Chapter 5

The withered hand aimed at Li Hui's neck, its knuckles bending as it approached, and finally, imbued with a strong ghostly aura, it swiftly moved downwards!

Within arm's reach, Li Hui's figure emanated golden light, blocking the withered hand and ghostly energy. The hand was torn apart and then reassembled by the golden light, trembling slightly in pain yet unwillingly pressing down.

"Why…"

"Why aren't you dead yet!"

After a long standoff, the separated fingers finally clenched into a fist in resentment and moved on. It came to the man's face and poured ghostly energy into his forehead. When the forehead darkened a little, the withered hand slowly withdrew, disappearing along with the vortex on the roof.

Jiang Zhuochen watched as the smoke rising from the candlestick, drifting southwest, grew thicker, realizing he couldn't just sit and wait for his fate. He went to the rooftop of the shopping mall, directly opposite Li Hui's office building. As Li Hui's figure appeared, he quickly cast a spell with his right hand, tapping a talisman. After the talisman burned out and an aura imperceptible to ordinary people rushed into Li Hui's body, he turned and left.

Since he couldn't wait for an opportunity, he decided to create one himself.

Li Hui had barely settled into his office chair when his secretary handed him a document. Upon seeing it was a notice from Xu's Group terminating their cooperation, his eyes sank. This quarter's profits had already dropped by five percentage points; if even this major pillar was lost, the company he had painstakingly built over so many years would only face greater difficulties in the future.

He hurriedly tidied himself up, preparing to go to the Xu family to get some answers. As he passed by the glass window, he glanced at himself through the reflective glass and suddenly remembered what the strange boy had said yesterday.

His appearance has indeed changed.

He used to have a full forehead and a rounded nose, the face of a successful person. He thought it was just that he had been too busy lately and had ruined his health, but when he thought about what had happened recently, he felt that it wasn't that simple.

Li Hui was unexpectedly turned away when he arrived at the Xu family's house, and he had nowhere to vent his anger. He had just returned home and was about to lash out when the steward returned with the Taoist priest.

Li Hui suppressed his anger and asked, "Didn't you say that changing the talisman would change my current situation? Why am I getting worse and worse off?"

The deathly pale face sent chills down the Taoist's spine. When he met Li Hui, the man did indeed look fierce, but he could still be saved.

So the Taoist priest thought that this person had a lot of money, and his solution was to ask for a little bit and give him a little bit, like squeezing toothpaste. Unexpectedly, after making a fortune, he saw that the person was already surrounded by death energy, and his skills were no match for him.

He stammered and told a lie; the solution was essentially just a way to postpone his death. He planned to make one last fortune and then pack his bags and leave. But even after he'd gone quite a distance, he was dragged back.

The Taoist priest coughed to calm himself down. "Mr. Li, I told you this is a reverse formation, which means great fortune will follow great misfortune. Everything you are going through now is just consuming your own bad luck. I just glanced at your face, and soon your suffering will be over."

Li Hui thought about it and realized that the Taoist priest had indeed said something like that before. The first part reassured him a little, but when it came to physiognomy, the Taoist priest's explanation was different from what the boy had said.

How does my face look now?

...

Seeing Li Hui's skeptical look, the Taoist priest began to fabricate a story: "You originally had a full forehead and a square jaw, a natural destiny of wealth and nobility. The current state is simply because you are consuming your malevolent energy. Once the malevolent energy is exhausted, you will return to your original state, so don't worry."

Upon hearing the phrase "born with a life of wealth and fortune," Li Hui's wavering heart stopped. His eyes gleamed, "Yes... I am born with a life of wealth and fortune, and no one can stop my luck!"

After saying that, he looked at the Taoist priest and asked, "Do you have any way to speed up the consumption of this malevolent energy?"

The Taoist priest thought to himself that he really had no choice. All he wanted to do now was get as far away as possible. If he were to be infected by this deathly aura, he would be doomed.

Seeing the Taoist priest's hesitant expression, Li Hui raised his stakes. "Name your price."

Finally, the Taoist priest closed his eyes and took out several more talismans. He had given all the talismans he had that could ward off disaster to Li Hui, and this time he was only giving out ordinary people's peace talismans.

"Since you want to speed things up, start drinking purified water twice a day, morning and evening, starting today. It might make you feel unwell, but that's because the purification process is being intensified, so you'll have to bear with it."

Once they left the villa, the Taoist priest, not caring about the money, disappeared in a flash.

Li Hui put the amulets into his usual suit jacket, and remembering that he would drink the purified water twice today, he turned and went to the basement.

Since his wife passed away, and coupled with the excessive strain on his body from daily toil, Li Hui feared he wouldn't be able to hold on, so he asked someone to find this Taoist priest. The priest not only immediately recognized his ailment but also advised him to drink clean water to replenish his body, and surprisingly, it actually worked.

After Li Hui left, a flash of golden light appeared in the dim environment, and all the amulets were burned, leaving only a useless, scribbled talisman.

The next day, Li Hui went to the garage to drive to work. As soon as he sat in the driver's seat, he looked up and noticed the windows were completely dark, assuming it was dusty from the garage. He raised his hand to wipe them, and something flashed between his fingers, so he moved his hand away.

A pair of pupils that blended into the darkness suddenly appeared before him.

"Ah!" Li Hui cried out in fright, his back pressed tightly against the chair.

Then a withered hand slammed hard against the glass window, and a pair of black eyes moved up and down, as if trying to squeeze in and face Li Hui.

Li Hui hurriedly took out a talisman from his pocket and pressed it against the car window, but to his surprise, the thing outside the window was not afraid at all and knocked even harder.

"Why aren't you dead yet!"

"Damn it...!" Before the ghost could get to him, Li Hui gripped the steering wheel and sped out of the garage.

Outside, the sky was a clear, cloudless day; the intense sunlight should have dispelled all darkness. But Li Hui's car window remained shrouded in darkness, with a pair of eyes and a hand still moving incessantly.

Unable to see the road clearly, he drove recklessly, and finally, the car window cracked under the strain. Li Hui couldn't sit still any longer. In a panic, he slammed the steering wheel and crashed the car into a roadside flowerbed. Only after hearing the surrounding noise did he crawl out of the car.

"A ghost...a ghost!"

"A ghost is knocking on my window!"

The cacophony of insults did not bring Li Hui any sense of security, because the pair of eyes in the car window were still staring at him. He backed away repeatedly, pointing at his car.

"There's a ghost!"

Passersby, seeing this bewildered middle-aged man, started cursing along with the driver who was rear-ended and forced into a traffic jam.

"Are you out of your mind? Where's the ghost?"

"You think you can shirk responsibility by pretending to be crazy? I've already called the police!"

"Which mental hospital has released patients again? Can't they at least provide proper care?!"

...

Li Hui covered his head in the crowd; those pupils were still clearly visible in his mind even with his eyes closed.

"Why aren't you dead yet..."

A chilling sound reached Li Hui's ears, and he shouted out loud. He scrambled to his feet and tried to run away, but was blocked by the other victimized drivers.

He struggled to break free from the people holding him, and his devastated expression began to change when he saw a familiar face not far away.

Jiang Zhuochen stood under a tree with a cup of milk tea in his hand. He only slowly walked over when he saw Li Hui shouting at him. To avoid being scratched, he kept a distance of three meters from Li Hui.

"Mr. Li, you were looking for me?"

"Help me, please help me!" It must have been the will to survive that made Li Hui burst forth with strength, and he managed to take a few steps forward with the people blocking his way.

Jiang Zhuochen looked at him, then at the other man's nearly totaled car. "What happened to you?"

Li Hui roared, "A ghost! Can't you see a ghost?!"

Jiang Zhuochen frowned and took a step back. "Calm down, there's nothing fishy going on."

Seeing that Jiang Zhuochen didn't believe him, Li Hui realized he had been terrified to have rushed to find a young punk like this. He turned around, about to point out the car window for Jiang Zhuochen to see, but the car was completely empty.

He stood there, stunned. "How could this be... I clearly saw it just now..."

Then, realizing what she had done, her face lit up with surprise. "It's you, isn't it? Are ghosts afraid of you? Master, Master, please save me!"

Seeing the person's attitude change so quickly, Jiang Zhuochen was secretly delighted, then lowered his head and used the milk tea to hide his expression.

He handed a small tag to Li Hui, saying, "Take this with you for the next couple of days, and come back to Ruyi Hair Salon to see me after things are resolved."

Seeing Jiang Zhuochen about to leave, Li Hui gripped the price tag tightly. "Master, I have nothing else to take care of, I'll go with you now!"

Jiang Zhuochen stopped and glanced with a hint of helplessness at the many fierce-looking faces surrounding Li Hui. It didn't seem like there was nothing to deal with.

The time for Jiang Zhuochen to take the initiative to do good deeds has passed; blame Li Hui for not seizing the opportunity.

"You'd better not come to me with a bunch of random stuff, or I'm not going to bother with you anymore."

Upon hearing this, Li Hui stopped in his tracks and hesitated for a moment before finally agreeing.

Once he was a little further away from the crowd, Jiang Zhuochen narrowed his eyes, no longer hiding his smile. He swirled his milk tea and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"If I had known that female ghost would be so impatient, I wouldn't have wasted the talisman..."

He originally only wanted to render Li Hui's talismans ineffective, causing him to frantically search for him, but he didn't expect a ghost to act beforehand. Those talismans require spiritual energy, and every bit used before he could replenish them was precious, which was heartbreaking.

After complaining, he remembered the scene he had just witnessed: the female ghost calmly lay on the car window, only revealing her eyes and one hand, completely unafraid of her surroundings.

Are the vengeful spirits of this world now able to walk in broad daylight? If even yang energy cannot subdue ghosts, won't they become even more difficult to deal with?

He was deep in thought and didn't notice his surroundings. Before he could even let go of his smug smile, he saw a car parked across the street while looking for directions.

The car window rolled down, revealing a familiar face that had been staring at him quietly for who knows how long.

Although the location was far away, it allowed them to see clearly the whole process of Li Hui causing trouble, and naturally they could also see Jiang Zhuochen's expression after he turned around.

Oh no, I was careless.

Jiang Zhuochen took a sip of milk tea, using the opportunity to adjust his expression. However, since he had to cross the street to get back, Jiang Zhuochen still walked forward.

"Mr. Xu, we meet again."