Eleven years ago, Leng Qian was the daughter of a killer in an overseas assassin organization.
Because her mother defected from the organization, they sent numerous assassins to intercept her.
Her mother had no choice but to take her and flee back to her hometown, Long Country.
However, just as they were about to cross the border, Leng Qian's mother was caught up to by people from the assassin organization and killed just outside the border.
Leng Qian, however, managed to escape into Long Country.
Those assassins knew that Long Country was a forbidden zone for mercenaries and hired killers, so they dared not enter without authorization.
At that time, Leng Qian happened to encounter Jin Gong, who was doing business in a border city.
Leng Qian was only in her early teens then. For the sake of a steamed bun, she single-handedly took down seven or eight of Jin Gong's bodyguards.
Jin Gong recognized Leng Qian as a capable individual. He gave her the steamed bun and also took her in.
From then on, Leng Qian became Jin Gong's top expert and enforcer.
Leng Qian gradually transformed into a cold-blooded killer.
Over the past decade, Leng Qian had risked her life for the Jin family countless times.
Basically, any dangerous task was handled by her.
Within the Jin family, she was treated more like a tool.
Jin Gong merely turned a blind eye to Jin Shikai's presumptuous behavior towards Leng Qian.
On one occasion, Jin Shikai drugged Leng Qian's water, intending to force himself on her. Jin Gong was sitting in the living room reading a newspaper, completely indifferent, which could be considered his tacit approval.
If it hadn't been for Jin Shikai's enemies finding him later, Leng Qian would likely have been violated that time.
When Jin Shikai was kidnapped by his enemies to threaten Jin Gong, Leng Qian, still under the influence of the drug, swore to rescue Jin Shikai.
She ended up being stabbed several times, with one wound less than a centimeter away from a vital spot.
Today, Jin Shikai's heartlessness made her even more disgusted with the Jin family.
Her years of dedication were enough repayment for Jin Gong's kindness of giving her that steamed bun, and she no longer felt indebted to the Jin family.
Qin Xuan didn't know what Leng Qian was thinking. Assuming she wouldn't agree, he threw out another condition:
"If you can protect Tantai for two years, I will help you detoxify and also help you raise your cultivation realm from the late Innate stage to the Hua Jin stage."
Leng Qian was stunned upon hearing this, disbelief written all over her face.
Hua Jin stage!?
Was Qin Xuan joking?
He could help people raise their cultivation realm?
Did that mean he was a peerless expert at the Grandmaster realm himself?
In Long Country, only martial artists who reached the Grandmaster realm could transmit internal energy to others and forcefully increase their cultivation.
But which Grandmaster would impart their hard-earned internal energy to someone else?
And Qin Xuan looked no older than herself; how could he have cultivated to the Grandmaster realm at such a young age?
How was this possible!
Moreover, there were very few Grandmaster realm experts in the entirety of Long Country.
They were all at the pinnacle of the martial arts world.
If the Acquired stage was the entry point for martial artists, then the Innate stage was the watershed.
Many people spent their entire lives cultivating and could only reach the Acquired stage.
The Acquired stage involved refining the body, pushing physical limits, and being able to use external force for attacks, akin to the martial arts masters seen in television dramas.
The Innate stage, however, allowed for the cultivation of internal energy.
In other words, one could absorb the subtle spiritual energy from the outside world for cultivation.
In combat, using internal energy would multiply one's strength several times over as their cultivation increased.
They could leap over rooftops and tread on walls, exhibiting extraordinary abilities.
Acquired cultivators focused on the external, while Innate cultivators focused on the internal.
Upon reaching the Hua Jin stage, one could truly be considered to have some connection to the cultivators depicted in novels.
They could leap twenty to thirty meters, just like Qin Xuan had done moments before.
Their internal energy could be projected outwards, allowing them to control qi for attacks and kill without a trace.
Finally, there was the Grandmaster realm.
At this level, one could hover in the air and even achieve short bursts of flight.
The peak of the Grandmaster realm allowed for the manipulation of qi into formidable defenses with a mere wave of the hand, capable of diverting streams or shattering rocks.
There were only a handful of Grandmaster powerhouses in the whole of Long Country.