The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

Cao Shoujun picked up a fist-sized Flame Spirit Stone from the table, placed it under the lamp, and stared at the wandering golden patterns for a long time.

This thing could allow Qin Xiaoyu, who was at the early stage of Dark Force, to break through to the Transcendent Realm overnight. "This is not something we can decide." He turned to look at Qin Zheng, who stood up. "I'll go report."

On the other side of the tent, several professors were gathered around the rubbings of the text, comparing each character with a magnifying glass.

"The writing on this..." Professor Li put down the magnifying glass, leaned back in his chair, and took a deep breath. "If I'm not mistaken, it's the writing of the ancient Lao Kingdom."

"Are you sure?" The professors next to me asked almost in unison. The ancient Lao Kingdom was a small kingdom in the southwest region during the Han Dynasty. Historical records about it are very scarce, and no ancient Lao Kingdom script has ever been found among the unearthed artifacts.

Professor Li pointed to several characters on the rubbing, "Look here, this character is in the same vein as the character '崂' in Shang and Zhou bronze inscriptions, but the structure is simpler, which should be an independent evolution in this region. Also, the characters '九隆' appear repeatedly here."

Professor Wang walked over: "Jiulong? Legend has it that the ancient Lao Kingdom was founded by a dragon son named Jiulong. If the name 'Jiulong' appears in the historical inscriptions, then this legend might not be unfounded. Let's go again tomorrow."

Cao Shoujun quickly regained his composure, his face grave, and said in a deep voice, "The text fragments we brought back are too few, and the content we deciphered is extremely limited. We simply cannot understand all the secrets of the ancient Lao Kingdom."

Qin Zheng nodded. Wu Qingya and his group were mainly there to explore, so it was impossible for them to bring a large number of people and equipment in, as no one could guarantee the safety of the risks.

Cao Shoujun asked his secretary, "Has the team for tomorrow's mountain trip been finalized?" The secretary immediately handed him a list, which Cao Shoujun glanced at before turning to Qin Zheng. "Old Zheng, you'll lead the team this time, won't you?"

Qin Zheng immediately nodded, picked up the thread, and made the final decision: "Pass down the notice. Tomorrow morning, all research professors and all members of the first, second, and third action teams will once again enter the mountains to fully explore the ancient Lao Kingdom ruins, completely decipher the inscriptions, clear the entire area, and collect all energy stones and ancient artifacts!"

Upon receiving the order, everyone responded and obeyed.

In a corner, Qin Xiaoyu and the others didn't participate in the discussion. They sat outside the tent, each playing with the Flame Spirit Stone in their hands. Ye Chendong looked at Qin Xiaoyu: "Have you thought about reaching the Transcendent Realm at twenty-four?" Qin Xiaoyu shook her head.

Wu Tian sat beside him, also holding a stone in his hand. He looked at his palm and flipped it over a couple of times: "If something like this gets out, the landscape of the ancient martial arts world will be completely reshuffled."

Ying Wenjie sat on the far side, clutching the Flame Spirit Stone he had brought back from the ruins. He listened to their discussion about breakthroughs and realms, unable to get a word in edgewise. He wasn't from an ancient martial arts family, so he could only watch.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, the temporary command center at the foot of Laoshan Mountain was already on high alert, with the force several times larger than the day before.

Outside the bulletproof tent, Secret Service agents, fully armed with firearms, shields, and special equipment, stood in neat formation, exuding an imposing aura.

The professors in the research team, equipped with a full set of decoding instruments and collection equipment, were ready to go; Qin Xiaoyu, Ye Chendong, Wu Tian, ​​and Ying Wenjie were already packed and ready to depart.

At the very front of the group, Qin Zheng had a stern expression. In the group were four academic giants, including Professor Li from Peking University, who was leading the research on ancient writing and history.

Professor Lin Song, a geological surveyor; Professor Chen Jingshan, a enthusiast of bronzes and ancient tombs; and Professor Wang, a biological expert.

The professors, carrying their professional equipment, showed no fear on their faces, but rather were full of excitement. They discussed the historical records of the ancient Lao Kingdom in hushed tones all the way, their eyes shining with fervor.

The team trekked for more than an hour on the rugged mountain road, avoiding three depressions infested with giant insects and circling around a bottomless ravine. During the journey, a team member accidentally broke a dead branch, startling a swarm of palm-sized black butterflies.

Finally, after passing through the last dense forest, the ancient ruins hidden among the mountains finally appeared in their entirety before everyone's eyes.

In the center of the ruins is a flat stone plaza, paved with huge bluestones, with dark green moss growing in the cracks. The air is filled with an old, dusty smell, mixed with a faint, chilly atmosphere.

With yesterday's route and experience, this time it went much more smoothly, avoiding detours and some unnecessary battles.

"We've arrived." Wu Qingya stopped in front of the stone gate.

Qin Zheng looked around. The layout here was more open than he had seen in the report. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides and opened on one side, with the opening facing the sunrise in the east—it was a carefully selected site.

Without further ado, Qin Zheng immediately raised his hand and ordered: "Team One, set up a temporary camp on the perimeter, install monitoring equipment and defensive fortifications to protect the professors' equipment and safety; Team Two, come with me to the mining site where the energy stones were discovered yesterday; Team Three, stay at the plaza entrance and strictly prohibit anyone from entering the depths of the ruins without authorization!"

Upon receiving the order, the team members immediately divided up their tasks and set off. In less than half an hour, simple camouflage tents were erected around the ruins, and the screens of the monitoring instruments kept flashing, transmitting real-time energy data and geological fluctuations from the surrounding area.

The intelligence agents sprang into action, setting up tents, equipment, and cordoning off the area. In less than an hour, a makeshift camp was in place.

Several professors have already begun working in various corners of the site, taking photos, measuring, and collecting samples.

Qin Zheng led the gray-haired geology professor deeper into the ruins, to the wall where the Flame Spirit Stone had been discovered the day before. The professor knelt down, took out several instruments from a metal box, and connected, calibrated, and measured them one by one.

Qin Zheng waited for a long time before asking, "How did it go?"

The professor stared at the fluctuating numbers on the instrument, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper, his voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement: "There are probably still quite a few of these energy stones underground."

He continued, "Based on sound wave and heat source detection, there are large areas of cavities underground, with strong energy reactions at the top and bottom of these cavities. They are not scattered, but rather in large patches."

Qin Zheng picked up a piece of rubble the size of an egg from the ruins, looked at it in his palm for a while, and asked the professor if he could go down.

The professor stood up and dusted off his knees: "Let's find the entrance first. A complex of this size can't possibly lack an underground passage."

In a corner of the temporary camp, Ying Wenjie sat on a folding chair, his phone full of videos and photos from the past few days in Laoshan... mutated creatures, ancient ruins, Yanling Stone, and ancient Lao Kingdom characters rubbings from the ruins walls.

He picked out a few of the clearest ones and sent them to Chen Siyao.