Chapter 2: Openly Casting Spells Under The Guise Of Magic
The little earth dog seemed to notice the gaze of a dying human. It stopped peeing, put down its raised leg, and barked at him twice with a guarded air.
In Chen Han’s mind, the game prompt appeared again:
【Warning! The dog demon is already prepared for battle and has initiated a provocation against you. Please expel it as soon as possible!】
“…” Chen Han was truly baffled by this game system, looking speechlessly at the little earth dog.
He quickly sorted out his thoughts and came up with a rough guess.
The correct way for this game system to start up should have been that when the binding and loading succeeded, it would bring him over into the 《Shu Shan Swordsman》 game world.
So now there was a piece of bad news: something went wrong somewhere, and he had not transmigrated.
This was what people usually called a system bug, right?
The good news was that after the bug, the game system forcefully kept running and started collecting those so-called discovered data packet fragments. He had no idea what these so-called data packet fragments were; anyway, the game system loaded a strange data packet.
There are no dog demons in the real world, so in its new data packet, it pulled in this little earth dog from the village and treated it as a dog demon.
As for whether the little earth dog was actually a dog demon, that was not important. What mattered most to the game system was having a dog demon that allowed the task to run properly.
Because of this strange data packet, the task itself also seemed to become a bit strange.
Just right, Chen Han also needed a dog demon that could be used to complete the task. He wanted to see what would happen after completing the task.
So he and the game system reached a tacit understanding, and he reached out to pick up a broom leaning against the wall.
For the safety of the Chen clan and its family members, he, Chen Han, patriarch of the Chen clan, would drive out the dog demon without hesitation.
“Woof woof!” The little earth dog seemed to sense something, barked at him twice again, and then very skillfully took two steps back, its four limbs tensed.
Finally, the righteous broom smashed down hard, and the little earth dog sprang up, dodging it perfectly.
Strike after strike, it dodged again and again. From initial tension to later ease, it even found the time to stop and look at him.
Chen Han was already gasping for breath, even somewhat short of breath. In his body that had only one month of lifespan left, swinging a few times like this was already the limit.
【Your continuous attacks did not touch a single hair of the dog demon. It has developed contempt for you and even regards you as a plaything.】
“…” Chen Han silently cursed in his heart.
Du Fu was bullied by the children of the south village because he was old and weak; he was being bullied by a little earth dog because he was dying and weak.
A little old woman with sparse hair came out from inside holding incense. She placed three sticks into the steps and watched the standoff between the man and the dog with a cheerful smile.
The game system prompt appeared again:
【A family elder has appeared and is standing by to support you. Please expel the dog demon as soon as possible!】
“…” Chen Han glanced at the aunt-grandmother in charge of the main hall incense offerings, already over sixty.
What the hell family elder!
This new data packet of the game system was randomly assigning identities again.
However, since things were already like this, he knew he had to learn to make peace with the game system. After all, the game was his only hope.
So he looked firmly at the little earth dog again, but his physical condition did not allow him to continue expelling this dog demon.
Right now, he very much hoped for a chivalrous person to appear and help him.
“Senior brother, why are you chasing Xiao Huang? Has a stray dog provoked you?”
The pleasant voice of junior sister Xiao Yu sounded. As she came in, she looked at her senior brother holding the broom with a puzzled expression.
Seeing her, Chen Han’s eyes rolled. Was this heroine not right here?
He immediately said, “Junior sister, I saw it biting the orchids you’re raising.”
Junior sister loved growing flowers; those orchids were her treasures.
“What?” Xiao Yu’s voice suddenly grew loud. She directly took the broom from Chen Han’s hand and swept it toward the little earth dog with fierce vigor.
This time, the little earth dog’s fur stood on end. It bounced, turned, and ran.
Our heroine Xiao Yu strode forward quickly and soon landed a heavy sweep on the little earth dog’s backside.
“Awooo!” Stung, the little earth dog let out a miserable howl. Its four limbs seemed to kick up smoke as it ran toward the village.
The aunt-grandmother watched with delight and continued inserting incense into the pillars on both sides of the main hall. Offering daily incense to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation was part of the Chen clan’s routine.
Chen Han watched the little earth dog run until it stopped at the village entrance and also smiled. Once it left the blue circle range, that should mean the task was completed, right?
Sure enough, the empty and ethereal game prompt appeared once again:
【Congratulations on successfully expelling the dog demon that invaded the family. You have obtained a special reward: sect residence construction tablet. The reward has been delivered to the warehouse!】
Chen Han immediately opened the warehouse interface in his mind and saw the image of a small house appear.
It really was a warehouse.
Inside, in one location, there floated a silver tablet carved all over with special runes.
Xiao Yu came back angrily. Just after putting down the broom, she received a telephone call. After answering, she immediately said enthusiastically, “You’ve arrived? Okay, drive the car straight in; there is a parking lot.”
After hanging up, she hurriedly said to Chen Han, “Senior brother, that group of tourists has arrived. Get everyone ready to receive them.”
Chen Han watched her hurry out, then also sent a message to a Chen clan family group: “Get ready to receive guests.”
As the patriarch, he naturally did not need to handle this personally.
He was more curious about the sect residence construction tablet from the game task reward.
Back at the pavilion under the three old elm trees, he started studying the warehouse function. How was he supposed to take the sect residence construction tablet out of the warehouse?
Almost the moment he had the thought, he felt a cool sensation in his hand. The sect residence construction tablet had appeared in his hand.
Holy crap, this warehouse was pretty impressive.
With another thought, the sect residence construction tablet appeared back in the warehouse. With one more thought, it appeared in his hand again.
Taken at will, according to his will.
He picked up a stone to try it, and it worked the same way.
Wasn’t this a storage space?
He looked again at the sect residence construction tablet, not knowing how to use this thing.
In the next moment, he was surprised to find a string of remark information appearing in his mind:
【This is a sect residence construction tablet. After use, it can renovate a sect residence belonging to the player.
Renovation effect: simple and unadorned +2! Ornamental value +2! （Renovation effect can be reclaimed, restoring the sect residence construction tablet）
Current available target: Chen clan ancient architectural complex!
Construction conditions: Ten thousand money (32,000 / 10,000). Ten reputation value points（0 / 10）.
Construction reward: special spiritual aperture】
Chen Han carefully read the remark information of the sect residence construction tablet twice. It meant this thing could be used to renovate the Chen clan ancient architectural complex, turning this place into a sect residence in the real world?
The key was that renovation effect: simple and unadorned +2, ornamental value +It felt exactly like a game scene skin, just better looking, with no substantive attribute effect.
But thinking carefully, since the Chen clan ancient architectural complex had been developed for tourism, these two attributes would definitely have some use; he just did not know how they would be reflected.
What attracted him most was the construction reward: special spiritual aperture.
Although he did not know what a spiritual aperture was, anything in an immortal cultivation world that could be called a spiritual aperture was certainly not simple.
He could not wait to use this sect residence construction tablet to renovate the Chen clan ancient architectural complex.
【The usage requirements for the sect residence construction tablet are not currently met.】
Receiving the prompt, Chen Han frowned.
He had almost overlooked the two construction conditions of ten thousand money and ten reputation points.
He was not surprised by the requirement for ten thousand money. After all, in the Shu Shan world, cultivation emphasized wealth, techniques, companions, and land, with wealth placed first. Resources were the most important thing in cultivation.
There were 32,000 in his bank card, so this condition was met.
But the ten reputation points made him thoughtful. In the Shu Shan world, the Emei sect went around slaying demons and subjugating monsters in many places, largely to gain reputation.
Reputation, in modern terms, was the fame and prestige gained, a form of social capital based on others’ recognition, respect, and evaluation.
So if you treated the Shu Shan world as a society, the reason the Emei sect could be the leader of the righteous path was because they possessed strong social capital.
That was all very well to say, but what exactly should he do to gain reputation?
For a moment, Chen Han had no idea. Instead he wore himself out from thinking too much; his energy felt depleted, so he could only close his eyes to rest. After a while, he got up and returned to the Chen clan ancient architectural complex.
Just as he reached outside the main hall, he heard a little girl’s crying from inside.
He poked his head in and saw more than ten people inside, presumably tourists brought in by junior sister Douyin’s promotion.
At this moment, junior sister was holding an apple, anxiously coaxing the crying little girl together with a young woman. “Little sister, don’t cry, big sister will give you an apple.”
But the little girl did not stop crying, and junior sister was clearly flustered. Coaxing children was not something she was good at.
The other tourists were obviously together with them. They wanted to help coax her, but had no idea how. When taking kids out to play, sometimes the most troublesome thing was when the child cried and made a fuss.
“Let me try.” Chen Han walked in, came to junior sister Xiao Yu’s side, and took the apple from her hand.
Xiao Yu looked at him in confusion.
But she really did not know how to coax a child and could only let her senior brother try.
Chen Han squatted in front of the little girl and said with a smiling voice, “Little sister, do you see this apple? Big brother can make it disappear.”
Almost as he spoke, his palm flipped and turned quickly. The apple vanished from his hand in an instant and appeared in the warehouse in his mind.
In that moment, the little girl stopped crying and stared, mouth agape, at his now empty hand.
Even Xiao Yu looked at her senior brother in disbelief.
What had just happened?
At such a close distance, she had not seen how her senior brother had done it at all.
In an instant, the gazes of those tourists were also drawn to him, each one showing shock.
“What just happened?”
“He made that apple disappear right in front of us.”
After her shock, the little girl grabbed Chen Han’s hand and searched it. “Big brother, where is the apple? Where did you make it go?”
With one hand held by the little girl, Chen Han stretched out his other hand. With another flip and turn, that apple was taken out of the warehouse and appeared in his palm.
If it were not to cover it up, he could have skipped even the flip-and-turn hand motion.
“Wow, the apple appeared again.” The little girl exclaimed.
“Little sister, the apple is for you.” Chen Han put the apple into the now-coaxed little girl’s hand.
Among the tourists, a middle-aged man who was clearly the leader said in amazement, “Young man, that magic is impressive. I didn’t see at all how you made the apple disappear.”
Chen Han smiled and said, “Mister, this is not magic. It is an ancient technique inherited by our Chen clan, a traditional trickery heritage of our country.”
Anyway, he was just making it up, whatever sounded reasonable.
Isn’t there stuff online saying you can openly perform spells under the guise of magic? This counted too.
As he spoke, he flipped and turned his palm, and a stone appeared in his hand. It was the very one he had stored when testing the warehouse function.
The middle-aged man and the other tourists stared at the stone in shock, and then they suddenly understood. They had seen such ancient techniques on Douyin before: swallowing iron balls, making stools dance, snakes appearing from empty basins, the sky-reaching rope, and so on.
Although similar to magic, many of them felt more mysterious than magic.
They had not expected that on this trip, they would encounter a practitioner of this kind of ancient technique here, and a very capable one at that. The way he made objects disappear with just a flip and turn of his palm was so fast that their eyes could not keep up.
【Congratulations, through manifestation before people, you have gained 1 reputation point!】
【Congratulations, through manifestation before people, you have gained 1 reputation point!】
【…】
“???” Chen Han’s face immediately showed a look of surprise.
