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

"Damn it, did we really come all this way for nothing?!"

Xia Jin stood next to a stone pillar, smashed it in half with a single punch, and then looked around with a somewhat gloomy expression.

He traveled all the way from Silver Sand City, and this is all he got?

"If I had known it would be like this, I should have just refused Senior Brother Qisong."

After taking a few deep breaths, Xia Jin calmed his disappointment. However, just as he was about to give up and return, his gaze inadvertently swept over the center of the palace.

There is a lake there.

To be precise, it is a lake that has been dry for countless years.

The lakebed was cracked, riddled with crisscrossing fissures, and the dried black silt had turned into hard clods of earth. In the very center of the lake stood an artificial hill.

The artificial hill wasn't large, only about ten meters high. At first glance, it looked no different from an ordinary artificial hill.

But once Xia Jin's gaze fell upon it, she couldn't look away.

He held his breath.

Because he saw it.

At the base of that artificial hill, a crack was slowly opening.

The gap wasn't large, only about the width of one person, but Xia Jin could see clearly that just a few breaths ago, there wasn't a gap at all.

Someone came out from inside.

Xia Jin's body tensed instantly, and she silently slipped behind a thick stone pillar.

He concealed his aura to the extreme, slightly turned his head, and stared intently at the artificial mountain in the center of the lake through the edge of the stone pillar.

My gaze fell on a figure walking from the direction of the artificial hill.

He was a young man.

A young man who looked to be in his early twenties, a handsome young man.

Xia Jin felt that the other person's clothes were somewhat familiar.

That's right, I saw it in the introduction to the Mirage Realm on the jade slip that the Grand Hall Master gave him.

Tianbao City.

These are the clothes from Tianbao City.

Moreover, he was no ordinary disciple of Tianbao City. Judging from the texture and patterns of his robes, he was at least a core disciple.

"It seems that this person is the young master of Tianbao City!" Xia Jin's gaze swept quickly over the young man, and she made a quick judgment in her mind.

"This guy is so excited, could it be that he really got something good?" Xia Jin frowned slightly as she watched the other person walk out with a happy expression, a hint of doubt arising in her heart.

However, he soon noticed something was wrong; wisps of black energy were occasionally emanating from the other party's body.

The black aura was very faint, so faint that it would be completely unnoticeable if one did not look closely, but Xia Jin was all too familiar with the scent of it.

It has the same aura as those monsters from before.

How did this young master of Tianbao City come to be tainted with the aura of those monsters?

Countless thoughts flashed through Xia Jin's mind in an instant, but as the other party prepared to leave, he quickly came back to his senses.

"This guy is leaving!!"

Xia Jin quickly calculated in his mind that he now had two choices.

First, stay here and wait until the young master of Tianbao City has gone far away before investigating what's inside that artificial mountain.

Since the other person came out from inside, and looked happy, it means there's likely some treasure hidden inside the artificial hill. Even if the treasure has already been taken, at least we can see what's inside.

Second, follow him, follow that young master of Tianbao City. See what treasure he has obtained.

Xia Jin pondered for a moment, and then quickly made a decision.

First, follow that young master of Tianbao City. Ideally, you should capture him first and then interrogate him about the secrets behind the artificial hill.

The reason he didn't act immediately was because he had a vague premonition that if he made a move here, the young master of Tianbao City might escape.

"Forget it, let's go a little further out before we make a move!!"

Xia Jin followed the other person from a distance, like a faint shadow.

The young master of Tianbao City seemed to be immersed in joy and was completely unaware that someone was following him.

His cultivation level was not low; Xia Jin roughly sensed it and estimated it to be around the first level of the Immortal Ascension Realm. Among the younger generation of the Silver Sand Army, he could be considered one of the best.

But compared to myself, the gap is still too big.

Moreover, Xia Jin had concealed his aura to the extreme. Let alone a ninth-level Creation Realm expert, even a first-level Immortal Ascension Realm expert would find it difficult to detect his presence without deliberately probing.

Xia Jin followed at a leisurely pace, always maintaining a distance of about thirty feet.

This distance ensures that he won't lose track of the other person, but also prevents them from noticing his presence.

When a faint light appeared ahead, we were almost at the exit.

Xia Jin's eyes sharpened considerably.

Now is the perfect time to act.

Xia Jin moved.

His figure silently swept across the thirty-foot distance and instantly appeared behind the young man.

It wasn't until this moment that the young master of Tianbao City finally realized something was wrong.

He felt a chill run down his spine, and his body instinctively wanted to turn around.

But it was all too late.

A long, strong hand gripped the back of his neck like an iron clamp.

Xia Jin's palms were as hard as iron, her five fingers gripping the back of the other man's neck with such force that the young master of Tianbao City felt as if his cervical vertebrae would be crushed at any moment.

He didn't give the other party any chance to react.

With a sudden burst of strength from his left hand, he lifted the young man off the ground.

The young master of Tianbao City struggled helplessly in the air, his hands instinctively trying to grab the hand that was holding the back of his neck, but Xia Jin's strength was too great, and any resistance he made seemed pale and powerless.

"Who goes there!"

The young man uttered a question filled with shock and anger, his voice trembling with barely concealed terror.

Xia Jin's lips curled up slightly, revealing a smile that sent chills down the young man's spine.

"Who...who are you?!" The young man's voice trembled. "Do you even know who I am?! I am the young city lord of Tianbao City! If you dare to lay a finger on me, Tianbao City will absolutely not let you get away with it!"

Xia Jin remained silent.

With lightning speed, the other hand shot out and stabbed fiercely towards the abdomen of the young master of Tianbao City!

"Pfft!"

Xia Jin's entire palm pierced through the abdomen of the young master of Tianbao City as easily as piercing through a thin sheet of paper.

"Still thinking about revenge!? Too bad, you won't have the chance!!" Xia Jin sneered. His palm lingered on the young man's abdomen for a moment, and a surge of powerful spiritual energy erupted from his palm, instantly enveloping the young man's spiritual meridians and dantian.

Then, with a sudden twist!

A series of subtle yet incredibly clear cracking sounds emanated from the other person's body.

That was the sound of a spiritual vein breaking.

That was the sound of the dantian shattering.

That was the sound of someone's cultivation being destroyed.

The young master of Tianbao City began to tremble violently.

Xia Jin withdrew her left hand and threw the other person on the ground like trash.

"Bang."

The young man's body slammed heavily onto the hard rocky ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The young master of Tianbao City was curled up on the ground, his hands tightly clutching the wound in his abdomen.

"My...my cultivation level!!"

"You...you bastard..."

The young master of Tianbao City raised his head and stared intently at Xia Jin with his bloodshot eyes, his gaze filled with resentment and anger.

"You...you actually dared to cripple my cultivation!!"