"This is the blessed sword of Saint Marilyn, who sacrificed herself to exorcize a demon from a little girl." At the third store Wu Xiaoming visited, the store owner, a bald man with a very well groomed beard showed him a shiny metal sword in a glass box: "This one was granted to him by the Church, and it is said to possess immense blessing that no evil shall come even close."
"But - then why did she die in an exorcism?"
"Well - uh - "
The third door was still a bust. Maybe he was expecting too much - with an upgrade to his "character", and apparently enhanced ability to sense supernatural energy, he thought he could kind of, sort of distinguish actual objects of blessing and power from those that were not.
He had also tried reaching out to the Abbot of the Shenmue Temple, but got no response. It was understandable, he would be very busy as well, with a situation like Kiyohide.
For example, the string of beads given to him by his father, even without the knowledge that they would manifest in the ethereal realm, indeed had some energy hidden inside that he could sense. All the other stuff these shop owner tried to sell to him? None of them had anything with this kind of energy - a few of the stores even had items from which he could see some black smoke coming out.
What was more important, was that after some internet search, he was pretty sure Mount Kremore did not exist, neither did Saint Marilyn. They sounded like names made up just so things would sound cool. And after all three visits the most helpful thing he gathered was a batch of dried sage from a tea shop and some cinnamon barks from a Chinese grocery store - word on the internet said that they also possessed anti-evil properties, which he doubted very much but they didn't cost hundreds of dollars.
"Sorry, just got out of a meeting. Here's a list of the shops I know that are kind of famous: … " Douglass Kirkland finally texted Wu Xiaoming back.
"Interesting." Wu Xiaoming sighed and crossed off two of the list of four shops. The first of the remaining two was his planned next stop - which happened to be one with the most high rating scores. But, from the pictures he found online, it was a little bit too fancy and too on the nose with all the "psychic" stuff - very similar to the ones he had just visited.
The next place was definitely run by a Chinese person - it had a Chinese store name, which happened to be a two letter family name: Zhuge. The store's name in English was just simply "Zhuge's Store". It had 51 reviews, and an accumulated score of 2.8 out of 5 stars.
This one was definitely more intriguing, and - more to his taste, honestly. It was just a bit further away from where he was than the other.
Forty minutes later, he arrived at the door to Zhuge's Store. It looked even older and darker than the pictures online would suggest.
Windchimes and a red lantern with no candle in it were hung on both sides of the door, which added quite a bit of intrigue.
The door was made of solid wood and quite heavy. A middle aged man with a full head of gray hair was playing with his phone behind a long wooden counter. Behind him was a full wall of drawers - it was as if this was a traditional Chinese medicine store.
"Welcome." The middle aged man yawned and looked up from his phone. His pupil enlarged slightly when they fixed on Wu Xiaoming but immediately went back to normal: "Welcome to Zhuge's Store. My name is Zhuge Lishi, I am the owner. How can I help you?"
"I - uh, I would like to purchase some - some things that could help me ward off and combat evil spirits." Wu Xiaoming walked up to the counter.
"Trying to get rid of that black cloud above your forehead? I see what you mean." Zhuge Lishi shrugged: "Oh - and you have some sage and cinnamon barks with you."
"Uh - yes." Wu Xiaoming frowned. The dark cloud above his forehead - this man might be the real deal, but it could also be the man trying to scare him into buying stuff - which was a common trick played by Chinese fortune tellers and exorcists. Which one was it, he would need to observe and decide.
"Good choice, cheap, but good choice. You'd need a lot of them though, because these days they are rarely properly cultivated, cared for and processed." Zhuge Lishi chuckled as he knocked the counter with his fingers: "Do you want some good ones? I have some, they're pricier but much more effective. Factory farming is a bitch."
"I'll think about it." Wu Xiaoming nodded: "I am - I am a bit worried about this - dark cloud. And I want to protect my family from it, and I may need to go into some - some unclean places to deal with it."
"Okay. So what are you thinking?" Zhuge Lishi nodded.
"You're - you're asking me?"
"Well, yeah, you look like you kinda know what you want and what you're doing."
"Uuuuuh - " Wu Xiaoming had to admit he did not really have a good idea: "I actually - am not super sure. Do you have peachwood swords?"
"Trynna go with that Taoist Exorcist route, huh?" Zhule Lishi went to the wall of drawers, knelt down and opened a very wide one on the bottom. Shortly, he came back with a long item wrapped in a dirty rag: "This is the only one I have."
Wu Xiaoming unwrapped the item - it was indeed a long wooden sword, but it was barely in a sword shape - it did not have visible edges, the blade was still a long but thick piece of wood, and there were even unpolished bark and knots on it.
"Uh - this is very rough, how much is it?"
"Thirty thousand dollars, no haggle." Zhuge Lishi rubbed his nose: "And that's a good price, if you know the market."
"What - the - what the fuck?" Wu Xiaoming almost lost his voice.
"Yeah, you can't afford it. " Zhuge Lishi laughed, wrapped the sword back up and brought it back to the drawer: "Even if you can, I wouldn't sell it to you. The fact that you saw it and you saw only the lack of polish, is all the proof I need you're not ready."
"Uh - what does that even mean?"
"If you know, you know." Zhuge Lishi stood up and pulled up another drawer: "Young man. As your senior, here's something you should understand: peachwood is the titanium of anti-spirit weapons. It's hard, it's relatively rare, it's difficult to properly process and utilize, and good ones like that are even harder to find. And even if you have one, without proper training, you won't be able to use it properly. Don't be fooled by those Hong Kong movies."
"Okay." Wu Xiaoming sighed: "So what do you recommend? Better not be thirty thousand dollars."
"Don't worry, these are cheaper." Zhuge Lishi brought forth three wooden boxes: "Here, give these a try."
"What are these?" Wu Xiaoming picked the longest one, one that also looked the newest and pushed the lid open. Inside of it was a short wooden staff, similar in length to his baton. Its main shaft was well polished and stained, and the handle was wrapped with red ropes with a red wrist lanyard at the end. Somewhat similar to the string of beads from his father, this short wooden staff actually possessed some kind of supernatural energy, and unlike the beads, the energy felt more aggressive.
"That one, young man, is a pressure treated soapberry wooden staff." Zhuge Lishi chuckled: "One solid piece, stained with tung oil. Do you know the name Gui Jian Chou?"
"Yes." Wu Xiaoming nodded. In the game he had helped develop in the previous world, it was actually a kind of crafting material. In Chinese it was a kind of wood, whose name meant "ghosts and demons are sad to see it". It was said to possess very strong anti-evil properties and staves made from this kind of wood could beat demons to death. Though only now did he realize its actual English name was plain as soapberry wood.
"Then you know this is good stuff." Zhuge Lishi chuckled.
Wu Xiaoming nodded and opened the other two boxes - inside them were four wooden carvings: one dragon, one bird, one tortoise and one tiger. They were all combinations of lively expression and rough details.
"Four holy beasts?" Wu Xiaoming frowned.
"Yes. Also carved from soapberry wood and stained with tung oil." Zhuge Lishi nodded: "You know what to do with them right?"
"Placed on the four directions of the house?"
"Yes. And don't mess up the directions. Azure Dragon to East, White Tiger to West, Vermillion Bird to South, and Black Tortoise to North."
"I know, but - " Wu Xiaoming tried to sense the energy inside these carvings: "Do they really work?"
"They'll work when you put them in the right positions." Zhuge Lishi shrugged: "They can serve as watchers and wards of your house. Keep those inside safe. Of course, there's no one hundred percent guarantee, so use them with diligence. Also - bad Fengshui will diminish their effects."
"Okay." Wu Xiaoming took a deep breath: "How much are these?"
"Six hundred and sixty six dollars, no haggle."