I run a casino in the immortal realm.

half a month.

Zheng Yifei set rules for himself: he would only go to one gambling den each day, stay for no more than two hours, and keep his net winnings around two thousand yuan.

He spent three days at Hongyunfang, two days at Tongbaoge, and the rest of the time rotating among seven or eight small gambling dens in the East and South districts.

Thousand Faces changes its face every day, never repeating the same one.

Zhang Biao followed behind, his only task being to act as the money bag.

On the third day, Zheng Yifei encountered a small problem at Tongbao Pavilion.

There was an old dealer at the Pai Gow table in Tongbao Pavilion. He was at the ninth level of Qi Refining, surnamed Wu, over forty years old, with graying temples, slender fingers, and neatly trimmed nails.

This person's cheating skills are far superior to those of the dealers at Hongyunfang.

His cheating method wasn't based on spiritual power, but on hand speed.

When shuffling, the friction between the fingertips and the cards is used to hold specific cards in a fixed position. The whole process is smooth and natural, and most people cannot detect any flaws.

But Zheng Yifei saw it.

It's not with your eyes, it's with your ears.

There is an extremely subtle difference in the sound of friction between the cards. Controlled cards will make a slightly deep "click" when stacked, while normally shuffled cards will make a crisp "snap".

Zheng Yifei spent half an hour figuring out Wu Zhuangjia's card-controlling patterns, and then precisely avoided all the traps.

After discovering that this "guest" had won seven rounds in a row, Wu Zhuangjia began to use more complex methods.

Zheng Yifei changed accordingly.

The two played thirty rounds of cards in silence, and Wu Zhuangjia's forehead began to sweat.

Zheng Yifei stopped playing and left the table when he had won 1,800 yuan.

As he left, Wu Zhuangjia stared at his retreating figure for a long time, but said nothing.

The rules of the gambling den: if you're not as skilled, you have to accept your fate.

"That old man is no ordinary person."

After leaving Tongbao Pavilion, Zhang Biao lowered his voice.

"Hmm, go to Tongbao Pavilion less often in the future; that person has a good memory."

After that, Zheng Yifei reduced the frequency of Tongbaoge to once every five days, changing the face each time.

After half a month, Zheng Yifei's total income from the three main gambling dens and seven or eight smaller gambling dens stabilized at around 30,000 low-grade spirit stones.

Once the money is in hand, it's spent even faster.

The superior-grade Spirit Gathering Pill retails for 65 yuan per pill at Dan Ge.

Zheng Yifei takes ten pills a day, Zhang Biao takes eight, and Zhao Ling'er takes five. The three of them consume 1,500 spirit stones worth of pills a day.

In just half a month, more than 20,000 pills were burned.

The remaining money was used partly to purchase the medicinal herbs and furnace equipment needed for Zhao Ling'er's alchemy, and partly saved for emergencies.

Zheng Yifei noticed Zhao Ling'er's talent for alchemy back in Sujiafang City.

This girl has an extremely high sensitivity to the properties of medicine; she can learn everything that Master Liu teaches her after just one reading.

When he passed the first-level alchemist exam in Sujiafang City, the examiner's comment was, "He has outstanding spiritual insight and precise control of the fire. Given time, he can become a great talent."

However, in the world of cultivation, the phrase "given time" usually means enduring ten or twenty years of hardship.

Zheng Yifei didn't plan to wait that long.

He spent three thousand spirit stones to buy a second-tier low-grade alchemy furnace called "Azure Fire Furnace" from an equipment shop in Qingyun City.

The furnace body is engraved with fire-gathering array patterns, which can evenly distribute the earth fire spiritual energy, greatly reducing the difficulty of controlling the fire when refining pills.

They spent another two thousand yuan to purchase in bulk the three main ingredients needed to refine the superior Spirit Gathering Pill: Hundred-Year Spirit Ginseng, Dew-Gathering Grass, and Green Yuan Flower, fifty portions of each.

Zhao Ling'er's hands were trembling as she held the jade furnace.

"Brother Zheng, this stove... is too expensive."

"A craftsman should do his job well."

Zheng Yifei arranged the medicinal herbs on the table, categorizing them as follows: "Starting today, you will refine at least three batches of Spirit Gathering Pills every day. Don't worry about failed pills; there will be enough medicinal herbs. Continue refining until the success rate of pills is consistently above 60%."

Zhao Ling'er bit her lip and carried the Jade Fire Furnace into her room.

In the first three days, the success rate of pill formation was abysmal.

Of the fifteen batches of medicine, four were successfully prepared, and eleven were wasted.

Of the four furnaces produced, three are of medium quality, and only one barely meets the threshold of high quality.

Zheng Yifei didn't say anything, but every night after she finished refining the pills, he would sit down and review the process with her.

"Where is the seventh furnace abandoned?"

"The fire was extinguished too early; the medicinal liquids were not fully mixed."

"What about the twelfth batch?"

"The timing of the ginseng's introduction was two breaths too late, as it was suppressed by the cold nature of the dew-collecting grass."

Zhao Ling'er's notebook was filled with detailed notes on the timing of each batch of fire, the timing of adding medicine, and the spiritual energy output curve.

Zheng Yifei doesn't understand alchemy, but he does understand data analysis.

He compiled Zhao Ling'er's data for each furnace into a table, marking the key variable differences between successful and unsuccessful furnaces, helping her find the most stable operating range.

On the seventh day, the success rate of pill formation rose to 40%.

Day 10, 50% complete.

On the tenth night, Zhao Ling'er rushed out of her room, holding a jade bottle in her hands, her eyes shining frighteningly.

"Brother Zheng!"

She opened the bottle, and three pills radiating rich spiritual energy lay at the bottom of the bottle, their surfaces glossy and smooth, with clear spiritual patterns.

Three top-grade Spirit Gathering Pills, three batches per batch.

The quality is comparable to that of Dange's retail products.

Zheng Yifei picked up a pill, held it under his nose, and smelled it. The medicinal aroma was rich and mellow, without any astringent taste from impurities.

"good."

At those two words, Zhao Ling'er's eyes welled up with tears.

She took a deep breath, held back her tears, turned around and ran back to her room to continue practicing.

That night, she refined two more batches, and one of them was of superior quality.

Starting from the thirteenth day, Zhao Ling'er's success rate in achieving her desired pills stabilized between 50% and 60%.

Three batches a day, three pills per batch, on average five to six high-grade Spirit Gathering Pills can be produced.

The cost of medicinal materials is about forty spirit stones per batch, and one hundred and twenty spirit stones for three batches.

The top-grade Spirit Gathering Pills produced are priced at 65 yuan each, so six pills would cost nearly 400 yuan.

Profits tripled.

More importantly, the three of them achieved complete self-sufficiency in the elixirs they used for cultivation.

Zheng Yifei no longer needs to spend half of the two thousand spirit stones he earns every day on buying pills; he can save them all.

Once the capital chain is established, the cultivation speed will increase dramatically.

Zhao Ling'er herself also consumed and refined a large amount of spiritual energy during the alchemy process, and her cultivation level visibly increased.

On the fifteenth day, she broke through to the fifth level of Qi Refining, and the spiritual liquid in her Qi Sea was nearly twice as thick as that of other cultivators at the same level.

Zhang Biao's cultivation at the ninth level of Qi Refining has been stabilized. He uses high-grade Spirit Gathering Pills every day to solidify his foundation and accumulate resources for his future attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

On the night of the fifteenth day, Zheng Yifei sat cross-legged in the center of the Spirit Gathering Array and swallowed the twelfth high-grade Spirit Gathering Pill.

After half a month of bombardment with pills, the barrier at the peak of the seventh level of Qi Refining has become as thin as a cicada's wing.

The spiritual energy surged through the meridians, repeatedly striking the transparent barrier.

He was not impatient, his breathing was steady, and his heart rate was 62 beats per minute, just like usual.

In his past life at the gambling table, his heart rate never exceeded 65 until the last card was revealed.

The thirteenth pill was swallowed.

The medicinal power transformed into a scalding torrent, merging with the spiritual liquid that had accumulated in the Qi Sea for half a month, and simultaneously surging towards the barrier.

broken.

The spiritual energy quietly flowed into the newly opened meridian area, the Qi Sea expanded again, and the bones in the body emitted a series of fine, crisp sounds.

Zheng Yifei opened his eyes.

Qi Refining Level 8.

He clenched his fist, and a beam of spiritual energy condensed at his fingertips. It was a shade brighter than when he was at the seventh level of Qi Refining, and the end of the beam carried a faint, sharp sound of air being cut.

The penetrating power of the Spiritual Rhinoceros Finger has increased by at least 50%.

Pushing open the door, the night breeze carried the chill of early autumn.

Zhang Biao was dozing off against a pillar when he heard the noise. He opened his eyes, glanced at Zheng Yifei, and grinned.

"Eight floors already?"

"Um."

"How many more days until the Qingyun Sect's recruitment drive?"

Zheng Yifei looked up at the night sky; the moon was missing a corner.

"Three days."

He leaned against the doorframe, his gaze passing over the roof of the inn and landing on the towering pagoda in the center of Qingyun City that disappeared into the clouds.

That is the Welcoming Peak of the Qingyun Sect.

Three days later, the most talented young cultivators in the entire Southern Wilderness will gather there to compete for the less than two hundred spots for outer disciples.

Eighth level of Qi Refining, seventeen years old.

This standard should be sufficient for entering the Qingyun Sect.