I run a casino in the immortal realm.

"Losing money?"

Zheng Yifei picked up his teacup and took a small sip of the spiritual tea.

His tone was completely calm, even carrying a hint of condescending mockery: "You think they're really getting something for free?"

Xu Muyao's eyes widened as she pointed at the dark mass of rogue cultivators sitting cross-legged in the hall below: "Isn't this freeloading? One low-grade spirit stone can only buy a bowl of spirit rice porridge outside, but now it can be used to enjoy the spiritual energy of a third-grade high-grade spiritual vein here!"

Look at them, all with their eyes closed, as if they want to absorb all the spiritual energy around them. Who would want to take out money at the gambling table?

Su Wanqing didn't speak, but her sharp eyes were also fixed on Zheng Yifei, waiting for his explanation.

As the de facto head of the Su family's business empire, she vaguely sensed that behind this seemingly absurd rule lay an extremely terrifying scheme.

Zheng Yifei put down his teacup, walked slowly to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, looked down at the scattered cultivators below who resembled an ant colony, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

"Cousin, you overestimate the composure of these low-level cultivators and underestimate the greed of human nature."

Zheng Yifei's voice echoed in the spacious study, exuding an all-knowing magic.

"Yes, they are indeed meditating right now, desperately absorbing spiritual energy."

But cultivators are also human beings. As long as they haven't reached the fasting period, they still need to eat, drink, and relieve themselves.

There are no free fasting pills or free spiritual spring water in the mirage; when they are hungry or thirsty, they have to go to our shop to buy them.

Here, all consumption is based solely on chips.

Zheng Yifei turned around and looked at Xu Muyao: "How long can the bargaining chip they exchanged for a spirit stone last?"

Once they run out of chips, they either have to walk out on their own, or they'll have to use the spirit stones they have to keep exchanging them.

Once they switch the chips, the money is already in our pockets.

"But this is only the most basic consumption."

Zheng Yifei walked to the window again, gently tapping the crystal surface with his fingers: "What's truly fatal is the environment."

"There are no soundproofing arrays in the hall of the mirage, cousin. Close your eyes and listen."

Xu Muyao subconsciously closed her eyes. Instantly, the deafening noise from the lobby downstairs flooded her consciousness like a tidal wave.

"Open! Big! Big! Big!"

"Leopard! All wiped out! Hahahaha, I won 100,000 spirit stones!"

"Hey, just a little short! Give me another ten thousand chips, I'm determined to win it all back today!"

"My lord, you are truly remarkable. I offer you a cup of Eternal Jade Dew..."

The various frenzied roars, the crisp sound of memorial tablets slamming on the table, the clatter of chips colliding, and the sweet flattery of the maids intertwined to form an invisible net.

Zheng Yifei looked at Xu Muyao as she opened her eyes and sneered, "Did you hear that? This is how the mortal world refines the heart."

Those rogue cultivators sat in the hall, their ears constantly filled with the revelries of others who had become rich overnight.

They opened their eyes to find their companions, who had been just as impoverished as they were yesterday, now winning thousands upon thousands of spirit stones, drinking fine wines they could never even smell before, eating high-level spirit beast meat, and embracing beautiful female cultivators as they went upstairs for dual cultivation.

"Under such extreme sensory stimulation, how long do you think they could meditate with their eyes closed?"

Zheng Yifei's eyes held a chilling coldness: "One day? Three days? Or a whole month?"

The moment they have even the slightest thought, "I'll gamble with a spirit stone," their defenses completely crumble.

What's free is always the most expensive.

I used my spiritual energy to keep them here, just to slowly drain the last spirit stone from their storage bags!

The study was deathly silent.

Xu Muyao felt a chill run down her spine, and a cold sweat broke out on her back.

She looked at her cousin, who used to be withdrawn and taciturn, and felt completely unfamiliar with him.

This kind of scheming that cuts to the bone is even more terrifying than demonic cultivation!

Su Wanqing's hand holding the teacup trembled slightly, causing ripples to spread across the tea inside.

She stared intently at Zheng Yifei's profile, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

It's so similar! This kind of business logic that peels back the layers and hits the bottom of human nature, this arrogant attitude of manipulating all the cultivators in the world, is exactly the same as Zheng Yifei who brought billions of dollars to the Qingyun Sect back then.

"Junior Brother Xu's words were truly insightful and enlightening."

Su Wanqing put down her teacup, stood up, and walked step by step to Zheng Yifei, staring intently into his eyes: "However, this kind of business savvy that understands human nature reminds me of an old friend."

"Oh? What old friend?"

Zheng Yifei met Su Wanqing's gaze without flinching, his eyes clear yet indifferent.

"A genius who once worked in the outer sect of the Qingyun Sect and used just a few ideas to leverage the entire wealth of the Qingyun Sect."

Su Wanqing stared intently at Zheng Yifei's facial muscles, trying to find a flaw in his disguise or illusion: "Junior Brother Xu, you and him are really alike, so much so that it makes me doubt whether you are actually Xu Zhengyun."

Upon hearing this, Xu Muyao was also stunned, her gaze shifting back and forth between the two with suspicion.

"laugh--"

Zheng Yifei suddenly burst out laughing, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

He slightly raised his chin, his eyes revealing an undisguised contempt and arrogance.

"Senior Sister Su, the old friend you mentioned, is it that dead man named Zheng Yifei?"

With his hands behind his back, Zheng Yifei unleashed a powerful spiritual pressure, typical of someone in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, that reverberated throughout the hall, causing Su Wanqing's clothes to flutter loudly. "I've heard Brother Kun mention him before; he is indeed quite clever."

But Senior Sister Su, comparing me to a dead person, isn't that underestimating me?

Zheng Yifei took a step closer, looking down at Su Wanqing: "What kind of thing is Zheng Yifei? A piece of trash with five spiritual roots! Even if he were alive, even if he ate top-grade pills like they were food every day, he'd be lucky to even break through to the early Foundation Establishment stage!"

"And I, Xu Zhengyun!"

Zheng Yifei patted his chest, his tone extremely arrogant: "Twenty-two years old this year, mid-Foundation Establishment stage! I am the cousin of the Sect Master of Qingyun Sect, and the best bloodline of the Xu family flows in my veins!"

You're using a nobody with five spiritual roots to question me, a twenty-two-year-old Foundation Establishment stage genius?

"Senior Sister Su, if your divine sense is working properly, you can personally investigate and see if my physique and cultivation level are something that good-for-nothing could fake!"

Su Wanqing was so shocked by Zheng Yifei's merciless mockery that she took a half step back.

She gritted her teeth and secretly sent out a wisp of her divine sense to scan Zheng Yifei's body without any politeness.

There was no sense of isolation from the Thousand Illusion Mask, and no fluctuations of spiritual energy from illusion magic.

Under the probing of divine sense, the young man before him had crystal-clear bones and broad, resilient meridians. A powerful spiritual force, belonging to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, surged endlessly within his dantian. Most importantly, his bone age clearly indicated that he was twenty-two years old.

Su Wanqing's heart sank.

Yes, how could she have overlooked the most fatal point?

Zheng Yifei is widely recognized in the cultivation world as a useless person with five spiritual roots. The cultivation speed of people with five spiritual roots is as slow as a tortoise crawl, which is an ironclad law of the heavens.

Even if Zheng Yifei had a lot of spirit stones, it would be impossible for him to go from the Qi Refining stage to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage in just four years! This completely defies the common sense of the cultivation world.

The Xu Zhengyun before me, in terms of bone structure, meridians, and cultivation level, truly embodies the qualities of a genius.

No matter how smart Zheng Yifei is, he can't change his spiritual root and bone age.

"I'm sorry, Junior Brother Xu, I was being presumptuous."

Su Wanqing withdrew her divine sense, the doubt in her eyes completely vanishing, replaced by a deep sense of disappointment. She gave a bitter smile: "You're right, he only has five spiritual roots, how could he cultivate so quickly? I was overthinking it."

"It's good that Senior Sister Su understands."

Zheng Yifei snorted coldly, suppressed his aura, and sat back down at the tea table: "Mirage just opened today and we have a lot of things to do, so I won't keep you two senior sisters any longer."

Su Wanqing and Xu Muyao exchanged a glance, too ashamed to stay any longer, and turned to leave the study.

Watching the two figures leave, Zheng Yifei picked up his teacup, a barely perceptible sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

Common sense in the cultivation world is sometimes the best cover.

Who would have thought that the "Thousand Illusions Technique" could reshape bones, and that he, with his five spiritual roots, not only possessed a vast amount of resources but also a massive lake of spiritual energy that ordinary people could not reach.