I run a casino in the immortal realm.

Night Owl personally led his men down to the bottom hold of the giant ship.

The lower deck was extremely large, and it was densely packed with wooden crates wrapped in waterproof tarpaulins.

Night Owl drew his short knife from his waist, casually pried open the seal on a wooden box, and cleaved the lock with a single stroke.

"Splash—"

As the lid was lifted, an intensely pure and spiritual aura wafted out. The box was filled with crystal-clear grains of salt, like crushed diamonds.

"Top-grade spiritual salt."

A teammate next to him gasped, grabbed a handful, and carefully sensed it: "The purity is extremely high, even better than the official salt circulating in the market."

Night Owl opened more than a dozen boxes without expression, all of which contained the same high-grade spiritual salt.

"Sir, after a rough count, there are still over two hundred crates in the hold of the giant ship. Adding those already transferred to the sand barges, the total exceeds sixty crates. Each crate weighs approximately five thousand catties, making the total weight of this shipment over three hundred thousand catties!"

The team member in charge of the inventory couldn't suppress his excitement.

Three hundred thousand catties of top-grade spiritual salt!

In the Eastern Divine Continent, spirit salt is not only consumed by everyone, but also the most important auxiliary material for alchemy. In particular, high-grade spirit salt is an indispensable catalyst for refining high-level pills. Its market price is one pound of mid-grade spirit stone, and it is even higher on the black market.

Three hundred thousand catties of top-grade spirit salt is equivalent to three hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones.

According to the laws of the Tianlong Dynasty, smuggling more than 1,000 catties of spirit salt is a capital offense, and smuggling more than 10,000 catties will result in the extermination of nine generations of one's family.

Three hundred thousand catties—this is no ordinary smuggling; it's digging up the very foundation of the imperial court.

In addition to the spirit salt, the team also discovered thirty large iron boxes in the dark compartments of the giant ship, filled with neatly cut mid-grade spirit stones and a large number of rare spirit herbs sealed in jade boxes.

These were clearly the hard currency used by the canal gangs to pay for goods.

"Seal them all off."

Night Owl sheathed his sword: "Take control of the array's core on all four ships, have our men take the helm, and escort them to Liuhua Wharf. Send a message to Lord Zheng that the operation has been successfully completed."

Liuhua County, Linhai Wharf.

As dawn broke, the sea fog gradually dissipated.

The perimeter of the dock had been completely sealed off by three hundred constables from Liuhua County.

These constables were still sleeping in their beds when the county magistrate suddenly woke them up in a great hurry in the middle of the night and dragged them to the dock.

Even now, they still don't know what they're supposed to do; all they know is that they've been given a strict order that no one is allowed to get even a step closer to the dock.

Inside the dock, Zheng Yifei, dressed in the official robes of a sixth-rank official, stood with his hands behind his back on the pier, his robes fluttering in the sea breeze.

Behind him stood the magistrate of Liuhua County, a gaunt middle-aged official who was constantly wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

He was dragged out of the back room of the county government office by Zheng Yifei in the middle of the night. When he saw the gold medal of the deputy magistrate of the Ministry of Justice in Zheng Yifei's hand, he didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

On Zheng Yifei's other side was Li Jianfeng, who had secretly been stationed in Liuhua County to provide backup.

Behind him stood a hundred fully armed anti-smuggling officers, each with a restrained aura and piercing eyes.

"They're here."

Zheng Yifei looked at the horizon and said something indifferently.

As the fog broke through, four enormous ships left long white waves on the sea and slowly sailed into Liuhua Wharf.

When the enormous black ironwood ship docked, the magistrate of Liuhua County felt his legs go weak.

In his more than ten years as an official, he had never seen such a large pirate ship dare to openly dock at the government's wharf.

As the gangplank was lowered, Night Owl was the first to disembark and approach Zheng Yifei, bowing respectfully: "My lord, your subordinate Night Owl has fulfilled his mission, capturing both the men and the boat."

"Thanks for your hard work."

Zheng Yifei reached out and helped him up, his gaze sweeping over the long line of dejected prisoners being led down from the deck, finally settling on the heavy wooden crates being carried down.

"My lord, we have seized 300,000 catties of top-grade spirit salt. The spirit stones and spirit herbs have not yet been counted. We have arrested 235 suspects, including nine at the Nascent Soul stage."

Night Owl reports.

Zheng Yifei nodded, then turned to Li Jianfeng and ordered, "Jianfeng, separate the men and detain them. Put the ordinary boatmen and guards in the Liuhua County jail, and have the magistrate send people to keep a close watch on them."

Those nine Nascent Soul cultivators were taken to the dock warehouse and interrogated immediately.

"yes!"

The light was dim in an abandoned warehouse at Liuhua Wharf.

Kunan was suspended in mid-air by two thick black iron chains, and his spiritual power had been completely sealed off.

Although he was arrested, his eyes remained fierce as he stared intently at Zheng Yifei, who was sitting in the armchair in front of him.

"Officers of the Judicial Commission, I advise you to release me."

Ku Nan sneered and spat out a mouthful of blood: "I am from Crimson Fire Island. You arrested people from the Canal Gang, and the Canal Gang might talk to you about the laws of the Great Heavenly Dragon, but we from Crimson Fire Island do not recognize that."

"If you anger our island lord, no merchant ship will be allowed to enter or leave the coastline of Liuhua County from now on!"

"Red Fire Island?"

Zheng Yifei held his teacup and gently blew on the floating tea leaves: "It's quite famous as a gathering place for overseas rogue cultivators and pirates."

"Good to know!"

Seeing that Zheng Yifei knew of Crimson Fire Island's reputation, Ku Nan became even more arrogant: "This shipment was personally ordered by Chief Qian of the Canal Gang. If you intercept this shipment, you will offend both Crimson Fire Island and the Canal Gang. I advise you..."

"I don't have time to listen to your nonsense."

Zheng Yifei put down his teacup, interrupted him, and walked directly to his side.

"What...what do you want to do?"

Kunan felt uneasy under Zheng Yifei's gaze and instinctively struggled.

Zheng Yifei did not answer, but raised his right hand, his five fingers like hooks, and pressed it down on the top of Ku Nan's head.

"Soul-Searching Technique!"

Accompanied by Zheng Yifei's icy voice, an incomparably domineering divine power pierced directly into Ku Nan's sea of ​​consciousness like a sharp knife.

"ah--!!!"

Kunan let out an extremely shrill scream, his whole body convulsed violently, his eyes rolled back instantly, and blood gushed from the corners of his eyes, nostrils, and mouth.

Soul Searching Technique is the cruelest interrogation method in the cultivation world. The caster forcibly searches through the memories of the target, causing irreversible damage to the target's soul. At best, the target will become an idiot; at worst, the target's soul will be scattered on the spot.

Zheng Yifei, who had struggled and fought his way up in the Southern Wilderness, was never a soft-hearted or merciful man or woman.

He didn't even bother to utter a single word to these pirates who had been killing and robbing for years.

The leaders of the canal gangs in the warehouse were terrified when they saw this scene; they trembled like leaves.

They never expected that this seemingly weak sixth-rank official would be even more ruthless than the demonic cultivator when he took action.

Half an incense stick later, Zheng Yifei withdrew his hand.

Kunan's head drooped limply, and he had completely lost consciousness, becoming a walking corpse.

Zheng Yifei took out a clean white handkerchief, wiped his hands, turned around and walked back to sit down in the armchair.

"I understand everything."

Zheng Yifei closed his eyes and quickly sorted through the vast amount of memories he had just gathered in his mind.

It turns out that this batch of high-quality spiritual salt did indeed originate from Crimson Fire Island.

Crimson Fire Island is isolated overseas. On the island is a natural spiritual salt mine, which produces this kind of high-quality spiritual salt without any impurities.

They have long supplied spirit salt to several neighboring countries and maritime powers.

Originally, the Tianlong Dynasty allowed overseas trade and transactions could be conducted through normal trade channels.

However, spirit salt is a strategic resource strictly controlled by the imperial court in the Tianlong Dynasty. In normal trade, both parties need to pay a high tax of up to 70%.

After calculating it this way, the profit is greatly reduced.

As a result, smuggling rare salt became the most profitable business.

As the largest maritime force in the Tianlong Dynasty, the Canal Gang held the "Canal Transport Permit" issued by the imperial court.

This pass was originally intended to facilitate the transport of large quantities of supplies such as government grain, timber, medicinal herbs, and ores. Inspection stations and naval checkpoints along the route would generally allow passage without inspection.

Qian Baichuan, the leader of the Tanzhou branch of the Canal Gang, saw this opportunity and used the official status of the Canal Gang as a cover to import spiritual salt from Chihuo Island on a large scale for a long period of time.

The giant ships transferred the spirit salt to the sand barges of the Grand Canal in international waters. Then, the sand barges, under the guise of transporting grain, distributed the spirit salt to the eight prefectures under the jurisdiction of Tanzhou County through the inland waterway network.

"grown ups."

Night Owl stepped forward and handed over a thick booklet: "Actually, a month ago, the brothers had already figured out the list of private salt dealers in the eight prefectures, as well as their hiding places and trading patterns."

My subordinates didn't act immediately, for fear of alerting the enemy and letting the cargo escape.

Zheng Yifei took the booklet and flipped through it. It was filled with the names of black market merchants and stewards of powerful families from various prefectures.

"You did the right thing."

Zheng Yifei nodded approvingly: "If we had arrested those distributors in advance, Qian Baichuan would have definitely gotten wind of it and immediately cut off contact with Chihuo Island. Now, we not only have control of the source, but also the entire network below us."