8: Chapter 8: Consolidating the Rewards and Returning to the Grandmaster Realm

"Forty years of cultivation! If calculated according to the progress of the System's own Cultivation Technique deduction, and all of it were used to deduce the Nine Turns Creation Sutra, I estimate I could have directly reached the ninth level of the Innate Realm!" Xia Jin took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the excitement in his heart.

"Commander Qin Hu! Have your men clean this place up! You and I shall return to the palace first!"

"As you command, Prince!"

Commander Qin Hu casually beckoned an Imperial Guard thousand-man commander over, whispered a few words in his ear, and then hurriedly followed Xia Jin back to the imperial palace.

Inside the Yangxin Hall, Commander Qin Hu was kneeling on one knee, reporting back to Emperor Xia Yu.

"Your Majesty, following the instructions of Prince Jin, I led the Imperial Guard to wipe out a Ming Cult stronghold at Lingyin Temple, killing twenty-seven remnants of the Ming Cult, including Broken Mountain Blade, one of the twelve Protectors of the Ming Cult. We suffered no casualties."

On the Dragon throne, Emperor Xia Yu finally revealed a long-absent smile: "As expected, I must rely on my big brother! Just having returned to the capital, he has already achieved results!"

Commander Qin Hu hurriedly bowed and said: "Your Majesty is wise! The fact that Great Xia has Prince Jin is truly a blessing for the imperial court."

"That's enough, you don't need to tell me, I know it myself!" Emperor Xia Yu put away his smile, his expression turning serious: "Commander Qin Hu, receive the decree!"

"Your subject is here."

"To purge the remnants of the Demonic Cult, from this day forth, the entire Imperial Guard shall be under the command of Prince Jin for all operations! Seeing Prince Jin is the same as seeing me in person; any disobedience shall be treated as disobeying my decree!"

Commander Qin Hu's expression changed slightly, then he kowtowed: "Your subject will strictly obey the holy decree!"

"Go." Emperor Xia Yu waved his hand.

Commander Qin Hu exited the Yangxin Hall and let out a long sigh. It seems Prince Jin is indeed as the rumors say, the only person in the Great Xia Dynasty who can stand on equal footing with His Majesty, the 'Emperor of the Underworld'. If he could also cling to this person's thigh, he would be second only to those two in all of Great Xia, and above everyone else.

Thinking of this, a hint of excitement appeared on Commander Qin Hu's face. This suppression of the Demonic Cult remnants was his chance to properly cling to Xia Jin's thigh.

Meanwhile, Xia Jin had already returned to his room.

"Forty years of cultivation!" Xia Jin sat cross-legged on the cold jade bed. It took several breaths for the icy cold air to help him completely calm down.

"System," he thought silently, "extract the reward."

[Extracting reward...]

[Congratulations to the host for extracting the mission reward: Little Lis Flying Dagger (Entry-Level), forty years of cultivation.]

"System, use thirty years of cultivation to deduce the Nine Turns Creation Sutra."

[Command confirmed. Consuming thirty years of cultivation to deduce the Nine Turns Creation Sutra...]

"In the first year, you used the Nine Turns Creation Sutra to open your Ren and Du meridians, increasing the speed of your True Qi circulation by threefold."

"In the tenth year, you successfully broke through to the eighth layer of the first turn of the Nine Turns Creation Sutra, and your martial arts cultivation broke through from the first level of the Innate Realm to the fourth level of the Innate Realm."

"In the twentieth year, you successfully broke through to the ninth layer of the first turn of the Nine Turns Creation Sutra, and your martial arts cultivation broke through from the fourth level of the Innate Realm to the seventh level of the Innate Realm."

"In the thirtieth year, you successfully broke through to the first layer of the second turn of the Nine Turns Creation Sutra, and your martial arts cultivation broke through from the seventh level of the Innate Realm to the first level of the Grandmaster Realm."

[Deduction complete! The Nine Turns Creation Sutra has been upgraded from the seventh layer of the first turn to the first layer of the second turn! The host's Realm has been upgraded simultaneously!]

"It's actually better than what I previously predicted; thirty years of cultivation directly converted into the first level of the Grandmaster Realm!" After hearing the System notification of "first level of the Grandmaster Realm" ringing in his mind, the corners of Xia Jin's mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.

But he didn't notice that as the Nine Turns Creation Sutra broke through to the second turn, his appearance seemed to have become a little younger.

"Right, let me test how my strength is now."

Xia Jin lightly grasped the air towards a one-zhang-tall bronze lamp stand dozens of meters away, and the lamp stand immediately shattered into dozens of metal fragments, falling to the ground.

"Not bad. Although it is only the first level of the Grandmaster Realm, its power is enough to rival the existence of about the fifth level of the Grandmaster Realm!" Xia Jin nodded with satisfaction. "There are still ten years of cultivation left. System, use it directly to deduce Little Lis Flying Dagger!"

[Command confirmed. Consuming ten years of cultivation to deduce Little Lis Flying Dagger...]

As the System's voice sounded, the True Qi circulation route and techniques for operating Little Lis Flying Dagger began to rapidly appear in Xia Jin's mind.

[In the first year, you studied day and night, starting with a three-inch wooden knife, constantly practicing hitting every falling leaf within thirty meters with the flying dagger.]

[In the fifth year, after constant practice, your flying dagger technique has reached Major Achievement. Within a hundred meters, as long as you wish, there is no object you cannot hit! Once the flying dagger is released, the heavens and earth lose their color. Little Lis Flying Dagger has already reached Major Achievement!]

[In the tenth year, you have thoroughly mastered it. When the flying dagger is released, gods and ghosts are terrified; Little Lis Flying Dagger has broken through to Perfection!]

[Deduction complete, results being fed back...]

Xia Jin's index and middle fingers of his right hand unconsciously stretched forward, instantly pinching a fruit leaf scattered on the table. Under the infusion of his unconsciously circulated True Qi, a faint golden light appeared on the edge of the leaf. He just flicked his wrist casually— "Swish!" The leaf turned into a faint golden line, instantly sinking into the one-foot-thick black stone brick wall opposite.

Xia Jin also came to his senses at this moment, seemingly startled. He walked straight down from the cold jade bed, stopped at the wall, and stared intently at the tiny hole.

"Little Lis Flying Dagger, it truly lives up to its reputation!"

"This wall is built with black stone bricks, and those black stone bricks are as hard as iron; even ordinary swords could hardly damage them in the slightest. Yet, it was easily pierced by a single leaf. Impressive, impressive!"

Xia Jin walked to a sandalwood chair nearby and sat down. He picked up a wine cup, poured himself a cup of wine, drank it in one gulp, and then, smelling the residual wine aroma on the rim of the cup, began to calculate secretly in his heart,

"Ordinary leaves still have such power; if I use a specially made flying dagger with all my might... combined with my True Qi, which is at the first level of the Grandmaster Realm but comparable to the fifth level, if caught off guard, even if facing a Great Grandmaster, there is a certain probability of severely injuring them!"

He calmed his mood and opened his System panel.

[Host: Xia Jin]

[Realm: Grandmaster Realm (First Level)]

[Mind-Cultivation Technique: Nine Turns Creation Sutra (Second Turn, First Layer), Wuxiang Gong (Proficient)]

[Talent: Spiritual Perception (Intermediate, Range 3000 meters)]

[Martial Skill: Little Lis Flying Dagger (Great Perfection), Thirteen Swords of Chasing Wind (Proficient)]

[Current Reward: None]

After admiring his System panel for a full quarter of an hour, Xia Jin satisfiedly exited it. He refilled his cup with wine, and after drinking it, drifted into a deep sleep with a hint of tipsiness.

The next day, after being dressed by the palace maids, just as he signaled to open the hall door, he saw Eunuch Wei waiting quietly outside.

At this moment, Eunuch Wei had a hint of weariness on his face. The moment he saw Xia Jin, he immediately perked up and hurriedly prepared to bow in salute.

"That's enough, come in and speak."