Damn, he wiped out a whole group at the start? What kind of monster was this?

The dead silence did not last long before Wang Lei stepped out from the crowd.

He stared at Xu Jin and said in a low voice, "Brother, it was only a few verbal clashes. Isn't your hand a little too ruthless? A Black-Iron Heartguard Mirror is worth a fortune, yet you shattered it just like that. Aren't you taking our Containment Faction far too lightly?"

Seeing this, Ma San seemed to have found his backbone. He shrank back and let Wang Lei shield him.

Xu Jin glanced at him. "He ran his mouth and started trouble. I only shattered his mirror without crippling his hand. That was already me holding back."

"If you're dissatisfied, come up and try it yourself."

The retort was crisp and sharp, leaving him not half a step of face.

Wang Lei's expression darkened as he gripped the hilt of the saber at his waist.

He was at the seventh level of Body Tempering, the top seed among this year's supplementary recruits. Yet after witnessing Xu Jin shatter the mirror from afar, he had to admit that he could never have done it with such effortless ease.

If they truly fought, the outcome would be hard to predict. He might even make a fool of himself in public.

After several seconds of silence, his face turned livid. His mouth opened and closed, but in the end, he did not dare answer.

Just then, a cold shout rang out from the elevated platform of the martial training grounds. "Private fighting is forbidden within the examination grounds! If you want to fight, wait until you're on the arena. Cause trouble again, and you'll be directly disqualified from the examination!"

The speaker was the chief examiner for this assessment, clad in the standard official robes of a Centurion, his expression stern and imposing.

Once his words fell, the entire venue became utterly silent.

Ma San slunk back into the crowd with a pale face. The Heartguard Mirror he had relied on for so long was gone just like that, and more than half of his confidence in this examination had vanished with it.

Muted discussions immediately arose outside the grounds, sharply divided into two camps.

"Isn't Xu Jin way too arrogant? He dares to beat up someone from the Containment Faction the moment he joins the Bureau. I don't even dare imagine what he'll be like in the future!!!"

"So what if he's arrogant? He has the strength for it. Besides, don't you know what kind of person Ma San is? He carries that broken mirror around showing off every day. This time, he went looking for trouble himself. Wasn't it only right that he got taught a lesson?"

"Exactly. If you run your mouth, you deserve a beating. If I were Xu Jin, I might've smashed his teeth outright."

"Still... isn't his strength completely absurd? Shattering a black-iron mirror from afar—he has to be at least at the sixth or seventh level of Body Tempering, right? Did the Extermination Faction really strike gold this time?"

There were voices of doubt, voices of envy, but more than anything, there was recognition of his strength.

Everyone knew that in the Demon Suppression Bureau, a hard fist was the only hard truth.

Before the crowd could talk for long, the chief examiner on the platform spoke again. "The supplementary recruitment examination begins now!"

"Rules: You have the time it takes an incense stick to burn. The number of ferocious beasts slain within the grounds will count toward your score. Rankings will be divided into four grades—A, B, C, and D—according to kill count. The beasts are Black-Wind Wolves and Ironback Boars. They possess no lethal poison attacks. If you are injured and concede defeat, you may call for a stop and withdraw."

The moment his words fell, iron gates around the examination grounds rose with a thunderous crash. Dense swarms of ferocious beasts roared as they charged out, their stench-laden wind rushing head-on.

The other eleven recruits drew their sabers and weapons, forming scattered formations as they met the charge. Blade light and fist shadows interwove as the fighting began in earnest.

Xu Jin stood within the examination grounds. The lead pellet beneath his tongue transformed into a sword, and a streak of snow-bright white light shot into the beast horde like a meteor.

Pfft, pfft—

The sounds of flesh being pierced rang out in succession. More than a dozen Black-Wind Wolves charging at the front did not even have time to scream before bloody holes appeared in their foreheads. They fell stiffly to the ground.

One move, more than a dozen beasts.

The spectators outside instantly erupted.

"Holy shit! He wiped out a whole group right at the start? What kind of monster is this?"

"What exactly is that white light? Its killing power is completely insane!"

Xu Jin ignored the cries of shock outside the grounds and first confirmed one thing in his heart: after killing these ordinary ferocious beasts, the Compendium of Divine Powers had not reacted in the slightest. No fragments could be obtained.

Naturally. His golden finger only recognized demons and monsters; ordinary wild beasts did not count.

He was not disappointed. He had come here to earn a rating and exchange it for resources in the first place.

Since he could not farm fragments, he might as well finish this quickly and secure the highest rating.

The next second, the white light fully spread through the beast horde.

Xu Jin stood where he was with his hands behind his back. He swept a finger east, then west, and the white light seemed to come alive, darting back and forth through the beast horde. Wherever it passed, the ferocious beasts were either dead or wounded.

While everyone else was fighting a bloody battle, he had not moved even half a step. His robes remained spotless and neat, as though he were merely standing aside with folded hands to watch a show.

Yet the pile of ferocious beast corpses around him only grew higher and higher.

The deacon responsible for counting called out the numbers faster and faster, unable to hide his shock.

"Thirty... fifty... eighty..."

Only one-third of an incense stick's time had passed, yet Xu Jin's kill count had already exceeded a hundred.

Meanwhile, Wang Lei, in second place, had only barely reached thirty kills.

It was a crushing, tier-breaking lead.

Everyone outside the grounds was dumbfounded.

"Fuck, is he even human? A poet wielding!!!"

"Didn't he just break the record? In previous years, the threshold for an A-grade supplementary recruit was only sixty kills, and he's already past a hundred?"

"What newcomer examination is this? This is clearly a strike from another dimension! Captain Chu really unearthed a prodigy this time!"

"Who was the one saying he was some wild-path nobody brought in to make up the numbers? Step forward and take your beating!"

"Xu Jin... I'll remember that name. He'll probably become the fiercest person in our Bureau someday."

No one mentioned that nonsense about "a rushed entrant would definitely get D-grade" anymore. Everyone stared at the composed figure in the arena, their eyes filled with shock.

While the crowd was focused on Xu Jin, Ma San was having a miserable time.

Without the Heartguard Mirror to rely on, he retreated again and again before the charging Black-Wind Wolves, taking ages to kill only a few.

His movements were flustered and panicked. He could not even display the normal standard of a fifth-level Body Tempering cultivator, and even earning a C-grade rating was beginning to look uncertain.

Xu Jin's strike had not only shattered his sole trump card; it had crushed his entire spirit as well.

Elsewhere, Wang Lei split open an Ironback Boar's skull with a slash. Panting heavily, he raised his head and glanced at the tally board.

The bright-red "one hundred and twelve" behind Xu Jin's name stabbed at his eyes.

Even after giving it his all, he had only killed thirty-seven.

The difference was nearly threefold.

He had always believed that, as a seventh-level Body Tempering cultivator, he stood at the ceiling among the newcomers and was certain to claim an A-grade rating.

But watching Xu Jin stand motionless while harvesting kills like mad, the little sense of superiority in his heart shattered into pieces.

The clown was me all along!!!

What wild-path nobody? What filler recruit?

The man truly had the capital to be arrogant.

Wang Lei took a deep breath, suppressing the complicated emotions in his heart as he tightened his grip on his saber.

Taking first place was impossible. He should first secure his own A-grade rating.

He cast aside all distractions and charged into the beast horde again with his saber. His moves were far steadier than before.

Having shed the arrogance and impatience in his heart, he instead gained a little more tenacity to settle down and cultivate.