Divine Tang Era

There are many places in Jingning County that sell talismans, but the cheapest one is undoubtedly the county government office.

However, the talismans used by the county government were collected from below, and although they could be used, their power varied.

Hearing Chen Ding and the others' words, Xu Dan immediately lost the desire to buy anything. After thinking for a moment, he headed towards Donglai Palace. After all, they were authorities in the field of worshipping gods and exorcising ghosts.

Upon entering Donglai Palace, the chubby little Taoist boy was sleeping at the offering table in front of the Three Pure Ones statues, just as he had been the day before, clutching his whisk. Xu Dan quietly approached and whispered in his ear, "Someone's stealing something."

The young Taoist priest jumped up in fright, glaring and shouting, "Where did this little thief come from, daring to steal things from your Taoist temple?"

His eyes darted left and right, but he didn't spot any thief. Instead, he saw Xu Dan standing next to him and knew perfectly well that it was Xu Dan who was behind the trouble.

"Why are you here again? I don't have any scriptures to sell you," the young Taoist said irritably.

"I'm not buying scriptures today, I'm buying talismans," Xu Dan said.

"Oh, we've encountered a ghost." The young Taoist priest realized.

"How did you know?" Xu Dan asked curiously.

"Who would come here to buy talismans if they hadn't encountered a ghost? Do you have nothing better to do?" The young Taoist boy swept his whisk and pulled out a stack of talismans from his sleeve. "How many do you want to buy? I'll give you a discount if you buy a lot. The talismans from our Donglai Palace are very effective, much better than the random talismans collected by the county government."

How much?

"It's not expensive, 100 coins each. If you buy a lot, I can give you a few extra. How many do you want?"

Upon hearing his words, Xu Dan didn't know what to say.

One hundred coins per talisman wasn't expensive. A steamed bun only cost five coins, so one hundred coins could buy twenty buns. Although he thought the talismans were too expensive, he still bought a bunch. He had to buy them; he didn't want to encounter ghosts again.

After buying the talismans, I didn't stay at Donglai Palace for long and went straight back to the inn to paste the talismans.

To prevent ghosts from entering, he pasted talismans on every window and door in the inn. His bedroom was especially important; it was covered inside and out with talismans. If ghosts still came after all this, he truly had no way to deal with them.

After a busy day, it was almost noon, and I was a little hungry, so I went and bought a few steamed buns.

Eating out every day isn't a solution, so on my way back from buying steamed buns, I also bought a bunch of vegetables and meat.

After placing the vegetables in the kitchen, Xu Dan took a steamed bun and ate it as he walked out of the inn. The black bear followed closely behind, its tail wagging wildly, its eyes fixed on the steamed bun in its owner's hand, wanting a bite.

Xu Dan was preoccupied with something else and couldn't pay attention to it.

I went outside and stood on the road looking at the inn.

Originally, the inn was designed for people to live in, but now that he no longer wants to run it, he wants to change the layout and have someone make a small table and invite a deity to ward off evil spirits.

He is from Fujian province and is accustomed to having a deity in his home.

In addition, ghosts and spirits roam this area, and no one knows if any more ghosts will come tomorrow, so it is necessary to invite a deity to protect the house.

After taking a look, I feel that the door also needs to be repaired. It would be best to carve two door gods on it and hang a demon-revealing mirror on the door. In that case, even if ghosts come, they will have a hard time escaping under the heavy suppression of the demon-revealing mirror, the door gods, and the guardian deities. I will no longer have to face those things directly.

Arriving in the county town for the first time, I was unfamiliar with both people and place.

Xu Dan didn't know where to find a craftsman to make tables and desks and carve statues of gods and door gods, so he had to ask the shop assistant from yesterday for help.

The young man, named He Rong, was a kind-hearted person. After hearing his story, he immediately took him to find a carpenter. The carpenter was quite skilled; he could not only carve statues but also build houses.

Xu Dan then asked him to help renovate the inn. With money to be made, how could the carpenter refuse?

"I want to thank you so much for your help today. Once I've finished renovating the house, I'll definitely invite you over for a couple of drinks," Xu Dan said.

"It was nothing, no need to be so polite," He Rong said, then added, "Young master, are you really going to settle down here?"

"I've just arrived here and don't know anyone or anything. I have nowhere to go, so I might as well stay here for now. If it doesn't work out, I'll find another place."

"Since you'll be living here from now on, we'll be neighbors. Feel free to contact me if you need anything. Besides, I know Jingning County very well," He Rong said.

"Thank you very much."

"Young master, you're too kind."

The carpenter He Rong recommended was skilled and fast. In just three days, he replaced the drafty, peeling paint door, and the door gods carved on it were so lifelike that they inspired awe. The desk and eight-immortal table were also made according to Xu Dan's ideas, just waiting for the gods to take their places.

There's no rush for that.

Xu Dan has a lot of ideas; he wants to paint and color the statues of gods, and even dress them up. One piece at a time, it can't be rushed.

So the carpenter postponed this project until last and began renovating the inn according to his requirements.

Having come this far, Xu Dan couldn't stay idle forever. Seeing the crowds while eating steamed buns yesterday sparked an idea: he planned to enter the snack industry and sell some food. He hadn't decided what to do yet, but that didn't stop him from first changing the layout of the inn.

In the past few days, he also discovered that there were indeed people coming and going in the West Gate area, but simply no one was staying there.

Because people who leave through the west gate basically have places to stay in the county town, so who would come to stay here?

However, he felt that selling food should be a good business.

Every evening, many people who went out in the morning would return, bringing back the game they had hunted and the things they had dug up from the grasslands to sell. They would then go out again the next day, and so on.

He Rong and his shop do business buying things from others, but they also sell, much like a general store.

Through observation, he also discovered that ordinary cordyceps dug from the grasslands were not expensive here, and no one even wanted them.

What they really collect are golden cordyceps and jade dragon seeds, usually golden cordyceps, because jade dragon seeds are very rare.

This has led to the persistently high price of jade dragon beads, and even so, they are very difficult to find on the market. This is because they are extremely difficult to dig up; even if Xu Dan had traveled all over the grasslands, he would have found very few jade dragon beads.

A few days later, the inn was renovated.

The statues were sculpted, painted, and colored according to his requirements.

Following local custom, Xu Dan invited a Taoist priest from Donglai Palace to consecrate the door gods and their statues. Whether this actually works remains to be seen.

After seeing off the Taoist priest from Donglai Palace and all the onlookers, Xu Dan returned to his shop. Looking at the deities enshrined on the altar, he felt inexplicably at ease. Jingning County was in the northwest, so he worshipped Xuantian Shangdi.

Of course, Xuantian Shangdi does not yet have this resounding name; he only has the title "Yousheng Xuanwu Lingying Zhenjun".

Xu Dan doesn't care about being banned or anything like that.

However, the statue was carved by a carpenter based on the style of his hometown. The statue was dressed in a black robe, golden armor and jade belt, holding a sword and glaring angrily, with his feet on a tortoise and a snake, looking extremely fierce. Needless to say, this image was enough to terrify even gods and ghosts, no wonder he was called "Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable".

After lighting incense and offering a prayer, Xu Dan walked out of the inn. It was time to fulfill his promise to treat He Rong to drinks.