Dao of Money

The moment Tang Xiulan’s broom touched the dry cobblestone tiles, a piercing, frustrated scream resounded through the courtyard.

A jolt of fear shot up her arms as she clutched the barren wooden handle tighter, her blisters rubbing against its coarse surface while she pulled up the broom away from the tile. Soon enough, her fright was replaced with confusion, her eyes locked on the dust-covered bristles that had been the same for the last three years.

She shook herself out of her stupor, and continued to sweep, but instead another scream erupted once more the very moment the bristle touched the tile. A sharp thud of an object hitting the floor followed it.

She lifted the broom up high, inspecting the head. Strange. Did the master change all the brooms to elicit screams and sounds?

However, despite her broom’s bristles not touching the tiles, another loud noise came out loud and clear. A scream of pain followed it as if someone had fallen on the ground and hit their head hard.

Tang Xiulan finally located the source of the disturbance. But instead of investigating any further, she decided to keep her head down, sweeping quickly while ignoring the repeated screams of pain and frustration.

A few minutes passed, and the screams finally died down until the morning was as silent as ever.

Footsteps approached her rapidly from behind, the click-clack of slippers knocking against mouldy wooden panels shocking Tang Xiulan into alertness. She spun on her heel, her body preparing to lock into a submissive bow when she finally saw who was coming towards her.

Tang Xiulan relaxed her guard, returning to her usual self while crossing her covered arms in exasperation, the loose pale blue robe accented with silver cranes flapping gently in the wind. ”What are you doing here, trying to skive off work again? Do you even want to continue working as a maid?” She chided the young woman with flabby cheeks that looked barely an adult.

”What are you talking about, Sister Tang?” The other maid looked aghast. ”I heard a terrible scream, it sounded like someone was dying in one of the guest rooms. Is young master Chen Ren okay?”Tang Xiulan rolled her eyes, knowing fully well why she was worried. ”Don’t worry about him, there’s nothing we can do for him. Master already gave him the best mortal healer in the city.”

”But still—”

”And even the healer said only the heavens can decide his fate now. If he dies, then at least the guest room could be opened for other, important guests. It’s already a miracle that he woke up and was able to let out those screams, but he seemed to have gone back to sleep since it’s so silent.” Tang Xiulan swept her long black hair back behind her ears, returning to her sweeping tasks.

The other maid frowned and looked like she wanted to argue, but she held it in.

She hurriedly walked up to the guest room where the screams were coming from, the same robe uniform trailing her feet. She tried to peep in through a gap in the sliding wooden panels before returning. “Looks like he’s still up… just going through one of his books and clenching his fist. Young Master Chen Ren seems pretty frustrated.”

”Hey, why do you care so much about him? Do you really think he would make you his concubine just because he talks sweetly with you? You need to know your status and let him be. Nothing good comes out of getting involved with a cultivator, especially one with such a bad reputation,” Tang Xiulan snarled, saying the last part in a whisper, albeit Chen Ren managed to hear it.

“He’s not so ba—”

“Someone who squanders away money everyday, philanders with young girls like you, fights all the time in bar brawls and brags about challenging the heavens yet can’t succeed in the Soaring Sword Sect entrance examinations! Too bad he got matched with the City Lord’s son, Li Xuan and had been on the bed for a week.”

“He’s still an esteemed guest and a cultivator. What if he got to know what you think of him?”

“Then, that would be the end of me.” Tang Xiulan glared. “So be it, but anyone in the city who knows him thinks of him like that. It’s only you who has rose tinted lenses for your eyes.”

”When you put it that way...”

”When I put it that way, it means you should go back to scrubbing the damn clothes. Sun isn’t going to be up for much longer, you know. You want to get scolded by the young miss again when she comes back from the market?”

”Oh no!” The young maid glanced up at the rising sun, gave one last look at the guest room before frantically running away and leaving Tang Xiulan alone.

Tang Xiulan sighed, releasing her pent-up anger on her broom sweeps, each movement kicking up clouds of dust accumulated and fallen leaves from the nearby trimmed trees.

She couldn’t care less about Chen Ren and for all she knew, it was only her master’s goodwill and business connections with the Chen Clan that let him stay here.

She continued about her task of cleaning up the courtyard, finally reaching the last task of the day— cleaning the guestrooms.

That also involved changing the bandages of Chen Ren, a task she vehemently hated. Still, she had to do it and as she moved towards the guestrooms, she heard him talking to himself in a strange tone.

“What’s going on? Have I really crossed over to another world? Fuck! I want to return back to my apartment.”

A-par-t-ment?

She had no idea what that meant and as she peeped in through the gap, she saw him pulling out his hair in exasperation. She wondered if he had gone crazy due to his defeat to Li Xuan and had gained a heart demon.

That thought scared her and she took a step back, aiming to run away and inform her master, but before she could turn, Chen Ren noticed her.

Stolen story; please report.

“Hey, please come in. I want to talk to you,” he said.

She wished to refuse, but had no reason to. Slowly, she slid the door open and stepped inside, taking a look at the room which seemed to have gone through a storm.

The round wooden table tucked neatly into the corner of the room was chock full of medication and ointments left behind by the healer, while bloodied bandages were strewn all over the floor. Books were scattered alongside crumbled parchments. Clothes and bedsheets lined the floor and it seemed like Chen Ren had practically searched through the room for something.

As she sized him up, she saw him staring right at her with his amber eyes. His long black hair, same as hers, was untied and reached the floor and his skin was pale and unblemished. With a sharp jawline, he looked handsome, holding a medallion in his hand that she recognised as an heirloom of sorts.

He should have been on the bed, barely being able to move as the healer had told them. Yet, there was a sharpness in his voice. “Who am I? And your name… it’s Tang Xiulan, right?”

She looked at him in surprise. He had never spoken her name out loud before and it was strange that he even bothered to remember it. “Yes, young master. And you are Chen Ren, the scion of the Chen Clan of—”

“Red Peak City and I’m a third star body forging realm cultivator and this is the Tang Clan courtyard in Cloud Mist City. Recently, I lost a fight against someone named Li Xuan, trying to enter the Soaring Sword Sect and had been bedridden since then with half of my body scorched in the battle.”

She nodded her head slowly, confused as to what was going on. “Yes, that’s correct.”

As soon as she said that, he lowered his head and almost smacked it on the ground. His whole body slumped against the floor and he looked as if he had just learned of his whole family dying to a rogue demonic cultivator. Obviously, nothing of that sort happened, making his reaction even more mysterious.

“This can’t be… these memories are all real,” he muttered, looking stranger and stranger every second.

She moved towards him. “Young master, is everything okay? I can call a healer for you if you want.”

“No, nothing is okay, but I don’t need a healer. I will just rest and process all this. Can you please give me some space?”

Once again, she looked at him in surprise. Not only was he talking strangely, he had never been this polite to her before. Had the loss affected him to such a degree for him to change his ways? No, she doubted it.

“As you say, young master,” she said, turning on her heels and sliding the door open. Looking back, she saw him muttering something under his breath, but none of it made sense to her. She could only leave and report it to the master.

Tang Xiulan still harboured curiosity in her heart as to what was going on, but she wasn’t brave enough to ask him. She won’t be able to bear the consequences if it angered him and she didn’t want to take any chances.

She slowly made her way outside the guest room, hoping to find a cat that would often come around in the courtyard when she heard footsteps coming towards her. Looking up, she saw the young maid walking with a man who she recognised as Feng Ming, one of Chen Ren’s drinking buddies and another cultivator.

A charming smile hung on his lips as both of them stopped before her.

She quickly bowed to him. “Young master Feng Ming.”

“Has Chen Ren woken up?” he asked, promptly. “I need to meet him urgently.”

Tang Xiulan hesitated, thinking back to the strange behaviour she had just seen. “He did wake up a while back, but I don’t think it’s an appropriate moment to meet. Young master Chen is still in the middle of getting his bearings.”

Feng Ming’s face fell at that, the smile disappearing. Tang Xiulan felt as if she had said the wrong words.

“It doesn’t matter. If he had woken up, he would be happy enough to see me. Lead the way to his room,” he said in a commanding tone.

She had no way of refusing him, so she nodded and turned back before giving a subdued glare to the young maid who had led Feng Ming to her. “This way, young master.”

As they walked through the hallways, another scream resounded out, causing her to pause and rub her forehead.

What is really going on with him?

***

Chen Ren screamed, looking at the ceiling as if cursing at whatever deity that was responsible for his current situation. He felt like he had been tossed into an awful situation, one he had no way of coming out of.

Panic clawed at his heart and his whole body trembled as he slumped onto the cold floor. Memories that were not his constantly moved around in his mind and he didn’t ignore it. He couldn’t after he had confirmed that they were real.

“I guess… this is really me now,” he whispered, looking at a mirror on the side.

An unfamiliar face reflected back. He frowned, running his hands through his long black hair. He used to have brown hair before.

From a business management college student that was busy looking for a job, he had become Chen Ren, the exiled young master of Chen Clan. Not only that, he had somehow transmigrated into a Xianxia world, one where strength ruled and immortals reigned supreme.

A land rife with danger and opportunity in equal measure. Here, murder wasn’t a crime, it was a statistic and any rogue cultivator had the right to murder you for small offences.

His situation couldn’t be worse. Yet, as he looked down at the parchments at his feet, his reality came crashing down even further. They were debt records, money that he had taken from various people in the city to run his hedonist lifestyle. As he counted them all, his heart fell, cursing the body he had found himself in.

Still, Chen Ren tried his best to stay calm. He had already spooked the maid with repeated screams of frustration. He needed to act normal to deal with his situation.

He squeezed his eyes shut, taking deep breaths and processing everything. As he was in the middle of it, footsteps rang outside the door. He opened his eyes, wondering if Tang Xiulan was back.

The next moment, the door opened, revealing Tang Xiulan followed by another maid and a man that didn’t look like a servant.

He had short black hair with a stubble growing on his cheeks. From the silver robes he wore, it was clear that he was someone important.

The man’s boisterous voice immediately dominated the serene courtyard the moment he stepped over the wooden threshold into the room. ”Chen Ren! You’re alive! Thank the heavens — I watched that battle between you and Li Xuan. It was certainly the most unfair fight to pit you against the City Lord’s son, but you did well. Not many can even survive against [Blazing Hawk Fist]. How have your injuries been?”

Chen Ren starred in a trance-like state for a few brief moments as Tang Xiulan moved to leave and close the door, giving them privacy.

Who is this now? I faintly recalled someone like this. Ah, Feng Ming!

From what he remembered, he was one of his few “friends” and drinking buddies, a cultivator on the same realm as him. Why was he here? He had no idea, but he needed to act like Chen Ren.

Finally, he snapped out of the trance, replying with a joyful face and an exaggerated voice. “Haha, a mere [Blazing Hawk Fist] wouldn’t deter me at all! This entrance test was nothing but a mere hiccup in my path to be a cultivator who would challenge the heavens.”

“True,” Feng Ming said, scooping closer to him until he stood right in front. “You have always been very motivated about your cultivation,”

“One needs to be motivated when they are on the path to being immortal. You know that very well, Brother Ming,” he replied, growing tired of maintaining a smile. “I am happy that you came to check on me, and as you see, I’m recovering well.”

Feng Ming crossed his arms, his original enthusiasm clearly diminished for some reason. He gave a look around the messy room before snarling. ”I can definitely see that and since you’re recovering so well, then perhaps you would be able to return all the debt you currently owe me, right?”

”Of cou— wait what?”