It has been recorded in ancient classics: Peaches are the essence of the five woods, and they have been used since ancient times to suppress evil spirits. This is a sacred wood, and the spirit of peach wood is at the ghost gate, controlling hundreds of ghosts. Therefore, making a peach wood sword to suppress evil is a magical technique.

  The peach wood, also known as the dragon-reducing wood, is recorded in ancient books. Later, Hou Yi was killed by a peach wood stick and after his death, he was enshrined as the Zongbu God. This god often appears under a peach tree with a tiger on a leash. Every ghost must go to be examined, and if its an evil ghost, it will be eaten by the tiger. Therefore, all evil ghosts deliberately avoid the peach wood when they encounter it.

  The peach wood sword wielded by Cha Wenbin, although rough, was quite particular. It was about seven inches long and no wider than two fingers. From a distance, it looked like a toy used by rural children to play horseback riding and fighting. The sword body did not have a sharp blade, with a blunt head, having form but no substance. It seemed ordinary, yet there was a red thread that wrapped from the handle to his middle finger.

  It is generally believed that the ten fingers are connected to the heart, and the so-called Taoist techniques are also driven by spiritual willpower. When the mind is correct, it means yang is prosperous, yin and yang are restrained, evil cannot overcome righteousness, so biting open the middle finger with blood in the mouth is called pure yang blood, which is the essence of the practitioners blood. It can overcome evil, but it can also be counterattacked by evil, depending on whether the magic is one foot higher or the Tao is one zhang higher between the two.

  He was only 16 or 17 years old, and according to current calculations, he is still a minor. I dont know how deep his learning of Taoism is, but those things were arranged in an orderly manner by him. As someone who has lived in the countryside since childhood, I have also seen them before, after all, my grandfather was in that line of work. However, Pangzi and Xiaobai couldnt understand at all, can these things really be useful?

  That old branch secretary is also a timid person. Fatso went to his house and added oil and vinegar to the story of Old Qius father, scaring him so much that he almost cut off his own hand on the spot. After all, everyone knew about Old Qius wife jumping into the water with her daughter back then, but he didnt know there was another story behind it.

  That black dog didnt even lose its life, the fatty cut a small gash on its thigh and applied some blood to the peach wood sword. The two sides were brushed until they shone brightly, just like they had been coated with lacquer. As compensation, Yuan Xiaobai boiled two eggs and fed them to the black dog, which was enough to send it away.

  The rest of the things were also ready, with four pieces of red and green paper clothes, each about half the size of a face basin. Seven copper coins were strung together with red silk thread, Ma Shuai carried them on his back, I held the inkstone, and the big rooster was put in a cage, with a black hood over its head.

  At that time, the strict crackdown was severe. In the wild village, it was naturally impossible to find high-end goods like compasses. A handful of old rice, a piece of sulfur fire and saltpeter with charcoal, a bottle of water from the river, and a handful of mud from the field.

  It took us the whole afternoon to collect these few things, and the incense, candles, and paper money were all stolen by Fatso from the ancestral hall. In the evening, several aunts shouted at the top of their lungs under the big tree at the village entrance: "Which familys little scoundrel doesnt behave well? You even steal money for the dead! Stealing it back home to use yourself isnt afraid that the ancestors will come looking for you tonight; Ah, how did this happen?! The ancestral incense was stolen! This is digging up the ancestors graves! Were all going to die! Which son of a bitch caused this calamity?...

  This guy almost made me laugh to death, and took the opportunity to tease: "Fatty, did you hear that? Someone is going to ask you for money tonight."

  Fatso saw Cha Wenbin take the peach wood sword, so he also went to carve one. But I think it looks more like a firewood stick. He held it in his hand and brandished it: "No money? Got a peach wood sword! As a Maoshan Taoist, I have the Three Pure Ones protecting me from above and the Five Emperors supporting me from below. You dare to ask for incense money? If you annoy me, Ill set your place on fire tomorrow!"

  "Get me one too."

  "Cut it yourself, theres still a pile of wood over there."

  So I followed suit and whittled one out. For someone who grew up playing horseback riding and fighting, it was a piece of cake to make a wooden sword in no time.

  Qius house was still pitch black, he didnt need to light a lamp, his eyes were like those of a cat, it was an innate gift, a rare talent that few people possessed: night vision.

  Yè yǎn hé yīn yáng yǎn bù tóng, hòu zhě néng jiàn dào cháng rén jiàn bù dào de dōng xi, qián zhě zhǐ shì duì guāng xiàn gèng wéi mǐn gǎn. Zào tóu shàng shì liǎng gè zuó tiān shèng xià de fān shǔ, kàn lái Qiū dà yé jīn wǎn yǐ jīng méi xīn qíng chī fàn le. Chá Wén bīn mō chū nà méi jīn bì rì guò gěi tā dào: "Nín yào xiāng xìn wǒ jiù ná zhe, tā shì gè hài rén de wán yì, bèi chóu hèn má bi de lì guǐ, bú chú le, zhè bèi zi chámen dōu bù huì zǒu chū qù."

  Qiu Da Ye took the gold coin and wiped it with his sleeve, nodding slowly: "Its the same thing, no mistake. The one I stole back then was also like this. Im a dying man, an old bone, nothing matters anymore. You young ones still have a long way to go, if my life can be exchanged for your safety, its worth it."

  "Zha Wenbin instructed, Xiao Bai and Xiao Yi stay in the house with him. Ill be outside with Pangzi. As long as I dont call you, dont come out. As long as youre inside, nothing will go wrong."

  He and Fatso turned around and were about to leave, I felt a bit uneasy in my heart, worriedly asking: "Wen Bin, are there really ghosts in this world?"

  Zha Wenbin turned around and smiled at me, saying: "Even if there are ghosts, whats there to be afraid of? People die and thats it, what else can happen? We did take things from here, but we didnt say wed occupy the place. If you want to come and cause trouble without reason, then Ill ask our ancestors to have a word with her."

  "With a click, the door was locked, the window was closed, and on the yellow talisman paper were drawn red lines of various shapes - that was cinnabar, and it was also my first time seeing Zhao Wenbin draw talismans."

  The material of the symbol paper is slightly different from that of the yellow paper, and it must be cut with a ruler, not a knife. As for the ruler, the old-fashioned ruler is very particular, one foot two inches long, eight points thick, and one inch two points wide, without any deviation. The length and width measured by the ruler are determined by the scale, and what comes out is either one or two, with no room for compromise, somewhat like Judge Baos verdicts and the judges enforcement of the law.

  The inkstone must be made of cinnabar, which is collected from the veins of the sun and moons essence. As it absorbs the positive energy of heaven and earth, it has a very strong pure yang magnetic field. Holding it in your hand gives a warm tactile sensation. If you dont believe me, you can go home and buy one to try, just be careful not to get it in your eyes or mouth.

  Cinnabar is different from jade and other minerals, it feels cool in the hand. Because cinnabar has a strong yang energy field, it is very effective in driving away yin things. In our ancestors thousand-year history and culture, cinnabar has been used to ward off evil spirits, draw talismans, and open lights. Not only Taoists, but also Buddhist monks use cinnabar for opening lights, warding off evil spirits, and calming evil spirits, all of which cannot be done without cinnabar.

  The brush is not so particular, an ordinary brush will do, its just that when you start writing, the skill becomes apparent.

  Cha Wenbin went from dipping his pen in ink to starting to write completely smoothly, muttering incantations under his breath. The incantation was something I couldnt understand at all. It was an extremely strange pronunciation, with a tone that made people feel like it was a woman humming with her eyes closed and nose pinched shut, long and continuous yet changing extremely quickly. Neither northern nor southern dialect, truly as if it were heavenly script. According to legend, reciting the incantation from a book is useless, because although the book records the meaning of the incantation in Chinese, the pronunciation doesnt follow the rhythm of ordinary speech at all. Its just like using translated English vocabulary to speak with foreigners - they still wont understand you.

  From the first stroke to the last, the brush never leaves the paper. The strokes in between change and transform along with his incantations, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes heavy, sometimes light, with infinite variations all coming from a single thought in his mind. This is why the same talisman, when he draws it, works, but even if I copy it a million times, it wont have any effect at all.

  After finishing the painting, he bit his middle finger and pressed it on top to seal the deal. Although the conditions were limited, after completing these few strokes, Cha Wenbin was already sweating profusely and panting heavily. After all, he was still young and inexperienced in Taoism.

  Outside was a courtyard, with stones sandwiched between fences, one person high, the gate faced south by northwest seven degrees. Zhang Wenbin didnt have a compass, so he could only use the stars to estimate roughly. He drew a diagram on the ground with his foot, which looked like an inverted gourd shape, wide in front and narrow behind, then wider again, and narrower again.

  The gourd was sprinkled with fine ash along the lines by the fat man, and the door of the house had a grid pattern made of inkstone powder, nine rows horizontally and vertically. The windows were also the same. In front of the gate, Old Books big black dog was tied up, now lying on the ground "ah-woo, ah-woo" licking the opening scratched by the fat man, staring at him with a resentful gaze but not daring to bark. People are afraid of the fierce, dogs are afraid of the mixed, but the fat man is absolutely stupid, as long as it dares to bark at him, we will have meat to eat tomorrow.

  It was busy, the black dog licking its hind legs kept sneaking glances at the fat one. With a "whoosh", it stood up, its two ears spinning as it adjusted its footsteps to stare fixedly in one direction...