I run a casino in the immortal realm.

Xuantian Sect, Qingfeng Cliff.

Inside the Sword Washing Pool on the back mountain, dense spiritual energy surged violently. The pool water churned incessantly, and a thick column of water shot skyward.

Hu Xiaotian burst out of the water and landed steadily on the bluestone steps.

His body was enveloped in a dazzling dark golden spiritual energy, and his powerful aura spread outwards, causing the rocks on the cliff to tumble down.

He raised his hands, feeling the round and translucent golden elixir within his body, and a ferocious smile appeared on his lips.

Having lingered at the half-step Golden Core stage for many years, today I have finally broken through the threshold and achieved the true Golden Core path.

Hu Xiaotian donned a purple-gold robe and strode towards the sect leader's dojo at the top of the cliff.

Inside the main hall, the air was filled with the fragrance of sandalwood.

Grand Elder Qin Cang remained seated cross-legged on the white jade futon in the main seat, his eyes slightly closed.

"Disciple Hu Xiaotian greets Master."

Hu Xiaotian knelt on one knee and said in a loud voice, "Thanks to Master's permission to seclude myself in the Sword Cleansing Pool, I have successfully condensed my Golden Core."

Qin Cang slowly opened his eyes, his gaze lingered on Hu Xiaotian for a moment, and he nodded slightly.

"Your foundation is solid enough, get up."

Qin Cang's tone was calm, revealing little emotion: "The people from the Qingyun Sect have been in Xuantian City for ten days. Have your spies found anything?"

Hu Xiaotian stood up, his face instantly turning gloomy: "Reporting to Master, we have been keeping a close watch on him in shifts for twelve hours. Xu Zhengkun is extremely cautious. After checking into the inn, he has stayed indoors and hasn't come out. The other male disciples haven't shown any unusual behavior either."

As for Xu Muyao, Su Wanqing, and a female cultivator named Zhao Ling, they spent the last ten days wandering around the city's clothing store and cosmetics shop.

"Didn't any strangers approach them?"

Qin Cang asked.

"Absolutely not."

Hu Xiaotian answered decisively: "The spies investigated every shopkeeper and employee they had contacted, and they were all locals from Xuantian City."

We focused our investigation on all rogue cultivators with ordinary appearances or those wearing concealing magical artifacts, and found no one who seemed suspicious of Zheng Yifei.

Qin Cang stretched out his finger and gently tapped the armrest of the chair. Only the dull tapping sound remained in the hall.

"What a pity."

Qin Cang stopped what he was doing and sighed.

Hu Xiaotian clenched his fist, his eyes flashing with murderous intent: "Master, rest assured! As long as Zheng Yifei is still alive, he will eventually show his true colors."

Once this disciple has stabilized his cultivation level, he will personally go to the Qingyun Sect and dig three feet into the ground to tear him to pieces, thus comforting the spirits of the 300,000 members of the Hu family in heaven!

"madness."

Qin Cang coldly uttered two words.

Hu Xiaotian froze, looking up in astonishment.

Qin Cang stood up, slowly walked down the steps, and came to Hu Xiaotian.

Although the pressure from the late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator wasn't deliberately released, the aura of a superior still made Hu Xiaotian's breath catch in his throat.

"Do you think that my order to issue a province-wide warrant for Zheng Yifei's arrest, and even to send Zeng Feng to investigate him personally, was to avenge your Hu family?"

Qin Cang looked at his disciple who had just formed his core, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes.

Hu Xiaotian swallowed hard, not daring to reply.

"In the cultivation world, strength is paramount and profit is the ultimate goal. The destruction of your Hu family was simply due to inferior skills."

Qin Cang paced back and forth in the main hall, his hands behind his back: "What I really care about is what's going on in that kid Zheng Yifei's head."

"Ten days, 1.8 billion low-grade spirit stones."

Qin Cang stated the figure with undisguised greed in his tone: "The Xuantian Sect has hundreds of affiliated sects under its jurisdiction, and their annual tributes combined are only a few billion."

He's just a mere Qi Refining stage ant; he can easily pull off a lottery and rake in an entire spirit stone mine.

Qin Cang stopped and turned to stare at Hu Xiaotian: "What's the use of killing such a money-making genius? Can a pile of rotten flesh be exchanged for spirit stones?"

What I want is a prisoner! If I capture him and lock him in the secret underground chamber of Qingfeng Cliff, I can have him devise schemes to amass wealth for me. Within a hundred years, I'll have enough resources to break through to the Nascent Soul stage!

Hu Xiaotian stood there, stunned.

He always thought that his master was backing him up, but he never expected that in his master's eyes, the blood debt of 300,000 people in the Hu family was nothing compared to Zheng Yifei's terrifying ability to amass wealth.

Humiliation and anger surged within him, but Hu Xiaotian gritted his teeth and forcibly suppressed these emotions.

He knew very well that without Qin Cang's protection, he, a newly promoted Golden Core cultivator, would not be able to gain a foothold in the Xuan Tian Sect.

"Master's wisdom and foresight are profound; your disciple has learned much from your teachings."

Hu Xiaotian lowered his head, his voice hoarse.

Qin Cang walked back to the main seat and sat down: "Since we can't catch Zheng Yifei, let's deal with the immediate matters first. The recruitment ceremony is in three days. Have you looked at the list that Qingyun Sect submitted this time?"

Hu Xiaotian immediately put aside his distractions and got to the point: "Xu Zhengkun is leading the team, which consists of twenty people."

"Master, Xu Tianyang annihilated my Hu family. This is an irreconcilable hatred. In my opinion, during this recruitment, not a single disciple of the Qingyun Sect should be spared! We must completely cut off their access to the upper sects and lock the Xu family in that remote and impoverished place!"

"A brain is a good thing, it's a pity you didn't develop one when you formed your core."

Qin Cang reprimanded him without any mercy.

Hu Xiaotian's face flushed red, but he dared not refute.

Qin Cang took out a jade slip from his sleeve and threw it on the table: "Xuantian Sect is not ruled by me alone. Although the sect leader has been in seclusion for many years and does not manage sect affairs much, his faction keeps an eye on the elders' mistakes every day."

Xu Tianyang paid his 1.5 billion tribute on time, and there was nothing wrong with it on the surface.

"If you block all the spots for the Qingyun Sect, it will be too blatant of you to act greedily. The Sect Master will definitely use this as an excuse to accuse me of abusing my power for personal revenge and disrupting the promotion rules of affiliated sects. In that case, I will be the one in trouble."

Hu Xiaotian frowned: "So, are we just going to stand by and watch the Xu family enter the Xuan Tian Sect and seize our resources?"

Giving them a spot doesn't mean giving them hope.

Qin Cang's lips curled into a cold smile: "Who gets the spots, and how they're awarded, there's a lot to it."

Qin Cang opened the jade slip, and twenty names, shimmering with spiritual light, appeared in mid-air.

He stretched out his finger and drew it repeatedly in mid-air. The names of those male cultivators with outstanding talent and cultivation levels reaching the early Foundation Establishment stage were ruthlessly erased by him one by one.

Finally, only three names remained in mid-air.

Su Wanqing. Xu Muyao. Zhao Ling.

"Keep these three."

Qin Cang clapped his hands.

Hu Xiaotian looked at the three names, his face full of doubt: "Master, all three of them are female cultivators, and Xu Muyao is Xu Tianyang's only daughter. Bringing her in would be like raising a tiger to cause trouble!"

"Do you even know what political balance is?"

Qin Cang leaned back in his chair, looking completely at ease: "The lineage of cultivation families has always been passed down to men, not women. No matter how talented a woman is, she will eventually marry and become an appendage of another family. Xu Muyao is just a woman; she can't cause any trouble."

"Bringing her in will, firstly, shut up the sect leader's faction and demonstrate the magnanimity of our elders, showing that we don't hold grudges."

Secondly, it can make Xu Tianyang feel grateful and lower his guard.

third……"

A ruthless glint flashed in Qin Cang's eyes: "She's in the Xuan Tian Sect, right under my nose. Whether she lives or dies, is crippled or disabled, isn't that all up to me?"

Hu Xiaotian's eyes lit up, and he immediately understood the malice behind it.

Holding Xu Tianyang's daughter hostage is more valuable than killing her outright.

"What about Su Wanqing?"

Hu Xiaotian pointed to the second name: "As far as I know, this woman is Zheng Yifei's nominal fiancée. If Zheng Yifei faked his death, he would definitely contact her secretly."

"That's why I kept her here."

Qin Cang sneered: "Zheng Yifei is cunning, but he is still a hot-blooded young man. Leaving his fiancée in Xuantian City is like putting a noose around his neck."

"As long as Su Wanqing is in our hands, Zheng Yifei will eventually be unable to hold back and show up. At that time, we can follow the clues and arrest him directly."

Qin Cang picked up the spiritual tea on the table and took a sip.

Hu Xiaotian was completely convinced. His master's cunning strategy was masterful.

"As for Zhao Ling."

Hu Xiaotian looked at the last name, somewhat puzzled: "This woman comes from an ordinary background, has no connections, and her cultivation is only at the ninth level of Qi Refining, not even meeting the minimum requirements for recruitment. Why keep her?"

Qin Cang put down his teacup, his expression turning serious: "Whether this woman stays or goes is not up to me; it was Old Man Mu from the Spirit Pill Pavilion who personally gave the order."

"The Spirit Pill Pavilion?"

Hu Xiaotian was startled.

The Pill Pavilion holds a superior position within the Xuan Tian Sect, and its Pavilion Master, Mu Chen, is a top-tier alchemist in the mid-Nascent Soul stage, commanding respect even from the Sect Master.

"This girl is an oddball."

Qin Cang explained, "With dual top-grade spiritual roots, she has an extremely terrifying affinity for the essence of plants. Three months ago, she used the most ordinary second-tier Qi Gathering Grass at the Qingyun Sect to forcibly refine a batch of top-grade Qi Gathering Pills with three pill patterns."

Hu Xiaotian gasped.

The talent to refine top-grade pills from ordinary herbs is simply that of a born alchemy master.

"Upon receiving the news, Old Ghost Mu immediately declared that this girl must join the Pill Pavilion."

Qin Cang tapped the table: "I cannot offend Old Ghost Mu just to suppress the Qingyun Sect."

Moreover, Zhao Ling comes from a humble background and has no family ties. Once she enters the Xuan Tian Sect, I can easily win her over to Qingfeng Cliff's camp by bestowing upon her a few high-level alchemy manuals and a little favor.

"Now we'll have a source for our top-grade elixirs."

After listening to Qin Cang's analysis, Hu Xiaotian was completely convinced.

Three spots available.

One was a hostage used to restrain Xu Tianyang.

One was bait used to lure Zheng Yifei.

Another one is an alchemy prodigy whom we are trying to win over.

Recruiting these three people into the Xuantian Sect will not strengthen the Xu family's foundation; on the contrary, they will all be under Qin Cang's calculations and control.