6. Terrifying omen

Song Cheng glanced at his strength data.

It was still 0~0.

After a brief thought, he quickly rose to his feet, clutching a hardwood cane, ticking "du du" as he headed towards the front hall.

It was a fine day, so naturally, Rejuvenation Hall would not be closed.

There was enough medicine left, and with the rumors of thieves, the owner did not go up the mountain to collect herbs.

As the ripples of sound spread from the hardwood cane's ticking, plain white lines unfolded in the ink-painted world, outlining a path.

Song Cheng went around the screen and came to the front hall, addressing the petite figure woven from plain white lines behind the medicine cabinet, "My dear, do you have any medicine to strengthen the body? I'd like to become a bit stronger."

Upon hearing this, Tong Jia was first stunned, then covered her mouth with her hand and suppressed a smile, "You're not sick, what body do you need to regulate?"

She then added, "We still have cured meat at home. Once the medicine shop closes, I'll prepare some for you to eat."

As everyone knows, to get strong, one must first put on weight.

And that inevitably involves eating meat.

Without it, "martial strength" cannot be increased either.

Tong Jia's answer had already given Song Cheng his response.

Song Cheng had also seen the appearance of this body in the "Cultivation Memory."

Elegant and lean, but not sickly.

Medicating to regulate the body, that way was not viable.

Eating meat requires money.

Rejuvenation Hall originally had some money, but a significant amount was "levied" during the last conscription and tax collection, leaving only a little for emergencies and daily support, nowhere near enough for him to eat his fill of meat to improve his health.

As Song Cheng was reflecting on this, Tong Jia had already come around, playfully hit him, and laughed softly, "Why don't we skip tonight, lest I, this little demoness, suck all the marrow out of you?"

Not to be outdone, Song Cheng asked, "Will you suck it?"

Tong Jia was taken aback for a moment and then burst out laughing, "Ge ge ge," saying, "Do you really think you're that much of a strong man?"

While the young couple was shamelessly flirting, there suddenly came the sound of footsteps from outside.

Then, two women approached the door.

Song Cheng looked at them, their data was the same.

[Strength: 0~0]

[Favorability: 60]

"Doctor Tong, Doctor Tong, I'm here to see a doctor," one of the women clamored.

Tong Jia quickly attended to them, performing Inspection, Auscultation, Inquiry, and Palpation.

A short while later...

Tong Jia announced, "Sister-in-law Caihua, this is an old rheumatism you have, aggravated lately by the cold freeze, causing cold evil to enter the body and connect with dampness. I happen to have notopterygium and atractylodes here. You can take three packets back, drink them with medicinal wine, and after three days of continuous consumption, it should expel the cold evil."

The woman gritted her teeth and asked, "How much does it cost?"

Tong Jia replied, "Thirty Wen for three packets."

"Thirty Wen?" The woman entered into bargaining mode, "That's too expensive."

Tong Jia said, "Sister-in-law Caihua, honestly, it's not expensive. Apart from everything else, just the medicinal wine alone is already not cheap."

The other woman added, "Both of us have the same issue, how about six packets for thirty wen?"

After some haggling, Tong Jia stood firm on sixty Wen.

Let alone the fact that the medicinal wine required precious herbs for infusion, even notopterygium... she had to carry a bamboo basket and climb up the mountain to collect them. Given the effort involved, how could it be so cheap?

The two women grunted a few times, angrily declared, "Forget it," and then supported each other as they left.

Tong Jia called after them, "The consultation fee is two Wen!"

The women ignored her completely and just left.

Tong Jia stamped her foot in frustration and let out a delicate snort, "If you get this medicine in the county, even just one packet plus medicinal wine would cost over fifteen Wen!"

Song Cheng, turning his head, saw through the wall that the two women paused at the corner outside the door, their favorability dropping from 60 to 50.

They had not left yet and seemed to be discussing something.

Shortly after, another woman ran back and proposed, "Six packets, forty Wen, I can't offer any more!"

Tong Jia declared, "Along with the consultation fee, sixty-two Wen!"

The woman snorted coldly and said, "Let the medicine rot in the shop, then!" before walking away.

Tong Jia was left fuming.

Song Cheng came up behind her, gently kneading her shoulders, soothingly saying, "What's there to be angry about? It's always like this."

Tong Jia leaned on his arm and sighed, "Brother Cheng is always understanding."

Song Cheng then suggested, "Actually, you could tell them about your hardships. Everyone has it tough."

Tong Jia spat out, "Tch, and here I thought you were on my side."

Song Cheng couldn't help but laugh.

Indeed...

This wife of his was as fiery as a blaze.

...

That night,

The two did not make love but simply lay naked together, listening quietly to the harsh cold wind outside the window.

The warmth they shared, highlighted by the cold wind, seemed more profound, like a beam of light in the deep sea, like the dawn of an eternal night...

The next day...

[You spent a harmonious night with Tong Jia and gained 5 Remaining Points].

What was once a joyous night had now turned into a harmonious one.

Song Cheng had planned ahead.

He allocated the 5 points to the "Pagoda Visualization Method."

Its progress thus reached "Minor Accomplishment (6/8)."

There was no qualitative leap, just that repeated practical experience of his Divine Soul leaving the body at midnight.

These experiences gave him a firmer grasp on matters such as "what weather is suitable for astral projection and Night Wandering," "how to deal with unexpected situations," "how long one can wander at night before having to return to the body," and "the impact of the duration of Night Wandering on the body and potential illnesses."

Even though he was gravely injured many times during "post-point allocation training" and seriously ill on multiple occasions, it had no effect whatsoever on the real him.

The experience gained through forceful trials and numerous injuries directly became his own experience.

As he was pondering, yet another outburst erupted from the front hall of the Rejuvenation Hall.

Song Cheng, leaning on his crutch, quickly moved forward.

Despite the walls and curtains, his sight could still penetrate them and land on the two "Affections 50" figures.

Indeed, they were the two women from yesterday.

Sure enough, as he drew closer, he could hear the argument between the two women and the head of the Rejuvenation Hall.

The Affections began to rapidly decrease, and during the time it took Song Cheng to walk over, it had already dropped from 50 to 40.

This frustration was a case of blaming the innocent by association; hating Tong Jia made them hate him, who belonged to the Rejuvenation Hall as well.

Song Cheng listened for a little while.

Essentially, the women thought it didn't matter the day before but couldn't endure through the night, and the next day they still needed to buy medicine, but Tong Jia was unyielding.

Song Cheng stepped forward, lightly patted Tong Jia on the shoulder.

"What?!"

The Fierce Women turned back furiously with murderous intent.

Ever since she gave herself to a man, Tong Jia's true nature started to reveal itself... she no longer needed to maintain the reserved dignity of a maiden.

Song Cheng stepped in front of her, took a deep sigh, then said politely, "Sister-in-law Caihua, Sister-in-law Baojin, I know things are not easy for you, and in these tough times, nobody has it easy, it's hard... it's hard for everyone."

Then, Song Cheng and the two elder sisters-in-law started to banter about family, sharing their grievances and complaints.

One of the sisters-in-law had her husband conscripted into the military, while the other's son was captured, which naturally left them with plenty of bitter feelings.

The three of them talked for quite a while, and the sisters-in-law felt more at ease, chatting more cheerfully with a sense that they wished they had met sooner.

Meanwhile, the sisters-in-law's Affections slowly rose from the initial 40 and soon reached Affection 80.

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

The handsome, lean young man indeed scored some extra points.

After about half a "two hours," Sister-in-law Caihua said, "Enough already, let's just take it as doing a favor for Brother Cheng, thirty wen is thirty wen, we all have it rough."

Sister-in-law Baojin also gave in.

The two women grabbed the medicine and left.

Tong Jia huffed, "They didn't pay the consultation fee!"

Song Cheng couldn't help but laugh.

Ah, his wife was truly adorable.

Tong Jia snarled, "What are you laughing at?"

Song Cheng said, "I love my wife."

Tong Jia's face instantly turned red, and seeing no one around, she ran over to give Song Cheng a kiss, saying, "I didn't know you could do such things."

Song Cheng said, "I..."

His words were cut off abruptly as he stopped speaking, his eyelids lifted to reveal cloudy white jade-like eyes, which stared intently at the entrance of the mud road.

Through his eyes, a terrifying blood-red mist was sweeping past.

The mist drifted and contorted, seemingly unfinished, joining together.

The blood-red mist in the blind man's pitch-black world was especially eerie.

He suddenly felt his hands and feet grow cold, as if he had plunged into an ice cave. Then, a sense of urgency from his understanding of the game "Endless Hell" caused him to hastily avert his gaze.

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

She followed his gaze. At the entrance of the mud road was a piece of farmland, with dry branches supporting bags that rustled loudly, and a gray old tree stood immobile, casting sinister shadows.

Beyond that, there was nothing.

Song Cheng took a deep breath, swiftly turned his attention away from the corner of his eye, and the blood-red mist had disappeared.

'Did I see it wrong?'

Song Cheng quickly checked his panel.

At the very bottom of the panel, the gray ironlike line "[Forbidden Taboo: Unlocked]" had somehow started to fracture as if something monstrous was heaving underneath, ready to break free and crawl into this world entirely.

In his past life, Song Cheng had browsed a player forum for "Endless Hell."

Many had summed up the rules in all sorts of ways.

However, there was a universally acknowledged one:

A Forbidden Taboo is like a piece of code.

Its creation is "programming," its attachment is "loading," and its activation is "running." Once it runs, terror is sure to descend.

If you don't want to be involved in a Forbidden Taboo, it's best... to avoid any sensory contact with it, don't look at it, don't listen to it, don't know about it.

Do not, absolutely do not!