Chapter 11 - Tempting Fate for Profit
The trio lounged under the shade of an oak tree, snacking on bunches of freshly picked carrots.
"So, about this crazy realm scheme of yours," Ye Meng said between bites. "Do we really gotta pose as 'Divine Truth Keepers' or whatever?"
Xin Yang shrugged. "Adds flavor. Besides, you'll get to boss people around for once. Bet you'd love that, you big bully."
Ye Meng threw a carrot at Xin Yang, who dodged with a snicker.
"I'm with Ye Meng on this one," Bai Lihua piped up. "Do we really need all that extravagant role play?"
"Extravagant? It's just for show. Quit your whining, you two. Like the great Bai Lihua doesn't love putting on an act." Xin Yang waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.
Bai Lihua flushed. "That's different! I was trying to gather information, not put on some ridiculous farce!"
"Calm down, I'm just teasing." Xin Yang grinned. "If you really don't want to play act, we can skip the titles. The important thing is getting people to challenge the realm. How we do it doesn't really matter."
"Good, 'cause I'd feel like an idiot shouting 'welcome challengers' and all that mumbo jumbo," Ye Meng muttered.
"Noted, no elaborate role play needed." Xin Yang finished his carrots and dusted off his hands. "Now, we ready to give this realm scheme a go?"
"If you are," Bai Lihua said.
"Let's do it," Ye Meng agreed.
The trio headed off to the clearing Xin Yang had chosen to construct the realm entrance. He had a good feeling about this plan, and if all went well, they'd soon be raking in the goodies without breaking a sweat.
Xin Yang placed his palm on the ground, sending his qi into the earth to reshape reality. The process took more out of him than he'd expected, but after a few minutes of pouring in spiritual energy, the space in front of them rippled and a towering, fiery yellow gate took form.
"And here we have it, our little gold mine," Xin Yang said, wiping his brow. He felt drained, but excitement kept exhaustion at bay.
"So what now?" Bai Lihua asked, gazing at the imposing gate with a mix of wonder and apprehension.
"Now we set the bait and wait for the fish to bite." Xin Yang strode up to the gate and placed his hand on its surface, imbuing it with a sliver of his awareness so that he'd sense anyone who entered. "There we go. Anyone who steps through will trigger an announcement of 'welcome challengers' in that dramatic voice I promised not to subject you guys to."
He turned to his friends with a roguish grin. "And from there, we'll see just what kind of treasures and inheritances they're eager or foolish enough to offer up for a chance at the 'Divine Dharma Realm.'"
"You're terrible," Bai Lihua said, though she looked reluctantly impressed.
"Yet you stick around," Xin Yang shot back. "Now let's get out of here before someone shows up early. We'll keep an eye on the entrance and the action from a safe distance."
The trio departed, leaving the mysterious fiery gate behind. All that was left was to wait and watch chaos unfold.
Xin Yang, Bai Lihua, and Ye Meng set up camp a safe distance from the realm gate. Xin Yang kept a sliver of his awareness connected to the gate so he'd sense when challengers arrived.
As night fell, Bai Lihua started a fire. "So how long do you think it'll take for people to start pouring in?"
Xin Yang shrugged. "Hard to say. Could be a few hours, could be a few days. Depends how long it takes for word to spread and how eagerly the big shots want to throw their weight around."
Ye Meng chuckled. "Bet the King of Hell'll be first in line. Reckon he'll bring us some nice parting gifts?"
"If he's foolish enough to challenge the realm, sure," Xin Yang said with a sharp grin. "But we're getting ahead of ourselves. For now, we eat and rest up. Gonna need our energy when the fun starts."
After a dinner of vegetable stew, the trio settled in around the fire. Xin Yang's consciousness remained lightly tethered to the realm gate, senses on alert through the night.
As dawn broke, a blip of disturbance rippled through Xin Yang's awareness. He snapped alert, eyes popping open.
"We got incoming," he announced. The scheme was about to begin.
Xin Yang, Bai Lihua, and Ye Meng swiftly packed up their camp and hid themselves away within a concealment formation to observe the gate unseen.
Before long, a group of a dozen cultivators appeared and approached the imposing yellow gate. The leader was a middle-aged man with a domineering glare—clearly a sect master or similarly powerful figure.
"So this is the legendary 'Divine Dharma Realm'?" The man swept his gaze contemptuously over the gate. "What treasures or techniques could such a place possibly hold to interest me?"
His followers hung back, shooting uneasy glances at each other. A few looked ready to speak up in warning, but a sharp glance from their leader silenced them.
With a snort, the man strode forward to place his hand on the gate—and triggered the announcement in a booming voice: "Welcome, challengers, to the Divine Dharma Realm!"
The man jolted back, eyes wide. He opened his mouth, likely to vent his anger, but in that moment the gate began to glow and hum with power. A crack appeared down the middle and light spilled out, blinding the assembled group.
When the light faded, the gate was open, and the cultivators had vanished inside. The scheme had snared its first victims.
Xin Yang's sharp grin was mirrored on Ye Meng and Bai Lihua's faces. The fun was just getting started.
More groups soon arrived at the realm gate, each meeting a similar fate. Some approached arrogantly certain of victory, others with caution—but all were inevitably drawn inside by their greed and curiosity.
Xin Yang and his friends observed from hiding, entertained by the predictability of human nature. Before long, dozens of cultivators had entered the realm.
"This is going even better than you thought," Bai Lihua said with an impressed glance at Xin Yang.
He shrugged. "Like I said, most people can't resist a mystery or chance at gain. The hard part'll be staying hidden once bigger sects and clans get involved—their methods are tougher to fool."
As if on cue, a great roar sounded in the distance. A mountain of a man was approaching, surrounded by a team of black-armored guards. His dark, glowering eyes took in the realm gate with fury.
"Damned gate," the man—clearly another significant figure—snarled. "Thinks it can draw in my people without consequence?"
He strode toward the gate, hand raising in preparation to blast it from existence. But as he drew within range, the gate's light flared, and he and his guards vanished inside as all those before had.
Xin Yang chuckled softly. "And another one bites the dust."
Ye Meng and Bai Lihua stifled laughter. Their scheme's success was turning out more amusing than even they had anticipated.
Chaos reigned inside the realm as cultivators who had entered with the intention of claiming prizes now found themselves forced to battle for survival. Xin Yang and his friends observed the mayhem with dark amusement.
"How long should we let this go on for?" Bai Lihua asked eventually. While fun to watch, the scope of the carnage made her uneasy.
Xin Yang shrugged. "Hard to say. Best not let it drag on too long, or we'll risk the realm getting seriously unstable with all the death and destruction."
"We could start taking out the bigger players," Ye Meng suggested eagerly. "Take 'em on ourselves and loot their possessions while they're distracted, yeah?"
"Now you're talking." A menacing edge crept into Xin Yang's voice. "Time to up the stakes. This little realm of ours is craving potent blood."
Bai Lihua shot him a sharp look. "Don't get too carried away here."
He gave her a mocking smile. "No worries. I'll keep it in check."
Xin Yang rose, eyes igniting with fight-lust, Ye Meng bounding up with equally predatory focus at his side. Bai Lihua followed with resignation—she'd known getting mixed up in their schemes would lead to being pulled along into the thick of danger and morally grey territory. Still, that was a concern for another time. Into the chaos they went.
Xin Yang and Ye Meng dove into the fray with vicious glee, Bai Lihua assisting and doing her best to minimize actual deaths. Major sect masters and arrogant rogues alike fell before the trio's onslaught, treasures and techniques snatched away in the process.
By the time Xin Yang called an end to their rampage, they had gained riches and secrets beyond their wildest dreams. The realm was nearing a point of collapse from the amount of damage done, various space-time distortions beginning to appear.
"Time to wrap this up," Xin Yang stated, a hint of reluctance in his voice.
Bai Lihua shot him a look of exasperation. "You think?"
With a few adjustments, Xin Yang sealed off the realm. Space twisted violently—then settled, the realm gate vanishing as if it had never been.
Anyone who had entered was spat back out at the point of entry, left with only the clothes on their backs as the scheme had dictated. Xin Yang and the others observed the dizzy, traumatized cultivators with dark amusement.
"All's well that ends well," Ye Meng said with satisfaction, patting the wealth of treasures they had claimed.
"For now," Bai Lihua replied pointedly. Gains like these were bound to bring trouble someday. But for today, they would enjoy the spoils of their dangerous game.
Xin Yang had formulated a cunning scheme to gain wealth and secrets without dirtying his hands—much. Using his ability to manipulate space-time, he created a realm with 100 nigh-impossible trials blocking the path to unimaginable treasures. The realm then broadcast an announcement guaranteed to draw greedy cultivators like moths to a flame.
Once inside, the trials and fights between challengers would ideally thin the numbers down while filling the realm with power and possessions to be claimed. Xin Yang and his friends could then swoop in, pick off the remaining major players, and snatch the choicest prizes for themselves before wiping the realm from existence to cover their tracks.
Morally grey and dangerous, perhaps, but such was the Cultivation world they lived in. If one didn't strive to gain advantages at the expense of others, one risked being left with nothing. So Xin Yang and the others told themselves, though Bai Lihua at least felt twinges of conscience at points.
Still, when all was said and done and cultivators ejected from the realm with empty hands and petty lives intact, she had benefited from its treasures as much as the others. Scruples could come after spoils were secured, or so she rationalized. They had taken another step up in the cutthroat world of Cultivation, and that was what mattered.