Zhou Yi did not head out until late at night. Although she had obtained the key openly and honestly, what she was about to do was far from aboveboard.
The night was terrifyingly quiet. The dormitory was quite far from the ruins, and there was not a single person along the way. Only Zhou Yi's footsteps could be heard.
But for Zhou Yi, whose night vision had improved along with her recent surge in star power, fear did not exist where darkness no longer did.
Following Lin Xu's method from earlier that day, Zhou Yi opened the door with the key and squeezed inside. With a click, the heavy door shut behind her.
Since she could see clearly, Zhou Yi did not use any lighting equipment.
Perhaps because the daylight had been bright and there had been many people around to bolster her courage, the ruins had inspired nothing but awe during the day.
But at night, with the atmosphere fully set, Zhou Yi looked up at the colorful mural carved into the walls and felt as though Di Jiang's enormous eyes were fixed tightly upon her. It was like a beast sealed within the wall, ready to break free the very next second.
What she had told Aunt Lan during the day had not all been nonsense. Zhou Yi truly admired the person who had carved this mural.
Lifelike did not even begin to describe it.
Standing where she had entered, Zhou Yi once again circulated the Star Gathering Art.
Just as they had that afternoon, star powers poured wildly into her body. This time, however, Zhou Yi had prepared herself. The instant they surged in, she set the energy within her Chakra spinning into a small vortex, drawing in all the incoming star power and merging it into one.
The process did not last long before Zhou Yi stopped.
She looked at the smaller yet deeper pit and slowly walked over.
She had been too far away during the day, but now that she was closer, she could finally see just how deep the pit was.
It was nearly half a meter deep. Zhou Yi nimbly jumped down, leaving only the part above her thighs exposed.
Not minding the dirt, Zhou Yi sat directly in the pit and continued silently reciting the Star Gathering Art.
Sure enough, her guess had been right. The star power was even denser here.
This was the place.
Zhou Yi extended her right hand, and a half-meter-long small shovel appeared in it.
She had spent nearly all her remaining savings to buy it from the Star Brain that afternoon, then tossed it into her Space Ring the moment it arrived.
She had thought there was something off about this pit during the day. If she did not dig into it herself, the curiosity would eat her alive.
Without any hesitation, Zhou Yi drove the shovel down.
The soil here was even harder than she had imagined. If Zhou Yi had not moved so many mechas lately and built up some muscle, she might not have been able to handle this digging job at all.
Her goal was simple: dig downward. She wanted to see what exactly lay beneath this pit.
But after digging for more than half an hour, Zhou Yi still had no answer.
If there really was something here, it had most likely fallen from Di Jiang back then and been pressed into the soil under someone's feet.
Since these energy fluctuations were probably only effective on people with growth-type star patterns, those who had come to clean up the battlefield back then had not discovered anything.
Given the circumstances at the time, the object could not have been buried very deep.
Zhou Yi stopped and felt the soil in the pit with her hand.
Then she straightened up and cautiously began digging around the edges of the pit.
Through Zhou Yi's tireless efforts, the pit gradually widened, and she worked harder and harder.
Because she could already sense faint traces of star power leaking out.
Cultivation meant circulating the energy within one's Chakra and actively sensing and absorbing the energy outside.
Yet now, before she had even tried to sense it actively, she could already feel the star power passively. The sheer strength of this energy needed no explanation.
Bang.
At last, the small shovel struck a hard solid object.
Zhou Yi bent down and dug the thing out with her hands. She wiped it vigorously against the corner of her clothes and held it up before her eyes.
This was...
A stone?
The soil here was quite fine, without even small pebbles. A rock this large mixed in with it could not possibly be normal, even if one thought with one's toes.
The stone looked ordinary, black as pitch and about the size of a fist.
But Zhou Yi was certain that this stone was what had caused her energy perception to surge.
Because the moment she held it in her hand, Zhou Yi felt as though she had been thrown into a vortex of star power.
The entire world seemed to have become a massive Chakra, while she stood at the center of its energy.
Unable to withstand such immense energy pressure, Zhou Yi collapsed to her knees in the pit, and the stone fell from her hand.
The moment the stone left her hand, Zhou Yi felt the weight around her vanish, and the vortex disappeared instantly.
Something cold touched the corner of her mouth. She licked it with her tongue and tasted blood.
The pressure from that brief instant had been too great, making Zhou Yi's nose bleed directly.
She casually wiped it away with her sleeve. Ignoring the pain in her body, she quickly touched the stone and stored it in her Space Ring.
After the stone was put away, the abundant star power in the surrounding area gradually dispersed as well.
It seemed that the storage space could block the energy emitted by the stone.
Thank goodness.
Zhou Yi felt more at ease.
If the ring could not isolate that energy, then carrying it on her every day would be more than she could bear. She would probably explode to death within a day.
A person's dantian and Chakra were fragile. Without long-term cultivation to widen and strengthen them, endlessly pouring star power into them was not necessarily a good thing.
It could even create energy rejection from being unable to circulate and absorb it in time. If that happened, a person exploding would not be anything unusual.
After all, the Alliance Research Institute had conducted similar experiments long ago, and the research papers could all be found on the Star Brain.
With the treasure that had been hidden for so many years dug up by Zhou Yi, the ruins suddenly became ordinary.
No, it should be said that all of Huadun had become ordinary to Zhou Yi.
What Zhou Yi did not notice was that after she placed the treasure stone into her storage space, the lifelike mural on the wall still retained its colors, yet somehow seemed to dim all at once. Even its eyes had lost their spirit, making it look like an ordinary painting.
She tried reciting the Star Gathering Art again. This time, her energy perception had returned to normal.
"Now that's more like it."
Zhou Yi touched her ring, thoroughly satisfied. Sure enough, applying to Huadun had been the right choice.
Of course, even after taking the treasure, Zhou Yi conscientiously cleaned up after herself.
She threw the excavated dirt back in, stomped and jumped on it a few times, then took out a large broom and swept the excess dirt into the pit. The place was basically restored to how it had been before.
After finishing everything, Zhou Yi left with satisfaction.
After digging dirt for nearly the entire night, Zhou Yi changed clothes and took a quick shower. Before she even had time to take out the stone for another look, she collapsed into bed and fell asleep.
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