Chapter 22 – Coins and Contracts

Lin Yue jogged through the darkened streets, expecting sirens or shouts of alarm. The silence pressed against her ears.

“What kind of anarchy is this place?” She glanced over her shoulder.

Shadow drifted beside her. “We’re still in Blackspire’s territory. They’ll come from the other direction.”

That was all she needed to hear to pick up the pace. A few more streets and alleys over, she was weaving through the growing crowd of night market shoppers. As she rounded a corner, the shadow cloak’s effects began to dissolve.

“Perfect timing.” She steadied herself against a wall. “First priority—trade your new soul energy for spirit stones.”

That would pay for a proper combat class or two. “I really do need those classes.”

“Speaking of training...” Shadow swirled overhead. “Maybe focus on clearing those lung meridians? You look rather red.”

“Fuck you.”

The worst part was Shadow being right. Again.

A cold thought struck her—what if Master Ruixian decided to kill her anyway? Xue sat alone in their room, defenseless. Lin Yue knew exactly what would happen...

“Fuck.”

The best indication that wouldn’t happen was the ink brand on her skin remained cool and quiet. No burning sensation, no pain. Maybe destroying his shadow construct wasn’t as severe as she’d first thought.

She trudged through the demon market. The plan sucked, but at least she’d chosen it herself.

A fox merchant hawked glowing crystals from behind his stall. Three rabbit-eared demons haggled over a pile of bones. A snake woman coiled around her display of bottled souls.

Every time she came through, it was a different montage of stalls.

Shadow spun lazy circles above her head. “Left here. Yanlue’s hovel reeks of fresh souls tonight.”

Lin Yue skirted past a demon skinning something still screaming. The less she knew about that, the better.

Madam Yanlue’s amphibian bulk filled the doorway of her crude dwelling. “Back so soon, little bird?”

Yue followed her inside, the familiar scent of exotic herbs and incense wrapping around her. The cramped interior was lit by glowing crystals that cast everything in a soft, otherworldly blue.

“Business is business.” Lin Yue moved to her usual spot by the stone counter. “Ten inert spirit stones for five souls.”

Shadow would be able to spare that much without straining their reserves.

Yanlue’s webbed fingers traced patterns in the air as she reached into a lacquered box. She counted out ten inert spirit stones, arranging them in two neat rows on the worn stone counter—enough for any class, plus testing shadow’s ability to charge them on the Tree of Inked Souls.

At Yue’s confirming nod, Shadow heaved, the darkness rippling before producing five fresh soul orbs.

Yanlue’s tongue lashed out like a whip snagging all of them and tugging them inside her thick bulk.

“Your merchandise is always of such fine quality, little bird.” Yanlue settled back, reaching for her ornate pipe. “Come back soon.”

“Yeah, I will.” At least until I find a better deal, and dealer, that isn’t going to consider eating me.

Lin Yue pocketed the stones. “Actually, I need information.”

“Oh? About what, exactly?”

“Connections. Someone who can move things between here and the mortal world.”

Yanlue’s webbed fingers tapped her pipe. “Why would you need that?”

“I want to import human food to Ink House. Turn it into spirit stones.”

Madam Yanlue stared blankly at Lin Yue, her tongue flicking out to taste the air.

“Come on.” Lin Yue leaned against the stone counter. “You know why I keep coming to you for spirit stones. More stones means more cultivation. More cultivation means more souls to share.”

Yanlue’s throat sacs pulsed. “Fine. There’s a corpse eater in the western market. Handles smuggling between realms.”

“Thanks. Now, about mortal money exchangers?”

“You ask too much for free, little bird.” Yanlue puffed her pipe irritably.

“It’s a working relationship.” Lin Yue shrugged. “No information means no need for spirit stones. No spirit stones means no souls. Simple math.”

“Ugh. The money demon sits in a booth near here. Fat blob of a thing, can’t miss it.” Yanlue waved her webbed hand dismissively. “Now leave! Don’t come back without business!”

“Always a pleasure.” Lin Yue stepped backward through the doorway with an exaggerated bow.

She took a winding path through the demon market until she spotted the money changer’s stall. The sight made her pause.

A massive blob of scaled flesh bulged against metal bars and sheets that formed a crude cage-like structure. The creature sprawled across what might have been a chair, though its flesh spilled over every edge. Multiple candles burned around the stall, each radiating intense spiritual energy.

“Well, you certainly look the part of a shady money lender.” Lin Yue approached the bars.

Shadow charged one of her spirit stones at her command. She passed it through the metal bars to the blob-like demon.

The creature’s stubby appendage grabbed the stone. After a moment of inspection, it reached for a jade tael.

“No.” Lin Yue shook her head. “Gold coins.”

The demon gurgled. “Ten percent fee.”

“Fine by me.”

The blob shifted its mass, triggering a series of mechanical clicks. A massive bag dropped through a chute, landing with a heavy thud.

Lin Yue lifted the bag of gold coins. Her enhanced cultivator strength made the weight manageable, though she knew any normal person would have struggled to move it at all.

She hefted the heavy coin bag over her shoulder. She would need to find the smuggler—but first she needed something worth smuggling. The slums and Inn Street beckoned.

A thought nagged at her mind. How many cultivators actually crossed between realms? The demons would stick out like burning buildings in the mortal world.

And she didn’t remember too many uproars when some showed up. They usually ended up dealt with by the cultivators… after a few alleys were eaten.

So, if it wasn’t that hard to go back and forth, why not more incursions?

The answer hit as she pressed through the alley barrier. Pain lanced through every meridian, burning like acid in her veins.

Shadow cackled overhead. “Did that sting a bit?”

“Shut up.” Lin Yue rubbed her arm. The transition felt worse than before—her strengthened meridians blazed against the barrier’s resistance.

“The masters designed it that way.” Shadow circled lazily. “The more qi you cultivate, the more it burns. Except for me. All my feedback goes to you!”

“Fucking fantastic.” Lin Yue glared at the barrier shimmer. She’d definitely need that smuggler’s help, unless...

She could recruit mortals willing to risk becoming demon food. But that would take time she didn’t have.

“Outsourcing it is.” Lin Yue pushed through the slum’s narrow streets. The stench of unwashed bodies and rotting garbage assaulted her nose.

Shadow laughed overhead. “You look like such a nice mark. Such a big bag over your shoulder. Who knows what they would do if they knew what it had in it.”

The silk of her robes rustled too loudly. The coin bag clinked with each step.

“Can’t you put out some kind of fear aura or something?” Lin Yue glanced at the shadows between buildings.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“You’re always asking me to blow heads off. Is that what you want?”

“No. That would cause hysteria.”

The mercenary guild’s weathered door creaked open. Inside, nothing had changed since her last visit. Sheng Bo’s bounty still hung on the board, marked by her gold. No one would ever claim it now.

Lin Yue smirked. She carried more wealth than Tiger Gang thugs or these mercenaries had ever seen in their lives.

“I need retainers to run a front house.” Her announcement echoed through the room. Most of the mercenaries ignored her completely. The silk robes weren’t that impressive after all.

Shadow snickered above her head.

Lin Yue pulled out a handful of gold coins and scattered them across the floor. The metal clinked against the wooden boards. “Do I have your attention now?”

The mercenaries scrambled like dogs to collect every fallen coin.

* * *

The smell of roasted meat and spices wafted from the packed restaurant. Lin Yue counted at least thirty customers crammed into the tiny space, all shoveling food into their mouths.

Lin Yue approached a busy server. “I need to speak with the owner.”

The server pointed toward a back room without breaking stride.

Lin Yue pushed through the crowd to find a rotund man counting coins at a desk.

“Interested in expanding your business?” Lin Yue dropped several gold pieces onto his ledger.

The owner’s eyes widened. After a brief negotiation and more gold changing hands, Lin Yue stepped back into the street. The negotiation went as smoothly as all the others.

Now she had an excellent selection of food suppliers.

Time to check on the hideout. That meant a walk back to the slums. Even with her funds, she hadn’t had enough to purchase a building in a nicer district without converting more spirit stones.

Shadow drifted overhead as she approached her newly acquired building. The mercenaries she’d hired lounged around the entrance, weapons prominently displayed. Gold and muscle had smoothed over the property transfer in record time.

Inside, crates and barrels already lined the walls. Ten restaurants had agreed to supply food—now she just needed the drugs to make it worth cultivators’ time.

“Time to visit our old friends.” Lin Yue headed toward Tiger Gang territory.

The first den sat empty, doors hanging off broken hinges. The second hideout was completely abandoned. Even the third spot showed signs of hasty departure—overturned furniture and forgotten belongings scattered across the floor.

“Shit.” Lin Yue kicked a broken chair. “Were they completely wiped out?”

She stared at the empty Tiger Gang hideout. A strange heaviness settled in her chest—not quite grief, but something annoyingly close. The gang represented most of her memories in this world, even if those memories involved theft and violence.

“What the actual fuck is wrong with me?” Lin Yue kicked the ground. “They were scum.”

A street runner slouched against a wall down the block. Lin Yue approached him, keeping her movements casual.

“Need some supplies. Flameheart and Deadgrass.”

The runner’s eyes narrowed. “Follow me.”

Two blocks and one dark alley later, three more thugs emerged from the shadows.

“Strip.” The largest thug cracked his knuckles.

Lin Yue struck. The runner’s legs snapped with a wet crunch, femur jutting through skin. The first thug joined him on the ground a second later. Blood pooled beneath the runner’s twitching form.

“Now.” Lin Yue turned to the third man. “Take me to your supply cache.”

“D-demon!” He stumbled backward.

“Yes.” Lin Yue smiled. “So please make this easy. I’d hate to kill—”

The runner gurgled and went still, arterial blood painting the cobblestones. What, had he hit his head too? He didn’t have time to bleed out…

Mortals really were fragile, or she didn’t know her own strength. Maybe a bit of both.

“Dinner time!” Shadow spun gleefully overhead.

“—more of you.” Lin Yue bared her teeth.

The survivor scrambled, leading her to a hidden cellar beneath an abandoned shop. Crates of various drugs filled the musty space.

Lin Yue stuffed everything into bags until her arms strained under the weight. “Fuck, I need that Chudi bag… and not the tiny one.”

Well, this was more than enough and the max she could carry for now. As soon as she headed for the exit, a series of pops heralded more heads exploding in rapid succession.

“Shadow! What the hell?”

Weapons clattered to the ground as bodies slumped in the alley. It looked like a charnel house.

“I thought you’d approve!” Shadow twirled through the air. “Besides, I was hungry.”

“You’re always hungry. That excuse doesn’t count.”

Shadow swooped down, devouring the dozen fresh souls with obvious relish.

“Whatever.” Lin Yue stepped around the expanding blood puddles and trudged back to her new hideout. The sight of the massacre didn’t even phase her this time.

The mercenaries recoiled as Lin Yue stepped inside. Blood spatter painted her face and robes in crimson streaks.

“Listen up.” Lin Yue dropped her bags of drugs onto a table. “You’ll guard food deliveries and sometimes special ingredients. Buy your own drugs if you want—I pay in gold. But touch my supply?” She gestured to her throat and made a slicing gesture. “I’ll rip out your souls and feed them to my pet dragon.”

Maybe that came out a bit intense. The mercenaries pressed against the walls, eyes wide and faces pale. Good enough.

Part one and two down. Now for a cook... then that smuggler.

Lin Yue ducked into a back room and sorted through her newly acquired drugs, tucking portions into her smaller pack.

Also… she needed a cleanup. The Sable Script manual had taught her a useful meditation technique called Ink Purification. Turned out it worked just as well on blood.

Steam rose from her skin as she meditated. Dark spiritual debris evaporated into the air, leaving her clothes and skin pristine.

Fucking miracle.

She stared at the neat piles of drugs sorted across the table as she finished. Finding a cook came next.

Need someone who can make food that reheats well inside the pavilion. The cook wouldn’t have access to the demon district, which complicated things. Maybe cultivators could use qi to steam up the meals? Or she’d need special preserving dishes—but those would cost too much right now.

Spirit stones first, fancy dishes later.

Lin Yue snorted at the absurdity. She’d gone from stealing bread to planning a business empire in a week. The afternoon sun already hung low in the sky, marking half her day gone.

The mad rush to get everything done quick was making her feel dizzy.

Her feet carried her through familiar streets to a run-down shop near the district’s edge. The Greasy Spoon had served decent food that didn’t poison anyone.

An old man shuffled from behind the counter. “What you want?”

“I need a personal chef.” Lin Yue leaned against the doorframe. “The desperate kind who’d appreciate getting paid well.”

The old man’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of work?”

“Cooking at my place. Managing food prep for my people and handling shipments. Management role. I’ve got supplies sorted—just need someone to run the kitchen.”

Yue raised her hand and ticked off fingers.

“I need three meals prepared each week that can be reheated. Plus daily meals for my guards.” Lin Yue traced a pattern in the dust on the counter. “Simple stuff, but it needs to taste good even after sitting.”

The old man scratched his chin. “Five silver per week.”

“No silver.” Lin Yue shook her head.

His shoulders slumped. “Four then.”

“I’m paying in gold.” Lin Yue placed a coin on the counter. “Two per week. One for you, and one for you to spend on assistants or anything needed to keep things going smoothly.”

The old man’s jaw dropped. “Gold?”

“You’ll oversee everything. Hire help as needed.” Lin Yue pushed the coin toward him. “I’ll be gone most of the time. Need someone loyal running things, not just a wage slave.”

“That’s...” The old man stared at the gold piece.

“I know what gold means around here.” Lin Yue leaned forward. “And I remember your family eating in the back room. Things look rough now, though. What happened?”

The old man’s eyes hardened. “Taxes went up. Gangs take more.”

“Well, I’ve got a small army now. You can live in the hideout—bring your family too.” Lin Yue shrugged. “I don’t care. Just need the food to be good. You in?”

After a brief hesitation, the old cook nodded to her. Gold solved everything in the slums—it opened doors, bought imagined loyalty, and made impossible things happen overnight.

The speed of her plans bordered on insanity. Each decision could backfire spectacularly, but she needed everything ready and sorted by the time she left. No time for careful planning or backup strategies.

There was no telling when she’d get out of the sect again.

Fuck it. I’ll solve problems as they come up.

She spent the next hour hammering out details with the cook—delivery schedules, kitchen setup, staff requirements. The conversation flowed easier as it went.

“Welcome aboard.” Lin Yue shook his weathered hand before stepping into the afternoon heat.

Time to track down that smuggler. But first, she needed her samples.

Back at the hideout, Lin Yue grabbed her small backpack. The rest of the stash would just have to stay here. She wasn’t going to walk around looking like a loaded teamster.

The mercenaries lounged around the main room, weapons close at hand.

“Listen up.” Lin Yue faced the hired muscle. “Password is ‘midnight tea.’ Anyone shows up without it, send them away. If they get inside anyway, kill them.”

Simple enough instruction. And if these guards proved disloyal, the second group she’d hired in the building next door would handle cleanup.

Trust but verify—with extreme prejudice.

Lin Yue adjusted her bag and headed for the demon market district entrance.