I run a casino in the immortal realm.

Top-grade Foundation Building Pill.

The eyes of all nine elders in the hall fell on Xu Tianyang.

The Seventh Elder opened his mouth slightly, then closed it again.

Fifth Elder Su Chenyuan paused his teacup at his lips, only putting it down two breaths later.

Those present knew the significance of this pill better than Zheng Yifei.

Throughout the entire Qingyun Sect, there is only one fourth-level alchemist, and that is Qin Cang, the peak master of Danfeng.

Qin Cang refines no more than five top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills a year; four are distributed to the sect, and one is kept for Pill Peak's own use.

The four stones allocated by the sect have enough people—inner sect prodigies, direct descendants of elders, and core disciples—to circle the main peak three times in a row.

Xu Tianyang took out a pill and gave it to an outsider disciple who had no background.

"metropolitan--"

The Seventh Elder sat up straight, his tone somewhat stiff.

Xu Tianyang raised his hand slightly, but the Seventh Elder's words remained stuck in his throat.

"A top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill in exchange for a talent who can earn an extra 150 million spirit stones for the sect every month—the calculation isn't hard."

The Seventh Elder shut his mouth.

Zheng Yifei stood in the hall, his gratitude perfectly expressed.

But he was calculating something else in his mind.

A top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill has a success rate of about 20% to 30% for cultivators with five spiritual roots after taking it.

Stacking five together can increase the success rate to over 90%.

One, three-tenths.

A person who has gambled for half their life will not risk their entire fortune on a 30% chance.

The remaining four, we'll have to figure out ourselves.

A top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill costs 500,000 spirit stones, so four pills would cost 2 million.

However, finished products are not available on the market; they are priced but not available. The only way is to find a fourth-level alchemist to refine them privately.

In total, at least two million spirit stones' worth of materials and pills are needed to have a chance of collecting four pills.

Two million, and that doesn't even include the cost of befriending a fourth-level alchemist.

The income of Tianyuan Gambling House is less than 30,000 spirit stones a month, and it would take six years to save up two million.

Six years is too long.

The lifespan limit for the ninth level of Qi Refining is 120 years. If one does not establish a foundation before the age of 40, there is basically no chance. His body is 17 years old this year, so he has plenty of time, but his opponents will not give him six years of peace.

Tax reform has affected the interests of too many people. He knows who is behind those seventeen Class A merchants who evaded taxes.

Money needs to be earned faster.

"Thank you for your generous gift, Sect Master."

Zheng Yifei saluted with perfect form and a calm tone.

Xu Tianyang nodded, and a eunuch came over carrying a purple-gold box. The box was opened, and inside was a layer of spiritual velvet cloth. In the center lay a pill the size of a longan, pure white, with faint five-colored light flowing across its surface. The fragrance of the pill was so strong that it almost solidified.

Zheng Yifei took the box and put it into his storage bag.

"Zheng Yifei".

Xu Tianyang's voice rang out again.

"Disciple is here."

"You've worked in the General Affairs Hall for over three months and have gained some understanding of the sect's operations. In your opinion, what aspects of sect management could be improved?"

Upon hearing this, the nine elders refocused their attention.

Asking a Qi Refining Level 9 disciple for advice on sect management is either testing his knowledge or probing his ambition.

Zheng Yifei did not answer on the spot.

He looked down at the tips of his boots, as if he were thinking, but in reality, the answer had already rolled around in his mind seven or eight times.

"Sect Master, I have an idea. Please correct me if I say anything incorrect."

"explain."

"When I was implementing the new tax law, I discovered a problem—the Qingyun Sect's territory covers an area of ​​five thousand miles, with dozens of markets and a population of over one billion. However, it takes at least three days, and sometimes as long as seven days or even half a month, for the sect's decrees to be implemented from the main peak to the most remote markets."

He paused for a moment.

"Information flows too slowly."

Xu Tianyang didn't speak, but leaned forward slightly.

For example,

Zheng Yifei spoke slowly and deliberately: "Last month, an incident of price gouging occurred in Baishifang Market. After the Baishifang Market manager dealt with it, the news reached the General Affairs Hall five days later."

Within five days, the spiritual material shops in the three neighboring markets seized the opportunity to raise prices. By the time the sect's control order arrived, hundreds of independent cultivator families had already purchased spiritual materials at inflated prices and lost everything.

The Third Elder nodded. He knew about this matter and had even scolded the manager of Baishifang Market at the time.

"If a sect had a system that could deliver information to all markets and independent cultivators on the same day, this wouldn't have happened."

"You mean a teleportation talisman?"

Fifth Elder Su Chenyuan spoke up, his tone casual: "The sect's emergency decrees are transmitted using flying message talismans."

"The teleportation talisman is a point-to-point transmission; a message can only be sent to one person, and only high-level cultivators can use it."

Zheng Yifei shook his head: "What I'm talking about is one-to-many—one message being sent to 100,000, 1 million, or even 100 million people at the same time."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

"How do I do it?"

Xu Tianyang asked.

"Open a newspaper."

Zheng Yifei paused for a moment to organize his thoughts.

"Using communication talismans as a medium, information from various regions, such as sect decrees, major events in local markets, prices of various materials, and important sect matters, is collected and compiled into 'daily reports' or 'ten-day reports.' After being edited uniformly by the newspaper office, it is then transmitted via a modified mass communication array."

Alternatively, it could be printed as a newspaper and sent directly to receiving points in various markets via superior spirit boats, where it would then be sold to ordinary people.

Xu Tianyang became interested: "Continue."

"The newspaper has three functions."

Zheng Yifei held up three fingers.

"First, sect decrees, tax regulations, and various announcements are issued and delivered on the same day, eliminating concerns about delays or distortions in the intermediate links."

"Secondly, information such as the market prices of spiritual materials, bounties for spiritual beasts, and mission announcements in various markets will be published in a centralized manner. Cultivators can know the price of spiritual materials in markets three miles away in the morning, and will no longer be deceived by local merchants. With information transparency, the market will naturally become more regulated."

The Fourth Elder's brow twitched slightly. The words were unpleasant to hear, but the logic was sound.

"third--"

Zheng Yifei withdrew his finger, his tone softening slightly.

"Newspapers can publish commercial information. Merchants who want to advertise their magical artifacts and elixirs in newspapers can pay according to the size of the page. With the coverage of the Qingyun Sect's population of over one billion, the effect of a Grade A merchant placing a 'GG' in the newspaper is equivalent to shouting at the market gate for ten years."

"The GG fee is collected by the newspaper, which is pure profit. I have roughly estimated that if the newspaper covers all ten jurisdictions of the sect, the GG revenue alone will be no less than 50 million spirit stones per month."

Fifty million.

Another round of discussion broke out inside the hall.

Xu Tianyang nodded: "Your 'newspaper' is interesting. Besides conveying government orders and its commercial functions, what else can it do?"

Zheng Yifei was waiting for these words.

"entertainment."

His tone was perfectly controlled, neither enthusiastic nor indifferent: "Newspapers can publish serialized stories, tales of immortal cultivation, the everyday lives of ordinary people, and even some brain teasers and quizzes for readers to enjoy."

Cultivators are human too, and they need entertainment. With entertainment content, newspaper sales and readership will increase significantly, and GG fees will rise accordingly.

A guessing game.

He spoke those four words very softly, blending them into a pile of "storybooks" and "strange tales," where they went unnoticed.

But that is the core of his entire plan.

With newspapers, information channels covering over a billion people across the country, and a legal framework for "guessing games," the infrastructure for lotteries was complete.

Xu Tianyang pondered for a moment and then glanced at the council of elders.

"What are your opinions?"

The Third Elder nodded first: "We can give it a try. Information flow is indeed a weakness in the sect's management, and we've suffered a lot from this over the years."

Fifth Elder Su Chenyuan put down his teacup: "If the newspaper can be established, it will also help stabilize public sentiment. Lower-level cultivators are poorly informed, and rumors spread faster than flying swords. Having an official channel to set things right will save a lot of trouble."

The Seventh Elder snorted, but did not object.

Xu Tianyang took the spirit paper back and glanced at Zheng Yifei.

"Within a month, produce a complete plan and a sample project. If you do a good job, the newspaper will be handed over to your inspection department for operation, with staffing and funding approved separately."

Zheng Yifei bowed and said, "This disciple obeys."

As we emerged from Tianyuan Hall, dusk had already settled on the middle of the main peak.

Zheng Yifei boarded the airship, and Gu Jianhua piloted it into the air.

A gust of wind blew in, and Zheng Yifei stood at the bow of the boat, his fingers unconsciously twisting his sleeve.

His plan not only came ahead of schedule, but was also half successful.