Overawing the Ouyang Family

[You did not intend to "buy the dip" in Black Mountain Market's shops and properties under your public identity as the alchemist "Wang Lin."]

[Instead, you planned to conceal your identity.]

[Buying the dip was, in essence, harvesting other cultivators.]

[The low-level Qi Condensation cultivators were of little concern, but quite a few properties in Black Mountain Market had Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators behind them.]

[In the second simulation, after the Ouyang Family finished their harvest, they immediately held an auction, inviting numerous Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators and surrendering a portion of their profits as compensation.]

[They also invited "Ruan Hu," a foundation establishment middle stage cultivator from Beast Taming Mountain's direct lineage at the time, to serve as a deterrent.]

[Only then did they barely manage to quell the anger of the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.]

[Buying the dip under your public identity as the alchemist "Wang Lin" would indeed have been much easier. You could have kept the Ouyang Family in check, but afterward, you would also have faced a "backlash" from the other Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.]

[This ran counter to your basic strategy.]

[In this simulation, you intended to carefully cultivate your reputation and avoid dirty dealings, at least in public.]

[Concealing your identity was somewhat troublesome, but it left no lingering problems. All the "backlash," all the discontent of the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators once they realized what had happened, would fall squarely on the Ouyang Family.]

[You stayed behind the scenes, buying up large amounts of property at rock-bottom prices without bearing any risk, sitting securely on your fishing platform.]