I run a casino in the immortal realm.

A newly built printing factory in the southeast corner of Qingyunfang Market.

A cluster of blue rock wood buildings covering 150 acres has sprung up, its exterior engraved with second-order soundproof and defensive arrays.

Inside the core workshop No. 1.

The air was filled with the strong smell of ink.

Zheng Yifei stood with his hands behind his back in the center of the workshop, next to Xu Jian, whose eyes were bloodshot and whose hair was a mess, and Jin Biao, who was dressed in a tight-fitting outfit.

Directly in front of them lay a colossal steel beast, ten zhang long.

This is the first fully automatic printing machine prototype in the cultivation world.

The machine is made entirely of black iron, with no superfluous decorations on the outer shell, consisting entirely of exposed gears, drive shafts, and densely packed first-order array patterns.

A roll of cheap spirit wood paper, as tall as three people, was placed at the paper inlet. In the middle was a huge printing cylinder and ink tank, and at the other end was a cutting table.

"Director Zheng, I have not failed you."

Xu Jian's voice was hoarse, and his hands trembled with excitement. He pointed to the machine in front of him and said, "For three months, I led a team to work day and night on it, and we finally turned what was on the blueprints into reality."

Zheng Yifei stepped forward and reached out to touch the cold, black iron body of the machine.

The gears mesh tightly, and the array patterns are precisely engraved.

"Test run".

Zheng Yifei turned to Jin Biao: "Is the content for the first issue of the newspaper finalized?"

Jin Biao immediately took out a jade slip from his storage bag and handed it over: "The editorial department finalized the draft last night. Su Tong personally reviewed it. It's all inside."

Xu Jian took the jade slip and walked to the control panel on the side of the machine.

Next to the control panel was a large box made of black iron. Inside the box were more than 30,000 movable type molds engraved in reverse, each mold having a miniature magneto-optical array engraved on its bottom.

Xu Jian placed the jade slip between his eyebrows and read its contents.

Immediately afterwards, he placed one hand on the array's central control panel, unleashing his mid-Foundation Establishment level divine sense without reservation.

"Start the forum!"

Xu Jian gave a low shout.

The 30,000 character molds inside the black iron box vibrated simultaneously.

With the precise control of the Foundation Establishment stage divine sense and the coordination of the traction array, hundreds and thousands of character molds soared into the air, drawing sharp trajectories in mid-air, and accurately embedded themselves into the grooves of the printing roller.

Click click click click!

The sound of metal clashing rang out in rapid succession.

In less than ten breaths.

The roller surface is covered with a full sheet of densely packed movable type, with even spacing between characters, a flat surface, and no errors or omissions.

Zheng Yifei watched from the side, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.

This is the advantage of the cultivation world.

There were no computers, and no automated typesetting software.

However, the divine sense of a Foundation Establishment cultivator is the most advanced central processing unit. They can multitask and simultaneously control thousands of character models to complete the instantaneous physical reorganization.

This efficiency would put even the earliest industrial printing presses on Earth to shame.

"Layout complete."

Xu Jian was covered in sweat, but his eyes were burning with fervor: "Give me spirit stones!"

Two weapon-refining apprentices immediately stepped forward and stuffed ten low-grade spirit stones into the power slot.

Xu Jian pulled down the copper lever on the control panel.

hum-

The power array inside the machine is activated instantly.

The colossal steel behemoth has awakened.

The traction array at the paper inlet glowed faintly, and the three-person-tall scroll of spirit wood began to rotate, smoothly pulling the paper into the machine.

The water-cooling array in the ink tank rotates, evenly spreading the thick black ink onto the movable type on the roller.

The paper passed through the rollers, making a dull, pressing sound.

Immediately afterwards, the paper strip covered in ink rushed into the drying area at the end. The low flame array and the high wind array worked simultaneously, and the scalding hot air swept across the paper surface in an instant, completely drying the ink.

Finally, there's the cutting table.

The sharp wind blades rise and fall at a fixed frequency.

Swish!Swish!Swish!

Newspapers, still warm and fragrant with ink, flew out of the paper dispenser and landed neatly in the collection trough.

Extremely fast.

In the blink of an eye, newspapers a foot high had piled up in the collection tank.

The only sounds left in the workshop were the turning of gears and the roar of paper-cutting machinery.

No cultivators expended their mana to copy by hand, and no expensive spells were used for replication. The information was copied in a frenzy using only the cheapest spirit wood paper, ordinary ink, and a few low-grade spirit stones.

Jin Biao was stunned.

He stared wide-eyed at the endless stream of newspapers pouring out, his mind buzzing.

He finally understood what kind of monster Zheng Yifei had created with his two million spirit stones.

Zheng Yifei stepped forward and pulled out a freshly cut newspaper from the collection trough.

The paper is slightly rough, but very sturdy.

It was a four-page, double-page newspaper.

The masthead reads three powerful characters: "Qingyun Daily".

The front page headline, in bold, large font, is extremely eye-catching:

Shocking! A series of rogue cultivators have disappeared in the Southern District, and this kind of deal is hidden behind it!

Subtitle: "Exclusive undercover investigation by the Information Department exposes the black market profit chain of Ren Dan (human pills)."

Below are several blurry images taken with a photo stone. Although they are not very clear, they perfectly capture the eerie and terrifying atmosphere.

Zheng Yifei opened the second and third editions.

It's full of all sorts of bizarre and wonderful stories from the cultivation world, discussions on low-level cultivation techniques, and analyses of market price trends.

Fourth edition, the entire page is GG.

In the most prominent position, promotional information for Su Family Magic Items Shop was printed.

Zheng Yifei rubbed his finger hard on the writing.

The ink has dried completely without any smudging, and the characters are clear and sharp.

"Shut down."

Zheng Yifei spoke.

Xu Jian pushed the copper rod up, the array's light dimmed, and the machine slowly stopped operating.

"Director Zheng, how is it?"

Xu Jian leaned closer, staring nervously at Zheng Yifei's face.

Zheng Yifei folded the newspaper and tucked it into his sleeve.

"qualified."

Zheng Yifei gave two words.

Xu Jian let out a long breath, almost collapsing to the ground, before bursting into wild laughter.

"However, this is just a prototype."

Zheng Yifei turned around, his gaze sweeping over the empty, huge workshop: "Xu Jian, I'll give you two months. I need ten of these same machines to fill this workshop."

Xu Jian's laughter stopped abruptly.

"Two months? Ten units?"

Xu Jian's eyes widened: "Director Zheng, the creation of the letterforms and the debugging of the high-level array plate will take time, and I only have a few people under my command..."

"If we don't have enough manpower, we'll recruit from the outer sect. If we don't have enough spirit stones, we'll ask Jin Biao for approval."

Zheng Yifei interrupted him, his tone leaving no room for argument: "I only care about results. All ten machines must be running within two months."

Zheng Yifei walked to the control panel and tapped the desktop with his finger.

"Do you know how many newspapers this machine can print if it runs non-stop for twelve hours a day?"

Xu Jian paused for a moment, then quickly calculated in his mind: "A single machine can print 40,000 copies per hour, nearly 500,000 copies per day."

"Ten units, that's five million copies."

Zheng Yifei looked at him: "This is only the first phase of production capacity."

Jin Biao swallowed hard. "Director, five million copies... will they sell?"

"The Qingyun Sect's territory comprises seventeen large market clusters, with over a billion independent cultivators."

Zheng Yifei's voice was calm, yet carried a powerful penetrating force: "Five million copies, thrown in there and they wouldn't even make a ripple."

Zheng Yifei walked to the workshop door, turned around and looked at the two of them.

"One year from now, I want to see two hundred machines. Daily circulation exceeding one hundred million copies!"

One hundred million copies!

When this number hit them, Jin Biao and Xu Jian both felt a chill run down their spines.

"Do you think we only print newspapers?"

Zheng Yifei's eyes were deep: "When a hundred million newspapers are delivered to the hands of independent cultivators every day on time, what we print is the rule."

"Whatever prices we list, that's what the market prices will be. If we say a shop sells fake medicine, that shop will be smashed to pieces by angry rogue cultivators tomorrow. If we say someone is an evil cultivator, that person will be scorned by the entire jurisdiction."

Zheng Yifei pointed at the steel behemoth.

"This machine is sharper than the flying sword of a Golden Core stage ancestor. It controls the eyes and ears of over a billion people; that's called information hegemony. Do you understand?"

The workshop was deathly silent.

Jin Biao and Xu Jian were breathing heavily. They were both traditional cultivators and had never encountered such terrifying power that transcended cultivation levels.

"Ten units in two months."

Xu Jian bit his lip until it bled, a crazed fire igniting in his eyes once more. "I swear on my life! If I fail, I'll twist my head off and shove it into the drum!"

"Jin Biao, the typesetting and transportation departments are ready to take over."

Zheng Yifei ordered, "Tomorrow morning at 5:00 AM, the first issue of the Qingyun Daily, 500,000 copies, must be delivered to all seven major districts on time via a superior flying boat."

"yes!"

Jin Biao loudly accepted the order.