[As the Market District's rulers, had the Ouyang family deliberately "shorted" the Market District? Were they harvesting cultivators?]
[This sounded utterly incredible, but on closer consideration, it was not impossible.]
[First, why had the Black Mountain Market become a gathering place for cultivators in the surrounding region?]
[One reason was that it stood on a second-tier spirit vein and could provide an environment rich in spiritual energy, such as cultivation abodes and inns.]
[The second was that Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators presided over the Market District, and a second-tier formation protected it, giving rogue cultivators a strong sense of security.]
[Moreover, for over a century, Market Master Ouyang had regularly swept away the bandit cultivators around the Market District, creating a stable trading environment within it.]
[As long as those two advantages remained, what did it matter if all the shops and properties inside and outside the Market District were purged?]
[Large numbers of cultivators would still flock there.]
[The cultivation world never lacked cultivators at the bottom.]
[Most importantly, the Ouyang family had carried this out with extraordinary secrecy.]
[Only you, with the experience and memories of your previous simulation, and your particular attention to information on this subject during this simulation,]
[could detect it in advance.]
[As for other cultivators? Trapped within the game and unaware of how the future would unfold, they would find it difficult to notice anything unusual.]
[Several years earlier, the Pill Alliance within the Market District had begun selling its shops. Its leader was a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator and a second-tier Alchemist.]
[Even the Pill Alliance's leader had noticed nothing amiss, let alone other cultivators.]
["But..."]
[You sank into contemplation.]
[Ordinary cultivators, limited by their horizons and information, would struggle to grasp the truth, whether during the events or afterward.]
[But higher-ranking cultivators, such as that Foundation Establishment leader of the Pill Alliance, would discover traces afterward, even if they failed to react while it was happening.]
[Traces alone were enough. They needed no evidence, and in the cultivation world, there was no need to argue over proof.]
[You wondered how the Ouyang family would deal with those higher-ranking cultivators once they caught on.]
[In the sixty-first year, you were seventy-six. After realizing that the Ouyang family might be the hidden hand behind the Market District's decline, you reduced the number of shops and properties you purchased at rock-bottom prices.]
[You worried that buying too many shops and properties would draw the Ouyang family's attention. After all, they had plotted for decades and watched the Market District wither, all for this very day.]
[Seizing the opportunity to buy now was tantamount to snatching food from a tiger's jaws.]
[Ultimately, once your purchases reached a tenth of the Market District's total properties and shops, you stopped in time.]
[A tenth was not a large share of the Market District as a whole and would not force the Ouyang family to take excessive measures.]
[After all, in the Ouyang family's eyes, your willingness to invest spirit stones in shops and properties at this juncture meant you surely knew the inside story. You did not wish to force their hand, and they likewise did not wish to force yours.]
[If they pushed you into revealing the truth, both sides would suffer.]
[Of course, your confidence in continuing these purchases came from having left the Black Mountain Market as soon as you realized the Ouyang family was the hidden hand.]
[You entrusted all subsequent purchases of shops and properties in the Market District to your apprentices.]
[As a High-Grade Pill Master, you had taken on several apprentices over the years to handle miscellaneous tasks.]
[With you outside the Market District, you could ensure your own safety even if the Ouyang family made a move.]
[In the sixty-second year, you were seventy-seven. While practicing the Mountain-Sea Body Refinement Art, you suddenly sensed a ripple of spiritual energy from far away.]
[You knew perfectly well that Market Master Ouyang Shen had begun sweeping away the bandit cultivators around the Market District, accompanied by his Foundation Establishment Realm successor.]
[The appearance of Market Master Ouyang Shen and his Foundation Establishment Realm successor caused quite a stir, leaving the many low-level rogue cultivators overjoyed.]
[Large numbers of bandit cultivators threatened the lives of low-level rogue cultivators. Now that Market Master Ouyang had begun clearing them out, it meant their former peaceful cultivation environment had returned.]
[Several days later, Market Master Ouyang Shen publicly announced that he would restore order to the Market District and solemnly introduced his successor.]
[She was none other than the Foundation Establishment female cultivator, Ouyang Qian.]
[In addition, Market Master Ouyang Shen announced that the Black Mountain Market would hold an auction in a month.]
[This auction would be the grandest held at the Black Mountain Market in nearly a century. Market Master Ouyang Shen also volunteered that its crowning item would be a Foundation Establishment Pill.]
[A Foundation Establishment Pill was something countless Qi Condensation Realm cultivators could only gaze at but never obtain, and an important aid in reaching Foundation Establishment.]
[The news that a Foundation Establishment Pill would appear at the auction set the surrounding region's cultivation circles ablaze. Who knew how many cultivators began making their way to the Black Mountain Market?]
["Using a Foundation Establishment Pill to restore the market's popularity... even raise it..."]
[Hiding outside the market, you secretly observed the Ouyang family's actions, marveling inwardly.]
[The Ouyang family had indeed prepared well in advance. Over the past several decades, their apparent lack of a Foundation Establishment Realm successor had caused disorder within the market and increased the number of bandit cultivators nearby.]
[This had led to a sharp decline in the number of cultivators entering and leaving the market. The Black Mountain Market was not the only gathering place for cultivators in the region; others existed, such as the Listening Rain Market.]
[Now, however, thanks to the Foundation Establishment Pill, the Black Mountain Market's reputation soared. At least until the auction was held a month later, large numbers of cultivators would continue pouring in.]
[Moreover, the Black Mountain Market Ward had just produced a new Foundation Establishment Realm successor, meaning it would have a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator presiding over it for more than another century. It was foreseeable that many rogue cultivators would choose to settle there.]
[You had no intention of attending the Black Mountain Market Ward's auction.]
[First, you now held the deeds to numerous shops and properties in the Market Ward. The Ouyang family surely knew all about this, and you worried that you might go in and never come back.]
[You had little trust in the Ouyang family.]
[Second, even without thinking, you knew how many late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators would compete for that Foundation Establishment Pill at the auction a month later.]
[Not just Qi Condensation Realm cultivators-Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators would likely bid as well.]
[Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators would naturally buy the pill not for themselves, but for their children and younger relatives.]
[Unlike those rogue cultivators, you had other channels through which to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill.]
[Before Alchemist Yun passed away, he had given you a token. With it, you could visit Alchemist Zhao Kan in the Jade Moon Immortal City.]
[Alchemist Zhao Kan was a second-tier mid-grade Alchemist capable of independently refining Foundation Establishment Pills.]
[Furthermore, as a High-Grade Pill Master, you could make contact with second-tier Alchemists as long as you were willing to pay the price.]
[Compared with those rogue cultivators, you]
[had more options.]
[Time passed, and a month went by in the blink of an eye.]
[Over that month, you sensed one Foundation Establishment Realm aura after another entering the Black Mountain Market.]
[That day, you sensed an aura surpassing that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator rapidly approaching the Black Mountain Market high in the sky.]
[To be precise, there were two auras.]
["A Dark Demon Eagle! It's Senior Ruan Hu from the Beast Taming Mountain!"]
[Some Qi Condensation rogue cultivators recognized the newcomer, their expressions turning reverent.]
[The Beast Taming Mountain was an overlord-level faction within the surrounding hundred thousand li, with a False Core True Person presiding over it.]
[Ruan Hu was a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Beast Taming Mountain's core lineage. Not only had he reached the Foundation Establishment middle stage, but his bonded spirit beast, the Dark Demon Eagle, also possessed an earth-grade bloodline.]
[Working together, man and beast could contend even with a late-stage Foundation Establishment Senior Cultivator.]
["Ruan Hu..."]
[You gazed toward the clouds in the distance.]
[According to the information you had gathered, Ruan Hu had picked up his bonded spirit beast, that Dark Demon Eagle with an earth-grade bloodline, as an overlooked bargain at the Black Mountain Market Ward's auction several decades earlier.]
[Given the Beast Taming Mountain's strength, Ruan Hu, as a member of its core lineage, should have had little interest in an auction held at the Black Mountain Market Ward.]
[The most valuable item at the auction was merely that Foundation Establishment Pill.]
[Yet the Beast Taming Mountain had its own trained second-tier Alchemists and could maintain a steady supply of Foundation Establishment Pills. There was no need to buy one outside.]
[You surmised that Ruan Hu had not come specifically to attend the auction, but rather to lend the Ouyang family his backing.]