Control Stone

About ten minutes later, the final martial arts information for Mu Qing finally appeared on the light screen.

Ziyue and the others gathered around the screen, feeling very curious.

This was because the previous Blood Spirit detection hadn't taken nearly as much time as this.

Ziyang leaned in for a closer look, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

On the screen, there was only a single, short line of text.

Martial Arts: Unknown!

It was the exact same result as the Blood Spirit detection, yet it had taken several full minutes to process.

"This... what should we do?" one of the Federation staff members asked.

Ziyue thought for a moment and said, "Do what you have to do; just record it according to this information."

The first stage of the College Entrance Exam was primarily to detect and record the majority of a student's information into the Federation system.

A Federation staff member stepped forward to operate the console, but not long after, he let out an exclamation of surprise.

"What's wrong?" The others stepped forward.

"Mu Qing's records are already in the Federation system, and they've been classified as top secret!" The Federation staff member's face turned pale with shock.

He had been in charge of the College Entrance Exam for many years and had never encountered a situation like this.

"This Mu Qing again?" Ziyang was astonished.

Ziyue frowned. She guessed that perhaps Mu Qing's elders were powerful figures within the Federation with immense authority, and they had recorded the information themselves out of fear that Mu Qing might miss the exam.

As long as the information was recorded, it was actually possible to skip this first stage of testing.

"Do we have anyone in our Federation branch who owns a Long Clan No. 1 warship?" Ziyang tried to recall, but he truly couldn't think of anyone.

There were indeed people in the Federation branch who owned Long Clan warships, but none who owned a Long Clan No. 1.

Because that was the first-generation model, an initial prototype from over a dozen years ago; it was practically an antique.

Ziyue was also deep in thought.

There was only one Federation branch within Huaxia, and she knew all the powerful figures there, but those with high status almost exclusively owned the latest models of Long Clan warships.

How could they have guessed that the owner of the Long Clan No. 1 was Ke Fei from over a decade ago!

Ziyue and the others couldn't figure out who it was, so they had no choice but to let Mu Qing leave first.

"Regarding Mu Qing's information, it must never be leaked, do you understand!" Ziyue commanded in a low voice.

The three Federation staff members stiffened and nodded in response.

Mu Qing breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure if the secret of his Dual Blood Spirit had been discovered, and he couldn't discern anything from the expressions on Ziyue and the others' faces.

Mu Qing returned to his class's designated area and joined Ling Fei and the others.

Teacher Qin walked over and handed each of them a Black Crystal Chip, telling them to insert it into their communication devices.

This was the proof of their College Entrance Exam information and the only standard for identity verification; to proceed to the second stage of the exam, one had to present this proof.

Ling Fei and the others inserted their Black Crystal Chips into their communication devices, but Mu Qing hesitated for a moment before tucking his into his pocket.

He didn't insert it into his communication device immediately because he possessed another one—the device his father had sent him, the one suspected to be a Space Ring!

The first stage of the College Entrance Exam lasted until evening before finally concluding. The principal had already left, but Lei Kai, who was in charge of the East Campus, stayed behind. He hosted a grand banquet with a dozen other teachers.

At the banquet, many students were reveling. Ji Jia and Yang Shanshan, the two school beauties, were laughing and chatting with Mu Qing and his friends, making the other students green with envy.

Ling Fei was drunk, and in his hazy state, he said, "The reason the school set up such a luxurious banquet is because, starting from the second stage of the College Entrance Exam, we basically won't be coming back to this school!"

Mu Qing felt a bit sentimental as well. He had lived at West Lake High School for three years, and he hadn't expected to leave so soon.

In the second stage of the College Entrance Exam, students from high schools all across Huaxia would gather together to compete.

There, it was nothing but cruel slaughter; death was common, but many powerful individuals would also emerge.

Although humanity had established the Federation and possessed countless experts, the situation on Earth remained a stalemate with the beast clans. Every moment, major cities were being invaded by beasts, while at the same time, beast territories were being occupied by human experts.

This was not an era of peace; outside the comfortable major cities lay a world intertwined with blood and fire.

Mu Qing had almost never left Hangzhou City. Since elementary school, teachers had told them that outside Hangzhou City were vast hordes of terrifying beasts, and only true experts could survive safely outside the major cities.

Mu Qing ate the delicacies at the banquet, his unrefined eating habits causing Ji Jia and the other girl to giggle repeatedly.

He had been eating bitter dead branches and weeds on Lake Heart Island every day, so he seized this rare opportunity to taste good food and devoured it frantically.

At the same time, he was calculating in his mind how to find a way to make some money.

According to what Ke Fei had said, if his little black fish Blood Spirit wanted to increase its power, it would require a massive amount of water-attribute energy, all of which had to be purchased.

When the banquet ended, Mu Qing and Ling Fei returned to their dormitory together.

After changing his clothes, Ling Fei headed to the training room. As the College Entrance Exam approached, he spent every night in the training room, even now that he had reached the ninth stage of Blood Qi.

After all, his cultivation had been boosted by the Vermilion Fruit and hadn't fully stabilized yet.

Mu Qing stayed in the dormitory and took out the golden communication device that Mu Yu had sent him.

He fiddled with it for a while, then channeled his Origin Force into it. The golden communication device suddenly lit up, a flash of light flickered, and Mu Qing made contact with an incredibly vast space.

This space was as large as the training ground on the East Campus, terrifyingly vast.

Mu Qing was dumbfounded; he had indeed guessed that the golden communication device his father had sent him was a Space Ring, but he hadn't expected it to have such a massive interior.

The space inside was completely empty, containing nothing at all.

Mu Qing put the Space Ring away; it possessed all the functions of a communication device, making it extremely convenient.

He then attached the Black Crystal Chip that Teacher Qin had given him onto the Space Ring.

After finishing all this, Mu Qing began his cultivation.

He circulated the Giant Elephant Transport Technique, and the sound of an elephant roaring seemed to echo within his body.

He entered the Heaven and Earth Fusion State, and the energy between heaven and earth drilled into his body, being continuously refined; the giant elephant roared, transporting the thick and pure energy of heaven and earth.

This energy from heaven and earth was constantly and slowly strengthening Mu Qing's physical body.

It wasn't until Mu Qing's mental energy was exhausted that he finally fell into a deep sleep.

When Mu Qing woke up again, it was already the next morning; he washed up briefly and wanted to go find Ling Fei and the others, but a notification sound emitted from the Space Ring.

A message had been sent to Mu Qing; it was a delivery notification.

Mu Qing was stunned, not understanding why someone would send him a package.

Could it be my dad again? He looked suspicious, but he still set off, heading toward the school's mailroom.

Half an hour later, Mu Qing returned with a black box, with the two large characters "Jifeng" branded on it.

Jifeng Group was a massive delivery company, known for being fast and efficient.

Mu Qing opened the box and found a letter, two fruits, and a stone inside.

He frowned and opened the letter, only to discover that the package had been sent by Ke Fei.

In the letter, Ke Fei told Mu Qing that he had suddenly encountered some matters and couldn't get away, but he had sent the treasures from Lake Heart Island that he had promised to Mu Qing.

Ke Fei left his contact information in the letter and also included a note.

Beyond the precious treasures from Lake Heart Island, Ke Fei had actually gifted Mu Qing a Control Stone!

At the bottom of West Lake, there were many terrifying fierce beasts; their strength was extremely formidable, and they had been captured by successive principals.

The medium to control these fierce beasts was this Control Stone, which, by rights, should have been passed down from principal to principal through the generations.

However, when it reached Ke Fei, due to his two personalities, he had self-sealed, and now a third personality had even emerged, resulting in the Control Stone not being passed on to the current principal.

Ke Fei had simply decided to give the Control Stone directly to Mu Qing.

Mu Qing's heart was shaken for a long time, unable to calm down; he looked at the stone in the box—it was very ordinary, but mysterious runes were branded on it, revealing its extraordinary nature.

"This favor is too great!" Mu Qing took a deep breath, calming the emotions in his heart.

He carefully stored the Control Stone inside his Space Ring.

Ke Fei mentioned in the letter that he had originally intended to act as Mu Qing's backer because he knew the Wang Family wanted to deal with Mu Qing, and since there were powerful experts within the Wang Family, it would be difficult for Mu Qing to be a match for them alone.

Ke Fei's original plan had been to help Mu Qing completely resolve his internal and external troubles.

But now that Ke Fei was delayed by a certain matter, he feared that Mu Qing might be secretly murdered by the Wang Family, so he gave him the Control Stone.

Possessing this Control Stone meant he would be under the protection of the fierce beasts at the bottom of West Lake; at the very least, he would be safe within the school.