Yeah, Right

At the entrance to the temporary camp north of the ruined fortress, lifeless corpses lay piled carelessly on the ground.

Not a single one of those corpses was whole. Most had been half-eaten by demonic beasts, while the few with all four limbs intact were still a mangled blur of flesh and blood, a horrifying sight.

This terrifying, bloody scene constantly warned the returning martial artists of the brutality of fighting demonic beast hordes.

As the Demon Slayer Envoy assessment came to an end, martial artists gradually broke out of the demonic beast horde surrounding the ruined fortress and returned to the temporary camp.

Nearly every returning martial artist was stained with blood—some of it demonic beast blood, some of it their own.

Some martial artists were helped or carried out of the ruined fortress by others.

Before entering the temporary camp, they all instinctively looked toward the piles of mangled corpses at the camp entrance.

Then, people began to break into uncontrollable sobs.

"Xiao Lin! Xiao Lin!"

"Ah Fei! Look at me! Look at me!"

"Fatty, wake up! Fatty, don't scare me!"

Watching more and more martial artists burst into grief-stricken cries, the silver-armored general standing at the camp entrance finally snapped coldly, "What are you crying for? When fighting demonic beasts, how could there be no deaths?"

The moment the silver-armored general finished speaking, quite a few martial artists glared at him furiously.

Yet the silver-armored general did not care in the slightest. After sweeping his icy gaze over them, he lectured them in an even colder tone.

"What are you looking at? Not convinced? Since you chose to embark on the path of a martial artist, you should have long prepared yourselves to die at any time."

"Why do the Eighty-One Cities of the Five Nations grant martial artists such lofty status, wealth, and power? It is not so you can remain in the rear cities and indulge yourselves in pleasure. It is so you can enter the Demonic Beast Territory, fight and kill demonic beasts, and carve out more room for mankind to survive. Death is something you will have to learn to get used to sooner or later."

"The demonic beasts you faced in this practical assessment were all specially selected by us. There were no particularly formidable ones among them. If you cannot even defeat such demonic beasts, then I advise you to abandon the path of a martial artist as soon as possible, lest you end up buried in a demonic beast's maw one day."

The silver-armored general's words immediately silenced all the returning martial artists.

The martial artists who had come to take the Demon Slayer Envoy assessment were already among the more outstanding martial artists from their respective cities. They knew quite a bit about demonic beasts and understood that the silver-armored general was right.

The demonic beasts they had faced during the assessment truly were not the most troublesome among demonic beasts.

If they had faced group-active demonic beasts in this assessment—such as wolf packs, rodent-type demonic beasts, or flocking aerial demonic beasts—then forget passing the practical assessment; whether they could have walked out of the ruined fortress alive would have been a question.

Moreover, once they entered the Demonic Beast Territory in the future, the demonic beasts they faced would not have strength distributed as evenly as the ones in this assessment.

With a bit of bad luck, they might encounter a demonic beast several realms above them and be finished on the spot.

The struggle between mankind and demonic beasts had always been bloody, cruel, and merciless.

Seeing the martial artists fall silent, the silver-armored general stopped reprimanding them and instead shouted, "We will now verify your results. Line up one by one and submit your proof!"

"Li Ming, right ears from twelve Iron-Haired Dogs and three Fox-Faced Dogs. Chest injury. Next."

"Zhang Qiang, right ears from thirteen Iron-Haired Dogs and five Fox-Faced Dogs. Leg injury. Next."

"Zheng Yukang, right ears from nine Fox-Faced Dogs and one Two-Tailed Cat. Injuries to the arm, thigh, and chest. Next."

In the middle of the temporary camp, every martial artist who entered submitted the right ears they had cut from the demonic beasts they killed, proving the number and quality of their kills.

"It's Chen Fan's turn!"

"As one of the two most outstanding young martial arts talents recruited by the War God Temple this year, I wonder how many demonic beasts he killed?"

"Probably a lot. I heard someone witnessed him killing Iron-Haired Dogs. There was only one comment—like slicing melons and chopping vegetables."

"He's that strong? Then I'm rather looking forward to it!"

As Chen Lin listened to the crowd's discussion, he looked toward Chen Fan, who was pouring out demonic beast ears, and a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes.

Compared with the dozen or twenty-odd right ears submitted by the previous martial artists, the demonic beast ears Chen Fan poured from his cloth bag were clearly far more numerous.

This also indirectly proved that his strength ranked relatively high among this batch of martial artists taking the Demon Slayer Envoy assessment.

Hearing the discussions around him as he poured out the demonic beast ears, Chen Fan could not stop the corners of his mouth from lifting.

"That looks like a lot!"

"Yeah, yeah! Compared to him, the people who submitted proof earlier are as far apart as clouds and mud!"

"Just how many demonic beasts did he kill?"

After counting the demonic beast right ears Chen Fan had submitted, the silver-armored general announced expressionlessly, "Chen Fan, forty-six demonic beasts slain in total: twenty-three Iron-Haired Dogs, thirteen Fox-Faced Dogs, and ten Two-Tailed Cats. Uninjured."

As the silver-armored general made the announcement, the surrounding crowd immediately erupted in an uproar.

"So many? How did he even kill them?"

"We're all martial artists. How is the gap between us and him so enormous?"

"When people are compared, one dies; when goods are compared, one gets thrown away. He's simply leaving no face for ordinary people like us!"

"I wonder, compared with Chen Lin from the War God Temple, which of the two is better?"

"I heard that Chen Lin from the War God Temple is not only younger than Chen Fan, but his realm is also higher. I just don't know how strong he is in battle. I really want to know how many demonic beasts he killed."

"Before yesterday's practical assessment, my friend said that Senior Huo from the War God Temple took Chen Fan and the other one to see that martial artist called Chen Lin. I heard they came back with their noses rubbed in the dirt."

Hearing the discussion in the area gradually veer off in another direction after finishing his registration, Chen Fan frowned and could not help searching around for Chen Lin.

After looking for a while, his gaze happened to collide with Chen Lin's amid the crowd.

His eyes immediately filled with provocation as he stared at Chen Lin, then he casually gave him a thumbs-down gesture.

Looking at Chen Fan's disdainful face, Chen Lin could not help frowning.

He had never had any entanglements with Chen Xu and Chen Fan from the Martial Arts Academy. They had only met for the first time yesterday, so he had no idea why the two of them held such hostility toward him.

"A Lin, this Chen Fan is quite a formidable figure too!"

At some point, Chen Yu had come to Chen Lin's side. After hearing the number of demonic beast ears Chen Fan had submitted, he could not help sighing in admiration.

Chen Lin happily looked at Chen Yu and asked with a smile, "Brother Yu, when did you get back?"

"I just got back!" Chen Yu replied with a smile.

"Brother Yu, how many demonic beasts did you kill?" Chen Lin asked curiously.

"Thirty." Chen Yu answered, then asked with a smile, "What about you? How many did you kill?"

"Not many! About the same as you!" Chen Lin replied with a smile.

"Yeah, right. Look at how bulging that cloth bag at your waist is. One look tells me it's no small number. I'd better hurry up and submit mine! Otherwise, if I end up behind you in line, I'll be compared into scraps!" Chen Yu shot Chen Lin's cloth bag a glance, rolled his eyes, then hurriedly squeezed out of the crowd and headed toward the registration area.