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

"What's going on here!?" Xia Jin frowned, carefully sensing everything around her.

In that instant, he could clearly sense that the rules of this world were completely different from the world he had been in before!

To be precise, this world seems to exert an extremely terrifying suppressive force on cultivators!

Here, the flow of spiritual energy within his body became extremely slow, as if it were being held down by an invisible hand.

Although his physical strength remained unchanged, everything around him seemed to have become many times more solid.

Especially the space of this world. If it were the Eastern Xuan Continent before, even if he did not do it intentionally, the space around him would have been shattered at any time under the presence of his terrifying physical body.

Xia Jin took a deep breath and tried to circulate the spiritual energy within her body.

The result made his heart sink – the spiritual power he could mobilize was less than one percent of what it originally was!

This……

A look of shock flashed in Xia Jin's eyes. She looked up at the main hall master walking in front of her, and then at the Marquis of Chu beside her.

He noticed that his senior brother Chu didn't look too well either.

The Marquis of Chu had a somewhat uncertain expression. He had just tried to take a few steps, but his steps were noticeably heavier than usual.

This senior disciple of the temple was even having some difficulty walking!

Marquis Chu naturally noticed Xia Jin's gaze as well. He gave a wry smile and said in a low voice, "Junior Brother, you felt it too?"

Xia Jin nodded, her expression grave: "Senior Brother Chu, the suppressive force here seems to be much stronger than I imagined."

The two exchanged a glance, both seeing deep apprehension in each other's eyes.

The Grand Master, who was walking in front, seemed to have noticed the strange behavior of the two disciples behind him. He stopped, turned around, looked at the two of them, and couldn't help but shake his head with a smile.

"You two need not be surprised."

The Grand Master said with a half-smile.

"This is what makes the Mirage Realm so special."

He pointed to the towering mountains around him, then to the solid ground beneath his feet, "The stability of this world is incomparable to the small world you were in before."

Xia Jin and the Marquis of Chu listened attentively, not daring to miss a single word.

The Grand Master continued, "To give an example, if you were in the Third Heaven of the Temple before, you could shatter a mountain with a single punch at full power. But here..."

He paused, pointed to a blue stone less than half a meter high by the roadside, and said with a smile, "I'm afraid we can only break this one stone."

Xia Jin: "..."

Marquis of Chu: "..."

The two looked at the ordinary blue stone, then at the smiling face of the Grand Hall Master, and were speechless for a moment.

Marquis Chu touched his bald head and couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, you...you're not joking with us, are you?"

He could hardly believe that he could shatter a mountain with a single punch in the third level of the temple, but here he could only break a half-meter-high rock.

This difference is simply outrageous!

Could it be that the Grand Hall Master simply wanted to curb his and Junior Brother Xia's arrogance? So he said that on purpose?

Seemingly noticing the doubt in the Marquis of Chu's eyes, the Grand Hall Master shook his head, still wearing that faint smile, and said, "I wasn't joking with you on purpose. If you don't believe me, you can try it yourself."

As he spoke, he stepped aside and gestured towards the bluestone by the roadside.

Marquis Chu glanced at the main hall, then at the blue stone, and walked over with a mixture of belief and doubt.

He squatted down and carefully examined the bluestone.

This stone looks ordinary, no different from any other common stone. Its texture is quite hard, but... surely it can't be that exaggerated?

The Marquis of Chu stood up, took a deep breath, and slowly raised his right hand.

He didn't use his full strength, only a fraction of it, and casually slapped the bluestone down.

"Snapped!"

After a crisp sound, the Marquis of Chu's expression changed instantly.

Xia Jin, standing to the side, also had her pupils dilate.

That bluestone...

It didn't budge an inch under the Chu Marquis's palm strike!

There was just a shallow palm print on the surface, only about half an inch deep, and the stone didn't even crack!

The Marquis of Chu stared wide-eyed at his palm in disbelief, then at the blue stone.

"This...how is this possible?!"

He muttered to himself, his voice filled with shock.

One-tenth of his strength! Inside the temple, one-tenth of his strength would have been enough to blast a small hill into dust! But here, he could only leave a palm print on this half-meter-high rock?

The Marquis of Chu gritted his teeth and, refusing to believe it, raised his hand again.

This time, he didn't hold back and used half of his strength!

"Bang!"

After a dull thud, the bluestone finally gave way and shattered into more than a dozen large and small pieces, which were scattered all over the ground.

The Marquis of Chu stared blankly at the broken pieces on the ground, completely stunned.

Half the strength...

It only broke a rock that was half a meter high...

He raised his head and looked at the Grand Master, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The Grand Master seemed to have anticipated this outcome, and the smile on his face remained unchanged.

"How is this possible? Senior Brother Chu must have used half his strength just now, right? How could he have barely shattered this piece of bluestone?!"

Xia Jin, standing to the side, looked at Chu Hou's experimental results, a deep shock flashing in her eyes.

The oppressive force of this mirage realm is terrifyingly powerful!

The Grand Master looked at Marquis Chu's dejected appearance, shook his head with a smile, and stepped forward to pat him on the shoulder.

"What, now you believe me?"

The Marquis of Chu nodded with a wry smile.

Seeing that the two looked rather solemn, the Grand Hall Master said calmly, "You two don't need to feel discouraged. Actually, this is quite normal in the Mirage Realm."

He gazed at the distant, undulating mountain range and continued, "Even if I were to go all out in this Mirage Realm, I'm afraid I could only shatter that small mountain peak with a single punch."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and gestured towards a mountain peak over a hundred meters high next to him.

The Marquis of Chu's eyelids twitched suddenly.

It took the Grand Hall Master's full power to shatter that mountain peak?

You must understand, even the Grand Master of the Temple is a legendary figure! Yet here in the Mirage Realm, he's been suppressed to this extent?

Xia Jin also took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, which finally calmed her shock.

It wasn't until he realized that he had underestimated the Mirage Realm.

The laws of heaven and earth, the stability of space, and the suppressive power over cultivators here far exceeded his imagination. Under such circumstances, the methods he used to be so proud of would probably be greatly diminished.

Just as Xia Jin was feeling somewhat discouraged, a familiar voice suddenly rang in his mind.

"Ding!"

[Congratulations, host, on successfully completing the mission: Entering the Mirage Realm]

[Rewards are being distributed...]

[Reward Obtained: Great Sun Burning Heaven Technique (Beginner Level)]

[Reward received: 38,000 years of cultivation]

Xia Jin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, he had the system's rewards; otherwise, given his current state, it would have been quite difficult for him to gain a foothold in the Mirage Realm.

He subconsciously clenched his fist, feeling the system notification in his mind, a barely perceptible glint of sharpness flashing deep in his eyes.

With the Great Sun Burning Heaven Technique and his 38,000 years of cultivation, he finally had some confidence, even in the terrifyingly oppressive Mirage Realm.

"Don't just stand there."

The Grand Master's voice came from ahead. He had already turned around and was walking towards the faintly visible city in the distance.

"Hurry and follow me into the city! The nights in the Mirage Realm are not safe!"