Divine & Bizarre: Increasing Points to Invincibility-Chapter 999 - 269: The "Fireball" that Fell from the Sky

Shangwu Dynasty.

In a Taoist Temple.

"Urgent like a command!" A very young Taoist boy, holding a small Peach Wood Sword with a talisman attached to it, puffed his little face red and pointed the sword ahead while shouting loudly. But perhaps because he was so young and had not yet reached puberty, his shout sounded a bit whiny and lacked real force.

At that moment, the talisman tied to the Peach Wood Sword faintly sparked a few embers. But that was all; there was no other movement. The little Taoist boy paused, the hint of joy on his face immediately fading away. Undeterred, he continued to point the sword and recited, "Urgent like a command, urgent like a command, urgent like a command!"

Unfortunately, still nothing happened, only drawing a roaring laughter from behind him. Behind the small Taoist boy was a group of older Taoists. "Older" here means older than the little boy. The laughing Taoists appeared to be between their teens and twenties. Their bodies emanated mana fluctuations; all were cultivators.

Among them, one Taoist, barely holding back his laughter, stepped forward, patted the little Taoist boy’s shoulder, and, with a stifled laugh, said, "Little Junior Brother, it seems your studies are not quite up to standard. The Spirit Talisman I drew for you is a powerful one; it could easily enhance a malevolent ghost with a hundred years of spiritual cultivation. What a pity you can’t activate it!"

The little Taoist boy, still unconvinced, continued to shout "Urgent like a command" several more times, but to no avail. Head bowed, full of dejection, he said, "I’m sorry, Senior Brother, I am just too foolish. No matter what I try, I just can’t activate this Spirit Talisman."

’Activate it? As if! This talisman is nothing but a scribble of mine, utterly useless... just purely... a prank!’ The barely laughing Taoist thought to himself, laughing wildly inside. He cleared his throat loudly before saying, "Well, it seems, this Ghost-Expelling Talisman is not fated for you, Little Junior Brother!"

At this, the young Taoist boy looked even more dismayed. As a Taoist, who wouldn’t wish to possess the power to exorcise ghosts and subdue demons? Even the little Taoist boy was no exception. With a sigh, he suddenly became curious.

Scratching his head, the little Taoist boy asked, "Senior Brother, how exactly does this Spirit Talisman exorcise ghosts and subdue demons? If you tell me, I will try one more time. This... This will be my last attempt; if it still doesn’t work, then I’ll give up."

The older Taoist could only respond with a cough to hide his laughter, his mind racing to concoct a lie.

In less than two breaths, he had concocted one, "This Spirit Talisman, ah, it’s incredibly powerful! It can summon celestials from the heavens to descend and aid you in exorcising ghosts and vanquishing demons!"

Hearing this, the little Taoist boy’s eyes... almost lit up with excitement, as he hastily said, "Then, I’ll try a few more times!"

"Go ahead! Go ahead!" the older Taoist moved back into the crowd.

"Don’t laugh, guys, let Little Junior Brother give it another try!"

"Haha, right, right, give it your best shot, Little Junior Brother!"

The young Taoist boy, still quite naive, failed to realize the malice in his Senior Brothers’ smiles. He was completely unaware that he had been the victim of their prank. He actually believed that the Spirit Talisman given to him by his Senior Brothers was real and that it indeed had the power to summon celestials from the heavens to help him exorcise ghosts and vanquish demons. The little Taoist boy took a deep breath, his expression dead serious.

"But... Senior Brother, isn’t that a bit too much? Little Junior Brother is taking this so seriously, he really... believes in that Spirit Talisman you gave him," despite these words that sounded like a complaint, as if sympathizing with the little Taoist boy, the speaking Taoist couldn’t contain his smile. Moreover, that smile clearly reveled in the misfortune of others.

"Senior Brother, you came up with that excuse... incredibly fast, didn’t you? But if we didn’t know better, we would’ve been fooled by you too," another Taoist, about ten years old, spoke in a lowered voice, unable to suppress his laughter, "I wonder what kind of reaction Little Junior Brother will have when he learns the truth. He will certainly want to scold us, won’t he?"

"Hahaha! He might want to scold... but probably, he’ll scold Senior Brother, after all, it was Senior Brother who gave him the talisman and fooled him," another Taoist folded his arms and clicked his tongue in laughter, "My suggestion is not to tell him, just let him be fooled, cherishing that scrap of paper every day like a treasure. Wouldn’t that make things even more entertaining?"

"You’re really wicked, to keep this up might make Little Junior Brother hold a grudge against us for life," the one referred to as Senior Brother shook his head laughing, "Let’s just wait for him to try a few more times, then we’ll tell him the truth, no need to keep deceiving him, we wouldn’t want to break the poor boy."