An Invasion, The Aquafire Empire

Jin arched a brow.

He had somewhat of an impression of the Aquafire Empire, as they were a secret faction rivaling the Thousand Rivers Empire. But for most of their millennium-long history, they stayed secluded within a massive air bubble located somewhere inside the Aquafire Empire.

He found records of them a couple of years ago and even set out to find them, but returned empty-handed.

The Martial Supreme Realm may be extremely powerful, but that was only relative to the World of Huaxia.

It wasn't like Jin or any other Martial Supreme could fly in the sky or flip the seas and oceans with a single hand. They were still human, and not even particularly strong ones on the grander scale of things.

Even in the Early Dantian Formation Realm, Jin could at most contend with a 1st Rank Level 12 Evolver. This, in both the Main World and Huaxia, meant he could effortlessly destroy villages and small towns.

To ordinary people of Huaxia, this was godlike, but to him, who was from a highly advanced interstellar civilization, it was but the first step on a path with countless steps awaiting him.

"Lord Sovereign…?"

"Ah, yes," Jin snapped out of it, saying, "I'll handle it. No problem."

"This…" Xiao Han was rendered speechless at the casual attitude of his leader.

Did he not understand what a Martial Supreme Realm powerhouse represented!?

This could very well be the calm before the storm that would end in the total destruction of the Martial Dao Empire!

However, Xiao Han would naturally not say all his inner grievances out loud.

Lord Sovereign Yang Kai's words were absolute. No one, not even him, was allowed to question them.

"I… I'll take my leave then, Lord Sovereign."

Xiao Han's departure was accompanied by a slight brow furrow from Jin.

He could pretty much guess the thoughts of his loyal servant, and in all fairness, Xiao Han's concerns were perfectly reasonable. After all, even though the Martial Dao Empire was the strongest in the land and the spread of the Martial Dao Path improved the overall quality of cultivators, everything was still in the early stages of development.

The Aquafire Empire, no matter how inferior in quality their cultivators were, still had more than double the powerhouses that the Martial Dao Empire had. Furthermore, since not every Martial Saint and below had finished converting to the superior Martial Dao Path, the majority of the Martial Dao Empire's powerhouses were not much better than the Aquafire Empire's.

Not much difference in quality and vastly surpassed in quantity.

Any semi-intelligent person would place their bets on the Martial Dao Empire losing in this war.

But what the hundreds of millions of people in the Sky Cloud Continent didn't have a good grasp on was the unquestionable power of their Lord Sovereign.

Those higher in cultivation and more abundant in knowledge might've guessed Jin to be half a step into the Martial Supreme Realm, which would still make him invincible in most circumstances.

But there was a massive difference between half a step into the Martial Supreme Realm and the Martial Supreme Realm.

Ten half-step Martial Supremes could fight an actual Martial Supreme and still lose badly.

Even Jin's own master, the previous Thousand Rivers Sect Leader, wasn't positive that his disciple had broken through to the mystical Martial Supreme Realm. After all, the Realm was a legend, having not appeared in over one thousand years.

But if just the Realm weren't crazy enough, try to imagine someone under 20 years old making it to that point in his cultivation. Who would believe a fairytale like that?

No matter how much confidence Jin's master had in him, and no matter how much of his ridiculous genius he'd witnessed already, it didn't make digesting the possibility of an 18-year-old Martial Supreme any easier to swallow. And even less likely to accept.

It was because of this very dilemma that the previous Thousand Rivers Sect Leader visited the huge flame-designed palace that was relinquished from the Crimson Moon Empire after their fall. This, being where Lord Sovereign Yang Kai lived, was also where the ex-sect leader aimed to make his plea to Jin to order a surrender.