The golden timer in the corner of my vision was a relentless, ticking heartbeat.
[00:23:55]
I stood over the mangled corpse of the Cave Stalker, my breath coming in shallow, ragged hitches. The smell of the cavern had changed; the damp rot of the earth was now buried under the metallic tang of monster ichor and the ozone-scent of the borrowed Qi currently coursing through my veins.
I could feel the power beginning to retreat. It wasn't a gentle fading, but a violent withdrawal, like a tide pulling back over jagged glass. Every second I stood there, staring at the carnage I had created, the "Interest" was compounding.
"Han Jing?"
The voice was thin, high-pitched, and dripping with an arrogance that hadn't quite caught up to the reality of the situation.
I turned slowly. Wei Yan stood at the mouth of the central chamber, his expensive, moon-white silk robes hitched up around his knees to avoid the filth of the cave floor. Behind him, two other servants—men who had spent their lives bullying the "trash-roots" like me—clutched their torches with trembling hands. Their shadows danced wildly against the jagged limestone walls, making them look like giants.
In reality, they were insects.
"You're... you're alive," Wei Yan stammered. His eyes darted from me to the dead Stalker. The monster's head had been reduced to a pulp of grey brain matter and shattered chitin. "How? A trash-root like you should have been shredded in seconds. You don't even have a cultivation base!"
I didn't answer immediately. I looked down at my hands. They were stained green and red, the knuckles split, yet the skin beneath was already knitting together thanks to the 'Loan.'
"Maybe the Stalker had a refined palate," I said, my voice a dry rasp that sounded foreign even to my own ears. "Maybe it realized that a servant who has spent twelve years in the coal mines is a bit too tough to swallow."
Wei Yan's shock was a fleeting thing. It was quickly replaced by greed—the signature trait of the Iron-Blood Sect's "Junior Geniuses." He had spotted it: the faint, pulsing violet glow radiating from the center of the monster's chest cavity.
The Beast Core.
To a servant, that core was a ticket to freedom. To a disciple like Wei Yan, it was a merit point that would buy him his next bottle of Marrow-Cleansing Wine.
"Hand it over," Wei Yan commanded, his hand moving to the hilt of his jade-encrusted sword. He tried to project strength, but I could see the sweat beading on his upper lip. "That core is the property of the Iron-Blood Sect. Since I am the lead disciple of this 'expedition,' it belongs to me. Hand it over, and I might forget the fact that you're standing there talking to me like an equal. I might even tell the Elders you were... useful."
In my past life, I'd seen this look on a thousand faces. It was the look of a regional manager claiming credit for a subordinate's overtime. It was the look of a man who thought the world owed him everything because his father had a bigger bank account.
But this wasn't an office. And I wasn't an employee anymore.
"Useful?" I let out a dry, hacking laugh that sent a spike of pain through my ribs. "I'm the one who did the work, Wei Yan. You're the one who stood in the tunnel while Pock-mark Li was being disemboweled. In my world, we call people like you 'middlemen.' And I've spent my whole career cutting middlemen out of the deal."
"You... you dare?" Wei Yan's face turned a mottled shade of crimson. "Gao! Feng! Seize him! Break his legs and bring me that core. If he resists, kill him. Dead servants don't file complaints."
The two thugs behind him hesitated. They were bigger than me, fed on sect scraps while I starved, but they had seen the monster. They had seen what something had done to its skull.
"What are you waiting for?!" Wei Yan shrieked. "He's a mortal! He's probably used a forbidden drug to get a burst of strength. He's collapsing already! Look at him!"
He was right. I was collapsing. The 'Nine-Sun' Qi was burning out, leaving behind a hollow, cold void that made my bones ache.
[Notice: Borrowed Qi is at 8% capacity. Would you like to authorize a 'Short-Term Overdraft' for 200 Essence? (Warning: Interest rate is 5% Vitality/Hour for overdrafts).]
Not yet, I thought, my vision blurring. I've got one more move before I go into the red.
As Gao and Feng lunged forward, clubs raised, I didn't retreat. I moved forward.
I didn't need cultivation to know where a man's balance was. I'd spent a decade taking people down who were twice my size. I stepped into Gao's personal space, the world slowing down as I tapped into the final reserve of the 'Principal.'
I caught his wrist, twisted it until the bone groaned, and drove my forehead into the bridge of his nose. The sound of cartilage snapping was sickeningly satisfying. As he slumped, I didn't stop. I spun, using his falling weight to swing the blunt end of my pickaxe into Feng's kneecap.
The cave echoed with the sound of a scream that was cut short as Feng hit the floor, clutching his shattered leg.
Wei Yan was alone.
He finally drew his sword—a beautiful, shimmering blade of Grade-2 Iron. It was a weapon meant for a hero. In his hand, it looked like a toy.
"Stay back!" he yelled, his voice cracking. "I am a Disciple! I have reached the third layer of Qi Condensation! You are nothing but a—"
I didn't let him finish. I lunged, ignoring the stabbing pain in my heart as the Ledger began to claw back its investment. I bypassed his clumsy horizontal swing, grabbed his silk collar, and slammed him against the jagged limestone wall.
The sword clattered to the ground.
I leaned in, my blood-stained face inches from his. I could smell the expensive lavender oil in his hair and the sheer, unadulterated terror radiating off him.
"You talk a lot about status, Wei Yan," I whispered, my grip tightening until his face turned a bruised purple. "But in the face of a debt, everyone is equal. You sent me in here to die so you could collect a commission. Well, I'm alive. And that means your debt just came due."
I reached into his robes. He tried to feebly swat my hands away, but I pinned his arms with my knees. I yanked out a heavy, embroidered leather pouch. It was warm from his body heat and clinked with the rhythmic, heavy thud of high-grade Spirit Stones.
"No... please..." he wheezed. "The Elders... theft is a capital crime..."
"It's not theft," I said, leaning in so close my lips brushed his ear. "It's repossession. Consider this the 'processing fee' for my soul."
I dropped him. He collapsed into the slime and monster blood, gasping for air, his dignity as shattered as the monster's skull. I didn't kill him—killing a disciple would bring the Sect's Enforcement Hall down on me within the hour. I needed time. I needed to move.
I turned and ran.
I didn't go toward the entrance. I went deeper, into the labyrinthine crawlspaces only the servants knew about. I moved until my legs felt like lead, until my lungs felt like they were filled with hot needles.
Finally, I found it: a narrow crevice behind a curtain of moss. I crawled inside, the darkness wrapping around me like a cold shroud.
The golden light vanished.
"Argh!" I slumped against the stone, clutching my chest. My heart gave a violent, irregular thump—thump-thump... pause... thump. It felt like a bird was trapped in my ribcage, beating its wings against the bone.
"System..." I wheezed, the stolen pouch clutched to my chest. "Show me... show me the damage."
A blue-and-gold screen flickered into existence, illuminating the dark crevice with a cold, uncaring light.
[The Empyrean Ledger]
Host: Han Jing
Cultivation: Mortal (Grade 9 Trash-Root)
Current State: Near-Collapse (Heart Arrhythmia / Internal Hemorrhaging)
Credit Score: 280 (Subprime)
— Financial Summary —
Total Debt: 1,025 Essence
Active Loan: [Nine-Sun Qi Foundation] (Grade: Mortal-Exquisite)
Next Payment Due: 23 Hours, 20 Minutes
Current Interest Rate: 1.5% Vitality / Hour (Penalty Rate Applied)
— Portfolio & Assets —
Available Essence: 120 (Stored in 12 Low-Grade Spirit Stones)
Inventory: [Qi-Recovery Pill x2], [Wei Yan's Silk Sash], [Cracked Beast Core (Grade 1)]
Locked Skills: [Heaven-Shattering Palm], [Void-Step], [Interest-Swap] (Insufficient Credit)
— Default Warning —
[CRITICAL] Your current liquidity is insufficient to cover the upcoming installment.
[PENALTY] Failure to pay 500 Essence by the deadline will result in: Permanent Foreclosure of Left Lung.
I stared at the numbers. The twelve stones I'd risked everything to steal were a pittance. 120 Essence. I needed 500 just to keep my lung, and over a thousand to clear the principal.
The 'Interest-Swap' skill caught my eye, but it was greyed out, mocking me.
I opened the pill bottle I'd swiped from Wei Yan. The scent of bitter herbs filled the small space. I swallowed one, and for a moment, the stabbing pain in my chest eased, replaced by a dull, throbbing ache.
I looked at the Beast Core. It was cracked, its value diminished by the violence of the kill.
"23 hours," I whispered into the dark.
I wasn't a hero. I wasn't a chosen one. I was a man who had been reborn into a nightmare, playing a rigged game against the Heavens. But as I looked at the stolen gold and the glowing screen, a cold, familiar feeling settled in my gut. It was the feeling of a man who had spent his life in the dark corners of finance.
"You want my lung?" I looked at the screen, my eyes narrowing. "Fine. But I'm going to make sure the Iron-Blood Sect pays the interest."
I closed my eyes, beginning to calculate. If I couldn't earn the Essence, I would have to steal it. And if I couldn't steal it, I would have to create a bubble.
It was time to introduce the cultivation world to the concept of a pyramid scheme.