The masked man slowly turned around.

He looked at the five candidates behind him, whose eyes were vacant and movements stiff.

He stretched out his hand, and a faint wisp of black Qi emerged from his fingertips, gently brushing over the five individuals' bodies.

A moment later, he withdrew his hand, shaking his head with a hint of disappointment.

"Three A-grades, two B-grades."

"How boring."

"Not even an S-grade."

He tilted his head, looking into the depths of the jungle, his voice under the mask a pleasant rasp.

"It seems we need to hurry and find our other little friends."

As his words fell, he turned and stepped forward.

Behind him, five figures, like the most loyal marionettes, followed with synchronized steps.

Soon, they vanished into the dense jungle.

This scene went unnoticed by anyone.

At this moment, all the cameras and attention of the National Examination's official live broadcast were focused on another team.

Having learned his lesson from being outmaneuvered by that Crosstalk Great Master in Chuan Du, Zhou Huai's actions became even more decisive.

He didn't even give his opponents a chance to speak.

As soon as they entered his sight, it was a fluid combination of skills.

Forbidden Spell: Geocentric Gravity Field for initial control.

Forbidden Spell - Meteor Shower to follow up with destruction.

Couldn't take them out in one wave?

Then he'd add another Forbidden Spell: Thousand-Mile Ice Seal.

Under absolute power suppression, any tactics seemed pale and ineffective.

In just two hours, a total of eighteen provincial teams, over eighty candidates, had been sent out of Triple Island by his unreasonable methods.

Of course, a few candidates with extremely fast reactions or special life-saving skills managed to escape by luck at the moment the Meteor Fire Rain fell.

They became frightened birds, frantically spreading the information across the island.

Now, most of the surviving teams knew that a Devil King had entered this year's National Examination.

He annihilated every team he encountered. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Terrifying, indeed.

The barrages in the live broadcast room had long since changed from intense discussion to unanimous exclamations and jests.

"Champion? What champion are we still discussing? Besides that Mage God, who else could be this year's top scorer?"

"The only suspense now is whether Dongning Province can eliminate all the remaining teams!"

"I bet a packet of spicy strips that he can! This is simply a dimensionality reduction strike!"

"I am now 100% certain that he is definitely SS-grade! Otherwise, he couldn't have such a monstrous suppressive force!"

...

At the same time.

Imperial Capital, National Examination General Command Center.

However, at this moment, the atmosphere in a spacious office on the top floor of the command center was somewhat different.

An old man, dressed in a crisp general's uniform with two brilliant general stars on his shoulders, was staring intently at the huge light screen in front of him.

On the screen was Gandalf.

Zhang Donglai, a Great General in the Great Xia Country's military, was the overall head of this National Examination.

His fingers were rhythmically tapping ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ on the table.

"General."

An assistant in a civilian uniform hurried in, handing over a freshly printed document.

"It has been confirmed with Li Gang from Dongning Province."

"That candidate, registered as 'Gandalf', is a Forbidden Spell Mage."

The assistant's voice paused, carrying a hint of uncontrollable excitement.

"Li Gang's preliminary assessment suggests... SS-grade!"

"Bang!"

Zhang Donglai's finger, tapping the table, suddenly stopped.

He took the document, but his gaze did not leave the screen.

A moment later, a low laugh rumbled from his chest, and he uttered three words:

"Good! Good! Good!"

"My Great Xia Country has finally welcomed its third SS-grade!"

He slowly stood up, walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down at the massive steel city.

"These past years, we have needed such news so badly!"

His voice was low, tinged with a hint of weariness.

"The old headmaster of Imperial Capital Academy, the old marshal of the military, they are all old."

"How many more years can they guard this country?"

The assistant behind him lowered his head, not daring to reply.

He knew very well the heavy burden that weighed on the old general's heart.

These years, the Great Xia Country appeared peaceful and prosperous, but in reality, undercurrents surged.

External pressure had never eased.

Sakura Country, which had the deepest conflict with the Great Xia Country, had been invigorated in the past two years, with two new SS-grade powerhouses emerging, adding to the two established ones, making a total of four SS-grades, their arrogance reaching an extreme.

Not to mention the undisputed superpower—the Free Federation.

Setting aside the SSS-grade individual at the pinnacle of the world's power structure, they alone had as many as seven SS-grade powerhouses.

And the Great Xia Country had been slow to see new forces emerge.

This had always been a sharp sword hanging over the hearts of all high-ranking military officials.

"Now, we have finally waited."

Zhang Donglai turned around, his joy undisguised.

"And he is a mage with such terrifying offensive power!"

A staff officer beside him hesitated for a moment, then spoke, "General, Gandalf's strength is completely crushing among these candidates."

"Should we... intervene slightly?"

"Lest we discourage the other candidates too much, especially the two from Imperial Capital; they are proud, and I fear..."

Zhang Donglai waved his hand, interrupting him.

"No need."

He sat back in his chair, a meaningful smile on his face.

"It's good for young people to experience some setbacks."

"Let them see early on that there's always someone better, always a higher sky."

"As for intervention?"

He chuckled softly.

"Let him do whatever he wants to do."

"I estimate that audiences across the country want to see this scene right now."

"And it's time to let people from other countries see how amazing our Great Xia Country's new generation of SS-grades truly is!"

...

On Triple Island.

At the entrance of a valley, three teams, fifteen candidates, were in a strange standoff.

They weren't fighting, just cautiously maintaining their distance from each other.

One of the teams was the Chuan Du team, who had luckily escaped.

The other two were representative teams from Imperial Capital and Chuan Du.

Leading the Imperial Capital team were a pair of exceptionally charismatic young man and woman.

The man was tall and handsome, clad in silver light armor, holding a rune-engraved spear, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.

The woman wore a water-blue magic robe, exquisitely beautiful and coolly elegant, like an ice lotus on a snowy mountain peak.

Just by standing there, the two formed a scene of their own, clearly indicating their extraordinary origins.

"I presume you all have heard that a Great Devil King has appeared from Dongning Province in this year's National Examination?"

The silver-armored youth spoke first, his voice clear, his gaze sweeping over the Chuan Du and Chuan Du teams.

"To my knowledge, so far, over fifteen teams have been eliminated by him alone."

In the Chuan Du team, Guo De, the chubby young man in the Crosstalk gown, immediately showed a look of lingering fear upon hearing this.

He fanned himself with his paper fan, shaking his head repeatedly.

"This young man, I didn't just hear about it."

"I encountered it directly."

He patted his chest, still shaken.

"If it weren't for my somewhat special profession, our Chuan Du team would probably have already gone back home."

The captain of Chuan Du, a muscular young man, also nodded.

"We heard about it too."

He pointed to the sky in the distance.

"We saw those big meteors in the sky earlier very clearly."

"It's simply outrageous."

The coolly elegant blue-robed woman from Imperial Capital stepped forward, her clear voice ringing out.

"Since that's the case, everyone, how about we join forces?"

"Let's first deal with that variable from Dongning Province."

"Then, we can fairly and squarely decide the victor?"

Guo De immediately folded his fan, slapping his thigh.

"Agreed! I wholeheartedly agree!"

He spoke righteously.

"I, Guo De, love peace most in my life and did not intend to participate in such fighting and killing."

"But there's no other way; if we don't deal with that Devil King, we'll all be eliminated!"

"We, Chuan Du, agree to join forces!"

The captain of Chuan Du chuckled, her eyes tracing the silver-armored youth from Imperial Capital with interest.

"In consideration of how handsome this young man from Imperial Capital is."

"We, Chuan Du, also agree to join forces."

Only then did the silver-armored youth notice that the five burly men from Chuan Du seemed to have been staring at him.

He couldn't help but feel a chill, instinctively taking half a step back.

On the other side.

Deep in the jungle.

The strange team led by the masked man had, without anyone noticing, grown from six to over twenty individuals.

They still marched with synchronized steps, like a silent army of death gods, quietly closing in on their next target.