"Come, I'll treat you to a meal! Tell me in detail how you made those guesses," the young man said.

Su Yuan's expression turned peculiar. This scene felt familiar—was Niu Bin's tactic about to be used on him again?

"Ahem, senior brother, I haven't had the honor of knowing your name yet?"

The young man showed a nostalgic expression: "It's been so long since anyone mentioned my name that I almost forgot it myself. I'm Gu Qingzhu!"

"So it's Senior Brother Gu!" Su Yuan nodded, then asked, "Senior brother must be an inner disciple, right?"

"Something like that."

"Will senior brother be participating in the inner sect competition?"

"No!" the young man countered, "What about you?"

"Of course I'm not participating!" Su Yuan shrugged, "I'm only at the fourth level of Qi Refining."

He looked sharply at the young man and said, "Senior Brother Gu, are you thinking of setting up a betting ring? Let me say this upfront—I really don't have any special insight. My earlier guesses were completely random!"

Sect Leader Gu nearly tripped over Su Yuan's sudden shift in thinking.

After a moment of speechlessness, his eyes sparkled as he patted Su Yuan's shoulder: "Hahaha, junior brother has sharp eyes! I didn't expect you to see right through my little idea!"

Su Yuan adopted a knowing expression: "I knew it! How could there be an inner sect competition without betting rings? But this kind of business isn't easy to run. Senior brother should be careful—the sect authorities will definitely investigate, won't they?"

Sect Leader Gu pondered for a moment: "I haven't seen any sect rules prohibiting it."

Su Yuan looked surprised: "Really? None at all?"

Sect Leader Gu shook his head: "None whatsoever."

"Our sect leaders are that lax? Ah, worrying prospects for the future!" Su Yuan exclaimed in astonishment.

Watching Su Yuan criticize the sect leadership to his face, Sect Leader Gu didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Alright, come with me. I want to discuss this with you."

"Fine, I'll just give some advice—no guarantees about anything else!"

"Good, no problem!"

Soon they arrived at a restaurant and ordered a table full of dishes.

Then Sect Leader Gu watched dumbfounded as Su Yuan devoured the food like a whirlwind—within dozens of breaths, the entire table of dishes had disappeared into Su Yuan's stomach.

Su Yuan said apologetically: "Sorry about that—it's been a month since I've eaten my fill like this. A bit impolite of me!"

Sect Leader Gu waved it off, looking at Su Yuan's stomach: "Your stomach seems... unusual."

Su Yuan said calmly: "It's natural—I have a good appetite."

Sect Leader Gu didn't press further, asking instead: "About that betting ring you mentioned—how should we do it to make it profitable? From what you said, you seem experienced?"

"I wouldn't call it experience. In my view, the key to running a betting ring is creating information asymmetry. The more you know about the competitors, the more complete your information, the greater your chances of winning!"

Su Yuan spoke eloquently, "Also, you need to learn to mislead others. While collecting the most complete data, you simultaneously publicize only partial information about the competitors through other channels, hiding critical details to artificially create information asymmetry. Then when you set the odds, your chances of winning will be much higher!"

"Hiding information isn't the same as spreading false information. Even if others lose, they can't complain—it's a guaranteed profitable business! Of course, this all requires a powerful intelligence network. Without some status, I'd advise against trying it."

He gave this well-meaning warning to Senior Brother Gu.

Hearing this, Sect Leader Gu nodded understandingly: "How much spirit stone profit do you think we could make this way?"

"Probably several million spirit stones?" Su Yuan said casually.

Sect Leader Gu's eyes gleamed: "How could it possibly be that much? Several million spirit stones is no small amount!"

"That's actually a conservative estimate. Our sect has over a hundred thousand disciples. Although most are servant disciples, each having dozens of spirit stones saved up isn't a problem. Then there are outer disciples—assets of several hundred to a thousand spirit stones are normal."

"Inner disciples are even richer, with thousands to tens of thousands of spirit stones each. On average, each person could easily spare a hundred spirit stones. If we win half of that, wouldn't that be several million spirit stones?"

Su Yuan chuckled: "All that said, I was just joking. Even if we pulled it off, the sect leaders would surely take the profits, and we might even get punished. So you should keep it small—don't go too big!"

Senior Brother Gu asked: "Would you be interested in running this betting ring with me?"

Su Yuan pointed at himself in surprise: "Me? Senior brother trusts me that much?"

"I think you're talented!" Sect Leader Gu affirmed.

Su Yuan quickly waved his hands: "I won't do it. I don't like being in the spotlight—it invites trouble."

"Ten percent!" Sect Leader Gu said.

"What?" Su Yuan looked puzzled.

"I'll give you ten percent of the profits. You handle the public side—the betting ring, intelligence, publicity. I'll take care of the rest!" Sect Leader Gu declared, "We'll conservatively make over a hundred thousand spirit stones—ten percent would be over ten thousand for you!"

Su Yuan exclaimed: "You're that capable?"

"I'm actually a core disciple!" Sect Leader Gu smiled faintly.

"That's too risky!" Su Yuan shook his head.

"Twenty percent!" Sect Leader Gu held up two fingers.

Su Yuan swallowed hard but still shook his head: "Senior Brother Gu, I'm not that kind of person!"

"Thirty percent!" Sect Leader Gu raised three fingers.

Su Yuan looked sharply at Gu Qingzhu, hesitating: "The sect rules really don't prohibit this?"

"You can check the rules yourself—there's truly no such prohibition. Even if the sect eventually blames us, at worst they'll confiscate your spirit stones with no further punishment!" Sect Leader Gu said with certainty.

"Senior brother, do you really think so highly of me? We just met today!" Su Yuan said.

"I felt an instant connection!" Sect Leader Gu affirmed, "I'm not really interested in spirit stones—I just think running a betting ring would be fun. You seem like my kind of person—just say yes or no!"

Su Yuan quickly reviewed the sect rules in his mind—there really were no regulations about gambling or betting rings, not even any mention of punishment!

"I need to think about it," Su Yuan said.

"Tomorrow! I'll give you the most detailed information about the inner sect competition so you can assess my capabilities! Then give me your answer—this opportunity won't come again!" Sect Leader Gu said with a light laugh.

"We'll talk tomorrow then!" Su Yuan nodded.

Su Yuan knew that getting thirty percent meant he'd bear corresponding risks. But risk and reward were proportional—the potential profit of tens of thousands of spirit stones was enormous!

Wealth, companionship, cultivation methods, and land—wealth came first!

At worst, he could make a profit then hide in the Trial Secret Realm. Who could follow him there?

Truthfully, Su Yuan was tempted, but he still needed to investigate.

After they parted, Sect Leader Gu ordered a Golden Core elder to prepare information about the inner sect competition disciples while forging core disciple identity documents under the name Gu Qingzhu.

Meanwhile, Su Yuan summoned Song Cai, instructing him to investigate whether betting rings had been set up in past competitions and to look into Gu Qingzhu's background.

Song Cai naturally didn't dare delay, working through the night to investigate.

He reported back late that night.

"Senior brother, no one has run betting rings these past years. Everyone seems to instinctively assume the sect prohibits it, but the rules indeed have no explicit prohibition. I also found basic information about Gu Qingzhu—there really is a core disciple at Mysterious Extremes Peak by that name, at least at Foundation Establishment realm. More detailed information wasn't available," Song Cai reported.

Su Yuan stroked his chin: "If he's truly a core disciple, he could handle over a hundred thousand spirit stones. Others wouldn't know I'm getting thirty percent—they'd just think I'm a pawn sent by the core disciple."

He sensed this venture had potential. The money wasn't the main point—he just enjoyed helping others!

It was somewhat risky, but Su Yuan had another consideration—he could gain some reputation points this way!

Although he didn't usually take risks for reputation points, within the sect, the danger was minimal. This was an excellent opportunity worth trying.

Speaking of the system, he glanced at his panel.

What he saw shocked him.

[Name]: Su Yuan

[Region]: Green Vine Continent

[Level]: Rising Fame (1126/10,000)

[Realm]: Qi Refining Stage Fourth Layer (99/100)

[Trait 1]: Work-Life Balance: You excel at balancing work and rest. The longer you rest, the better your cultivation results. Current rest time: 41 days 8 hours

[Trait 2]: Natural Dao: You have a talent for comprehending nature. Find it easier to perceive the Great Dao from natural wonders.

[Trait 3]: To Be Selected

"When did I gain over a hundred more reputation points? It's only been one day!"

Su Yuan found this strange.

"I turned off system notifications—that was a mistake. Better turn them back on."

After saying this, Su Yuan waited briefly but saw no increase in reputation points.

Shaking his head, he focused on Trait 3.

Three lines of text appeared before his eyes:

[Split Focus]: You excel at multitasking. Can perform multiple tasks simultaneously.

[Unblocked Meridians]: All your meridians are completely unobstructed, increasing cultivation speed.

[Seven Stars Shine]: You form a mysterious connection with the Big Dipper, with many wonderful effects.

Su Yuan pondered. He immediately eliminated the second option—with [Work-Life Balance] already boosting his cultivation speed, this would be redundant.

The first option—multitasking—was good. It could even enhance immediate combat power. Ordinary cultivators could only control one or two magical implements, but he could simultaneously control four or five, fighting multiple opponents!

He might even shine in the inner sect competition!

But Su Yuan had read that some special techniques already provided this ability, with Divine Extremes Peak's signature skill being one example. Since this could be acquired later, it wasn't worth using a trait slot now.

The last option seemed more mystical, but Su Yuan already had the mystical [Natural Dao] as Trait 2. The two might synergize.

Therefore, Su Yuan decided to choose [Seven Stars Shine]!

With this thought, he selected the trait.

Instantly, [Seven Stars Shine] took its place.

Su Yuan looked up and immediately saw seven stars suddenly brighten, their light crossing the starry sky to illuminate his body!

At this critical moment, Su Yuan decisively activated Trait 1 [Work-Life Balance]!

His accumulated rest time instantly reset to zero!