Chapter 196: Challenging The Chen Family Head? Time To Really Believe In Science!
Chu Ping sighed a little but was not disappointed. After all, a year would pass quickly, and next year there would be a sea of Qionghua trees in bloom here.
Then he said, “Chen Family Head, we will come back tomorrow afternoon to attend the stele-erecting ceremony. Is there anything we need to pay attention to then?”
Chen Han shook his head and said, “There is nothing you need to pay attention to. Since the two of you cannot take part in this kind of ceremony, you will need to offer incense at that time.”
Hearing this, Chu Ping exchanged a look with Chen Kai, both feeling quite helpless.
Their status left them unable to participate in such activities.
The two mainly came to learn about the stone tablet, to know that the stele would be erected tomorrow afternoon, then come back to check it. After that, they took their leave.
Chen Han checked on how his uncle was doing leading the planting of Qionghua trees, then returned to his own courtyard, and took some boxes and the scar removal cream he had made out from the warehouse.
The boxes were quite exquisite, specially custom-made by his junior sister. He put the finished scar removal cream into the boxes one by one and closed them.
After filling the boxes, he called his junior sister and asked her to come take the scar removal cream.
“Senior brother.” Xiao Yu entered the courtyard. Seeing box after box of scar removal cream on the table, her face lit up with joy. “Is all of this finished scar removal cream?”
As she spoke, after checking one box, she had already packed away all those boxes of scar removal cream.
Each of Lobster and the other girls would get one box, and there would still be three boxes left, which would all be hers.
She was very happy.
She knew this was good stuff.
Watching his junior sister leave happily, Chen Han also smiled. His junior sister was easily satisfied, it was just a bit of scar removal cream.
Xiao Yu returned to her own courtyard and immediately called over Lobster and the other girls, distributing the scar removal cream to them.
Lobster and the other girls were very surprised, because there was more scar removal cream in each box than they had imagined.
They had long been waiting for the scar removal cream. Once they got it, they hurried back to their rooms, planning to experiment with it.
They clearly had places on their bodies, not visible to others, where they needed to use the scar removal cream.
…
In the courtyard.
After his junior sister left with the scar removal cream, Chen Han planned to go over to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall to take another look.
The streets over there were also lined with many Qionghua Tree Potted Plants.
These were mature plants.
Under the Hundred Flowers Sweet Dew in the future, they would surely bloom as well. He had his uncle buy more Qionghua Tree Potted Plants to place outside the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall.
By then, not only would the Qionghua Tree Forest outside attract people, but the Qionghua Tree Potted Plants surrounding the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall would also be very attractive.
However, before he left the courtyard, he welcomed an unexpected guest. It was none other than Mr. Liu, who had long-term rented a Chen Clan courtyard for office work.
“Chen Family Head, sorry to bother you.” At first sight, Liu Ye greeted him with respect.
Chen Han smiled and returned the greeting. “Devotee, you are too polite. Let me serve you some tea.”
As he spoke, he brought out the tea set and Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, brewed a pot, and poured two cups for Liu Ye.
After drinking a cup of Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, Liu Ye asked a little embarrassedly, “Chen Family Head, I came to disturb you today because I would like to consult you about something.”
“Please go ahead, Mr. Liu!” Chen Han smiled. Seeing this tycoon act like this, he could roughly guess the reason.
Liu Ye took another sip of tea. “Chen Family Head, can the Chen Clan’s prayers for blessings treat eyes damaged by fire and smoke? And does the scar removal cream have any effect on burn scars caused by fire?”
Then he added, “Chen Family Head, I am not deliberately using this matter to trouble you. It is just that I owe someone a favor from before, so I had no choice but to ask. Please forgive me.”
Hearing this, Chen Han understood. “Mr. Liu, you must believe in science. Our Chen Clan’s prayers are only an expression of sincerity to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation and cannot cure illness.”
“However, if the person has fate with the Chen Clan, we do not mind performing a prayer for blessings for them, asking the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation to protect them. As for the scar removal cream, although its materials are rare, its effect is indeed quite good.”
“Thank you, Chen Family Head.” After hearing his words, Liu Ye understood as well. He thanked him again and then left Chen Han’s courtyard.
Although the Chen Family Head still denied that prayers could cure illness, he himself knew the inside story clearly. They absolutely could treat it; they just would not treat everyone.
This truly depended on fate, and first of all on whether you believed.
After all, if you stand before a True Person and do not believe, then there is no fate. Only by believing can anything follow.
And after that, you must be sincere. If you ask someone to treat you while your heart is not sincere, how can they help you?
A day passed, and the Chen Clan’s tourists were still as lively as ever.
On the afternoon of the next day, as Ming Di walked out of Shangyuan Village while scrolling through videos, after only a few, he came across a video that made him want to laugh and cry.
It was actually a promotional video for the Chen Clan Couple Tour: 《If your other half does not even dare to go to the Chen Clan with you, change them sooner rather than later!》
He had not expected that after yesterday’s video of that girl who suspected her boyfriend of cheating, only to find she was the other woman, went viral, a travel company had seized the opportunity to profit off the Chen Clan’s traffic.
Because he knew how miraculous the Chen Clan was, he was very clear that those who did bad things would have bad luck.
If things developed like this, the Chen Clan would truly become forbidden ground for scumbag men and women.
Especially after seeing the next piece of news, he felt the Chen Clan needed to save those love-brains.
The news was about a man who had been supporting his girlfriend, whom he met in high school, through university. The girlfriend promised she would marry him after she graduated.
The key point was that he, completely love-brained, believed this nonsense and worked delivery to support her studies.
Even though TV and movies had shown this kind of man coming to a bad end countless times.
But reality was more absurd than movies.
After university, the woman wanted to take graduate school entrance exams and again promised to marry him after finishing graduate school.
The man firmly believed her, worked deliveries extremely diligently, and sure enough, once she successfully got into graduate school, she then said she wanted to study abroad and promised they would definitely marry after she returned.
Honestly, Ming Di did not know whether there really were men this stupid, but he still believed her and sent all the money he earned delivering food to his girlfriend studying abroad.
When the girlfriend returned from overseas, there was already a handsome man with glasses by her side, with a child in his arms. It turned out she had gotten together with him during graduate school, and they had planned to go abroad together.
The man was stunned and went up to argue. The woman only left him one sentence that broke him completely: “You are just a stinky food delivery guy. I am a returnee and a high-level white-collar worker. Do you think we are people from the same world?”
The man was now taking her to court.
Ming Di sighed.
He just felt that this kind of turtle man really disgraced men.
And precisely because there were more of these turtle men, little fairies felt their own “B value” was getting higher and higher.
However, the Chen Clan might be able to save this kind of person.
As long as they believed what the Chen Clan said.
As he was thinking this, he saw people from the Chen Clan moving some things out from inside.
Curious, he followed to have a look.
Some tourists were curious as well and followed, only to discover that the Chen Clan was arranging something in the place where Qionghua trees had been planted.
He had been reading some Daoist sect books lately, mainly to keep up with the movements of the Chen Family Head, so he could tell that they were preparing for some kind of ceremony at the scene.
His mobile phone ringtone sounded. Seeing it was his cousin, he answered immediately. “Cousin, you’ve arrived? Okay, get off at the parking lot, I’ll come pick you up.”
After hanging up, he hurried to the parking lot to pick him up. His cousin was a retired special forces soldier, the bodyguard he had invited. With him here, he felt much more of a sense of security.
At the parking lot, he saw his cousin waiting with a bag in hand and immediately went up. When the cousins met, he happily gave him a hug.
When Chu Ping and Chen Kai got out of the car with their people, they saw the two and at a glance recognized Ming Di, the internet celebrity who had also contributed to Linhe County.
Watching the two leave with smiles on their faces, Chu Ping and Chen Kai entered the Chen Clan and went to the courtyard of the Chen Family Head.
The Chen Family Head was in the courtyard, already wearing a very formal Daoist robe and holding a special wooden sword, clearly prepared for the ceremony.
“Chen Family Head.” The two greeted him together.
“Leaders, I have to go over to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall and cannot host you now.” Seeing them, Chen Han smiled and apologized.
Chu Ping and Chen Kai did not mind at all. What they cared about now was the stele.
It was only as Chen Han left for the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall that Chu Ping sighed. “Have we gotten a bit obsessed, expecting too much from that stone tablet?”
Chen Kai really did not know how to answer this. He could only say, “County Magistrate Chu, like we said before, erecting a stele that says it was gifted to the Chen Clan by Hundred Flowers Palace at least works as a gimmick.”
“And besides, who says it will have no effect? The Chen Clan’s environment is so good, plus all those peach blossoms, especially when the Qionghua trees bloom next year. Whether it is related to this stele or not, we can always make up something about it.”
“If the Qionghua trees bloom well, we can say it is because of the stele, adding a legend.”
Chu Ping immediately laughed. “That makes sense. When the Qionghua trees bloom, it will be because of that stele. The Chen Family Head should thank us for helping him make up such a good story.”
Chen Han did not hear their words; he had already arrived at the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall.
The stone tablet had already been placed inside the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall. Aunt-grandmother had led people to complete the prayer for blessings for the stone tablet.
Chen Dagou had led the people from the Demon Subduing Hall in getting ready; soon they would have to carry the stone to the stele-erecting site.
After Aunt-grandmother finished the prayer for blessings, Chen Han instructed Chen Dagou to lift the stone tablet and follow him to the place where the Qionghua trees were planted.
The two-meter-tall, one-meter-wide stone tablet, with its patterns and simple and unadorned runes, was very eye-catching for tourists. By the time Chen Han led people to the stele site, many tourists had already followed.
After settling his cousin, Ming Di took him out to get familiar with the surroundings and saw this scene, so he brought his cousin along to join the fun.
“Cousin, can I go over there?” Xu Bin frowned and asked. “I killed people while carrying out missions in the army.”
Before coming, he had investigated the Chen Clan’s information. Since his cousin had told him to come and work together, he had to understand.
Overall, his cousin now counted as a well-known internet celebrity. Coming here would certainly do him no harm; after retiring, he had not known what to do anyway.
“They were bad people, cousin. It was your duty. It’s definitely fine.” Ming Di did not mind at all. After observing for so long, he knew the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation only punished those who did bad things.
His cousin had defended the country and did not belong in that category at all.
Xu Bin had no choice but to follow. Once he entered the Chen Clan Parking Lot area and nothing happened, he let out a slight sigh of relief, then followed some tourists to the Qionghua Tree Forest.
Sure enough, he saw the Chen Family Head wearing a Daoist robe and holding a wooden sword, fully dressed for the occasion, and he also saw the two-meter-high stone tablet.
It seemed he had guessed right; there was indeed some kind of ceremony.
Curious, Xu Bin asked, “Cousin, is the Chen Family Head about to set up some kind of stele?”
Ming Di nodded. “Not only that, I have a feeling that the stele he is putting up might not be simple, something might happen.”
“Is it really that miraculous?” Xu Bin looked very surprised.
Even if the Chen Clan was miraculous and the Chen Family Head had true kung fu, this was still just a stone tablet.
Thinking of the Chen Family Head’s true kung fu, he really wanted to exchange pointers with him. He had trained in fighting in the army and had taken part in army fighting competitions.
Although he had not won any awards, he was still an enthusiast. He wanted to find a chance to consult the Chen Family Head and see whether their modern army fighting or the Chen Clan’s martial arts were stronger.
Ming Di stared wide-eyed at his cousin.
In his heart he thought, damn.
His cousin was that fierce?
Chen Han ignored the tourists gathering around. The commotion they made and the attention they drew were normal.
When the time came, he began the ceremony, performing Stepping on the Big Dipper.
The Daoist Stepping on the Big Dipper, also called Stepping on the Dipper, is a set of steps used to worship the stars and summon the gods, and is one of the basic skills Daoist mages must master.
“Gang,” also called Heavenly Dipper, refers to the handle of the Big Dipper.
“Dou” is the Big Dipper.
Stepping on the Dipper is to step according to the positions of the stars and constellations, with the diagram of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams as the pattern, stepping on it with one’s feet, implying moving in accord with the Dipper.
Moreover, this Stepping on the Dipper is regarded as a way to communicate with deities, summon gods and generals, drive away evil and dispel disasters, pray for blessings and prolong life, erect steles to suppress delusion, and so on. It can be used in many ceremonies.
The basic steps are:
Swing the sword in coordination with the steps, first raise left, right crosses left, left joins right.
Next raise right, left crosses right, right joins left; next raise right, right crosses left, left joins right.
Thus three steps cover two zhang and one chi, leaving nine footprints in a ding-shaped pattern, forming nine steps.
Chen Han had practiced this step sequence the night before, and with his strength, his movements were very graceful and free, with great ornamental value.
The tourists around, seeing this scene, all picked up their mobile phones to record him.
Those farther away could not help whispering:
“The Chen Family Head’s ceremonial steps are really impressive, truly worthy of someone with real kung fu.”
“Yeah, I have seen the abbot at Baiyun Temple do Stepping on the Dipper for a stele before, and it cannot compare with this at all.”
“…”
Chen Han continued stepping the Big Dipper. When he reached the nine steps of the ding pattern, he shouted loudly, “Raise the stele!”
At his word, Chen Dagou immediately led the Demon Subduing Hall members to lift the stone tablet, set it into the pre-dug foundation pit, and began filling in the soil.
Chen Han stopped. After a short while, Chen Dagou had set the stone tablet upright. Members of the Chen Clan then placed True Warrior Evil-Dispelling Flower Money, cinnabar, five grains, and other objects before the stele to signify auspiciousness.
At the same time, Aunt-grandmother lit a bundle of incense sticks and handed them to the surrounding Chen Clan members, three sticks per person. They placed them at their brows as Aunt-grandmother recited the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation blessing incantation, then, holding the incense, worshiped in the direction of the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall, and then worshiped the Heavenly Duke and Earthly Duke.
After all this, it was time for the final step, hanging the red silk.
Chen Han took the red silk embroidered with runes from Aunt-grandmother and walked to the stone tablet, hanging the red silk over it. During this process, he had already activated his true qi and channeled it into the stone tablet.
In that instant, he felt the Dust Removal Formation runes on the stone tablet activate. He clearly sensed a wave of energy surge straight into the ground, and then everything returned to normal.
He distinctly sensed a change in the surrounding environment, but the tourists around, who did not cultivate, obviously could not feel it and did not notice anything unusual.
【Congratulations, you have successfully erected the Dust Removal Formation Stone Tablet gifted by Hundred Flowers Palace. The Dust Removal Formation is now activated and will begin continuously renovating the air within the sect headquarters!】
Seeing this game prompt appear, Chen Han understood that the air clarity +1 attribute would not take effect instantly, but would slowly transform things step by step.
To have a clearly noticeable change, it would at least need a night of transformation.
After reading the game prompt, Chen Han calmly ended the ceremony and led his people back to the Chen Clan.
Xu Bin and Ming Di had been watching at the side. Seeing all this, he asked in confusion, “Cousin, nothing happened. It’s still the same.”
Ming Di also looked puzzled. It seemed to be just a normal, simple stele erection. Had he overthought it?
Because of taboos, Chu Ping and Chen Kai could not approach too closely, but they quickly received detailed news, as someone had already uploaded videos online.
After watching the video, both were a bit disappointed. After the Chen Family Head erected the stone tablet, nothing happened and there was no change.
They even went specially to the stele, observed it carefully, and found the stone tablet quite ordinary. The surroundings were quiet, without the slightest sign of anything strange.
“Looks like this time we really have to believe in science,” Chu Ping sighed, inexplicably a bit disappointed.
Chen Kai nodded in agreement. “Yes, we have been overthinking this stele and just let the Chen Family Head laugh at us.”
