I Materialized the Cultivation Game

Chapter 63: Chapter 57: Hongmei, Persimmon, Bamboo! Did the Video Go Viral?

Chen Han was quite clueless about the Daoist Nine Directions Plants, and could only wait to return to check some of the Chen Family’s collections.

Next, he also looked at the sect’s base information in his mind:

Level: Level 3 Sect’s Base

Effect: Ancient +2, Aesthetics +2, Solid +2.

Special Daoist Residence Effect: As long as it belongs to the Chen Family Daoist sect housing, and plants representing the three directions of the Daoist Nine Directions Plants—Li, Kun, and Central—are placed in appropriate positions in a room, attribute effects can be activated!

Upgrade Requirements: 1. 10 million wealth (4.763 million/10 million). 2. Reputation 50,000 (7,005/50,000).

Looking again at the sect’s base information, as the transformation was completed, the upgrade requirements were refreshed.

The reputation requirement increased to 50,000, which is still okay, especially with the improved video effects now and the National Style Event organized by Xiaoyu and Xiaomi; simply revealing some skills in front of the public can harvest a wave of reputation.

However, the upgrade requirement of 10 million wealth is quite a gap compared to the savings of 476.3 thousand.

Initially, it only required 10 thousand wealth and 10 reputation.

He suspected the game system used the same tactic as those pay-to-win games, offering a simple, easy reward first, then starting to cut deep.

Moreover, the 10 million wealth required for the upgrade cannot just be spent directly at 10 million; a significant amount of taxes need to be paid.

Although the Chen Family applied for a special Taoist Scenic Area license, which can exempt most of the taxes, 25% on non-cultural commercial projects definitely needs to be paid.

By the way, donations through the system can exempt some of the tax, but even so, a considerable amount of tax should be reserved; otherwise, the relevant departments might pay a visit.

So, cultivating immortality also requires sound financial management.

He’s considering whether to raise the prices for medicinal meals and Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea.

As previously offered at a trial run price, it should be normal to raise the price for official operations, right?

But that poses another problem: customer base!

Medicinal meals at 20,000, premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea at 50,000, ordinary tourists wouldn’t spend this much.

Even if you shoot videos for promotion, people need to believe in it.

The reputation must be built up effectively.

Otherwise, except for a few curious and wealthy individuals, hardly anyone would pay attention.

The value of wealth, law, companions, and location continues to rise.

Not long after, the train reached Linhe County Station.

Xiaoyu was already waiting there.

Chen Han and his junior sister met up, and he heard her complain, ”Senior brother, I used the Cloud Barrier Pill you gave me in a video, and Tiao Yin actually provided a special effects behavior warning, making it seem like I’m deceiving fans with effects. Look at these comments from the fans.”

Chen Han looked and laughed.

”Xiaoyu, the effects are too stiff, they need enhancement!”

”Haha, has Xiaoyu started learning effects editing? It’s a bit like cheap effects.”

”Awesome, is Tiao Yin worried I’ll really believe Xiaoyu can perform Smoke Escape Technique, giving me an anti-scam warning?”

”...”

The anti-scam and anti-violation prompts of this sort from Tiao Yin can indeed be quite amusing at times; besides these, there are suspected AI, dangerous behavior, AI content generation warnings, and it seems some influencers were deemed AI-generated because they looked too (perfect).

Of course, they might have over-applied beauty filters to be judged as AI-generated.

Seeing his junior sister’s disheartened face, Chen Han smiled and said, ”Isn’t that better? Recognized as AI now, you can perform the National Style Event live, wouldn’t that amaze everyone?”

The two girls’ eyes lit up simultaneously, seeming eager to try.

”Senior brother, but I’ve used up the Cloud Barrier Pill.” Xiaoyu immediately gave him her moist, puppy-eye look, her intentions quite clear.

”Don’t look at me like that. I’ll make more Cloud Barrier Pills for you.” Chen Han shook his head and said.

”You’re the best, senior brother. Let’s head back.” Xiaoyu, having achieved her goal, happily got into the driver’s seat.

...

Chen Han returned to the Chen Family with the sun completely set.

Entering his courtyard, the fragrance of orchids was even more aromatic.

Reflecting on the sect’s base upgrade, with the Chen Family having gained a solid +2 attribute, he took out a dagger and casually tested the loft’s walls, discovering the solidness was remarkable, leaving hardly a mark.

He also tested with a hammer, concluding that the Chen Family could be used as a fortress during wartime.

Then, Chen Han began searching for ancient texts on Daoist plants within the Chen Family.

To activate the Winter Warm Summer Cool +2 attribute, he first needed to understand what the Nine Directions Plants were.

He found a book specifically dedicated to recording and illustrating information about Daoist plants, then went over to the lounge chair in the courtyard to read it.

Reading among the enchanting and subtle aroma of orchids was indeed pleasant.

This book documented much information about Daoist flowers, grasses, and trees.

The Taoist sect has the Five Offerings, with the flowers consisting of five offering flowers.

There are also Seven Wise Plants, along with seven exorcism woods and 13 auspicious woods.

And the Daoist Nine Directions Plants refers to nine plants with considerable spiritual qi, commonly appearing in many Daoist legends, often associated with heavenly stems, earthly branches, 108 positions, and the mysterious Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams...and other mystical connections.

These nine plants are respectively: Pine, Boxwood, Osmanthus, Luohan Pine, Persimmon Tree, Magnolia, Hongmei (Red Plum), Bamboo, and Maple Tree!

Of course, in modern times, these Nine Directions Plants have been linked with feng shui, and their spiritual qi adds to their alleged effectiveness in setting up feng shui arrays.

The Winter Warm Summer Cool +2 attribute’s description of Li, Kun, and Central should refer to the Li Palace, Kun Palace, and Central Palace in the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams.

Therefore, simply finding the representative plants for these three palaces from the Nine Directions Plants and placing them in the corresponding positions in housing rooms, can trigger the Winter Warm Summer Cool +2 attribute.

He immediately checked the ancient texts’ description of the Nine Directions Plants, comparing with the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams.

The Li Palace represents fire and light amongst the Nine Palaces; thus, the corresponding plant from the Nine Directions Plants is Red Plum, which often blooms in vibrant red, and red in the five elements belongs to fire, blooming in cold seasons symbolizes passion and hope, echoing the brightness of the Li Palace.

The Kun Palace symbolizes the earth, with connotations of bearing and carrying, while the persimmon has implications of roundness, fullness, and wishes, sharing symbolic meanings, and most notably, the Persimmon Tree is regarded as the lord overseeing earth in imperial traditions, appointed or sealed as a marquis or for ten thousand years.

The Central Palace governs harmony and balance across all directions, represented by bamboo, which is upright, honest, and humble, aligning with middle ground and the potential to dispel earth evil in the flying giant gate star at this position.

To summarize, the plants representing Li, Kun, and Central are Red Plum, Persimmon Tree, and Bamboo from the Nine Directions Plants.

Simply placing these three plants in the room positions representing Li, Kun, and Central, specifically in the south, southwest, and center, activates the Winter Warm Summer Cool +2 attribute.

Chen Han suddenly felt he learned a lot, realizing what he learned from his father was just some surface knowledge about the Daoist sect.

The plants and Nine Palaces have so many complexities that align and correspond with each other, with five elements representation, positioning, and proper alignment.

Unfortunately, these are merely theoretical in books; in reality, no one truly manages to create feng shui formations with the Nine Directions Plants perfectly matched with the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams.

However, he’s different, supported by the system enhancing Chen Family’s attributes; once plants, palaces, and positions correspond correctly, the attributes can activate.

Looks like he’ll need to touch upon the family’s underground arrays again.

These are all the achievements of the Chen Family’s elders, leaving precious wealth for the descendants.

Knowing the three plants, he immediately called his Little Uncle, and upon connection, instructed, ”Little Uncle, tomorrow help me buy three green plants, namely Red Plum, Bamboo, and Persimmon Tree in forms that can be placed indoors.”

Nowadays, these plants have their cultivated variants suited for indoor placement, no worries about space.

Chen Lin, who generally wouldn’t question his nephew’s requests, promptly agreed.

Chen Han hung up the call, now simply waiting for Little Uncle to bring back the three plants for testing, planning to further self-study the Daoist Scripture Atlas to quickly awaken the Calm Heart +2 attribute.

Just as he was about to put down his phone, he was surprised to see Tiao Yin’s backend frantically displaying alerts.

He opened to see the data prompts, noticeably stunned for a moment.

The data increased way too quickly!

He opened the video ”Shocking! Demon Cult Demons stripped by Profound Frost Lion-headed Geese...” and watched for a while, indeed noticing the increase in likes much faster than before the journey back.

Not only likes, but the game system’s reputation increase alert appeared much more frequently.

He realized something.

Is the video going viral?

He naturally wasn’t aware a certain Tiao Yin editor amused by the Lion-headed Geese, rewarded it with an S-Class streaming resource, enabling more and more people online to watch the video of the Lion-headed Geese stripping the Demon Cult Demons.

Countless viewers were left dumbfounded, clicking into Patriarch Chen’s profile, watching his other videos, one after another transformed from amused expressions to puzzled ones full of question marks!