Provocation? I'll Cripple the Support You Rely On

For the past three days, Xu Jin had not been idle for even a moment.

He spent all three days buried in the martial arts archives and demon records repository.

Drawing on the strange tales stored in his mind, he thoroughly figured out the Great Yin Dynasty's cultivation system, demon classifications, and organizational rules, finally bringing them fully in line with official knowledge.

First came the cultivation realms: Body Tempering, Intent Comprehension, Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster, Celestial Being, True Immortal, and Ultimate Path—the seven great realms. Beyond them was the legendary Shattering the Void, though that belonged only to tales from ancient times.

Nowadays, immortals and Buddhas had vanished without a trace. Any human cultivator who could reach the Celestial Being realm was a towering giant who could run rampant across an entire province.

The Body Tempering realm itself was divided into nine levels. The first three tempered skin and flesh, the middle three refined tendons and bones, and the final three condensed qi and blood. Only when one reached the ninth level, with qi and blood like mercury, could one be said to have touched the threshold of the supernatural.

At the Intent Comprehension realm, astral qi could be projected outward, allowing one to wound enemies several zhang away. It was the standard requirement for official demon slayers of the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Beyond that, Grandmasters could condense their innate divine abilities, corresponding to the military rank of Hundred Household.

Great Grandmasters had only begun to form their martial dharma forms, yet they were already high-level combatants at the Thousand Household rank.

As for the Celestial Being realm and beyond, those were all great figures who guarded an entire prefecture or even a province. Ordinary cultivators could spend their whole lives unable even to glimpse their heels.

Demon classifications corresponded one-for-one with cultivator realms: mixed-blood, spirit creature, lesser demon, greater demon, demon king, demon emperor, demon saint, and ancestral realm—the eight tiers from low to high.

The Stone Spirit he had previously smashed to death had been a lowest-tier mixed-blood demon, only just awakened to intelligence. Its body had been powerful, but it possessed few supernatural abilities.

The Yellow-Skin Demon he had slain was a proper lesser demon. It already understood wicked arts such as seeking recognition and absorbing vital essence. In the common world, it could already wreak havoc across a whole region.

Spirit creatures above them possessed innate divine abilities, while greater demons could slaughter villages and wipe out towns. None below the Grandmaster realm could stand against them.

Half of these demons were native mountain spirits and wild monsters, descended from the bloodlines recorded in ancient strange tales. The other half were otherworldly demons that crawled out through cracks in the sky, more vicious by far and stranger in their abilities.

Along the way, he also thoroughly grasped the value of his spoils. Demon crystals were condensed from a demon's vital essence, their grade following the demon's rank. A mixed-blood demon crystal was worth over a dozen taels of silver, and when ground into powder for medicine, it could accelerate Body Tempering.

A lesser demon crystal was worth three times as much, a hard currency even Intent Comprehension cultivators could use.

The few fragments of stone armor he had collected were mixed-blood demon remains. If he had an artificer melt them down, they could be forged into close-fitting protective gear several times sturdier than ordinary iron armor.

Over those three days, he had not merely read without practicing.

[ Palm-Rolling Sword Formation ] could now control transformed lead pellets up to thirty zhang away. The sword qi remained condensed without dispersing, and he could even briefly ride a sword through the air. At his current level, it only amounted to "jumping higher." True sword flight probably required the Intent Comprehension realm.

[ Swallow the Sun, Refine the Form ] likewise continued without interruption. Each day at noon, he swallowed sunlight to temper his tendons and bones, and his qi and blood visibly grew ever more condensed.

Three days flashed by. On the day of the supplementary assessment, the training ground was already packed with people when dawn had barely broken.

Xu Jin changed into the standard black uniform with crimson patterns. The moment he squeezed in and found his footing, discussions drifted into his ears, and he picked up most of the inner workings of the Demon Suppression Bureau's factions as well.

"There are twelve people taking the supplementary assessment this time. More than half have been here for three to five months already, and even the weakest are at Body Tempering level three. Looks like they're all aiming for Grade B."

"Obviously. Who in their right mind would take the test right after joining camp?"

"Hey, have you seen Wang Lei? The one under Hundred Household Zhang—he's already at Body Tempering level seven. He's definitely a Grade A candidate this time."

"Hundred Household Zhang belongs to the Containment Faction. They have ample resources and broad connections—how can the Extermination Faction paupers under Captain Chu compare? The Extermination Faction hasn't even produced a Grade B newcomer this year. They're so poor their pockets jingle. I heard that, in their desperation, they actually dragged in some wild-path nobody to make up the numbers."

"The Extermination Faction only knows how to shout about killing and fighting. They don't understand researching demon blood and flesh to fuse with themselves. Their cultivation is slow to begin with—what quality could any newcomer they recommend possibly have?"

"Oh, right. Yesterday, I heard from the Reception Hall that Captain Chu recommended a newcomer who registered for the assessment on his very first day. Is he crazy?"

"His name seems to be Xu Jin? I heard he's just some country commoner who found a tattered book and thought he could join the Demon Suppression Bureau. Just wait—he'll be crying the moment he gets on stage. If he earns even Grade D, that'll count as an exceptional performance."

The discussions were neither too loud nor too soft—just loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.

Xu Jin raised an eyebrow. At last, he understood where that earlier sense of discord had come from—so the Extermination Faction and the Containment Faction had a feud over their principles.

The Extermination Faction believed that demons should be slain on sight and evil eradicated to the last. They had always been at odds with the Containment Faction, which advocated researching demon flesh and blood, then growing stronger through fusion. As a newcomer recommended by Chu Feng, Xu Jin naturally received a kick along with him.

He did not take it to heart. Other people's mouths were their own; nothing he said would stop them. The results he fought for later would speak louder than anything else.

Just as he was looking for the assessment registration desk, a burly man squeezed out of the crowd. He looked to be at Body Tempering level five. With his arms folded, he sized Xu Jin up through narrowed eyes, deliberately raising his voice as though afraid the surrounding people might not hear him.

"You're that wild-path newcomer Captain Chu brought in? Xu Jin, right?"

The man was Ma San. He had always run with the Containment Faction, and today he had come specifically to pick a fight.

"I advise you to withdraw while you still can." Ma San patted the gleaming heartguard mirror on his chest, his face full of arrogance. "The Demon Suppression Bureau isn't some backwater wilderness. You can't just pick up a tattered book and strut around like you own the place. You Extermination Faction people only know how to deal with mixed-blood lesser demons. The moment you run into a real tough one, you're all just food served on a platter. When you get beaten flat on stage, it'll be the Extermination Faction that loses face."

Several people from the same faction laughed along with him, their words dripping with mockery. They even dragged Chu Feng into it.

Clearly, in their eyes, this Extermination Faction newcomer who had rushed into the competition was nothing more than a clueless filler.

Xu Jin lifted his eyelids. "Finished?"

"What, you don't like it?" Ma San stepped closer, slapping the heartguard mirror until it rang. "This Black-Iron Heartguard Mirror of mine can't be damaged even by someone at Body Tempering level six. A wild-path nobody like you probably can't even break through my defen—"

The last word had not yet left his mouth.

Xu Jin's fingertips twitched, and a flash of snow-bright white light streaked past.

Clang—!

The sharp ring pierced the air as sparks flew everywhere.

The very center of Ma San's Black-Iron Heartguard Mirror caved in, and spiderweb cracks crawled out from the dent to cover half the mirror.

The laughter stopped dead.

Ma San froze in place. Looking down at the heartguard mirror fractured like a spiderweb, his mind went blank.

This was the treasure he had obtained only after enormous effort, the trump card he usually showed off—yet it had been cracked by someone's casual flick?

He had not even seen how the other man attacked!

Xu Jin withdrew his hand, and the lead pellet slid back beneath his tongue.

"Keep talking nonsense. Next time, it won't be the mirror that cracks."

A deathly silence fell over the surroundings.

Within the crowd, Wang Lei, who had been standing there carelessly, suddenly straightened up, his gaze turning grave.

He was at Body Tempering level seven. He could also shatter that heartguard mirror, but to crack it so effortlessly with a single strike from afar—he could never do it so easily.

This newcomer was no worthless filler.

He was a real hard case.