He lay on his wooden bed, staring at the ceiling beams of his private room. The oil lamp beside him flickered softly, casting long shadows across the walls.
Something felt wrong.
All evening, his chest had been tight. Not pain—just pressure. Like an invisible weight resting over his heart.
He shifted on the bed.
“Too much wine,” he muttered. “That’s all.”
But the feeling didn’t go away.
If anything, it grew stronger.
He sat up and wiped sweat from his forehead. The night air was cool, yet his robes clung to his skin.
His thoughts drifted to the servant courtyard.
More specifically…
To one person.
That new servant. Li Ren.
There was nothing special about him. Thin build. Plain face. Quiet demeanor.
And yet…
Every time Steward Han looked at him, he felt uneasy.
Like standing in front of a ledger filled with unpaid accounts.
“Ridiculous,” he grumbled. “He’s just a servant.”
Still, the feeling wouldn’t leave.
Meanwhile, in the servant quarters, Li Ren sat cross-legged on his straw mat.
The breakthrough earlier had changed something inside him.
The world felt clearer. Sharper. Even the faint sounds of insects outside the courtyard walls seemed louder.
But what caught his attention most was the pressure in the air.
He closed his eyes and focused.
Almost immediately, he felt it.
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A heavy, suffocating weight coming from the direction of the steward’s residence.
It was like standing near a mountain of invisible chains.
Li Ren opened his eyes slowly.
“So that’s what a major debt feels like,” he whispered.
He didn’t need the system screen to tell him.
Steward Han’s debt was enormous.
It pressed against his senses like a storm waiting to break.
The next morning, the courtyard buzzed with activity as usual.
Servants carried water, scrubbed floors, and hauled baskets of supplies.
But something was different.
Steward Han was in a foul mood.
He barked orders more harshly than usual, striking the ground with his bamboo rod whenever someone moved too slowly.
“You call this clean?” he shouted at one servant. “Do it again!”
The servant bowed repeatedly. “Yes, Steward! Right away!”
Li Ren watched quietly from a distance.
As the steward walked past him, their eyes met.
For a brief moment, time seemed to slow.
Steward Han’s steps faltered.
A strange, oppressive feeling rose in his chest. His breathing grew shallow.
He didn’t know why.
But standing near this servant made him uncomfortable.
Very uncomfortable.
He quickly looked away and continued walking.
Li Ren noticed everything.
The Debt Pressure is working, he thought.
He didn’t even have to do anything. Just being near the steward was enough to make him uneasy.
That meant one thing.
The system was preparing the ground for collection.
Later that day, Li Ren slipped into the storage shed again.
He checked the hidden compartment.
The spirit stones were still there.
The ledger was untouched.
Good.
No one had discovered the stash.
He closed the panel and leaned against the wall.
“Time to decide,” he murmured.
He could:
-
Expose the steward to the sect elders.
-
Confront him privately.
-
Wait and grow stronger.
Option one was dangerous. The elders might question how a servant discovered the evidence.
Option three meant letting the steward continue his crimes.
So that left option two.
A private collection.
He smiled faintly.
“That’s how it was done back on Earth too,” he said. “Quiet meetings. Closed doors. Settlement offers.”
He turned toward the exit.
“But here… the stakes are a little higher.”
That evening, as the sun dipped low, Steward Han returned to his room.
He poured himself a cup of wine, but his hand trembled slightly.
Again, that pressure.
That weight.
It felt stronger than before.
He suddenly remembered something.
The hidden stash.
He stood up quickly and hurried toward the storage shed.
His heart pounded.
No one could have found it… right?
He pushed open the door and rushed to the back wall.
The panel.
Still in place.
He slid it open.
The boxes were still there.
The spirit stones untouched.
He let out a shaky breath.
“Just my imagination,” he muttered.
But as he closed the panel, a strange thought crossed his mind.
What if someone already knows?
He swallowed.
For the first time in years, Steward Han felt fear.
Not of elders.
Not of punishment.
But of something he couldn’t see.
Something that felt… inevitable.
Like a debt coming due.
Back in the courtyard, Li Ren watched the steward return from the shed.
Their eyes met again.
This time, the steward quickly looked away.
Li Ren’s lips curved into a faint smile.
He’s starting to feel it.
And once a debtor started feeling fear…
Collection was never far behind.