Ke Fei's eyes widened in shock. He had spotted the droplet of water on Mu Qing's fingertip, and his expression changed at once. His five fingers danced nimbly as he hurried to control the humanoid puppet and make it dodge.
But it was already too late. The droplet on Mu Qing's fingertip had touched the humanoid puppet's chest.
A terrifying surge of energy erupted in an instant. The droplet transformed into a rune, unleashing an utterly fearsome force.
The energy from the droplet blasted open the humanoid puppet's chest, and it ultimately dissipated into wisps of energy.
The entire humanoid puppet vanished before Mu Qing. He panted heavily; his Origin Force had been completely spent.
A flicker of surprise crossed Mu Qing's eyes. When the droplet had finally burst apart, it hadn't shown any corrosive ability.
Then Mu Qing understood. The Origin Force transformed by the little Black Fish could probably only affect things like barriers and seals.
"You little brat!" Ke Fei bristled with anger.
His heart ached. That droplet Mu Qing had used could have broken one of the Nameless Tombstones, but Mu Qing had spent it on the humanoid puppet instead.
Mu Qing grinned and scratched his head. In truth, he'd only wanted to see just how powerful the Myriad Water Barrier really was.
Afterward, Ke Fei once again used his crude method to borrow energy from the Barrier and form a humanoid puppet. He warned Mu Qing not to use the Myriad Water Barrier's power anymore.
Mu Qing's expression turned solemn, and he nodded. He knew that if he relied entirely on the Myriad Water Barrier, he wouldn't get any real training.
Over the next few days, Mu Qing swallowed Crow Blood and the other two substances each day, continuously refining them with the Giant Elephant Transport Technique. He could fully refine their surging energy in just one morning.
In the afternoon, Mu Qing fought against the humanoid puppets Ke Fei formed. Without using the Myriad Water Barrier, Mu Qing could only rely on his ability to Perceive Weakness and fight the puppets.
Nearly every day, Mu Qing ended up bruised and battered, his body covered in injuries.
Sometimes he even exhausted so much Mental Power by Perceiving Weakness that he passed out.
Ke Fei showed no mercy at all. He controlled the humanoid puppet to attack with ever greater speed, and Mu Qing's injuries mounted day by day.
Of course, Mu Qing also reaped tremendous rewards.
His Blood Qi Seventh Rank cultivation had fully stabilized, and he was on the verge of breaking through to Blood Qi Eighth Stage!
His combat experience and techniques had improved enormously. He was confident that by now, he could easily defeat two opponents at Blood Qi Seventh Rank at once.
That day, Mu Qing sat cross-legged beneath a withered old tree. Not far from him, Ke Fei snored away as he slept.
Mu Qing's eyes were shut tight. Strands of Dawn Light gathered around him as his aura grew ever stronger. A muffled rumble even sounded within his body.
He was about to break through to Blood Qi Eighth Stage!
With a thunderous boom!
Mu Qing's tightly shut eyes snapped open. His gaze stabbed into the void like lightning.
An aura even stronger than before surged from him. It was the power of Blood Qi Eighth Stage!
In less than ten days, he had broken through again, reaching Blood Qi Eighth Stage!
Ke Fei woke from his sleep and chuckled. He had clearly known all along that Mu Qing would break through this time, and hadn't worried about him at all.
Ke Fei raised his hand and once again borrowed the Barrier's power to form a humanoid puppet. This one was clearly even taller than the last, standing a full five meters high.
Now that Mu Qing had broken through, Ke Fei naturally had to increase the puppet's strength so it could continue to train him.
Mu Qing grinned, then clenched his fists and charged forward. Blazing White Lightning gathered around his hands—there were six strands of it!
He had grown used to this routine: training in the morning, fighting the humanoid puppet in the afternoon, and practicing martial skills at night.
He had already cultivated Thunderstorm Fist to the sixth level.
A little over twenty days later.
"College Entrance Exams start in about three days. You have to be ready," Ke Fei said gravely, stopping Mu Qing early one morning.
Mu Qing's expression turned serious, and he nodded.
His aura was even stronger now. He had reached Blood Qi Ninth Stage.
By now, the Nameless Tombstones around them had all turned into ordinary chunks of broken stone, scattered across the ground.
Only sixty Nameless Tombstones remained within the Barrier. Mu Qing had broken all the others.
Ke Fei told Mu Qing that he had to break the remaining ten within the next three days.
Only when fifty Nameless Tombstones remained would the Barrier's energy weaken enough for Ke Fei to forcibly tear the whole thing apart.
Ke Fei also said that if Mu Qing wanted to break through again, he would need a precious treasure from Lake Heart Island.
"As payment for helping me break the Barrier, I can get you the most precious thing on Lake Heart Island. It'll help you break through again," Ke Fei said.
He said that if Mu Qing was lucky, he might even break through to low-level Martial Practitioner in one go and unlock his Bloodline Shackles!
Mu Qing's heart raced when he heard that. He was already at Blood Qi Ninth Stage, and he hadn't expected there to be a treasure capable of helping him break through two levels in a row, all the way to Bloodline Tier One and the level of a low-level Martial Practitioner.
He knew that Ke Fei hadn't been making an empty promise when he said he'd help him reach low-level Martial Practitioner before the College Entrance Exams.
However, Ke Fei had also said that Mu Qing had Dual Blood Spirit, and the little Black Fish was a Mutated Blood Spirit, so his need for energy was actually enormous.
For an ordinary person, using Lake Heart Island's most precious treasure would definitely be enough to break through two realms in a row.
But that might not be true for Mu Qing. Ke Fei had never seen a Mutated Blood Spirit and Dual Blood Spirit appear in the same person before, so he didn't know exactly how much energy Mu Qing would need to break through.
He told Mu Qing to be prepared: he might only manage to break through one realm.
Mu Qing didn't care much. Even breaking through one realm would make him very happy, and in truth, he had already prepared himself for that.
He had long since realized that his two Blood Spirits needed far more energy than an ordinary person's.
The little Black Fish in particular sometimes only recognized water-attributed energy. Since there was no water-attributed energy to be found in the Graveyard Barrier, it could only suck Mu Qing's blood to tide itself over.
Mu Qing suddenly furrowed his brows. He felt Ke Fei had already given him more than enough. He had even passed on powerful martial skills like the Myriad Water Barrier. This debt of gratitude was so great, he didn't know if he could ever repay it.
Ke Fei laughed heartily, not bothered in the least.
He said that if Mu Qing hadn't appeared, he might have been trapped in the Barrier for the rest of his life, so this was only fair payment.
If he hadn't been worried about destabilizing Mu Qing's foundation, he would have liked to use the method of infusing knowledge directly into him and forcefully raise Mu Qing's cultivation.
Mu Qing had already reached his limit. Even if he continued swallowing Crow Blood and the other two substances in this graveyard, they could no longer help him advance.
Perhaps only the treasure Ke Fei had mentioned—the most precious one on Lake Heart Island—could help him break through again!
Mu Qing drew a deep breath, a faint sense of anticipation stirring in his heart.
In a certain sense, Blood Qi Ninth Stage was already quite powerful. As far as he knew, most people in previous College Entrance Exams had only reached Blood Qi Seventh or Eighth Stage. Only a handful—the Heavenly Prides from the various top powers—had possessed the strength of Blood Qi Ninth Stage.
With his current strength and the Myriad Water Barrier, Mu Qing was already capable of holding his own against students at Blood Qi Ninth Stage.
He circulated the abundant Origin Force within his body. After nearly draining the Origin Force in both his dantian and mind, he condensed two crystal-clear droplets of water.
His Origin Force was now fully capable of condensing two droplets.
That was a tremendous improvement.
According to Ke Fei's estimate, the power unleashed by these two droplets now rivaled the strength of Blood Qi Ninth Stage.
They could even be incredibly effective against certain seals or barriers!
Mu Qing spent the entire day replenishing the Origin Force within his body, condensing four droplets in total.
At this rate, he would have just enough to break the Nameless Steles in the Barrier down to fifty by the third day.
Not far from Mu Qing, Ke Fei sat cross-legged. He no longer looked as disheveled as before. After straightening his clothes, he began restoring himself.
With Mu Qing about to destroy most of the Nameless Tombstones, Ke Fei naturally had to prepare himself, bringing his condition to its peak to ensure nothing went wrong when they broke the Barrier afterward.
The broken stones around Ke Fei stirred under the influence of an invisible energy, floating into the air.
A terrifying force of absorption swept through the area.
The energy between heaven and earth was being frantically drawn in and devoured by Ke Fei, then transformed into Origin Force to replenish him.
For someone as powerful as Ke Fei, the energy his dantian could hold was vast, and its quality was extremely high.
In the end, Ke Fei seemed to transform into a tornado. The endless energy poured into his body, and the spectacle was far grander than Mu Qing's by several times!
Seeing this, Mu Qing's face flashed with shock.
He knew that Ke Fei rarely showed his strength. Ke Fei had no airs of a powerful expert, and the two of them had grown closer over time. Mu Qing knew he was strong, but he had never really seen it for himself.
Now, for the first time, Mu Qing watched Ke Fei unleash all the aura within him. Even though Ke Fei was holding back as much as he could, the faintest wisps of his aura still swept through the area like a gale.
Standing before Ke Fei, Mu Qing felt like an ant facing a vast ocean. The gap between them was simply too enormous.
His fists clenched, determination shining in his eyes. Ke Fei's strength had only made Mu Qing's thirst for power burn hotter.
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