Chapter 253: Accidentally Enshrined As A God? Testing The Spring Water’s Composition!
Daoist Priest Chen and the others, after their excitement, also looked at the crystal-clear spring water before them.
Although they knew it was spring water, they still had to personally confirm it.
Even if there might be bacteria in the spring from things like bird droppings.
But they could not care about that now.
Daoist Priest Chen directly squatted down, cupped some spring water in his hands, and brought it to his mouth.
As a cool, refreshing sensation spread, an expression of disbelief instantly appeared on his face.
An indescribable sweetness burst across his tongue and taste buds, and an unspeakable freshness instantly spread throughout his body.
Was this mountain spring water?
He repeatedly scooped a few handfuls of the spring to his mouth and gulped it down.
This was definitely not mountain spring water.
On the way up the mountain, plus the rising sun, he had felt a kind of heat and restlessness, but as he drank this spring water, that heat instantly vanished.
Moreover, what astonished him even more was that the energy spent climbing up seemed to be recovering at a speed he could actually feel.
What exactly had they found using the spring seeking technique?
The other daoist priests behind were still waiting. Seeing Daoist Priest Chen squatting there in a daze, one of them urged him, “Daoist Priest Chen, what are you spacing out for? Make some room!”
Only then did Daoist Priest Chen come back to his senses, his face full of shock. “This is not mountain spring water!”
These words stunned the other daoist priests and then set them chattering:
“Not mountain spring water? How is that possible?”
“Then did we do all this for nothing?”
“How could this be?”
“…”
“It’s impossible. With this clarity, how could it not be mountain spring water?” Daoist Priest Xuan Shi did not believe it. Once Daoist Priest Chen stepped aside, he immediately reached out and scooped up some of the spring.
With such cold sharpness, how could this not be spring water? Was Daoist Priest Chen just trying to scare people?
He quickly brought some to his mouth to taste, then also froze.
That sweetness, that freshness…
A moment later, he was equally stunned. “It really isn’t mountain spring water, but it seems we’ve found something truly extraordinary. Everyone can try it yourselves.”
The other daoist priests were puzzled when they heard this.
What was going on?
After Daoist Priest Xuan Shi stepped aside, they all rushed forward to try the spring, and each of them was stunned.
“This is definitely not mountain spring water. It’s actually so sweet!”
“The heat and fatigue from the climb, after a few sips I feel refreshed all over!”
“Haven’t you noticed? It seems it can even restore stamina.”
“What on earth is this?”
“…”
One by one, the daoist priests showed looks of disbelief. As cultivators, they had naturally drunk mountain spring water from their own daoist temples.
This was absolutely not mountain spring water. It was like an immortal spring bestowed by an immortal. Otherwise, how could it have such a miraculous refreshing sensation, and how could it give such a tangible feeling of physical recovery?
The movements and reactions of the daoist priests left the tourists bewildered.
What did this mean?
The mountain spring that these daoist priests had found was not a simple spring?
Descriptions like “super sweet,” “extremely refreshing,” and even “restores physical strength” made the tourists who had followed up feel as if ants were crawling in their hearts.
Who could understand this urgent desire to find out for themselves?
So while there was a gap between the daoist priests, a tourist squeezed forward, filled a cup with the water, and brought it straight to his mouth for a couple of sips.
Feeling that sweetness, that freshness, he had far less self-control than the daoist priests. He shouted excitedly, “This is amazing, it’s incredible. Mountain spring water is definitely not this miraculous.”
At the same time, he did not forget to bring the water to a pretty girl. “Baby, try this. The water is too amazing.”
The pretty girl took two sips cooperatively, and her face instantly blossomed with a smile. “Honey, how can mountain spring water taste this good? My whole body feels fresh and comfortable.”
At that point, the tourists who had followed up could no longer suppress their excited and curious hearts. They all rushed forward one after another to taste this “mountain spring water.”
Very quickly, everyone felt its wonder and subconsciously looked toward the daoist priests. Just what kind of spring had they found?
Someone even suddenly understood. “Ming Di is right again. He said earlier that these daoist priests gathered here because they must be searching for something in the back mountain. Now they found it, this incredible spring water.”
This reminded some tourists.
They had watched Ming Di’s video before. Ming Di very firmly said that these daoist priests gathered at the Chen Clan not just for exchanging the Ancient Quiet Heart Art and other things as a cover. Their real goal must be to look for something in the back mountain.
They suddenly felt that Ming Di was the truly impressive one, as if he could foresee everything in advance.
There was one person at the scene who was confused, and that was Chen Kai.
What had he originally planned to do?
Right, he was going to make up a story and say that the spring water these daoist priests found was a spirit spring opened by Daoist Priest Qing Feng.
Daoist Priest Zi Qing had opened those two spirit springs, and his ability to open spirit springs had been learned from Daoist Priest Qing Feng. Then they would hype this up.
Now this was a real spirit spring?
Then the story he made up…
No, this was not a story, this was the truth.
Thinking this, Chen Kai hurriedly ran forward, squatted down, scooped up some spring water and drank it, feeling its miraculous nature.
This… this was definitely a spirit spring.
It was set. Completely set.
Not to mention that this spring had been found by so many daoist priests of the daoist sect gathered together.
That alone was enough of a hook to attract people.
Plus the historical data he had made up—no, found—then this spring water became something with a mythological color.
He believed that once it was hyped, all tourists who came to the Chen Clan in the future would have to come here and check in.
The Chen Clan’s back mountain might be developed by the way, and their capacity for receiving guests could be increased again.
Seeing the excited expression on Chen Kai’s face, Chen Han was somewhat surprised that this man would be here too.
At this moment, Chen Kai took a deep breath, walked up to Chen Han, and put on an uncontrollably excited look. “Chen Family Head, this is a spirit spring, a spirit spring opened by Daoist Priest Qing Feng more than 800 years ago. It is a legendary thing!”
“???” Chen Han was instantly dumbfounded.
What was this?
Daoist Priest Chen and the other daoist priests were just as confused.
How had this suddenly become related to Daoist Priest Qing Feng?
Even the surrounding tourists were stunned.
They had come up just for fun and at first thought the daoist priests were only finding a mountain spring. Then they discovered it was not ordinary mountain spring water; it was too miraculous.
Now suddenly a Daoist Priest Qing Feng appeared, and they were saying that this spring had been opened by him over 800 years ago as a spirit spring?
How did it suddenly feel like they had crossed into an ancient story spanning a thousand years?
The key question: who exactly was Daoist Priest Qing Feng?
Chen Kai’s gaze swept around. The reactions of the Chen Clan members, the daoist priests, and the tourists all fell into his eyes.
This was exactly the effect he wanted.
He was going to promote the story of Daoist Priest Qing Feng in one go.
Chen Kai continued, “Chen Family Head, do you still remember the record about your Chen Clan ancestor, Daoist Qingfeng, and Daoist Zi Qing having a dao discussion? From our investigation, there are two lines noting that the two daoist priests discussed the study of opening spirit springs.”
“It was after that dao discussion that Daoist Priest Zi Qing opened one spirit spring at the Southern Sect ancestral temple and another at Longhu Mountain. Since Daoist Priest Zi Qing could open spirit springs, Daoist Priest Qing Feng surely could as well.”
“Daoist Priest Qing Feng is the Chen Clan’s ancestor. Him opening a spirit spring here is not strange at all. It was probably just never discovered before, or the Chen Clan inheritance was cut off and it was not passed down.”
“It’s just that we do not know what the spirit spring at Longhu Mountain is like.”
Daoist Priest Chen and the others were clearly stunned. Before, when the leaders of Linhe County had mentioned the palace for Daoist Priest Qing Feng, they had agreed more for the Chen Clan’s sake, still harboring doubts about Daoist Priest Qing Feng in their hearts, though they would not say so.
Now what did this mean, that this spring water could also be tied to Daoist Priest Qing Feng?
But if this was not a spirit spring opened by Daoist Priest Qing Feng, then how could they explain this spring?
Since Daoist Priest Qing Feng was the Chen Clan’s ancestor and had studied opening spirit springs with Daoist Master Ziqing, it made sense that he had opened a spirit spring here, and that was why this spirit spring water had such a strange effect.
That logic fit perfectly.
For a moment, Daoist Priest Chen and the others all looked at the two daoist priests from Longhu Mountain.
Those two daoist priests looked awkward.
They understood what the others meant: asking about the spirit spring. But the spirit spring they had over there, as people online said, was basically no different from ordinary mountain spring water.
If their spirit spring had been as miraculous as the one before their eyes, they would not have been so shocked just now.
The key was that now the Chen Clan’s spirit spring was so impressive, while theirs was the way it was. That would not hold up; they would be questioned by netizens.
Why were both called spirit springs, yet so different?
So they could only say:
“Our spring over there is indeed a spirit spring opened by Daoist Master Ziqing. According to our ancestors, Daoist Master Ziqing did mention studying spirit springs with Daoist Priest Qing Feng.”
“Yes, so with Daoist Priest Qing Feng as the Chen Clan’s ancestor, it is not strange at all for a spirit spring he opened to appear here. It is just a pity that our place suffered war and destruction, and that spirit spring was affected.”
By saying this, they not only acknowledged the spirit spring matter, but also clarified that their own spirit spring had not been falsified; the reason it lost its effectiveness was the damage caused by war.
Chen Kai had not expected two Longhu Mountain daoist priests to support him like this, and he immediately said excitedly, “That explains everything. It must be like this.”
Chen Han silently sighed.
He was certain that this spirit spring had nothing to do with Daoist Priest Qing Feng; it had been modified with items from the game system.
But under these circumstances, did he need to step out and expose it?
Compared to exposing the game system, it would be better for the Chen Clan to have another ancestor who could open spirit springs.
Honestly, at first he had only shown the Ancient Quiet Heart Art a bit to give the Chen Clan some shine, to give them a false foundation.
Who would have thought that in no time the Chen Clan would be seen as a family with over a thousand years of inheritance, and in another moment they would gain another ancestor who had discussed the dao with the Southern Sect patriarchs of the daoist sect.
When you walk outside, your identity is what others give you?
Compared to Chen Han’s shock, the tourists were even more astonished. What had they just heard? That this spring water was actually a spirit spring opened by a Chen Clan ancestor called Daoist Qingfeng?
He was even a legendary figure who could have dao discussions with Daoist Master Ziqing, one of the five patriarchs of the southern branch of the daoist sect?
This was even more unbelievable than hearing that the Chen Clan had over a thousand years of inherited foundation.
But after personally experiencing the spring’s unbelievable effects, it seemed to support this story.
Some clever tourists were already editing videos, cutting together captions, and crafting stories, preparing to upload them online.
At this moment, Chen Kai took out a document and handed it to Chen Han. “Chen Family Head, this is the document related to Daoist Priest Qing Feng’s palace. We need your signature. When construction begins, the commencement ceremony for Daoist Priest Qing Feng’s palace will also rely on your Chen Clan.”
He was once again promoting the commencement ceremony of Daoist Priest Qing Feng’s palace in front of all the surrounding tourists.
At that time the daoist priests would attend. If they could attract more tourists to participate, all the better.
He was going all-in for Linhe County’s culture and tourism development.
Sure enough, when he said this, the surrounding tourists were intrigued.
“Director Chen, we do not have a pen now. Let’s go back to the Chen Clan later and discuss it in detail,” Chen Han said after receiving the document.
“Mm.” Chen Kai nodded.
But before heading down the mountain, he emptied the water from his mineral water bottle, then filled it directly with the spring water.
Before going down, Chen Han also instructed Uncle Dagou, “Uncle Dagou, from now on, have people guard the spirit spring here day and night. Have Uncle bring people from the work hall up to build some necessary facilities.”
After Chen Han, Daoist Priest Chen and the others all went down the mountain one after another, their faces both excited and emotional.
They were excited that the two feng shui books newly compiled by the Chen Family Head had been proven effective. This young family head would surely become a famous figure in the daoist sect in the future.
Perhaps decades or centuries later, he would become a legendary figure of the daoist sect like Daoist Priest Qing Feng and Daoist Master Ziqing.
Their emotion naturally came from the spirit spring’s miraculous effect.
The Chen Clan truly deserved its thousand-year reputation; its foundation was indeed deep.
They were not sure if it was an illusion, but they were starting to feel a bit of awe.
Chen Han went down the mountain with the daoist priests, but the tourists did not leave. Many of them were filming the spirit spring with their mobile phones.
Before long, they saw three figures appear. One of them surprised them greatly, because it was Ming Di.
A tourist could not help but aim his phone at Ming Di and call out, “Ming Di, you were right again. Those daoist priests were really helping the Chen Clan look for something in the back mountain, and they found a spirit spring.”
“Yeah, that spirit spring is really unbelievable,” another tourist chimed in. “It tastes very sweet, you feel incredibly refreshed, and it can restore your strength.”
Ming Di responded politely to them and was also very surprised by what he heard.
When he reached the spring, he tried scooping some water to taste, and was shocked. He had thought the tourists were exaggerating, but the spring was exactly as exaggerated as they said.
He immediately started a mobile phone recording. “As I expected, the Chen Clan’s exchange of the Ancient Quiet Heart Art with those experts was just a cover. This spirit spring is their real objective. Moreover, this is no ordinary spirit spring; this is spring water refined with the spiritual meridian true essence of a demonic path big shot.”
“It seems the demon sealing matter in the back mountain is real. This demonic path big shot is going to become the ever-flowing source of the Chen Clan’s spirit spring.”
Xu Bin had long been used to his cousin starting mid-scene, and immediately cooperated by asking, “Then do we need to rescue this holy cult big shot?”
Ming Di shook his head decisively. “My only goal now is to rescue the Dog Demon King. Other than that, even if the Blood Demon comes personally, I can still sell him out.”
With that, he decisively led his people away, leaving the tourists looking at each other.
Had Ming Di just shot an abstract video?
He did not even give people time to react before ending the recording and leaving.
…
After returning to the Chen Clan, Chen Han invited Director Chen Kai of the culture and tourism bureau to his courtyard to discuss the document concerning Daoist Priest Qing Feng’s palace.
The document mainly transferred this palace to the Chen Clan as a family asset. Since Daoist Priest Qing Feng was now officially the Chen Clan’s ancestor, they would be responsible for the hall warden duties.
In addition, the Chen Clan would be responsible for the statue of god of Daoist Priest Qing Feng and all future rituals and god parading activities.
After understanding it, Chen Han signed his name on the document.
What he did not expect was that he suddenly received a game prompt:
“The most unexpected thing is that just as you are gathering righteous path experts to hold a dao discussion, an unexpected message arrives: it turns out the Chen Clan had an ancestor who had already entered the immortal path and joined the ranks under the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation!
Please enshrine a statue of the immortal ancestor in a side hall of the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall and trace his origin. You will gain a family inheritance and a symbol of the family head: the ancestor master’s daoist robe!”
Upon receiving this quest prompt, a word popped into Chen Han’s mind: artificial god.
So in the game plot, the Chen Clan really did have an ancestor who achieved immortality, also named Daoist Qingfeng, and now they could set up a statue to worship him.
He could not help but look at Director Chen before him with emotion. The man surely had no idea what he had done.
He had just enfeoffed a god.
He had just enshrined a god.
But what intrigued Chen Han even more was the ancestor master’s daoist robe.
The Chen Clan’s dubious inherited artifact collection had gained another item. But once that thing actually appeared in reality, could it still be called dubious?
Chen Kai obviously did not know any of this. After finishing his discussion with the Chen Family Head, he hurriedly left the Chen Clan and called a water quality testing institute in Qingmin City.
His cousin worked there. He planned to use connections to have the bottle of spring water from the Chen Clan’s spirit spring tested.
From what had happened earlier, it was clear that once this became known, tourists visiting the place would certainly try a drink.
Otherwise, no matter how miraculous people said the spirit spring was, once there, they would want to see for themselves.
But it was well known that mountain spring water was not very hygienic. It could contain many types of bacteria, both beneficial and harmful, such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella.
This was due to the water source environment, surrounding vegetation, animal activity, and many other factors, and it could not really be avoided.
No matter how miraculous the spring seemed.
Moreover, untreated mountain spring water carried health risks; direct drinking could cause gastrointestinal discomfort or even infection, with very serious consequences.
If the Chen Clan’s spirit spring’s miracle was publicized, it would definitely attract many tourists. If even one incident occurred, it would be terrible.
So he had to test the quality of the spring water first. If it did not meet standards, he would have to suggest to the Chen Clan that they find countermeasures and solve the problem.
Back in the county, after reporting the spirit spring situation to the leaders, he immediately went to Qingmin City. On the high-speed train, he browsed videos about the Chen Clan and indeed found content about the spirit spring.
In the internet era, once something had popularity, it could spread instantly.
The stories of the spirit spring and Daoist Priest Qing Feng were also being spread by those tourists.
This gave him a real sense of achievement.
Given the spirit spring’s effects, as long as they managed it well, it would certainly become another tourism landmark of the Chen Clan.
However, what stunned him was that the highest trending content was all about Ming Di.
“Ming Di is really awesome. He said before that the Chen Clan and those daoist priests must be searching for something in the back mountain, and now it’s come true. They were looking for this spirit spring!”
Seeing this video, Chen Kai remembered that.
Yes, that guy had been very certain before.
This demonic cult rogue had some skills.
But just as he was praising him in his mind, he saw the new video: “…this is a spirit spring refined from the spiritual meridian and true essence of a demonic path big shot…”
“…my only goal now is to rescue the Dog Demon King. Other than that, even if the Blood Demon comes personally, I can sell him out.”
Chen Kai was speechless. This internet celebrity could be as abstract as the Chen Family Head when he got unserious.
And after reading the comment section, he felt that the fans were just as abstract. The top liked comment read, “Holy crap, isn’t that uncle going to investigate? When Ming Di sold out the demonic path, someone went in. Now he says there’s a demonic path big shot being refined. So could it be…”
Chen Kai sighed. What kind of imagination did people have these days?
Watching videos along the way, he soon arrived in Qingmin City. As he left the train station, someone was already waiting in the reception area.
Seeing him, the man stepped forward. “Cousin, long time no see.”
Without hesitation, Chen Kai handed him the bottle of spring water. “Lin Qing, please test this spring water as soon as possible. It’s very important.”
“Alright, cousin, but let me take you to the guesthouse first,” Lin Qing nodded. He knew his cousin’s position; if he needed spring water tested, it had to be related to tourism.
So he agreed.
After settling his cousin into a guesthouse, he returned to the testing institute and immediately started the procedures. As part of the management and doing the tests himself, he could fast-track it.
Normally, testing mountain spring water followed a fixed procedure, taking at least more than two days.
But that was for external clients and for complete datasets.
Using the fast track, testing quick indicators such as pH and turbidity could be done within an hour.
For bacterial tests, such as total bacterial count, coliforms, and other key indicators in mountain spring water, at least half a day was needed.
But once he started testing the spring water his cousin had given him, Lin Qing felt that something was wrong.
This did not seem to be ordinary mountain spring water.
The pH test was normal, but the turbidity was incredible, as low as possible, lower even than the best purified water.
Maybe that was a fluke, but as time passed and he moved to bacterial tests, he was dumbfounded.
He could not detect any bacteria in this spring water at all.
How could mountain spring water not have such things?
Continuing the tests, he found that even microbial content was extremely low, with an astonishingly tiny count.
Even mineral water could not be this low.
If he did not know his cousin’s character, he would have thought his cousin was messing with him.
Next, testing for minerals, since mountain spring water often contained substances like lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium.
These came from dissolution in rock layers the spring passed through. In small amounts it was fine, but exceeding certain levels would affect health.
This time he was stunned again.
There was not a trace of these harmful substances detected in the spring water.
At that point he could hardly believe his cousin was not teasing him.
A bottle of water with no detectable bacteria or microorganisms and no harmful mineral content had to have been filtered through who knew how many processes like pure mineral water.
Bringing that for him to test as “spring water” — was that not a joke?
He hurriedly left the institute and went straight to the guesthouse where his cousin was staying.
After checking in, Chen Kai knew that even with connections the results would not come out that fast. During that time, aside from reporting the spirit spring situation to County Magistrate Chu, he also called to check on the bureau’s affairs.
After arranging everything, he went back to surfing the latest online news.
The buzz around the spirit spring and Daoist Priest Qing Feng was growing. In the latest videos, there were more tourists on the Chen Clan’s back mountain, all drawn by the spirit spring, and no one cared about any demon sealing legends.
Seeing this, Chen Kai knew everything was progressing according to his plan; now they just had to wait for the test results.
As long as there was no serious heavy metal excess, modern technology could be used to improve it and make it safe for tourists to drink.
He was thinking this when he suddenly heard urgent knocking at the door outside.
He opened it and saw who it was, and asked in confusion, “Lin Qing, why are you here?”
“Cousin, are you messing with me?” Lin Qing complained directly. “What is there to test with that water? You can just drink it straight.”
Chen Kai was stunned at first, then reacted. “What’s wrong with the water? Is there a problem?”
Lin Qing said helplessly, “Cousin, if you run that water through however many rounds of purification, it still won’t cause trouble. There is no way there could be any problem with it.”
“???” Chen Kai was dumbfounded. He did not think he had misunderstood his cousin’s meaning.
