Zhao Kang saw Lin Nan's expression, so he asked, "Haven't you visited the old elm trees today?"
Lin Nan shook his head, "We just arrived today, took the kids to experience some farming, ended up playing in the mud!"
Zhao Kang understood and smiled as he explained with the stance of someone who'd been there: "The Chen Family's three ancient elm trees have deep roots. Disasters used to happen frequently here, and people from surrounding villages offered prayers to the Demon-Vanquishing Celestial Venerable via the Chen Family. The current patriarch was inspired to plant three ancient elm trees because they symbolize protection, guardianship, and suppression of evil spirits."
"Even Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty came to water these three elm trees. The key point is, being long nourished by the Chen Family, these trees have developed spirituality, emitting spiritual aura. Being within their range gives one a magical feeling."
"Uncle Zhao, isn't this a bit too mystical?" Lin Nan was somewhat incredulous.
The others felt the same.
Though there's an old saying that ancient trees have spirits, who has ever seen a tree develop spirituality?
"Whether it's mystical or not, you'll know if you come with me to check it out." Zhao Kang chuckled.
Lin Nan and his group were truly intrigued and wanted to see for themselves, so they followed him out of the visitors' accommodation area towards the three ancient elms.
Soon, Lin Nan saw the three ancient elms from afar.
Over 300-year-old trees, even in the dark, their silhouette was grand and impressive.
As they got closer, they saw that the surrounding area of the elm trees was lit by some specially crafted vintage lantern night lights. Though not very bright, they illuminated the surroundings and matched the style of the Chen Family's ancient architecture.
"Come, you'll feel that wonderful sensation when you get closer to the ancient trees." Zhao Kang invited as he walked in first, and sure enough, they soon felt that wonderful sensation.
Seeing Uncle Zhao's certainty, Lin Nan curiously followed, but upon approaching a certain range, he was stunned.
In an instant, a sensation of comfort washed over him, feeling as if every pore in his body opened up, suddenly finding himself in an oxygen oasis.
This...
The sudden feeling made him instinctively take a step back, and with that step, the sensation vanished.
He stepped forward again, and the wonderful sensation returned.
Others felt it too, with looks of amazement on their faces.
"This feeling is truly magical, it just appeared out of nowhere."
"Yeah, if I hadn't experienced it myself, I wouldn't believe it."
"..."
Lin Nan was also astounded, looking incredulously at the grand crowns of the three ancient elm trees in the darkness. Or perhaps... these three elm trees really do possess some kind of spiritual aura; otherwise, how could one explain this magical feeling?
…
Time passed, and the night went by.
Chen Han awoke to the sound of an alarm clock; it was already 4:30 in the morning, nearing 5:00 AM.
He immediately got up, though today's tiredness was worse than usual, a side effect of the painkillers.
Looking at the game interface in his mind, there were many game prompts while he slept.
{"Congratulations, the Work Hall Elder has completed constructing the special Frying Pan Furnace for refining Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, and you can start preparing Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea now!"}
Apparently, Little Uncle had built the Frying Pan Furnace overnight.
Normally, such a stove and wok would need 5-7 days of air drying before use.
But with the existence of the game system, the air-drying process was bypassed.
Additionally, there were 9 messages saying {"Congratulations, through the images delivered by the Spirit Shadow Treasure Mirror, you've gained a follower, earning 1 point of reputation!"} and 7 messages saying {"Congratulations, the Chen Family's amazing scenery has astounded people, reputation +1!"}
Clearly, the video instigating internal conflict among the Dog Demons gathered 9 fans, and upon checking his phone, the likes had surpassed 2400, but the numbers had stopped moving.
Furthermore, the amazing scenery contributed 7 reputation points, presumably Lin Mr.'s group of 6, plus Mr. Zhao.
This made his eyes light up.
If this is the case, it means a visitor can increase their reputation through experiencing once and again over different days or after a period.
So, today he could conduct an experiment with Mr. Lin's group.
Chen Han looked at the reputation count.
Adding these 16 points, the total reputation reached 143 points.
Then, he checked the most concerning aspect: longevity: 25 days 18 hours 20 minutes.
He was stunned.
That's not right!
Yesterday at this time, it was 27 days 18 hours.
He clearly consumed Dog Demon Meat and had a Spiritual Energy Flush; the daily lifespan consumption should have been offset.
Today should still be 27 days and 18 hours.
Now it's only 25 days.
I'm suddenly missing 2 days.
Was it because of the cancer cells acting up last night?
But previously, vomiting blood didn't cause this kind of situation.
This made his brow furrow tightly.
Cancer patients need to keep painkillers handy because cancer cells disrupt things from time to time; even waiting for death won't let you die peacefully.
For someone like him, cancer cells acted up twice in a short period of time.
Previously, vomiting blood didn't affect his lifespan, but last night it did without vomiting blood.
Seems like it's probabilistic.
It should depend on the direction of spread, size, damage to surrounding tissues and organs, and nerves.
This was the unexpected situation he was worried about.
If this is the case, merely relying on the daily lifespan increase from Dog Demon meat and Spiritual Qi Flush won't be enough to offset the cancer cells' drain.
For a moment, Chen Han was a bit agitated.
He still needs to quickly upgrade the Sect's Base to get new rewards.
Thinking of this, he hurriedly went out, heading to the Special Spiritual Acupoint.
This situation has already added a crisis buff to him, and the guaranteed lifespan from Spiritual Qi Flush and Dog Demon meat must not be further compromised.
Upon arriving at the Special Spiritual Acupoint, the surroundings were already faintly lit, and Chen Han's gaze was first attracted by the vine-like plants and flowers on the fence because they seemed wilted.
Although his Little Uncle and others gathered materials locally well, the roots are always inevitably damaged, which is not like the cultivated plants bought from shops.
But it doesn't cost money, and if they die, they can gather more materials from the mountains.
He sat cross-legged in the pavilion waiting, until the sun's rays passed over the distant mountains, spreading across the land, triggering the Spiritual Qi Flush at the Special Spiritual Acupoint.
That magical feeling reappeared, as Spiritual Qi emerged, making all his pores relax, like hungry fish madly absorbing the flushing Spiritual Qi.
When the Spiritual Qi Flush ended, emerging from that magical state, Chen Hanzhen felt a kind of emptiness akin to a man's release after intense satisfaction.
"Sigh!" Chen Han sighed, as he looked again at the vine-like plants and flowers on the fence, surprisingly finding them no longer wilted, becoming verdant with vitality, radiant and thriving.
This was clearly benefited from the Spiritual Qi Flush.
He suddenly felt a bit envious.
A single Spiritual Qi Flush could completely revive these vine-like plants and flowers from a wilted state, yet he could only add 12 hours to his lifespan, going from 25 days and 18 hours to 26 days and 6 hours.
Those vanished 2 days of lifespan were truly heartbreaking.
He wasted no time and went to the tourist reception kitchen to find a piece of meat, cut it into slices, and then headed out of the village, planning to trigger the daily task of instigating Dog Demon conflicts.
Dogs are early risers, and there were already three dogs wandering at the village entrance, including the white dog that got beaten yesterday. Its leg had obviously recovered a lot; you couldn't tell while walking.
He also took out the Spirit Shadow Treasure Mirror to start today's recording: "For the safety of the Chen Family, the Patriarch has decided to delve deeper into the Dog Demon gathering place to continue instigating their infighting."
Since this could attract fan attention, he naturally continued filming to increase his reputation.
With yesterday's experience, today he very smoothly lured the stray dogs from outside the village to the village entrance. That white dog today, perhaps because it had two companions, fiercely barked at the group of stray dogs from outside the village.
While it was barking, its two companion dogs had already run into the village, so when the stray dogs from outside the village lunged at it, it realized it was too late and got beaten up again, limping with one leg, running into the village, barking all the while.
Afterward, that little mutt appeared again with a bunch of dogs, fiercely pouncing, again leading to the stray dogs from outside the village failing and scattering.
As the scene ended and the dogs scattered, Chen Han then appeared at the place of the battle, happily looking at the two pieces of Dog Demon meat enveloped in white light; it seems this drop rate isn't fixed after all.
Collecting the two pieces of Dog Demon meat into the warehouse, Chen Han then returned to the Chen Family, arriving at Little Uncle's courtyard, where he could see the bamboo leaves and bamboo leaf cores drying on three bamboo trays, already soft and having evaporated quite a bit of moisture, ready for stir-frying.
In the kitchen, Little Uncle was already cooking porridge.
When Little Uncle didn't notice, he took out a piece of Dog Demon meat from the warehouse, with enough weight to make two portions of medicinal food.
"Xiaohan, the porridge will be ready soon, sit for a while." Chen Lin noticed his nephew arrived and greeted him with a smile, then saw the meat in his hand and asked in surprise, "What's this?"
"Meat for medicinal food preparation, Little Uncle, please handle this." Chen Han made up an excuse, handing the meat to Little Uncle.
This Dog Demon meat is hard to handle, always exhausting him. After last night's incident with the vanished lifespan, he decided to reduce exhausting tasks like this, as it burdens his body.
Chen Lin nodded; to process a piece of meat is just a casual task.
He took the meat, got the knife ready to deal with it as usual, and then froze: "??????"
This meat is so tough!