The Grand Ledger Marketplace was not a shop. It was a chaotic, screaming ocean of commerce.
As the golden interface expanded in Ren's vision, he felt a wave of vertigo. Millions of scrolling lines of text cascaded down, updating in real-time.
[Sell] 500 Virgin Souls (Grade C) - Sector 8 Slaughterhouse - Price: 2,000 Karma.
[Buy] The Concept of "Mother's Love" (Extracted) - Client: Demon Sect Elder - Offer: 50,000 Karma.
[Auction] Dragon Heart (Still Beating) - Current Bid: 1.2 Million Karma.
Ren rubbed his temples. The sheer scale of the Gilded Spire's economy was nauseating. People were trading emotions, organs, and abstract concepts like stocks.
He had 25,000 Karma remaining after paying his debt.
To a slave, that was a god-tier fortune. To the marketplace, it was lunch money.
"Focus," Ren muttered. "I need an operating system. I need a Cultivation Method."
He filtered the search.
Category: Cultivation Techniques.
Grade: Mortal to Earth Rank.
Price Cap: 20,000 Karma.
Thousands of options popped up.
[Flame Tiger Fist]: Standard. Boring. Capped at low levels.
[Iron Skin Scripture]: Good defense, zero offense.
[Jade Dew Meditation]: Requires celibacy. (Ren swiped left immediately. He had plans for the future).
He needed something that leveraged his unique advantage. He didn't have talent. He didn't have a special bloodline. He had Capital.
He needed a Pay-to-Win technique.
His NPV Eye scanned the list, looking for undervaluation. Most techniques were priced accurately. Then, buried on page 400 of the "Discount/Damaged" section, he saw it.
[Technique: The Sovereign's Minting Art (Incomplete Fragment)]
Grade: Unknown (Theoretically Heaven Rank, currently degraded to Mortal).
Seller: The Bankrupt Estate of the Gold-Eating Sage.
Price: 15,000 Karma.
Description: An archaic technique that replaces the Dantian with a "Furnace." Instead of absorbing ambient Qi from nature (which is slow), the user must physically consume valuable materials (Spirit Stones, Gold, Rare Metals). The Furnace smelts the Value directly into cultivation base.
Drawback: It is terrifyingly expensive. To advance a single stage requires 10x the resources of a normal cultivator.
Note: The previous owner starved to death.
Ren's lips curled into a smile.
It was perfect.
Normal cultivators were limited by how fast they could breathe in energy. This technique was limited only by how rich the user was.
If Ren could corner the market, manipulate prices, and amass wealth, his cultivation speed would be infinite.
"Buy it," Ren commanded.
[Transaction Complete. -15,000 Karma.] [Remaining Balance: 10,000 Karma.]
A golden beam of light shot out of the screen and struck Ren in the forehead.
"ARGH!"
Ren gripped the desk, his knuckles turning white. It didn't feel like learning a poem; it felt like someone was pouring molten lead into his brain. Information burned itself into his neurons. Diagrams of meridians, flow charts of energy, and the blueprint for the Internal Mint.
[System Alert: Installing 'The Sovereign's Minting Art'...] [Fuel Required for Initial Construction: 10,000 Karma.]
Ren gritted his teeth. "Expensive bastard."
He looked at the remaining Spirit Stones in the chest. He grabbed a handful—worth exactly 10,000 Karma—and squeezed.
"Refine!"
The technique activated. The Spirit Stones in his hand didn't just drain; they disintegrated. They turned into a fine, glowing dust that was sucked into his pores.
Inside his body, near his navel, a vortex formed. It wasn't a soft, swirling pool of liquid Qi. It was a hard, metallic structure. A spinning golden coin began to take shape, rotating with the heavy, grinding sound of industry.
Clink.
The sound echoed inside his soul.
[Congratulations. Cultivation Initiated.] [Stage: Qi Condensation - Level 1 (The Investor).] [Attribute: Golden Qi (Heavy, Metallic, High Density).]
Ren opened his eyes. He exhaled, and his breath shimmered with gold dust.
He felt... heavy. Not sluggish, but solid. Like he was made of denser matter than before. He picked up the iron paperweight on Ma's desk. He squeezed.
Crunch.
The solid iron deformed like clay.
"Strength increased by 500%," Ren estimated. "Cost: 25,000 Karma total. ROI... Acceptable."
BZZZZT!
A harsh buzzing sound cut through his moment of triumph.
On the desk, a large jade slab embedded in a brass frame began to vibrate. Runes glowed red on its surface.
The Transmission Array.
Ren stopped. The room went silent. Liu and Ironhead, who were guarding the door, turned to look at the buzzing device with terror.
"That's the Direct Line," Ironhead whispered, his face pale. "That connects to the Middle Realm. To the Supply Captain."
"Ma didn't report in," Liu added, his hand gripping his dagger tight. "They know something is wrong."
Ren looked at the buzzing jade. If he didn't answer, they would send an extermination squad. If he did answer, he had to talk his way out of a rebellion.
Ren smoothed his ragged slave tunic. He sat back in the chair, crossing his legs. He placed the Lightning Wood casually on the desk, right next to the array.
"Ironhead," Ren said. "Bring Ma here. Prop him up in the corner where the visual array can't see him, but where he can hear me."
Ironhead dragged the battered, bound Overseer into the room. Ma was conscious, one eye swollen shut, his arm bent at a sickening angle.
"You're done," Ma spat, blood dripping from his mouth. "That's Captain Zhai calling. He's a Foundation Establishment expert. He'll come down here and liquefy your bones."
Ren ignored him. He reached out and tapped the glowing rune.
Click.
A hologram projected into the air above the desk.
It was a face. Sharp, aristocratic, with long silk hair and eyes that looked like they had never seen a speck of dirt. Captain Zhai. He was sitting in a lush room, sipping tea from a cup that cost more than Ren's entire sector.
"Ma," Zhai said, not even looking at the camera. "You're late with the report. And the shipment of spirit ore is delayed. My patience has a fee, and you are currently racking up a bill."
Zhai finally looked up. He froze.
He saw Ren. A dirty, bloody teenager sitting in the Overseer's chair, looking calm.
Zhai's eyes narrowed. The pressure radiating from the hologram was palpable, a psychic weight that made the air in the room heavy.
"Who are you?" Zhai's voice was soft, dangerous. "Where is Ma?"
Ren didn't flinch. He leaned forward.
"Ma has been... restructured," Ren said.
Zhai put down his tea cup. "Restructured? A slave revolt? How quaint." He reached for a bell on his desk. "I'll send the Enforcers. Burn Sector 4. Leave no survivors."
"That would be a poor financial decision," Ren cut in quickly.
Zhai paused, his hand hovering over the bell. "Excuse me?"
"I've audited Ma's books," Ren said, picking up the Black Ledger. He waved it in front of the hologram. "Did you know he's been under-reporting the ore yield by 30%? He's been selling the surplus to the Crimson River Sect on the black market."
In the corner, Overseer Ma let out a muffled whimper.
Zhai's face didn't change, but his eyes went cold. Treason. Selling to a rival sect was a death sentence.
"You have proof?" Zhai asked.
"I have his private ledger. Dates, buyers, amounts," Ren lied (partially). "And I have the missing ore."
Ren leaned back. "If you send the Enforcers, they will burn this sector—and this ledger—to the ground. You'll lose the evidence of the theft, and more importantly, you'll lose the 30% surplus that belongs to you."
Zhai withdrew his hand from the bell. He was listening. Greed was a universal language.
"What do you want, boy?" Zhai asked.
"I want the job," Ren said simply.
"You?" Zhai scoffed. "You are a mortal slave."
"I am a Qi Condensation cultivator," Ren corrected, releasing a pulse of his heavy, metallic Golden Qi. It wasn't strong, but it was distinct. "And unlike Ma, I understand efficiency. I don't want to steal from you, Captain. I want to make us both rich."
Ren held up a finger. "I will increase the sector's output by 50% in one month. In exchange, you grant me the Official Overseer License and... amnesty for the current workforce."
Zhai tapped his finger on his desk. He was calculating. He didn't care about Ma. Ma was a thief. But a slave taking over? That was irregular.
However, the promise of 50% more profit...
"You have one month," Zhai said coldly. "Keep the ledger safe. If the quota isn't met by the next moon, I won't just kill you. I will sell your soul to the Soul-Eaters."
"Understood," Ren said.
"And regarding Ma..." Zhai added, a cruel smile touching his lips. "Since he likes to steal... ensure he pays his debt."
The connection cut. The hologram vanished.
Ren let out a long breath. His back was soaked in sweat. He had just bluffed a Foundation Establishment expert.
The room was silent.
"We... we're alive?" Ironhead asked, disbelief in his voice.
"For one month," Ren said. He stood up and looked at the bound Overseer Ma in the corner.
Ma was shaking. He had heard everything. Zhai had abandoned him.
Ren walked over to Ma.
"You heard the Captain," Ren said softly. "He wants you to pay your debt."
"Please," Ma begged, tears mixing with the blood on his face. "I have money hidden outside! I can give you—"
Ren placed his hand on Ma's head. He activated [The Sovereign's Minting Art].
The technique didn't just consume Spirit Stones. The description said it consumed valuable materials.
A Cultivator's body, full of processed Qi and blood essence, was a very valuable material.
"Asset Liquidation," Ren whispered.
The vortex in Ren's stomach spun. A terrifying suction force erupted from his palm.
"NO! NOOO—"
Ma's scream was cut short as his body began to wither. His skin turned gray, his muscles atrophied, and his Qi was ripped out of his meridians, purified, and dragged into Ren's body.
It wasn't cannibalism. It was extraction.
In ten seconds, Overseer Ma was nothing but a pile of dust and empty clothes.
Ren stood up. He felt a rush of power. The second coin in his dantian began to form.
[System Alert: Biomass Refined.] [Cultivation Progress: Qi Condensation Level 1 (80%).]
Ren turned to Ironhead and Liu. They looked at him with absolute terror. He had just eaten a man's cultivation.
Ren adjusted his cuffs.
"Get the men back to work," Ren ordered, his voice echoing with new authority. "We have a quota to beat. And I plan on taking this company public."