Chapter 273: Outer Demonic Path Expert Challenges The Chen Clan?
Aunt-grandmother stared in shock at the two fragmentary pages the patriarch had taken out.
She was naturally no stranger to the Zhu You technique. The Daoist sect’s mountain, medicine, fate, and divination arts had all once been part of the Chen clan’s inheritance, but had now been lost.
At present, the Chen clan had preserved only a little of the mountain, medicine, and physiognomy traditions.
The Chen clan’s kung fu belonged to the mountain category.
Feng shui belonged to physiognomy.
Medicine was like the medicinal wine the patriarch made.
Although the patriarch used praying for blessings from the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation as a cover for this thing, she could see clearly that this medicinal wine more or less counted as medicine.
As for fate and divination, there were none at all. She had only heard family elders mention them when she was young, and those elders had sounded like they were bragging.
And the Zhu You technique was also considered a kind of medicine.
Twenty years ago, she had learned some of it from a wandering Daoist priest the Chen clan received, but when she later tried it, burning a talisman into ash and having clan members take it, it just gave them diarrhea.
At that time she felt this was also a scam.
But now the patriarch had brought out two talismans of the Zhu You technique.
They were clearly two fragmentary pages, obviously very old, and clearly not from the same book. She had no idea where the patriarch had found them.
Chen Han also introduced them to aunt-grandmother: “Aunt-grandmother, these two kinds of Zhu You technique are respectively for sores and tidal fever, with the following functions…”
Chen Han spoke in great detail, going over the effects of the two talismans of the Zhu You technique, even including that they must be drawn with rootless water, must be blessed at the special prayer altar, and required using one’s cultivation realm to commune with the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation so that the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation would bestow blessings.
As for cultivation realm, he was just making that up casually. After all, he could not say it depended on contributing wish power, right?
So, determining how profound your cultivation realm was came down to how many times you could obtain the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation’s blessing.
Simple and obvious at a glance.
For example, if aunt-grandmother could contribute 4 points of wish power, then that would count as a realm of four blessings.
Wouldn’t that be four blessings from the Heavenly Lord?
Of course, this was just a joke. As long as aunt-grandmother could understand, it was fine.
Hearing Chen Han’s words, aunt-grandmother asked in astonishment, “Patriarch, are these two kinds of Zhu You technique really effective?”
Chen Han smiled and said, “We will know once we try. Did the great hall collect any rootless water today?”
“Yes, there is still some left. I will fetch it!” Aunt-grandmother hurried toward the great hall, a bit anxious, since at the moment the only thing she could present was the calming talisman.
If she could add two more types of talismans of the Zhu You technique, she could further enhance the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation’s prestige.
Before long, aunt-grandmother returned with rootless water and two sets of tools for drawing talismans.
After handing one set to Chen Han, she took a talisman paper and began to study the two talismans of the Zhu You technique.
Drawing talismans required skill, but for someone already proficient in drawing other talismans, as long as there was a drawing sequence, learning to draw a new talisman was not difficult.
Naturally, that was only the drawing.
Many talismans did not become effective just because they could be drawn.
Getting the drawing sequence right was only a prerequisite.
Chen Han had already practiced drawing the two talismans of the Zhu You technique on the ground near the artifact refining furnace, so this time he easily drew two talismans, one of each type.
Aunt-grandmother was also very skilled at drawing talismans. Although her hand felt a bit rusty with the new ones and she failed twice, she soon successfully drew one of each.
“Patriarch, shall we test them?” Aunt-grandmother impatiently took the talismans they had drawn and went to the special prayer altar, placing them on it like the calming talismans.
Then she impatiently offered incense and prayed. But when she finished and went to the prayer altar, she saw that the talismans had not changed, and seemed to have had no effect.
“Was the drawing a failure, or is there no effect?” Aunt-grandmother frowned.
Chen Han thought of the reason and asked, “Aunt-grandmother, have you already received four blessings from the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation today?”
Aunt-grandmother nodded, realizing he was talking about the cultivation realm.
Although she had cultivated for more than 40 years, she could only commune with the Heavenly Lord four times.
Having already been blessed four times today, she could no longer commune with the Heavenly Lord.
Thinking of this, she dialed a telephone number at once: “Xiao Lin, come over to the great hall.”
She was very clear about who in the family had come to offer incense and pray today and who had not.
Soon, Chen Lin hurried over. Seeing aunt-grandmother, he greeted her, “Auntie, what are your instructions?”
He also remembered to greet Chen Han, “Xiao Han, you are here too!”
Aunt-grandmother did not hesitate and instructed, “Xiao Lin, go offer incense and pray now. There are a few talismans that need you to commune with the Heavenly Lord for blessings.”
Chen Lin was a bit confused, but seeing his nephew there, he assumed there was something going on. He took the incense sticks and began the offering.
After offering incense, he felt the blessing of the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation.
Aunt-grandmother kept her eyes on the talismans of the Zhu You technique placed on the prayer altar. As Chen Lin offered incense and prayed, a look of delight appeared on her face.
On one of the talismans of the Zhu You technique, the runes on the （ tidal fever） talisman clearly began to change, turning from cinnabar red to gold.
She naturally knew what this signified.
This talisman had succeeded.
“Keep offering incense,” she ordered Chen Lin without hesitation.
Chen Lin had no choice but to continue, and aunt-grandmother soon saw the second talisman of the Zhu You technique change.
After having Chen Lin offer incense and pray four times and all four talismans of the Zhu You technique had received blessings, aunt-grandmother finally let him leave.
“Patriarch, these things really work.” Aunt-grandmother’s face was full of excitement.
“Aunt-grandmother, you can find believers to test this Zhu You technique,” Chen Han said with a smile, seeing how happy she was.
She nodded, then hurriedly took out her mobile phone to make a call.
These were meant for aunt-grandmother to use, so he would let her arrange things.
After a moment the call connected, and aunt-grandmother spoke into the mobile phone, “Lay Buddhist Li, this is Chen Liu Shi from the Chen clan’s Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall.”
Chen Liu Shi was the name she used externally.
Her surname was Liu, and her husband’s surname was Chen, so she called herself Chen Liu Shi.
Although she had guarded the Chen clan’s Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall for more than 40 years, she did not have a Daoist title, as she was not from the Chen clan’s main family.
Therefore, she had always introduced herself to believers as Chen Liu Shi, and now those believers addressed her as Elder Chen.
This was all because when the patriarch filmed videos, he described her as an elder of the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall.
County hospital.
Li Taohua looked helplessly at the large patch of pus-filled sores on her arm.
This symptom tormented her badly. It was not only itchy and affecting her work, but each time she also had to trouble her son to accompany her.
At her age, she most feared making her son take time off for her.
Receiving a call from this old Daoist priest of the Chen clan, she was very surprised and quickly said, “Elder Chen, I did not expect you to call me.”
Her tone carried respect, as the Chen clan was very miraculous. Two days ago she had gone there to pray, had felt the blessing of the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation, and after returning, the pus-filled sores on her arm had improved a lot.
But this morning they became itchy again. She scratched a few times, broke the skin, and her son, worried, had brought her to the hospital.
Each hospital visit cost a lot of money, yet there had been no cure. One moment the doctor said it was an allergy, then internal heat, then viral allergy, then wanted blood tests again…
She did not know whether the doctor truly had no idea what it was and was just ruling out possibilities one by one, or was deliberately ordering test after test to drain her son’s money.
“Lay Buddhist Li, when you came two days ago, I saw sores appear on your arm and specially looked through some Daoist texts. I found a kind of Zhu You technique that can treat your condition.”
“Elder Chen, are you serious?” Joy immediately appeared on Li Taohua’s face.
She trusted this Elder Chen very much. The elder was understanding, good at comforting people, and crucially, an elder of the Chen clan.
“You may come and try it.” The voice came again from the other end of the phone.
Hearing this, Li Taohua hung up directly and instructed her son next to her, “Son, take me to the Chen clan!”
“Mom, we have waited so long, it is almost our turn,” Huang Shengfeng frowned.
It was not easy for him to get time off. If they left now, they would have to line up again later, wasting time.
Li Taohua said directly, “The elder of the Chen clan’s Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall said she has found a Zhu You technique that can treat my condition. Take me there quickly.”
“An elder of the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall?” Huang Shengfeng asked in surprise, “Can they really do it?”
Now in Linhe County, there was no one who did not know of the Chen clan. People also knew the Chen clan had a long foundation, and that one of their ancestors had discussed the Dao with a founder of the southern sect of the Daoist sect.
To put it simply, the Chen clan had produced an immortal.
Seeing her son doubt, Li Taohua said unhappily, “Do you believe the Chen clan elder or this doctor? I have come so many times, and every time he says it is a different cause, and every time he cannot cure it.”
“Uh, then let us go to the Chen clan,” Huang Shengfeng finally chose to trust that elder.
After all, the Chen clan had produced an immortal.
The doctor inside overheard this. He clearly saw the current patient in front of him looking at him with doubt in their eyes.
This made the doctor very embarrassed, and he asked, “Do you trust me as a doctor, or that Zhu You technique?”
The patient only gave an awkward smile and did not speak, but there was doubt in his eyes.
This made the doctor even more embarrassed, and for a moment he wanted to curse.
…
Huang Shengfeng quickly brought his mother Li Taohua to the Chen clan. Looking at the busy flow of tourists, he truly felt an emotion.
Last year he had not even heard of the Chen clan. This year, in Linhe County, there was no one who did not know them.
And the legends about the Chen clan were growing more numerous.
A family with a thousand-year inheritance.
They had produced an immortal ancestor called Daoist Priest Qing Feng.
And now there was something called the Zhu You technique, which he had never heard of before.
So, as he got out of the car and walked into the Chen clan’s grounds with his mother, he also went online to investigate what the Zhu You technique was.
When he saw descriptions of burning talismans, dissolving them in water, and having people drink it, he was dumbfounded. Was that not just what people used to call talisman water?
Could that really treat illness?
Before long, Huang Shengfeng accompanied his mother to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall and met the Chen clan elder.
Li Taohua hurriedly asked, “Elder Chen, can the condition on my arm really be treated?”
“Lay Buddhist Li, please come with me.” Chen Liu Shi very much wanted to verify the talisman of the Zhu You technique. Speaking, she led the way at the front, guiding Li Taohua toward the guest hall.
Although she was sure the Zhu You technique would be effective, it was not suitable to treat believers in public where everyone could see. If tourists recorded it and uploaded it, it might cause trouble like accusations of unlicensed medical practice.
“Lay Buddhist Li, please sit.” After bringing her into the hall, Chen Liu Shi made a show of examining the condition of her arm, then poured a bowl of spirit spring water on the table.
Every day she arranged for a hall warden to carry some spirit spring water down from the mountain. She lit a candle.
Then, in front of Li Taohua, she took out a talisman of the Zhu You technique for （ sores）.
A major use of the talismans of the Zhu You technique was swallowing the talisman: burn it into ash, dissolve it in water, and drink.
But Chen Liu Shi felt that was too simple.
So she recalled what she had learned from that wandering Daoist priest. The preparatory rituals he had taught could be used.
That would give it more sense of ceremony.
So she held the talisman in her left hand, facing Li Taohua, took up the fly whisk in her right hand, and chanted the command incantation: “The talisman commands: the wood of the east breaks, the fire of the south is extinguished, the metal of the west fails, the water of the north dries up, the earth of the center cracks. Divine talisman burns its body, calamities and misfortunes vanish. I, by the mandate of the Heavenly Lord, order this to be done swiftly in accordance with the law!”
She then lit the talisman, letting the ash fall into the water and dissolve.
But just as the talisman ash dissolved into the water, an unbelievable scene occurred: the ash truly melted like snowflakes, dissolving into the water.
What was more, the gray color in the water quickly disappeared.
Even Chen Liu Shi herself was amazed. When she said “dissolve into the water,” she had never expected it to dissolve in such a fantastical way.
But she could only suppress her shock.
She could not let anything slip in front of a believer.
Huang Shengfeng and Li Taohua, however, could not conceal their astonishment at all.
“Th-this… is this… real…?” Looking at the bowl of water, Huang Shengfeng’s jaw felt slack, and he could hardly speak clearly.
“Lay Buddhist Li, drink.” Chen Liu Shi handed the bowl of talisman water to Li Taohua.
Li Taohua did not hesitate. She was already a believer in the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation of the Chen clan. Now, seeing such a miraculous sight, she directly picked up the talisman water and drank it.
Then she carefully watched the condition of her arm and soon exclaimed in delight, “Elder Chen, I clearly feel my arm is much more comfortable. There is no more itching.”
As time passed, Li Taohua became more and more excited, because not only did her arm feel comfortable, but it was visibly getting better bit by bit.
It did not stop until more than half her arm had recovered.
Huang Shengfeng also stared in amazement at his mother’s arm.
Although he had heard many rumors about how efficacious the Chen clan was, he had never actually seen it. Today, seeing it at last, he felt his worldview overturned.
A bowl of talisman water could have such an effect?
You had to know that his mother’s arm problem had not been cured despite many hospital visits and had cost a lot of money.
“Lay Buddhist Li, it seems this Zhu You technique is effective. Come again the next two days, and it should be basically cured,” Chen Liu Shi said to Li Taohua with a bright smile.
Seeing the effect of the Zhu You technique, she was happy as well. From now on, the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall could offer believers more ways to resolve their troubles.
Seeing his mother’s treatment effect, Huang Shengfeng was naturally very happy and asked, “Elder Chen, how much is my mother’s treatment fee?”
At this, Chen Liu Shi said, “Devout believer, the Chen clan is not a hospital and does not charge to treat people. Just go and offer one stick of incense.”
“Huh?” Huang Shengfeng was stunned for a moment, unable to react. Curing people without taking money?
Hospitals were all about money, and so was that temple in the county. This felt like it went against common sense.
Only after confirming that all they needed was to offer one stick of incense to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation did he feel admiration for this Elder Chen.
Perhaps this was what a true cultivator of the Dao was.
With devout hearts, Li Taohua and her son offered incense to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation, thanked Elder Chen profusely, and then left.
However, news that the elder of the Chen clan’s Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall knew the Zhu You technique began to spread among believers in Linhe County.
There were even rumors that this elder was also one of the Chen clan’s true experts, since the Zhu You technique counted as a spell and was more advanced than the Chen clan’s kung fu.
Meanwhile, the internet grew livelier. The large-scale arrests in Linhe County could not be covered up. Once many people learned that those arrested were people providing help information, they connected it with the earlier exposé by that hacker master.
Especially as time passed and the entire Qingmin City began a campaign of arrests, with people being seized everywhere, and then, the next day, to the greater shock of the whole internet, similar arrests of help-information providers were carried out simultaneously across the country.
It was as if those uncles had locked onto people’s ID cards, carrying out precise arrests.
Hospitals and some information network companies were even exposed for selling identity information and placed under investigation. It was as if there was a unified nationwide operation.
Netizens were stunned by such a big move. Equally stunned was Cao Xin, who, as soon as he landed back in the domestic airport, was inexplicably notified that he had been awarded a second-class merit.
“…” Listening to the heroic story of how he had bravely gone undercover, moved between two warlord factions in battle, and risked his life to bring back those data and evidence, Cao Xin could hardly believe they were talking about him.
Equally dumbfounded was Takto, a warlord near General Barto. After receiving the news, he immediately took over Barto’s territory and sent people to take over Barto’s two businesses.
But his men were dumbstruck when they got there. All the business personnel had been slaughtered. After finally rounding up some survivors, they heard something absurd.
Those people had all been killed by one old man. Just one old man?
Were these people high on drugs?
What frustrated him more was that all the clues, data, and information from their operations had vanished. He had wanted to take over and directly control that chain.
Now he had to start over.
Still, he was not discouraged. With those survivors, he ordered them to get the business up and running again as quickly as possible, and he issued a deadly serious order that it had to be fast.
…
Back on the Chen clan’s back mountain.
Chen Han appeared at the spirit spring water. Seeing tourists filming him, he struck a pose for them to shoot and then took two sips of spirit spring water.
But as he walked down the mountain, looking at the task to explore Green Luan Peak in his mind, he frowned slightly.
Exploration progress: 98%.
Only 2% left. He had walked the back mountain twice today and found nothing.
This left him helpless.
This task to explore Green Luan Peak had been going on for some time, and he still had not completed it.
After going down the mountain and returning to his courtyard, he began to think about what he might have missed.
“Could there be an underground space?” Chen Han instinctively thought of a possibility.
Just then, he saw his junior sister hurry in from outside. “Senior brother, you should go take a look at Shangyuan Village. Something has happened there. Someone is provoking our Chen clan and is being extremely arrogant.”
As his junior sister spoke, a game prompt followed immediately:
【Because the Chen clan has upheld the principle of demon subjugation and defeated more and more experts of the demonic cult, this has attracted the attention of the outer demonic path. In particular, an outer demonic path expert obsessed with power has issued a challenge to the Chen clan and is using the Spirit Shadow Mirror to spread word everywhere that he will crush the Chen clan!
For the sake of the family’s reputation, please deal with this matter as soon as possible and ruthlessly crush this outer demonic path expert’s arrogance. Tell everyone that this sort of character is not qualified to challenge the Chen clan!】
“???” Chen Han was stunned.
There was actually someone not afraid of death?
