Moving leaves?
After a brief daze, Ye Cangtian’s face lit up with ecstasy. He had seen similar scenes with Shangguan Yanran.
Back then, Mo Yu had dodged him by moving between Shangguan Yanran and himself, and the situation today was exactly the same.
The Heart of the Ruins!
Ye Cangtian instantly confirmed it. He then glanced at the others, and seeing that no one else was paying attention here, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Even though he was with members of the Dragon Team and the Death God Squad, it was best not to reveal that the Heart of the Ruins had fallen into his hands.
Firstly, within the Dragon Team, there was Mu Chenglong and his three subordinates.
Although these people were in the Dragon Team, Ye Cangtian did not trust them highly.
Secondly, the Heart of the Ruins was a hot potato. Even if the people present intended to conceal it, the old foxes left by other factions would likely notice something.
Perhaps from their expressions, they could discern some clues and determine that the Heart of the Ruins had been obtained by the Dragon Team.
That would be inviting disaster!
Heaven only knew if Jian Wusheng was bluffing or if he truly had a backup plan!
If it was the former, then the Chinese team might be annihilated under the siege of various factions.
Therefore, for safety's sake, he decided to keep it a secret.
"Little Ancestor, if you have a spirit, please don't let the ruins disappear for now..."
Ye Cangtian muttered softly. After all, once the Heart of the Ruins was obtained, the entire ruins would collapse, which was a characteristic of all small and medium-sized ruins.
Therefore, to conceal all of this, Ye Cangtian could only pray.
Perhaps his prayers were answered, as the entire ruins did not collapse.
Seeing this, Ye Cangtian smiled and then went to the side of Rose and Zhang Liang.
"I'll leave this to you. I'll go check the situation with the Dark Association."
After giving instructions, Rose and Zhang Liang did not object. After all, their efforts here were like searching for a needle in a haystack, and checking the situation on the other side was also beneficial.
...
Returning to the Dark Association.
The search by the Dark Association had entered its final stages.
They had a considerable number of areas to search, including the armory, but the items within were not many, making the search relatively easy.
After a period of searching, everyone in the Dark Association had new weapons, so they had gained something.
"Xuan Qi, what did you find?" Zi Long asked Xuan Qi when he returned.
"My assigned area yielded nothing. There were many weapons, but no Heart of the Ruins. I think the Heart of the Ruins is not in our area."
As he spoke, Ye Cangtian glanced at the other party and said, "If other factions also found nothing, I suggest we switch areas and search again..."
Zi Long agreed with Ye Cangtian's suggestion.
After all, all the areas assigned to the Dark Association had been thoroughly searched, and the Heart of the Ruins was not found.
Therefore, it was very necessary to switch areas at this time. What if the other factions missed something, allowing them to pick up a bargain?
"Xuan Qi, why wasn't your figure seen during the battle earlier?"
Qing Dao, who was resting, suddenly turned his gaze to Ye Cangtian.
He had paid attention to the scene when dealing with the statues.
Perhaps because he valued Xuan Qi highly, he had specifically observed, but he hadn't found Xuan Qi.
He thought that Xuan Qi might have met with misfortune, but he didn't expect Xuan Qi to appear before him again, which made him somewhat puzzled.
"..."
Ye Cangtian hesitated. He had participated in the battle as his true self, Ye Cangtian, so the other party naturally wouldn't see Xuan Qi.
With his mind racing, Ye Cangtian quickly lowered his head and said, "This subordinate admits his mistake. This subordinate did not participate in the previous battle; instead, he was searching for the Heart of the Ruins in another area..."
All factions were vying for the Heart of the Ruins, and there was even an agreement that no matter which faction found it, the other factions were not allowed to snatch it.
Although they all knew this was an empty promise, he still went alone.
The reason was simple: in his opinion, no matter how precious the crystals on the statue were, they were far less valuable than the Heart of the Ruins.
Qing Dao looked at Ye Cangtian deeply, and the doubt in his eyes gradually dissipated, as he was clearly persuaded by the other party's reason.
"Did you find anything?"
Upon hearing Qing Dao's question, Ye Cangtian slowly shook his head and said, "Sir, the area was too large, and the search was conducted hastily. I did not find the Heart of the Ruins, but I did find a book..."
As he spoke, Ye Cangtian handed over a book he had casually picked up from the study.
Ye Cangtian believed that even if the world's archaeologists were gathered, they would find it difficult to translate the problems on it. Only the illustrations could indicate that this was a cultivation technique.
However, without textual annotations, this cultivation technique was useless.
It could be said to be completely useless. Practicing according to the partially understood illustrations could even be harmful, so Ye Cangtian did not care about handing it over.
"What... what good is this..."
Qing Dao looked at the illustrations in the book and muttered in annoyance.
It was much like Ye Cangtian thought. In his opinion, although this was a cultivation technique, it was unpracticable and less useful than some weapons or armor.
"It's useful!"
At this moment, Lan Yue stepped forward and took the book from Qing Dao's hand.
"As more and more ruins have appeared, the number of books and cultivation techniques has increased, and the number of people studying them has also increased. We have established a special department to study books to obtain their content..."
Lan Yue explained slowly.
As modern powerhouses, everyone understood that knowledge is power.
And these books represented knowledge and power.
They recorded many ancient secrets and the wisdom condensed by countless ancient people, including medicine, alchemy, and cultivation techniques.
If those factions could truly understand and comprehend them, they would surely crush all other factions.
A simple phenomenon: the ancients used a few crystals to create stone figures and formations that even they feared...
If this ability were in their hands, it would not be a dream to sweep everything aside.
Therefore, the Dark Association was unwilling to be left behind and began to study these books, even cultivating a group of "death warriors."
The purpose of these death warriors was simple: to practice cultivation techniques according to the illustrations in the books, or to try out elixirs, in an attempt to find the correct cultivation technique routes, correct formulas, and so on.
However, these research efforts were still ongoing, and the gains were minimal...
Upon hearing Lan Yue's explanation, Qing Dao said nothing more, but Ye Cangtian muttered to himself.
Damn it, I was careless!
He had intended to pass off an indecipherable ancient text to allay everyone's suspicions.
After all, if he didn't participate in the battle and searched various areas alone, no one would believe him if he didn't produce something.
But who knew that major factions worldwide were studying these books? If they figured something out, wouldn't he be at a disadvantage?
However, things had come to this point, what else could he say!
In any case, there were tens of thousands of books in the study. He didn't believe that any randomly chosen book would be a peerless secret manual.
"Xuan Qi, regardless of anything else, you have made a contribution, so this is a reward for you!"
Lan Yue was the one speaking. She took out a purple crystal and casually threw it to Ye Cangtian.
In her opinion, the value of this book far exceeded that of the purple crystal.
At that moment, Xuan Jiu, Xuan Wu, and others.
All looked at Ye Cangtian with envy. If they had known earlier, they would not have participated in the battle.
Even Qing Dao and Zi Long glanced at Ye Cangtian twice, but ultimately said nothing.
It was known that even Earth-level powerhouses did not receive more than a few purple crystals per year.
But since Xuan Qi had contributed to the Dark Association, and the crystal was Lan Yue's own, giving her the right to dispose of it as she pleased, they had no right to say anything.
"Haha, Xuan Qi, my brother, you've made a fortune this time."
After Ye Cangtian thanked Lan Yue, Xuan Jiu came to Xuan Qi's side and laughed heartily.
Xuan Qi gave him a disdainful look and then ignored him, muttering to himself in his heart.
You bastard, do you think I wanted this? If I had known that book was so important, I would never have handed it over...