I run a casino in the immortal realm.

"A defensive formation? A death throes."

Qin Cang looked at the shimmering array light screen below, his tone indifferent.

He slowly raised his right hand, a dazzling white light gathering at his fingertips, and then gently pointed downwards.

"boom!"

The white light transformed into a sword aura tens of feet long, directly striking the mirage's defensive formation.

With a deafening roar, the array's light barrier shattered completely, turning into countless points of light. The powerful aftershocks of the sword energy cleaved through the top roof of the mirage, sending bricks and rubble flying everywhere.

Zeng Feng stood behind Qin Cang, looking down at the magnificent golden building below, his eyes filled with greed.

"Master, the formation has been broken. I will lead my men in to take over the gambling den immediately."

"Hurry up, I need to get back as soon as possible to prevent the Second Elder from causing trouble."

Qin Cang withdrew his hand and stood with his hands behind his back. He could have left now, but he couldn't find Xu Tianyang and had to prevent him from launching a surprise attack.

Inside the mirage, Su Wanqing heard a loud bang overhead and knew the formation had been broken. The enemy's speed had exceeded her expectations; it was too late to meet them in the underground chamber, and even the escape route might be locked by their divine sense.

She leaned against the wall in the corridor, panting heavily.

Her divine sense, now at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, had covered the entire building, and she could feel a chilling gaze sweeping down layer by layer.

Zhang Biao and Su Chenyuan were still waiting for her in the underground secret room.

Su Wanqing glanced down at the black array plate in her hand, then slowly placed her fingers on the groove to activate the array.

She knew that as long as she pressed the button, the Nine Nether Annihilation Array would activate in three breaths.

The mirage will be destroyed instantly, and she herself will definitely not be able to escape the center of the explosion.

At the end of the corridor, the sound of Zeng Feng landing came, followed by several muffled screams, clearly indicating that the guards left behind had been killed.

The footsteps grew closer.

Su Wanqing took a deep breath, gripped the storage bag filled with the essence of the Qingyun Sect tightly in her hand, and her eyes became extremely calm.

"Yi Fei, the foundation of the Qingyun Sect, I've saved it."

She murmured softly, tightening her fingertips, preparing to press down on the core hub of the array.

At this critical moment, a pair of rough and powerful hands reached out from the shadows beside her and grabbed her wrists.

Su Wanqing was startled, and her spiritual energy was about to erupt instinctively when she heard a familiar, deep voice in her ear: "Miss, don't do anything foolish, come with me!"

It's Zhang Biao.

He didn't wait foolishly in the underground chamber. The moment the formation was broken, he used his familiarity with every hidden passage in the mirage to find his way to a secret compartment in the corridor. He had a high-level concealment talisman on him, which allowed him to avoid the divine sense that Zeng Feng had just scanned.

"The Fifth Elder has already led his men to retreat through Secret Passage Number Three. The self-destruct formation Elder Wan gave us has a secondary array eye with a delayed trigger; there's no need to risk your life!"

Zhang Biao spoke rapidly, snatched the array plate from Su Wanqing's hand, and pinned it to a hidden compartment in the corridor wall. At the same time, he forced a drop of blood from his fingertip and flicked it onto the runes on the array plate.

The crimson runes instantly glowed with a dark red light, and an obscure fluctuation began to spread deep underground.

"Walk!"

Zhang Biao grabbed Su Wanqing and dragged her through the artificial rockery mural on the other side of the corridor. The two of them instantly jumped into a vertically downward rapid slide.

As the hidden door closed, Zeng Feng's figure appeared at the corner of the corridor.

His eyes flashed like lightning, and he immediately spotted the array plate emitting an eerie red light in the hidden compartment of the wall, as well as the violent spiritual energy spreading in the air.

"Oh no! It's a self-destruct formation!"

Zeng Feng's expression changed drastically; the sense of crisis from the Nascent Soul stage made him instantly abandon the pursuit.

This destructive aura rising from the depths of the underground spiritual veins is extremely terrifying. It is definitely the work of a master. Once it fully erupts, even a Nascent Soul cultivator at the center of the explosion will suffer severe burns.

"Master! There's a deadly formation underground! Retreat quickly!"

Zeng Feng roared and transformed into a streak of sword light, smashing through the wall without hesitation and hurtling towards the outside of the mirage.

Qin Cang, who was suspended in mid-air, frowned. He also felt the strange fluctuations coming from the depths of the foundation below.

That wasn't an ordinary explosion of spirit stones; it was a technique that forcibly linked the entire underground branch with the destruction formation, resulting in the mutual destruction of both jade and stone.

"A bunch of lunatics!"

Qin Cang roared, and with a wave of his sleeve, his powerful true essence transformed into a huge purple-gold shield in front of him, while his figure rapidly rose higher.

The next instant, the earth shook violently.

"Boom—Rumble!!!"

Centered on the mirage, the ground within a radius of several miles shook violently.

Immediately afterwards, a blinding pillar of blood-red light, mixed with an extremely violent surge of spiritual energy, broke through the nine-story building and shot straight into the sky.

The extravagant mirage was torn to shreds in the blink of an eye by the violent energy.

Countless bricks, tiles, and beams were reduced to ashes in the extreme heat. The terrifying shockwave spread outward like a tsunami, hurling shop signs and flagstones several meters into the air from the surrounding streets.

The entire Xuantian Market was awakened by the earth-shattering explosion. Countless independent cultivators and merchant guards flew up to the rooftops in terror, their faces filled with shock as they looked at the ruins that had been turned into a sea of ​​fire.

"The mirage...it's gone?!"

"Heavens! Who on earth managed to destroy the Azure Cloud Sect's cash cow?!"

In mid-air, Qin Cang's purple-gold shield dispersed all the shockwaves and debris. He looked down at the ruins below, now just a huge crater, constantly churning with scorching lava and thick smoke, his face so gloomy it was almost dripping with water.

Zeng Feng flew to Qin Cang's side in a disheveled state, his robes torn in several places by the shockwave, his face extremely pale: "Master, everything is destroyed... The formation detonated the underground spiritual vein tributary, and everything inside, including the ledgers and the treasury, is probably all turned to ashes."

Qin Cang remained silent, his cold eyes fixed on the depths of the ruins.

As a cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, he knew very well that an explosion of this magnitude was indeed enough to destroy everything. However, since the Qingyun Sect had premeditatedly set up a self-destruct formation, it was absolutely impossible for them to leave their true core wealth here to be left to fate.

"Xu Zhengkun is dead, Xu Tianyang has run away, and now even the vault here has been emptied in advance."

Qin Cang's voice was devoid of emotion, yet it sent a chill down Zeng Feng's spine: "What a fine Qingyun Sect, what a clever escape."

"Master, should we order the market sealed off and a full-scale manhunt for the remnants of the Qingyun Sect? They can't have gone far!"

"No need."

Qin Cang slowly waved his hand: "They designed a self-destructing formation, so there must be an escape route that we won't find easily. Besides, the commotion here is too great. The formation was set up by Wan Tianxiang, so he should be able to sense it."

We've made our point clear enough today; it's better to stop now than give others ammunition to criticize us.

Qin Cang turned his head and glanced in the direction of Tianmo City, a chilling killing intent flashing in his eyes: "These remnants of Qingyun Sect have taken the spirit stones and resources, and they have nowhere to hide in the Southern Wilderness."

The only place they could go was the Heavenly Demon Sect, to find Zheng Yifei.

"Send an order to Blood Butcher to increase manpower within the Heavenly Demon Sect's territory. Anyone found fleeing from the Azure Cloud Sect should be killed without exception."

Furthermore, spread the news that the Qingyun Sect had colluded with demons, plotted rebellion, destroyed their base, and fled, strip the Qingyun Sect of its righteous status, list them as heretics and traitors, and issue a nationwide warrant for their arrest!

"Yes, sir!"

Zeng Feng clasped his hands in a deep fist salute.

"Also, you will stay here to take over Qingyun Market, especially the Qingyun Daily and the printing plant."

Qin Cang glanced once more at the still-burning ruins, snorted coldly, and transformed into a long rainbow, soaring into the sky.