Starting as a Grandmaster, all of my cultivation techniques are at max level.

Upon hearing this, everyone present, except for Xia Jin, changed their expressions.

Especially Xia Yu, the emperor of the Great Xia Dynasty, although he had never heard of what kind of power the Jade Balance Sect was, he knew that the Jade Balance Sect behind this person was an enormous behemoth that was far more powerful than the Azure Cloud Sect, just because Zhao Yuankui, the elder of the Azure Cloud Sect who was a Grandmaster, treated this person with utmost respect.

"Big brother..." Xia Yu looked at Xia Jin, his voice hesitant, clearly hesitant to act rashly.

Standing behind Xia Jin, Su Xuanji also frowned as she looked at Xia Jin. Unlike Xia Yu, the emperor of the Great Xia Dynasty, as the leader of the Hehuan Sect, she had naturally heard of the Yuheng Sect, a powerful force that ranked among the top in the Eastern Region.

But she also wanted to know whether this man, who had been so domineering just moments before, would choose to temporarily avoid a confrontation when faced with a threat from an even stronger force, or would he remain as tough as ever.

"Hahahaha! What kind of expressions are those?!" Xia Jin glanced at everyone and burst into laughter.

"It's just the Jade Balance Sect, is it? Has it scared you all like that?"

"Come on, kid, try crushing this jade pendant right now. I want to see whether your so-called Jade Balance Sect's reinforcements will arrive first, or whether I... will crush your head first."

As she spoke, Xia Jin put her hands behind her back and walked towards Lin Xiao.

"You...you...don't come any closer!" Lin Xiao's eyelids trembled uncontrollably, and his face turned slightly pale.

He pointed at Xia Jin while involuntarily taking a few steps back.

He had a premonition that this man wasn't joking with him! If he really crushed the jade pendant, his head would explode like a watermelon the next moment!

"I'm warning you! My master is..." Lin Xiao warned, his words sounding somewhat fierce but actually weak, but before he could finish speaking, everything went blurry!

I felt a gentle breeze brush against my palm.

"Huh!? My jade pendant!" His eyes suddenly widened as he looked at his palm. His jade pendant was gone!

Looking up again, he saw the jade pendant, which had appeared in Xia Jin's possession at some point, and was being casually played with by him.

"Give it back to me! Give the jade pendant back to me!" Lin Xiao panicked when his greatest asset was taken away, and instinctively tried to rush forward to snatch it back.

"Noisy."

Seeing the other person lunge at her, Xia Jin frowned and kicked at them.

The kick landed squarely on Lin Xiao's lower abdomen, specifically the Qihai acupoint. The force seemed small, but a powerful energy instantly penetrated his body.

"Ugh—!"

Lin Xiao felt a sharp pain in his dantian, and his knees buckled, causing him to collapse to his knees with a thud.

Xia Jin sat down at the stone table next to her, looking at Lin Xiao kneeling on the ground with a half-smile.

"Just now, didn't you say you wanted us to kneel down and kowtow to you to admit our mistakes? How come... now you're the one kneeling down to me?"

"You!" Lin Xiao clutched his stomach, his face flushed red and then turned pale with anger, but he couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.

"Tell me," Xia Jin said, examining the jade pendant in her hand, "who exactly is your master? If I had heard of his reputation, perhaps I might have given him some face!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao painfully raised his head, and a glimmer of hope immediately rose in his heart.

He thought that Xia Jin was still wary of the Jade Balance Sect's reputation, so he immediately stood up despite the pain, straightened his back, and regained some confidence in his tone.

"Hmph! Then listen carefully! My master is Qiu Changtian, the current sect master of the Jade Balance Sect! He is a top expert at the ninth level of the Free and Unfettered Heaven Realm! Even in the entire Eastern Region, my master's strength is enough to rank in the top ten!"

After saying that, he had a smug look on his face.

At this moment, after the other party finished speaking, Xia Jin heard the system notification sound in her mind again:

[Ding! Key information detected: 'Jade Balance Sect Master, Qiu Changtian'... Information matching in progress... Match successful!]

[Trigger Quest: Defeat Qiu Changtian, the Sect Master of the Jade Balance Sect.]

[Mission Objective: Within six months, regardless of the methods employed, defeat Qiu Changtian, the current sect leader of the Jade Balance Sect.]

[Mission Rewards: Seven Forms of Silence (Beginner Level), 280 Years of Cultivation Power.]

"Defeat...a ninth-level Free and Unfettered Realm expert within six months?" Xia Jin frowned. With his current strength at the fourth level of the Free and Unfettered Realm, and with the blessing of the Great Perfection Demon Heart Crossing, he might be able to fight against a seventh-level Free and Unfettered Realm expert.

Even with the Azure Lotus Sword Intent he comprehended in the ancestral tomb, he could at most fight a powerhouse at the eighth level of the Free and Unfettered Heaven Realm, and the outcome was still uncertain. As for the ninth level of the Free and Unfettered Heaven Realm...

"This mission is going to be quite challenging!"

Seeing Xia Jin remain silent, Lin Xiao immediately assumed she was afraid. He endured the stinging pain in his abdomen, raised his face again, and looked at Xia Jin arrogantly.

"What? Now you're scared? Fine, I'll give you one more chance! Cripple your cultivation right now, kneel before me, and I'll spare your life. Otherwise, hmph!..."

"Idiot." Xia Jin came to her senses and sneered.

He held a piece of bronze-colored metal in his hand. With a slight twitch of his index finger, the bronze-colored fragment vanished instantly.

Lin Xiao, on the other hand, felt a chill on his chest. He subconsciously looked down and saw that there was a hole in his chest.

Immediately afterwards, a sharp pain came, and blood gushed from his chest.

"You...you dare to kill...me!" His eyes were filled with fear. He had only managed to utter a few words when he collapsed heavily to the ground.

Xia Jin glanced coldly at Lin Xiao, who was already dead, then stood up and waved to Qin Hu behind her.

"Leave no one alive from the Qingyun Sect."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Qin Hu trembled, a cold glint flashing in his eyes, and clasped his hands in acceptance of the order.

These bastards killed hundreds of his Great Xia soldiers. Today, he won't let them die so easily; that would be too lenient on them!

"Alright, you can go back now! I'll handle the rest." Xia Jin patted Xia Yu on the shoulder.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Although Xia Yu still had many things he wanted to discuss with his elder brother Xia Jin, he swallowed hard and nodded.

Xia Jin paused slightly as she passed by Su Xuanji.

Su Xuanji subconsciously raised her head, only to find herself facing Xia Jin's eyes, which were inches away.

Xia Jin leaned slightly closer to her ear.

"Come to Prince Jin's palace tonight."

"Huh?" Su Xuanji was taken aback at first, then as if she had thought of some inappropriate scene, her charming face turned red in an instant, like a ripe peach.

She stumbled back several steps uncontrollably, her hands instinctively protecting her body, a flicker of panic in her eyes: "You... what do you want to do? I... although I have pledged allegiance to you, it's not that kind of..."

"Huh!?" Xia Jin was taken aback by her reaction, and then a strange expression appeared on her face.

He rubbed his temples with a hint of helplessness and said:

"What are you thinking? I'm thinking that thanks to your timely intervention today, you protected my brother. Now that you're under my command, I will certainly not mistreat those who have rendered meritorious service."

"Then tonight, I will help you... advance to the level of Grandmaster."

After saying that, Xia Jin looked at Su Xuanji, who was standing there dumbfounded, shook her head, and turned to leave Jinghong Manor.

It seemed that Su Xuanji only realized what had happened after he left.

"What did I just hear? He said he'd help me... advance to Grandmaster? Grandmaster!"