I Become The Richest Man With A monthly Salary of Twenty Thousand Yuan-Chapter 594 - 432 Solving Provocation_2

On the talisman lay the silhouette of a small, black paper figure, now torn in two. The man frowned at the sight.

He then pulled another paper silhouette from his robes and placed it on the talisman.

Without any support, the silhouette stood upright on the talisman, but a breath later, it broke in half and collapsed again. This time, it even burst into flames. The fire spread quickly, burning the talisman on the table to ashes.

At that moment, another figure walked into the room. This man’s face bore a resemblance to He Youling’s. He saw the burning talisman on the table and, not knowing what had happened, asked anxiously, "Master Zutuo, what is this?"

The monk he called Master Zutuo frowned and said softly, "It seems the old man has found someone with real abilities."

After a short pause, the man before him finally murmured, his expression turning grim, "Then what do we do? We can’t let someone else snatch the credit for our work. Has everything we’ve done just been to pave the way for someone else? If I had known, we wouldn’t have waited two more days. There was no need to wait until the old man was utterly exhausted before we made our move."

If He Youling and He Xiaojun had been there, they would have immediately recognized the speaker as He Wei, the youngest son from the fourth branch of the He family.

Although most of He Youling’s dozen or so children had their own careers and considerable fortunes, and most didn’t even live in Haojiang, a few still coveted the family estate. After all, it was a fortune worth hundreds of thousands, a sum no one would ignore. But because of the complex relationships within the He family, only a few were eligible to inherit He Youling’s most substantial assets.

He Wei, of course, was one of them.

However, his entrepreneurial attempts had failed multiple times in his youth, and the patriarch disliked his personality. Because of this, He Wei knew he probably wouldn’t receive much in the old man’s will. It was possible that among all the patriarch’s children, he would end up the least successful.

So, after some consideration, He Wei began to harbor malicious thoughts. He had to find a way to improve his standing in the old man’s eyes, and Master Zutuo was the mage he had hired for this very purpose.

Behind Master Zutuo stood two of his disciples. Both were male, their faces covered in numerous strange, cryptic runes. An aura of gloom surrounded the two, and just standing near them, one could feel a bone-deep chill. They remained motionless and silent unless Master Zutuo spoke.

In his youth, Master Zutuo had studied under Daoist Lin on Mount Qin of Huaxia. After learning his craft, he returned to Xiangjiang, but he eventually went down the wrong path, practicing all sorts of heretical arts for money. All the recent disturbances plaguing the old man were his handiwork.

Originally, he and He Wei had planned to harass the old man until he was on the verge of collapse. Only then would Master Zutuo step in and resolve all the strange phenomena right in front of He Youling. Then, He Youling, who was already interested in such esoteric arts, would undoubtedly regard Master Zutuo as a true grandmaster. As long as Zutuo demonstrated a few of his tricks, He Youling wouldn’t necessarily become completely obedient, but Zutuo would still hold significant sway over him.

As the one who introduced him, He Wei would also gain the old man’s favor. With a few whispers from Master Zutuo, it would only be a matter of time before He Youling revised his will.

But they had never expected He Youling to actually find someone with real abilities who could break Master Zutuo’s formation.

Seeing Master Zutuo remain silent, He Wei grew anxious. "Master Zutuo, say something! What should we do?"

At this, Master Zutuo finally began to speak slowly. "I don’t know who it is, but no one in Haojiang can rival me. The person the old man found must be a mere amateur."

Master Zutuo didn’t believe that the person who broke his formation could also be a master. After all, what he had used against the old man was merely a beginner’s trick.

"So what do we do now?"

He Wei’s question hung in the air, but Master Zutuo didn’t respond. Instead, his eyes sharpened. He grabbed the ashes of the burnt talisman from the table and began to stuff them into his mouth, gobbling them down as if he had lost his mind. The sight was utterly terrifying.

Even He Wei shuddered, but he didn’t dare say a word.

After a few mouthfuls, the shape and features of a person slowly appeared in Master Zutuo’s vision. He immediately took out paper and pen and began to draw. He Wei had no idea what Master Zutuo was doing and could only watch. Before long, a portrait was complete in Master Zutuo’s hands.

"Do you recognize this person?" Master Zutuo asked, holding up the sketch.

He Wei was momentarily stunned but soon exclaimed, "I know him! The old man has been looking for him for the past two days. He apparently saved He Xiaojun’s life. The old man only just recently learned his name. I think it’s Xia Liang, from Qingyun City."

"Now that we have a name, can you get me his full birth date and time?" Master Zutuo said, pointing at the drawing of Xia Liang.

"That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll make a call right away. Apparently, this guy is a big deal in both Jinling and Qingyun." With that, He Wei turned and left the room to make the call.

Master Zutuo slowly took out a foul-smelling talisman from his robes and kneaded it into a tiny paper figure.

Soon, He Wei returned after finishing his call. He told Master Zutuo the birth details he had found for Xia Liang.

Master Zutuo then wrote Xia Liang’s name and birth details on the paper figure.

"This Xia Liang seems to be a big deal in Jinling and Qingyun City," He Wei reported. "They say he can control life and death with a single word, change the weather, and even has a talisman that can directly shorten someone’s lifespan."

Hearing this, Master Zutuo just snorted coldly. "His birth chart is mediocre. He doesn’t have the constitution for true power," he sneered. "And the claim that he can shorten a person’s life? Laughable. I’ve traveled far and wide and met many masters, but I’ve never heard of anyone with the power to simply erase another’s lifespan. I bet that kid used up all his strength just to break my simple formation."

With that, Master Zutuo turned to his two disciples and commanded, "Up. Fetch the ropes."

The two disciples produced several pitch-black cords, seemingly from nowhere.

Watching this unfold, He Wei grew anxious. He knew Master Zutuo was ruthless and had killed countless people, so his actions now made him fearful. "Master Zutuo, are you planning to kill him?"

"Of course," Master Zutuo scoffed. "He broke my formation. He Youling must hold him in high regard now. If he doesn’t die, I’ll never surpass him in He Youling’s eyes, and you can forget about ever getting that inheritance."

Hearing this, He Wei opened his mouth to speak, but in the end, said nothing. Even if he had wanted to stop him, Master Zutuo would not have. For him, someone breaking his magical formation was the ultimate insult. No one who did so had ever lived to tell the tale.

While they spoke, his two disciples had already wrapped the black cords around the neck of the paper figure bearing Xia Liang’s name.

"Cross me, and you’ll find only a dead end!"

With that, Master Zutuo stepped forward and yanked hard on the black cords twisted around the paper figure’s neck. This was a dark art he had learned in Xiangjiang years ago. The target would suffocate and die within minutes. It left no trace, and he had used this method to eliminate quite a few people.

「At the same time.」 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Inside Linhai Villa, Xia Liang was drinking with He Youling and his son, He Hongsheng. The latter was so overjoyed that he had brought out a bottle of wine he had treasured for years.