I run a casino in the immortal realm.

In the days following the opening of Duobaoge, business was booming, with gold and silver notes flowing in like water every day.

Zheng Yifei arranged for Ye Xiao and Ouyang Zhan to change into the black official uniforms of yamen runners and patrol around the shops on Changle Street every day.

These two men had fought their way out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood in the Southern Wilderness. Their murderous aura was extremely strong. Even if they were just standing outside the door, their cold eyes were enough to make ordinary thugs not dare to even glance at them, let alone enter the store to cause trouble.

With the Treasure Pavilion as a stable source of income, Zheng Yifei no longer needs to worry about spirit stones.

He handed over the daily operations of the shop to Su Wanqing, Xu Muyao, and Li Jianfeng, while he took advantage of his spare time while working at the police station to immerse himself in the county government's library.

The county government's library is located on the east side of the rear office. It is a two-story bluestone building with an isolation array around it.

Normally, only county officials or head constables are qualified to enter.

This place not only stores official documents and files from previous years, but also houses many cultivation classics, techniques, and miscellaneous notes about the cultivation world of the Eastern Divine Continent.

However, it costs money to collect the techniques.

Zheng Yifei spent three whole days browsing through the miscellaneous notes section on the first floor, finally gaining a clear understanding of the cultivation system and culture of this continent.

What surprised and even shocked him the most was that in the Eastern Divine Continent, cultivators could break through from the Nascent Soul stage to the Deity Transformation stage without undergoing a tribulation of lightning!

In the Southern Wilderness, the tribulation lightning is like a guillotine hanging over the heads of all high-level cultivators; nine and a half out of ten who attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul stage will be reduced to ashes.

But here, the laws of heaven and earth seem to be different. As long as there are enough cultivation resources and one's own spiritual root aptitude is good enough, breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage is a natural and inevitable process.

However, the absence of tribulation lightning does not mean that Nascent Soul cultivators are everywhere.

The miscellaneous records state that the resources required to break through to the Nascent Soul stage are astronomical, especially the top-grade pills that aid in the breakthrough, which are firmly controlled by the upper-level government and those powerful families with deep roots.

Even if an ordinary cultivator has excellent aptitude, without accumulating resources, they can only remain at the Nascent Soul stage for their entire life.

According to Wei Jun, the entire Liuhua County has a population of over one million, but the number of cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage who are openly recognized probably does not exceed ten.

As for the prefectural city and county city, there will definitely be more Nascent Soul cultivators there, but the situation there is also more complex.

Zheng Yifei put down his notes and went up the wooden stairs to the second floor.

The second floor houses cultivation techniques and elixir formulas.

Zheng Yifei found a fragment of the "Eastern Divine Pill Record" in the pill formula section. It contained several fifth- and sixth-order pill formulas, including the "Divine Transformation Pill" formula, which was essential for breaking through to the Divine Transformation stage.

Upon seeing this alchemy manual, Zheng Yifei immediately pictured Zhao Ling. Zhao Ling's alchemy talent was exceptionally monstrous; even in the Southern Wilderness, a place with scarce spiritual energy and resources, she became a fourth-tier alchemist in less than ten years.

Now that she has access to the abundant spiritual energy and a vast amount of spiritual herbs in the Eastern Divine Continent, as long as these pill formulas are memorized and given to her, she will definitely break through to the fifth-level alchemist very quickly.

Becoming a sixth-tier alchemist is only a matter of time. By then, they will be able to produce all the top-grade pills they need to break through to the Nascent Soul stage without having to ask anyone for help.

Zheng Yifei spent 5,000 low-grade spirit stones to view the content and stayed on the second floor for two days, memorizing every single pill formula in the pill record.

Then, he started searching through the cultivation techniques section. Ouyang Tian and Murong Hao were both at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and their combat foundation was already sufficient. What they lacked most now was cultivation techniques for the Nascent Soul stage.

Zheng Yifei selected two Nascent Soul cultivation techniques that best suited their spiritual root attributes and spent spirit stones to memorize them.

What surprised Zheng Yifei the most was that he found an upgraded version of the Five Elements Manual, the Great Five Elements Hunyuan Gong, on the bottom shelf of a dusty bookshelf.

His current cultivation of the Five Elements Technique can only sustain him up to the Nascent Soul stage, while this Great Five Elements Primordial Technique can be cultivated directly up to the Void Refining stage.

Without any hesitation, Zheng Yifei handed over 30,000 gold notes.

Sitting cross-legged beside the bookshelf, Zheng Yifei silently memorized the cultivation method while mentally planning his future path.

The cultivation techniques in the county government's library only go up to the Refinement of Emptiness realm, and most of them are incomplete.

He decided to immediately change his cultivation method and strive to break through to the Nascent Soul stage as soon as possible.

Because in the official system of the Tianlong Dynasty, cultivation level and official rank are linked. Only when he reaches the Nascent Soul stage will he have the opportunity to be promoted and enter the prefectural city, county city, or even the capital.

Because the higher one's cultivation level, the more advanced the cultivation techniques required, and the small library in Liuhua County simply cannot satisfy his appetite.

Just as Zheng Yifei was immersed in planning the future of his study, Duobaoge celebrated its tenth day of operation.

That morning, the shop was still bustling with customers. Su Wanqing stood behind the counter, skillfully calculating spirit stones for the customers.

Suddenly, a commotion of footsteps and shouts came from outside the door.

"Get out of the way! Everyone get out of the way! This is a county government office for official business; all irrelevant personnel, get out!"

Seven or eight men dressed in black official robes rudely pushed aside the queuing customers and strode into the Treasure Pavilion.

The leader was a middle-aged man with a goatee, holding a stack of seals in his hand, his eyes revealing a cold and arrogant look.

Seeing this, Su Wanqing frowned slightly, but still politely stepped out from behind the counter: "Gentlemen, is there anything I can help you with?"

The man with the goatee sneered, pulled an official document from his sleeve, and slammed it on the counter: "I am a tax official from the county tax bureau. Someone has filed a formal complaint alleging that your Southern Treasure Pavilion has been falsifying accounts and evading taxes since its opening. I have been ordered to shut it down and order it to cease operations for rectification. We'll discuss further matters after the accounts are clarified!"

These words immediately sparked a flurry of discussion among the guests in the hall.

Ouyang Zhan happened to be patrolling the shop when he heard this. His eyes widened, and he placed his hand directly on the hilt of the sword at his waist, a violent spiritual pressure about to erupt.

Su Wanqing quickly gave him a wink, signaling him not to act impulsively.

"My lord, our Treasure Pavilion has only been open for ten days. All our accounts are crystal clear, and we have paid every penny of the taxes due. You can't just shut it down like that; you need solid evidence, can you?"

Su Wanqing said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Evidence? My words are the evidence!"

The tax official wasn't having any of it. He waved his hand and said, "Men, throw everyone out! Seal the door!"

Several henchmen immediately stepped forward, drew their knives, and prepared to violently drive the man away.

Just then, Zheng Yifei, dressed in the uniform of a constable, came out from the backyard. He had been checking the forging progress of a new batch of magical artifacts in the workshop and only came out after hearing the commotion in front.

"Hey, isn't this Tax Officer Zhang?"

Zheng Yifei walked to the counter, glanced at the official documents on the table, and said in a calm tone, "Lord Zhang, you have quite the airs of an official. You've even come to investigate my tax affairs."

When the tax collector Zhang saw Zheng Yifei, he gave a forced smile and cupped his hands in greeting: "Officer Zheng, we are both officials in the county government. I am just following orders. Although you own this treasure pavilion, the laws of the Tianlong Dynasty are strict. Tax evasion is a serious crime. I am doing this for your own good, to prevent you from getting into deeper trouble."

Zheng Yifei looked at him, quickly going through the personnel relationships in the county government that Wang Bo had previously explained to him.

This tax official, Zhang, is a subordinate of the county magistrate.

The county magistrate of Liuhua County, named Zhao Dezhu, was a seventh-rank official, only half a rank lower than the county magistrate Liu Zhengyi, making him the de facto second-in-command of Liuhua County.

More importantly, this Zhao Dezhu is a direct descendant of the Zhao family, one of the three major families in Liuhua County.

Clearly, this is not tax evasion at all, but rather the three major families seeing that Duobaoge's business is too good and is taking away their livelihood, so they have begun to use official power to suppress it.

"On whose orders? The county magistrate's orders?"

Zheng Yifei remained calm and composed.

Tax collector Zhang raised his chin confidently and said, "Naturally, it's an order from the county magistrate. Officer Zheng, don't make things difficult for me. I must put up the seal today."

"Okay, go ahead and stick it on." Zheng Yifei didn't stop him. Instead, he took a step back and said to Su Wanqing, "Let the guests go back first and close the door."

Ouyang Zhan panicked: "Yifei, this..."

"Shut up and do as I say."

Zheng Yifei glared at Ouyang Zhan.

Seeing Zheng Yifei back down, Tax Officer Zhang snorted coldly and ordered his men to drive all the guests out. He then affixed two white strips with black characters to the gate.

"Officer Zheng, you can only open the door when the accounts are cleared up."

Tax collector Zhang left with a single sentence and strode away with his men.