Five, Legal Instruments

  Five, Legal Instruments

  Bai Yu arrived at the outskirts of town, preparing to search for a section of peach wood from last year. He wanted to make a peach wood sword. Generally, peach trees that grow deep in the mountains have more spiritual energy than those cultivated by people, and the wooden swords made from them are also exceptionally powerful. So he came to try his luck. There was a small mountain outside the town, not very high or large, but Bai Yu surprisingly felt a significant fluctuation of spiritual energy emanating from it. As he walked to the foot of the mountain, he didn't expect to find a house at the bottom! A solitary thatched hut stood alone. In this small courtyard surrounded by a bamboo fence, an old man with white hair and beard was lying on an armchair, dozing off. Bai Yu approached him and called out: "Old sir, old sir." The old man heard the shout and slowly opened his eyes, still dazed.

  The old man rubbed his eyes and yawned: "What's going on?"

  Bai Yu bowed and smiled: "Sir, I see that the old man has built a house on this mountain, he must have stayed here for a long time. I wonder if there are any ancient peach trees on this mountain."

  The old man glanced at him sideways, chuckled and said: "A peach wood that has been around for a long time? You must also be a cultivator, just like Xiaojian from the Yi Manor."

  Bai Yu was taken aback for a moment, Xiao Jiu? He immediately reacted and should be Ninth Uncle. He couldn't help but chuckle secretly, but looking at the old man's apparent age in front of him, he could indeed be called that title. So he smiled: "Yes, I am still considered to be from the same school as him, both from the Mao Shan lineage."

  "Ah, you've come looking for a peach wood tree that's been around for many years to make a peach wood sword?" The old man nodded and asked.

  "Yes."

  The old man suddenly smiled and said, "Then you've found the right person. A few days ago, there was a heavy rainstorm with strong winds and thunderbolts flashing about. At that time, I guessed that heaven wanted to capture the monster. After the rain, when I went to collect firewood, I discovered that the oldest peach tree on the mountain had been struck by lightning and split into several pieces. I took the largest piece back to my home. That old peach tree had existed for many years since I was a child, it's possible that it had become a spirit. Later, I don't know what evil deeds it did, but it was taken away by heaven."

  Bai Yu's eyes lit up when he heard the old man's words, and an overwhelming joy suddenly surged in his heart. Why? Because this was the legendary Thunderstruck Wood! The Thunderstruck Wood was originally a peach wood that had been struck by lightning on a stormy day, and its body had absorbed the aura of the thunder fire. If it were made into a magic tool, not only would it greatly enhance the spell to attract lightning, but if a special seal were applied, it would automatically absorb the energy of the heavenly thunder. When attacking, the power of the heavenly thunder would increase several times over.

  He rushed up and grabbed the old man's hand, saying: "Where is that broken wood? Take me there quickly!"

  The old man was startled and said, "I'll take you there, quickly let go of my hand."

  Bai Yu somewhat embarrassedly let go of the old man's hand, scratched his head and said: "Grandpa, take me there quickly, I'm in a hurry to use it."

  The old man's eyes rolled around and he chuckled: "It can be done, but...". As he spoke, he rubbed his fingers together.

  Bai Yu naturally knew what it meant and hurriedly took out ten dollars from his pocket, saying: "Here you are, this should be enough, right?"

  The old man's face lit up with a smile, and he blew a breath into the ocean, listened to the echo, and chuckled: "No problem, I'll take you there right away." He then led the way, his feet moving quickly, and soon they arrived at a simple shed behind the thatched hut. He pointed to a charred piece of wood and said: "This is the accursed wood."

  Bai Yu didn't care about the content of his words, and after sensing the spiritual energy in the wood with his magic, he was even more overjoyed. This peach tree was at least several hundred years old, and making it into a magical artifact through thunderfire infusion would be an invaluable treasure.

  He eagerly picked up the piece of wood and bid farewell to the old man, returning to refine his magic tool.

  Back at the Yi Zhuang, he gave Ninth Uncle a victorious salute and said that he would be refining his magic tool and didn't need to be disturbed. He then entered his own room without stopping, closed the door behind him, and with an excited heart, carefully placed the Thunderstruck Wood on the table. After observing it for a while, he thought about how to proceed with carving it. This piece of Thunderstruck Wood was roughly one meter five in length, making it very suitable for crafting a Peachwood Sword, which was also what White Feather desired most. A Mo Shan cultivator without a Peachwood Sword would be ridiculed by their peers; after all, the Peachwood Sword was the most common, frequently used, and basic type of magic tool among Mo Shan cultivators. Not having a Peachwood Sword wouldn't just reduce a Mo Shan cultivator's attack power but also lower their intimidation factor against ghostly evil creatures.

  Of course, in terms of attack power, the peach wood sword's attack power is much smaller than that of the copper coin sword. But this thunder strike wood is another story altogether, and the upper fire is absolutely the nemesis of evil objects, and even righteous people will be afraid of it for three points. In fact, Bai Yu also wanted to make a copper coin sword, but good materials were really hard to find. Generally speaking, not only did it have to be a copper coin produced by an ancient dynasty, but it also had to have strong gas luck. To find such good materials, Bai Yu seemed to have no choice but to go grave robbing.

  Bai Yu had already made up his mind, without a single hesitation, and took out an engraving knife from his pocket to carve the lightning-struck wood. His spirit was highly concentrated, his hands were steady, not daring to tremble in the slightest, fearing that if he wasn't careful, it would be ruined.

  First, he roughly shaped the sword, then carved patterns on the hilt and guard. Bai Yu carefully carved every strand of pattern on the hilt, meticulously polishing each one. Then, he carved an eight trigrams diagram on both sides of the hilt. The blade was sharpened, with fine engravings. After a long while, he let out a breath, and the sword body became slender, revealing its elegant shape. Holding the peach wood sword in his hand, he couldn't bear to part with it. After all, this was his first magical artifact, also the first one he made himself, and perhaps this artifact would accompany him for a long time.

  However, just carving it is not enough to be successful, and it must also be consecrated! Only after consecration can it be considered a magical instrument, and only then can it drive away evil spirits. The consecration of truly good magical instruments is not like those in temples or Taoist temples, where reciting two sentences of scriptures is enough. Such high-grade magical instruments require precious blood to match with special spells! Precious blood is precious, and wasting a single drop will make people mentally exhausted.

  But this time, Bai Yu was determined to go all out. He bit his middle finger and forced out a few drops of blood essence, which he gently dripped onto the wooden sword. Then, he quickly formed a hand seal, and it seemed as if something was guiding him as he rapidly expanded his aura in all directions. The blood essence soon permeated every inch of the wooden sword, and Bai Yu circulated his internal energy along with the flow of blood essence into every strand of the peach wood sword.

  The peach wood sword gradually emitted a blood-red glow, and after about half an hour, the glow dimmed. A fierce and thick aura flowed out from the peach wood sword. This magical instrument was successfully activated! At this time, the sky had already fallen into darkness, with birds chirping and insects buzzing outside the house.

  Bai Yu put it on the table, under physical and mental exhaustion, fantasizing about himself holding a peach wood sword to slay demons and monsters, with his dream of slaying demons and monsters, he fell asleep. The rooster's crowing in the early morning woke Bai Yu from his sleep, he opened his sleepy eyes, stretched out his hand and touched the peach wood sword.

  Watching Taomu Sword's silly joy, Taomu Sword seemed to have felt its master's delight at this time, and it was lightly trembling in Baiyu's hand.

  A cultivator, once possessing a magic weapon, will generally first cultivate proficiency with the magic weapon. When one's proficiency with the magic weapon reaches a certain level, their combat strength will increase significantly, and they may even be able to wield the sword with special techniques. Conversely, if one's proficiency with the magic weapon is insufficient, their combat strength will decrease accordingly.

  With two days left before the appointment with Ninth Uncle, Bai Yu used this time to diligently practice and crazily brush up on his proficiency. However, it was unclear whether it was due to the system's modification or because this artifact was personally refined by him. Except for the initial feeling of unfamiliarity at the beginning of practice, the proficiency rose rapidly in the following days, with every sword strike yielding a bit more insight, allowing him to find a better angle to strike the second sword, gradually becoming smooth and effortless.

  Two days of practice made him feel that every time he picked up the peach wood sword, it was as if he had an extra part on his body, and this part was as handy as both hands.

  This was the day when Old Man Li was going to be unearthed, so Wen Cai got up early in the morning. Qiu Sheng arrived at the Yi Zhuang even earlier, and the two of them worked together to prepare a lot of things. There were dozens of incense sticks alone, and they had all sorts of different lengths and thicknesses. Although Bai Yu had inherited the basic skills of Mao Shan, what was written above only introduced some simple techniques or ordinary uses. The methods for making instruments and talismans were more numerous, but there were very few records of opening altars. Although his current cultivation level was not much different from that of Ninth Uncle, he now had eight strands of Fa Li, while Ninth Uncle only had a dozen or so. However, Ninth Uncle was the authentic heir of Mao Shan after all! He remembered that in the story, Ninth Uncle also had a book of secret techniques of Mao Shan. Although his talent was limited, Bai Yu had learned from years of experience. What Ninth Uncle knew, Bai Yu would definitely know; what Ninth Uncle could do, Bai Yu would definitely not be able to do - this was one such thing. Opening an altar was a very useful technique that allowed oneself to communicate with yin and yang and set up arrays, using weak Fa Li to achieve the greatest effect.

  But thinking of the Miao Shan secret technique in Jiu Shu's hands, Bai Yu couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement again, and he had to find an opportunity to "borrow" it for use. He believed that after learning it, his strength would definitely increase significantly.

  After about an hour of preparation, Wen Caiqiu finally got ready. Ninth Uncle called in Bai Yu to take a short rest and have some tea. Before long, someone sent by Old Master Ren arrived at the front hall and said respectfully, "Ninth Uncle, Old Master Ren has sent us to move things." Ninth Uncle responded with a nod, calling out to Wen Caiqiu, and several people followed behind him as they headed towards the ancestral tomb of the Ren family.

  However, the Chinese people's nature of watching excitement is a tradition. Even if it's just moving an ancestral tomb, hundreds of people from the town will come to watch. At this time, Ninth Uncle put on a apricot yellow Taoist robe and also wore a Taoist crown on his head.

  The incense burner was placed in front of Ren Lao Tai Ye's grave, and Ren Lao Ye went forward to offer incense with great respect. Afterwards, he came to Jiu Shu's side and said: "Jiu Shu, the feng shui master who examined this burial site years ago said that it is a very difficult one to find, but it is a good site."

  Ninth Uncle nodded and said, "Not bad, this cave is called the Dragonfly Water Cave, three feet four inches long and only three feet can be used, one foot three inches wide and only four feet are useful, so coffins cannot be placed flat, they must be buried in a hidden way."