This old man could not be blamed for thinking this way. After all, he had just seen what Wang Mang did to Gong Yang, and had no reason to believe that he would not receive the same treatment next.
If his stall was eliminated too, then Wang Mang would be left with no business competitors in this area.
This was also what the old man was worried about. He no longer had any hope to break through and advance to Tier 5. The only reason he was running his stall was to accumulate resources.
Once he had enough, he would leave the Sacred Emperor Academy, as he wanted to establish a peak-level Tier 4 clan in a remote corner of this world.
This was because he had tried to break through to Tier 5 before, and knew how dangerous it was.
There was a one in ten thousand chance of breaking through to Tier 5 the first time, but after the first failure, the failure rate would multiply!