Dao of Money

Chen Ren tried not to breathe as he stared at the bookshelf in front of him.

Princess Yanyue’s plan kept running through his mind again and again, and he knew that in less than five minutes, he might be running for his life. But nothing else had made enough sense.

He had thought of other options too. One of them had even been to somehow use Jun, the demonic cultivator up in the library, and his disciples as bait so that they could hold the lord back long enough for Chen Ren and Princess Yanyue to escape.

But that idea sounded even worse the longer he thought about it. It was too messy and he had no real idea how he would even make it happen.

In the end, he had just gone with Princess Yanyue’s plan.

It was quite simple. And maybe simple was exactly what he needed right now.

Either way, if everything truly went wrong, he could always use the ticket and leave this place. Chen Ren didn’t know whether he would ever be able to enter the pagoda again after that, but at least he would still be alive.

For now, though, his eyes stayed on the shelf.

Once he got close enough, he first marked the diary Princess Yanyue wanted. It sat on the middle row.

After that, he let his gaze move across the other books. Shrey only wanted three, but if Chen Ren was really going to risk his life here, then there was no reason not to take something for himself too. In the whole library, these were the only books he could simply stuff into his spatial ring without anything getting in the way.

So he decided to take all of them at once.

Before moving, he looked back at Princess Yanyue. She was already in position, her qi bow drawn and ready. She gave him a small nod.

Then, Chen Ren pushed his hand closer to the books, and as he did that, he also sent lightning running through his legs.

He touched one of the books and pushed his will into the spatial ring, trying to drag every single book on the shelf into it at once.

For a brief second, the books resisted. He gritted his teeth and pushed harder. Then, all at once, they vanished from the shelf and reappeared inside his ring.

At the same time, a groan came from his right.

He turned around just enough to see the lord stirring on the bed, his eyes already opening as he tried to understand what had happened.

But before the man could even rise properly, golden light flooded the room.

In the very next second, Princess Yanyue released the same primordial golden qi she had used against the Zombie Queen and sent it straight at the lord.

The attack struck him while he was still getting up. Golden light exploded through the room and the lord screamed.

But neither of them stayed there for a breath longer. They turned at once and ran straight for the stairs.

From behind him, Chen Ren heard shouting, then sounds he could not even make sense of, broken words of pure fury, but he had no desire to understand any of it.

He only ran harder, forcing his body forward as fast as he could until they finally reached the stairs.

He took three at a time, leaping upward one after another.

But then something slammed into his back.

It was a huge wave of qi. He almost stumbled, but quickly found his footing. Princess Yanyue looked back at once and nearly lost her footing too.

“Don’t look back. We need to keep moving.”

So they did.

They kept running even as more waves of qi crashed toward them from behind, and once there was even a loud, blood curdling scream. Chen Ren didn’t need anyone to explain what was happening.

He understood it perfectly.

The lord had woken up, shaken off whatever injury Princess Yanyue had managed to inflict on him, and realised that his personal collection was gone.

The waves of qi crashing after them were probably his way of searching for them. Or maybe something worse.

Chen Ren couldn’t tell, and he did not waste time trying to. He only kept running, forcing himself forward again and again until at last he saw light ahead.

The moment they burst out of the stairs and onto the ground floor, Chen Ren raised a hand and fired a bolt of qi into the air. It exploded above them, scattering some of the flying books, and he could only hope Yalan and the twins would come running in the next few breaths.

But when he looked ahead, he saw three people he had not expected to find there at all.

Jun and his two disciples were standing there, staring at him and Princess Yanyue with clear confusion on their faces. Only Jun looked even slightly composed out of the three.

Another wave of qi struck Chen Ren from behind, and he understood a moment later that what had confused them was not the sight of them running.

It was the power coming after them. They could clearly feel it.

Jun took a step forward and muttered, “What in the forsaken heavens did you do?”

Before Chen Ren could answer, a greatsword suddenly dropped out of nowhere and stabbed itself into the ground right in front of him. He and Princess Yanyue both stopped on instinct, and Chen Ren’s heart sank at once.

A deep, snarling voice rang out the very next second. “You dare steal from me? I will make sure you learn what happens to thieves in my library.”

Chen Ren risked turning his head. And there he was.

The floor lord was walking toward them.

There was another greatsword in his hand while a dozen more rotated around him in a circle, all of them glowing with a menacing light. His eyes were fully red and his face was twisted with fury.

Blood was still leaking from the wound in his shoulder, the same place Princess Yanyue’s arrow had struck.

Not only had they stolen his books, they had clearly also interrupted a sleep that should have lasted far longer.

The moment the lord raised his hand, Chen Ren grabbed Princess Yanyue by the arm and ran again, straight toward Jun and his disciples. But instead of trying to push past them, he gathered lightning in his legs and jumped, dragging Princess Yanyue up with him as she let out a startled yelp.

They landed hard.

Chen Ren risked one more look back and saw something that almost made him freeze.

Two flying swords had crashed into a barrier of dark, heavy qi, and that barrier was holding. It rolled off Jun in thick waves, oppressive enough that even from a distance Chen Ren could feel it, and every second more of that qi poured into the barrier and reinforced it.

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He had no idea how Jun was blocking an attack from a floor lord, but one thing was obvious.

That qi was not normal.

It was demonic, yes, but it also felt different from anything Chen Ren had encountered before. It was far too oppressive, almost enough to remind him of primordial qi.

He had no time to think about it, though.

Jun being there had become a piece of absurd luck. Demonic cultivator or not, if the man could hold the lord back for even a minute, then Chen Ren and Princess Yanyue could get out of the library without using any of the one-time-use items in his ring.

So he kept running, heading straight for the lift that had brought them there in the first place.

Then he saw movement. In the very next second, both of Jun’s disciples appeared from the sides. “You aren’t going anywhere.”

Chen Ren immediately frowned. “I think the two of you should run as well. There’s no way your master can fight a floor lord for long.”

Both of them widened their eyes at that, but the girl recovered almost at once. Her hands lit up, and demonic qi burst out of them in a blast of lightning aimed straight at him.

Princess Yanyue stepped forward immediately, her own hands glowing as a silver shield of qi formed in front of them and took the blast head-on without trouble.

But Chen Ren’s frown only deepened.

They didn’t have time for this. Not even for a small fight.

They needed to get past these two and get out of the library as fast as possible.

Behind him, he could already feel the violent clash of qi between Jun and the floor lord, and he had no real idea how much time that bought them. The two disciples, however, clearly had no intention of letting them pass. Both of them started pushing out more qi, readying another attack.

Knowing there was no easy way around it, Chen Ren also started gathering lightning.

Then, just as the fight was about to begin, a voice sounded in his mind. “You really do find trouble everywhere.”

Chen Ren almost smiled.

In the next second, Yalan burst out from the side in her true form, the twins on her back, and slammed straight into both disciples before they could even react. Neither of them saw her coming.

They were thrown backward at once and crashed hard into the shelves behind them.

Beside him, Princess Yanyue let out a breath. “Is that Yalan?”

Chen Ren only smiled, then pointed toward the exit and shouted, “Move, now!”

All of them rushed toward the lift that had brought them there, even while Chen Ren kept hearing the sounds of battle behind him. With every clash of qi, the same thought kept rising in his mind.

Just who was Jun?

The man had already held against the floor lord for far longer than Chen Ren had thought possible.

But the thought did not stay with him for long, because the lift finally came into view. The moment they got inside it, Chen Ren saw the twins let out small sighs of relief when it started moving, but he already knew that they were not safe yet.

The lift was too slow.

Hence he took out his flying sword, jumped onto it, and looked back at the others. “The lift won’t be fast enough. We need to move on our own.”

The moment he said that, he shot downward at once, already knowing the others would follow.

In her current form, Yalan had no trouble making her way down the shaft even while carrying the twins, simply by driving her claws into the walls as she moved while the princess had her own flying sword.

But they had not even made it halfway when the whole structure suddenly shook so violently that for a brief second Chen Ren truly thought the wall in front of him was about to collapse on top of them.

Even Yalan, who was descending with her claws dug deep into the walls, snapped out, “What in the world did you steal from that lord?”

Chen Ren answered without slowing down. “Nothing he had any real use for. He was sleeping anyway.”

Then he kept moving down, faster and faster, not daring to stop even for a breath. He knew that if he hesitated now, it might cost them badly. So he only pushed onward until, at last, they finally reached the bottom of the lift shaft.

The moment they did, Chen Ren straightened the sword beneath his feet.

For a second, he thanked Wang Jun in his heart for teaching him more about sword flight as he shot through the hallway and burst out into the heat a minute later.

He risked a glance behind him and saw Princess Yanyue right there, keeping pace, while the twins had also taken out a flying sword of their own. Yalan was between them, already back in her normal form.

Seeing that, Chen Ren gave a small nod and pushed farther through the sky, hoping with everything he had that they would reach the master lift before the lord found them.

Even getting far enough away from the range of his qi sense would be enough.

The floor was massive, and there were plenty of mindless beasts around that could force the lord to pause or at least slow him down.

So, Chen Ren kept moving and moving.

Every second, he felt as if the lord would burst out of the grand library behind them and come after them, but nothing happened. In his heart, he almost started to wonder whether he might actually leave this floor without nearly dying again.

Princess Yanyue seemed to be thinking along the same lines. She moved to his side. “I don’t know whether Jun is truly strong enough to stop the lord, or whether the lord simply gave up once we got out of the library.”

“Let’s hope it’s the latter. I don’t even want to think about how terrifying it would be if a demonic cultivator in the foundation establishment realm can hold back a floor lord.”

But the moment he said it, his worst fear came true. A huge wave of qi swept past him.

Chen Ren froze at once.

Then he looked back to see the floor lord flying through the sky on a sword of his own.

Chen Ren’s heart dropped as he muttered, “I guess our luck runs out here.”

***

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