Deception (Part 2)

"Ah?" When Yang Yan saw Li Fu's actions, he nearly went mad.

As a scion of an aristocratic family, he naturally knew Li Fu's standing in Luoshui City. He might not have been quite on equal footing with the heads of the Four Great Families, but he was close!

A man of such status would receive VIP treatment wherever he went. Even the city lord had to show him some respect, yet Nie Yun had talked him into kneeling in fewer than ten sentences...

Was this... real?

Nie Yun used to be somewhat withdrawn. How had he become like a completely different person after only a few days apart?

"Ah, sow good seeds and reap good fruit. Since you have begged so earnestly, very well!" Nie Yun reached out and pulled Li Fu to his feet. After glancing around, he continued, "Judging by the layout of your room, your household must have an excess of yin and a deficiency of yang. If this continues, within three years, the Yin Sha Qi will torment you to death! Hmm? This room faces southeast. If I am not mistaken, the woman you are having an affair with should be southeast of here, correct?"

Back then, Li Fu had been stripped naked by his tigress of a wife and thrown out together with his mistress. Naturally, everyone knew where the mistress was hiding—less than five hundred meters southeast of this place. Nie Yun knew the future and casually made it up, but to Li Fu, it was no less than a bomb exploding in his ears!

No one but Li Fu knew where he had hidden his mistress, yet the old man before him had calculated it in a single breath. The last trace of doubt in his heart vanished completely!

It seemed this old man truly was his savior, an immortal elder sent to save him!

"That is exactly right. Please, immortal elder, teach me how to break it!" Once he understood this, even Li Fu's tone and form of address changed.

"Your problem is not impossible to resolve. You merely need to set up a Reverse Fortune Array. However, the foundation of this array will be rather difficult..." Nie Yun knitted his brows.

"A Reverse Fortune Array? Immortal elder, does that mean changing my fate?" Li Fu hurriedly asked.

"Fate is determined by Heaven. How could it possibly be changed?" Nie Yun flicked his sleeve. "My array can transform yin and yang, gradually turning yin qi into yang qi and completely reversing the positions of you and your wife!"

"What? Reverse the positions of my wife and me? That would be wonderful! Immortal elder, no matter how difficult the array foundation is, as long as you say the word, if I can do it, I will spare no effort!"

Li Fu shouted excitedly.

In his eyes, if he could truly switch places with his wife, then wow, that would be simply incredible!

"The array foundation requires gold. Eighty-one array bases, nine times nine, will require at least eight hundred and ten gold bars!" Nie Yun shook his head. "Gold represents wealth and righteous qi. Only by using gold as the array foundation can the imbalance of excess yin and deficient yang be eliminated. Of course, once the array is complete, you may take the gold bars back. It is simply... far too difficult to find so many gold bars!"

"Eight hundred and ten gold bars? Immortal elder, you worry too much. There are other things I, Li Fu, might not be able to find, but this is a money house. Eight hundred and ten gold bars are no problem at all!" When Li Fu heard that the "immortal elder" merely needed the gold bars to set up the array and would not take them away, he spoke excitedly at once, afraid the other party might change his mind.

"You have them? Very well, then let us set up the array in your courtyard. I can draw the array diagram, and you can adjust it yourself. After all, gold represents wealth. If even one or two bars go missing, I would have no way to explain myself!" Nie Yun waved his hand.

"What are you saying, immortal elder? Since I have asked you to set up the array, naturally I trust you. Besides, I do not understand arrays. What if I put something in the wrong place and turn a clever plan into a blunder?" Hearing the "old man" say this, Li Fu felt even more reassured and hurriedly replied.

"Very well, then! However, when I set up the array, I must communicate with the spiritual qi of Heaven and Earth. At that time, being disturbed is most forbidden. After you have brought the gold here, do not allow anyone to come and disturb me for one hour. Otherwise, all previous efforts will be wasted. At most, I will need to rest for the day, but once this residence's fortune is damaged, you will certainly be implicated!"

Nie Yun frowned, thought for a moment, then finally sighed. "Ah, perhaps we should forget it. Setting up such a great array will also drain my strength and lifespan. The gains will not make up for the losses... Besides, with so much gold left here, I fear you will not feel at ease either..."

"What are you saying, immortal elder? I, Li Fu, naturally trust you. Please do not decline any longer. I will carry out your instructions at once and have everything ready soon!"

After speaking, Li Fu feared the "immortal elder" before him might leave. He anxiously darted toward the money house's vault, afraid that if he delayed, he would anger the "immortal" and make him turn around and depart...

"Cough, cough, Nie Yun, where did you... learn this move?"

When he saw that no one was in the courtyard, Yang Yan finally could not help coughing softly and whispering.

He had seen swindlers before, but never one this outrageously skilled!

The man had been fooled so willingly that he would not rest until he handed over the gold. Brilliant, truly brilliant!

He had spent several years around Nie Yun. How had he never noticed this talent before...

"Enough, do not talk about it yet. Hurry outside and prepare four identical carriages. Fill them all with stones and wait outside!" Nie Yun gave a dry laugh instead of answering.

He was an old monster who had lived for more than three hundred years—what had he not seen? Truthfully, this sort of trick was not particularly ingenious. If Thousand Illusions the Divine Thief had come instead, he could swindle you to death without even disguising himself, and you would still count the money for him.

"Yes!" Yang Yan now admired Nie Yun so completely that he practically worshiped him. With a leap, he jumped out of the courtyard and went to carry out the instructions.

While Yang Yan was busy, Li Fu was busy as well. Leading more than a dozen subordinates, he bustled back and forth. In less than half an hour, gold had been piled all over the ground. After counting it, there were neither more nor less than eight hundred and ten bars!

Gold was worth one hundred times as much as silver. Each gold bar weighed more than ten jin, so eight hundred and ten bars amounted to eight thousand one hundred taels, worth eight hundred thousand taels of silver. Even with Li Fu's abundant wealth, this gold had completely emptied his reserves. He had even brought over the money many customers had deposited!

Li Fu's subordinates had no idea why their boss wanted all these gold bars moved, but they did not dare disobey his orders and could only carry them back and forth trip after trip.

"Immortal elder, I have moved all the gold bars here. Look..." Li Fu wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked excitedly.

"Hehe, since you are so sincere, I will set up the array now. You and the others can wait outside. As I said, do not let anyone disturb me for one hour. Otherwise, bear the consequences yourselves!"

Nie Yun clasped his hands behind his back, looking immaculate and spotless. Judging by his appearance alone, he was the very image of a reclusive master beyond the mortal world.

"Yes, we will have to trouble you with everything, immortal elder!"

Li Fu slowly backed out and shut the courtyard gate.

As long as the immortal elder successfully changes my fortune and switches my position with that tigress's, let us see how I deal with that bitch!

Sitting in his room and drinking tea, Li Fu felt happier the more he thought about it.

He had been somewhat depressed when he first arrived at the money house, but who would have thought that good deeds would be repaid? Such a kindhearted immortal elder was truly hard to find...

As he indulged in fantasies of how he would turn things around and deal with the tigress at home, he suddenly felt pain in his ear. His body jerked, and he sprang to his feet. Then he heard a voice that made his heart tremble in terror.

"Whose position do you want to switch with? Which bitch do you want to deal with? Go on, let me hear it."

"Ah..." The moment he heard that voice, how could he not know who it was? His face turned pale at once, and he hurriedly cried, "Madam, calm your anger. I... I was talking nonsense!"

"Talking nonsense? Hmph, I heard from the servants that you emptied the vault. What exactly are you trying to do?" A burly woman who looked like Ruhua roared from not far away.

"Uh... I was afraid the gold would grow moldy, so I brought it out to air in the sun..."

Li Fu had not expected one of his own subordinates to be a spy. He was so furious that he wanted to howl, but he did not dare argue aloud and could only make up nonsense in a hurry.

"Gold growing moldy? I think you are the one about to grow moldy! Shall I throw you into a trash bin and let you grow some fur? Hurry up and move the gold back for me!"

Ruhua let out a roar!

"Yes... ah, this... it has only been a little over half an hour. Could we wait a while?" Li Fu calculated the time. It had not even been an hour yet. Remembering the "immortal elder's" instructions, he cautiously tried to negotiate with his wife.

"Wait a while? Fine, then I will have someone throw you into the trash bin right now and let you air out too..." After Ruhua roared, she swung her thick arm and slapped Li Fu across the face.

"Fine, fine, I will go at once..." Faced with such a fierce wife, Li Fu was utterly terrified. With an ugly expression, he pushed open the courtyard gate and carefully walked inside. "Immortal elder, immortal elder..."

Before he could finish shouting, however, the world spun around him. His vision went black, and with a thud, he collapsed to the ground!

"My gold..."

He let out a heart-rending scream, like a male wolf being violated. His cry pierced the clouds.

Before him, there was a carriage-sized hole in the courtyard wall. The gold that had covered the ground had all vanished without a trace!

Seeing this, no matter how stupid he was, Li Fu knew he had been deceived. That so-called "immortal elder" had simply been a fraud!

"They transported the gold, so the carriages must have left tracks. Chase them for me!" Li Fu roared again.