I run a casino in the immortal realm.

Cangyan Peak is located on the east side of the main peak.

The Seventh Elder Li Zhan's dojo was built on a protruding giant rock at the summit, with cliffs on three sides and stone steps on one side. Mountain winds blow in all year round. The formation blocked the cold air, but could not block the sound of the wind.

The howling wind sounded like some kind of unwilling roar, never ceasing day and night.

Li Zhan stepped into the main hall, kicking the spirit wood door behind him shut.

He walked to the tea table, picked up the thirty-year-old purple clay teapot, and poured half a bowl of tea into the cup. The tea steamed, releasing a delicate fragrance.

He picked it up, but didn't drink it. He stared at his reflection in the cup for a couple of moments.

Then he smashed the teacup on the ground.

Snapped.

Fragments of purple clay splattered on the stone floor, spilling tea and soaking half a foot of floor tiles.

Li Zhan stood in front of the mess, his chest heaving violently, his hands gripping the edge of the tea table, his knuckles turning white.

Hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

"Seventh Uncle?"

Li Xian pushed the door open and entered. He immediately noticed the broken cup and tea stains on the floor. He paused for a moment, then quickly closed the door and walked to Li Zhan's side.

"What happened?"

Li Zhan did not answer immediately. He straightened up, walked to the window, and looked towards the main peak. In the twilight, the Tianyuan Palace was only a blurry outline, and the spirit lamps on the palace roof had just been lit, looking like a cold light from afar.

"During today's elders' meeting, guess what the sect leader rewarded Zheng Yifei with?"

Li Xian stood behind him without saying a word.

"Supreme Foundation Establishment Pill".

Li Xian's pupils contracted slightly.

"A top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill?"

Li Zhan turned around, his expression a mix of anger and disgust: "The entire sect only produces a few seeds a year. The inner disciples are lining up to get them. My Li family's direct disciple, Li Qingyun, has been applying for two years and hasn't received a single one. The sect leader just waved his hand and gave him a disciple with five spiritual roots."

Li Xian clenched his teeth, his jaw muscles tensing.

"Not just this."

Li Zhan lowered his voice, which carried a gloomy tone: "He mentioned something called 'newspaper office' in the hall, saying that he wanted to start a newspaper that would compile news from the sect and market conditions in various places, and spread it throughout the entire sect."

The sect leader immediately approved the plan, giving him a month to produce one, and if successful, it would be handed over to the supervisory department to lead its operation.

Li Xian's expression changed.

"A newspaper? Spread throughout the entire clan?"

"right."

Li Zhan's gaze shifted to a stack of spiritual papers on the tea table, which were quarterly reports on the family business compiled by his subordinates: "Think about it, if the prices of spiritual materials in all the markets were published in the newspapers, and all independent cultivators could see them, how could our Li family's spiritual material shops in the Xiling Market Cluster do business?"

Li Xian remained silent.

He knew it all too well.

The majority of the profits from the Li family's spiritual materials business do not come from the materials themselves, but from information asymmetry.

The Xiling Market Cluster is remote and isolated from news. The price of spiritual materials outside has dropped by 30%, but the independent cultivators in Xiling are completely unaware of this. The Li family's shops sell at the original price, and with each transaction, their profits double.

The new tax law has already cut the Li family's profits by 20%. All the taxes they evaded before have now been blocked. The rules for invoices and bookkeeping are like a net, recording every single transaction clearly.

If another newspaper were to publish all the market prices, the Li family's spirit material shop would basically be left with only their hard-earned money.

"Seventh Uncle, did he mention the tax evasion of those seventeen Class A merchants in court?"

Li Zhan sneered: "It was mentioned, but no names were named. They said something about 'the chain of evidence not being closed yet,' and kept two backups, one in the Inspectorate and one in the General Affairs Office."

Li Xian felt a chill run down his spine.

Of the seventeen Class A merchants, three are under the Li family's name, and two others are their front men. If Zheng Yifei completes the chain of evidence and presents it to the sect leader, the consequences will be severe.

"We can't let him get any more powerful."

Li Xian's voice deepened.

Li Zhan turned around, sat down in the chair, crossed one leg over the other, and tapped the armrest with his knuckles.

"You think I don't want to touch him?"

His tone turned colder: "He stays inside the Inspectorate and doesn't come out. He's with Gu Jianhua by his side. Although that old man is only at the late Foundation Establishment stage, he's extremely loyal. Within the Inspectorate's territory, he's equivalent to half a Golden Core cultivator."

Besides, the Inspectorate is located within the General Affairs Department's jurisdiction, Kim Jong-won's territory, so I can't take action myself.

Li Xian pursed his lips.

He knew his uncle was telling the truth.

Since becoming the chief inspector, Zheng Yifei has almost never left the core area of ​​the Qingyun Sect. He works in the inspectorate during the day and cultivates in his assigned residence at night. Gu Jianhua accompanies him when he goes out, and he travels by flying boat. Even when he goes down the mountain to make purchases, he has his subordinates handle it.

A cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining protected himself extremely well.

What made Li Xian even more furious was the ambush incident at Baishifang Market last month.

That was all his doing.

When Li Pei, the leader of the Eighth Inspection Team, led a team to inspect the Baishifang market area, Li Xian arranged for a cousin who was in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and four Qi Refining Peak assassins to ambush him in the Spirit Vein Valley.

Li Pei was actually a member of the Li family, but from a collateral branch. With only the early stage of Foundation Establishment cultivation, he was naturally no match for Zheng Yifei. He was injured, but it didn't kill him; it was just a warning to Zheng Yifei.

The three outer disciples who followed him died.

The case has been transferred to Jianfeng for investigation. The whereabouts of the injured one of the three assassins is currently unknown, but he will be caught sooner or later, and then the trail will be followed—

"Seventh Uncle, the matter of Baishifang Market must be completely resolved."

Li Xian lowered his voice.

"It's already broken."

Li Zhan's tone remained unchanged: "I've already had the wounded assassin dealt with. His body has been absorbed into the depths of the spiritual vein, leaving not even a trace of bone."

Li Xian breathed a sigh of relief, but only for a moment.

"But even if the tail is cut off, the problem remains."

Li Xian sat down opposite Li Zhan, crossed his hands on the table, and leaned forward: "Seventh Uncle, Zheng Yifei is now a favorite of the sect leader. The new tax law has earned the sect an extra 150 million every month. This achievement is well-deserved. As long as he doesn't make any mistakes, the sect leader won't touch him."

"It's too risky for us to act within the sect. If we're found out, whether the sect leader protects him or not is another matter, but purging our Li family first is a certainty."

Li Zhan stopped tapping his fingers.

He looked at his nephew with a deep gaze.

"What are you trying to say?"

Li Xian's voice dropped another half-degree.

"Take action against his family."

The hall was quiet for three breaths.

The sound of wind squeezed in through the cracks in the window, and the flame of the spirit lamp flickered.

Where are his family members?

Li Zhan asked.

"Heishanfang City is under the jurisdiction of the Su family."

Li Xian was prepared: "I had someone check, and Zheng Yifei has a younger sister and a younger brother."

His father, Zheng Dashan, was at the third level of Qi Refining, and his mother was at the second level of Qi Refining; both worked at the Zhao Family Restaurant in Black Mountain.

Li Zhan didn't speak, and his fingers began tapping the armrest again.

Once, twice, three times.

"you mean--"

"Don't kill."

Li Xian held up one finger: "If we kill his family, he'll go insane. A madman holding evidence of tax evasion by seventeen Class A merchants is capable of anything. We can't corner him."

"So what do you plan to do?"

"Kidnapping".

Li Xian's lips curled slightly, but there was no smile in his eyes: "Get his whole family out of Sujiafang Market, then spread the word that his family is in our hands, but we haven't harmed them. The conditions are very simple."

He held up three fingers.

"First, the evidence of the seventeen Class A merchants has been destroyed, and the case is closed."

Second, the newspaper's proposal was withdrawn or delayed until it was abandoned.

Third, the enforcement of the new tax law should be relaxed somewhat to give people a way to make a living.

Li Zhan stared at him for five breaths.

"What if he doesn't agree?"

He will agree.

Li Xian's tone was very certain: "I have investigated his background. He is a poor kid from Heishanfang City. The thing that this kind of person fears most is not his own death, but something happening to his family."

Li Zhan stopped tapping his fingers.

He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, as if weighing something.

This plan has an advantage: it doesn't require any action within the sect. Everything happens in the market outside the sect, so the sect elders have no connection to it when investigated.

The Su family is responsible for maintaining order in Heishanfang City. The kidnapping incident is a dereliction of duty on the part of the Su family, and has nothing to do with the Li family.