[You slaughtered the Qian Kingdom's imperial family for two reasons: revenge, and to probe the depths of their hidden reserves.]
[To prepare for reality.]
[As for why you did not act yourself, choosing instead to coerce these rogue cultivators...]
[It was naturally to guard against extreme circumstances.]
[For instance, what if the Qian Kingdom's imperial family had an elder in the Foundation Establishment Realm overseeing them? Or some other means comparable to that realm?]
[If you charged at the forefront then, would you not be taking an enormous risk?]
[But sending these rogue cultivators in first would let you avoid such extremes. At worst, they would be the ones to die. Hidden behind the scenes, you could retreat unscathed the moment you sensed anything wrong.]
[There were still many things you had yet to do in this simulation. Naturally, you could not die so easily and bring it to an end.]
[Even revenge and probing had to be carried out in the safest possible way.]
[Without exposing yourself to the slightest risk.]
[Of course, those so-called extreme circumstances were only remote possibilities.]
[You did not believe the Qian Kingdom's imperial family really had an elder in the Foundation Establishment Realm overseeing them.]
[If they did, why would they hole up in the mortal world?]
[With an elder in the Foundation Establishment Realm, they could easily occupy a second-tier spirit vein like the Ouyang Family of Black Mountain Market. Would that not offer far greater freedom than founding a mortal dynasty?]
[The mortal world was a land bereft of spiritual energy, where what little remained was thin. Almost no cultivator with even a shred of ambition would stay there for long.]
["The mortal world? The Qian Kingdom?"]
[The rogue cultivator at the eighth layer of Qi Refining froze briefly. He had originally thought this Black-masked Man intended to make them fight other cultivators, and had even considered seizing the chance to escape.]
[Then he heard that they were going to slaughter the imperial family of a mortal dynasty...]
[Was that not as easy as lifting a hand?]
["No problem. I'll take my brothers and do it right away..."]
[Although the rogue cultivator at the eighth layer of Qi Refining did not know how the Qian Kingdom's imperial family had offended a walking calamity like the Black-masked Man, this task was not difficult for him.]
["My current strength..."]
[Your thoughts churned.]
[Having cultivated the Mountain Sea Art to the ninth layer of Qi Refining, your mana surpassed that of an ordinary cultivator at Qi Refining perfection in quality. It also carried spiritual pressure like mountains and seas, making it particularly convenient for crushing weaklings.]
[Furthermore, the Black Little Mountain was a high-grade magic tool that Ye Feng had brought out of the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm years ago.]
[Besides the high-grade magic tool, the Black Little Mountain, there were two other high-grade magic tools, six mid-grade magic tools, and one flying magic tool.]
[With your dense, pure mountain sea mana, you could activate the Black Little Mountain at a basic level.]
[With the might of a high-grade magic tool, your offensive power was virtually in a class of its own among those at Qi Refining perfection.]
[Unless another cultivator at Qi Refining perfection could also activate a high-grade magic tool, none would be your match.]
[Over half a month later, at the Imperial Palace in the Capital City of the Qian Kingdom.]
[The sounds of battle suddenly rang out, and waves of spiritual energy erupted.]
[To be safe, you hid outside the Imperial Palace, coldly watching the slaughter within.]
[Just like the slaughter at the Zhou Residence decades ago.]
[Sixteen rogue cultivators-three in the late Qi Refining period and thirteen in the middle Qi Refining period-were an utterly unstoppable force in the mortal world.]
[Several auras vaguely erupted from deep within the Imperial Palace, but they were quickly suppressed. Then a massacre targeting the Qian Kingdom's imperial family swept through the entire palace.]
[After most of the day had passed, the fighting in the Imperial Palace gradually ceased.]
[The rogue cultivator at the eighth layer of Qi Refining came to your courtyard with the utmost deference.]
["Senior, how should we deal with these cultivators..."]
[The rogue cultivator at the eighth layer of Qi Refining looked behind him. Six or seven cultivators from the Qian Kingdom's imperial family had been brought here, the spiritual energy in their dantians sealed.]
[Of these six or seven cultivators from the Qian Kingdom's royal family, the strongest were only in the middle Qi Refining period. Two were in the early Qi Refining period.]
["You are..."]
[The ancestor of the Qian Kingdom's imperial family was an old man nearing the end of his lifespan. He watched in terror as that invincible rogue cultivator at the eighth layer of Qi Refining treated a man wearing a black mask, whose aura resembled mountains and seas, with the utmost deference.]
[The imperial ancestor scrutinized you, struggling to recognize who you were and when the Qian Kingdom's imperial family had offended you, bringing this catastrophe upon themselves.]
["Kill them all."]
[You rose, glanced at the imperial cultivators, and vanished after leaving those words behind.]
["Yes."]
[The next instant, with a slight stirring of the eighth-layer rogue cultivator's thoughts, a long saber magic tool swept out, beheading every cultivator from the Qian Kingdom's imperial family.]
[Though this eighth-layer rogue cultivator could not withstand a single blow from you, as a rogue cultivator, he was actually skilled in combat. He had merely encountered you, someone who crushed him in every respect, making him seem so fragile.]
Outside the simulation, Zhou Qing quietly watched the illusory text flash past.
"It seems the strongest cultivators raised by the Qian Kingdom's imperial family were only in the middle Qi Refining period."
Through this probe in the simulation, Zhou Qing had finally gained some understanding of the imperial family's hidden reserves, he thought to himself.
"The middle Qi Refining period?"
Zhou Qing shook his head slightly, then felt that this was only natural.
The mortal world, a land bereft of spiritual energy, could not produce particularly powerful cultivators.
Without spiritual energy, cultivators could not cultivate. Almost none could endure such conditions indefinitely.
Back when Zhou Qing had first sought to gain entry into the "Qi Guiding Art," he had cultivated for a full ten years. His low-grade spiritual root aptitude was certainly part of the reason, but the thin spiritual energy of the mortal world had been equally crucial.
[In the sixtieth year, at seventy-five years old, you returned to Black Mountain Market Ward once more.]
[Your departure had attracted little attention. Few cultivators remained in the Market Ward now, and many of those who did belonged to its shops. The whole place was steeped in a dreary air of decline.]
[You began buying shop assets whose prices had plunged to rock bottom.]
[In your first simulation, when you were seventy-seven, Market Master Ouyang Shen had appeared with the female Foundation Establishment successor he had raised and begun clearing out the rogue cultivators around the Market Ward.]
[You were already seventy-five now. That day was not far off, and the prices of properties and shops within the Market Ward had reached their lowest point.]
[As you secretly purchased numerous properties and assets within the Market Ward at the lowest prices, you vaguely detected another force buying in secret besides yourself.]
[Moreover, the number of properties and shops this force purchased far exceeded yours.]
[That meant the spirit stones at their disposal also far exceeded yours.]
[You were quite surprised. With the experience of your first simulation, you were certain that Market Master Ouyang]
[would raise a new successor in the Foundation Establishment Realm, which was why you dared to purchase properties and shops.]
[But what gave this other force the confidence to do the same? Why would they invest far more spirit stones than you in these purchases?]
[Unless they were also certain that Market Master Ouyang Shen could successfully raise a successor in the Foundation Establishment Realm.]
[But this...]
[In a flash of lightning, an utterly unbelievable thought sprang into your mind.]
[The force secretly buying properties and shops at the lowest prices, just like you, was the Ouyang Family.]
[Only Shopkeeper Ouyang's family could possess accurate inside information and know that he could raise a successor in the Foundation Establishment Realm.]
[No, if there were merely hope of raising a successor in the Foundation Establishment Realm, they could not possibly invest so heavily. After all, hope was not certainty.]
[If they failed to raise one, would all the spirit stones they had invested not go down the drain?]
[Unless Market Master Ouyang had already raised a successor in the Foundation Establishment Realm, but simply never announced it, sitting back to watch the Market Ward wither and countless cultivators lose everything, tearfully selling their properties and shops at rock-bottom prices.]
["The Ouyang Family... what clever methods..."]
[You vaguely realized that the Ouyang Family might be the very hand behind the Market Ward's decline over the past several decades.]