My happy life in a courtyard house with triplets.

Chapter 543: The Glowing Peach Wood Sword

The next morning, Zhang Lei dug out an old computer that had been gathering dust for a long time. After skillfully operating it, he logged into a hidden secret database.

Entering the unique password to unlock the interface, tens of thousands of complex data entries instantly popped up on the screen. Zhang Lei precisely filtered the entries, entering keywords such as "strange tales," "religious beliefs," and "mystical arts," and pressed Enter to confirm the search was complete.

After doing all this, he shut down his computer, casually put the device into his personal storage space, and slowly lay back on his personal recliner, quietly waiting for the situation to unfold.

Not long after I lay down, a soft, sweet, childish voice rang out: "Brother Zhang Lei."

Zhang Lei looked up and saw that it was Xiao Nuomi. He smiled gently and replied, "Good morning, Xiao Nuomi."

Little Nuomi opened her round, bright eyes and sweetly replied, "Hello, Brother Zhang Lei, I'm going to school now."

Standing to the side, Xiao Nuomi's mother repeatedly thanked Zhang Lei, her attitude humble and sincere.

After seeing the mother and daughter off, Zhang Lei sat alone for the entire morning, feeling utterly bored. He decided to get up and wander aimlessly, stopping and starting as he went, until he unknowingly arrived at the gate of an ancient temple.

Looking at the ancient temple gate, he couldn't help but think of the monk he had met the night before. He secretly pondered that perhaps he could find the answer he was looking for in the temple, so he decided to step inside and find out.

The area around the temple is filled with stalls, and vendors selling incense, prayer accessories, and peace pendants are everywhere, creating a lively and bustling atmosphere.

Just as Zhang Lei was about to step into the temple gate, a Taoist priest in a Taoist robe suddenly stepped forward and stopped him.

Zhang Lei was slightly taken aback, his heart filled with surprise. A Taoist priest was setting up a stall at the entrance of a temple to stop people? He couldn't help but wonder how this person had managed to establish himself so peacefully in Buddhist territory.

He stopped and glanced at the items on the Taoist priest's stall, casually asking, "How much are these?"

The Taoist priest sized Zhang Lei up and down, his face full of a smooth smile: "This young benefactor has an extraordinary appearance; he is clearly a person of good fortune. Today, we are destined to meet. Please feel free to choose any item from the stall, and I will give you a 50% discount on everything."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lei inwardly scoffed, "Good heavens, half price right off the bat? This whole bunch is probably low-quality fakes. Even if they were offered at a rock-bottom price, I wouldn't want them."

Despite his complaints, he couldn't help but glance at the stall a few more times. Just then, his eyes suddenly changed. With his special ability, he could clearly see that some of the items were surrounded by a faint glow.

His gaze finally settled on an old-fashioned wooden sword. Zhang Lei tapped the sword with his fingertip and asked curiously, "How much does this wooden sword cost?"

The Taoist priest's eyes lit up, and he immediately began to flatter, "Benefactor, you have a good eye! This is a genuine peach wood sword, a magic weapon of our Taoist sect for slaying demons and suppressing evil. The original price was 18,888, but today's special offer is not 8,888, not even 888, just 88, and you can take it away directly."

The outrageous price startled Zhang Lei, who couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Are you sure you didn't buy this in bulk from the wholesale market?"

The Taoist priest looked bewildered and blurted out, "Is it that obvious?"

Passersby who happened to hear this burst into laughter.

After the initial embarrassment, the Taoist priest remained undeterred and insisted, "Don't underestimate this ordinary peach wood sword, benefactor. It has been personally blessed by Master Tongtian of our Taoist sect and is imbued with pure magical power. It can slay demons, exorcise evil spirits, and ward off misfortune."

His rambling and nonsensical ramblings only drew even louder laughter from the onlookers.

A young tourist nearby couldn't help but tease, "Slaying demons and monsters? Why don't you just say you're the Moral Celestial Venerable descended to earth?"

The crowd assumed the Taoist priest was a charlatan, and after watching the spectacle for a while, they gradually dispersed, leaving only Zhang Lei and his companion behind.

Zhang Lei stared at the Taoist priest, his expression serious, and asked, "You're saying these things really have magical power?"

The Taoist priest nodded firmly: "Of course there is."

"Then give me a performance right here," Zhang Lei raised an eyebrow. "If it satisfies me, I'll give you not just eighty-eight, but eight hundred and eighty-eight, or even eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight."

The Taoist priest's eyes lit up with wild joy, and he asked incredulously, "Is this really true?"

After receiving Zhang Lei's affirmative answer, the Taoist priest immediately took out a yellow talisman, muttered incantations, and uttered a series of obscure and difficult-to-understand incantations.

After all that effort, not a single unusual phenomenon appeared. The talisman was utterly unremarkable, even less noticeable than the spiritual light emanating from the peach wood sword.

Zhang Lei shook his head slightly, took out a hundred yuan in cash from his pocket and handed it over: "Alright, alright, stop pretending, keep the change."

After saying that, he casually picked up the peach wood sword, held it in his hand, played with it for a moment, and then turned and left the stall.

The Taoist priest stared at Zhang Lei's departing figure, his face full of doubt. He wondered to himself, "Could it be that my spellcasting steps are wrong? My senior brother always fools people like this."

Looking down at the hundred-yuan bill clutched in his hand, all his doubts vanished instantly, and he was overjoyed.

He knew perfectly well that these peach wood swords were all substandard products purchased in bulk at low prices, with only a small portion having been blessed by his senior brother through rituals.

Suddenly, a shout rang out: "Yunjizi! It's you again! How dare you deceive worshippers at our temple gate! Get out of here!"

The visitor was a monk from the temple.

Yunjizi was the same Taoist priest who had just tricked Zhang Lei into buying the peach wood sword. Upon seeing the monks approaching, he hurriedly packed up all the odds and ends from his stall, slung them over his shoulder, and ran away, cursing, "You bunch of stinking monks, you bald donkeys! Come and chase me if you dare!"

The monks were enraged by the insults and immediately gave chase.

Yunjizi ran wildly until his legs were weak and he could no longer run, then stopped and bought a bottle of water at a roadside shop to catch his breath. Looking back and confirming that the monk was long gone, he secretly felt smug, thinking to himself: "I'll go again next time."

A moment later, Yunjizi hurried back to a dilapidated and old Taoist temple.

As soon as I stepped into the Taoist temple gate, a stern reprimanding voice greeted me: "Where have you been gallivanting off to again? Have you finished your morning and evening prayers for today?"

Upon hearing his senior brother's voice, Yun Jizi frowned and casually replied, "Senior brother, I went out to earn money. Look at our Qingxuan Temple, it's so deserted, there's not even a single person offering incense."

The speaker was none other than his senior brother, Xuan Yangzi.

Xuan Yangzi looked at his good-for-nothing, idle junior brother and shook his head helplessly: "You don't need to worry about money. You just need to stay in the temple and focus on your cultivation and homework. Don't go out and swindle all day long. Your rudimentary magic is nothing to brag about."