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

Erniu was about to slap him when he felt his wrist being grabbed. Enraged, he roared without turning around, "Which blind bastard dares to stop you, Master Niu? You're tired of living! I'll chop off your paws!"

"Huh!?" He tried again, but found that his hand still wouldn't budge, and then he realized that something was wrong.

He turned around in a panic, only to be taken aback.

The person who had just been lying on the bed was now behind him, a hand gripping his wrist like an iron clamp.

"You bastard! I wondered who it was, it's you, you sickly wretched thing! Let me go right now! Or I'll kill you too!" Erniu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Xia Jin, a ferocious look on his face, and his other hand was already on the hilt of the knife at his waist.

"Has this guy lost his mind?! Could it be that I've only just woken up and still look a bit weak?" Xia Jin looked at him strangely, as if he were an idiot.

Too lazy to waste words, he didn't move his left hand that was holding the other's wrist, but casually raised his right hand and lightly patted Erniu's shoulder.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, Erniu felt as if a small mountain had crashed down on him, and his knees slammed uncontrollably into the ground!

"Snap!"

The bluestone floor beneath his feet shattered with a crash, and the slap sent him crashing to his knees.

"What's wrong? What happened?!" Erniu's mind went blank, and he didn't react at all.

He looked up blankly, only snapping out of his daze when he saw Xia Jin's mocking eyes.

Could I have really messed up?

Even so, as a member of the Dragon Guard, he had never been afraid of anyone except the three patriarchs in the palace.

Erniu swallowed hard, scrambling backward on all fours while threatening, "You...you dare touch me! You're dead! Now...now kneel down and kowtow to me to admit your mistake, and I might consider sparing your lives! Otherwise, once the rest of our Dragon Guard arrives, we'll tear you to pieces!"

Xia Jin was speechless at the sight of the other party threatening her even as he was about to die. How could there be such a fool in the Great Qian Dynasty?

He shook his head, too lazy to listen to any more nonsense, and pointed a finger into the air.

"laugh!"

A gust of wind flashed past, and Erniu felt a chill in his dantian, followed by a sharp, empty pain. His true energy poured out like a flood bursting its banks!

It's ruined! My cultivation has been destroyed!

"Bastard! You...you dare to cripple my cultivation!" Erniu endured the excruciating pain and glared at Xia Jin with a face full of resentment.

Xia Jin didn't look at him anymore, but instead turned to look at the old servant next to her who was already terrified, and a smile involuntarily appeared on her face.

These past two days, I've been very grateful for the care this old man has given me.

"Grandpa, this guy just tried to slap you. Come on, you try it too, slap him a few times!"

Upon hearing Xia Jin's words, the old servant trembled. "But, young brother, isn't this... this isn't a good idea? He... he is an official after all. If we offend him too much, what if he retaliates later..."

Xia Jin patted the old servant on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Sir, do you think he'll retaliate even if you don't hit him now?"

The old servant was taken aback. Looking at Erniu's eyes, which seemed to want to devour them whole, he immediately understood.

That's true, Xia Jin crippled this person, so the grudge was already dead long ago.

Why not fight back? Besides, I'm already this old, practically half-buried, why should I be afraid of retaliation?

He gritted his teeth, a ruthless look flashing across his face, spat twice into his palm, rubbed it, and walked up to Erniu.

The old servant took a deep breath and bowed to Erniu, saying, "Um... sir, please bear with me for a moment, I... I'll be quick."

Erniu's eyes widened in fury: "You old bastard, how dare you...!"

"Snapped!"

Before he could finish speaking, a solid slap landed hard on his face!

Erniu had just had his cultivation destroyed, and this slap made his head tilt to the side, and he saw stars.

"Slap! Slap! Slap!"

The old servant seemed to have flipped a switch, and he started slapping her repeatedly with both hands, the slaps coming fast and hard!

At first, Erniu was still cursing, but in the end he couldn't even hum a word.

His cheeks swelled up at a visible speed, and his whole face quickly turned into a pig's head.

"This...this old man is something else!" Xia Jin's eyes twitched a few times as she stared in disbelief.

This old man, who seemed so timid before, turned out to be so... fierce! Judging from his posture, he probably used every ounce of strength he had.

Seeing that Erniu was almost out of breath, Xia Jin coughed lightly: "Cough, sir, that's enough, you can stop now."

The old servant finally came to his senses, stopped panting, looked at his reddened palms, then at the mangled Erniu on the ground, and scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly.

"Young man, I...did I go a bit too far?"

Xia Jin waved her hand, walked up to the dying Er Niu, and casually slapped him on the top of the head. Er Niu's body shuddered, and he immediately fell silent.

"Young man, you...you've killed him! What if it attracts others? You'll be in big trouble! You must leave here immediately!" The old servant said worriedly.

"Don't worry... It's just someone dying, what's the big deal..." Xia Jin hadn't finished speaking when her eyes suddenly turned to the window.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded outside the courtyard, followed by a voice:

"Erniu! Erniu! Where have you been hiding, you little rascal? Damn it, you didn't find a beauty to keep to yourself, did you? Tiger, I'm here! Come out now!"

Tiger walked toward the backyard, looking sullen.

He searched the front yard thoroughly but couldn't find any trace of Consort Shu or her sister. He figured that Erniu had rushed to the back yard from the start, fearing that the other party might have gotten there first.

"Young man, this..." The old servant turned pale upon hearing the voice and looked at Xia Jin with a nervous expression.

"It's alright!" Xia Jin smiled.

The next moment, his figure had already disappeared from the room.

"That Erniu, he didn't even answer when I called him! Could he really be eating all by himself already?!"

Tiger, carrying his knife, glanced at the lit side room not far away and quickened his pace.

Suddenly a calm voice sounded behind him:

"Hey! You big oaf! That guy you were talking about... wasn't he the one wearing a scholar's robe and a ghost mask?"

"Who?! Who's speaking?" Tiger was still thinking about Consort Shu's beautiful figure when he was suddenly startled by the voice coming from behind him.

He let out a strange cry, and the long sword at his waist was instantly drawn. At the same time, he turned around sharply and looked behind him!

Under the moonlight, a man dressed in coarse clothes and with a slightly pale face stood quietly in front of him.