Dao of Money

Chen Ren paused as soon as he read the word Devourers.

It had been a long time since he had heard anything about them. Qing He had told him long ago that they were one of the major reasons behind a war that had destroyed much of civilization. The Kalian Empire had only risen centuries after that disaster, built on what remained after the world slowly recovered.

Chen Ren had wondered more than once what the Devourers had actually been.

In his mind, he had only been able to imagine monsters; grotesque creatures that swallowed everything in their path, leaving nothing behind but ruin. It had been a vague image.

Finding them mentioned in Sect Leader Yuren’s diary was something else entirely. Even Wang Jun, who had been reading with him, looked surprised.

Chen Ren said nothing and continued reading.

He turned the page, and this time, more written words appeared before him.

Devourers were things from an era before us. They are now spoken of only in legends, and even those legends have lessened with time. Perhaps that is because no one still alive, and powerful enough to know the truth, wants the new generation to remember the things that once nearly ended our world.

But I think differently.

The past cannot be hidden forever. It should be studied, understood, and faced properly. Only then can we grow strong enough not merely to avoid the same fate, but to overcome it if it ever returns.

Chen Ren’s fingers rested against the edge of the page.

The words did not sound like a simple warning. He turned the page again.

In the end, history repeats itself. My seniors have always told me that time is a flat circle. We return to the same places, the same mistakes, and the same fears, only wearing different faces. I know that to be true now.

Maybe that is why my interest in the Devourers never truly faded.

After all, in the end, it felt like I was cultivating for the sake of cultivation.

Internal sect fights. External sect fights. Disciples fighting for rank. Elders fighting for resources. Sects fighting over territory. It is all useful, I know that, but it is also boring. Worse than that, it rarely goes anywhere.

I crave more.

I want to solve the mystery of our world. I want to see places no one here has ever gone. I want to learn more about the Devourers and understand what truly happened in the era before ours.

Even after I created the Pagoda of Eternity, that desire did not end. The ache to know more only grew stronger. In truth, I built such a massive structure because I wanted a successor. Someone who could watch over everything I had made for centuries, so that I could move on and do greater things with my life.

That was why I pulled in every favour I had. That was why I spent so many resources. That was why I built something that nearly cost my sect everything.

Wang Jun snorted.

Chen Ren looked away from the diary.

“Back then, this guy was talking about how he wanted to set his sect’s legacy into the pagoda,” Wang Jun said. “He kept going on about responsibility, inheritance, the future of the sect, and all that nonsense. Turns out he just wanted to slack off from his responsibilities.”

Chen Ren looked at the severed head for a moment. “It might be both. No one builds something like this just to slack off.”

“You do not know how eccentric cultivators can be,” Wang Jun said. “Especially older ones. They get senile.”

Chen Ren almost said, Just like you.

He held himself back and turned his attention back to the diary.

The next few pages slowly moved toward the creation of the pagoda. Yuren wrote about the favours he had called in, the resources he had gathered, and the people he had convinced to help him. There was even a line about him bowing respectfully to Senior Wang Jun to request his assistance.

Wang Jun enjoyed that part far too much.

“Read that again,” the head said.

Chen Ren ignored him and continued.

As it turned out, Sect Leader Yuren had been frustrated that no cultivator had managed to reach the top of the pagoda. The structure had been designed to test talent, will, adaptability, and luck, but generation after generation had failed before the final floor. Some died. Some left. Some grew strong enough to gain fame outside, but none reached the end.

To Yuren, that was not proof that the pagoda was too difficult. It was proof that no one good enough had appeared yet.

Chen Ren could almost feel the arrogance in the words. He kept reading.

As it turned out, the pagoda creator had even considered making the entire ordeal easier.

But too many things had already been set in place, and changing them was not as simple as lowering a few trials or reducing the danger on certain floors. The pagoda had been built with rules layered into its very structure, and even its creator could not freely alter everything after the fact.

In the end, Yuren had started leaving the sect more often.

He called them cultivation trips, but from the diary, it was clear that he had been chasing old ruins, broken records, ancient battlefields, and any rumour that might be connected to the eras before the Kalian Empire. Whenever he received a useful tip, he followed it. Whenever he found a place that seemed untouched by modern sects, he searched it himself.

Sadly for him, most of his travels ended too early.

Something would always happen with the sect. A conflict between elders, disciples getting into trouble, rival sects testing their borders, or some resource dispute that his subordinates failed to handle properly. Each time, Yuren had no choice but to rush back, and according to his own words, that was how he gained a reputation as someone frightening.

Chen Ren could understand why.

If a sect leader spent months chasing clues only to be dragged back because his people could not solve their own problems, his temper would not be pleasant.

The diary made it clear that Yuren hated that reputation. But he seemed to hate the incompetence of his subordinates even more. Still, he never stopped moving. Again and again, he left the sect, returned when needed, and then left again when the chance appeared. He didn’t allow his goal to fade, no matter how many years passed.

After years of searching, one entry finally described the moment he found a true Devourer site.

Chen Ren slowed down as he read.

Actually, it was a coincidence. Nothing more than that.

I had been hunting a beast to gather materials for a weapon when I stumbled upon a spatial distortion. It was faint enough that most cultivators would have missed it, but it had been placed there long ago, and time had weakened its surface.

Only later did I understand what I had found.

It was the grave of a Devourer.

The being had died there, but not before creating layers of protection around itself so that no one could desecrate its remains. Even with my current cultivation, I had to be careful. The space around the grave was unstable, and several parts of it felt wrong in ways I could not properly explain.

In the end, I found only one thing that survived.

A spatial ring.

Breaking into it took time. I was disappointed to discover that the corpse itself had been taken by nature, with almost nothing useful left behind. But the ring changed everything.

With this, I now have information no one else in this world has.

At last, I have fulfilled the goal of my life.

Chen Ren turned to another page, and this time, it seemed as if some time had passed between entries.

The handwriting looked a little sharper than before, as if Yuren had written it while excited.

I want to visit the Devourer realm.

Through the ring, I was able to see a few glimpses of it and read more about what exists there. It is truly a paradise for cultivators. The qi alone would easily kill anyone below the foundation establishment realm, but for those strong enough to survive it, the benefits are beyond imagination.

It is a world filled with resources. Herbs that would make elders here go mad with greed grow there like weeds. Ores that our sects would fight wars over are treated like common materials. From what I have read, reaching the middle realms there is considered ordinary.

The Devourers rule all of it.

They are dangerous. I know that better than anyone who has not seen what I have seen. But even so, it would not be wrong to say that they created heaven.

Chen Ren paused at that.

The more he read, the less the Devourers matched the image he had built in his head. He had thought of them as monsters from an ancient war, beings that existed only to consume and destroy. But according to Yuren’s diary, they had a realm of their own. They had resources, techniques, and a world powerful enough to make the Kalian Empire look small.

If they had created something like heaven somewhere in the upper realms, why had they fought down here? What had they wanted from this world?

The questions kept rising in Chen Ren’s mind, but before he could follow them too far, Wang Jun spoke.

“Flip the page,” the severed head said. “I am curious what happened next with that idiot.”

Chen Ren did as he said.

In truth, he guessed both of them already knew the conclusion. Yuren had found a way to reach beyond the limits of this world, and that path had eventually led to the disaster that created the Corpse Lands. Still, reading the man’s own thoughts made the whole thing feel different.

It was one thing to hear that Sect Leader Yuren had made a mistake.

It was another to watch that mistake form page by page.

The entries moved on from there. Yuren wrote about the spatial ring and the books hidden inside it. There were records about the Devourer realm, notes on its environment, descriptions of its resources, and even references to techniques used by those who lived there.

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Some pages mentioned the Devourers’ social structure, though never in enough detail for Chen Ren to fully understand it. There were ranks, clans, territories, and laws, which meant they were not simple beasts. They had built something. They had ruled something. They had left behind knowledge advanced enough that even Yuren, a powerful sect leader, had become obsessed after seeing only a part of it.

Then the diary shifted again.

Yuren began writing about the limits of their own world.

He had hated it since reaching the domain manifestation realm.

Finally it talked about the sect leader finding a way to reach the nascent soul realm despite the limitations around their own world.

The entry said: I have always hated the restrictions placed on this world.

But after going through the Devourer books, I can understand why they were placed in the first place. That does not make me hate them any less. In the end, they stop me, a cultivator, from reaching new heights.

And now I want to reach those heights even more.

I want to see the Devourers’ heaven for myself. I want to go there, understand it, and become stronger than this world allows.

As it turns out, I may have found a way.

There is a technique among the records that can create a tear into another dormant realm close enough to ours. If I use it properly, I should be able to absorb that realm’s energy, push myself into the nascent soul realm, and then enter it. From there, I may be able to find a path toward the Devourer realm.

It will not be easy.

One mistake, and our realm itself may punish me. But if I do everything correctly, there should be a small window when the restrictions loosen enough for me to succeed.I keep thinking about it more and more.

I have already begun preparing, but this will take years.

Chen Ren turned another page.

After that, there were only small scribblings for a while. Sect Leader Yuren barely wrote anything interesting. Most of the entries were short notes about preparations, materials he still needed, formations he had to adjust, and how he was still doing his best to reach the right moment.

Wang Jun looked at the pages and snorted softly.

“He probably got lost in his preparations,” the severed head said. “Something like this would not be simple. He would also need to push himself as close to the nascent soul realm as possible before attempting it.”

Chen Ren nodded.

That made sense.

A technique that could tear into another realm and use its energy for a breakthrough would not be something a cultivator could activate casually. Yuren must have spent years preparing the formations, gathering resources, and adjusting the pagoda or the sect grounds to support the attempt.

Chen Ren kept flipping through the diary.

Page after page passed with only scattered notes. Some mentioned materials. Others mentioned failed tests. A few were written so messily that Chen Ren could barely understand them. The longer it went on, the clearer it became that Yuren’s entire life had narrowed around this one goal.

Then, finally, another proper entry appeared.

I have finally done it.

Everything is prepared.

I am ready to take the plunge.

I will leave this diary behind for any successor who conquers the pagoda. If someone has truly reached the end of what I built, then they deserve to know why I made my choices, and what I found before making them.

Perhaps they will call me reckless. Perhaps they will call me mad. But no cultivator reaches beyond the sky by staring at the ground forever.

Chen Ren’s grip tightened slightly on the edge of the page.

At that point, he guessed Sect Leader Yuren had been fully prepared to die if the attempt failed.

That was probably why he had left the diary behind in the first place. He had wanted someone to know what happened, or at least understand the path that led him there. It was not an apology yet, but it felt close to one.

Again, there were gaps in the diary entries.

Chen Ren turned several pages and found only scattered notes, broken lines, and half-finished thoughts. Some were about formations. Some mentioned unstable space. Others were too messy to understand. It felt less like a proper record and more like something written by a man who no longer had the time or peace of mind to explain himself properly.

Then, after a few pages, a final entry appeared.

I have messed up. There is no other way to say it. I have made a terrible mistake, one that could have harmed the world itself. I managed to stop the worst of it, but the price is my life.

There is nothing the heavens hate more than someone who tries to break through their bonds. I did exactly that, and I was punished for it. I never expected going against the restrictions to do this to me, especially when my own sect was chosen to uphold those same restrictions. In my pursuit of the Devourers, I even broke my oath.

And now I have paid the price. So, to whoever succeeds the pagoda and what remains of my sect, I ask this of you.

Make sure the Gates of Immortal are never opened.

Chen Ren stopped.

For a moment, he did not continue reading.

The words sat heavily in his mind, far heavier than anything else in the diary. Yuren had written about the Devourers, the upper realms, the restrictions, and his attempt to break through, but this was the first time he had directly mentioned the Gates of Immortal.

Chen Ren’s eyes lowered back to the page.

I thought I would be safe as long as I did not touch it. I thought the medallion and the gate were separate from what I was attempting. But I was wrong. Even opening a tear into another dimension was enough for me to lose my life.

Take care of the medallion. Make sure no one takes it from you.

After that, there was nothing.

The diary had ended.

Chen Ren stared at the empty space beneath the final line, his thoughts moving too quickly for him to settle on any single one. Until now, the diary had been following a path he could understand. Yuren had been curious, ambitious, and reckless. He had wanted to see more than the world allowed, and that desire had eventually killed him.

That much made sense.

But the mention of the Gates of Immortal derailed everything.

So, he had known about the Gates of Immortal.He had also known the medallion was connected to them.

The diary did not explain exactly how, but Chen Ren had enough pieces now to start putting the picture together. He wondered if asking the Watcher would help, but the Watcher did not have every bit of knowledge Yuren had possessed. He was tied to the pagoda, not to all of Yuren’s thoughts and secrets.

Still, Chen Ren had a good idea of what was going on. When he looked down, Wang Jun’s eyes were closed. The severed head seemed to be thinking the same thing.

His eyelids slowly opened.

“I never knew Yuren was hiding something like that from me,” Wang Jun said. “Or maybe I did know, and I simply do not remember. It is confusing.”

Chen Ren looked at him. “With how strong you were, you might have had a medallion too. You just do not remember.”

Wang Jun’s eyes sharpened.

“There was nothing like that in the sect vault where we found you,” Chen Ren added.

“Do not talk as if I am an item,” Wang Jun snapped.

Chen Ren ignored the tone.Wang Jun’s annoyance did not last long either. His gaze returned to the diary, and his expression grew more serious than usual.

“It seems like you are in quite a big mess, kid.”

Chen Ren couldn’t disagree.

Until now, he had wondered about many things separately. The golden dragon. The demonic cultivators. The medallion. The Devourers. The Gates of Immortal. Each one had felt like its own mystery, connected only by thin threads he could not fully see.

Now those threads were starting to pull together. Their world was trapped. That was the only conclusion that made sense.

There were restrictions placed over it, strong enough to make it nearly impossible for anyone to break past a certain level. Anyone beyond the domain manifestation realm could not properly exist here, or at least could not fit within the limits of the world without consequences. Even Sect Leader Yuren had wanted to ascend, and even he had failed because the path upward was blocked.

And that blockage seemed to be connected to the Gates of Immortal.

Chen Ren did not know whether the gates were the source of the restriction, the lock placed over it, or the path beyond it. But the diary’s warning made one thing clear. Opening them was dangerous enough that Yuren had begged his successor to stop it from ever happening.

As for where the medallions came in, Chen Ren could only think of one answer.

They were the keys to the Gates of Immortal.

The thought made the medallion feel heavier in his possession. It was not just a treasure anymore, and it was not only something Jun wanted. It was part of whatever had sealed their world away from the higher realms, the Devourers, and perhaps even the disasters that had almost destroyed civilization once before.

Chen Ren leaned back slightly and rubbed his forehead.

Wang Jun was right.

He was in a big mess.

***

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