Dao of Money

Chen Ren ended up talking with Shijun and Kuangdao for over two hours.

They asked question after question. Most of the time was not spent on the plan itself, but on Chen Ren explaining why he was trustworthy. He made it clear that lying to them would only be disastrous for him. He already had one Guardian sect against him, and creating another enemy would leave him with nowhere to run.

Thankfully, Shijun and Kuangdao seemed to understand that.

They did not agree right away, but they did not reject him either. Instead, they said they would decide after seeing the sixth floor with their own eyes. A small group from the Soaring Sword Sect was planning to move up the next day. Chen Ren agreed to that and suggested they meet him at the sixth-floor lift in two days, once they had confirmed things for themselves.

Throughout the entire conversation, Li Xuan barely spoke.

He sat there looking miserable, as if simply being in the same room as Shijun and Kuangdao drained him. Watching that made Chen Ren uneasy. It planted doubts in his mind about trusting the two senior disciples. But in the end, he had no other option.

What he could do was prepare.

If betrayal came, he needed contingencies.

Yalan was one safeguard, but she was not enough. So before leaving the fifth floor, Chen Ren moved back to the shop, taking some rest and thinking through every plan that came in his mind in case of betrayal. Once he had gotten a few ideas, he returned to the lift and headed back to the sixth floor, planning to talk it through with Princess Yanyue.

This time, he was not alone.

A noticeable number of cultivators were moving up alongside him. After speaking with a few of them, Chen Ren learned why. A dungeon had been discovered in the forests of the fifth floor. Hunting beasts there rewarded far more tokens than usual, allowing many climbers to finally gather enough to advance.

While he talked, the lift rose once more.

He found the mention of a dungeon interesting and it reminded him of video games from his past life. Still, he did not feel any urge to look deeper into it, especially now that it had become popular among climbers. His rule, in both life and business, was simple—avoid crowded places.

When he finally reached the sixth floor, he left the stunned climbers behind. They were already shivering, surprised by the cold and the dense demonic qi in the air. Chen Ren did not give them more than a cursory glance. He moved straight toward the Zombie Queen’s city.

Princess Yanyue had left him rough directions to follow, but they were difficult to rely on. The black desert stretched endlessly in every direction, with almost no landmarks. The few ruins that rose from the sand were scattered and far apart, offering little guidance.

Even so, Chen Ren pressed on. With Yalan’s sharper senses and higher cultivation, he tried to find the way forward, and eventually, he realized the trick to finding the city.

He did not need landmarks. He only needed to follow the demonic qi.

The thicker it became, the closer he was.

Demonic qi was already uncomfortable, like fine sand brushing against his skin. As it grew denser, the sensation worsened. It felt as if the sand was trying to force its way into his nose, eyes, and mouth. Chen Ren immediately circulated his qi, forming a thin protective layer around his body. He did the same for Wang Jun, who would not stop complaining about the foul air.

The method worked.

After several hours of running through the desert, Chen Ren finally saw it. A dark silhouette rose in the distance. As the shape became clearer, he slowed down. Massive walls emerged from the haze, towering and almost unnatural to look at.

The city stood alone in the black desert.

The city’s walls were built from the same dark stone as the scattered ruins. At the center stood a massive stone gate, worn but intact. Chen Ren could not understand how zombies had managed to build something like this. Even from a distance, the city was enormous. When he narrowed his eyes, he could make out silhouettes moving along the walls.

These were not the same zombies as the mindless hordes.

The undead inside were clearly intelligent. Watching them, Chen Ren wondered if City Lord Xiangrui had underestimated this place. To someone like him, a city standing alone in a wasteland might seem inferior. But Chen Ren could tell that this was anything but simple.

He did not keep staring for long.

Instead, he moved around the city, searching for Princess Yanyue and the others. According to Anji, they had set up camp somewhere near the city, but finding them was not easy in the black desert, but after half an hour, he finally had success.

The first thing he spotted was a furry silhouette in the distance.

Little Yuze.

Seeing him, Chen Ren immediately changed direction and headed toward the group. They had set up a modest camp near a large mound of sand that acted like a small hill, giving them a clear view of the city walls.

Princess Yanyue and Zi Wen were standing near the front when Chen Ren arrived. He stopped a short distance away and said, “It took longer than I expected to find you.”

“At least you did,” Princess Yanyue replied, stepping forward. Her gaze swept over Chen Ren and Yalan. “I’m guessing and hoping you’ve found a way to get through the city and reach the lift,” she said. “Because we’ve been completely stumped.”

A frown crossed her face as she spoke. She clearly did not like admitting failure.

Chen Ren looked back toward the city. “What did you try?”

She gave a wry smile. “Sneaking in,” she said. “As you can probably guess, it didn’t work.”

Zi Wen nodded. “We saw Yun Zhaotian rush straight into the city like a madman. He didn’t do any real damage. Walking armour came out and fought him before the Zombie Queen herself came to drag him inside. He tried to fight, but he couldn’t even land a proper hit.”

Princess Yanyue continued, “After that, we tried to find another route. But there isn’t one. The walls are solid all the way around. No weak points. And I have no intention of digging through the sand.” She looked at Chen Ren. “I hope that’s not your plan to get us to the seventh floor.”

Chen Ren smiled. “It’s not. I already laid the foundation for my plan. But it’s dangerous.”

Zi Wen let out a small breath and said, “I doubt we’re getting off this floor without doing something dangerous, Sect Leader Chen.”

Chen Ren’s smile widened slightly. “My plan is just as dangerous as fighting the Zombie Queen head-on.”

He paused, then began explaining.

This time, he did not hold back. He spoke about everything—how they would approach the city, how the Guardian sects would be involved, how the timing mattered, and what would happen if things went wrong. He even explained the contingencies he had already thought of.

The longer he spoke, the more their expressions changed.

Princess Yanyue’s face grew tense. Zi Wen went quiet, gently patting little Yuze’s head as if he had already made up his mind. Even the royal guards listening nearby looked uneasy, as though Chen Ren was describing something impossible.

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When he finally finished, silence fell.

Princess Yanyue did not speak right away. She stared at the city walls for a long moment. At last, she looked back at Chen Ren. “You really come up with plans that make people question whether your mind is in the right place.”

Chen Ren smiled. “I don’t see any other way out of this floor. Whether the plan is dangerous doesn’t matter, only whether you’re willing to go through with it.” He met her eyes. “Are you?”

Princess Yanyue hesitated, then sighed. “Yes. I am. Let’s hope you’re right about everything.”

***

It did not take long to set everything in motion once Princess Yanyue agreed to the plan.

Chen Ren immediately gathered everyone and held a meeting. He spread out the map he had drawn of the city and carefully explained where the lift was located and what each group needed to do. The plan depended heavily on the Guardian sects doing the hardest part of the fighting. Still, that did not mean the rest of them would be standing around. They would need to support the Guardian sects for a time, hold their ground, and then make a run for the lift at the right moment.

Chen Ren had no intention of betraying more than one sect. Because of that, he planned to keep the lift on the sixth floor for as long as possible before moving up himself. Unless the Zombie Queen personally came after them—which was very unlikely if the plan worked—they should be able to reach the seventh floor within three days.

The real difficulty was getting everything ready.

Fortunately, the sixth floor was vast. It was easy to move around without drawing attention if one was careful. Chen Ren also wore one of the defensive robes he had gotten from Shrey before going to meet the Soaring Sword Sect at the lift, just to be safe.

When he arrived, both Li Kuangdao and Li Shijun were already there.

Li Xuan was not.

That alone made Chen Ren uneasy. Still, the discussion went far better than he expected. After spending just one day on the sixth floor, they had realized that everything Chen Ren told them was true. They had already sent their junior brothers and sisters to scout the city, something Chen Ren had noticed earlier from afar.

In the end, the Soaring Sword Sect formally agreed to join the plan.

They did not do so without a warning.

Li Kuangdao made it very clear that if Chen Ren betrayed them, they would hunt down and kill his entire bloodline.

Chen Ren accepted the threat calmly.

Such a thing was fairly common among cultivators, and Chen Ren was already so used to it that he casually told them where the rest of his clan lived. It was not that he cared about any of them. Still, his indifference clearly surprised the two members of the Soaring Sword Sect as they left.

The next two days passed quickly as preparations for the assault on the city began.

Since the Thunderblade Sect already held hostility toward him, Chen Ren had the Soaring Sword Sect approach them instead. They were the ones to explain the plan and bring them in. Of course, the Thunderblade Sect had no idea that Chen Ren was the one who had planned everything. They only knew that he was also going to be a part of the plan.

As it turned out, the Thunderblade Sect had already been searching for Yun Zhaotian. He had vanished after reaching the sixth floor, and his disappearance had unsettled them. When they were told that he was imprisoned inside the city, they agreed to the plan almost immediately. They did have one condition—before moving toward the lift, they would first free Yun Zhaotian.

That suited Chen Ren perfectly. He had planned for that outcome from the start.

At the same time, Princess Yanyue went to speak with the Frostpeak Sect. They were just as important to the plan, being among the strongest fighters of all the Guardian sects. Convincing them took more effort. Most of it came down to one reason.

Han Qingshi.

He was the one who made decisions for the Frostpeak Sect, and he had a habit of acting alone. Princess Yanyue had no choice but to wait until he finally showed himself. Fortunately, once he heard who else would be participating and the rest of the plan, he agreed to it without much hesitation.

Strangely, though, Princess Yanyue later told Chen Ren that Han Qingshi had asked about him.

For some reason, he wanted to know more about Chen Ren.

She did not say much more after that, and Chen Ren hoped Han Qingshi’s interest in him was not for anything unpleasant. He did not have much time to dwell on it anyway. Everything was finally in place.

They had the sects needed for the assault. They knew the general location of the lift. Now, all that remained was to hope that everything went according to plan. If it did not, Chen Ren doubted he would even have the chance to run.

He still could not place the Zombie Queen’s exact realm. Even City Lord Xiangrui had been unsure. It had been a long time since they last fought, but Xiangrui had said she was at least in the meridian expansion realm and likely approaching its peak.

That was a monster Chen Ren had no intention of fighting.

Hopefully, it would not come to that.

That thought lingered in his mind as he stood watching the city in the distance. Princess Yanyue, Zi Wen, Yalan, the twins and the royal guards waited nearby.

Princess Yanyue suddenly spoke. “Are you nervous?”

Chen Ren glanced at her. “Are you not? If this goes wrong, we’re in trouble.”

“I am,” she admitted. “But it’s not like we can turn back now. It should begin any moment.”

Chen Ren nodded. “If things do go wrong, I know we can still get away.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Did you have plans you haven’t told me?”

Chen Ren smiled. “Yes. But more than that, I trust you.” He met her gaze. “There’s no way you’d agree to something this dangerous without having artifacts that could save our lives.”

For a brief moment, Princess Yanyue’s expression twisted, as if he had guessed correctly.

Before she could respond, Chen Ren noticed movement in the distance. A massive cloud of dust rose into the air, spreading outward from the city.

He smiled. “It’s beginning.”

***

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