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

Xia Jin turned her head in the direction of the arrogant voice, her eyes narrowing slightly.

A burly swordsman with black tattoos covering his right arm pushed through the crowd and walked towards him.

The man was burly and had a pair of eyes fixed on Xia Jin, his gaze filled with obvious hostility.

"Huh!? Pretty boy, is this person talking about me?" Xia Jin frowned, his expression suddenly becoming somewhat strange.

After all these years, this was the first time he had ever heard someone call him a "pretty boy".

Xia Jin noticed the way the other person unconsciously glanced at Mu Qingxue beside her and immediately understood.

He sighed helplessly.

It seems that being the senior disciple of the Glazed Sword Sect is not as easy as I imagined! At the very least, when I'm out in the world, I might be mistaken for a love rival for no reason.

However, before Xia Jin could explain, Mu Qingxue's delicate face immediately darkened, her eyebrows furrowing, clearly indicating that she had also recognized the person who was causing trouble.

"Zhao Qian! What do you think you're doing?!"

Mu Qingxue let out a sharp cry, gritting her teeth to show her anger.

She stepped in front of Xia Jin, shielding Xia Jin behind her.

The swordsman called Zhao Qian saw Mu Qingxue's actions and the jealousy in his eyes almost burned him to ashes.

"Qingxue!! You...you actually did this for this pretty boy...no, there must be some mistake!" The muscles in his face twitched a few times, making his already ferocious expression even more grotesque.

"Pretty boy!" Zhao Qian raised his tattooed arm, pointing directly at Xia Jin. "What kind of skill is it to hide behind a woman?! What despicable methods did you use to bewitch Qingxue like this?!"

The shout was extremely loud, and initially only a few people noticed it.

However, this shout startled at least 80% of the people, who all turned to look in this direction.

Not far away, Zhao Manting had somehow pulled out a large chicken leg and started gnawing on it. Looking at Zhao Qian's exasperated appearance, he couldn't help but sneer. Then he turned to Situ Nan beside him and whispered, "Look, look. If I hadn't stopped you just now, you would be like this idiot right now, and you'd be in trouble later."

"snort!!"

Situ Nan's face immediately darkened, his lips twitched, and he had no intention of paying any attention to the other party.

But when he looked at Zhao Qian, who looked like a fool, he quickly put on a gloating expression, with the corners of his mouth slightly upturned.

"Zhao Manting! You praised this senior disciple of the Glazed Sword Sect so highly before! Now, I want to see if this guy you're talking about really has the ability!!"

"Then let's wait and see. My intelligence is infallible!" Zhao Manting sneered, looking confidently at the scene.

The surrounding chatter gradually grew louder.

Many people recognized Zhao Qian's identity. He was one of the best among the younger generation of the Poyun Sword Sect, with the strength of the fourth level of the Dragon Transformation Realm. He was quite famous among the young sword cultivators in the Ancient Xuzhou.

Seeing him publicly challenge them, everyone looked at Xia Jin with a more amused expression.

Some whispered among themselves, "Is that the only male disciple of the Glazed Sword Sect? He is indeed quite handsome..."

"What good is being handsome? We sword cultivators rely on the sword in our hands, not our faces."

"That's right! As long as you're strong enough, no matter how ugly you are, plenty of cultivation partners will come knocking on your door!"

"This guy is really unlucky to have been targeted by Zhao Qian. Everyone knows that Zhao Qian has a fiery temper and doesn't hold back when he fights."

Listening to the surrounding chatter, and glancing at Mu Qingxue, who was standing in front of her with an angry expression, Xia Jin couldn't help but shake her head.

He reached out his finger and gently pushed Mu Qingxue aside.

"Senior Brother Xia!!" Mu Qingxue turned her head and saw Xia Jin, but the other party waved to her.

"Alright, let me handle this!!"

Xia Jin walked past Mu Qingxue and casually stood in front of Zhao Qian.

The two were no more than three feet apart.

Xia Jin was a head taller than Zhao Qian, looking down at him with a half-smile on her face.

"Brother," Xia Jin said calmly, "I don't think I've offended you, have I? You keep calling me a pretty boy and saying I use underhanded methods... These words really hurt me."

As he spoke, he naturally raised one hand and gently placed it on Zhao Qian's shoulder.

Zhao Qian felt the weight of the hand on his shoulder and his brows furrowed sharply.

He actually felt a sense of pressure from that palm, and a slight unease.

Could it be my imagination?

"Take your hand away! Otherwise, don't blame me..." Zhao Qian gritted his teeth and cursed, but he hadn't finished speaking.

He then felt a tremendous force pressing down on his shoulders, as if a mountain were directly pressing down on him.

His knees buckled suddenly, and he knelt straight down on the ground.

The surroundings fell into a deathly silence.

Xia Jin looked down at Zhao Qian kneeling before her, her expression subtly revealing a hint of surprise: "Eh? Brother, why are you kneeling? Although your words were indeed a bit crude, if you wanted to apologize to me... there was no need for such a grand gesture, was there?"

As he spoke, he released his hand from Zhao Qian's shoulder, took a half step back, and still wore that harmless smile on his face.

"You...you just...made me lose face like this, and in front of everyone!!" Zhao Qian's face instantly turned liver-colored, alternating between green and red, his shame and anger completely undisguised.

Moreover, the moment he knelt down, bursts of laughter erupted from all around.

Zhao Qian felt as if everyone's gaze was piercing him like needles.

"You bastard!! You bastard!! Today I'm going to kill you!"

Zhao Qian lowered his head, his eyes already bloodshot.

He originally only wanted to teach Xia Jin a lesson, but now he only wants to kill Xia Jin.

He suddenly stood up, grabbed behind him with his right hand, and the long sword on his back was drawn.

A flash of sword light appeared.

"Senior Brother Xia!! Watch out!"

Mu Qingxue, standing behind Xia Jin, changed her expression drastically and quickly spoke up to remind her.

Unfortunately, such a sneak attack might have put someone else in real danger, but for Xia Jin, it was nothing compared to what he was capable of.

Xia Jin extended her right hand, her two slender fingers pointing upwards, just as the sword light was about to touch his face.

A soft, crisp sound.

His two fingers effortlessly gripped the blade of the longsword. The longsword, imbued with a sharp, piercing aura, was firmly held in mid-air by those two fingers, remaining completely still.

"How is this possible? This guy was able to withstand my attack so easily!?" Zhao Qian's expression changed, but when he tried to pull back his sword, he found that the sword seemed to be cast in molten iron, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not budge it at all.

"Your power!! What's going on here?" Zhao Qian's eyes widened.

He is a sword cultivator at the fourth level of the Dragon Transformation Realm! Among the many disciples participating in this sword dao exchange meeting, even if he is not one of the strongest, he is definitely among the top.

How could I have been subdued by just two fingers when I used all my strength?!

"That guy..." Situ Nan's gloating expression froze instantly, replaced by shock.

"How...how is this possible?"

Zhao Manting also dropped his playful expression, his gaze fixed intently on Xia Jin's two fingers in the arena: "My intelligence was wrong! I underestimated this guy. A fourth-level Dragon Transformation Realm cultivator's sneak attack, and he actually managed to catch his sword between two fingers? This guy... he really is a monster!!"