I run a casino in the immortal realm.

The decree from the Xuantian Sect was personally delivered to Luoyan Forest by a deacon from the Enforcement Hall.

After the deacon finished reading Qin Cang's decree, Su Chenyuan bowed and accepted the golden scroll that exuded a faint aura of power.

On the surface, he was moved to tears and exclaimed that the Grand Elder was wise, but when he looked down at the two lines on the decree—"Summon three thousand elite troops and hand over two billion spirit stones"—the coldness in his eyes almost froze the scroll.

They were spared the death penalty for losing territory, but this was a death sentence for the Qingyun Sect.

Qin Cang intends to completely devour the Qingyun Sect, skin and bones.

"Fifth Elder, the First Elder has shown leniency. You'd better hurry back to the sect to make preparations. If you don't see the people and spirit stones within half a month, the Enforcement Hall's sword won't recognize anyone."

The deacon coldly uttered a single sentence, then turned and vanished in a flash of light.

Su Chenyuan spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

"Pass down the order! All disciples, immediately board the flying boats! Retreat to Qingyun Sect at full speed!"

Su Chenyuan's voice was hoarse, yet it carried a resolute air. He didn't want to stay in this awful place a moment longer; he had to return immediately to discuss countermeasures with the sect leader.

Zheng Yifei is right, the Xuantian Sect didn't leave them any way out at all.

Just as the army began to board the ship in a chaotic manner, a figure dressed in the ordinary attire of a Qingyun Sect disciple quietly approached Su Chenyuan.

"Fifth Elder."

Zheng Yifei lowered his voice.

Su Chenyuan turned his head and saw Zheng Yifei, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

Last night's battle, Zheng Yifei's energy and ruthlessness made even this old fox who has lived for hundreds of years feel his heart pound.

"Yifei, is something the matter?"

"Elder, I have some personal matters to attend to, so I must take my leave. I have already made arrangements for the Zheng family; the Xuantian Sect has not been able to find any clues. As for the two billion spirit stones and three thousand elite troops..."

Zheng Yifei sneered: "Fifth Elder can tell the Sect Master when he gets back that he can just play the victim and say that the Heavenly Demon Sect is currently on a fierce offensive and Qin Cang doesn't have the energy to deal with the Azure Cloud Sect."

Su Chenyuan took a deep breath and nodded heavily: "I understand. Be careful."

Zheng Yifei bowed slightly, then turned and disappeared into the dense forest.

Half a day later, three hundred miles outside the gates of the Xuantian Sect, at the Xuantian Market.

As the largest trading hub under the feet of the leader of the righteous path in the Southern Wilderness, Xuantian Market gathers hundreds of thousands of independent cultivators and various merchant guilds year-round.

The prosperity here is in no way inferior to that of the Heavenly Demon City.

Zheng Yifei wore a bamboo hat that blocked divine sense and a drab gray robe, suppressing his cultivation to the ninth level of Qi Refining. He blended into the bustling crowd and was completely inconspicuous.

He navigated the bustling main streets with practiced ease and turned into Liushu Hutong.

At the entrance of the alley is a shop with a sign that reads "Jubaoge" (Treasure Pavilion). The shop is small and business seems to be so-so. Behind the counter, there is only a young shop assistant in the Qi Refining stage dozing off.

Zheng Yifei stepped forward and tapped the counter three times with his fingers, two long taps and one short tap.

The young waiter suddenly woke up, saw Zheng Yifei's gesture, his expression hardened, and he quickly came out from behind the counter, respectfully gesturing for him to come in: "Sir, please come in. The manager is waiting for you in the backyard."

After passing through a narrow corridor, Zheng Yifei arrived at a secret room filled with soundproof arrays.

As soon as the door to the secret room closed, a burly man with a fierce face rushed forward, knelt on one knee, and said with great excitement, "Your subordinate, Tie Feng, greets Young Master Zheng!"

Get up.

Zheng Yifei took off his straw hat, walked to the main seat and sat down, his gaze sweeping over Tie Feng.

Two years later, Tie Feng's cultivation level was still at the peak of Foundation Establishment, but his spiritual power was more abundant, and he had become more composed and shrewd, with a faint aura of a decisive and ruthless superior.

"You've done a good job these past two years."

Zheng Yifei nodded approvingly. Tie Feng, as his liaison with Zhao Ling, had been very dedicated these past two years. A huge amount of spirit stones from Mirage were continuously delivered to him, who then purchased the spirit materials to send to Zhao Ling for alchemy. In turn, he delivered the top-grade and superior-grade pills that Zhao Ling had refined to him and Su Wanqing.

These pills supported the rapid growth of their team's overall cultivation. He, Su Wanqing, Tie Feng, Chen San, and Lin Bao were all at the peak of Foundation Establishment, while Zhang Biao and Zhao Wenyuan were at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

Tie Feng stood up, scratched his head, and chuckled: "This is what I should do. In the past two years, as you instructed, I have recruited a group of trustworthy independent cultivators in the market. Now I have more than fifty brothers under my command, all of whom are brave and capable fighters."

Besides this "Treasure Pavilion," we also opened a "Rejuvenation Hall" in the east of the city, specializing in selling elixirs and talismans, while secretly buying up various rare spiritual materials at high prices.

As he spoke, Tie Feng took out a thick stack of account books and several storage rings filled with spirit stones and materials from his storage bag and respectfully placed them on the table: "Young Master Zheng, these are the financial records and accounts for the past two years."

"I have been sending the spiritual materials you asked me to collect for Miss Zhao Ling through secret channels every month without fail."

Zheng Yifei didn't even glance at the ledgers, and simply pushed the storage ring back: "Keep these things and continue to expand the scale. Contact Zhao Ling immediately and have her find an excuse to leave the sect. Just say I'm back and want to see her."

"Yes! I'll arrange it right away!"

Tie Feng accepted the order and immediately turned and left the secret room.

Two hours later.

The secret door to the chamber was gently pushed open, and a beautiful young woman dressed in the robes of an inner disciple of the Xuantian Sect walked in quickly.

The girl's eyes instantly welled up with tears when she saw Zheng Yifei sitting in the chair. She rushed over and hugged his arm tightly, her voice filled with barely suppressed excitement and longing: "Brother Yifei! You're finally back! Ling'er missed you so much!"

The person who came was Zhao Ling, who was twenty-four years old this year.

Zheng Yifei chuckled and ruffled her hair, a gentle glint in his eyes: "Alright, alright, you're all grown up now, still acting like a child. Sit down and let me take a look."

Zhao Ling obediently sat down next to Zheng Yifei, looking at him expectantly: "Brother Yifei, have you been injured in the past two years on the front lines of Blood Soul Valley?"

I heard from people in the sect that people are dying there every day, and I can't sleep at night because I'm so worried.

And my brother… how is he now?

"Don't worry, your brother is fine."

Zheng Yifei picked up his teacup, took a sip, and chuckled, "He's now the head steward of the Xiaoyao Palace in Tianmo City, managing tens of thousands of people and handling tens of millions of spirit stones every day. He lives a more comfortable life than I do."

As for me, look at me, I'm perfectly fine, aren't I?"

Hearing that her brother and Zheng Yifei were both safe and sound, Zhao Ling finally felt relieved and a bright smile appeared on her face.

Zheng Yifei looked Zhao Ling up and down, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Two years ago, Zhao Ling was only in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, but now, the spiritual energy fluctuations within her body are extremely solid, indicating that she has already reached the late-Foundation Establishment stage!

What alarmed Zheng Yifei even more was that the fluctuations of divine sense that Zhao Ling unintentionally emitted had already faintly touched the threshold of the Golden Core stage.

"Late Foundation Establishment stage? Divine sense comparable to Golden Core cultivator?"

Zheng Yifei raised an eyebrow: "Ling'er, if the elders of the Xuantian Sect knew about your cultivation speed, they would probably treat you as a once-in-a-millennium genius."

Zhao Ling stuck out her tongue and said in a low voice with a hint of pride, "Brother Yifei, I have been strictly following your instructions and developing in a low-key manner."

In the past two years, you had Brother Tiefeng send me so many spirit stones and rare spiritual materials. I spent my days refining pills and cultivating, so it was hard for my cultivation not to progress quickly.

"Don't worry, I used the concealment technique you taught me to suppress my cultivation level to the early Foundation Establishment stage. In the alchemy hall, I neither stand out nor lag behind. Master and the elders all think I'm just an ordinary inner disciple, and nobody notices me at all."

"Well done. The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind. There is serious infighting within the Xuantian Sect. You have no background, and standing out too much will only bring you trouble."

Zheng Yifei was very satisfied with Zhao Ling's caution.

He didn't have many people he trusted most in his life, but Zhao Ling was definitely one of them.

This little girl had an almost blind adoration and absolute loyalty to him.