Assassination, Black Clad Shadow Kill!

[You are cursed by rogue cultivators: "You've lost all morality, daring to sell such wicked Healing Powder."]

[You pay them no mind and continue to sell Half-Meter Powder, pricing it at 3 Spirit Stones.]

[You believe these country bumpkin rogue cultivators are all bark and no bite; giving them some cheap goods will quell their anger.]

[Your consistently profit-driven actions, while making the Mu Family coffers overflow, have also completely ruined its accumulated reputation.]

[As a result, many disciples from branch lineages dare not go out alone, fearing a mob beating from rogue cultivators.]

[Your methods have drawn questioning and opposition from some elders, but you haven't listened at all.]

[Because nothing attracts you more than Spirit Stones, and your goals are not as simple as they appear...]

[In the sixth month of the third year, although the Rice Powder and Half-Meter Powder sold by your Mu Family have harmed countless rogue cultivators, your Mu Family's shops are still raking in gold daily.]

[This is because your Mu Family has monopolized the entire Jinzhou County Healing Powder market. Even if the rogue cultivators complain and lament, it's to no avail.]

[In the twelfth month of the third year, just as you were about to successfully condense your Spirit Platform, a hidden palm strike suddenly attacked you!]

[You quickly dodged, but were still hit on one arm. Your right arm was directly shattered!]

[The sudden appearance of the black-clothed person shocked you, and upon sensing their Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation, your face turned bitter.]

["Am I going to fall here?" you thought, already considering retreat.]

[Seeing that the initial strike failed to kill you, the black-clothed person raised their hand and launched another tricky palm strike towards your lower back.]

[At this moment, you no longer hesitated.]

[I'm about to die! A surge of courage rose within you, and you gritted your teeth, saying, "Even if I die, I'll take you down with me! And my plan isn't even finished!"]

[You pulled the Rusty Sword from your storage bag, a bag you naturally bought after acquiring Spirit Stones. A "Wave Shadow Falling Pine South" strike cleaved towards the black-clothed person's palm.]

[Boom!]

[Sword and palm collided, and you were sent flying, spitting up a mouthful of blood.]

[The black-clothed person was also forced back several steps by your sword energy. He hadn't expected a mere Qi Cultivation realm cultivator like you to unleash a sword art comparable to the Foundation Establishment Realm.]

[The immense commotion alerted everyone in the Mu Family. Your grandfather was the first to sense that something had happened to you and immediately rushed towards you.]

[The black-clothed person didn't want to fail. Even as he saw your grandfather approaching in a rage, he still raised his palm to attack you.]

[The corners of your mouth turned up, and you immediately activated the sword energy you had hidden earlier.]

[The sudden appearance of the azure sword energy successfully forced the black-robed man back. By this time, your grandfather had arrived.]

[Seeing you injured, your grandfather was furious. He clenched his fist, a Water Dragon faintly forming, and a Water Dragon Fist struck the black-robed man like a cannonball.]

[The black-clothed person retreated while fighting your grandfather. He knew his plan had failed and sought an opportunity to disengage and escape.]

[But he underestimated your grandfather's strength. He was constantly suppressed by your grandfather, with no chance to break free.]

[Your parents arrived second. Your mother immediately helped you up and gave you a Healing Pill.]

[Your father assisted your grandfather in preparing to capture the black-robed person.]

[They were eager to see who dared to lay a hand on their precious Mu Family darling!]

[Soon, the black-robed person was in full retreat. But just as he was about to be captured by your grandfather, he swallowed a poison pill and committed suicide!]

[Afterward, your arm was severed and difficult to heal. Unless a Mysterious Tier spiritual medicine could be found, but even Golden Core True Persons would covet Mysterious Tier spiritual medicine, making it absolutely impossible for a Foundation Establishment Realm family like yours to access.]

[You were grief-stricken. With your right arm lost, even holding a sword felt unfamiliar. Although you could still perform the Perfection Nan Sword Art, your reaction time and agility in combat had decreased.]

[You also learned from your grandfather that the black-robed person was an assassin from the Shadow Kill Pavilion, certainly hired to assassinate you. You speculated it could be the rogue cultivator group or perhaps rival merchants previously crushed by your Mu Family.]

[What was certain was that the people who wanted to kill you were definitely not just one person, but a group. Because to hire a Foundation Establishment Realm assassin, in Jinzhou County, would require emptying out the foundations of most of the existing Foundation Establishment families.]

[And in Jinzhou County, absolutely no one possessed such financial power.]

[The only two groups you had recently offended were these.]

[Your opportunity to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm was brutally interrupted by the black-clothed person's sneak attack. This caused the Spirit Platform you had condensed to become riddled with cracks, on the verge of shattering at any moment!]

[You wished you could dismember the black-clothed person a thousand times over; letting him simply commit suicide by poison was too lenient.]

[However, the assassination attempt made you realize that even the common folk were not to be trifled with; a cornered dog will jump over the wall. You didn't want to stir up more trouble, so you canceled the sale of Rice Powder and Half-Meter Powder.]

[While you were unscrupulous in business, you always had a purpose. One was to satisfy yourself, and the other was to deal with the old man resembling the Fire Cloud Evil God.]

[Because of your timely persuasion, your grandfather and the Zhang Family's Old Ancestor still chose not to enter the Secret Realm. This bought you a brief period of respite.]

[You didn't want the events from your nightmares to become reality. Your original plan was to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm yourself, then try to use the wealth you had accumulated over the years to confront the old man resembling the Fire Cloud Evil God!]

[But the appearance of the black-clothed person brutally shattered your original plan.]

[You had no choice but to postpone your plan.]

[In the second month of the fourth year, during the day, your father held his Foundation Establishment ceremony. Your father personally lectured on the Dao, also to announce to the major powers of Jinzhou County that the Mu Family now had two Foundation Establishment Realm powerhouses guarding it!]

[At night, it was formally announced to the public that Mu Xingqi of the Mu Family would be betrothed to Zhang Yutong of the Zhang Family, and an engagement ceremony would be held. In essence, it was an announcement to all major powers of the Mu Family and Zhang Family's stance.]

[You deliberately maintained the same actions as in your dream; you didn't want to stir up more trouble and introduce variables.]

[In the third month of the fourth year, you paid a great price, consuming various spiritual pills and elixirs, and finally managed to repair your Spirit Platform to its original state. However, this caused your originally perfect Spirit Platform to regress by forty percent.]

[You once again cursed the black-clothed person and the mastermind behind the scenes, from their ancestors to their descendants.]

In the fifth month of the fourth year, you told your grandfather you wanted to take all the family's savings and head to Lin Commandery to sell some things.

You told your grandfather about your dream of a great calamity befalling the family in a few months, emphasizing that the opponent possessed Golden Core strength.

Your grandfather initially thought you were joking and just wanted Spirit Stones to have fun in Lin Commandery. However, seeing your solemn expression and no sign of pretense, he finally chose to believe you.

You and your grandfather took all the family's savings to Lin Commandery. You had learned beforehand that Lin Commandery had a branch of the Myriad Treasures Chamber of Commerce. The Myriad Treasures Chamber of Commerce's influence spread across several commanderies, and its Chairman was a Nascent Soul True Lord!

Under your grandfather's guidance, you arrived at Lin Commandery City in less than a month.

This was your first time in Lin Commandery City, and the prosperity before you greatly shocked you. The outer walls of Lin Commandery City alone were twice as high as those of Jinzhou City. Even the guards responsible for defending the city were at the mid-Qi Cultivation stage, with the captain being at the late stage. Such power could establish a small guild in Jinzhou County.

You sighed, Cities really are different...