The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 30 matches up!

"That's good!"

Du Yuan withdrew her hand with great satisfaction, and casually smiled at Wu Dadao, who was standing beside her looking bewildered, and said:
"What, aren't you going to retrieve your family's heirloom sword?"

"Hey, Taoist priest, are you saying I can still have that knife?"

Wu Dadao felt as if spring had arrived early.

He always thought that even if the knife wasn't gone forever, it would never fall back into his hands.

After all, it looks so mystical, even if most of it is related to the Taoist priest.

Based on his experience with his own court, even if Magistrate Fang were to try to negotiate, he feared that some superior would find a way to take it away.

At most, it might bring some benefits to oneself, such as a meal and a pot of good wine, or even a few ingots of silver if one is lucky.

But more likely, he'll just offer a perfunctory verbal promise and that's it; he'd be grateful if they gave him a new knife later.

But things are different now. Now even the Taoist priest is saying that those are his own family's knives.

Even if we still can't keep the knife by then, we'll still get some benefits!
Otherwise, their first concern is whether they can explain this to the Taoist priest!
Du Yuan was initially puzzled and was about to make fun of Wu Dadao for not wanting his family's heirloom knife anymore.

But when she glanced back and saw those eyes filled with surprise mixed with lingering fear, Du Yuan immediately understood.

I feel like I almost harmed this poor executioner.

So, with a slight change of heart, Du Yuan reached out and, amidst the executioner's flattered expression, put her arm around his shoulder and led him to the many people of Qing County. Pointing towards the mass grave outside the city, she said:

"That's your family's ancestral sword, so naturally only you, the heir, can wield it. Whether to keep it or give it away is entirely up to you. This is the same for everyone, not just others, even if I were here!"

"Otherwise, if the tyrannical ruler were to kill his master, he would suffer the consequences."

"So, why don't you hurry up and go find it?"

Good people do it to the end and send Buddha to the West.

After Du Yuan spoke up in front of many people, she was no longer afraid of getting into trouble.

As for keeping it for himself, Du Yuan never had that idea in the first place. He had only borrowed the knife from someone else and used it for a while. How could he just take it?
Just as Du Yuan finished speaking, he heard Qian Youcai rubbing his hands together and stepping forward to chat:

"Brother, I see that you don't seem to be living a very refined life, so my Qian family is willing to offer this amount in exchange for the precious sword you have! What do you say?"

The Taoist priest said it's a good knife. Buying it won't be a bad choice!
Therefore, Qian Youcai immediately prepared to take advantage of his proximity to the source.

He had even thought about how to use it in the future. He didn't necessarily intend to use it to deal with demons and evil spirits, but it would be useful to keep it at home to ward off evil!
Looking at Qian Youcai's five outstretched fingers, Wu Dadao exclaimed in surprise:
Five hundred taels?

He couldn't earn this much money in several lifetimes!

In an instant, Wu Dadao was tempted. Young Master Qian was from a prominent family and had even witnessed the power of the precious sword in the Taoist priest's hands.

He estimated that apart from the second young master Qian, it would be difficult for anyone else to be willing to pay such a high price.

Therefore, rather than keeping it for himself for potential use, Wu Dadao preferred to exchange it for benefits that he could directly enjoy.

But before he could speak, Qian Youcai hurriedly waved his hand and said:
"No, no, that's not five hundred taels!"

Wu Dadao looked dejected. Indeed, how could he possibly offer such a high price as five hundred taels?

This is the amount that even a county magistrate would have to save for five years without eating or drinking.

But fifty taels was still too little; he wanted to raise the price.
"Young Master Qian, I am indeed tempted by your words, but perhaps they are a bit lacking," Qian Youcai said, bowing slightly, though he seemed a little embarrassed.
"Five thousand taels of silver is indeed a bit little, but that's all I can decide."

How many?

Five thousand taels?
At that moment, not only Wu Dadao, but also the magistrate of Fang County and the people below were stunned.

Du Yuan, who had always seen others spend millions of taels of silver in various stories, didn't think this was anything special.

"It's a deal. I'll take you to get the knife right away!"

Wu Dadao, with the fastest speed he had ever used, stepped forward and grabbed Qian Youcai's hand, saying:

"Would you rather trouble yourself to come with me, or I could find the person and bring him to you later?"

"This...this means you've agreed?"

Qian Youcai was a little confused. Didn't he just say he didn't know enough?
"The Taoist priest is right here. I will never go back on my word!"

What's there to hesitate about with five thousand taels? Wu Dadao was certain that if he went any slower today, his ancestors would strangle him in his dreams tonight!
"It's a deal then, with the Taoist priest as my witness!"

The two looked at Du Yuan, wanting him to be their witness, and Du Yuan could only smile and nod.
"Okay, I'll remember. Go on."

And so, to Du Yuan's amusement, the two of them ran faster than horses to the city gates, both afraid that if they were a step too late, the other party would take advantage of the Taoist priest's easygoing nature and try to back out.

As the saying goes, once this opportunity is gone, it's gone forever!
This scene reminded Du Yuan of an amusing story she had always heard in her hometown. She just hadn't expected it to be reenacted in such a unique way today, through his own efforts.

After shaking her head, Du Yuan looked at Magistrate Fang again, about to speak, when she heard a man below suddenly exclaim:

"It matches up, it matches up!"

What matches up?

Curiosity made Du Yuan suppress her words, and she followed Magistrate Fang to look down.

Suddenly, a man who looked somewhat familiar—likely one of them from that day—excitedly grabbed his companion and said:

"Everyone knows the immortals are good, but they can't forget gold and silver! They only hate that they don't have enough, but when they have plenty, their eyes are closed in death. Everyone knows the immortals are good, but they can't forget their beautiful wives! When you are alive, they talk about love and affection every day, but when you die, they go with other women."

"It matches up! It all matches up!"

"What? What did you say?"

While the onlookers were still whispering amongst themselves, Magistrate Fang stared at his trembling hands as if struck by lightning. The Qian family man, his face flushed with excitement, pointed at Du Yuan and shouted:

"This is precisely the prophecy the Taoist priest recited when we met him by chance in the suburbs that day! Think about it carefully—the Qian family was so concerned about gold and silver that even their ancestors were alarmed. Doesn't this prove the saying 'It's hard to part with gold and silver'? As for the county magistrate..."

He glanced at the county magistrate, whose face had turned pale, but ultimately didn't say anything, only vaguely saying, "Isn't the second half of this poem also perfectly coherent?"

The crowd erupted in uproar. The whole town already knew that the Qian family had caused such a commotion over money that their ancestors had appeared to them.

The magistrate of Fang County, who only took one concubine after his wife's death, was widely praised for this, but who could have imagined that his wife was actually a demon in disguise? The saying "When you were alive, you spoke of love and affection every day, but when you died, you went with someone else" perfectly describes this treacherous and hypocritical relationship!
Wouldn't that make everything match up?!

In that sense, the Taoist priest was not merely someone who intervened out of a sense of justice!
The Taoist priest was clearly a living deity who had long since foreseen the secrets of heaven and had come specifically to save people from suffering!
Looking at the overjoyed people below, Magistrate Fang exclaimed in disbelief:
"Master, is all of this true?"

Du Yuan didn't say anything, she just looked at him and smiled.

(End of this chapter)