This Isn't a Villain—He's Clearly My Lucky Star

Night gradually receded, and the sky at the horizon turned the pale white of a fish belly.

The group briefly tidied up the stone cave, swung onto their horses, and headed back toward the provincial capital along the official road.

Xu Jin, Wang Lei, and Yan Tao rode abreast at the very front.

"Brother Xu, you haven't been with the Bureau long, so you may not know the Demon Suppression Bureau's courier-road rules yet." Yan Tao held the reins and casually began explaining. "With a Demon Exorcist's bronze plaque, you receive priority service at post stations along the way, pass through checkpoints in every prefecture without inspection, and can requisition local relay horses for urgent official business. A journey that would leave an ordinary martial artist running his legs off takes us half the time on the courier roads."

After a pause, he added about magical implements, "As for standard-issue magical implements, the Containment Faction gets a fixed monthly quota. From Evil-Repelling Talismans to standard long sabers, they can claim them every month. We in the Extermination Faction have to exchange contribution points for them. It's more troublesome, but we have freedom. What we exchange for depends entirely on ourselves."

Wang Lei nodded along. "That's right. That's where the Containment Faction has the advantage. New recruits can collect a full set of equipment as soon as they join. But when it comes to real combat strength, those forged through slaughter in the Extermination Faction are still tougher."

Xu Jin listened intently, asking a question now and then.

He had only known the broad outlines of these institutional details before. Now, hearing the veteran members explain them in detail, he finally gained a tangible sense of how the Demon Suppression Bureau operated.

"Speaking of contribution points," Yan Tao shifted the subject to the spoils, "the Baleful Gathering Crystal Core in your robes is hard currency. Turn it in to the Bureau's armory for conversion, and it's worth an ordinary probationary member's entire year of field-work earnings. If you run into some research-crazed Containment Faction member willing to buy it privately, the price could rise another thirty percent."

Xu Jin touched the crystal core in his robes. Whether he kept it to temper his blood and vitality with Swallow the Sun, Refine the Form, or used it as bait to lure Yin entities in the future, it would be more useful than exchanging it for dead contribution points.

He turned to Wang Lei beside him. "I have a use for the core crystal. As for the Baleful Corpse remains and the miscellaneous Yin cultivator implements, take all of them and convert them into contribution points. It should be enough to gather the resource quota you need for your promotion assessment."

Wang Lei froze, nearly losing his grip on the reins.

"All of it for me?" His eyes lit up, and he hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no! You did the most work from beginning to end this time. I only lent a hand here and there. How could I take so much?"

"If I tell you to take it, take it." There was no room for discussion in Xu Jin's tone. "Identifying qi, taking inventory, filling gaps, maintaining control—what didn't you do? You can't have followed me around for nothing."

Yan Tao smiled and smoothed things over. "Wang Lei, just accept it. With Brother Xu's temperament, once he says he's giving it to you, he won't take it back. With anyone else, forget getting the lion's share—even a few scraps would be generous."

Wang Lei gripped the reins, warmth filling his chest.

He had originally only gambled on Xu Jin's potential. Who would have thought that in a single day, they would not only wipe out Profound Yin Hall's entire western-suburbs stronghold, but he would nearly gather all the resources needed for his promotion as well?

Following such a mighty thigh, his future was more than ten times brighter.

Lin Yue and Meng Yao followed behind. Listening to the conversation ahead, they exchanged a glance and could not help smiling.

Xu Jin looked decisive and ruthless, cold and unapproachable, but he was truly protective of his own people.

The group chatted as they traveled. The official road gradually narrowed, while the woods on both sides grew denser and denser.

Xu Jin suddenly frowned, a black glint flashing through his eyes.

"Stay alert." He pulled on the reins, his voice sinking. "There's an ambush."

Yan Tao and the other four instantly placed their hands on their saber hilts and talisman pouches.

Almost at the same moment, a muffled buzz sounded. Pitch-black formation flags burst from the earth on both sides of the official road, forming a trapping formation that enclosed the five people and their horses within.

"Esteemed members of the Demon Suppression Bureau, I have awaited you for quite some time."

Wang Defa's voice came from deep within the mist, first to the left, then to the right, making it impossible to identify his exact location.

"Wang Defa!" Yan Tao shouted furiously. "You dare set an ambush on an official road? There are villages and towns ahead. Aren't you afraid of alarming the common people and bringing the Demon Suppression Bureau's full-scale encirclement upon yourself?"

"Heh heh heh." Wang Defa gave a sinister laugh. "Those are your Demon Suppression Bureau's rules, not this old man's rules. What? You think you can use the Bureau's rules to suppress me?"

Meng Yao and Lin Yue's faces darkened.

The Demon Suppression Bureau guarded its territories, and its greatest taboo was allowing supernatural power to affect ordinary people.

Wang Defa had counted on precisely that, which was why he dared choose this place for the ambush. Once a fight began, the only ones forced to hold back would be them.

"Hand over the Baleful Gathering Crystal Core obediently, then cripple your own cultivation. This seat may spare the lives of you four." Wang Defa spoke unhurriedly, as though he had them completely in his grasp.

Yan Tao and the other four furrowed their brows. For a moment, they truly found themselves afraid to strike for fear of harming the innocent.

Sitting atop his horse, Xu Jin merely gave a scornful laugh after hearing him out.

Before joining the Demon Suppression Bureau, I cowered and dared not act openly in public.

Now that I've joined the Demon Suppression Bureau, I still have to cower?

Then wouldn't I have joined the Demon Suppression Bureau for nothing?

"Enough nonsense."

A crimson-gold radiance suddenly blazed around Xu Jin. His body swayed, and he transformed into a streak of golden light that shot up from horseback into the sky.

Yan Tao and the other four only saw a flash of golden light before Xu Jin vanished from sight.

The next instant, they abruptly looked up, their pupils shrinking in unison.

"Flying through the air?" Yan Tao cried out, his voice cracking. "Th-this... isn't that something only Grandmasters can do?!"

Meng Yao's hand clenched tightly around her sword hilt, her face full of shock.

Only when a Grandmaster's martial dharma manifestation had begun to take shape could they stand in the air. This was common knowledge throughout the cultivation world.

Yet Xu Jin was clearly only a probationary member, not even an official Demon Exorcist. How had he directly flown up?

Wang Lei stood with his mouth agape for a long while.

He knew Xu Jin was strong, but he had never imagined he could be this strong. This was no longer merely fighting above one's level—he had outright shattered an iron law of the cultivation world!

In midair, Xu Jin hovered above the formation. With a flick of his fingertip, Molten-Gold Sword Aura erupted outward, transforming into a fan-shaped curtain of sword light several yards wide as it swept down upon the Yin cultivator elites before the formation.

"Force Splits Mount Hua!!!"

"Sizzle—!"

Yang fire collided with Yin balefulness, and white mist billowed into the air.

The seven or eight elite disciples of Profound Yin Hall charging at the front did not even have time to scream before the sword curtain swept across them. Men and weapons alike were burned until both souls and spirits were extinguished, leaving not even ash behind.

"Does the Demon Suppression Bureau have no shame? That was clearly a sweep through a thousand troops, yet you shouted Force Splits Mount Hua!"

An enraged roar came from the left. A tall figure wrapped in black balefulness burst from the ground, wielding a black-baleful long saber. It was Yan Kun, leader of the Black Wind Three Fiends.

He leaped several yards into the air, his long saber cleaving toward Xu Jin above with mountain-splitting force, utterly failing to notice just how absurd it was that his opponent stood suspended in midair.

Xu Jin shifted slightly, instantly moving several feet sideways. The Molten Gold Flying Sword transformed into a streak of white light and stabbed straight toward the long saber.

"Clang—!"

After a crisp ring, a hole was instantly burned through the black-baleful long saber. The white light did not slow in the slightest, piercing directly through Yan Kun's heart.

"You..." Yan Kun's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief.

He was an elite in the late stage of Comprehending Intent, yet he could not even withstand a single move?

Crimson-gold Yang fire spread from the wound. In the blink of an eye, his entire body burned down to nothing but charred remains.

One move. The leader of the Black Wind Three Fiends was dead.

Deep within the forest outside the formation, Wang Defa hid behind a tree, the corner of his eye twitching violently.

Yan Kun had died just like that? And that brat... could actually stand in the air?

Having only recently entered the Grandmaster realm himself, he could only use Yin balefulness to lift himself briefly off the ground. He could not hover so freely at all.

What kind of monster was this fellow?

"Good, very good!" Wang Defa was both shocked and enraged. His hands rapidly formed seals as he chanted an obscure incantation. "Profound Yin gathers Baleful Intent; earth veins, heed my summons!"

Profound Yin Gathering Baleful Intent Soul-Refining Art was driven to its fullest.

The ground began to tremble violently. The soil on both sides of the official road cracked open inch by inch, and countless damaged remnant-soul Yin soldiers crawled out from underground. Each wore broken armor and wielded rusted spears and halberds, ghostly green fire flickering in their eye sockets. They stretched as far as the eye could see.

He had forcibly summoned from the earth veins the military Baleful Intent and Yin souls that had accumulated on this ancient battlefield for hundreds of years.

The howls of the Yin soldiers sent the birds in the forest scattering in all directions.

Yan Tao and the other four's expressions changed completely.

This was no ambush—it was clearly the summoning of an entire ancient battlefield!

In the air, Xu Jin watched the endless stream of Yin soldiers pouring out below. Rather than fearing them, an excited smile curled across his lips.

What a good man. Whatever I lack, he brings me.

This isn't a villain at all. He's clearly my lucky star.