“You went to the Numerous Fragrances Pavilion last night, didn’t you?”
Upon seeing Wang Chen, who had just opened the courtyard gate, Old Sun was first startled.
Then he couldn’t help but reveal a sleazy smile, “Young man, you should practice moderation, hehehe…”
Wang Chen was expressionless—you think you’re funny?
Old Sun’s smile gradually stiffened without a response, eventually turning into capital awkwardness.
“Ahem!”
He coughed twice to save his face, “Wang Chen, let’s go, I have prepared breakfast.”
“I’m not going today.”
Wang Chen shook his head and answered, “Old Sun, you’ve replied to those families for me, haven’t you?”
“What?”
Old Sun was immediately shocked, hardly believing his ears.
If Wang Chen didn’t work.
How would he earn his twenty percent kickback, where would he get the Spirit Stones to probe the depths of the Hehuan Sect female cultivators!
Desperate, he said, “But I’ve already spoken to them, even taken a deposit!”
“Just return it.”
Wang Chen said with a bitter smile, “It’s not that I don’t want to earn Spirit Stones, but that I can’t.”
He held up two injured fingers, “Used Geng Metal Finger too much, the meridians can’t withstand it.”
What Wang Chen said wasn’t false at all.
With damaged meridians, if he went to clear the Earth Rhinoceros Beetles, it would be like severing his own path to immortality.
Old Sun had nothing to say.
He also didn’t think Wang Chen was brushing him off.
Wang Chen’s complexion was pale, clearly the look of someone who had suffered internal injuries.
These past few days, Wang Chen had indeed been pushing himself hard.
“Then, you should recover well,” Old Sun said resentfully. “I’ll explain to them, they will understand.”
He paused for a moment, then hesitantly added, “I’m quite busy today, so I won’t have time to take care of your Spirit Fields.”
For the past couple of days, it had been Old Sun who was helping manage Wang Chen’s ten mu of Spirit Fields.
Now that Wang Chen was injured, why would he exert himself for nothing!
Wang Chen merely smiled, “No worries.”
He really understood the nature of this old man.
After sending Old Sun away, Wang Chen closed the courtyard gate and returned to his room.
He began to practice and heal his injuries.
The Five Elements Skill wasn’t a healing technique, and its effects on treating internal injuries were poor.
But once the potency of the Healing Pill was catalyzed, the injured meridians inside Wang Chen’s body immediately received nourishment.
The searing pain lessened a great deal.
For the entire day, he stayed behind closed doors, completely focused on recovering from his injuries.
Damage to the meridians is no trivial matter.
If it isn’t treated promptly and sufficiently, it could easily become a chronic hidden injury.
Wang Chen’s cultivation level might not be high.
But he was young and vigorous, the injuries were not severe, and the effects of the Healing Pill were quite remarkable, so by sunset, his meridian injuries had largely healed.
He estimated he would be mostly recovered by tomorrow.
Then Wang Chen went out to perform the Cloud Rain Jue on his own Spirit Fields.
The weather had been hot recently, with very little rain, and clearing the weeds in the Spirit Fields every one or two days wasn’t a big issue.
But if he didn’t timely replenish the water for the Spiritual Rice, a poor harvest was possible!
After administering the rain, he returned home to start a fire and cook dinner.
“Squeak, squeak!”
At mealtime, the big white rat popped out again.
“Bai!”
Wang Chen delightedly held it in the palm of his hand and couldn’t resist giving it a kiss, “I owe you for saving me!”
If Bai hadn’t desperately bitten his ear last night to wake him up and concentrate his mana.
Wang Chen would have long been sent off for the afterlife by now.
“Squeak, squeak.”
The big white rat squeaked twice, shaking its tail, and it seemed to exhibit a bashful air.
Wang Chen solemnly said, “Bai, I cannot thank you enough for such a great favor; as long as I, Wang Chen, have something to eat, I guarantee you and your partner will not go hungry!”
He spoke very sincerely.
The big white rat seemed to understand and rubbed its nose against Wang Chen’s wrist.
Wang Chen stroked the little guy twice, then placed it on the table.
He went to the kitchen to bring over the cooked Spirit Rice and fragrantly pan-fried insect meat and shared with the big white rat.
The Brocade Fur Rat was still nowhere to be seen.
Wang Chen didn’t care much, as usual, he wrapped a rice ball for Bai to take back.
That evening, he took the second Healing Pill.
After another round of treatment, his internal injuries were mostly healed.
But it was still early, and Wang Chen, having been through a life-and-death ordeal, had no sleep in his eyes.
He took out the human skin mask that he had peeled off the Traveling Merchant’s face from his Storage Bag.
Wang Chen hadn’t examined this war trophy closely before.
The human skin mask was greyish-white, showing only the rough contours of eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
Besides that, it was just a sheet of white skin.
It was extremely light and thin, almost feeling like nothing when held in the hand.
Yet it felt incredibly tough.
Out of curiosity, Wang Chen took out a dagger and lightly poked the edge of the mask with the tip of the blade.
This dagger, also confiscated from the Traveling Merchant, had an extremely sharp blade.
But it didn’t budge at all.
Wang Chen changed from poking to slashing, yet he couldn’t leave even a mark on it.
The texture of the mask was tough beyond imagination!
Wang Chen immediately became interested.
He applied more and more force, using the dagger to poke, slash, and cut at the mask.
Even after using the Mighty Strength Technique, he still didn’t manage to damage the mask in the slightest!
Wang Chen realized that this thing was probably very special.
If his meridians had been fully healed, he would have been eager to test the mask’s defense with his Geng Metal Finger.
This discovery also gave Wang Chen a scare.
If last night he had thrust his Geng Metal Finger at the Traveling Merchant’s face,
with the mask in place, it’s doubtful whether he could have killed him!
After pondering for a while, Wang Chen suddenly pressed the mask against his face.
It felt cool to the touch.
The next second, the human skin mask silently stretched out and perfectly adhered to his skin.
Wang Chen didn’t feel any discomfort.
His vision and breathing were entirely normal, unaffected in the slightest.
What would he look like wearing the mask?
Wang Chen immediately ran to the bedroom and turned out a copper mirror he kept by the bed.
In the mirror, Wang Chen’s face appeared blank.
It was very similar to the “No-Face” he had seen in Stephen Chow’s movies!
How could he go out and meet people looking like this?
Wang Chen frowned.
Last night when the Traveling Merchant came to assault him while wearing the mask, it hadn’t looked like this.
Perhaps there was another trick to it?
Wang Chen pondered in front of the mirror.
Then his face began to change, as his eyebrows, nose, and mouth slowly became clear and lifelike.
The color and texture of the skin followed, becoming visible.
In just a moment, a playful, nonchalant face appeared before Wang Chen.
Wang Chen was stunned.
In the mirror was the face of his beloved Stephen Chow, and it was the younger version.
Exactly like the one in Wang Chen’s memories!
After the shock passed, Wang Chen felt like he had a moment of clarity, an epiphany.
He understood.
Once again facing the mirror, Wang Chen started imagining another appearance.
In the blink of an eye, the Stephen Chow in the mirror transformed into Daniel Wu!
This time he had struck it rich!
Wang Chen almost laughed out loud.
This thing was magical; it could perfectly mimic the face of any person he pictured in his mind.
Although Wang Chen didn’t know much about Magic Artifacts or Magical Treasures,
he was certain.
This was definitely a rare treasure!
He had found a gem.
———
The second update is here.
PS: I set up automatic updates, only to discover just now that it hadn’t updated. I checked and saw that it was scheduled for tomorrow… big mistake…