Chapter 232: Upgraded To Block Bullets! The Master Paints On The Spot!
（Hey, can you seriously check who is calling? Asking me how to smooth it over, how would I know how to smooth it over!）
……
Chen Han watched as the Spirit Jade Ball’s protective shield was easily broken and roughly understood what was going on. It had to be that this level-one Spirit Jade Ball’s defense was insufficient.
Anyone who has played games knows that for this kind of upgrade-type magic treasure, they are not going to give you max-level attributes at the start. If you want to upgrade, you have to pay to win.
The game system did not imitate other things, but it did learn this very well. The difference was that the game system did not let him pay money, but made him pay reputation.
Chen Han put away the Spirit Jade Ball. Upgrading this thing from level one required fifty thousand reputation. He now had more than six point three two million reputation. That fifty thousand reputation was nothing.
He directly chose to use reputation to upgrade the Spirit Jade Ball.
【You spent fifty thousand reputation to upgrade the Spirit Jade Ball. Level-one Spirit Jade Ball upgrading!】
Seeing this prompt, Chen Han immediately thought of another thing that could be upgraded, the Cloud Barrier Cauldron.
After the beginner repair of the Cloud Barrier Cauldron previously, its functions increased a lot, and the Cloud Barrier Pills it refined could basically reach around twenty meters.
It had also gained a Heavy Demonic Shadows effect.
And this item could still undergo intermediate repair.
Now that his reputation was plentiful, he could completely afford to further upgrade and refine it.
【Cloud Barrier Cauldron: a life-saving magic treasure equipped to some disciples of the Yin Mountain Sect, possessing special functions. It can refine Cloud Barrier Pills. Releasing a Cloud Barrier Pill can instantly generate clouds and mist over several li to shroud the surroundings, confusing enemies and buying time to escape. Once the Cloud Barrier Cauldron self-destructs, it can instantly generate clouds and mist over more than ten li as cover.
Damaged: because this cauldron was self-detonated by a demonic cult rogue, the inscribed runes were damaged. The attributes of the refined Cloud Barrier Pills are incomplete. The specific attributes of each Cloud Barrier Pill depend on the finished product refined.
Restrictions: Daily refinement attempts （ordinary） 1/1 （after refinement, spiritual energy must be replenished before refining again, and beginner and intermediate refinements consume differently!） Daily refinement attempts （refined） 1/1 （spend fifty thousand reputation to refine one ordinary Cloud Barrier Pill into a refined one, adding the Heavy Demonic Shadows effect to confuse enemies!）
Intermediate repair: one million reputation!
Cloud Barrier Pill refining materials: demonic beast grease, spiritual flowers and herbs that can burn to produce smoke!】
Chen Han directly chose to carry out intermediate repair.
A game prompt appeared:
【You spent one million reputation to repair the Cloud Barrier Cauldron. Because the Cloud Barrier Cauldron is a special magic treasure, the repair requires time. Please be patient. Cloud Barrier Cauldron upgrading…】
Previously, the Cloud Barrier Cauldron repair had already taken quite some time. This intermediate repair needed one million reputation, so it would definitely require more time.
Thinking of this, he figured the Spirit Jade Ball’s upgrade would also take quite a while, so he planned to go down the mountain and talk about it after the upgrade completed.
To his surprise, not long after, he received another game system prompt:
【Congratulations, the Spirit Jade Ball has successfully upgraded. It is now a level-two Spirit Jade Ball!】
That really was unexpected.
The Spirit Jade Ball had upgraded so quickly.
After the upgrade, aside from the remark information changing to level two and being able to activate a level-two protective shield, there were no other changes.
Its appearance also showed no difference.
However, the reputation cost requirement for the next upgrade of the level-two Spirit Jade Ball had become one hundred fifty thousand.
Chen Han did not hesitate. He activated the Spirit Jade Ball’s defense again, had it float some distance away, and then took out that gun and fired at the condensed protective shield.
This time, the protective shield was still easily penetrated.
He did not hesitate and chose to upgrade the Spirit Jade Ball again.
【You spent one hundred fifty thousand reputation to upgrade the Spirit Jade Ball. Level-two Spirit Jade Ball level increasing…】
Because the previous upgrade time had been very short, Chen Han did not rush to leave this time but waited. Sure enough, before long he received the Spirit Jade Ball upgrade prompt, though it took a bit longer than for level one.
The level-three Spirit Jade Ball, compared to level two, had some visible changes. The runes on the Spirit Jade Ball had become much deeper, and the whole ball looked more textured.
Likewise, upgrading the level-three Spirit Jade Ball further now required three hundred thousand reputation.
Chen Han did not hesitate. He directly activated the level-three Spirit Jade Ball. The protective shield condensed again. He raised his hand and fired a shot.
This time he could clearly see the bullet hitting the protective shield.
Although the bullet penetrated through, the shield did not shatter. Crucially, after passing through, the bullet obviously had little power left, and its speed became very slow.
This made his eyes light up.
With this situation, if he upgraded it one more level, the defensive ability should be enough to block this bullet.
He did not hesitate and chose to upgrade again.
【You spent three hundred thousand reputation to upgrade the Spirit Jade Ball. Level-three Spirit Jade Ball level increasing…】
This time, Chen Han clearly waited for a long time. It was not until nighttime that he received the game prompt:
【Congratulations, the Spirit Jade Ball has successfully upgraded. The current Spirit Jade Ball level is 4!】
He immediately looked at the remark information in the game warehouse:
【Spirit Jade Ball （magic）: this is a special defensive magic treasure in the Shu Shan Swordsman Game. After being deployed, it can trigger a protective shield for defense.
Current level: 4 （upgradable）
Upgrade requirement: seven hundred fifty thousand reputation!】
With each level the Spirit Jade Ball increased, the required reputation rose by a big margin. Now, upgrading again required seven hundred fifty thousand reputation.
He directly activated the level-four Spirit Jade Ball. A protective shield condensed again not far from him. He raised his hand and fired another shot.
This time, it was obvious that the bullet was blocked, and there was no bullet rebound. The bullet seemed to have all its power stripped away and fell directly to the ground.
Seeing this, Chen Han’s face immediately showed joy.
The defense of this level-four Spirit Jade Ball was already enough to block bullets.
Although this was just a crude homemade weapon, the Spirit Jade Ball could still be upgraded.
He decisively chose to continue upgrading.
【You spent seven hundred fifty thousand reputation to upgrade the Spirit Jade Ball. Level-four Spirit Jade Ball upgrading…】
Chen Han knew that this upgrade of the Spirit Jade Ball definitely would not be so fast, so he did not continue waiting and went straight down the mountain.
Besides, with the level-four Spirit Jade Ball already having that level of defense, once it upgraded to level five, its defense would be even stronger. Blocking bullets would certainly be no problem, and it should even be able to withstand sniper rifle bullets.
On the way down the mountain, he also checked his reputation.
Reputation one million （0746 million/1 million）.
Before, he had felt his reputation was very abundant, but now he suddenly felt that when it really came time to use it, this reputation did not seem very sufficient.
Looking at the more than four million left, if the Cloud Barrier Cauldron could continue to be repaired, or the Spirit Jade Ball upgraded several more levels, then these more than four million reputation points would not be nearly enough.
After returning to the Chen Clan, Chen Han found something to eat, took a shower, and checked the situation online.
On Douyin, the news videos about the Chen Clan’s old daoist priest’s Demon Subjugation were getting even hotter, but he also saw that Linhe County had released an official case report.
In that case report, there was no trace of the old daoist priest’s Demon Subjugation at all. Instead, it appealed to everyone to believe in science.
Most importantly, the announcement said that the old daoist priest was actually a disguised operative of the police uncles, and that the online posts about the old daoist priest subjugating demons were all untrue.
Although there was that female streamer’s recorded video, most people were still more willing to trust the official formal announcement.
Especially since that female streamer came out to clarify that the circulated recording of her live broadcast was fake, and asked everyone to believe in science.
She had clearly been warned by the Linhe County authorities.
And once the person directly involved came out and made a statement, the Linhe County official notice became even more convincing.
Chen Han could not help but chuckle.
They really were making things difficult for the people of Linhe County.
Then, he took out a primary Spirit Stone and began cultivating by running the Nine Heavens Profound Scripture Basic Qi Cultivation Method.《 》
The next day, when the alarm clock he had set rang, he received the game prompt that the Spirit Jade Ball upgrade was complete.
Now the Spirit Jade Ball had reached level five.
However, the intermediate repair of the Cloud Barrier Cauldron had still not been completed. It seemed that this repair of the Cloud Barrier Cauldron would require quite a bit of time.
After the previous repair of the Cloud Barrier Cauldron, the Cloud Barrier Pills it refined could cover a range of one hundred meters. After this round, he did not know how large an area the pills would be able to cover.
If they could cover the entire Chen Clan, and last longer, then taking one every morning would be quite a spectacle. Maybe many people would get up early just to wait for the Cloud Barrier Pill to shroud the Chen Clan, and shoot a check-in video.
He washed up and went straight to the special spiritual aperture to cultivate.
His junior sister and uncle and the others had also arrived very early as usual.
Once the spiritual energy rinse began, they all sat cross-legged to cultivate, but they still woke up earlier than Chen Han. Since their strength was inferior to his, the spiritual energy they absorbed during cultivation was far less than his.
Chen Han awoke from his cross-legged cultivation and, as usual, went back to uncle’s kitchen to prepare medicinal cuisine.
The Chen Clan’s tourists naturally also began their activities.
Early in the morning, after washing up and going downstairs, Wu Ying saw her father, Wu Sheng, setting out a scroll on the stone table in the courtyard and painting.
She stood to the side watching.
A master of Chinese painting does not complete a piece in one go. It takes time and patience. She went to eat and came back, and her father was still painting diligently.
On the scroll, a large area of rocks had already appeared, with a longevity pine growing on them.
This longevity pine scroll was also the present her father wanted to give her for his sixtieth birthday.
To paint for his own sixtieth birthday, her father was very earnest and completely dedicated.
But as he painted, she saw her father angrily tear the scroll to pieces.
Frustrated, he said, “Ah, still not good. It is always missing that bit of feeling.”
Seeing this, Wu Ying hurried to comfort him. “Dad, at your level as a master of Chinese painting, you cannot rush your work. Haven’t you already gained quite a bit of inspiration from listening to the Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 these past two days?”
Wu Sheng shook his head. “That is still not enough. Xiaoying, help me get ready. For today’s Chen Clan Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 listening session, help me get a table over to the martial arts field. I want to paint while listening.”
Hearing that her father had this idea, Wu Ying nodded.
She did not have the strength to move things herself, so she could only seek help from the Chen Clan people. Fortunately, she was the Chen Clan Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea agent, so this was a small matter.
So, before the Chen Clan’s Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 began, people from the work hall had already helped move a table to the martial arts field.
Wu Ying also helped her father prepare the tools he needed for painting.
This scene naturally attracted many tourists, who gathered to watch.
The Chen Clan’s recitation of the Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 was already very famous within the clan. Many tourists who came to the Chen Clan would specifically come to listen to a session to see if it really was as miraculous as said online.
But there had never been anyone who moved a table over to paint while listening to the Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》.
Before the recitation of the Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 began, Wu Sheng himself went to the table and started arranging things, not only preparing the ink but also adjusting the tools so he could paint more smoothly.
At his age, he naturally attracted more attention from the tourists. After all, he was the first elder to do this at the Chen Clan.
And once people became curious about him and the crowd grew, someone would eventually recognize him.
Someone suddenly said, “I just took a photo of this master and looked him up online. He is actually a famous figure, a master of Chinese painting. The lowest price for one of his paintings is over one million.”
These words immediately surprised the surrounding people.
Many quickly picked up their mobile phones to search. Sure enough, they found that this elderly gentleman really was a well-known master of Chinese painting.
This made many people unable to resist filming Wu Sheng.
One internet celebrity who had come to the Chen Clan to piggyback on the popularity suddenly had a bright idea, pointed the live stream camera directly at the table and Wu Sheng, and changed the live stream title to: “Famous master of Chinese painting creates while drawing on the Chen Clan’s Ancient Quiet Heart Art!”《 》
This title would definitely attract people.
Especially since the matter of the Chen Clan’s old daoist priest yesterday had drawn so much attention.
Indeed, many people were drawn into the live room, including Huang Tao. He and several companions had been among the witnesses in that female streamer’s live broadcast yesterday.
So early in the morning he went online to check news videos about the Chen Clan’s old daoist priest. He felt that today that old daoist priest of the Chen Clan would definitely become even more popular.
When such true kung fu becomes known across the entire internet, it would be explosive.
But what he and his companions had not expected was that the online narrative had completely changed today. That old daoist priest was said to be merely an uncle from Linhe County in makeup, not any Chen Clan old daoist priest.
And the footage of that old daoist priest taking action was said to be synthesized video. Everyone was told to believe in science and not spread false information.
Most crucially, that female streamer even claimed that the video of the old daoist priest taking action circulating online was synthesized and not from her live broadcast at all.
Huang Tao was stunned. If that was synthesized video, then what was the live broadcast he and his companions had witnessed at the time?
This made him suddenly realize that the Linhe County authorities were covering up the matter, leaving them as the only witnesses, and witnesses whom no one would believe.
One of his companions had left just one comment on Douyin and was immediately attacked viciously by so-called rationalists, truth seekers, and science defenders.
So he chose to remain silent, but unexpectedly, while scrolling through videos, he came across a live room where a master of Chinese painting was going to paint with the help of the Chen Clan’s Ancient Quiet Heart Art.《 》
The Chen Clan’s Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 already had some reputation online. The Chen Clan held two Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 recitations every day by scripture chanters.
Many tourists who had visited the Chen Clan and listened to the Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 felt it was very miraculous and could help them enter a wonderful state.
Previously, some people from the design industry had gone to the Chen Clan, saying that listening to the Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 stimulated inspiration and helped with creation.
However, the many recorded versions of the Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 uploaded online gave people no special feeling. This caused what those Chen Clan tourists said to lack supporting evidence and seem unreliable.
After all, compared to a population of 4 billion, tourists who had visited the Chen Clan were a tiny minority.
Huang Tao was doubtful about this so-called master of Chinese painting and suspected it might be fabricated hype by a liar. Nowadays anyone dares to label themself a master of some industry.
However, after he investigated Wu Sheng, he found that there was indeed a lot of information about him online and that he was truly a master of Chinese painting.
Even that big-shot Ma had collected one of his works, and the national painting art museum had several of his paintings on display.
This was a true master.
Now Huang Tao was genuinely surprised. If it had been a scammer or an ordinary person pulling such a stunt, it could be dismissed as showing off and trying to grab attention.
But this was such a master, and he was going to paint while listening to the Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》. That could only mean one thing.
The legends about the Chen Clan’s Ancient Quiet Heart Art《 》 truly being able to inspire creators were real.
Anyone thinking normally could see this, and this was what instantly made the popularity of this matter explode.
