Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Chapter 25: Evil-Suppressing Talisman, Meritorious Wooden Fish
In the end, Su Qing only purchased twelve merit wooden fish from the Treasure Pavilion, spending a total of thirty-six spirit crystals.

As for other things, apart from exorcism talismans, they are still too expensive for him at the moment.

This isn't Baibaoge's problem; it's his own problem.

After leaving the Treasure Pavilion, he headed straight for the stall area and saw the familiar old Taoist priest still setting up his stall in the same place, which made him very relieved. The talismans here were much cheaper than those at the Treasure Pavilion!

"Many fellow cultivators have been busy in the hunting grounds lately. With your cultivation level, you haven't even joined in the fun?"

Su Qing approached the stall, cupped her hands in greeting, and asked with a smile.

He was genuinely curious. This old Taoist priest, with his late-stage Qi Refining cultivation and status as a talisman master, had mastered exquisite Taoist arts. In his youth, he must have been a formidable figure.

With his skills, he could easily slaughter everyone in that hunting area, far surpassing those half-baked rogue cultivators. Yet, for some reason, he remained unmoved and continued to set up his stall there.

There's no time when you can't set up a stall, but this opportunity of the monster descending the mountain is one you won't get again if you miss it!

"The nail that sticks out gets hammered down first. The daily output of those rogue cultivators, who is more capable and who is less capable, are all reported to the disciples of Yunshan Sect by the buyers."

"My meager skills are nothing special, but I fear others might covet them. Besides, with my current lifespan, why should I take any risks? Do you think I can gather enough spirit stones to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill by hunting a few demonic beasts?"

In the afternoon, most of the rogue cultivators were busy in the hunting area. The old Taoist priest didn't have much business, so he was willing to chat with Su Qing for a while.

Su Qing noticed that the old Taoist priest's gaze was mostly fixed on the lizard warriors behind him.

"That's why we say we should learn from our seniors. Since we have a skill, we should be able to endure loneliness. We won't have to worry about making a living anyway, so there's no need to risk our lives for windfall gains."

"Fellow Daoist, you seem quite interested in this puppet of mine. Please take a good look at it, and I'll also take a look at your talismans while I'm at it—it's a way of supporting your business."

And so, the old Taoist priest selling talismans looked at the puppets, while Su Qing, who sold the puppets, picked out the talismans. They didn't try to sell to each other. They were both veterans who dealt with talismans, and they had their own eyes. They could tell eight or nine out of ten things at a glance.

"Young man, you've made further progress in the art of runes. If I'm not mistaken, the intelligent runes on this puppet are actually at the second tier?"

A moment later, when the old Taoist looked up at Su Qing again, a glint of light appeared in his cloudy eyes, as if he had discovered a rare treasure.

Su Qing took it as a compliment to his skills in intelligent runes, and humbly responded with a few words, while also politely praising the old Taoist's expertise in exorcism runes.

Because he saw more than one exorcism talisman on the stall. Such talismans could only be drawn by talisman masters who had a deep understanding of second-tier exorcism talismans. The fact that the old Taoist could take out so many to sell meant that his success rate must be quite high.

After exchanging compliments, the two quickly reached a deal.

Su Qing sacrificed a heavily armored lizard warrior.

I exchanged three talismans for a total of six hundred spirit crystals from the old Taoist priest, as well as more than forty exorcism talismans.

Having obtained the talisman, and with business not lacking lately, Su Qing had no intention of setting up a stall here. Taking advantage of the remaining daylight, he mounted his iron-legged horse and hurried home.

Before it's confirmed that nothing will happen at Gaojia Shop.

He has been too afraid to go out at night lately.

On the way, when he passed by Gao's butcher shop, he casually placed a few more Wood Spirit servants nearby.

These wood spirit servants had not established a spiritual connection with him, did not emit spiritual fluctuations, and could not synchronize their vision with his.

However, it can instinctively record everything that happens around it, and when it collects them again, it can use its divine sense to view the recorded images.

Thus, the Wood Spirit Servant was truly like an inanimate object, without any fluctuation of divine consciousness. It was likely that the evil spirit would not be able to detect it. If it really lingered near the Gao family's shop, it would not be able to escape the Wood Spirit Servant's detection should it show itself.

Actually, the best way to observe evil spirits is to place the Wood Spirit servants inside the Gao family's shop.

But Su Qing still felt uneasy about going to the Gao family's shop, which was said to be haunted by evil spirits, so she decided against it. She arrived at her doorstep.

He did want to remind Tang Wanqing to prepare more exorcism talismans recently and to go to the Gao family's shop less often.

But before he could knock on the door, he saw the note left on it.

The hand that held the knife couldn't hold the pen properly; Tang Wanqing's handwriting was messy and quite ugly, but thankfully it was still legible.

[I'm currently staying in the mountains hunting monsters. Feel free to leave a message if you need anything, and I'll visit you all when I return. (Note: The witch puppet business is operating normally; you can find the Joyful Hut in the central area.)]

"Is this woman really going to switch careers and become a demon hunter? She's killing so many demons that she doesn't even go home anymore!"
Su Qing thought to herself that Tang Wanqing was really crazy and had a lot of courage, but then she thought that Tang Wanqing hadn't encountered any evil spirits in the wild, but she had run into one at home. Where could she go to reason with that?

Tang Wanqing wasn't home, so he went to Zhang Hai's house for a quick look.

Seeing that he was still in seclusion, and remembering that this fellow Daoist had previously promoted him, Su Qing gritted his teeth and ordered the lizard warriors to climb into the courtyard, and pasted five exorcism talismans on the inside of the courtyard gate.

It's better to be safe than sorry. This fellow Daoist is a decent person. If he was harmed by evil spirits while in seclusion at home, it would be truly a great injustice.

Returning from Zhang Hai's house, before it was even dark, he immediately ordered all the puppets to move the materials that were laid out in the courtyard into the room.

These days, he doesn't dare to make puppets in the yard anymore.

When he rented this courtyard before, he was not able to refine medium and large-sized puppets. He could only refine some wood spirit servants, spider doctors, and some puppet parts that other puppeteers asked him to refine.

To save on rent, the space requirements for the puppet-making room are not large. Now, it's a bit crowded here to make lizard warriors.

"Once I've earned enough spirit crystals, I'll also get a spirit house to live in."

Thinking that Tang Wanqing was in the wild and perhaps living more comfortably than she was, Su Qing couldn't help but feel envious again.

Affixing a talisman to the bottom of the main entrance is much more powerful than an exorcism talisman. One talisman is equivalent to more than a hundred exorcism talismans, which is much cheaper than accumulating exorcism talismans.

The twelve merit wooden fish are said to be used by Buddhist practitioners. Although they have no spiritual power, they are somewhat imbued with the merit of Buddhism, and might be of some use when encountering evil spirits.

Su Qing tried it out, and each time she struck it, the dragon-headed wooden fish-shaped instrument lit up with a yellow light and produced a crisp sound, which seemed somewhat mystical.

Although it wasn't worth many spirit crystals, he didn't want to waste it, so he divided the thirty-six wood spirit servants into groups of three to form a wooden fish team, which would then be dedicated to striking the wooden fish.

As night fell, he nervously clutched a stack of talismans, keeping a watchful eye on any movement outside.

For about two hours, apart from a few barks from the spirit dogs kept by the beast tamers nearby, there was no other noise.

"It seems that the evil spirit was easy to talk to. It let the Gao family's butcher shop go after taking two heads. Or did the exorcism array that Gao Erqiang hired work?"

Su Qing was puzzled, but it was good that nothing was wrong. Relaxed, he began his work for the night.

Because of the evil spirits, he didn't refine any puppets last night or during the day today. He even spent a lot of spirit crystals to exorcise the evil spirits.

This back and forth resulted in a loss of several thousand spirit crystals.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but curse Gao Erqiang a few more times.

He skillfully prepared the talisman water, drew the runes, coated the claws, and activated the puppet.

After a busy night, both of his attempts to create the puppets ended in failure, leaving him in a bad mood.

The next morning, when he went out, his face looked like someone owed him money.

(End of this chapter)