Matt while wearing his demon hunter disguise wasn't sure what to make of this, the man was bowing as a show of respect. But at the same time, he was badmouthing him, well he was badmouthing that Zhang Clan Patriarch. He was apparently an evil demonic cultivator, that raped young girls and drunk their blood during the full moon.
'Gotta give it to them, that's some imagination...'
This was clearly a ploy to get his demon hunter persona that was known for killing evil cultivators and beasts to slay Zhang Dong. The problem was that he was this Zhang Dong that they were talking about, he didn't really want to commit suicide.
'Well, I guess I can just bring them in for trying to assassinate me... I'm my own witness... but wait...'
He wasn't sure how his public image would look, they would clearly deny it. Not like he couldn't just pound those two clans to the ground any time that he wanted, the thing holding him back was his conscience and his public image. He didn't want to look like a regular tyrant for the people and this was how a dictator acted.
'Guess I could pretend that I take the offer... but make it look like the three clans hired him to kill the benevolent leader instead, bet my popularity will spike, but will I have to kill off my demon hunter persona... '
This sounded like a good chance to milk these three clans, they were probably desperate enough to give him the bulk of their wealth in spirit stones which he could use to finally get himself into that Nascent Soul Realm. The problem was how he should do it, in other novels the protagonist mostly had a clone of some sort to help them out in situations like this. At most he could fashion an automated doll, but its looks were plain it would not pass for him in any shape or form.
'I guess I could go with the smoke and mirror approach... maybe use those holograms or just plant some speakers here and there...'
He wasn't sure about his acting abilities, but the people didn't need to see the battle happening from close up. He just needed to kick up a big fuss and make the three clans believe that the two experts were fighting it out. It would be really easy to implicate the three families in the assassination attempt, so that everyone was on his side.
Matt was really surprised that he was thinking about such a scheme, normally he would find things like these too bothersome to go through with. Now, he was just chuckling inwardly thinking about the dumb looks on people's faces when he would be performing the show, he was slowly moving on from his shy shell.
He looked at the man in his disguise, his facial expression changing into one of rage and discomfort.
"Oh, is this true?"
The bowing man bowed some more and nodded.
"Yes my lord, the Zhang Clan Patriarch is a true demon!"
He turned around, making it look like he was thinking hard about something, the man could see Lei Ying-Lo from the side.
"If you are telling the truth... then I can't let this go... but it won't come cheap..."
His eyes shined slightly as he mentioned the part about the payment, he wasn't sure how much spirit stones the three clans had but he wanted them to fork it all up.
"Ah yes sir Ying-Lo, the clan leaders will discuss the pricing with you outside the city..."
Matt got the rundown by the servant, he would meet the three stooges outside in a secluded area. There they would discuss their dealings and the payment, he wouldn't budge on that one and wanted to drain as much as he could from the old man trio.
"I will inform the families that you have agreed to meet with them!"
The man quickly run away, probably happy that he got a positive reply from this scary uncle. Matt that was standing there with a jade slip in his hand, the time and place of the meeting were all in there. It wasn't that far away from Moonlight City, probably due to the fact that the three families didn't have any flying swords to travel on.
'Soon I won't even need this thing anymore...'
He looked down at the black sword he was riding on, the item would lose its purpose after he leveled up as when he did he would be able to fly around like superman.
'Though flying around like that looks kind of silly...'
He tossed the motion of flying with two fists forward back into his mind while he headed back to Moonlight City, he had to prepare for the show. He couldn't really do it alone, so he had to pull Zhang Kuo into the mix. This man performed his job quite well and in return even got some top tips from this expert Patriarch of his.
Matt noticed that the stoic glasses-wearing man sometimes made bewildered faces at him, like the time he ordered them to pay off the debt, or when he ordered to set up the free school for the kids. He was loyal but he still was an old fashioned cultivator nut, giving things out for free was something that he still didn't understand all that well.
He went back to his temporary room and took out some paper and a pen. He liked to write down his ideas and contemplate on them first. He made a short outline about what he could and couldn't do in his little scheme. He clearly couldn't have both of his personas out at the same time, some magic tricks would have to be implemented into the plan. Nothing too hard as the plan could fall through if he got too excited and made it harder for himself to pull it off.
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'Think this could work... but it will be really cheesy...'
He nodded and called his trusted retainer into the room, explaining his plan in detail. Zhang Kuo already knew that Zhang Dong was the famous Demon hunter. His brows furrowed slightly as his family head started explaining what this plan was supposed to be.
"S-sir, wouldn't it be easier to just bring them in..."
The man was clearly confused, why do some strange charade when they could just bring those three family heads in for questioning. Not like they even needed to question them, with his own strength he could just order their execution or banish them from this city. No one would really ask any questions about it.
Matt, on the other hand, felt like this could be quite fun. Plus, the people would know that the three families ordered a hit on him after it all played out. If he just ordered their deaths, the people might think that he was too overbearing and not any different than all the other aristocratic like family clans.
Zhang Kuo was vetoed on the spot, Zhang Dong handed him some treasures that would be used for this charade and ordered him to prepare. He had already prepared the most important stuff for those and now just needed to go meet with the three Patriarchs that were trying to murder him.
He zoomed out of Moonlight City, the rendezvous point was in a secluded area surrounded by forest and by a lake. There was a log cabin there not used by anyone, the three families didn't want anything getting traced back to them so they set up the meeting on neutral ground.
He made sure to look extra scary this time around, he had to make them feel like he meant business. That wasn't hard though, he just needed to spill some of his aura out, his looks were already extremely menacing. He made sure to not use his lightning element or holy one, as that could have blown his cover.
He was hovering above in the clouds, he could clearly sense that there were a lot of people hiding around that log cabin. The three family heads must have placed their bodyguards around the perimeter to keep people out, but none of them would be his match. He could sense three cultivators in that small hut, they were all in the great circle of foundation establishment.
Kuan Yin, Xing Deng and Situ Rong were all waiting in that cabin. The inside looked quite nice as they made their servants clean this place up preparing it for the Demon hunter that was supposed to come soon. The three came to an agreement, they would hire this man to kill that pesky Zhang Dong.
After the man was dead, some other powerful clan could be bargained with. They wanted something similar to happen like the time where the Zhang Clan was weakened after the first expedition didn't pan out for them.
"Do you think the man will do it? It might cost quite the penny..."
Said Situ Rong while rubbing the bald part of his head, that was shining from the sweat that was gathering.
"Do we have another option? If we don't pay up now we will all be finished in a couple of years!"
Xing Deng replied, the man was hit the hardest from the three Patriarchs here. The other two made their own calculations, they would take significant losses to their fortunes if they agreed to what the Zhang Clan was planning.
"I have to agree with Brother Deng, those Zhang dogs clearly have something against us."
The old man said while fanning himself some, he also took quite the hit to his stock. They were forced to pay the farmers more, and what was this blasted weekend thing, it would just bring in more losses for them.
Their conversation was interrupted after they felt someone getting near, this someone wasn't hiding his aura at all. They had some servants standing outside, so they just waited for now. Soon the door creaked open, a large scarred man entered their field of vision, his rough appearance made goosebumps appear on their arms.
"Greetings Senior Yinglo! We thank you for listening to our plead for help!"
Kuan Yin was the first one to speak up, a bright submissive smile plastered all over his face. The other two quickly clasped their hands and bowed towards this man, they could clearly feel his overwhelming cultivation.
The man in question walked in slowly, not saying much as he just observed the three morons that had called him here.
"So, I've heard you discovered a demonic cultivator in these parts, is this true?"
Matt asked with his gruff sounding voice, the there cultivators just glanced at each other and started talking, this would be the moment of truth for them.
"Tiss so, that monster Zhang Dong is a real fiend!"
"We are sure that he has some kind of demonic treasures in his home, some of our people discovered it!"
"Yes, we even lost family members to these monsters, they never returned back home, we are afraid that they have fallen to some kind of demonic ritual!"
The three started talking, trying to convince this man to act without asking too many questions. They had more than just words to back it up though, one of them pulled out some kind of curved dagger. The weapon was clearly radiating demonic energies, Matt was surprised after he grasped it.
"Our people managed to find this ceremonial dagger in one of the Zhang Clan compounds, then we quickly tried to inform you about it, Senior. Your fame precedes you, we are just simple cultivators we have no way of defending ourselves against such a strong demonic cultivator like the Zhang Patriarch, please aid us!"
"I'm sure there are more of these foul treasures in the city, but we weren't able to uncover the whole plot of that demonic fiend!"
The three were quite crafty, this wasn't the only demonic artifact that they had. They had their ways of doing things, bribing some servants wasn't hard. They had planted various demonic treasures in the buildings that the Zhang Clan members were using, they were hidden there so that when this cultivator did his own research, he would confirm their story.
This wasn't anything new to Matt, as his senses were quite high so he noticed the strange artifacts getting placed around the buildings in the city. They were all low level treasures, that would be easy to dispose of. Moonlight city didn't have its defensive formation updated yet, so something like this could happen.
'You crafty foxes...'
He just nodded for now, while rubbing his chin.
"If what you say is true... then the man must die..."
The three just nodded, their scheme seemed to be working for now.
"But... I'll need a substantial payment in spirit stones for it, this Zhang Dong won't be an easy opponent..."
They all nodded once more, already knowing that it would be costly to hire this man, but it was already a miracle that they found someone that would face that monster of a Zhang Patriarch.
"I'll check if there really are demonic treasures or cultivators first, you have a day to get the payment ready. Hm, two hundred thousand low grade spirit stones should cover the expense...I'll take one hundred thousand as a downpayment, sounds fair?"
The three men almost collapsed onto the ground after they heard the price.
"S-senior... please show mercy... that price is a bit..."
Kuan Yin's bald head shined even brighter as he tried to plead for a lower price.
"What? Don't have it? Fighting someone of that level won't be easy... you don't need to pay all of it in spirit stones, you can cover the rest with treasures or other materials like beast cores. You have a day to get it all ready!"
The man snorted and then walked out of the cabin. The two hundred thousand stones were about the amount he needed to get a million system points. Before he would need half of that, but the system gave him fewer points now. This price was something that the three old schemers should be able to pay up, but they would probably need to empty all of their reserves, this was something he was counting on.
'You leeched this city for decades, now it's time to pay up!'