Chapter 10 Peach Wood Sword

The villagers in this world are mostly simple, and a few village girls, seeing that Lu Qingshan was a handsome young man, did not ask much about his background.

After the village women washed their family's clothes, they tidied up a bit, picked up their wooden basins, and stood up to take Lu Qingshan, who had been waiting for a long time, back to the village.

As soon as he entered the village, Lu Qingshan saw a crowd of people gathering and heading in the same direction.

Seeing this scene, the village girls were also puzzled. The eldest among them happened to see old man Wang from next door passing by and casually stopped him to ask what was happening, "Old man Wang, where are you all rushing to?"

"What else? We're going to watch Taoist Priest Bai Piao perform an exorcism!"

In this world of immortals and demons, where supernatural creatures truly exist, ordinary people have always deeply believed in the legendary Taoist practices.

An exorcism performed by a Taoist Priest was an event not seen in many years, naturally, everyone wanted to join in the excitement.

"Isn't it not even the hour of shen yet? Didn't the Taoist Priest say he would begin the ceremony at the hour of you?"

"It was originally planned for the hour of you, but just now, old Li's son saw a ghostly figure in his backyard again and scurried out in a panic to find the Taoist Priest.

The Taoist Priest immediately decided to go to old Li's son's house to perform an exorcism and rid the people of this evil. I must hurry over now, or I'll miss everything," old man Wang explained quickly, then hurriedly stepped toward old Li's son's house.

Standing aside, Lu Qingshan's eyes narrowed slightly.

A ghost appearing during the day?

The situation seemed to be getting more interesting.

An untrained soul body, if exposed directly to the harsh light of day, would get hurt.

So, let alone a yin spirit with cognitive awareness, even a resentful spirit driven by mere instinct would avoid appearing during the daytime.

...

The village girls still needed to take the clothes back home, so Lu Qingshan bid farewell to a few of the aunts and headed alone to old Li's son's house.

Although he did not know the way, he just needed to follow the villagers who were going to watch the excitement.

Old Li's son was a wine brewer and ran the only tavern in the village, making him one of the wealthier families in the village.

When Lu Qingshan arrived, there was already a crowd gathered outside old Li's son's house, but the door was tightly closed.

"What's the situation now?" Lu Qingshan saw old man Wang and walked over to ask him.

Old man Wang turned around, recognized the handsome young man who had been following the elder village girl, and without suspicion replied, "Taoist Priest Bai Piao said the spirit is extremely dangerous and should not be approached lightly, so he locked the door and went in alone to perform the exorcism."

At hearing this, Lu Qingshan's eyes flickered, and he stepped back from the crowd and walked around old Li's son's house, eventually stopping beneath the wall of the backyard.

With a slight effort in his legs, Lu Qingshan jumped straight up onto the wall.

The villagers, ignorant and swayed by the Taoist's words, dared not enter, but Lu Qingshan was not afraid.

Lu Qingshan sat astride the wall, looking into the courtyard.

In the courtyard, there was a wooden table with an incense burner placed on it and three sticks of incense lit, the white smoke billowing.

A middle-aged Taoist in a green robe, petite in stature, stood in front of the table holding a peach wood sword, muttering something under his breath.

His appearance truly matched what the village girls had described, pointy mouth and monkey cheeks.

"With no audience to watch, you still perform seriously, putting on quite the act. You're really quite dedicated, aren't you?" Lu Qingshan called out teasingly.

"Who's there?" Taoist Priest Bai Piao's gaze shifted towards the direction of the voice, spotted Lu Qingshan sitting on the wall, and frowned, calling out, "You young brat, spewing nonsense. What are you talking about?

You're quite bold. Didn't I warn everyone to stay away from this courtyard to prevent the spirit from possessing someone and escaping?"

Lu Qingshan jumped down from the wall into the courtyard, looked at the peach wood sword in Taoist Priest Bai Piao's hand, and said, "This sword, well, it indeed looks quite mystical. As for you, you're clearly putting on an act."

This world might have Taoist practices, but the person in front of him was not a cultivator capable of casting spells, just an ordinary man.

However, the peach wood sword in the Taoist's hand was indeed not a mere mortal artifact, if Lu Qingshan was not mistaken, it was definitely a magic artifact.

"With the help of this peach wood sword, you've indeed scared away quite a few spirits, so you're not entirely a fraud.

But today's situation is something your peach wood sword can't resolve.

If you give me this peach wood sword as a fee, I will help you solve this trouble, saving your life as well. How about it?" Lu Qingshan proposed.

Bai Piao Taoist's expression changed, "Who are you?"

Someone like Bai Piao Taoist, who had long mingled in the marketplaces, was extremely slick and cautious.

From the few words Lu Qingshan had uttered, he had immediately sensed something and no longer underestimated him due to his youthful appearance.

Lu Qingshan did not reply directly, but channeled the Spiritual Power within his body.

One of the incense sticks in the censer on the long table unexpectedly flew up into the air.

Object Control, this was the most basic application of Spiritual Power.

With Lu Qingshan's Qi Refinement second level of Cultivation, he could only just barely manipulate such light objects and was still unable to move them significantly.

Although it had no practical use, it was enough to intimidate ordinary people.

"A Cultivator?!" Bai Piao Taoist, looking at the incense suspended in the air, exclaimed in shock.

Lu Qingshan nodded slightly, "It's good that you recognize the status of a Cultivator."

Seeing Lu Qingshan acknowledging his identity as a Cultivator, the expression on Bai Piao Taoist's face changed rapidly, and quite quickly he put on a smiling face.

Holding the Peach Wood Sword with both hands, Bai Piao Taoist walked up to Lu Qingshan and spoke respectfully, "This Peach Wood Sword is an heirloom of my family. It is an honor for it to catch your eye."

A smile covered Bai Piao Taoist's face, but inside his heart was bleeding.

Bai Piao Taoist wasn't exaggerating, the Peach Wood Sword really was his family heirloom, passed down from his ancestors.

In his youth, he had been lazy and unskilled, incapable of earning a living, and in times of difficulty, an idea struck him; taking his family's Peach Wood Sword, he stole a Taoist robe from a Taoist temple and pretended to be a Taoist capable of casting spells to make a living.

He knew his own limitations and initially approached it with a mindset of deceiving anyone he could.

But, unexpectedly, he later found that in places where he had pretended to perform rituals, no malevolent phenomena occurred ever again.

He naturally didn't believe it was due to his rituals. After much deliberation, he finally concluded that it must be the ancestral Peach Wood Sword that indeed had some paranormal aspects.

Leveraging this Peach Wood Sword, Bai Piao Taoist gradually earned quite a reputation.

It could be said that the Peach Wood Sword was his tool for making a living.

Could he not feel heartbroken about giving away his means of livelihood?

But the young man before him was a legendary Cultivator capable of wielding Taoist magic; what if he showed resistance, and the Cultivator turned him to ashes with a burst of Spiritual Fire?

Fortunately, over the years he had accumulated some savings. It seemed he should use these savings to start a business after returning home; without the Peach Wood Sword, he felt uneasy dealing with spirits.

Lu Qingshan took the Peach Wood Sword from Bai Piao Taoist's hands and looked at him with a half-smile, his face full of ingratiating intent, "Do you think I am using my power to forcefully take your Peach Wood Sword?"

"This Peach Wood Sword is clearly my tribute to a true master like you, given voluntarily. How could it be said that you snatched it from me!" Bai Piao Taoist argued righteously.

"Well, Bai Piao, you are indeed shrewd, but you need not harbor any resentment because if I hadn't come today, you would most likely have lost your life here.

Getting a life for a Peach Wood Sword, you are actually not at a loss."

Without waiting for Bai Piao Taoist to respond, Lu Qingshan, holding the Peach Wood Sword, swiped it towards a corner of the yard, and a purple-green Sword Light suddenly shot out from the Peach Wood Sword.

The moment he touched the Peach Wood Sword, Lu Qingshan had obtained all the information about the sword.

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[Peach Wood Sword]

Level: High-grade Mortal Artifact

Description: Peach wood, the essence of the five types of wood, thus it suppresses evil spirits. This sword is crafted from the heartwood of a hundred-year-old peach tree and has many supernatural aspects.

Magic Artifact Effect: Exorcism +1

Active Effects: [Thunder Force]

The heartwood of a hundred-year-old peach tree can slowly absorb the Thunder Force of Heaven and Earth stored within the sword's core; you can discharge the Thunder Force stored in the sword's core to release a Thunder Sword Light, effective attack range of 30 meters.

Thunder Force (20/20)

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