Dao of Money

There were many phases to Chen Ren’s plan.

He knew from the very beginning that a simple assault on the city would never work. Anyone who rushed in would only meet the same fate as Yun Zhaotian—dragged inside and never seen again. Because of that, the first phase had always been about creating a disruption large enough to force the city open.

And nothing caused disruption like zombies.

From his position, Chen Ren watched as thousands of undead surged toward the city. Massive clouds of black sand rose into the air as they chased after Li Shijun of the Soaring Sword Sect. Their screeches filled the sky, sharp and endless. Even Chen Ren was surprised by how many Li Shijun had managed to gather.

But that was only the beginning.

More screeches echoed across the sixth floor, accompanied by the heavy stomping of countless feet. Chen Ren turned his head and saw three more hordes approaching from different directions, all converging on the city.

One was led by Li Xuan. Another by Li Kuangdao. The last by members of the Thunder Blade Sect.

Han Qingshi and the Frostpeak Sect were nowhere in sight. Chen Ren had not asked them to bring a horde. He had tasked them with something far worse, something that would take much longer to prepare.

As the hordes drew closer to the city, Chen Ren noticed movement along the walls. Silhouettes appeared, pacing and gathering, clearly caught off guard by what was unfolding.

Yalan’s voice echoed in his mind. “If I were the Zombie Queen,” she said, “I’d be very angry about what’s going to happen next.”

Chen Ren replied at once, “I’m hoping she’s asleep or something, so she doesn’t even get time to be pissed.”

Yalan made a soft chuffing noise. “Your luck isn’t that good.”

As he watched, the zombie hordes closed in from every direction. They pressed so close to the city that turning back was impossible. The waves of undead locked themselves in, bodies crashing together in their hunger.

Then, all at once, the cultivators leading the hordes moved.

Each of them drew a sword from their back and threw it forward. The blades shot ahead, hovering in the air for a brief moment. Without hesitation, the cultivators jumped onto them.

In the next second, they rose above the waves and flew straight over the hordes.

Chen Ren narrowed his eyes. He didn’t know how they did it, but the Soaring Sword Sect had managed to borrow flying swords from the Thunderblade Sect, and it was paying off.

Below them, the zombies did not even notice.

Driven by bloodlust, the hordes crashed straight into the city walls. One massive wave slammed directly into the gates. It did not break, but the impact shook the stone.

Armored zombies poured down from the walls, spears in hand, moving to cut into the horde from all sides. Arrows rained down from above, piercing bodies and pinning undead to the sand.

It didn’t matter.

Even fighting a hundred zombies was overwhelming. Here, there were thousands. Some of the waves mixed together, growing denser and more chaotic. Chen Ren could see silhouettes of more intelligent undead moving along the walls, clearly trying to regain control.

Just as he expected, the horde did not discriminate.

The zombie soldiers who jumped down were quickly torn apart. Chen Ren even saw something that made his eyes narrow—a zombie picked up the spear of a fallen soldier and drove it into another undead’s back.

The city’s defenses were already beginning to drown.

Gaining intelligence had its benefits, but it also meant that they would gain a sense of preservation of their lives. In other words, even if they were already dead, the undead valued their lives. And that led to panic.

Chen Ren could see it clearly now. Shouts echoed from the walls. Screams followed soon after. The hordes did not slow down, no matter how many fell. The pressure only grew.

Unfortunately for the zombie soldiers, this was only the beginning.

Chen Ren had never believed that mere hordes would be enough to force the city to open its gates. The walls were thick, ancient and reinforced. They would take hours to break, if they could be broken at all. If zombie hordes alone were enough to fracture them, the city would never have survived this long.

That was why he had planned something bigger.

And soon, he heard it.

A sound that cut through the chaos. A deep, unnatural scream that made the ground tremble.

Chen Ren turned his head, and his eyes widened.

One of the twins, Li Qingfeng sucked in a sharp breath beside him. “What in the heavens did Han Qingshi do?”

Chen Ren was thinking the exact same thing.

Three massive sand elementals were charging toward the city. Their worm-like bodies tore through the black sand, each movement sending waves of dust into the air. They screamed as they moved, the sound low and violent, like the earth itself was being ripped apart.

Chen Ren narrowed his eyes.

On the elemental in the center, he saw a silhouette.

He had never seen the man before, but he did not need to ask who he was. He knew instantly.

Han Qingshi.

The man stood atop the elemental, massive chains wrapped around its body and clenched in his hands. He was smiling as they barreled toward the city, the wind whipping around him.

Chen Ren could not see the rest of the Frostpeak Sect anywhere nearby. But that made sense. Only someone completely insane would ride a sand elemental like this.

He was not even sure how Han Qingshi was riding one—let alone controlling it with two more charging alongside him.

Princess Yanyue smiled beside him. “It looks like your plan is going to work, Sect Leader Chen. Maybe even better than we expected.”

Chen Ren nodded. He turned to Zi Wen and the twins. “Get ready. We’re going to move soon.”

At once, they straightened and weapons were drawn. Even the royal guards tensed, their eyes fixed on the inevitable clash between the elementals and the city walls.

A heartbeat later, it happened.

All three sand elementals slammed into the walls with a thunderous crack. Black sand and broken stone exploded outward as they crushed through the zombie horde gathered below. The impact sent shockwaves through the city, and thin cracks immediately spread across the walls.

Shouts and screams erupted from above.

Elementals were rare on the sixth floor. It was obvious the city had never been meant to withstand three of them striking at once. Qi flared along the walls as the sand elementals thrashed in fury, their massive bodies tearing into stone and array shield alike.

Chen Ren spotted Han Qingshi leaping away from the central elemental, retreating at once.

He let out a quiet breath of relief.

At least the man was following the plan.

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Anyone could see that the zombie soldiers on the walls were powerless against the elementals. Even the protective array barrier around the city was beginning to strain. And after a while, the moment Chen Ren had been waiting for arrived.

One of the elementals crashed straight into the massive stone gates. Its mouth tore into the shield, ripping it apart, and chunks of the gate began to collapse.

The gates were enormous. But even a small breach was enough.

Still, Chen Ren did not rush.

Charging in right away would have meant getting crushed or eaten by the elementals. So he waited.

He waited until a group clad in full-body armor finally leapt down from the walls.

They were the same death knights he had heard so much about. Their swords glowed with a dreadful aura as they clashed head-on with the sand elementals. At the same time, more arrows rained down from above, thinning out the remaining zombie hordes.

That was his opening.

Chen Ren immediately pushed qi into his palms and raised his hand toward the sky. A bolt of lightning shot upward and exploded high above them.

It was the signal.

After waiting just a heartbeat, he activated his movement technique and rushed toward the centre of the battlefield where death knights and elementals collided.

A massive wave of qi surged behind him. He did not need to look back to know everyone was following.

The closer he got, the faster his heart began to race.

He knew he would only get one chance to get inside. If he hesitates, he might just die.

As he neared the clash, Wang Jun whispered beside him, “Don’t drop me in the middle of this. I don’t want to become sand elemental food.”

That almost made Chen Ren relax. He flooded qi into his legs and leapt.

One of the sand elementals shrieked and dove toward him. Chen Ren fired a lightning bolt straight into its open mouth. The elemental screamed again, losing control of its movement.

Using that moment, Chen Ren twisted in midair and landed on the back of another elemental.

It shook violently beneath him. The massive body writhed, trying to throw him off. Chen Ren had no idea how Han Qingshi had managed to ride one of these things.

But he did not let go.

He had to time his jump perfectly if he wanted to pass through the gap in the gate. But with the elemental thrashing beneath him and demonic qi lashing through the air in sharp, violent waves, finding the right moment felt almost impossible.

Chen Ren clung on, teeth clenched.

Another sand elemental slammed into the gate. The stone cracked and shattered, and the opening widened.

The next second, Chen Ren saw Zi Wen burst through the gap, riding on the back of little Yuze. The twins were on the wolf too, sitting on its back. Seeing that, Chen Ren cursed himself inwardly for not relying on the large wolf in the first place.

The elemental beneath him writhed again, and right then, Chen Ren saw his chance.

Soaring Sword Sect and Thunderblade Sect cultivators streaked through the air on flying swords. Several of them weaved past the elementals and death knights, slipping through the opening.

Chen Ren’s eyes locked onto one figure.

Li Xuan.

“Li Xuan, brace!” He shouted immediately and did not wait for a response.

Chen Ren launched himself off the elemental and grabbed onto the flying sword with one hand just as Yalan leapt onto his back out of nowhere. To Li Xuan’s credit, he steadied the sword instantly and shot toward the gap.

Chen Ren held on tightly, refusing to let go. Yalan flicked her tail, flames bursting out to intercept attacks that came too close.

Then they were through.

Chen Ren jumped down the moment they cleared the opening. He pushed qi into his soles, softening the impact as he landed on the stone ground inside the city. Only then did he finally let out a long breath of relief.

Wang Jun muttered something beside him, but fell silent as Little Yuze and a few other cultivators descended from the flying swords nearby.

The noise outside the walls only grew louder. The clash between death knights, sand elementals, and the remaining zombie hordes intensified, reaching another brutal stage. Screams, roars, and the sound of stone breaking echoed through the air.

Chen Ren did not look back.

Now that he was inside the city, the outside battle no longer mattered.

He waited as more cultivators poured in through the broken gate. One group after another landed on the streets, weapons already drawn. Relief washed over him when he saw Princess Yanyue arrive with her royal guards. Frostpeak Sect was not among them yet, but Chen Ren was certain Han Qingshi and the others would find their way inside soon.

They could not linger here waiting for them.

The wide street they stood on was already coming alive. Zombies were shuffling toward them from between buildings, and soldiers from the walls were pointing and rushing down stairways to intercept them. They were dangerous in numbers, but not enough to slow them down if they acted fast.

His attention shifted upward.

At the heart of the city stood a castle.

It looked out of place. While the rest of the buildings were low and flat, barely one or two stories tall, the castle rose high above them all. Its dark stone walls were thick and uneven, layered like something grown rather than built. Towers jutted out at odd angles, and faint lights flickered behind narrow slits that passed for windows. It loomed over the city like a watching beast.

Near it, he could make out a large circular structure.

The arena.

Merchant Shrey’s words came back to him at once. If his information was correct, Yun Zhaotian was caged there, forced to fight for the Zombie Queen’s amusement.

Chen Ren immediately looked at the cultivators. He raised his voice and took command. “We kill every zombie we can.”

Heads turned toward him immediately.

“Half of us will move toward the arena and follow the plan,” he continued. “The rest will clear a path to the lift. Once the route is secure, you’ll get the signal. Then we regroup and move to the seventh floor.” He looked around at them. “Is that clear?”

No one answered. They did not need to. All of them already knew of the plan and a group moved at once and charged forward towards the arena.

Chen Ren watched them go, satisfied.

A third of his plan was successful. Now he needed to make the rest of it successful too.

***

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