I run a casino in the immortal realm.

After Zheng Dashan recovered, the burden on his family was greatly reduced.

With her father managing the three mu of spiritual rice fields, her mother, Lin Wan, no longer had to work in the fields every day until she was so tired she couldn't straighten her back. Her younger siblings could also be picked up and dropped off by their father when they went to school.

Zheng Yifei was now completely free to use his hands.

His life became a straight line.

I get up at 5 a.m. every day, practice a set of Taizu Changquan (a style of Chinese martial arts) in the yard to loosen up my muscles and bones, and then go out after breakfast.

He would circle around the south side of the shantytown into the market, slip into a rented room in the east alley, lock the door, activate the spirit-gathering array, grab a spirit stone, and cultivate for a whole day.

After finishing work at Shenshi (3-5 PM), I changed back into my old clothes and returned to the shantytown via the same route, arriving home just in time for dinner.

He went to the gambling den once every seven days.

He changed masks in rotation and went from gambling den to gambling den. He would stop as soon as he won a little over a hundred spirit stones each time, never lingering for a moment longer.

He set three ironclad rules for himself.

First, a single visit to a gambling den is limited to no more than half an hour.

Second, the same mask appeared twice in different gambling dens.

Third, keep your monthly income below 400 spirit stones; just enough is fine. Earning too much is dangerous.

The days slipped by quietly like that.

One month.

two months.

Three months.

During this time, he disposed of all three old masks he had used before, burying them under the roots of an old locust tree in the corner of the courtyard of the rented house, and successively obtained three new magic artifact-grade masks from Wanbaolou.

Including the round-faced boy and the long-faced merchant he bought earlier, he always kept five masks on hand to rotate.

The five masks correspond to five different outfits, hairstyles, walking postures, and speaking tones.

The gambling king of Earth can act, but the gambling king of the cultivation world must be even better at it.

In the past three months, the dealers at Zhao's Gambling House, Wang's Gambling House, and Liu's Gambling House have changed several times. Regular customers have come and gone in waves. No one noticed that there was an invisible thread connecting the three gambling houses, and every seven days, thirty or forty spirit stones would be taken from each of them.

It was late at night.

Inside the rented room, the four array eyes of the spirit-gathering array plate emitted a soft white light, and the spiritual mist permeated the room, so thick that it was visible to the naked eye.

Zheng Yifei sat cross-legged in front of the array plate, the last two spirit stones in his palm had already cracked into powder, and were falling through his fingers.

Deep within his dantian, his qi sea had reached its limit.

The barrier to the third level of Qi Refining is right in front of him. He has been trying to break through it for three days, and each time he is just one breath away from success.

The barrier formed by five spiritual roots is five times thicker than that of a single spiritual root. This is not a metaphor; it is five times thicker in a physical sense.

Zheng Yifei took out the last Breakthrough Pill from his pocket.

He had been saving this pill for a month, specifically for this crucial moment.

swallow.

The medicine entered the abdomen, bypassing the meridians, and rushed straight to the dantian. A warm force precisely struck the barrier, causing it to tremble violently.

Zheng Yifei seized the opportunity and exerted force through all five meridians simultaneously.

Golden Pulse!

Wood pulse!

Water pulse!

Fire Pulse!

Earth Pulse!

"Buzz—"

The muffled sound of the barrier shattering came from deep within his dantian, even more intense than when he broke through to the second level of Qi Refining last time. The spiritual mist in the entire room was pulled by an invisible suction force and rushed wildly into his body.

The Qi Sea swelled up dramatically, expanding from the thickness of a thumb to the size of an egg.

The spiritual energy within his body more than tripled. Every meridian was swollen and hot from the abundant spiritual energy. The five elements of spiritual energy gathered, rotated, and merged in his dantian, forming a miniature spiritual energy vortex.

Qi Refining Level 3.

Zheng Yifei opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.

The turbid air condensed in the air and did not dissipate until it was completely dissipated after two full breaths. This is an outward manifestation of spiritual energy that occurs when spiritual energy is abundant to a certain degree.

He stood up and clenched his fist.

It's not even in the same league as the second level of Qi Refining.

The spiritual power at the second level of Qi Refining is as thick as a hemp rope, while at the third level it becomes as thick as a finger.

When throwing a punch, spiritual energy is poured into the fist, combined with the power-generating techniques of Taizu Long Fist, and a single punch can smash a hole the size of a bowl into a mud wall.

He is now confident that he can directly confront an ordinary cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

Ordinary monk.

The keyword is "ordinary".

Those cultivators who only know how to brute force with spiritual energy, whose punches are haphazard and whose footwork is like walking on cotton. In this world of cultivation, cultivators at the Qi Refining stage make up at least 90%.

Zheng Yifei didn't bask in the joy of his breakthrough for long, because a real problem immediately confronted him.

Three months ago, he was at the first level of Qi Refining, and now he is at the third level of Qi Refining.

A poor spiritual farmer in a shantytown, with the useless talent of five spiritual roots, without any pills or resources, broke through two minor realms in three months.

This is not reasonable.

That's completely unreasonable.

Anyone with even a slight understanding of cultivation principles would find this strange.

The neighbors in the shantytown might not be able to tell, but Haozi could. Although that weasel-faced guy didn't cultivate much, he had spent a lot of time in gambling dens and could distinguish the fluctuations of auras from various cultivation levels. This was a basic skill for pimps—knowing who was easy to mess with and who wasn't.

More importantly, the Zhao family did not allow the tenants to rise up in status.

This is an unspoken rule that all the barons in the shantytown are well aware of.

The Zhao family has assigned you to farm, so you should farm diligently, pay your rent properly, be law-abiding, and not have any other ideas.

If a tenant suddenly experiences a surge in cultivation, the first thing the Zhao family thinks of is not congratulations, but where did you get these resources from?

Did they steal something from the Zhao family? Or do they have someone backing them up?

Regardless of which method is used, the result is the same: suppression.

Confiscating property is the least of your worries; throwing people into mines to do hard labor is standard practice; in serious cases, they will have their cultivation destroyed and be expelled from the market to be devoured by monsters.

One must conceal one's cultivation level.

The next morning, he left home earlier than usual.

The father has taken over the task of sending his younger siblings to school.

He took a shortcut from the south into the market, went into a rented room in the east alley to change his clothes, put on the mask of the round-faced boy, and hurried to Wanbaolou.

"Senior sister, I have a question for you."

Zheng Yifei walked to the counter and lowered his voice. The young woman selling the goods looked up and saw a young man she didn't recognize, but as a businessman, she treated everyone as a customer.

"Go ahead, buddy."

"Is there any way to hide one's cultivation level? For example, I am at the third level of Qi Refining, but I want others to think I am at the first level of Qi Refining."

The young woman's gaze lingered on his face for a moment, but she didn't ask any further questions.

It's perfectly normal for lower-level cultivators to want to conceal their cultivation level. They're afraid of being targeted, robbed, or attracting unwanted attention—there are countless reasons.

"There are two ways."

The young woman held up two fingers.

"The first method is to cultivate the Breath Concealment Technique. This is an auxiliary technique that allows you to actively conceal your aura fluctuations, preventing others from detecting your true cultivation level with their spiritual sense. It's very useful."

Where can I buy it?

"There is none in Heishan Market."

The young woman shook her head: "The Concealing Breath Technique is generally only available in the markets of Foundation Establishment families, such as the Su family market in Qingyun City to the south, or the Chen family market in Tiefeng City to the north. The nearest one takes three days to get there. As for the price, it's at least two hundred spirit stones."

The market town of the Foundation Building Family.

Zheng Yifei kept this information in mind.

"What about the second one?"

"Concealing Breath Talisman"

The young woman pulled out a gray talisman from under the counter: "A low-grade first-tier talisman. When attached to the body, it can conceal fluctuations in your aura, making others think your cultivation level is two to three minor realms lower than it actually is. One spirit stone per talisman, lasting for three days."

"Three days?"

"Yes, the talisman will become ineffective after three days when its spiritual power is exhausted, and it will need to be replaced with a new one."

Zheng Yifei quickly did the math in his head: one sheet lasts for three days, so he needs ten sheets a month, which costs ten spirit stones. That's one hundred and twenty spirit stones a year.

It's not expensive, but it will still be a continuous expense in the long run.

In the long run, we still need to develop a manual on breath control.

But that's for later; let's deal with the immediate crisis first.

"Give me ten."

The young woman deftly took out ten gray talismans from the hidden compartment and stacked them on the counter.

"Ten spirit stones."

Zheng Yifei paid the money and put the ten concealment talismans into his inner bag.

"Senior sister, where exactly is the Su Family Market in Qingyun City that you mentioned? Can independent cultivators go in to buy things?"

"Yes, you can enter. Su Family Market is open to the public, but there is an entrance fee of two spirit stones. The items inside are also much more expensive than in our Black Mountain Market, but they are of higher quality and more complete."

The young woman casually spread out a simple map on the counter and pointed to a mark in the south: "From Black Mountain Market, it's three days' journey south along the official road. But young man, the road is not safe; there are bandits lurking around. Those below the mid-stage of Qi Refining should travel in groups."

Zheng Yifei nodded and memorized the route on the map.

"Thank you, senior sister."

After leaving Wanbaolou, he turned into a back alley, took out a concealing talisman from his inner pocket, and stuck it on the inside of his left chest.

The moment the talisman entered the body, a cool sensation spread from the chest, along the meridians, throughout the entire body.

He looked down and felt it.

The fluctuations in his aura were suppressed. The abundant spiritual power of the third level of Qi Refining was wrapped in an invisible membrane. From the outside, it was at most at the level of the first level of Qi Refining.