Dao of Money

Chen Ren froze and almost shouted seeing the little girl get killed right in front of his eyes. There were only a few things that could truly shake him like that, and this was one of them. Every part of him wanted to rush forward and kill every mist-faced figure in the room, but before he could even fully process what had happened, the body of princess Yanyue began to shift.

The blood vanished at once and the torn flesh reversed. In the next second, she was a little girl again, sitting there with tears in her eyes as she looked up at the misty figures.

“Please don’t kill me. I don’t want to die. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

One of the figures let out a cold snort. “Being born a princess is wrong enough, and now you covet the throne. That alone is enough to earn you death. Do you really think the heavens want a child to become the empress?”

Princess Yanyue shook as she spoke. “I don’t have a choice. You know that very well. If I don’t fight for it, then I’ll die anyway. You all know how this works.”

Another mist-faced figure spoke, its voice heavy with scorn. “We do. But anyone who refuses to move with the traditions of the imperial family deserves death. The heavens would be showing you mercy through it.”

She bit her lip. “I don’t want mercy. I just want to live my life my way.”

This time, none of them replied with words.

One of the figures stepped forward with a spear in hand and thrust at her. Princess Yanyue managed to dodge it, but before she could do anything else, an arrow suddenly came from the side. It struck her in the back, and just like before, everything happened again. Her body fell. Her life disappeared. Then in the next instant, she was alive once more, back in the same place, looking even more terrified than before.

This time, she was shaking even more. And seeing it, it was easy for Chen Ren to understand what was happening here.

Princess Yanyue was seeing herself in her most helpless form, a little girl trapped in front of what he guessed were her brothers or other members of the imperial family. He had no idea what exact politics had led to this moment, but he had never expected that her deepest fear would be dying at the hands of her own family. By the way she had handled Prince Yuelan back when he had first seen him, she had looked completely in control when it came to her family, but now it was clear that all of that control had been built on top of fear. A fear so deep that it had become a nightmare, one she was now being forced to live through again and again in this trial.

And if Chen Ren was right, then it had already been happening for over an hour.

He couldn’t even imagine what that would do to someone’s mind. Dying dozens of times, only to wake back into the same fear again and again, would break almost anyone. No wonder the voice had said that if she failed the trial, she would not remain in her right mind. There was no way she could.

But what could he actually do here? He still couldn’t move.

All he could do was watch as the scene repeated itself once more. The mist-faced figures kept saying the same things as before, talking about how Princess Yanyue had chosen the wrong path in life and how she had to die for it. And each time, she died. Again and again.

With no other option left, Chen Ren tried shouting at her.

“Princess Yanyue, don’t listen to them! You’ll be alright! This is just an illusion!”

But no matter how loudly he called, she never reacted. She never turned toward him. It was as if she couldn’t hear him at all. The mist-faced figures were the same. None of them looked his way. None of them reacted to his voice, as though he didn’t even exist inside the trial.

It was as if, to them, Chen Ren simply didn’t exist.

He was nothing more than air, something they could ignore completely, and that might have truly been the case. The voice had already warned him that he wouldn’t be able to do much here, but even then, there was no way he could just stand still and watch this happen. Seeing a young girl die over and over again was cruel enough on its own.

So Chen Ren took a deep breath and started going through every possible option he had.

He began with the most natural one—his qi. But honestly, he couldn’t feel any of it.

He hadn’t noticed it earlier, not with how jarring the descent into this place had been and not with Princess Yanyue being killed again and again in front of him, but now that he actually looked inward, there was nothing there. No qi reserves or familiar circulation. It almost felt like this form didn’t even have a stomach where his dantian should have been. He tried anyway, searching again and again for even a single thread of qi, but found nothing.

That should have made things impossible. But then Chen Ren realised something.

Whatever form he was in right now, it was still a little like being a soul.

Maybe not fully, not in the way a true disembodied spirit would be, but his consciousness was clearly carrying some part of that nature. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even be aware of what was happening here. He would have simply been swallowed into the trial and lost. And if there was soul, then maybe there was still something he could do.

At least, he hoped so.

A part of him even felt that Wang Jun had only agreed to let him enter for that exact reason. After all, Chen Ren wasn’t just a cultivator. He was also a soul cultivator, and even if he had never learned techniques as refined or useful as Anji’s, the head had still taught him enough that he wasn’t completely helpless.

So as Princess Yanyue died once more, Chen Ren closed his eyes and tried to sense his soul.

That was the first step in doing anything related to soul qi, and this time, unlike with ordinary qi, the answer came easily.

He could feel it. His soul stretched all around him.

It was a kind of energy that one couldn’t really see or feel unless they were deliberately focusing on it.

The moment Chen Ren sensed it, he immediately tried to stretch it further, wrapping it around his legs and over that strange power that was keeping him completely still. It wasn’t easy. His soul qi kept getting pushed back, rejected and scattered away from the invisible restraint, but he kept at it. Again and again, he pushed more of it forward until, when he tried to take a step, it actually worked.

Chen ren almost smiled.

But taking the second step was harder than the first. Moving his left leg after the right felt strangely difficult, like his whole body was resisting him, but he didn’t stop. If he could take one step, then he could eventually walk.

The whole thing truly felt like learning how to walk all over again.

By the time Chen Ren managed to move properly, Princess Yanyue had died three more times and risen back up again. He had tried his best not to look at her too much while he was forcing himself forward. Watching it happen was painful in a way he didn’t want to dwell on.

But now that he could move, he knew he could finally do more.

So when one of the mist-faced figures stepped forward again, this time with a huge hammer in hand, clearly aiming to crush the little princess where she stood, Chen Ren moved without hesitation and placed himself right in front of it.

Honestly, it was terrifying.

Seeing such a large weapon come down on him head-on made every instinct in him scream to move away, but he had no other way to stop it. So he stayed where he was and took the blow.

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The hammer slammed into him. And yet, he felt no real pain.

He was simply pushed back by the force of it, his body sliding slightly, but nothing more than that.

Chen ren blinked, not fully understanding what had just happened.

Then he looked around. Even Princess Yanyue looked surprised.

As for the mist-faced figure, it simply stepped back and returned to the circle with the others. It was almost as though it didn’t understand what had happened either, or why the rhythm of death that had repeated so many times had suddenly broken.

Chen Ren again tried to call out to her. “Princess Yanyue, it’s me. You need to wake up. Conquer your fears.”

But just like before, she gave no sign that she heard him.

Instead, the voices of the mist figures returned. One of them said, “You think stopping one attack will save you from the punishment you deserve for the shame you have brought upon the imperial family?”

Princess Yanyue shook her head and said, “I have brought shame to no one.”

The mist figure shouted at once, “Do not lie, little one!”

Then it moved again, this time with a great sword in its hands.

Once more, Chen Ren stepped in front of it. The blade came down and cut straight through his shoulder, but just like before, there was no pain. He had no real body here. He wasn’t truly physical, and these attacks couldn’t harm him, but he could stop them.

For a moment, a thought crossed his mind. If he pushed soul qi into his hands, would he be able to strike these figures back? Could he destroy them?

But he quickly let that thought go. This was Princess Yanyue’s fear. She had to overcome it herself.

Chen Ren couldn’t simply tear this whole place apart and drag her out, and he didn’t even know if that was possible. So he focused on the one thing he could actually do.

He kept defending her.

And while he did that, he kept trying to speak to her.

Princess Yanyue only stood there looking confused, as if she couldn’t understand why the attacks were no longer killing her. He tried telling her again and again, but it was clear they were not on the same wavelength at all. She either couldn’t hear him, or whatever part of her mind was trapped here simply wasn’t able to understand what he was saying.

But it was also clear that his presence was having some effect.

After all, with someone stepping in front of the attacks again and again, Princess Yanyue no longer had to face the fear of dying every few breaths. For the first time, she was actually able to think about what was happening around her, and slowly that started showing in the way she spoke back to the mist figures.

Before, her voice had always trembled. It had been obvious that she was only trying to sound brave so they wouldn't see how terrified she truly was. But now, she straightened her shoulders and looked at them with something firmer in her eyes. “You all blame me for going against the family, but the truth is that you only fear how much better of a ruler I could be compared to any of you.”

One of the mist figures immediately replied, “You are just a little girl. There is no way you can even understand the first rule of being a proper emperor.”

Princess Yanyue answered back without lowering her gaze. “There are no rules for an emperor. One makes their own rules. There is only capability, and I have more than enough of it.”

At once, two of the mist figures spoke together. “You imbecile!”

Then both of them rushed at her.

Chen ren immediately moved again, stepping in front of the attacks before they could reach her. Just like before, the blows passed into him and did nothing, and the mist figures were forced to stop and step back with anger in their movements.

And this time, Princess Yanyue’s voice only grew stronger. “See?” she said. “If I wasn’t in the right, the heavens would never move to protect me.”

One of the mist figures said coldly, “It is not the heavens. It is only your trickery, and that trickery will not save you forever.”

Princess Yanyue replied at once, “If it was my trickery, then I would know what is happening here. But I don’t. So no, this is the heavens standing on my side.”

As soon as Chen Ren heard that, something clicked in his mind, and at once, the whole strategy he had been following turned upside down.

At first, he had wanted to remind Princess Yanyue that all of this was just an illusion. That she wasn’t truly a little girl anymore and that she could break out of it if she only realised what this place was. Sometimes, being made aware that one was trapped inside a dream was enough to wake them from it. Chen Ren had been trying to do exactly that.

But now, watching the way Princess Yanyue was starting to stand against the mist figures on her own, another thought came to him.

She didn’t lack courage. That much was obvious.

Princess Yanyue had a great deal of courage naturally. What she lacked here was something else. Support. Something that told her that what she was doing was right. That the path she had chosen wasn’t one she had to walk completely alone. Chen ren could see it now. What she feared wasn’t just death. It was being cornered and condemned with no one by her side. But now, because he was stopping the attacks, she had started to believe that the heavens themselves were backing her.

And honestly, that made sense. So instead of trying to wake her up from the illusion, Chen Ren knew what he truly needed to do.

He had to keep that belief alive—he had to give her more strength. And the only way he could do that was through his words.

The problem was how. How could he make her hear him properly?

As he thought about it, Chen Ren decided there was only one thing he could try. He had to push soul qi into his voice itself. He didn’t have much left, not with how much he was already spending just to keep moving and block the attacks, but there was no other option. So as more attacks came at Princess Yanyue, Chen Ren moved a small thread of soul qi into his voice.

It was a strange feeling. It felt unnatural and awkward. But then he called out, “Princess Yanyue!”

And for the first time, she seemed to actually look toward him.

Chen ren immediately knew it had worked.

A smile flashed on his face, and as he blocked another attack, this one a heavy axe coming down, he pushed more soul qi into his words and shouted, “Princess Yanyue, the heavens are with you! You are right to stand against your family. You only need to believe in yourself and face your fears. Remember this—heaven only stands with the courageous!”

***

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