I run a casino in the immortal realm.

Gu Jianhua pushed open the door to the main room. Inside, four people were huddled behind a square table. The second sister buried her face in her mother's lap, and Chongtian stopped crying, but her eyes were still red. Zheng Dashan sat in the main seat, his hands supporting him on the table, the veins on the back of his hands bulging.

"Old Zheng, pack your things, let's leave now."

Zheng Dashan looked up at him, his mouth opening twice.

"Where...where to?"

"Qingyun Sect, your son is waiting over there."

Zheng Dashan didn't move.

He turned and looked around the house. His son had bought the house for him, and he had only lived there for half a year. It had cost several hundred spirit stones, and the furniture inside was all new. He was a little reluctant to give it up all at once.

"That house...and these things..."

"Take all the furniture, but forget about the house."

Gu Jianhua walked to the corner, waved his hand, and the cupboard and the tableware inside disappeared together, disappearing into a storage bag.

Zheng Dashan was stunned.

Gu Jianhua didn't stop. He turned around and went into the bedroom, clearing away the bedding, clothes trunk, and lamp stand in the blink of an eye.

They went into the kitchen and took away the rice jar, oil jar, salt jar, half a pot of braised meat, and a bundle of firewood.

In less than ten breaths, the entire house was moved down to just the four walls.

"Let's go."

Gu Jianhua was already standing at the gate of the courtyard.

"Wait a moment."

Zheng Dashan finally found his voice: "I have to go back to my hometown and tell my parents. I also have two brothers; I can't just leave without saying goodbye—"

"no."

Gu Jianhua's tone left no room for negotiation.

"Those four people were there to kidnap you, not to kill you. What will they do if the kidnapping fails?"

First, send a different group of people; second, go to your hometown and ambush you.

"If you go back now and expose your parents and brothers to them, do you think they can stop you?"

Zheng Dashan shut his mouth.

He didn't understand the struggles in the cultivation world, but he understood one thing—his son sending someone to protect them meant that things were serious.

"The head of the household."

Zheng stood up, her voice no longer trembling. She held her second sister's hand in one hand and pulled Chongtian with the other: "Let's go, Yifei is waiting."

Zheng Dashan took a deep breath and took one last look at the empty room.

Six months ago, he was lying in the shantytown of Heishanfang City, badly injured and on the verge of death. His family was crammed into a drafty thatched hut, and they couldn't even afford ten spirit coins.

Later, they moved into this house and got a spirit table, a spirit cotton bed, and a heated stove.

He thought life would continue like this, but he never expected that his peaceful days would be disrupted so quickly.

Gu Jianhua led the four people out of the courtyard, took out a palm-sized spirit boat from his storage bag, and threw it into the air. The spirit boat instantly grew larger, becoming a huge flying boat that hovered in the air.

The boat, three zhang long, was made entirely of spirit wood, with fine acceleration patterns carved on the hull. A light blue spiritual light shield covered the top of the boat. This was Zheng Yifei's superior spirit boat, a gift from the sect leader.

Gu Jianhua activated his spiritual power, wrapped the four people up, and sent them onto the spirit boat.

The speed of a superior spirit boat is unmatched by ordinary flying boats. The moment spiritual energy was injected, the boat surged forward, the ground receded rapidly, and the lights of Black Mountain Market shrank into a single point of light within three breaths before disappearing into the night.

The wind was kept out by the protective shield, and there was no sound inside the boat.

The second sister leaned over the gunwale and looked down. On the dark earth, she could occasionally see one or two lights from the market, like scattered gold dust on a black cloth.

"Mom, it's so high."

Zheng pulled her back and made her sit down beside her.

Less than fifteen minutes.

Gu Jianhua's voice came from the bow of the boat: "We've arrived."

Zheng Dashan stood up, walked to the bow of the boat, and looked ahead.

His breath hitched for a moment. The journey of five thousand miles was completed in less than a quarter of an hour. It was unbelievable.

The sight beneath him shocked him even more.

The main peak of the Qingyun Sect stood tall under the night sky, its summit adorned with a array of spiritual lamps that shone like a crown of light, illuminating half the horizon. Around the main peak, a dozen or so secondary peaks were scattered about, each shimmering with spiritual light, amidst surging clouds. The spiritual energy was so dense that even he, a cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining, could feel a tingling sensation on his skin.

This is the Qingyun Sect.

The flying boat landed at the foot of Qingyun Sect's mountain. Zheng Yifei was already waiting there.

He was wearing the standard robe of the Inspectorate, with a token hanging at his waist, his hands behind his back, and the night wind blowing up a corner of his robe.

Zheng Dashan stepped off the flying boat and looked at his son.

He wanted to say a lot, such as how were you doing in the sect, who exactly sent those people, and that you shouldn't worry too much.

But what he said first was, "You've lost weight."

Zheng Yifei smiled.

"It's nothing. I've just been too busy cultivating lately and haven't been sleeping much."

"Big brother!"

The second sister ran over and hugged Zheng Yifei around the waist. Chongtian followed behind, too embarrassed to hug her back, but his eyes welled up with tears.

Zheng Yifei squatted down, patted his sister's head, and then patted his brother's shoulder.

"Let's go, let's go to our accommodation first."

He had informed Xu Jian in advance that the Xu family had an unused courtyard in Qingyunfang City, with enough empty guest rooms to accommodate four people.

That evening, Zheng Dashan and his family settled in the Xu family's courtyard.

Zheng Yifei did not stay long.

After settling his family in, he and Gu Jianhua stood outside the courtyard for a while.

"Uncle Gu, thank you for your hard work."

Gu Jianhua pulled out four storage bags from his sleeve; they belonged to the four masked men.

"There's nothing valuable inside, just a few low-level magic artifacts, a little over two hundred spirit stones, and a stack of quest talismans."

"Quest token?"

"It was an employment arrangement, unsigned, but the traces of residual spiritual energy can be traced."

Zheng Yifei took it, looked through it, and put it into his storage bag.

"Don't pursue it now; use it when the time is right."

Evidence is a valuable asset if left unused, but becomes worthless if used prematurely.

The next morning, Zheng Yifei went to the General Affairs Hall.

Kim Jong-won was drinking tea in his office on the second floor when he saw him come in and put down his teacup.

"Xiao Zheng, sit down."

"Master, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Zheng Yifei briefly explained the situation, saying that his family was not safe outside and he wanted to bring them to the sect for resettlement. He did not mention the details of the kidnapping, only saying that "someone has made a move." Jin Zhengyuan understood.

"The sect has a rule that mid-level managers can place their immediate family members within the sect's jurisdiction. This is a benefit, and you are qualified."

Jin Zhengyuan flipped through the booklets in the drawer: "I'll approve a courtyard house for you in the eastern part of the market, not far from the Inspector's Building, so it'll be convenient to come and go."

He picked up a pen, signed his name on a warrant, and stamped it with the seal of the General Affairs Office.

How many children do you have in your family?

"One younger brother and one younger sister; the younger brother is eight years old, and the younger sister is ten years old."

"Students can enroll in the sect's academy by transferring in. Children of managers and above are admitted without examination, and cultivation resources are allocated according to internal standards."

Jin Zhengyuan handed over the order: "The instructors at the academy are all Foundation Establishment cultivators. They teach all the basics of cultivation techniques, formations, and pills. It's better than any other academy outside. If your younger siblings are ambitious enough to reach the seventh level of Qi Refining, they can be exempted from the assessment and directly become outer disciples."

Zheng Yifei accepted the order, stood up, and saluted.

"Thank you, Master."

"What are you thanking me for?"

Jin Zhengyuan waved his hand: "You earn an extra 150 million spirit stones for the sect every month, so giving you ten courtyard houses wouldn't be too much to ask. Hurry up and get the paperwork done, don't delay the children's schooling."

That afternoon, Zheng Yifei moved into a courtyard house in the eastern district with his family.

The courtyard wasn't large, with three main rooms, two side rooms, a kitchen, and a washroom. An old locust tree stood in the center, beneath which lay a spiritual spring well. The spiritual spring well was crucial—its water contained spiritual energy, and drinking it year-round could strengthen the body and provide supplementary benefits for low-level cultivators.

This configuration isn't considered top-tier within the Qingyun Sect, but it's something you can't buy even if you have the money in the outside market.

Zheng Dashan stood in the courtyard and walked around three times.

He touched the courtyard wall; it was made of spirit stone, so sturdy that even a hammer couldn't break it. He looked at the doors and windows of the main house, framed with spirit wood and inlaid with soundproofing patterns. He squatted down to examine the floor tiles; each one was polished perfectly, with not a single weed visible in the gaps.

"One flight."

"Um."

Zheng Dashan squatted on the ground without looking up.

"How many spirit stones does this place cost per month?"

"It's free; it's allocated by the sect."

Zheng Dashan remained silent for a while.

He stood up and patted off non-existent dust from his knees.

"Um... can Second Sister and Chongtian really go to the children's school?"

"It's all taken care of. I'll be starting school tomorrow."

Zheng Dashan's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

He recalled what had happened a few months ago. In the shantytown of Heishanfang, his second sister and Chongtian couldn't even afford to attend a regular elementary school. The tuition, five spirit coins a month, was something the whole family had to scrimp and save to barely afford.

Now, in the sect's academy for disciples, Foundation Establishment cultivators serve as instructors, teaching cultivation techniques, formations, and elixirs all together, free of charge.

He had lived for forty years, struggling at the very bottom of society, cultivating spiritual fields, carrying ore, getting injured, and going hungry. He never imagined that his child would one day be able to sit in such a place and study.

"Let's fly!"

"Um."

"Your father is incompetent and has dragged you down."

Zheng Yifei looked at his father's back, which was slightly hunched, as if it had been weighed down by something for many years.

"Father, you raised us, that's the greatest achievement."

Zheng Dashan didn't say anything. He walked to the Lingquan Well, shook up a bucket of water, scooped it up, and took a sip.