I run a casino in the immortal realm.

Chen Shan's flying sword pierced directly through the heart of another cultivator.

The last remaining cultivator was terrified when he saw his four companions being swiftly dispatched in the blink of an eye.

He no longer cared about tolls; he bit his tongue hard, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and desperately activated his escape technique to flee for his life.

"Want to leave now? Too late."

Zheng Yifei snorted coldly, made a hand seal, and locked his divine sense firmly on the other party.

Lin Bao sneered, and the superior-grade flying sword in his hand transformed into a dazzling streak of light, striking first despite being behind. With a soft "pfft," the flying sword pierced through the back of the cultivator, leaving a trail of blood.

The corpse of the calamity cultivator fell from mid-air like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the dense forest below.

The battle lasted only a dozen or so breaths from start to finish.

Chen Shan and Lin Bao landed skillfully and began looting the corpse.

A moment later, the two flew back looking dejected.

"Director, these bastards are way too poor!"

Lin Bao disdainfully tossed a dusty storage bag in front of Zheng Yifei: "Five people sharing this shabby storage bag. Inside, there are only a little over seven hundred low-grade spirit stones and a few mid-grade magic artifacts with worn-out array patterns. Not even a single second-tier talisman!"

Zheng Yifei scanned the storage bag with his divine sense and was speechless.

He shook his head and sighed, "Rogue cultivators are truly poor. Without the protection of a sect or the resources of a family, they risk their lives to commit murder and robbery for a few hundred spirit stones. This is the tragedy of the bottom rungs of the cultivation world."

He casually flicked a fireball, incinerating the corpses below and destroying all evidence. "Let's go back to Xuantian Market."

The airship took off again, transforming into a streak of light and disappearing into the night.

Back at the courtyard house in Liushu Hutong, Zheng Yifei let everyone rest for two days.

After the trip to Gaojiafang City, Zheng Yifei gained a clear understanding of the team's combat capabilities.

The three of them, along with the two Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivators and him, who was abnormally powerful in the early Foundation Establishment stage, were all equipped with high-grade magic weapons and third-tier top-grade talismans from the Treasure Pavilion.

This luxurious configuration is virtually unbeatable in both outlying markets and remote wilderness areas.

The highest level a cultivator can achieve is the Great Perfection of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Because once a cultivator breaks through to the Golden Core stage, they can be considered a powerful figure in the entire Southern Wilderness.

Golden Core cultivators are either revered as elders by major sects, or they establish their own sects. At the very least, they can support a large cultivation family like the Su family and enjoy the offerings of thousands of independent cultivators.

Who would resort to such a despicable act of robbery for tens or hundreds of thousands of low-grade spirit stones?

Not only is the cost-effectiveness too low, but if the matter is exposed, it will also lead to being hunted down by the Xuantian Sect's Enforcement Hall, making it a losing proposition.

As long as they don't actively provoke those core areas where Golden Core cultivators are stationed, Zheng Yifei and his group can do whatever they want.

"After the rest period, we will continue to collect spirit stones in other markets as planned."

Zheng Yifei set the tone in the secret room.

For the next two years, Zheng Yifei, along with Lin Bao and Chen Shan, became "ghosts" of various gambling dens in the Southern Wilderness.

They avoided Qingyun Market and visited all the dozens of sect markets under the jurisdiction of Xuantian Sect.

In every major market town, from Falling Star Town to Blazing Fire Town, Giant Wood Town to Heavenly Sound Town, their dashing figures as they won money left a lasting impression.

They were extremely cautious, and every time they moved to a different market, they would change into a completely new disguise.

Sometimes he's an arrogant swordsman traveling with friends, sometimes a shrewd businessman dealing in spiritual herbs, and sometimes he simply pretends to be a mine owner who's lost everything.

Once you've won five million low-grade spirit stones, don't be greedy; retreat immediately.

During this time, they did encounter some local bullies who were jealous of them, or robbers who tried to steal from them.

Without exception, they were all blasted into dust by Lin Bao and Chen Shan using their unreasonable top-grade talismans and superior-grade flying swords.

Over time, a mysterious legend of a "dragon crossing the river" even spread in the underground black market of the Southern Wilderness, but no one could figure out their true background.

In the past two years, Zheng Yifei has converted a large number of low-grade spirit stones into mid-grade spirit stones through the black market.

Tie Feng, like a diligent ant, used these spirit stones to frantically buy up goods in the shops of various markets.

Millennium Jade Marrow Ganoderma, Purple Monkey Flower, Heavenly Spirit Fruit... all sorts of rare third-tier spiritual herbs were continuously sent to the Xuan Tian Sect's Pill Pavilion and handed over to Zhao Ling.

Cultivating immortality knows no time; two years pass in the blink of an eye.

Willow Tree Alley, underground secret room.

The spirit-gathering array was operating beyond its capacity, emitting a low hum.

The spiritual energy inside the secret room was so concentrated that it condensed into water droplets.

Zheng Yifei sat cross-legged in the center of the formation, his eyes closed and his brows furrowed.

A five-colored spiritual light appeared on the surface of his body, and the Azure Cloud Technique within his body was operating at a terrifying speed.

"Break it!"

Zheng Yifei suddenly opened his eyes and let out a low growl.

Within his dantian, the five-colored spiritual energy lake, which had been nearly saturated, expanded dramatically under the impact of the immense medicinal power and spiritual energy! The amount of liquid spiritual energy instantly doubled, and the purity of the spiritual energy also underwent a qualitative leap.

A powerful pressure belonging to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment spread uncontrollably in all directions, causing the stone walls of the secret chamber to rustle.

Zheng Yifei exhaled a long breath, his eyes gleaming.

Mid-stage Foundation Establishment, done!

He felt the surging Five Elements spiritual power within his body, like a river bursting its banks, and a smile appeared on his lips.

While breaking through to the Five Elemental Roots is certainly difficult, once that hurdle is overcome, the resulting increase in strength is extremely terrifying.

Even without using top-grade talismans, his current spiritual energy reserves and the interplay of the five elements are enough to overpower a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Just then, the communication jade slip in his arms lit up.

Zheng Yifei channeled a stream of spiritual energy, and Zhao Ling's clear voice, brimming with barely concealed excitement, rang out: "Brother Yifei! I've broken through! I've just entered the mid-Foundation Establishment stage!"

"Great! That's wonderful!"

Zheng Yifei exclaimed sincerely.

In two years, they both progressed from the early stage of Foundation Building to the middle stage.

If this speed were to get out, it would definitely cause an earthquake throughout the entire Southern Wilderness.

It should be noted that even for ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators with good aptitude, it takes at least ten years to progress from the initial to the middle stage.

This is under the condition that resources are relatively abundant and no bottlenecks have been encountered.

Only direct disciples of Qin Cang, the Grand Elder of the Xuantian Sect, or direct descendants of the sect leader of an affiliated sect like Xu Zhengkun, with the support of massive resources and the personal protection of their elders, could possibly compress this timeframe to two to three years.

Back then, in order to help Xu Zhengkun break through to the Golden Core stage around the age of thirty, the Xu family mobilized almost the entire clan's resources and emptied most of the Qingyun Sect's foundation.

Xu Zhengkun's younger brother, Xu Zhenghai, was also an inner disciple, but he did not enjoy such treatment at all. He was even driven to desperation and almost went mad in his cultivation for a top-grade Breakthrough Pill.

How did Zheng Yifei and Zhao Ling manage to do it so quickly?

It's all thanks to Zheng Yifei's unreasonable "money power"!

In the past two years, Zheng Yifei has spent no less than a million spirit stones on Zhao Ling every month! A million low-grade spirit stones, when converted into third-tier spirit herbs, is a concept that is as numerous as mountains.

Even if an ordinary cultivator saved up for a lifetime, they might never have seen so much money, let alone use it as firewood to practice their skills.

"Brother Yifei, there's one more thing I need to tell you."

Zhao Ling's voice revealed an undisguised pride: "My alchemy skills are so advanced that even my master says I'm a monster."

"Oh? Tell me about it."

Zheng Yifei leaned back in his chair and asked with great interest.

"With your unreserved supply of materials, I can now refine 100% of third-tier pills, whether it's the Qi Condensation Pill or the True Qi Pill! Moreover, even the worst quality pills are of superior quality, and the yield of top-quality pills has stabilized at 30%!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Yifei gasped.

A 100% success rate in pill formation, and a 30% success rate in producing top-grade pills! This is simply a fantasy in the world of alchemy!

Zhao Ling continued, "A few days ago, my master came to see me refine pills. When he saw the quality of the pills I produced, he was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a long time."

The master sighed and said that when he was a third-level alchemist, his highest success rate in making pills was only 90%. He was already hailed as a once-in-a-century genius in alchemy if he could produce 10% of the top-grade pills.

He admitted his inferiority, saying that his current mastery of alchemy had actually reached the threshold of the fourth level.

"Then why not just refine fourth-tier pills directly?"

Zheng Yifei asked.

"Insufficient cultivation level."

Zhao Ling sighed, her tone tinged with regret: "Fourth-tier pills correspond to the Golden Core stage. They require the Golden Core stage's alchemical fire to temper the medicinal herbs, and also the Golden Core stage's powerful divine sense to subtly control the fire."

My current Foundation Establishment True Fire and spiritual consciousness are simply insufficient to support the refining of fourth-order pills.

My master said that if it weren't for my cultivation level being a bottleneck, I would definitely be the youngest fourth-tier alchemist in the history of the Xuan Tian Sect.