Chapter 6: 6. Terrifying Omens

Song Cheng glanced at his strength stats.

It was still 0~0.

After a moment of thought, he quickly got up, grabbed his hardwood staff, and walked toward the front hall, tapping it with a "tap-tap" sound.

The weather was good today, so Huichun Hall naturally couldn't be closed.

There was enough medicine left, and with the rumors of thieves, the proprietor hadn't gone up the mountain to gather herbs again.

Following the ripples of sound waves spreading from the hardwood staff's tapping, plain white lines unfolded in the ink-wash world, forming a path.

Song Cheng bypassed the screen and arrived at the front hall, saying to the petite figure woven from plain white lines behind the medicine cabinet: "Wife, do you have any medicine to regulate the body? I want to become a bit stronger."

Upon hearing this, Tong Jia was stunned for a moment, then immediately raised her hand to cover her lips, suppressing her laughter as she said: "You aren't sick, what body are you regulating?"

She then added: "There is still cured meat at home; after the pharmacy closes, I will go prepare it for you to eat."

As everyone knows, if you want to be strong, you must first be fat.

This meant one could not avoid eating meat.

Without this, "martial strength" could not be improved either.

Tong Jia's answer had already given Song Cheng the answer.

Song Cheng had also seen what this skin of his looked like in his "cultivation memories."

Delicate, thin, but not looking like someone who was sick.

Medicinal regulation—this path would not work.

Eating meat required money.

Huichun Hall originally had some money, but a significant portion was "requisitioned" during the last conscription of soldiers and grain; the little that remained now was for emergencies and daily support, and it was simply not enough for him to eat meat in large mouthfuls to nourish his body.

Just as Song Cheng was thinking this, Proprietor Tong had already circled out, playfully hitting him as if acting spoiled, and said with a soft laugh: "How about we don't do it tonight, lest this little enchantress of yours sucks your bone marrow dry."

Song Cheng did not show weakness and asked: "Will you suck it?"

Tong Jia was stunned, then laughed with a "goose-goose-goose" sound, saying: "Do you really think you're a tough guy?"

The young couple was just flirting shamelessly when footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

Immediately after, two women walked to the front of the door.

Song Cheng looked over; the two women's stats were identical.

【Strength: 0~0】

【Favorability: 60】

"Tong Dafu, Tong Dafu, I'm here for a consultation," one of the women shouted.

Tong Jia hurried over to perform the four diagnostic methods: looking, listening, asking, and feeling the pulse.

After a while, Tong Jia said: "Caihua Sao, this is an old ailment of yours from rheumatism. It has been freezing cold these past few days, so cold evil has entered your body and combined with dampness. My hall happens to have Notopterygium and Pine Knot; you can weigh three packets to take back, drink them with medicinal wine, and drink it for three consecutive days; it should dispel the cold evil."

The woman gritted her teeth and asked: "How much money?"

Tong Jia said: "Thirty wen for three packets."

"Thirty wen?" The woman began her bargaining mode, "That's too expensive."

Tong Jia said: "Caihua Sao, let me tell you, it really isn't expensive. Not to mention anything else, just this medicinal wine alone is not cheap."

The other woman said: "We both have the same ailment; how about six packets for thirty wen?"

The three of them haggled for a while, but Tong Jia held firm at sixty wen.

Not to mention that the medicinal wine required precious herbs to soak in, even the Notopterygium was something she had carried a bamboo basket to gather on the mountain; given the hardship involved, how could it be so cheap? The two women grunted a few times, angrily said "Forget it," and then left while supporting each other.

Tong Jia chased after them, shouting: "The consultation fee is still two wen!"

The two women ignored her completely and walked away.

Tong Jia stomped her feet in anger and gave a delicate huff, saying: "If you go to the county to get this medicine, this packet plus the medicinal wine would cost over fifteen wen!"

Song Cheng turned his head and, through the wall, saw the two women stop at the corner of the wall outside the door; their favorability had dropped from 60 to 50.

They had not left yet, as if they were discussing something.

Before long, another woman ran back and said: "Six packets for forty wen, no more than that!"

Tong Jia said: "Sixty-two wen, including the consultation fee!"

The woman gave a cold snort and said: "Let the medicine rot in the shop!"

After saying that, she left.

Tong Jia was panting with anger.

Song Cheng walked behind her, raised his hands to gently knead her shoulders, and said softly: "What is there to be angry about? Isn't it always like this?"

Tong Jia leaned against his arm, sighed, and said: "Cheng-ge is still the best."

Song Cheng said: "Actually, you could try complaining to them about your troubles; no one has it easy."

Tong Jia said: "Pah, and here I thought you were on my side."

Song Cheng couldn't help but laugh.

Fine. This wife of his, her temper was as fierce as fire.

That night.

The two did not engage in intimacy; they simply removed even their undergarments and lay quietly pressed against each other, listening together to the biting cold wind outside the window.

The warmth transmitted between them, set against that cold wind, appeared even warmer, like the bean-sized light in the deep sea, the dawn of the eternal night. The next day 【You spent a harmonious night with Tong Jia, gaining 5 spare points】.

A happy night had turned into a harmonious night again.

Song Cheng had already made up his mind. He added the 5 points to the "Pagoda Meditation Method" as before.

Its progress thus became "Minor Success (6/8)."

There was no qualitative leap, only the practical experience gained from those repeated out-of-body Soul experiences at midnight.

These experiences gave him more certainty regarding things like "what kind of weather allows for out-of-body travel and night wandering," "how to handle emergencies if an unfavorable situation is encountered," "how long one can wander at night before having to return to the body," and "what kind of impact or even illness long night wanderings might bring to the body."

Even in that "post-Add Points cultivation," he was covered in severe injuries and fell ill many times, yet it had not the slightest effect on him in reality.

Those many experiences gained through forced trials and repeated injuries directly became his own experience.

Just as he was thinking this, the sound of Manager Tong exploding came from the front hall again.

Song Cheng leaned on his crutch and quickly stepped forward.

Through the walls and curtains, his gaze could still pass through the wall and land on those two figures with "Favorability 50."

It was precisely those two women from yesterday.

Sure enough, after he approached, he heard the argument between those two women and Manager Tong.

That favorability began to drop rapidly; in the time it took for Song Cheng to walk over, it had already fallen from 50 to 40.

This was hating the house and its crow—hating Manager Tong, and by extension, hating him at Huichun Hall as well.

Song Cheng listened for a moment.

It was mostly that the women had felt it didn't matter yesterday, but they couldn't hold out by nightfall and had to come to buy medicine the next day, yet Manager Tong would not budge an inch.

Song Cheng walked up and gently patted Tong Jia on the shoulder.

"What are you doing?!"

The fierce woman turned her head in a rage, full of killing intent.

Ever since she gave herself to her man, Tong Jia's true nature began to be exposed; she no longer needed to maintain the reserve belonging to a young woman.

Song Cheng stepped in front of her, sighed heavily, and then said politely: "Caihua Sao, Baojin Sao, I know things aren't easy for you either. In this world, nothing is easy for anyone; it's hard—it's hard for everyone."

Subsequently, Song Cheng began to chat with the two old sisters-in-law, venting their grievances and complaining to one another.

One of these two old sisters-in-law had her husband taken away to be a soldier, and the other had her son taken; naturally, they were full of bitterness.

The three chatted for a long time, and the two old sisters-in-law felt refreshed, chatting more and more happily, with a sense of having met too late.

And the favorability of the two old sisters-in-law also slowly rose from the original 40, soon becoming Favorability 80.

Song Cheng knew that his physical appearance also played a part in this.

A delicate, thin young lad was indeed a plus.

After about half an hour, Caihua Sao said: "Forget it, forget it. Let's just consider it for the sake of Brother Cheng; thirty wen it is. It's not easy for anyone."

Baojin Sao also agreed to pay.

The two women grabbed their medicine and left.

Tong Jia said angrily: "They still didn't pay the consultation fee!"

Song Cheng couldn't help but laugh.

My wife is truly cute.

Tong Jia said fiercely: "What are you laughing at?"

Song Cheng said: "I love my wife."

Tong Jia's face turned red instantly. Seeing no one around, she ran over and kissed Song Cheng, saying: "I didn't expect you to have this skill."

Song Cheng said: "I—"

Before the words could leave his mouth, his voice stopped abruptly. His eyelids lifted, revealing eyes like cloudy white jade, staring straight at the entrance of the yellow mud road.

In his eyes, a terrifying blood-red mist was passing by.

The mist was drifting and eerie, as if not yet complete, and in the process of assembling.

The blood-red of this mist was exceptionally chilling in the blind man's pitch-black world.

Suddenly, his hands and feet turned cold, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. Immediately after, an instinct from his understanding of the game "Infinite Hell" made him hurriedly turn his head away.

"What are you looking at?" Tong Jia asked.

She looked over as well. At the entrance of the yellow mud road was a field of crops, withered wood holding up bags rustled in the wind, and a gray old tree stood motionless, casting a cold, gloomy shadow.

Otherwise, there was nothing.

Song Cheng took a deep breath and scanned with his peripheral vision again; the blood-red had vanished.

'Did I see wrong?'

Song Cheng hurriedly looked at the panel again.

At the very bottom of the panel, that gray, iron-like line, "【Taboo: Unlocked】," had cracked at some point, as if some strange entity was bulging, breaking through, and about to crawl completely into this world.

In his past life, Song Cheng had once browsed the player forums for "Infinite Hell."

Many people had summarized the rules, which were varied and diverse.

Yet, there was one universally accepted rule.

A Taboo is like a program. Its creation is "programming," its possession is "loading," and its triggering is "execution." Once executed, terror will surely descend.

If you do not want to be drawn into a Taboo, it is best... not to use any senses to come into contact with the Taboo; do not look at it, do not listen to it, do not know of it.

Do not, absolutely do not!

(End of this chapter)