Dao of Money

It took time for Chen Ren to get Du Rensheng to even remotely believe in his plan, but the man turned out to be far more amiable than Chen Ren had expected.

Du Rensheng had closed the shop the moment Chen Ren asked. When he saw everything he had collected across the floors, he went silent for a long while. Zi Wen, on the other hand, looked as if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He kept asking where Chen Ren had found all of this, again and again, but Chen Ren only replied that he had good luck.

Once Du Rensheng finished examining everything, he actually looked tempted. After some thought, he even offered thirty thousand tokens to buy everything on the spot. It was a massive sum at this stage of the pagoda, enough to make most cultivators agree without hesitation. But Chen Ren declined without much thought.

He knew exactly how much more value these things held in the long run.

In the end, Chen Ren left the shop after giving Du Rensheng three days to think over his offer.

Zi Wen wanted to head back to the inn to meet the others, but Chen Ren had other plans. Instead, he turned toward the surrounding streets and began moving through the other shops in the city. He had already asked the arena merchant, Shrey, about which places were worth visiting, and now he wanted to see everything for himself.

Wang Jun complained the entire way, insisting that they should go find Anji and see how she was progressing. Chen Ren shut him up without mercy, though he suspected part of the reason Wang Jun was so impatient was because he wanted to reach an inn room where he could finally speak freely without whispering.

When they finally reached the shopping district, even Chen Ren was surprised. The variety of items on display was overwhelming. There was almost everything he could think of, and quite a few things he could not.

Armor, weapons, and talismans were common staples, things Chen Ren could find in almost every shop. What surprised him were the other items mixed in between them. There were return tickets, single-use tokens that allowed a cultivator to travel back to any floor they had already visited. There were marking arrows that, once they struck a target, would track that person anywhere inside the pagoda. There were also beast eggs, sealed in transparent cases, waiting to be hatched and tamed, and even drops of bloodlines extracted from powerful creatures.

Zi Wen lingered for a long time near the eggs section. His eyes lit up when he saw a frostveil wyvern egg, and he stared at it with clear longing. Chen Ren noticed but said nothing. He himself was far more interested in the return tickets and the bloodlines. The bloodlines could wait, but the return tickets were different. He knew their value immediately.

Each return ticket cost one thousand tokens. He did not have enough to buy many right now, but he was certain he would soon. When that time came, return tickets would be the first thing he invested in.

Once they finished looking through the shops, they finally headed toward the inn. Evening had already settled over the city by then. The inn they had selected was a simple two-storey building near the edge of Goldspire City, clean but modest. As Chen Ren looked at it, Zi Wen spoke up.

“We didn’t want to spend too many tokens,” Zi Wen said. “We thought you’d want us to preserve them.”

Chen Ren nodded. “You thought well. Let’s go inside and meet the others.”

When they entered, they found everyone already there on the ground floor, gathered around a table covered with dishes. A man quietly moved around the room, serving more food. Anji was the first to notice them. She jumped to her feet at once, eyes bright.

“Sect Leader Chen,” she said, smiling. “You’re here.”

The others turned around at once. The twins weren’t around but Yalan was there, finally deciding to show herself. But more than anyone else, Chen Ren was surprised to see Princess Yanyue sitting among them.

When their gazes met, she smiled faintly. “Sect Leader Chen,” she said. “You made me wait for hours.”

Chen Ren smiled wryly. “I got busy with certain things.”

She nodded. “I can see that clearly on the rankings. Though it seems you haven’t done much today. You’re already falling.”

Chen Ren shrugged. “It’s fine. I don’t really care about the rankings. I was busy with something important.”

Princess Yanyue raised an eyebrow and said, “Why don’t you tell me about it?”

Chen Ren nodded and sat down at the side of the table with Zi Wen. Before explaining anything, he glanced around once more and asked, “How has the pagoda been treating you all?”

Anji spoke first. “It was hard. Especially after the third floor. If not for the twins, I don’t think I could’ve handled the monsters or even found the lift. I almost thought I wouldn’t make it.” She paused, then added, “They’re out exploring the city right now.”

Chen Ren nodded. He had not really expected Anji to reach the fifth floor so soon, but he was genuinely glad she had managed it.

He then turned to Yalan, who was calmly holding a small roasted fish with her paw. “What about you? I thought you’d meet me as soon as possible.”

Yalan took another bite before answering. “I did see you on the third floor. But you were too busy killing monsters, and nothing in the pagoda looked like it would give you any real trouble. So I decided to take a vacation.”

Anji raised an eyebrow. “Vacation? Where? Everything on every floor was trying to kill us.”

Yalan snorted. “Maybe you. Nothing on the first five floors could really harm me.” She leaned back slightly. “I took the opportunity to check out the competition, see how big this place actually is, and work a bit on my dao.”

Chen Ren was immediately interested in the part about checking out the competition, but he decided to ask about that later. Instead, his gaze shifted to Princess Yanyue.

She shrugged lightly. “I just climbed. It wasn’t hard for me, especially once some of my royal guards found me in the arena.” Her eyes sharpened slightly as she looked at him. “But I’m far more interested in what you were doing, Sect Leader Chen. Your tokens fluctuated in the arena. What did you buy from the merchant?”

Chen Ren replied calmly, “Something useful. I’ve been busy laying groundwork so we can make a lot of profit on the fifth floor. Most people here will be stuck for at least a month.”

Anji blinked. “A month is a long time. Even with the ridiculous number of tokens needed for the lift, I don’t think it’ll take that long. There’s a guild in the city handing out jobs for decent pay.”

“Yes,” Chen Ren said, “but it’s twenty-five thousand tokens per person.” He paused, picking up a piece of chicken before continuing. “Most people here move in groups. And they know the sixth floor will be far worse. For a group of four, that’s a hundred thousand tokens.”

He took a bite, then added casually, “And most of them are going to lose their tokens.”

Zi Wen frowned. “Lose them? What do you mean? You can’t fight in the city.”

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Chen Ren glanced at him and smiled faintly.

Yalan spoke up lazily. “No one said you can’t fight outside the city.”

Chen Ren nodded. “Exactly. And most of the high-paying jobs are outside as well.” He leaned back slightly. “Up until now, everyone kept rushing upward, so cultivators were spread fairly evenly across the floors. But this changes everything. More and more people will get stuck here and start living in the city. Once that happens, incidents like these will become common.”

He glanced around the table. “It’s not hard to threaten someone into handing over their tokens.”

Princess Yanyue nodded slowly. “Yes. That’s the reason most cultivators never make it past the fifth floor.” She paused, then added, “But I still intend to climb higher.”

Chen Ren raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing you didn’t find the book.”

The princess frowned, her expression dimming for a moment. “I searched the city for two full days. Every bookstore, every archive I could access. If the book is here, I didn’t see it. I expected it to appear on this floor, but the pagoda may have pushed it higher.”

Chen Ren nodded. “That’s fine. I was planning to climb further anyway. There are too many treasures here to ignore.”

There was also the medallion. He still hadn’t seen it. Not even Shrey, who seemed to know a lot about the pagoda, had any information on it. That alone told Chen Ren it was likely hidden on the upper floors.

Anji hesitated before speaking. “But climbing higher will need even more tokens. I heard from the guards that there are entire civilizations controlling the lifts on the upper floors.”

Chen Ren smiled. “Which is exactly why Goldspire City is going to be our cash cow.” He glanced around the table. “I’ve already started negotiations to co-own a shop here.”

At his words, Chen Ren saw confusion bloom across everyone’s faces—everyone except Zi Wen. He sighed softly and began to explain, laying out everything he had done today, especially his negotiations with Du Rensheng and how he had gotten information about him from the arena merchant Shrey.

The more he spoke, the more their expressions shifted. Surprise crept in first, then disbelief, and finally something close to awe. Anji and Yalan recovered the fastest; they were already accustomed to Chen Ren’s way of thinking. Princess Yanyue, however, stared at him with widened eyes before slowly lowering her gaze.

“I had no idea the merchant sold information,” she admitted quietly. “He honestly just looked like a well-made construct to me.”

“He is,” Chen Ren replied. “But so is everyone else in the pagoda, in their own way. Most people here are far more than what they appear to be.”

He continued calmly, “Either way, I believe that within the next two days, I’ll be able to sign an agreement with Du Rensheng. Once that happens, we’ll be able to drain this city—residents and cultivators alike—of every single token they’re willing to spend.”

Even as he said it, Chen Ren could almost imagine it: faint motes of qi seeping into his body, the number of tokens increasing in his status. He didn’t yet know whether the city’s residents would contribute to his cultivation, but there were already over a thousand cultivators gathered here. If even half of them became his customers, he would climb several stars without question.

Yalan tilted her head, bringing him out of his thoughts. “But what exactly are you planning to sell? I doubt you came all this way to sell clothes, perfumes, or alcohol.”

“Of course not,” Chen Ren said with a faint smile. “I’m going to sell artifacts and pills.”

Everyone looked at him.

“Pills no one here has ever seen before,” he continued, “and artifacts that will make people willingly hand over more and more tokens just to get their hands on them.” He leaned back slightly, meeting their gazes one by one. “Why do you think I was late today? I was preparing for the opening of the Divine Coin Sect’s operations here in the pagoda.”

Princess Yanyue stared at him for several seconds, her gaze sharp and assessing, before finally speaking. “You’ve gotten your hands on quite a few treasures, it seems.”

Chen Ren nodded a moment later. “Yes.”

For a brief instant, he debated whether revealing anything at all was wise. But the thought passed quickly. If he was going to move forward with his plans, he would need Princess Yanyue—and more importantly, her royal guards—on his side. With a quiet exhale, he reached into his spatial ring and laid several items out on the table between the food: folded blueprints, worn but carefully preserved, and a stack of pill recipes written in dense, precise script.

Anji let out a small, startled sound, her gaze snapping first to the documents and then to Chen Ren’s hand. “You got a spatial ring too, Sect Leader Chen?”

He nodded calmly. “I did. Though it’s already full. I’ll probably have to buy another one in the city. I’m sure they’re selling them.”

Zi Wen, Yalan, and Princess Yanyue each picked up a page, their expressions gradually shifting as they read. What Chen Ren had shown them was only the bare edge of what he possessed, but even that was enough. Yalan paused on one recipe in particular before she looked up at him.

“Did you rob the grave of some high-realm alchemist?” she asked flatly.

“No,” Chen Ren replied without missing a beat. “But I plan to, if I ever come across one.”

That earned him a sharp look, followed by a quiet snort. He turned instead to Princess Yanyue.

“What do you think?”

Her eyes gleamed as she looked back at him, a slow smile forming. “If you can put these into production,” she said, “then I agree. You’re probably going to overthrow Han Qingshi on the rankings.”

Chen Ren smiled faintly. “Then you’ll help me?”

Her eyes narrowed just a touch. “For a share of the profits.”

“We can discuss that later,” he replied smoothly. “But if we’re going to do this, we need to get the marketing started as soon as possible.”

Anji raised an eyebrow. “And how exactly do you plan to do that, Sect Leader Chen?”

Chen Ren leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. “I have a few ideas. But honestly, having the princess’s name attached to us will already be enough to draw in cultivators. As for the city residents…” His smile deepened slightly. “We just need our opening day to have the right people shopping in our store.”

***

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