[You are cursed by the rogue cultivators: you have lost your moral bottom line and dare to sell even the most heinous healing powder.]
[You remain unconcerned, choosing to continue selling Half Mi San at a price of 3 spirit stones.]
[You believe these dirt-poor rogue cultivators are just loud barkers, and giving them cheap goods will appease their anger.]
[Although your consistently profit-driven operations fill the Mu Family coffers, they completely ruin the reputation the Mu Family had originally accumulated.]
[So much so that many branch lineage disciples dare not go out alone, terrified of being swarmed by rogue cultivators.]
[Your actions draw questioning and opposition from several elders, but you turn a completely deaf ear.]
[Because nothing attracts you more than spirit stones, and your purpose is not nearly as simple as it appears on the surface...]
[In June of the third year, although the Mi San and Half Mi San sold by your Mu Family harm countless rogue cultivators, your family's shops still pull in thousands of spirit stones a day.]
[Because the healing powder market throughout Jinzhou County is now monopolized by your Mu Family, and it does no good even if those rogue cultivators wail and complain.]
[In December of the third year, just as you are about to successfully condense your Spirit Platform, a covert palm strike suddenly attacks you!]
[You dodge hastily, but are still struck on one arm, shattering your right arm directly!]
[The sudden appearance of the figure in black fills you with panic, and you wear a bitter expression after sensing his Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation.]
["Could it be that I am going to fall here?" You have already begun to retreat in your heart.]
[Seeing that a single blow fails to kill you, the figure in black raises a hand and launches another tricky palm technique at your lower back.]
[At this moment, you hesitate no longer.]
[You are going to f*cking die anyway! A surge of courage wells up in your heart, and you grit your teeth and say, "Even if I die, I'll drag you down with me! Besides, my plan isn't even finished yet!"]
[You pull a rusty sword from your storage bag—a storage bag you naturally bought after having spirit stones. A strike of Wave Shadow Falling Pine South chops straight at the palm of the figure in black.]
[Boom!]
[Sword and palm collide, sending you flying directly as you vomit a mouthful of fierce blood.]
[Meanwhile, the figure in black is also driven back several steps by your sword Qi. He never expects that a mere Qi Cultivating cultivator like you can unleash a sword art comparable to the Foundation Establishment Realm.]
[The massive commotion alarms everyone in the Mu Family, and your grandfather is the first to sense that something has happened to you, immediately speeding toward you.]
[Unwilling to fail, the figure in black ignores your grandfather's furious approach and raises a palm to kill you anyway.]
[The corners of your mouth curl upward, and you immediately trigger the sword Qi you concealed just moments before.]
[The abruptly appearing blue-black sword Qi successfully forces the figure in black back, and at this moment your grandfather arrives.]
[Seeing that you are injured, your grandfather's fury burns as he clenches his fist, where a water dragon faintly takes form. With a Water Dragon Fist, he blasts toward the figure in black like a heavy artillery shell.]
[The figure in black fights and retreats with your grandfather. Knowing his plan has failed, he wants to find an opportunity to break away and evacuate.]
[Yet he underestimates your grandfather's strength, remaining suppressed throughout by your grandfather with absolutely no chance to slip away.]
[Your parents arrive second, and your mother immediately helps you up and feeds you a Healing Pill.]
[Your father assists your grandfather in preparing to capture the figure in black.]
[They certainly want to see just who dares to touch the apple of the Mu Family's eye!]
[Soon, the figure in black is beaten back step by step. Yet just as he is about to be captured alive by your grandfather, the figure directly swallows a poison pill and dies by suicide!]
[In the aftermath, you are left with a severed arm that is extremely difficult to heal unless you find a Mysterious Tier spiritual medicine. Yet a Mysterious Tier spiritual medicine would move even a Golden Core True Person, so it is absolutely impossible for a Foundation Establishment family like yours to access one.]
[You are deeply grief-stricken. Having lost your right arm, even holding a sword feels unfamiliar. Although you can still execute the Perfected Nan Sword Art, your reaction speed and agility in combat have both declined.]
[You also learn from your grandfather that the figure in black is an assassin from the Shadow Kill Pavilion, undoubtedly hired by someone to assassinate you. You surmise the culprits might be the collective rogue cultivators or competing merchants previously driven out of business by your Mu Family.]
[One thing is certain: the person who wants you dead is not just an individual, but a group. To hire a Foundation Establishment assassin in Jinzhou County would hollow out even the majority of a Foundation Establishment family's foundation.]
[Yet not a single person in Jinzhou County possesses such financial resources.]
[And those two groups are precisely the ones you have recently offended.]
[Your original opportunity to breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm is also abruptly cut short by the sneak attack of the figure in black. This causes the Spirit Platform you previously condensed to be covered in cracks now, on the verge of shattering completely at any moment!]
[You wish you could hack the figure in black into a thousand pieces; letting him simply commit suicide by poison like that let him off far too lightly.]
[However, the assassination attempt by the figure in black makes you realize that dirt-poor people are not to be trifled with either—a cornered dog will vault over a wall. Unwilling to stir up extra trouble, you cancel the sale of Mi San and Half Mi San.]
[Although your business practices lack a conscience, you have always acted with purpose: first to satisfy yourself, and second to deal with the Fire Cloud Evil God old man.]
[Thanks to your early persuasion this time, your grandfather and the Zhang Family Ancestor still choose not to head toward the secret realm, which buys you a brief breathing window.]
[You do not want the events of your nightmare to become reality. You originally planned to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm yourself and then test whether the wealth you have accumulated over the years could be used to go toe-to-toe with the old man who resembles the Fire Cloud Evil God!]
[Yet the appearance of the figure in black brutally shatters your original plan.]
[You have no choice but to postpone it.]
[In February of the fourth year, your father holds his Foundation Establishment Ceremony by day, personally expounding on the Dao. At the same time, this is meant to announce to the various major factions of Jinzhou County that the Mu Family now has two Foundation Establishment powerhouses holding down the fort!]
[At night, it is officially and publicly announced that Mu Xingqi of the Mu Family and Zhang Yutong of the Zhang Family will enter into a marriage alliance, holding an engagement ceremony. In essence, this declares the stance of both the Mu and Zhang families to the major factions.]
[You deliberately maintain the same actions as in the dream, as you do not wish to stir up extra trouble and invite variables.]
[In March of the fourth year, you pay a heavy price, consuming various spirit pills and medicines, and finally repair your Spirit Platform to its original state. However, this causes your originally perfected Spirit Platform to regress by forty percent.]
[You once again greet the ancestors of the figure in black and the mastermind behind the scenes up to the eighteenth generation.]
[In May of the fourth year, you tell your grandfather that you want to take all the family's savings and head to Lin Prefecture to sell some goods.]
[You inform your grandfather of your dream that the family will face a great calamity in a few months, emphasizing that the opposing party possesses Golden Core strength.]
[Your grandfather initially thinks you are joking, simply wanting to extract spirit stones from him to live it up in Lin Prefecture. But seeing your expression filled with solemnity and lacking any pretense, he ultimately chooses to believe you.]
[You and your grandfather head to Lin Prefecture with all the family's savings, because you previously learned through inquiries that Lin Prefecture has a Myriad Treasures Chamber of Commerce branch. The influence of the Myriad Treasures Chamber of Commerce spans across multiple prefectures, and its chamber president is even a Nascent Soul True Lord!]
[Guided by your grandfather, you arrive at Lin Commandery City in less than a month.]
[This is your first time coming to Lin Commandery City, and the prosperity before your eyes shocks you greatly. The outer city wall of Lin Commandery City alone is twice as tall as Jinzhou City, and even the guards responsible for city defense are in the Mid-stage Qi Refining, while the squad leader is at the late stage. Such a force could start a small gang back in Jinzhou County.]
[You sigh with emotion that big cities truly are different after all...]
Before you continue