9: Three great calamities have beenfallen once again!

"What kind of monster is that?"

The examinees inside the barrier widened their eyes, watching as Lu Yuan controlled a multitude of Guie soldiers, charging fearlessly toward the Black Fire Ant swarm!

They thought Lu Yuan was strong enough controlling just one monster, but who knew he could control seventy or eighty of them!

Blood Butcher took the lead, its serrated chain blade emitting a screeching sound like a cat scratching a wall, as it unleashed the Blood Attribute Profound-rank Spirit Skill: Blood Mist Confusion.

Blood mist filled a five-mile radius, leaving the Black Fire Ant Queen and the Black Fire Ant swarm completely sensory-deprived, stumbling around like headless flies.

"What's happening?"

"I don't know, I can't see anything at all; my vision is completely blocked by the blood mist!"

"Damn, thank goodness for the barrier; this scene is truly terrifying!"

The examinees were pale, their scalps tingling especially when hearing the dense screeching sounds, unable to tell if the Black Fire Ants were screaming in pain or excitement.

After a long while, the blood mist gradually dissipated.

Seeing the scene before them, the examinees were stunned into silence.

A gentle breeze blew by. Lu Yuan stood straight in place, while not far away, Blood Butcher held the Black Fire Ant Queen high, forcibly tearing the Qi Refining Second Star Black Fire Ant Queen in two with brute strength!

Green blood sprayed into the air, and a stench mixed with the smell of blood spread all around.

More than twenty peak Body Tempering Realm Black Fire Ants died in gruesome ways; some had their legs hacked off by Blood Slaughter Soldiers using long blades, their bodies squirming incessantly as they tried to crawl back to the nest.

Others were riddled with holes by the heavenly punishment soldiers, with decapitated heads everywhere!

The scene fell into a deathly silence; whether the examinees who had successfully escaped or those who had helplessly activated their barriers, all wore expressions of disbelief.

"They killed them all?"

"A peak Body Tempering Realm Practitioner beating up a Qi Refining Second Star beast? This is just too exaggerated!"

"Awesome! I thought he would give up on the Martial Examination and activate his barrier, but he ended up killing them all!"

The examinees stared fixedly at Lu Yuan.

The blood flowing on the ground was entirely absorbed by Blood Butcher, and Lu Yuan successfully broke through to the Qi Refining Realm!

Before long, a black armored vehicle sped over. The doors opened, and four fully armed Combat Class Practitioners stepped out.

They were the Patrol Team dispatched by The Authorities, responsible for protecting the safety of examinees who activated their barriers and gave up on the Martial Examination.

Every Patrol Team consisted of Xuan Gang Realm Combat Class Practitioners, capable of easily dealing with all beasts in Taian City!

"Looks like you ran into some trouble," one of the Patrol Team members wearing sunglasses said with a smile, though he scanned the surroundings and found no beasts present.

"Qi Refining Realm!"

The captain of this patrol squad, Hu Zhiqiang, looked at Lu Yuan, and then at the severed limbs and remains of the Black Fire Ant swarm on the ground.

"An examinee broke through to the Qi Refining Realm?" the patrol member with sunglasses said with a surprised tone.

They were responsible for a thirty-mile radius and would rush to rescue any examinee who activated their barrier, but until now, the strongest examinee they had encountered was only at the eighth star of the Body Tempering Realm.

Lu Yuan had already surpassed the Body Tempering Realm to become a Qi Refining Realm Practitioner!

"Impressive! You took down a Qi Refining Second Star Black Fire Ant Queen and so many Black Fire Ant warriors all by yourself," the patrol member gave Lu Yuan a thumbs up, then proceeded to deactivate the barriers for the examinees one by one, handing out bread and water.

"Your Martial Examination ends here. Later, we will transport you to the corresponding city Teleportation Array point."

Hearing this, the examinees clenched their fists, their expressions filled with annoyance or frustration.

The end of the Martial Examination meant they couldn't even get into a bottom-tier university, ending their careers as Practitioners early!

"What class did you awaken?" The patrol squad captain, Hu Zhiqiang, about thirty years old, looked at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan was not only the first examinee he had met to break through to the Qi Refining Realm, but also the first whose class he couldn't identify.

"Puppet Master."

Lu Yuan said.

"Puppet Master?" Hu Zhiqiang raised an eyebrow.

"Captain, what kind of class is that?" The team member looked confused; the Combat Class didn't seem to have this attribute.

Hu Zhiqiang fell silent.

"Don't tell me even the captain doesn't know," another teammate said.

"I... how could I not know? A Puppet Master is, well... just a Puppet Master," Hu Zhiqiang waved his hand.

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and take these examinees away, don't interfere with the Martial Examination!"

The black armored vehicle came and went quickly, leading that group of examinees who had activated their barriers away.

Their mission was already complete; they would not provide any help to examinees who hadn't activated their barriers and were continuing the Martial Examination normally.

Watching the Patrol Team leave, Lu Yuan picked up the scattered demon crystals on the ground, and a system notification sounded in his ears.

[Congratulations to the host for breaking through to the Qi Refining Realm. Rewarding Wood Calamity [Rotten Scab], Water Calamity [Vast Nether], Earth Calamity [Zhangsha]!]

Rewarding three Calamity Guies at once?

Lu Yuan held back his excitement.

Blood Butcher's strength was evident to all; it could single-handedly suppress a Qi Refining Realm beast while in the Body Tempering Realm. If he could control four SSS-Rank Guies at once, even the mother of the Black Fire Ant Queen wouldn't stand a chance!

However, the surprises were far from over; as soon as the three Calamity Guies were rewarded, the system notification sounded again.

[Congratulations to the host for triggering the A-Rank hidden quest: Fighting Braver with Every Battle!]

[Fighting Braver with Every Battle: Hunt twenty Qi Refining Realm beasts within 48 hours to increase spiritual power reserves by 50 times!]

50 times?!

Lu Yuan was struck as if by lightning. He was currently in a situation where he had too many Guie soldiers, leading to insufficient spiritual power.

The Qi Refining Realm could control a hundred-strong Guie army at once, but it couldn't control the SSS-Rank Guie, Blood Butcher.

If he completed this A-Rank quest, he would be able to control as many Guie soldiers as he created in the future!

"Let's assemble the three Calamity Guies first." Lu Yuan's thoughts were clear. With four Calamity Guies, let alone twenty Qi Refining Realm beasts, what did it matter even if it were doubled?!

...

Tianhua City Municipal Government, top floor conference room.

"3000 points!"

The voice was deafening, startling everyone present!

The person who said this wasn't Teacher, but the Vice Principal of Tianhua High School, Guo Zhijian.

"Don't make a fuss. Isn't it normal for Li Jinxue to have 3000 points?" said the Principal of Tianhua High School, Luo Jingrui.

"Principal, no... it's not Li Jinxue, it's Lu Yuan from Yunhai High School!"

Guo Zhijian stammered, pointing at the leaderboard.

"Who is Lu Yuan?" Luo Jingrui frowned. It seemed that name wasn't in the top ten examinees.

[1st Place: Li Jinxue, 3500 points (Tianhua City, Tianhua High School)]

[2nd Place: Lu Yuan, 3000 points (Tianhua City, Yunhai High School)]

[3rd Place: Jiang Wangchuan, 2200 points (Tianhua City, Xinghui High School)]

[4th Place: Lin Shuying, 1800 points (Tianhua City, Yunhai High School)]

...

"Where did he pop out from?" The three principals, Vice Principals, and homeroom Teachers in the conference room looked at each other.

Mayor stood in front of the leaderboard.

He had an impression of this Lu Yuan; he had been 35th before, and his score had risen extremely quickly.

But that was all.

After all, as the Mayor, he focused on the top ten examinees.

"This Lu Yuan's score started at over 1000, and it skyrocketed to 3000 points in less than thirty seconds!" Guo Zhijian explained the reason for his shock.

Other examinees' scores went up by seventy or eighty, but Lu Yuan increased by two thousand at once; anyone would find that incredible!

"Principal of Yunhai High School, Lu Yuan is an examinee from your school, right?" Mayor stared intensely at Lu Yuan, who was ranked second.

Currently, in Tianhua City, only Li Jinxue and Lu Yuan were far ahead in scores; Lu Yuan was a full eight hundred points ahead of third place, Jiang Wangchuan!

"That's correct." Principal of Yunhai High School nodded; he was also in a state of confusion.

"What class did this examinee awaken, and what is his talent rank?"

At this moment, Mayor became deeply interested in Lu Yuan.

"Puppet Master, SSS-Rank Talent!" Principal of Yunhai High School said.

Once SSS-Rank Talent was spoken, Mayor and the other two principals swallowed hard, and the school leaders and homeroom Teachers from the two high schools widened their eyes.

Since the founding of Huaxia, Tianhua City had never had an SSS-Rank Talent Practitioner, whether in Combat, Support, or Lifestyle classes!

Bang— Mayor slammed the table violently.

"Why didn't you tell me he awakened such a high talent? Do you know that the situation in Tianhua City is precarious, and we desperately need an examinee to shine in the Martial Examination!" Mayor was both excited and angry.

"Wait, Puppet Master?"

Mayor noticed a problem; he had never heard of this class.

"Ah, Puppet Master?" The Principal of Tianhua High School, Luo Jingrui, twitched his mouth, finally understanding why Principal of Yunhai High School was smiling bitterly.

This class was too rare, so rare that only two Puppet Masters had awakened on Blue Star so far; with Lu Yuan, it made three.

After listening to Principal of Yunhai High School's explanation, Mayor rubbed his temples.

"Since a Puppet Master has no Spirit Skills to learn, how did Lu Yuan get such a high score?" Mayor grasped the key point.

"I... I don't know either."

Principal of Yunhai High School wanted to cry; he wanted to ask the Mayor the same thing.

On the day of the awakening ceremony, Lu Yuan's SSS-Rank Talent was too dazzling, which was why the Teachers at Tianhua High School had an impression of him.

"At the end of the day, this is a good thing. If both Li Jinxue and Lu Yuan get into top universities, there's a high probability the provincial leaders will abandon the plan to dissolve Tianhua City!" Mayor said.

Hearing this, everyone perked up; after all, no one wanted to join an unfamiliar city.

On the second day of the Martial Examination, one could enter an ID number to check an examinee's score, and on the third day, one could check the examinee's specific situation in real-time.

This meant that to know the reason for Lu Yuan's score surge, they would have to wait until tomorrow.

"Third, third place!" Teacher was so excited he was about to suffocate, revealing a silly grin.

If Lu Yuan maintained this ranking, even if he fell to the top ten, he would still get a one-hundred-thousand-yuan bonus!

"Old Zhou, congratulations, congratulations! I'm afraid you'll get so much bonus money this year you won't be able to count it all," the colleague said with an envious tone.

A guaranteed one hundred thousand yuan; saying one wasn't envious would be a lie.

"Actually, I didn't really teach Lu Yuan anything," Teacher scratched his head and said truthfully. During the preparation period for the Martial Examination, he had been focused on teaching Qin Shousheng.

As a result, Qin Shousheng wasn't in the top hundred, but Lu Yuan had charged into the top three!

"You're being too humble. You're treating us to dinner tonight; I'm going to fleece you hard, spending two or three hundred isn't too much, right?" The colleague egged him on, thinking Teacher was acting modest.

They assumed that during the seven days of preparation for the Martial Examination, Teacher had stayed at Lu Yuan's house, teaching him one-on-one.

"Spending five or six hundred wouldn't be too much." Teacher generously indicated it was no problem.

"Why isn't Lu Yuan's score moving?"

Someone said.

Unknowingly, seven or eight minutes had passed. It was noon, not evening, the prime time for hunting beasts.

"Maybe he's resting," the colleague guessed. It was normal to rest for a while after a fierce battle.

Half an hour passed, then an hour; Lu Yuan's score was stuck at 3000 points with no movement!

"This shouldn't be happening." Teacher felt a bit panicked.

The Martial Examination was a race against time; Lu Yuan couldn't possibly be resting for an hour, could he?

"Is it possible he was..." The person who started speaking didn't dare to continue.

Although The Authorities were thorough and prioritized the safety of examinees, the Martial Examination was not absolutely safe.

There were many examinees who had died in the Martial Examination; with Lu Yuan not moving for so long, there was a high probability he had died at the hands of a beast!

The conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Mayor had a grim expression, and the three principals frowned deeply.

They had just imagined Lu Yuan and Li Jinxue both getting into top universities, becoming heroes who prevented the dissolution of Tianhua City, and yet, not long after, Lu Yuan died in the Martial Examination?