["Greetings, Senior Ye."]
[You froze for a moment, then immediately bowed in greeting.]
[Although Ye Feng was younger than you and had still been your lackey decades ago, running errands at your beck and call.]
[In the cultivation world, however, the strong commanded respect. You were now only at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, while Ye Feng had already reached the Late Qi Refining Period—at least the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining.]
[Moreover, Ye Feng showed no intention of honoring your old friendship.]
[You naturally knew what to do and quickly made your position clear.]
[You were almost sixty and had long since passed the age of being a hotheaded youth. Even if you felt any resentment, you would not let it show on your face.]
["Mm..."]
[Ye Feng looked satisfied.]
[He then chatted with you for a while.]
["Back then, in that secret realm, I faced nine deaths for a single chance at life..."]
[There was an unmistakable note of smugness in Ye Feng's voice.]
[Although he had faced nine deaths for a single chance at life, he had ultimately emerged alive. He had also obtained a tremendous opportunity within the secret realm, which had given him his current Late Qi Refining Period strength.]
[You listened attentively, but even after Ye Feng had talked for quite some time, he never mentioned the fifty spirit stones.]
[You realized that Ye Feng probably had no intention of repaying those fifty spirit stones.]
[You felt rather helpless. You had lent him those fifty spirit stones entirely because of your relationship with Ye Feng.]
[Thus, you had not imposed any restraints such as a Spirit Contract.]
[In truth, even if you had drawn up a Spirit Contract, it would have been useless.]
[An ordinary Spirit Contract could only bind early- and middle-stage Qi Condensation cultivators.]
[To bind a cultivator in the Late Qi Refining Period? You would need at least a Premium Spirit Contract.]
[And a Premium Spirit Contract was worth at least several hundred spirit stones.]
[Spend several hundred spirit stones on a Spirit Contract just to lend someone fifty?]
[No one would do that.]
[Even an ordinary Spirit Contract cost dozens or as many as a hundred spirit stones.]
[Back then, Pill Master Yun had asked Ye Feng for a hundred spirit stones to release him from the Spirit Contract simply to recoup his costs.]
[From that perspective, Pill Master Yun was a fairly decent person.]
["Had I known that secret realm held such a tremendous opportunity, I should have gone exploring with you back then, Senior Ye..."]
[You cautiously sounded him out.]
["You?"]
[Ye Feng cast you a sidelong glance, looking somewhat contemptuous.]
["Even I barely escaped that secret realm after suffering serious injuries. If you had gone exploring too, at the second layer of Qi Refining? You wouldn't even have known how you died."]
[Ye Feng spoke casually.]
[You picked up on a subtle piece of information.]
[When Ye Feng had left that secret realm back then, he had been seriously injured.]
["All right, you may leave."]
[Ye Feng waved his hand. Naturally, he had important business to attend to, having come to the Black Mountain Market in person to request an audience with Pill Master Yun.]
[You immediately withdrew from the hall.]
[That evening, Ye Feng left the Black Mountain Market.]
[Pill Master Yun came to see you.]
["Did Ye Feng repay your spirit stones?"]
[Pill Master Yun asked.]
[Pill Master Yun knew that Ye Feng had borrowed spirit stones wherever he could back then to free himself from the Spirit Contract.]
["Well..."]
[You did not answer rashly, instead observing Pill Master Yun's reaction.]
[If Pill Master Yun showed even a hint of favoritism toward Ye Feng, you would immediately answer, "He did."]
[After all, you did not know what relationship Pill Master Yun and Ye Feng now had. The latter was a cultivator in the Late Qi Refining Period and, from any perspective, more important than you.]
["He didn't, did he?"]
[Pill Master Yun sneered. "That Ye Feng thinks his cultivation at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining gives him the right to disregard even me."]
[Clearly, Pill Master Yun was also deeply displeased with Ye Feng.]
[Understanding immediately dawned on you.]
[Judging by the attitude Ye Feng had shown you, he was an extremely arrogant man.]
[He believed himself to be the center of heaven and earth, around whom everything should revolve.]
[You had originally thought Ye Feng's arrogance was selective: he would act arrogantly toward a weak cultivator like you in the Middle Qi Refining Period, but would restrain himself considerably before someone like Pill Master Yun, who was also a cultivator in the Late Qi Refining Period and a High-Grade Pill Master.]
[Now, it seemed that was not the case.]
[For some reason, seeing the sneer at the corner of Pill Master Yun's mouth actually made you feel a little better.]
[At least Ye Feng was very "fair," treating everyone with the same "arrogance."]
[Of course, feeling better did not mean you would let Ye Feng off.]
[You had already marked Ye Feng down. Even if you could not take revenge in this simulation, you would make him repay it in the next simulation, or the one after that.]
["Heh, he actually wanted to use me to secure an audience with Master Zhao and have Foundation Establishment pills refined..."]
[Pill Master Yun sneered repeatedly.]
[The Master Zhao whom Pill Master Yun mentioned was his mentor in pill refinement, a second-tier mid-grade pill master.]
[Master Zhao did not live in the Black Mountain Market Ward, but resided in a more prosperous immortal city.]
[You listened obediently without offering your own opinion.]
[Still, you could draw one conclusion from Pill Master Yun's tone.]
[Ye Feng would not be meeting Master Zhao.]
["Zhou Qing..."]
[Pill Master Yun looked at Zhou Qing. "I'm old now. The burden of the Yun Clan Pill Workshop will have to rest on your shoulders. If Shu does anything wrong, you must point it out promptly."]
[Pill Master Yun was already over a hundred years old, which counted as a long life among Qi Condensation cultivators.]
[Likewise, Pill Master Yun was nearing the end of his life.]
[Decades earlier, Pill Master Yun had attempted to break through to Foundation Establishment once, but had failed.]
[The "Shu" Pill Master Yun mentioned was his chosen successor, Yun Shu, who was now forty years old and a mid-grade pill master.]
[Although you possessed only the skills of a low-grade pill master, you had followed Pill Master Yun for decades without ever harboring disloyal intentions, and he trusted you completely.]
[There were several mid-grade pill masters in the Pill Workshop, but Pill Master Yun kept his guard up around all of them.]
[That much was evident from how Pill Master Yun had openly revealed his attitude toward Ye Feng in front of you.]
["These are my insights into pill refinement from all these years. Take them and study them carefully."]
[Before leaving, Pill Master Yun solemnly left you a jade slip.]
[You rose to thank him.]
[Pill Master Yun waved his hand. After decades together, even a biological son could hardly have meant more to him.]
[In the forty-fourth year, you were fifty-nine. You noticed that the Market Ward had become rather unsettled lately.]
[You knew full well why.]
[The master of the Black Mountain Market Ward was a]
[Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator named Ouyang Shen.]
[It was precisely because a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator presided over it that the Black Mountain Market had become a gathering place for the many cultivators nearby.]
[Over the past several decades, however, several of Ouyang Shen's descendants had failed in their attempts to reach Foundation Establishment.]
[With Ouyang Shen approaching the end of his lifespan without having nurtured a single Foundation Establishment Realm successor, rumors naturally sprang up throughout the Market District.]
[You quietly observed the shifting situation within the Market District, preparing for your next simulation.]
[In the forty-fifth year, you were sixty. Pill Master Yun passed away.]
[Pill Master Yun's successor, Yun Shu, held your hand and promised, "Uncle Zhou, we'll still need to rely on you for the Market District's development."]
[Because of Pill Master Yun's instructions before his death, Yun Shu also trusted you deeply.]
[In the forty-sixth year, you were sixty-one. After confirming that Yun Shu could manage things on her own, you began relinquishing authority.]
[In the forty-seventh year, you were sixty-two. Market Master Ouyang Shen still had not nurtured a Foundation Establishment Realm successor, and traces of Rogue Cultivators began appearing around the Market District.]
[In the forty-eighth year, you were sixty-three. Yun Shu invited you and several other veteran members of the Pill Workshop to discuss its future.]
[You understood Yun Shu's thinking. With no successor to take over the Black Mountain Market, all manner of unforeseen changes might arise in the future, and preparations had to be made in advance.]
[You offered no opinions, merely expressing agreement when Yun Shu voiced her ideas.]
[Yun Shu began transferring the Pill Workshop's assets and establishing a presence in another market called the Listening Rain Market District.]
[In the forty-ninth year, you were sixty-four. Market Master Ouyang Shen still had not nurtured a Foundation Establishment Realm successor.]
[In the fiftieth year, you were sixty-five. Traces of Rogue Cultivators around the Black Mountain Market grew increasingly numerous.]
[In the fifty-first year, you were sixty-six. Most members of the Yun Clan Pill Workshop moved to the Listening Rain Market, but you did not leave.]
[In the fifty-second year, you were sixty-seven. After spending years studying the pill-refinement insights Pill Master Yun had left behind, you finally refined your first batch of mid-grade pills and became a mid-grade pill master.]
[Yun Shu made a special trip back from the Listening Rain Market Ward to congratulate you.]
[In the fifty-third year, you were sixty-eight. Not long after becoming a mid-grade pill master, you cultivated to the peak of the fourth layer of Qi Condensation.]
[You spent the spirit stones you had accumulated over the years on numerous resources for a breakthrough and began your attempt.]
[You successfully entered the fifth layer of Qi Condensation.]
[In the fifty-fourth year, you were sixty-nine. You watched coldly as the Black Mountain Market Ward descended further and further into chaos.]
[In the fifty-fifth year, you were seventy.]
[In a hazy moment, you sensed that your vitality had begun to decline.]
[You realized that you had entered old age.]