Dao of Money

Everything stilled when Wang Fu transformed.

There were moments in life when an entire plan unraveled without warning, and this was one of them.

Chen Ren had prepared for many outcomes. He had studied, planned, made contingencies… but none of them accounted for this. For his enemy being a demonic cultivator. How could he have known?

He doubted even Anji had knowledge of it. But if Wang Fu had been hiding this the whole time… then what did it say about the Blazing Ember Sect? Did they know? No, they couldn’t have. Or maybe they did.

But he didn’t have time to dwell on that. Before his eyes, Wang Fu’s body twisted and cracked, the transformation grotesque–skin blackening and peeling, demonic qi bursting from him in thick, burning waves. Dark flames licked across his limbs. The smell of nasty burnt flesh filled the room.

He looked too much like him — Gu Tian, the man who had nearly killed Chen Ren before. But this one… this one was worse.

Even Yalan froze, stunned by what she was seeing. She only moved when a jet of black flame tore toward her. She leapt just in time — the wall behind her melted like wax.

That one attack confirmed it. Wang Fu was strong. Too strong. The transformation had increased his strength a realm and now he was strong against to stand against Yalan. Maybe even win. Chen Ren knew there would be repercussions of his strength, but he doubted it mattered to him until he won.

Chen Ren’s thoughts spiraled for a second. Should they run? Could they? No. It wouldn’t matter.

There was no time to think.

Wang Fu let out a guttural laugh — one that rumbled through Chen Ren’s body. Before he could settle with the current situation, Wang Fu flung another wave of dark flames toward Yalan, each blast hotter and more violent than the last.

The black fire twisted in ways that Chen Ren hadn’t seen before, as if alive, chasing her across the cracked floor. She couldn’t get close. She barely managed to dodge, slipping between columns and broken tiles.

One of the flames turned mid-air and came straight for Chen Ren. He activated his movement technique in an instant, his body flickering to the side just as the fire struck where he had stood. He activated his starlight body but even then, the heat licked at his skin, causing it to turn red.

It was unbearable. He gritted his teeth. But at least he didn’t see Hong Yi anywhere. That meant the man had listened. He had taken his warning and hidden.

Wang Fu stood tall amidst the chaos, his fiery body radiating power as black smoke swirled around him. His grin widened, fangs showing. “You came here hoping to claim the inheritance?” he shouted. “Fools! It belongs to the Blazing Ember Sect — to its rightful new owners!”

He raised his arms, flames swirling between his fingers. “You are all thieves. And before the Empire gets you, I will.”

Yalan didn’t flinch. She darted to the side and released a burst of her own flames — bright gold, cutting through the darkness like sunlight. “The Empire will kill you first,” she spat, “and burn your rotten sect to the ground for harboring demonic cultivators!”

Wang Fu laughed again, blocking the flames with his spear. “Try escaping first, you silly little cat,” he sneered. “Then talk.”

Their battle exploded once more. Flame met flame — gold and black clashing with violent bursts of heat and pressure. But then something began to change.

Yalan was… growing.

Not dramatically. But each time she moved, each time she struck, her form seemed to shift — muscle rippling, posture widening. Her claws grew longer, her strikes heavier. His eyes widened. Glowing runes shimmered to life across her back, curving and curling like living tattoos.

Was this the true extent of her power? He hadn’t seen this happen before. And he didn’t exactly know how far her strength went. So he observed.

She let out a feral cry and cloaked herself in a layer of gold fire. It clung to her body like armor, shielding her as she broke through the next wave of demonic flames and launched herself forward.

Wang Fu raised his spear in defense, just in time.

Claws met steel. The impact sent a shockwave through the chamber — stone cracked, air rippled, and sparks exploded from where they collided.

Chen Ren barely escaped the next blast — only managing it because he stood near the edge of the room. Even then, the shockwave from the clash knocked him back a step, a blast of hot wind slamming into his chest. His ears rang. The very ground beneath his feet trembled. If the chamber hadn’t been built with ancient stone that were meant to uphold extreme destruction, it might have already crumbled under the strain.

But it wouldn’t hold forever.

That was when her voice came through the link.

"Run."

His eyes widened. "What?" he said aloud, heart pounding.

"Run, Chen Ren!" Yalan’s voice was urgent now. "Wang Fu is stronger than I expected. I can hold him for now, but the longer this goes on, the more dangerous it becomes for you. You need to escape. Get out of here and inform the Empire. That’s the only way we win."

He stared at her figure clashing against Wang Fu, flame against flame, steel against claw. His throat tightened.

"You're saying that like you’re not coming with me," he muttered.

There was a pause — only for a second — but it felt like an eternity.

"I don’t know if I will."

Her voice was quieter now. He could hear the strain beneath her calm. "When two cultivators of equal strength fight… one usually dies. He’s on my level, Chen Ren. Maybe even stronger, with that… destruction-imbued demonic qi. I don’t know how long I can keep this up. But he doesn’t look like he’s tiring any time soon."

Chen Ren clenched his fists, shaking his head. This felt wrong. Everything about it felt wrong. He wanted to scream at her. To tell her no, that they’d figure out another way. But the words wouldn’t come. Because deep down, he knew she was right.

Without Yalan, he would have died long ago.

She wasn’t just his protector. She was his friend. His only real anchor in this world that still felt too cruel and too vast. She was the one person who believed in him when he was beginning his journey in this world — the one who stood by him in every impossible moment. Even after knowing who he reallywas.

And now she was asking him to leave? To run?

It was the last thing he wanted. But it was also the only thing he could do unless…

I need to rely on my plan.

It was risky. Full of holes. A thousand things could go wrong and most likely would. But right now, it was the only shot they had. Because no matter how much he hated to admit it, he wasn’t strong enough to face Wang Fu head-on. Not yet.

But maybe he didn’t have to be.

Would anything else work?

Chen Ren didn’t know. Maybe his plan had no merit at all. But there was no time left to doubt, and thinking too long had already killed better men. He pushed everything through their link — the full idea, hastily pieced together as it was — and trusted her to understand.

Yalan was in the middle of dodging another volley of black flaming spears, her ethereal claws slashing through them with explosive bursts of force. But even in that chaos, she heard him.

“No,” she called out between blows. “That’s too risky!”

Chen Ren didn’t flinch. “It’s the only way. You don’t really want to die here, do you? I know you have a sense of self-preservation.”

She growled, spinning mid-air to parry Wang Fu’s thrusting spear. “Your life is more important!”

He exhaled, stepping into the shadows of a shattered pillar. “And I’m barely part of this plan. I don’t even have to do anything other than the initial array. That’s all.”

There was no reply. Not right away.

She kept fighting — dodging, striking, leaping back — but Chen Ren knew her well enough by now to know that she was processing. In the meantime, he saw how the walls kept getting hit with blackened flames one after another–every time Yalan dodged, massive holes erupted.

And then, after what felt like forever, her voice returned through their bond.

“I gave Anji the command.”

“Good,” he whispered, casting a glance toward the massive stone door at the far end of the room. It remained shut — for now — and the water still rushed through the channels in the walls.

He moved behind a collapsed chunk of debris—the remnants of a broken statue’s shoulder—and crouched low. Power surged into his legs, his breathing steadying as he prepared to launch himself at a moment’s notice.

Then it happened.

With a sudden click, the door began to rumble.

The water channels ceased their endless flow.

Anji had done it.

The shift in atmosphere said everything that he needed to. Wang Fu noticed too.

He turned his head toward the now-opening entrance, amusement dancing in his molten eyes.

“So… you’ve stopped trying to drown me. Accepted defeat already?” He grinned. “You figured it out, didn’t you? All that water would’ve turned to steam anyway.”

Yalan didn’t reply. She didn’t have to. Because just then, a roar tore through the corridor. It echoed like a beast from nightmares—shaking dust loose from the ceiling.

Wang Fu’s grin vanished.

He turned fully toward the entrance as the ground beneath them trembled.

Out from the opening thundered a metal-bodied puppet—its limbs clanging against the stone, moving far faster than it had any right to. But it wasn’t alone.

Behind it came a monster easily twice the size of a man. Its fur was pitch black, slick like oil, and steam hissed from between its jaws. It had two heads, both canid, each one had white teeth glowing with inner heat. Fire flickered in its throats as it growled, saliva dripping and sizzling where it hit the floor.

Chen Ren could only gape as the two-headed hound burst through the doorway.

Peak Tier 3. A foundation establishment beast. Exactly what they needed.

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A beast guardian. One of the many horrors sealed within the sect vault chambers — now awakened from its hibernation just as planned. The hound didn’t waste a second. Its dual heads snarled and snapped as it chased after the puppet, which sprinted across the floor in erratic zigzags, drawing attention like bait.

It worked.

The moment the puppet entered Wang Fu’s line of sight, he scowled — recognizing the trick immediately. With a roar, he sent out a blast of concentrated heat. The fire struck the puppet dead-on, melting it down to slag within seconds.

But by then… it was too late.

The hound was already upon him.

It didn’t hesitate. It lunged straight for Wang Fu thirst for death, both jaws glowing with qi as it aimed to tear through him.

The bite landed.

Fangs scraped through Wang Fu’s charred shoulder, tearing through flesh and drawing blood — black and smoking. But Wang Fu didn’t flinch. He twisted his body mid-step and brought his spear down in a sweeping arc.

The hound was fast.

The beast jumped to the side, its claws scraping loudly against the stone. Wang Fu’s spear swung past, missing by a hair. Flames burst from Wang Fu’s body, lighting up the space between them. The fight started fast — claws swinging at fire, teeth snapping at the spear.

Chen Ren held his breath, his heart pounding hard. For a moment, he thought maybe they could win. Then he saw it. The beast wasn’t going to hold out.

It fought with everything it had — all speed, all strength, all anger — but it wasn’t built for this kind of fight. Close-up, it was strong. But against fire and a long spear, it struggled. The flames burned too wide. The spear moved too fast.

Still... It just had to keep fighting. And right now, it was doing that.

As Chen Ren watched the fight, Yalan’s voice slipped into his mind again.

“The first phase of your plan is working.”

He exhaled, not realizing he’d been holding his breath.

“But…” she continued, “I don’t know if your arrays are really going to do much to him. That qi of his… it’s too volatile.”

Chen Ren’s jaw tightened. He knew that too. Everything they were about to throw at Wang Fu might not be enough. But they’d come this far. And turning back now would mean watching a friend die.

“It’s just for a little more time,” Chen Ren said under his breath, responding to Yalan’s silence. “He won’t be able to maintain that demonic form for long. I can already see it—he’s slowing down.”

There was no answer at first, but he felt her sigh ripple through their spiritual connection, weary, resigned, but still fighting. That was enough. He didn’t wait. There was no more time to argue.

Chen Ren moved quickly toward the center of the chamber, the stone still warm beneath his feet from the earlier explosions. His fingers trembled slightly — not from fear, but from the sheer pressure of what he was about to attempt.

Once, after the battle with Gu Tian, he had started looking into techniques that could actually work against demonic cultivators. He had hoped for a pill, something lethal, something efficient.

But he found nothing. Or at least, nothing he could afford. Anti-demonic pills were rare, complex, and expensive far beyond his current capabilities.

But arrays? Arrays he could learn. Arrays he could build. Even if it was desperate. Even if it was dangerous. And now, as Yalan and the two-headed hound fought to keep Wang Fu occupied, Chen Ren dropped to one knee and began carving.

The first stroke cut into the stone. Then another. Then another.

A dozen curved lines, each precise, each needed. He was building the strongest array he had ever attempted, a containment-suppression hybrid designed to destabilize corrupted qi for even a few seconds. That was all they needed.

All around him, the battle raged on. It was so intense that his presence was completely concealed. He knew that by how Wang Fu’s amused yet cruel voice rose above the din.

“Two beasts at once? You’re spoiling me. I'm going to consume both your flesh after this.”

Another blast of black fire roared through the chamber, smashing into the wall and crumbling part of the ceiling. Stone dust rained down. Chen Ren dared a glance.

The hound was still attacking — its claws slashing across Wang Fu’s body — but it was bleeding now, deep wounds along its flanks. The beast wasn’t healing fast enough.

Yalan struck from the back, sending arcs of golden fire that shattered the ground and burst in wide, radiant explosions. She wasn’t holding back anymore. But neither was Wang Fu.

Chen Ren turned back to the array.

He couldn’t waste another second. His focus sharpened. His breath slowed.

The runes were complex, ten layered glyph lines twisting and overlapping, branching out like veins. If not for his memory, drilled into shape by hours of reading and repetition, he wouldn’t have been able to recall the sequence. But fortunately, he was smarter than that. He knew the power of knowledge and had experienced the results of taking things for granted.

Which was why he’d never missed important information like this.

Every ten seconds, new lines of runes took shape beneath Chen Ren’s hands. He worked fast, chalking out each one before chiseling them into the stone floor. It was rushed, imprecise in places, but the lines still glowed faintly with qi as he pressed powder into each curve.

It had to work. It had to fucking work.

He hadn’t meant to use this array so soon and had only tested it once in the safety of the forest near Meadow. Back then, it had been a backup. Preparation for an opponent like this.

But life had a way to force him to use everything in his arsenal.

“Fuck!”

A sudden explosion from the side took him by surprise.

He gathered himself again, and moved faster. He shifted his body to reach the far sides, crawling, kneeling, pressing hard into the floor as sweat dripped from his chin.

Just a little more… please, just hold…

A stray thought crept into his mind — one he didn’t like.

What if I just let Wang Fu kill me? Would that be enough to wake the dragon inside me?

He dismissed it with a bitter grunt. The beast inside him was still dormant. Gambling his life to wake it was the same as throwing it away. He couldn’t afford that. Not now. Half the array was done. Then three-fourths.

Every second felt like a battle. Then Yalan’s voice echoed in his mind, sending a sharp shiver down his spine.

“The hound is dead.”

He froze for a split second, glancing up.

“I can’t distract him much longer. The explosions and steam are covering you for now, but not for long. How much more?”

Chen Ren grit his teeth. “One more minute.”

He didn’t wait for a reply.

He threw himself back into the work, fingers burning as he poured his qi into each final line. The chalk dust smeared his robes, and his breathing grew heavier with every stroke. Every carved line pulsed with unstable energy, like a living net tightening.

The last symbol was the hardest — a twelve-line binding rune, spiraled inward and locked with an anchor glyph. He thought it would take longer than that to finish, but he did it.

He finished it.

He staggered back and gave the mental command: “It’s done.”

Yalan responded instantly. “Good. He’s getting agitated anyway.”

Chen Ren slipped outside the array’s boundary, heart pounding. He turned—and saw him.

Wang Fu stood at the heart of the ruined chamber, demonic flames swirling wildly around him. His body radiated heat, steam hissing from his skin. His eyes were no longer fully human—pits of burning rage, twisted with madness.

The corpse of the hound lay at his feet, split in half. Black blood oozed out and pooled into the shallow water on the floor, mixing with the dust and debris.

“I killed one beast,” Wang Fu roared, eyes blazing. “I’ll kill you too!”

He charged forward, fury boiling off him in waves. Each step scorched the ground, steam erupting from every footprint. His demonic flames lashed out with every movement — wild, uncontrolled, unstoppable.

But Yalan didn’t meet him head-on.

Instead, she darted upward — a blur of fire and fur — leaping high toward the far side of the chamber.

Wang Fu barked a laugh, twisted and cruel. “Running away? So you finally understand. There’s no escape. This ends with your corpse on the floor!”

Chen Ren crouched low behind a shattered boulder, breath shallow, heart pounding against his ribs like a drum of war. His hands trembled slightly as he steadied his stance. His eyes flicked between the array and Wang Fu.

Was this going to work? Would they survive? He didn’t know.

But for what it was worth, he would try.

Yalan soared over the center of the chamber, clearing the array formation in one clean, burning arc. And Wang Fu—blinded by his own rage—followed her.

He landed right in the middle of it.

Chen Ren didn’t hesitate.

With a flick of his wrist, he channeled qi into the final anchor point — the one hidden beneath the stone at the array’s edge.

The glyphs flared. The air split with a crack. And the world went white.

A blinding burst of light erupted from the array, consuming the chamber in an instant. Winds howled. The walls shook. Even the lingering steam was burned away by the sheer intensity of the blast.

For a moment — a single, breathless moment — everything went silent.

***

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