I run a casino in the immortal realm.

As Xu Zhengkun left the Goldlion Casino, a night breeze blew, and the purple-gold mask on his face was removed.

He exhaled a long breath, turned to look at Zheng Yifei beside him, and his eyes no longer held the condescending scrutiny they had at the beginning, but were replaced by undisguised admiration.

"Brother, I'm completely convinced today."

Xu Zhengkun patted Zheng Yifei on the shoulder, his tone tinged with amazement: "That old guy is a top dealer at Goldlion, with a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation level, and his gambling skills are superb."

Not only did you completely dominate him at the gambling table, but the most ruthless thing was the final "tea money" of ten thousand spirit stones.

Having frequented casinos for many years, Xu Zhengkun naturally understood the tricks of the trade.

"If you really win all the money at that table, the boss behind Goldlion will definitely be worried."

Even if I'm here to keep things in check, people might not dare to show their anger openly, but they'll definitely blacklist you behind your back.

But you knew when to quit while you were ahead, not only keeping your winnings but also giving the casino a way out. That composure and maturity is hardly what you'd expect from an eighteen-year-old.

As Xu Zhengkun spoke, the look in his father Xu Tianyang's eyes when he asked him to take a temporary post in the Information Department suddenly flashed through his mind.

He suddenly realized.

Why did his father send him here just to act as a shield for Zheng Yifei?

They clearly saw Zheng Yifei's extraordinary talent and let him make contact with him in advance, so as to completely win this talent over to the Xu family's camp!

With someone who can calculate people's hearts, interests, and advances and retreats to the bone to assist me, how can I not succeed when I take over the Qingyun Sect in the future?

This is like finding a priceless treasure!

Zheng Yifei smiled slightly, took out a thick stack of spirit tickets from his sleeve, a total of 900,000 low-grade spirit stones in exchange vouchers, and handed them to Xu Zhengkun: "Brother Kun, thanks to you tonight, please take these 900,000 as a gift from your younger brother to celebrate your seclusion."

"fart!"

Xu Zhengkun's face hardened, and he shoved Zheng Yifei's hand back: "Do you think I, Xu Zhengkun, need your spirit stones? We agreed that if you lose, it's on me; if you win, you can take it."

"If I took the money you squeezed out of that old man through your own skill, wouldn't I have no face left?"

Not only did Xu Zhengkun not want the 900,000 yuan, he also didn't take back the 50,000 yuan principal he had initially put out.

He reached into his storage bag and pulled out a card with a purple-gold border and intricate patterns, then shoved it into Zheng Yifei's hand.

"This is Goldlion's VIP Gold Card."

Xu Zhengkun lowered his voice: "With this card, you won't need to wear a mask or announce your arrival at Jinlilai Casino. The casino will provide you with the highest level of service. As long as you don't gamble away their entire fortune, this card will be your talisman."

Zheng Yifei held the gold card, which was imbued with warm spiritual energy, and his eyes flickered slightly.

For him, the gambling king of his past life, this card was worth far more than 50,000 spirit stones. It was practically a legal unlimited ATM!

"Thank you, Brother Kun."

Zheng Yifei did not refuse again and carefully put the gold card away.

The two parted ways at the intersection of the market street. Xu Zhengkun was about to officially go into seclusion to break through to the Golden Core stage, while Zheng Yifei turned and walked into the night of Qingyun Market.

Walking alone back to the inspector's building, Zheng Yifei's mind was racing as he began to review his upcoming financial plans.

Cultivating immortality, to put it bluntly, is all about vying for resources.

He is currently at the ninth level of Qi Refining, just one step away from the Great Perfection. Once he begins to prepare for Foundation Establishment, the amount of top-grade pills and spiritual vein formations he will need will be astronomical.

Where does the money come from?

Although the transfer machines (slot machines) in Sujiafang City are extremely profitable, due to the limited production capacity of array plate carving and the market cultivation period, it will take at least three to five years to lay out the plan to cover the entire Qingyun Sect territory.

In the short term, he can only rely on the monthly dividends of more than 20,000 spirit stones from the Tianyuan Gambling House in Sujiafang City. This is a huge sum for ordinary cultivators, but it is just a drop in the bucket for his grand plans.

As for the newly approved Information Department and newspapers...

Zheng Yifei's lips curled into a cold smile. Only he knew that publishing newspapers and creating news was essentially about controlling public opinion within the entire Qingyun Sect.

The ultimate goal of controlling public opinion is to launch the largest lottery in the cultivation world in the future—"Mark Six" and "Cultivation Lottery"!

How terrifying are the profits from lotteries? They're like a harvesting machine, worth hundreds of millions of spirit stones.

However, Zheng Yifei was very clear-headed. Without the martial prowess of someone at the Golden Core stage or above to keep things in check, if he dared to issue lottery tickets now, he would definitely be devoured clean by the nine elders and those envious Nascent Soul stage monsters, and would only be doing the work for someone else.

Therefore, the newspaper office can only be used as an information network for now, and in the early stages, it even needs to continuously invest money and even lose money.

"Currently, the fastest and most stable way to make money, besides casino dividends, is through Goldlion."

Zheng Yifei touched the gold card in his sleeve.

These 900,000 spirit stones, plus the funds that will be "withdrawn" from Goldlion later, will not only solve his own resource problem in breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage, but also provide Zhao Ling'er with sufficient funds for alchemy.

Zhao Ling'er was living a very comfortable life at Danfeng. With his constant supply of spirit stones, her alchemy skills were improving rapidly, and she was just around the corner to become a second-level alchemist.

Three days later, Xu Zhengkun officially announced his seclusion.

Zheng Yifei, on the other hand, devoted all his energy to the establishment of the Information Department.

In the backyard of the General Affairs Office, there is the Listening to the Wind Pavilion.

Inside the spacious council hall, fifteen carefully selected disciples from the General Affairs Hall sat upright.

This is Zheng Yifei's three-month training program for them.

In his previous life on Earth, Zheng Yifei was not only a gambling king, but also a top student from a prestigious university, a highly intelligent individual. Although his major wasn't journalism, he had a general understanding of newspaper formats and operating models.

The eight Foundation Establishment stage inner disciples no longer held the initial disdain in their eyes when they looked at Zheng Yifei, who was sitting in the main seat.

The young sect leader personally stood up for Zheng Yifei and declared before his seclusion, "Anyone who dares to disrespect Zheng Yifei is going against him." This made everyone realize that the young man at the ninth level of Qi Refining was definitely a ruthless character who could not be provoked.

Zheng Yifei stood in front of a huge blackboard made of spirit wood, holding a chalk pen in his hand. He drew a huge circle on it and then divided it into seven sectors.

"The Qingyun Sect's territory comprises seventeen large market clusters, with a population of over one billion independent cultivators."

Zheng Yifei's voice was steady and powerful, echoing in the hall: "Divide this territory into seven major regions. You eight are at the Foundation Establishment stage. Su Tong, you stay."

Zhou Tong, a round-faced early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, immediately stood up when his name was called: "What are your orders, Director?"

"You're quick-witted, so stay at headquarters and be my deputy. You'll be responsible for coordinating the procurement of equipment for the printing workshop, typesetting and review, and the daily scheduling of headquarters."

"yes!"

Su Tong's face lit up with joy.

He is Su Wanqing's cousin, and was planted by the Fifth Elder through Jin Zhengyuan to assist Zheng Yifei.

Zheng Yifei's gaze swept over the remaining seven Foundation Establishment disciples: "As for the seven of you, each of you will be responsible for one region and serve as the director of the regional office of the News Division. Of the one million spirit stones approved by the sect leader, I will allocate one hundred thousand to each of you as start-up capital."

The seven Foundation Establishment disciples were invigorated. The power to control 100,000 spirit stones—that was real power!

Why were you chosen to go?

Zheng Yifei put down his chalk, placed his hands on the table, and swept his extremely imposing gaze across everyone: "Because only Foundation Establishment cultivators can control high-speed flying boats of the third rank or above!"

The first thing I want you to do is to ensure that the newspapers printed by headquarters are spread throughout every corner of your jurisdiction within twelve hours!

At the same time, your Foundation Establishment stage cultivation is enough to deter those local bullies who want to cause trouble.

"Director, we've arrived at the location. What are the specific steps to take?"

A tall, thin Foundation Establishment disciple cupped his hands and asked.

"That's why I called you here today for training."

Zheng Yifei turned around and wrote two large characters heavily on the blackboard: Information.

"Upon arriving in the jurisdiction, the first thing we did was rent a house to serve as the office space for the branch office."

Zheng Yifei's speech quickened, carrying a seductive power that made people's blood boil: "Second, we need to recruit informants and news writers. Don't go running errands yourselves. Go to the teahouses, restaurants, and brothels in the market and find those gossips, storytellers, and down-on-their-luck cultivators."

Tell them that the Information Department will pay them per piece of valuable information!

"An accurate report about a monster's appearance will earn you two spirit stones! A captivating tale of cultivation and adventure will earn you ten spirit stones! If you uncover the dark secrets of any Foundation Establishment family, you'll receive fifty spirit stones upon verification!"

A collective gasp filled the hall.

"A generous reward will surely attract brave men. As long as we spread the word about article fees and information fees, all the independent writers in the entire jurisdiction will become our news department's eyes and ears! We want these billions of independent writers to work for us every day!"