In the back area, at the proctors’ station.

Several people were gathered around the proctor, Teacher Qi Yan, all of them staring at the same screen.

This activity quickly caught the attention of a patrolling proctor.

He walked to the edge of the crowd and asked, "Are there any outstanding candidates this time?"

The proctor who asked was named Ruan Zhishen. He was from the provincial capital, Tian Nan City, and was a Six-star Beastmaster who taught students at the local Nan Gao.

The students he taught were all geniuses, aiming for the nation’s top 100 universities, so he often had academic exchanges with the province’s leading schools.

Therefore, in this provincial-level exam hall, there were very few genius candidates he didn’t recognize.

However, the scene on the screen today was unfamiliar to him.

Gu Ming and the others were gathered around a test tube, examining it nonstop. Beside them was an injured Glowing Deer, suffering from the corrosion of Yin Marrow Spirit Fire. It urgently needed a Yin Spiritual Object extracted from its body, followed by a Yang Reviving Great Replenishing Pill to save it.

But according to the footage transmitted by the Thousand-eyed Wind Bird, Gu Ming was instead further analyzing the Glowing Deer’s blood components.

When Teacher Qi saw an acquaintance had arrived, he explained:

"That’s Gu Ming from Lanqi City’s Qing Lake High School. He’s using a special reagent to measure the Glowing Deer’s hidden bloodline."

"Oh, interesting. Did the Glowing Deer we released have this kind of Talent?"

"We never tested for hidden bloodlines, but we can’t rule out the possibility."

"After all, a Glowing Deer can indeed evolve to have a Space Talent, but that evolutionary path is heavily dependent on bloodline potential. If the components are too diluted, the Evolution will fail."

"If Gu Ming detects a Space Talent, this deer’s value will be completely different."

Having a Space Talent meant it would leap from being an ordinary Spirit Beast to a high-quality Pet Beast resource, suitable for a student to form a contract with.

Thinking of this, the proctor ordered his Thousand-eyed Wind Bird to monitor the situation closely and prevent the Glowing Deer from being injured or killed in a student battle.

The components of the reagent Gu Ming was using to test the blood also intrigued the teachers.

"Where did he get that reagent powder?" he asked, pointing at the screen.

"His Grouper Fish brought it back."

"But I remember when it was first brought back, it was just an ordinary pebble. At most, it looked like it was tinged with a bit of Spiritual energy. Maybe its composition has changed," another person explained.

Everyone began to speculate that it wasn’t a pebble at all, but something with a complex composition. Perhaps it was mixed with a small amount of rare spatial essence that could react with the rare bloodline in the blood.

Seeing how confidently he operated, looking so self-assured, it didn’t seem like a fluke.

This meant the student’s experience far exceeded the teachers’ expectations.

"Even we hadn’t anticipated that a small amount of ground-up stone could detect a Glowing Deer’s Space Talent."

"If the specific components could be identified, that would be a discovery worthy of at least a Four Five-stars Levels journal."

At this point, the teachers all showed immense interest.

Unfortunately, the primary discoverer of this finding was the candidate, Gu Ming.

As proctors, they couldn’t piggyback on this red-hot discovery.

Everyone could only stare at Gu Ming’s actions on the screen, their hearts filled with emotion.

"I wonder if he has a master."

Some of the teachers on site were already getting ideas about taking him on as a disciple, itching with anticipation.

But what was even more crucial was that Gu Ming also explained how to cultivate Spiritual Fluctuations and perceive spatial ripples.

The proctors had also specifically used the Thousand-eyed Wind Bird to sense Gu Ming’s Divine Sense fluctuations and confirmed that they did indeed have the sharp edge of Sword Qi.

However, this "sword" had a sharp quality, yet it wasn’t as sharp as one might imagine. It even had a sense of a veteran swordsman in his twilight years, which was surprising.

"It’s not even April yet, and a student has already cultivated Divine Sense. To think such a genius isn’t from Tian Nan City... What on earth are the admissions office people doing?" Teacher Ruan said, shaking his head.

"Well, the admissions office isn’t omniscient. There will always be unseen geniuses who emerge."

The teachers exclaimed in admiration.

Someone looked up his information online and found that he had a stellar record and was qualified to participate in international competitions.

Teacher Qi followed the trail, found the competition roster, and sure enough, Gu Ming’s name was on the registration list.

"So he’s a student who competes internationally. It’s not surprising he knows things beyond the curriculum."

...

After Gu Ming finished examining the test tube, he explained:

"The fire in this area is a bit unusual. We’ll wait for my Ah Kun to find the ritual materials, then use an Array to completely eliminate the latent fire danger on Cyan Treasure."

The other two didn’t object. At this stage, enhancing Cyan Treasure’s combat ability was undoubtedly the best course of action.

Once Ah Kun returned with the materials, the team set off again in search of the local Fire Seed Source.

The Thousand-eyed Wind Bird transmitted the trio’s objective and treatment plan to the control center, and the proctors’ faces showed their surprise.

"They’re actually not following the standard textbook treatment? They want to use a ritual to remove the Yin Fire?"

"Heh, the little guy’s idea is bold, but it won’t succeed."

"It is indeed possible to clear the fire with a ritual, but it requires deconstructing the root of the Yin Fire, understanding its origin and local connections, and then using local materials to reverse the process and sever the Yin Fire’s link to the reed beds."

"That requires a reserve of knowledge in Arrays, rituals, and more. A mere high school student..."

Before the words were even out, everyone simultaneously looked at Gu Ming, the team’s leader, on the screen.

"Well, if he’s a student who participates in international competitions, it’s possible he’s learned things beyond the curriculum."

Everyone grew curious about how Gu Ming would find the source of that Yin Fire.

They had, after all, put a great deal of effort into setting up the exam grounds. It wasn’t as simple as just bringing the students into an alternate dimension and leaving them to it.

Just transplanting the Spiritual Objects, setting up the Arrays, and hiding the key assessment items had taken a full month.

Beneath that burning reed field, a Concealment Array was buried. It hid the Fire Seed Source very well, allowing it to continuously affect the Spirit Beasts in the area.

Breathing too much of the air or ingesting the local reeds would cause the illness known as Reed Flame Devourer.

To cure this illness, besides using methods like a Water Soul Stone, there were two other treatment paths available.

However, the path Gu Ming and his team chose was a fourth one that no one had anticipated.

For his part, Gu Ming didn’t know where the Fire Seed Source was.

But he had his system. When passing through an area, he could look at the system’s pop-up notifications to determine if he had arrived at the right place.

"You have passed through a burning reed field."

"You have passed through a mysterious restricted area."

Seeing this line of text, Gu Ming naturally stopped and surveyed his surroundings.

’A restricted area?’

It didn’t seem as dangerous as the system suggested. In fact, the surroundings were empty, with the reeds and other plants all four or five meters away.

Underfoot was a mud pit, filled with black, murky water, making it impossible to see what lay beneath the surface.

Ah Kun swam around his feet and sensed a warm aura nearby. It seemed a lot of yang-aspected plants were buried here.

"This should be the place," Gu Ming said.

"Huh? But my Dumb Flower said this is the place with the strongest yang energy in the entire area. Are you sure the Fire Seed Source is here?"

Wang Teng was confused. His Dumb Flower’s detection Talent was the real deal. What was the basis for Gu Ming’s judgment?

Gu Ming chose to trust his system and had Ah Kun begin searching the area.

Wang Teng shook his head helplessly and decided to just go along with Gu Ming’s wild goose chase.

’Once he fails to find anything, Gu Ming will surely admit he was wrong.’

However, after the Dumb Flower extended its roots and rummaged around in the mud for a moment, it suddenly froze.

It had touched a ball of bone-chillingly cold fire.

SWOOSH.

The Dumb Flower’s main body burst into flames. Blue fire erupted all over it, the searing pain spreading from its body deep into its soul. It finally understood the pain Cyan Treasure was feeling.

’So this is how painful it is to be burned!’

"This is it!"

"Dig it out!"

The Dumb Flower struggled, manipulating its branches and expending a great deal of effort, but it couldn’t succeed.

In the end, the Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster and Cyan Treasure, the two Pet Beasts, worked together, using the Earth Shifting Technique to move the mud below and dig the flame up from ten meters underground.

When the ethereal blue flame floated out of the water, a lotus of the same color was underneath, supporting it as it burned silently.