As the Five-Zhu Coin trembled, wisps of blue smoke rose from every corner of All Under Heaven, one after another, like beacon fires sending up columns of smoke.
Scenes appeared within the smoke and flame: exchanges of goods and labor, all conducted through Coin.
Trade!
With Coin as its medium, trade had moved beyond barter. Transactions became more flexible and convenient, and a system of order took shape.
That order had long existed throughout All Under Heaven, hidden in the passage of Coin from hand to hand. But no one had noticed it, much less drawn its principles together.
Now Chen Cuo drew it all forth. Joined with the desires people felt as they traded, it gave rise to Incense smoke that billowed upward.
Smoke from across All Under Heaven converged along the connection formed by the black clouds. It crossed time and space and poured into the Five-Zhu Coin in the blink of an eye.
Faces surfaced within it, overlapping one another, faintly merging with the blue-purple Ghost Face.
The Great Wilderness God of Wealth watched the smoke gather. He raised a barrier of divine power, but it did no good at all. He could only stare as the smoke passed back and forth through it.
"This is what you call a shared source between enemies."
Chen Cuo chuckled and beckoned. A thread of Azure Light fell from the Five-Zhu Coin into his Vertical Eye, and surprise crossed his face.
"So that's how it is. With this, the direction of the path is much clearer."
He tucked both hands into his sleeves as he spoke. Layer upon layer of light flashed through his eyes; he was contemplating what he had seen.
For no reason he could name, the Great Wilderness God of Wealth, high in the sky, grew uneasy.