``` [Year 58, you were 74.]
[The operation to reap the profits of Black Mountain Market went very smoothly.]
[You continued to take only fifty percent of the shop properties.]
[Exceeding that proportion would lead the Ouyang Family to consider another option.]
[Abandoning Black Mountain Market entirely.]
[That would leave the shop properties you had acquired without buyers, making it impossible to sell them for a good price.]
[Year 59, you were 75.]
[You crafted another four third-tier puppets in succession.]
[Besides consolidating your standing as a Third-Tier Puppeteer, you were also preparing trump cards for yourself.]
[If four third-tier low-grade puppets lay hidden and launched a coordinated sneak attack, the power they unleashed would be enough to injure an early Golden Core True Person.]
[Moreover, puppets were easier to sell than pills.]
[Even if you no longer needed them in the future, you could resell them for a high price.]
[In the cultivation world, cultivators had always been extremely fond of high-tier puppets.]
[They were the most direct means of boosting one's combat strength. For some factions, their ultimate trump card and foundation was a single high-tier puppet.]
[For example, if a Foundation Establishment faction deployed a third-tier puppet at a critical moment, it could absolutely settle the fate of the battle.]
[A Foundation Establishment faction might suffer a gap in its succession of Foundation Establishment fighters, but a third-tier puppet could be relied upon to function without trouble as long as it was properly maintained.]
[Year 60, you were 76.]
[As usual, you received a message from Blood-Sea True Person.]
[With Blood-Sea True Person's Life-Bound Ghost Jade in your possession, you felt quite assured about him and allowed him to remain stationed on Profound King Island for extended periods.]
["The East Sand Trade Association? East Sand True Person?"]