I run a casino in the immortal realm.

Xuantianfang Market, Liushu Hutong.

Two dark figures rapidly approached a courtyard house.

"Who is it?"

The door to the main house opened instantly without any wind, and Tie Feng's burly body stood like an iron tower blocking the entrance. His muscles were taut, and his powerful aura as a Foundation Establishment cultivator was restrained. A heavy sword gleaming with cold light was already in his hand.

"Boss, don't attack, it's us!"

The newcomer pulled off his black cloak, revealing two familiar faces. They were Chen San and Lin Bao, who had been ordered by Zheng Yifei to secretly infiltrate Xuantian Market under the cover of night.

Upon seeing that they were his own brothers, Tie Feng finally relaxed. He quickly stepped aside to let the two into the house, then swiftly closed the door and activated the second-tier concealment array inside the house to isolate divine sense.

"Why are you two here at this hour? Is there anything wrong at Yingxian Lake?"

Tie Feng poured two cups of spiritual tea and handed them over, asking in a low voice.

Chen San picked up his teacup and drank it all in one gulp. He let out a long sigh of relief and chuckled, "Don't worry, Boss Tie, the mirage is perfectly stable now. Boss... oh no, I should call you Manager Xu now."

"With the head manager and Miss Su working together, they're practically invincible; they earn so many spirit stones every day they could pile up into mountains."

Lin Bao was much more cautious. Without saying a word, he took out a storage bag with three spirit-sealing talismans affixed to it from his pocket and solemnly placed it on the table.

"Brother Tie, the boss sent us to deliver this."

Lin Bao's voice carried an undisguised excitement: "A full five million low-grade spirit stones! Brother Fei said that Mirage's net profit is extremely high right now, and starting this month, they will allocate five million low-grade spirit stones to our Willow Alley every month without fail."

"hiss--"

Even though Tie Feng was usually calm and collected, he couldn't help but gasp when he heard this number.

Five million low-grade spirit stones every month! That's equivalent to the total income of a medium-sized cultivation family for ten years!

Zheng Yifei didn't even blink before smashing it directly into the inconspicuous little courtyard.

"The boss gave instructions."

Chen San put away his smile and said seriously, "Not a single penny of this money is allowed to be kept. It must all be used to purchase high-grade spiritual herbs and top-quality spiritual medicines."

The boss said that no matter how much money you make from mirages, it's still easy money to be made.

"Our team wants to truly establish itself in the cultivation world, not through spirit stones, but through cultivation level! This money is specifically for investing resources in Zhao Ling."

Tie Feng nodded heavily, a hint of awe flashing in his eyes.

He knew Zheng Yifei's ambition all too well: to amass wealth through unbelievable business tactics, then use that wealth to secretly cultivate a top-tier alchemist, and finally use high-grade pills to forcibly elevate the entire team's strength.

This is a heaven-defying path that is enough to overturn the common sense of the cultivation world!

"I understand. You must be tired from traveling all night. Go and rest in the side room first. Tomorrow morning, I will disguise myself and go to the major pharmacies in the market to buy up goods."

Tie Feng carefully put the storage bag away from his body.

The next morning, Tie Feng and his two companions disguised themselves as middle-aged rogue cultivators and visited several of the largest spiritual medicine shops in Xuantian Market, such as Wanyaozhai and Baicaotang.

The purchasing power of five million low-grade spirit stones is terrifying, but he is well aware of the principle of not flaunting his wealth, so he broke down the purchase list into many parts to avoid attracting attention.

Besides spiritual materials, they also exchanged some low-grade spirit stones for mid-grade spirit stones to use in their daily cultivation.

As evening approached, Tie Feng entered a spirit tea shop carrying more than a dozen storage bags full of spiritual materials.

Zhao Ling was already waiting here.

"Brother Tie, how is Fei-ge doing?"

Zhao Ling took the string of storage bags, and her first question wasn't about the spiritual materials, but about Zheng Yifei's safety.

In her heart, Zheng Yifei was not only her boss, but also her benefactor.

"Brother Fei is doing very well. He told you to focus on refining pills and cultivating without worrying about anything. These spiritual materials are enough for a month."

Tie Feng said with a smile.

Zhao Ling probed her storage bag with her divine sense, looked at the mountain of high-grade spiritual herbs inside, took a deep breath, and her eyes became extremely firm: "Please tell Brother Fei that Ling'er will never let him down."

Return to your own dojo.

Zhao Ling entered the alchemy room, where a dark golden, third-grade top-quality alchemy furnace stood quietly, with raging earth core flames burning beneath it.

Zhao Ling sat cross-legged in front of the alchemy furnace, not in a hurry to refine third-order pills. Instead, she carefully took out several spiritual herbs that emitted a shimmering glow from her storage bag. These were the main ingredients for refining Foundation Establishment Pills: Jade Marrow Fungus and Heavenly Spirit Fruit.

"Brother and Brother Zhang Biao have been stuck at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining for too long. In this cultivation world, the strong prey on the weak. Without the cultivation of the Foundation Establishment stage, you can't even protect yourself. Brother Fei is in danger now, and we need stronger forces to help him."

Zhao Ling murmured to herself, her hands forming complex fire-controlling hand seals like butterflies flitting among flowers.

"boom!"

The temperature of the Earth Core Flame instantly soared, distorting the air within the entire sealed chamber. Zhao Ling methodically placed each spiritual herb into the alchemy furnace, her vast divine sense tightly enveloping every drop of the refined medicinal liquid.

For an ordinary third-tier alchemist, refining Foundation Establishment Pills is an extremely mentally taxing task with a very low success rate. But for Zhao Ling now, the fusion trajectory of these medicinal liquids is as clear to her as the lines on her palm.

Three hours later.

Suddenly, a clear, buzzing sound, like a dragon's roar, came from inside the alchemy furnace. Immediately afterward, a violent vortex of spiritual energy formed above the furnace and poured wildly into it.

"Freeze!"

Zhao Lingjiao shouted and slammed her hands down on the furnace.

With a muffled "bang," the furnace lid shot skyward. Two dazzling streams of light shot out from the furnace and were steadily caught by Zhao Ling into the jade bottle.

Opening my palm, I saw two round, plump pills, each with a translucent amber color, lying quietly at the bottom of the jade bottle.

Most incredibly, the surfaces of these two pills each had three mysterious patterns resembling natural lightning bolts—the pill patterns!

"Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill!"

Zhao Ling wiped the sweat from her forehead, a relieved smile appearing on her lips.

In the world of cultivation, Foundation Establishment Pills are already precious, and top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills with pill patterns are legendary divine objects.

Ordinary Foundation Building Pills have a 30% chance of failure and will leave behind poison.

The top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill not only guarantees a cultivator's breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment stage with 100% certainty, but also cleanses and refines the marrow during the process, polishing the cultivator's foundation to perfection without leaving a trace of poison!

With these two top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, not only will my brother and Zhang Biao be able to break through smoothly, but their future achievements will also be far beyond the Foundation Establishment stage.

After putting away the Foundation Establishment Pill, Zhao Ling did not rest. Instead, she took a pill to restore her spiritual power, and her eyes became even more focused.

Now, the real highlight begins.

Zheng Yifei and Su Wanqing are both at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. If they want to break through quickly or even form the Core Formation within five years, they must rely on a massive amount of top-grade third-tier pills to forcibly boost their cultivation.

With a wave of her hand, Zhao Ling summoned hundreds of precious third-tier spiritual herbs that floated in mid-air.