Dao of Money

Chen Ren felt like he was running and running, his lungs burning as if they were on fire, his legs trembling under the weight of his own body. Behind him, a monstrous demonic beast roared, its grotesque tentacles writhing like living shadows, each one tipped with a sharp edge that thirsted for his blood—seeking him, wanting to slash his flesh into pieces.

The earth beneath him quaked with each step of the beast, the sound of its guttural growls reverberating through his chest.

Lightning coursed through his legs, arcs of electric energy crackling at his heels, urging him forward with desperate speed. Yet, no matter how fast he ran, no matter how much he pushed himself, the beast was faster.

Every step sent pain coursing through his body.

His limbs felt heavy, and his strength was a shallow reservoir rapidly draining away.

Too slow. Too weak.

A cold, slimy tendril lashed out and wrapped around his waist, yanking him off his feet. He thrashed wildly, trying to get out of this trap, but the tentacle only tightened, crushing his ribs as it dragged him closer to the monstrosity. It hovered over him, a terrifying amalgamation of chaos and darkness, its grotesque mouth lined with jagged teeth stained with the remnants of its past victims. Shreds of human flesh and bone dangled from its maw, the stench of death suffocating.

Chen Ren’s heart sank into an abyss of despair as the creature spoke, its voice a deep, guttural resonance that seemed to echo within his very soul.

”Your soul is mine now.”

The beast reared its head back, preparing to devour him, when a deafening roar split the air. Chen Ren covered his ears, the sound almost rupturing his eardrums.

The skies above erupted into brilliance. Golden light emanated, making his jaw drop.

A massive golden dragon glided down, its scales shimmering with celestial radiance. Its eyes burned with fury, and each beat of its wings sent waves of energy rippling across the landscape. The dragon’s roar shook Chen Ren, a sound so powerful it seemed to challenge the very existence of the demonic beast.

Chen Ren’s hope reignited as the dragon descended like a bolt of divine retribution, its claws poised to rip the monstrosity apart.

But before the dragon could strike, a sharp pain shot through Chen Ren’s leg. He cried out as warm blood gushed from the wound.

He glanced down, only to see the beast’s tentacle morphing, its slimy surface sprouting fur. Its sharp tip was reshaping into a familiar claw.

His mind spun as he stared at the transformation, confusion breaking through the fog of fear. ”Isn’t this… Yalan’s claw?”

The beast’s mouth twisted into a cruel grin, its voice reverberating once more.

”Yes, it is. Now wake up.”

Chen Ren blinked, his breath catching. The surreal nightmare twisted further as a force yanked him upward, ripping him from the darkness.

He gasped, sitting bolt upright. His chest heaved as cold sweat drenched his body, and his surroundings came into focus.

He found himself in the same room he had been living in for over a month in Tang Clan’s guest compound.

His hands trembled as he instinctively reached for his legs, now tightly wrapped in fresh bandages. His shoulders, too, bore signs of care, medicinal salves and bindings holding together his battered body.

His gaze shifted, locking onto Yalan, sitting beside him. Her sharp eyes studied him, a faint smirk tugging at her lips. She tilted her head as if to say, “You’re finally awake”.

Chen Ren looked around the room again, his thoughts a whirlwind. Memories of the night before came flooding back—his meeting with Feng Ming, the return of the medallion, the attack of the demonic cultivator, the explosion that tore through the silence, the spectral rhinos he fought while fleeing for his life. It all felt like a lifetime ago.

He exhaled shakily, rubbing his temples. The beast’s words still echoed in his mind, its jagged teeth and monstrous grin seared into his memory. He glanced at Yalan again, her presence anchoring him to the present.

“What…” he croaked, his voice hoarse. “What happened?”

Yalan started kneading as she relaxed on the bed.

“You’re alive. Barely. But next time, try to put more practice into your movement techniques. Like you learned last night, not every fight is fair and you need to run more times than you would like. A fast movement technique helps in that, especially for someone so weak.”

Chen Ren winced at her bluntness but couldn’t argue. He let his head fall back against the bed, staring at the ceiling.

“Here.”

Chen Ren’s eyes drifted to Yalan’s paw, where two pills rested. The scent of herbs wafted from them.

He raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued despite the ache in his body. “What are those?”

Yalan’s tail flicked. “The grey one is a Flesh Restoration Pill. It’ll mend your torn flesh, stop the bleeding, and close up the worst of your injuries. The white one is a Body Restoration Pill. It handles minor wounds, balances your qi flow, and gives you a surge of energy. Take them both, and you’ll be back on your feet soon enough.”

Chen Ren picked up the pills, holding them between his fingers as he inspected them. The grey pill was rough and irregularly shaped, its surface matte and unappealing. The white pill, by contrast, had a smoother texture and gave off a faint luminescent sheen. He glanced at Yalan skeptically.

”Surge of energy, huh?” he muttered, rolling the pills in his palm. With a resigned sigh, he popped them into his mouth.

The taste hit him instantly—a mix of bitter herbs and something else indescribable, like burnt ash mixed with spoiled milk. His face twisted in disgust, and his first instinct was to spit them out.

Yalan’s sharp voice stopped him mid-motion. “Chew them. Both of them. If you don’t, they won’t work properly.”

He gave her a withering look but complied, biting down on the pills. The bitterness intensified, spreading across his tongue and making his stomach churn. He felt his gag reflex coming to play when he chewed further, but somehow, he managed to swallow the gritty remains. His entire face scrunched up in pain.

As the last of the taste faded, warmth blossomed in his core. It started as a tickle, then spread like wildfire through his veins. His breathing steadied, and the ache in his shoulders melted away. Even the dull throb in his legs dampened until it was barely noticeable. He flexed his fingers, marveling at the sudden vitality coursing through him.

Yalan watched his reaction with an amused smirk. “Feeling better already, aren’t you?”

Chen Ren nodded, rolling his shoulders experimentally. “Yeah, even my shoulders feel better. What type of herbs are they even made up of?”

“Dozens of different herbs and beast materials. You don’t need to know right now. Just take them as a miracle of alchemy.” Yalan said with a wave of her paw.

Chen Ren studied her for a moment before asking, “Where did you get them? And what happened yesterday? Did you kill those spectral beasts?”

Yalan rolled over and showed her belly like a normal cat. A behaviour he had gotten used to. He briefly wondered if he should scratch, thinking back to his neighbour’s cat that used to love that. But decided against it in the end.

If she gets angry, she might just force me to take more of those awful flavoured pills.

She was a feisty soul and Chen soon saw it when she turned around and sat next to him. “Of course I killed them. Those foul creatures were easy enough to deal with, though there were a lot of them. After finishing them off, I wanted to come back for you, but the demonic cultivator was still out there. I couldn’t risk letting him escape. So, I rushed back to the site of the explosion, but there was no trace of him. That bastard vanished without a single clue.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Chen Ren frowned. “And the pills?”

“I found them in a pill shop that the spectral rhinos were destroying,” she said nonchalantly. “Figured you’d need them, so I grabbed a handful. Afterward, I scoured the area, hoping to find that demonic cultivator, but he was gone. By the time I came back to look for you, you’d already disappeared. When I finally tracked you down, you were collapsed in the Tang Manor’s courtyard with Xiulan tending to you.”

Chen Ren leaned back against the pillows, absorbing Yalan’s words. His fingers drummed lightly against his thigh, betraying his unease.

“The demonic cultivator got away… fuck! He must be stronger than I thought if he can control those spectral rhinos.”

Yalan shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. There were no traces of demonic qi on them. They weren’t his doing—not directly, at least. I believe they came from a spirit artefact, not the work of the cultivator himself. Whoever set this chaos in motion, I doubt they intended for the city to be wrecked like this. The other killings were done quietly, in the dead of night. This... this mess doesn’t fit the pattern. Honestly, I don’t even think the explosions were caused by the demonic cultivator.”

Chen Ren furrowed his brow, her words gnawing at the edges of his thoughts. He suddenly recalled the talismans he’d glimpsed in Feng Ming’s room before fleeing. Those fire runes. The memory clicked into place, and a theory began to form.

If Yalan was right and the explosions weren’t the cultivator’s doing, then those talismans… He gritted his teeth. The demonic cultivator had been heading toward the Feng Clan estate, and the talismans might have been the trigger for this entire mess. Perhaps the blasts were intended to draw attention—enough to set the Feng Clan’s guards and the city watch on high alert. The spectral rhinos could have been a diversion, buying time for the demonic cultivator to slip away unnoticed.

As his thoughts raced toward a conclusion, a knock on the door jolted him back to reality. He exchanged a glance with Yalan, then called out, “Come in.”

The door creaked open, revealing Tang Xiulan. Her usual confidence was replaced with an expression of worry and concern. Her eyebrows knitted in a tight frown and her lips tightened. Her gaze darted to Chen Ren, and the tension in her shoulders eased slightly when she saw him sitting upright.

“Young Master, you’re awake. How are you feeling now?” she asked, stepping into the room.

Chen Ren offered a faint smile, trying to downplay the gravity of his injuries. “I’m fine. Feeling better already. Wounds like these won’t keep me bedridden for long.”

He glanced at Yalan, and back at Xiulan. “Can we have the room for a moment?”

Xiulan didn’t nod immediately. Chen Ren noticed it and frowned. “Is there something else you need to tell me?”

“Yes,” Xiulan replied and cleared her throat. Her hands fidgeted nervously as she looked at him. “Young Master, the city guards are asking about you. They’re here to question you.”

Chen Ren’s frown deepened. “Question me? About what?”

“They’re suspecting you’re the demonic cultivator. They’re talking about taking you away to interrogate you. I have tried to keep them away from your room, but they are insisting on seeing you.”

Chen Ren’s eyebrows shot up in shock. He exchanged a quick glance with Yalan, her fur standing slightly on end as her ears twitched in shared alarm. Without wasting a second, Chen Ren pushed the covers aside and swung his legs over the bed. “Where are they?” he demanded.

Tang Xiulan hesitated, wringing her hands. “They’re just outside the compound. Young master, you shouldn’t move. You are injured.”

Chen Ren grabbed his outer robe, ignoring the slight twinge of pain in his still-mending shoulder and Tang Xiulan’s words. “I’ll go deal with it,” he said firmly, striding toward the door. “And don’t worry. Most of my injuries have healed.”

“Be careful,” Xiulan called after him, worry evident in her tone.

“I’ll be fine,” he said without looking back. “I’ll just explain what happened last night. They’ve got no right to throw around accusations like this.”

Despite his confident words, his thoughts churned. City guards or not, they don’t have the strength to push cultivators around unless they’ve brought someone strong enough to back them up. I’ll give them a report, set them straight, and get back to resting.

He walked through the wooden floorboards, briefly glancing at the other servant he passed by before finally stepping into the courtyard.

As he did so, Chen Ren froze mid-step. An oppressive aura bore down on him like a tidal wave, heavy and unrelenting. His instincts flared, and he immediately scanned the source. A group of city guards stood in formation, their gazes hard and unyielding. At the forefront, a towering man clad in dark armor exuded an unmistakable presence.

Oppressive qi rippled out of him and Chen Ren gulped. By this point, he had seen enough cultivators and had familiarised himself with qi to know that the man wasn’t just a body forging realm cultivator— this was someone in the qi refinement realm.

Chen Ren’s gut twisted slightly. He hadn’t anticipated facing someone of this caliber today.

The man’s sharp eyes locked onto Chen Ren the moment he stepped into view. “You are Chen Ren?” he asked. “I’m the guard captain here. We need you to come with us.”

Chen Ren straightened his back, suppressing the lingering pain in his body. “That’s me. What’s this about?”

The guard captain’s expression remained stony.

“By order of City Lord Li Baolong, you are hereby taken into custody for the murder of Feng Ming of the Feng Clan and on suspicion of being the demonic cultivator responsible for wreaking havoc throughout the city. Any resistance will be met with force. Surrender yourself immediately.”

***

Gu Tian stood amidst a restless crowd gathered near the ruins of a grand estate. The smoldering wreckage of the Feng Clan manor painted a grim picture of chaos, with splintered wood and charred stones strewn across the ground like discarded remnants of an inferno. The acrid scent of smoke still lingered in the air, mingling the sweet scent of blood.

The people around him whispered in hushed tones, their voices tinged with fear and fascination.

“They say the demonic cultivator unleashed a demon,” murmured one man, his eyes darting nervously toward the wreckage. “It swallowed everything in its path.”

“I heard the guards were helpless against the thing,” a woman added, clutching her child tightly. “Nothing but corpses left behind.”

“Quiet down!” barked a guard stationed nearby, waving his spear to scatter the crowd back. “This is an official investigation. Clear the area!”

Despite the guards’ efforts, the whispers persisted, growing more sensational with each retelling. Gu Tian shook his head.

Idiots. They’d believe anything.

He knew the truth. He had been there when the explosion rocked the Feng estate. He had been on the verge of finishing Feng Ming, the wretched and weak young master, when the fool had activated those talismans. The runes had glowed ominously before exploding in a catastrophic release of power, killing Feng Ming instantly and forcing Gu Tian to flee.

The aftermath had been far from ideal. The explosion had attracted too much attention, forcing him to use his master’s spirit artifact—a concealed relic with enough power to create a diversion while he escaped into the shadows.

Now, he was here, blending into the crowd, spectating the chaos he had indirectly caused. The guards combed through the wreckage, their faces grim as they retrieved bodies, both whole and in pieces. Gu Tian kept his hood low, smirking faintly at their ineptitude. At least they’re not clever enough to think the culprit would return to the scene.

A sharp, familiar voice cut into his thoughts, ringing clearly in his head.

“You should have been more careful,” his master’s ethereal tone hissed, full of disapproval. “I warned you about barging in without enough information. You are still so green behind the ears.”

Gu Tian’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t respond immediately. He stepped away from the crowd, moving into a narrow alley, his boots crunching on loose gravel. Once out of sight, he muttered under his breath, “We don’t have a lot of time. The guards were already on edge. I didn’t have a choice.”

“And now they’re more vigilant than ever, thanks to you,” his master retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Do you have any idea how much harder you’ve made this? And we’re no closer to finding the medallion.”

Gu Tian ground his teeth, his frustration bubbling to the surface. “It’s not my fault! I’ve searched the entire city, but you’re asleep half the time in that bracelet of yours. You can’t detect the medallion unless you’re awake, and you only stirred yesterday when I was already seconds away from killing Feng Ming. If you stayed conscious, we’d have the damn thing by now, and we would be on my way to the Gate of Immortals.”

Gu Tian leaned against the cold stone wall of the alley, exhaling sharply as his master’s deep, raspy voice growled in his mind.

“I’m too weak right now, boy, merely a fragment of my former self, barely clinging on as a spectre. Do you think it’s easy concealing your qi and twisting it to pass for ordinary? It drains what little strength I have left. Show some respect.”

Gu Tian rolled his eyes, his voice laced with exasperation. “Alright, fine. But let’s be real here—we’re no closer to finding the medallion, and after the stunt last night, sneaking into the big clans is out of the question. The city’s crawling with guards. If I so much as breathe near their gate, I’ll have an entire squad on me.”

“So?” his master replied coolly. “You’re supposed to be resourceful, aren’t you? Figure it out.”

Gu Tian ignored the jab, straightening as his thoughts coalesced into a single plan. “The tournament,” he said decisively. “It’s the only chance we’ve got. If the medallion is as significant as we know, there’s a good chance it’ll either be among the prizes or carried by someone important. If we enter, you can sense if it’s nearby, right?”

A gruff silence followed, his master’s presence simmering in his mind like a storm waiting to break. Finally, the spectre replied, his tone reluctant. “It’s a gamble, but you might be right. The tournament would draw all manner of treasures and powerful people. If the medallion is here, it’s likely someone connected to it will appear.”

“Then it’s settled,” Gu Tian said, determination hardening his voice. “I’ll enter the tournament. Until then, I’ll lie low. No more slip-ups.”

His master snorted. “Low profile, huh? A bit late for that, don’t you think?”

Gu Tian frowned but chose not to retort. He knew his master was right. Still, this was their best option.

“I will be sleeping until then. Don’t do anything else. You’ve done enough for now. Just hide and wait. If we get caught before that, you know what’ll happen.”

Gu Tian nodded. “Our goal of immortality will be over. I get it. I’ll stay hidden.”

With a tug of his hood, Gu Tian melded into the shadows of the labyrinthine streets. His master’s silhouette disappeared from his eyes, returning to his bracelet. Just a little bit more time until the day of the tournament.

***

A/N - You can read 30 chapters (15 Magus Reborn and 15 Dao of money) on my patreon.