Dao of Money

The moment Chen Ren heard the beastly cry, something inside him went cold.

For one ugly second, he thought even the beasts of the floor were not going to leave him alone while he was trying to get out of the pagoda. But then he looked up properly, and what he saw made him stop.

A wyvern was rushing toward them.

That alone would not have shocked him.

What froze him was the kind of wyvern it was.

It was not one of the blazing wyverns that might have belonged to this floor. Its hide was still dark and scaled, but a pale white-blue sheen covered it, like frost over black stone. Cold mist trailed from its wings with every beat, and the spikes along its spine glinted as if touched by ice.

It was a snow wyvern, but it being here made no sense.

From everything he knew, a beast like that should have belonged on the fourth floor, not here. And when it came closer, he saw something else that shocked him further. There were riders on its back.

Zi Wen. And behind him was Li Xuan.

Both of them were alive.

They were staring down at the battlefield with the same mix of excitement and confusion that Chen Ren felt rising in his own chest. When he glanced around, he saw that everyone else looked almost as stunned. Even Jun had gone still for a breath, his eyes fixed on the wyvern as it swept lower.

In that brief moment Chen Ren understood one thing—this was his chance.

Maybe his only one chance.

“We need to get to Zi Wen. That's our way out,” he said to Yalan.

Yalan understood immediately.

Before Jun could throw out the chains gathering around his arms, her body suddenly expanded. Muscle and flame swelled under her skin in an instant, her frame growing larger and broader as she prepared to force a path through.

Only then did Jun seem to shake off his surprise at the sight of the wyvern. He immediately moved.

“You are not getting out of here!”

Chains shot from his side and rushed toward Yalan’s paws, but before they could reach them, the wyvern screamed again.

A stream of blue, freezing flame came crashing down straight at Jun. He moved. The chains bent off course with him, and that was enough.

Yalan raced ahead at once.

Chen Ren jumped onto her back just as she lunged away, and the cold flames struck the ground where they had been a heartbeat before. Frost spread over the rocks at once, crawling over flame and stone alike until the ground below them turned white.

Chen Ren had no idea how Zi Wen and Li Xuan had managed any of this.

He didn’t care.

He looked once toward the twins and Princess Yanyue, who were still locked against the two disciples, and shouted, “Get to the wyvern!”

He didn’t wait to see if they heard.

He only held on to Yalan as she sprinted forward, hit a boulder, and used it as a step before launching herself into the sky.

To Zi Wen’s credit, he understood quickly enough and drove the wyvern lower and closer. Yalan landed against the lower side of the beast’s body, claws digging in for a moment before she pulled herself up.

The wyvern let out an even harsher cry and another blast of cold breath poured downward.

Its whole body shook under them, but it held.

Chen Ren gripped the scales hard enough to steady himself, then climbed down from Yalan’s back as she slowly shrank toward her normal size again.

He climbed to the scales and got to the top, looked at Zi Wen and Li Xuan, and said the first thing that mattered.

“Move. We need to get out of here fast. Follow my directions.”

Zi Wen’s eyes widened. “But my wyvern can handle that man below—”

“No,” Chen Ren cut in. “It can’t. No matter how strong it is, it can’t. We just need to leave. Do what I say. Otherwise all of us are going to die.”

It was clear that nothing Chen Ren said was reaching Zi Wen’s brain.

Even Li Xuan, who Chen Ren was silently glad to see alive, only stared at him in confusion. For a moment, no one moved. Then Zi Wen suddenly whistled.

The wyvern answered at once.

Its wings spread wide, beating down with enough force to shake the air around them. The creature lurched forward, and at the same time, Princess Yanyue and the twins shot up on a flying sword and landed on its back.

The twins barely managed to keep their footing. They dropped to their knees against the wyvern’s neck, gripping whatever they could find. Princess Yanyue did better, but only slightly. Her face had gone pale as the wyvern picked up speed beneath them.

Chen Ren grabbed onto one of the thick scales and held tight.

The wind struck him hard enough to sting his eyes. The wyvern kept getting faster, its wings cutting through the air with terrifying power. In only a few breaths, they had already left the flying ship far behind.

Yalan lifted her head, her voice sharp and steady despite everything happening around them.

“Keep going straight in this direction. Don’t stop.”

Zi Wen nodded immediately, though his face showed that he understood almost nothing.

Li Xuan looked from one person to another, his brows drawing together. “What is even going on?”

Chen Ren turned toward him.

For a second, he wanted to say that he was glad Li Xuan was alive. He wanted to say a lot of things. But before he could speak, a violent explosion tore through the air behind them.

His body reacted before his mind did.

Chen Ren leaned over the side of the wyvern and looked back. What he saw was something he knew would follow him into his nightmares.

Jun was chasing them.

Demonic qi burst around his legs with every step, throwing him forward faster and faster. He had abandoned his disciples. He had abandoned the ship. All of it had been left behind as he tore through the air after them, moving with a speed that almost matched the wyvern’s.

If they had not gotten a head start, he would have already reached them.

The others leaned over as well. One by one, their expressions changed. The twins froze. Li Xuan’s eyes widened. Princess Yanyue went even paler than before.

Zi Wen stared at the figure rushing after them, his voice dropping into disbelief. “Just what in the heavens is that man? Is he a demonic cultivator?”

Chen Ren’s grip tightened around the scale.

“Yes,” he said. “He is.”

Chen Ren paused for a second. The more he thought about everything Jun had done, the worse it became. His strength, his techniques, the way he moved, and even the way he endured injuries that should have slowed anyone else down didn’t match the face he wore.

“And he is far older than he looks,” he added finally. “At the very least, he has several Sky-Grade and maybe even Heaven-Grade techniques.”

Princess Yanyue nodded with a grim look passing through her eyes. “I think so too.”

Those words made Zi Wen and Li Xuan go still.

Both of them looked shocked, probably because they knew enough to understand what it meant. Sky-Grade techniques were already rare. Heaven-Grade techniques were the kind of thing most cultivators would never even see in ten lifetimes.

For Jun to have several of them…

Zi Wen opened his mouth, and Li Xuan looked like he had a dozen questions ready, but Chen Ren raised his voice before either of them could speak.

“I know there are a lot you want to ask. I want to ask where you got a wyvern too.” His eyes flicked toward the creature beneath them before returning to Jun. “But for now, we need to get to the master lift as fast as possible. I don’t think we can kill him, even with the wyvern.”

Zi Wen swallowed whatever question he had and nodded.

Then he whistled again.

The wyvern responded at once. Its wings beat harder, and its whole body surged forward with another burst of speed. Wind slammed into Chen Ren’s face, forcing him to tighten his grip around another scale.

Even then, his eyes never left Jun.

The distance between them had widened slightly, and for the first time, Chen Ren felt that they might actually escape. But that thought did not comfort him much. It was only a possibility.

There was still a chance Jun could catch them.

And if he did, Chen Ren didn’t want the others dying here.

Without looking away from the man chasing them, he reached into his storage and pulled out two more return tickets, the last ones he had. He pushed them toward Li Xuan and Zi Wen.

“Take them,” he said. “If Jun catches us, use them and get out of here.”

Both of them stared at the tickets, confusion clear in their eyes. Chen Ren didn’t stop to explain, and shifted his attention back to Jun.

Dark flames were roaring around the man’s hands now, twisting and swelling as he ran through the air. The heat and demonic qi behind them made the sky itself feel heavier.

Jun threw his hand forward.

The flames surged toward the wyvern like a black tide.

Chen Ren moved at the same time.

Lightning gathered in his palm and shot out in a bright, violent arc. It tore through the air and met the dark flames head-on.

The collision exploded across the sky.

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For a brief moment, light and darkness swallowed everything behind them. But the explosion didn’t stop the demonic cultivator’s attack.

Smaller fireballs burst out of the smoke, each one darker, denser, and more focused than the last. They shot toward the wyvern in a scattered wave, cutting through the air with sharp trails of heat.

This time, Princess Yanyue and Yalan moved together.

Princess Yanyue raised her bow, silver light gathering around the arrow as she released her arrows. Yalan opened her mouth at the same moment, sending a stream of flames into the incoming attack.

The arrows and fire met Jun’s fireballs one after another.

Explosions shook the very air.

The wyvern pushed through the shockwaves, but the blasts spread wide. One of them swallowed a small flock of flying beasts that had only been trying to get out of the wyvern’s path. Their cries vanished almost instantly as the explosion consumed them.

Chen Ren’s chest tightened for a brief second. They had not even been part of this fight.

But he had no time to hold onto that thought. Through the smoke and fire, Jun suddenly moved faster.

Demonic qi burst beneath his feet with even greater force, and the distance between them began to shrink again. Second by second, he was getting closer.

Chen Ren’s grip tightened. “Zi Wen!” he shouted. “We need to go faster!”

Zi Wen whistled again. Only this time, the wyvern did not rise higher.

It dived.

The creature folded its wings and dropped toward the ground like a falling spear. Chen Ren’s stomach lurched. Around him, the others nearly lost their grip as the world tilted violently beneath them.

He forced himself to raise his head. Only then did he see where the wyvern was going.

A narrow ridge cut through the land below, its stone walls rising sharply on both sides. The wyvern twisted its body and slipped into the gap, using the ridge to break Jun’s path and force him to slow down.

For a moment, Chen Ren thought it might work. Then Jun’s voice roared from behind them.

“You aren’t getting away from me!”

The next second, explosions rang out above the ridge, causing the stone walls to crack.

Huge boulders tore loose and began crashing down toward them. Chen Ren’s blood ran cold.

If even one of those rocks struck the wyvern’s wings, they would be finished. Princess Yanyue moved before he could shout.

She drew another arrow and aimed straight up. When she released it, the arrow flew above the wyvern and stopped there, shining with a silver glow. Light spread out from its tip, forming a wide shield over them.

The first boulder struck the barrier with a heavy boom.

Then another, then more at once.

Still, the shield held.

The falling stones slid off the glowing surface and crashed down along the sides of the ridge instead, missing the wyvern by only a few feet.

Chen Ren finally let out the breath he had been holding. But the relief did not last.

Chen Ren could still see Jun through the falling boulders.

The man moved behind them like a shadow in the chaos, his figure flashing between broken stone and clouds of dust. His roar carried through the ridge, loud enough to cut through the wind and the wyvern’s beating wings.

“You aren’t going to be able to run for long!”

Chen Ren ignored his cry.

His eyes moved across the narrow ridge instead. The stone walls were steep, uneven, and full of cracks. Only then did he understand why the wyvern had chosen this path.

The beast was not just fast. It was smart.

Chen Ren raised his hand and formed more lightning lances around him. They flashed into existence one after another, then shot toward the ridge walls. The attacks struck the stone high above and tore loose more rocks, sending them crashing down into Jun’s path.

The others understood what he was doing almost immediately.

Princess Yanyue drew her bow again and the twins followed her lead. Arrows flew upward, slamming into the ridge walls with enough force to break apart whole sections of stone.

Within a few breaths, the entire ridge seemed to be coming apart.

Rocks cracked. Dust burst into the air. Explosions rang through the narrow passage until it felt like a heated mountain was breaking apart over their heads.

Princess Yanyue’s arrows did the most damage. Each one struck like a silver star, blasting chunks of stone loose and sending them tumbling down in heavy waves.

Jun wasn’t so easy to bury though. A dark dome spread around him, formed from thick demonic qi. The falling boulders crashed against it and shattered, unable to reach him. He kept moving beneath the shield, forcing his way through the collapsing ridge.

Just then, Li Qingxue fired an arrow into the side of the wall. The attack struck a glowing crack in the stone.

A heartbeat later, hot lava burst out.

It poured down in a burning stream, falling straight toward Jun. He tried to move aside, but there was too much of it, and the ridge was too narrow. The lava crashed over the dark dome, hissing violently as it spread across the surface.

For the first time, the shield cracked for a few seconds. But that was enough for several boulders to break through and slam down onto Jun.

Chen Ren didn’t get to see what happened after that.

The wyvern burst out of the ridge and shot upward into the open sky. Wind rushed around them again, colder and sharper now that they had left the heat and dust behind.

He looked ahead.

In the distance, he could already see the master lift approaching. At the wyvern’s speed, it would not take more than ten minutes to reach it.

It was almost frightening how fast the creature was.

For one brief moment, he allowed himself to hope that they would get out of here safely.

Li Qingfeng looked back at the ridge and asked, “Do you think we escaped?”

Chen Ren shook his head immediately. He had no such delusions. “No,” he said. “We only delayed him a little. Boulders and lava won’t injure someone like him, much less kill him.” Chen Ren’s gaze shifted to Princess Yanyue. “Can you use more primordial qi?”

Her eyes lowered at once. “Not right now,” she said quietly. “It would break my body.”

Chen Ren nodded. He had expected that answer, but hearing it still made his chest tighten. Without her primordial qi, their options were fewer.

Now all he could do was hope they reached the lift before Jun caught up.

His eyes stayed fixed on the ridge behind them.

The wyvern flew faster and faster, carrying them toward the master lift. The ridge grew smaller in the distance, but he couldn’t look away.

Deep down his chest, he expected Jun to burst out at any second.

Minutes passed by, but the demonic cultivator didn’t appear.

Even so, Chen Ren didn’t believe he had given up. He couldn’t believe the boulders or lava had injured him either. If he was right, Jun was far older than any of them had guessed. A man like that would not be stopped so easily.

This silence felt wrong. It felt like a trap, like a way to make them relax.

The twins seemed to feel some of the tension leave their shoulders, but he didn’t allow himself to do the same.

“Don’t think we’re safe,” he said sharply. “We aren’t safe until we’re off this floor.”

The twins looked at him. For a moment, neither of them spoke. In the end, they only nodded.

Before Chen Ren could say anything else, Yalan’s voice cut in.

“The lift is here.”

Everyone turned at once.

Ahead of them, a cut-out cliff came into view, and there it was. The master lift.

It waited against the stone like a silent platform, unmoving and almost peaceful despite everything that had happened.

Zi Wen whistled, guiding the wyvern toward it. The creature slowed, wings beating heavily as it hovered over the platform.

Li Xuan stared down at it. “So that’s the master lift.”

Chen Ren only nodded.

He moved across the wyvern’s back and jumped down onto the lift. The others followed quickly, landing one after another behind him. The wyvern hovered above them for a moment longer, its wings stirring the air around the cliff.

Chen Ren moved straight to the orb. He needed to start it up.

Get back to the fifth floor. Back to safety, back to somewhere they could breathe, think, and decide what to do next.

His hand reached for the orb and just then, a voice spoke.

“So this is how you got to the tenth floor before me.”

Chen Ren froze, and knew his luck had run out once again.

***

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