be a stone tablet.
But he could not make any sense of some of the text and runes on the tablet. He only recognized the two characters for Chen Clan.
That was because his wife’s surname was Chen, and her mother’s home had an ancient-style calligraphy painting with the two characters for Chen Clan. He saw it every time he visited and could recognize those two characters.
So without any hesitation, he immediately had people lift the stone tablet to a safe place and notified that Mr. Chen from culture and tourism.
Afterward, he personally led people to guard it.
Finally, when he saw the car arriving, he immediately led his people forward to greet them.
As soon as he got out of the car, Chen Kai looked toward Zhang Xiao and asked, “Manager Zhang, where is the stone tablet?”
“Director Chen, this way.” Zhang Xiao had just started to lead them when he saw Chu Ping get out, and quickly added, “Chief Chu, this way please.”
He naturally recognized him. He had not expected that unearthing a stone tablet would even bring this person over; it seemed his decision to call and report had been correct.
Seeing Chen Han behind them, he also greeted him, “Chen Family Head!”
Chen Han nodded in response, then followed them over. He saw that stone tablet, about two meters tall and about one meter wide.
The stele was still covered in mud.
Zhang Xiao explained, “I don’t know what this stone tablet is about, and I didn’t dare to handle it privately, so I just rinsed it lightly with water.”
Chu Ping and Chen Kai did not really understand such things and both looked toward Chen Han.
“Chen Family Head, have a look.”
“Yeah, we don’t understand either.”
Chen Han had already been curious and stepped forward to examine it.
The writing on the stone tablet was the same Daoist sect style of ancient script font as in that Ancient Quiet Heart Art. 《 》
There were not many characters, and he just happened to see three very clear ones on the stone tablet: Dust Removal Formation.
He was truly shocked.
Previously he had thought the Chen Clan had deducted his reward and had even been thinking of filing a complaint with the game system. Now, should he withdraw his complaint against the game system?
They had actually issued this thing in another form?
Moreover, he thought of the previous game prompt: when Hundred Flowers Palace was transporting the Dust Removal Formation Stone Tablet, they were ambushed by demonic cult rogues. The people of Hundred Flowers Palace were killed, the stone tablet fell to the ground and sank into the earth.
Now, this stone tablet had been dug up by the road construction crew.
He had to admit, the game system was quite impressive for it to line up like this.
“Chen Family Head, how is it?” Chen Kai subconsciously asked.
Chen Han nodded and said, “It is related to the Chen Clan. Please help send this stone tablet back to the Chen Clan. After the cleaning is finished, we will see what the situation is.”
Although he already knew what was going on, in front of these people he still had to put on a bit of a show. Besides, there was no way for him to store this stone tablet into the game system and take it back, so he had to let others help.
Without hesitation, Chen Kai instructed Zhang Xiao, “Manager Zhang, please arrange people to transport it.”
“Director Chen, I will arrange it.” Zhang Xiao immediately nodded and got to work. In no time, the stone tablet was lifted onto a truck, secured, and then transported to the Chen Clan.
Chu Ping once again led his people into the cars and headed to the Chen Clan.
Chen Han had already called Uncle Dagou, telling him to bring people to make preparations to carry the stone tablet into his own courtyard later.
When the cars arrived at the Chen Clan Parking Lot, Chen Dagou was already waiting with his people, and the tools were all prepared. As soon as the truck stopped, they started lifting the stone tablet.
Chen Han led Chu Ping and Chen Kai back to his courtyard. Behind them, Chen Dagou and the others carried the stone tablet, drawing a lot of attention.
After all, at a glance it was clearly just unearthed, with characters on it. It might record something about the Chen Clan.
Once in the courtyard, Chen Han told Uncle Dagou to prepare soft tools, such as wool brushes, brushes of various sizes and models （ ）, soft brushes, bamboo scrapers, and so on. The scraper edges had to be polished smooth to avoid sharpness.
Now that this stone tablet had appeared in this manner, naturally the mud on the surface needed to be cleaned first.
Since this stone tablet had been sent by Hundred Flowers Palace, he was just putting on an act. It would not actually be as fragile as a truly unearthed stone tablet that would require extremely delicate care even to remove dirt.
Very quickly, Chen Dagou gathered all the tools Chen Han needed. Chen Han also took the hose in the courtyard and began spraying water on the stone tablet to start cleaning.
After cleaning for a short while, he found that it was indeed as he thought.
This stone tablet from Hundred Flowers Palace was not that fragile. After all, it carried a Dust Removal Formation. It was just that this formation seemed to have a problem, as he did not sense the slightest fluctuation on it.
However, for now he had to keep up appearances. In front of Chief Chu and the others, he had to first clean up the stone tablet.
Watching the Chen Family Head’s movements, Chu Ping and Chen Kai felt his handling of the stone tablet seemed a bit rough and forceful. They had seen videos of historians treating unearthed stone tablets.
But they did not understand such things, and since this thing belonged to the Chen Clan, they could only watch him handle it.
After spending some time, Chen Han finished cleaning the stone tablet, so that the ancient text and runes on it could be clearly seen.
The amount of ancient text was not actually large. Most of it was runes, and none of them could recognize the ancient characters.
Curious, Chu Ping asked, “Chen Family Head, what is written on this stone tablet?”
Chen Han spoke honestly, “It says that this stone tablet is a gift from a faction called Hundred Flowers Palace to the Chen Clan, and it has a formation carved on it called Dust Removal Formation.”
“Hundred Flowers Palace?” Chu Ping was stunned, because he remembered that in the Chen Family Head’s videos, the name Hundred Flowers Palace had appeared more than once.
Chen Han understood what he meant and improvised, “The Hundred Flowers Palace in my videos is made up. It has nothing to do with the Hundred Flowers Palace mentioned on this stone tablet. I really did not expect there was a real Hundred Flowers Palace that even gave something to the Chen Clan.”
Chu Ping and Chen Kai instinctively looked at Chen Han, unsure whether he was telling the truth.
You casually mentioned a Hundred Flowers Palace, and it turned out there really had been a Hundred Flowers Palace that gave the Chen Clan a stone tablet with some formation carved on it?
Could there really be such a coincidence?
Then Chu Ping reacted and asked, “Chen Family Head, just now you mentioned Dust Removal Formation. What is that?”
Chen Han had no idea. He had not yet put the stone tablet into the game warehouse to see the remark information, so he truly did not understand.
So he could only continue to improvise, “This should be a kind of formation stone tablet from Daoist sect legends. As long as this stone tablet is erected in a special place through a special ritual, it will create a special interaction with the surrounding environment and produce very profound and miraculous abilities.”
“You have both seen some movies, right? There is a stone tablet standing there, and then the scene inside becomes completely different. It is probably like that.”
Although he was making this up, he knew that this stone tablet from Hundred Flowers Palace, with the Dust Removal Formation on it, definitely had a special effect. So this did not fully count as fabrication.
Chu Ping and Chen Kai were stunned when they heard this. They had naturally seen such movies and television shows, like Zhuge Liang’s stone formation: it looked unremarkable from the outside, but once you entered, it was filled with smoke.
Now, after a special ritual, if this stone tablet were erected at a special location, it would have that kind of effect?
“Chen Family Head, does something like this really exist?” Chu Ping could not help asking.
Looking at his expectant gaze, Chen Han immediately replied righteously, “How could that be possible? Those are just Daoist sect legends. If they were really that miraculous, why don’t we see any of those mystic sects around?”
“So this shows that the legends of formation stone tablets are all nonsense. You two leaders, we are in modern society. You must believe in science.”
“Surely the two leaders are not saying you do not believe in science?”
“…” Chu Ping.
“…” Chen Kai.
The two of them were instantly rendered speechless. How could they dare respond that they did not believe?
Given their positions, they had to believe in science.
They suddenly felt that the Chen Family Head was digging a hole for them right in front of their faces, and they had no way around it. It was truly a deep sense of powerlessness.
The key was that the Chen Family Head kept showing them one seemingly unscientific thing after another, yet insisted on forcefully stuffing those scientific explanations into their minds.
Honestly, their positions and identities deprived them of the ability to argue with him. They could only accept his “believe in science” point as he repeatedly cornered them.
Chu Ping coughed and said, “Chen Family Head, of course we believe in science, but now that we have this stone tablet, there is no harm in finding a location and doing a ritual to set it up, right? Just in case…”
As he spoke, he added, “I mean, I do believe in science. I am just saying… when we erect the tablet, we can also make up a story. It might give tourists an extra place to visit.”
Now that he and Chief Chu were very much in sync, Chen Kai immediately understood the leader’s meaning and said at once, “Yes, Chen Family Head, we all believe in science, but that does not stop us from finding a place and doing a ritual to erect the tablet, does it?”
Their mouths were full of “believe in science,” but the subtext was everywhere. To persuade the Chen Family Head to give it a try, they were racking their brains.
But just as Chu Ping said, putting up a tablet and making up a story could indeed give tourists an additional spot to visit. Moreover, Hundred Flowers Palace had already appeared in the Chen Family Head’s videos.
At worst, the tourists would treat this stone tablet as a joke monument, and it would still serve its purpose.
But what if?
Those legends…
There was no way Chen Han did not understand what they meant. Smiling, he said, “Let’s give it a try. But today I need to find some related ancient books and look up some information first, otherwise I don’t know how to do it.”
Naturally, putting it into the game warehouse and checking the remark information was the most important.
Seeing him agree to try, Chu Ping and Chen Kai both let out a breath of relief. They chatted a bit more with the Chen Family Head, then led their people away so as not to disturb his investigation of the information.
Only after leaving the Chen Clan did the two of them realize something was wrong.
In that whole conversation, how had their positions with the Chen Family Head somehow reversed? The Chen Family Head firmly believed in science, and they instead…
They looked at each other and both smiled helplessly, then got into the car.
After the car drove off, Chu Ping could not help but instruct, “Chief Chen, when we get back, look into the information and see whether any ancient records mention Hundred Flowers Palace.”
“Mm.” Chen Kai nodded. It was indeed time to investigate.
This suddenly appearing Hundred Flowers Palace had also shocked him.
…
Chen Clan.
In the courtyard, Chen Han put away those tools. After the people from the county left, he told Uncle Dagou, “Uncle Dagou, there is nothing else here for now. Take some people to help Uncle with the planting of Qionghua trees and flowers. We have quite a lot to plant in the next two days.”
Now that the stone tablet had appeared, he felt that the effect of the Hundred Flowers Sweet Dew Talisman could later be attributed to the stone tablet.
After receiving the instruction, Chen Dagou naturally nodded and led his people away to find Chen Lin.
When there was no one in the courtyard, Chen Han placed his palm on the stone tablet, and with a thought, put it into the game warehouse. He then saw the remark information of the stone tablet:
【 Formation Stone Tablet （ Dust Removal Formation ）: This is an auxiliary formation refined by Hundred Flowers Palace. It can purify the air and prevent pollution. By arranging the Dust Removal Formation, Hundred Flowers Palace can keep the air within the sect residence permanently clean.
Special effect: After this tablet is erected, within the sect residence range, there will be a special fresh air +1 attribute. Using the sect residence as the center, the purified air will spread outward, covering an area of up to 30 square kilometers. The greater the distance, the weaker the effect.
Trigger conditions: True Qi is required to activate the Dust Removal Formation runes on the stone tablet. It must be erected at a special location using a special Daoist sect stele-erecting ritual, communicating with the surrounding environment to take effect. The special location has already been marked. 】
After reading the remark information of this stone tablet, Chen Han could only say that this effect definitely was not any worse than what he had just made up, right?
