I run a casino in the immortal realm.

Sujiafang Market.

In mid-air, a flying boat bearing a black eagle flag broke through the clouds.

Hu Pengfei stood at the bow of the ship, tossing a sect leader's token in his hand. Behind him stood two Golden Core deacons and fifty fully armed Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Enforcement Hall.

"Break the formation," Hu Pengfei uttered.

The two Golden Core deacons drew their swords simultaneously, and two sword beams, each tens of feet long, slashed down in a crisscrossing pattern.

boom!

The protective array of Sujiafang Market was already unattended. Under the combined attack of two Golden Core cultivators, the light barrier twisted violently and then shattered like glass.

The airship sped straight in and hovered directly above the Su family's main residence.

"Seal off the market! Search it thoroughly! Don't let a single fly escape!"

Hu Pengfei leaped down and kicked open the door of the Su family ancestral hall.

Fifty Foundation Establishment cultivators charged toward the four city gates of the market like wolves and tigers.

However, less than half an incense stick's time later, the two Golden Core stewards returned to the ancestral hall with dark faces.

"Young Master, it's empty."

Hu Pengfei's sinister smile froze: "What do you mean by 'empty'?"

"The main house is empty, the storeroom door is wide open, and there's not a trace of spirit stones, pills, or high-level magic artifacts left," the Golden Core steward said in a deep voice.

Hu Pengfei strode into the inner room. A cup of tea on the table was still steaming.

More than 300 members of the main branch of the Su family have fled.

Moreover, they calmly withdrew half an hour before their arrival, carrying all their core resources.

Hu Pengfei flipped the table over, splattering tea and broken porcelain all over the floor. He knew that Su Wanqing must have sent a message in advance.

"Young Master, the main branch has fled, but there are still over 100,000 members of the Su family's collateral branches in the market, as well as several smaller families that are dependent on the Su family," a Foundation Establishment disciple reported as he entered.

Hu Pengfei walked out of the inner hall and looked at the dense lights on the outskirts of the market.

The main branch has escaped, and Su Wanqing hasn't been caught; he won't be able to explain himself when he gets back.

"The monk may run away, but the temple can't."

Hu Pengfei drew his long sword from his waist, the blade pointing directly at the market town below the mountain: "Pass down the order to seal off the four exits of the market town; entry is permitted, but exit is not."

"Young Master, what should we do with those collateral relatives?"

"What to do?"

Hu Pengfei sneered, "My grandfather was suppressed by the Xu and Su families back then, and 300,000 members of my Hu family were wiped out! Today, I will make the Su family pay for their blood debt!"

"Kill! Leave no one alive!"

The order has been issued.

A bloody massacre unfolded in Sujiafang Market.

The cultivators of the Enforcement Hall stormed into shops and residences. Without interrogation or screening, they killed anyone recorded in the collateral lineage register of the Su family.

Screams, pleas for mercy, and the clanging of magical artifacts echoed through the night sky.

Blood flowed down the bluestone streets and into the sewers, turning the central landscape lake in the market area a dark red.

Hu Pengfei moved a grand chair and sat on the highest tower in the market, looking down at the flames below.

He held a glass of wine in his hand, listening to the screams carried on the wind, his face flushed with a sickly pallor.

"Young Master."

A Golden Core cultivator flew up to the tower, holding a jade slip in his hand. "The properties under the name of the collateral branch of the Su family have been seized. We have discovered thousands of strange magical artifacts in various casinos and restaurants."

"What kind of magical artifact?"

With a wave of his hand, the butler tossed a half-person-high iron box out of his storage bag. It was covered with colorful patterns and had a lever on the side.

"Slot machines?"

Hu Pengfei was stunned for a moment.

He had seen this thing before; it was also called a "transfer machine." It had become incredibly popular in the Southern Wilderness in recent years, and the Su family made a fortune from it.

"I have checked the account books of the collateral branch of the Su family."

The steward swallowed hard, his voice trembling slightly: "This stuff... it's incredibly profitable. The Su family has distributed them throughout half of the Southern Wilderness's markets for unaffiliated cultivators. In just this past month, these few thousand slot machines have earned the Su family three million low-grade spirit stones!"

Hu Pengfei suddenly stood up, and the wine glass fell to the ground and shattered.

Three million in one month!

Although the main branch of the Su family took the cash from the warehouse, this money tree was so widely and scattered that there was no time to collect it.

"Great! Excellent!"

Hu Pengfei burst into laughter: "Su Wanqing, no matter how fast you run, this golden goose that lays eggs still ends up in my hands!"

He turned to the steward: "Send a message to the sect leader: immediately send men to take over all the slot machine stalls! Anyone who dares to embezzle will be executed without mercy!"

The main hall of Qingyun Sect.

Hu Lie sat on the large throne of the sect leader. There were no lights in the hall, only a few luminous pearls emitting a faint glow.

Dozens of storage rings and a mountain of account books were laid out in front of him.

Xu Zhengkun is dead, the elders are dead, and the original eight major families of Qingyun Sect have lost their backbone.

The first thing Hu Lie did after taking office was to wield the butcher's knife.

Those who disagree, kill them; those who hesitate, kill them.

In just a few days, the eight major families were uprooted, and their spiritual fields, mines, chambers of commerce, and medicinal gardens were all forcibly transferred to the Hu family.

The Hu family, a clan that was once driven to extinction, has grown overnight into one of the wealthiest families in the Southern Wilderness, after stepping over countless corpses.

"Cough cough..."

Hu Lie suddenly clutched his chest and began to cough violently.

He coughed up a mouthful of black blood, and when he opened his palm, the blood was mixed with tiny golden ice shards.

This was a hidden injury left when Su Chenyuan and Xu Tianyang ambushed him together back then.

In that battle, his golden core was cracked. Although he managed to stabilize his realm with the help of the top-grade pills bestowed by Qin Cang, his foundation was destroyed.

In this lifetime, he will never have the chance to reach the Nascent Soul stage again.

Footsteps could be heard outside the main hall.

Hu Pengfei strode into the hall and knelt on one knee: "Grandpa, your grandson is back."

"Has Su Wanqing been caught?"

Hu Lie wiped the black blood from the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse.

"The main branch of the Su family fled ahead of time, and the grandson slaughtered all the hundreds of thousands of collateral relatives in the Su family market, leaving no one alive."

Hu Pengfei raised his head, as if to claim credit, and said, "However, my grandson has taken over all the slot machines in the Southern Wilderness of the Su Family Shop. This income is even greater than the several spirit stone mines we robbed!"

Hu Lie remained silent for a moment, but did not blame him for letting Su Wanqing escape.

"Let them go. They're like stray dogs; they can't cause any trouble."

Hu Lie stood up, slowly walked down the steps, and came to Hu Pengfei.

He looked at his only grandson, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

"Pengfei, get up."

Hu Pengfei stood up.

Hu Lie took off a high-level storage bag from his waist and stuffed it into Hu Pengfei's hand.

"Inside here are all the remaining Breakthrough Pills, Qi Condensation Pills, and three Golden Core Pills from the Qingyun Sect's treasury."

Hu Pengfei was startled: "Grandpa, this..."

"Grandpa is getting old."

Hu Lie patted his damaged dantian, his tone revealing a ruthless and unwilling tone: "He will only ever reach the Golden Core stage in this lifetime. Your father is in the Xuan Tian Sect, and with Elder Qin taking care of him, it's only a matter of time before he breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage."

But our Hu family is too small.

Three hundred thousand people were killed that year, and only the three members of the Hu family remained: the grandfather, grandfather, and grandson.

Such a vast industry, with a massive amount of spirit stones, will inevitably become someone else's meal sooner or later if there aren't enough people to guard it.

"Your father has to follow the rules in the Xuantian Sect and can't act recklessly. But in the Qingyun Sect, I'm the one who calls the shots."

Hu Lie stared into Hu Pengfei's eyes. "What the Hu family lacks most right now is to continue the family bloodline."

Hu Pengfei was stunned.

"I want you to get married. As long as you're capable, marrying a hundred or even a thousand is no problem! The Hu family has plenty of spirit stones!"

Hu Pengfei's breathing quickened, and a greedy glint appeared in his eyes.

Hu Lie turned and walked back to the throne. "I have already given the order to conduct a large-scale screening of female cultivators within the Qingyun Sect's territory. All women who are under twenty years old, have excellent appearances, and possess three or more spiritual roots should be sent to the main peak."

Anyone who dares to resist will be punished for treason and their entire family will be exterminated!

"Your grandson obeys!"

Hu Pengfei was so excited that he was trembling all over.

This is practically treating all the female cultivators of the Qingyun Sect as his harem.

Over the next two weeks, the Qingyun Sect's territory was plunged into an unprecedented catastrophe.

The Hu family has completely torn off its disguise as a righteous sect.

Under the guise of "selecting inner disciples," the Hu family's enforcement team stormed into various markets and clans of independent cultivators.

All young women with three spiritual roots, two spiritual roots, or heavenly spiritual roots, regardless of whether they were married or not, were forcibly taken away.

These women were sent directly to the "Paradise Garden" that Hu Pengfei had built on the back mountain of the main peak.

Those with exceptional talent but fierce temperaments were placed under a restriction and forcibly disciplined in a secret room.

For a time, complaints were rampant within the Qingyun Sect's territory.

Countless low-level cultivators lost their families and lives, but faced with the suppression of the Hu family's Golden Core cultivators, they dared not speak out against it.