Chapter 75

In addition to the wallet and photos, there was also an ancient, simple box, which was only the size of a palm. Du Qian opened the box and stared at its contents, stunned for a moment. What kind of treasure was this? For Baldy to have put it inside the winter melon, it certainly couldn't be ordinary. The wallet represented Baldy's assets, the photos his family, and the things in those boxes were even more precious, something money couldn't buy.

As for the clothes and food, they only took up a small part, probably for emergencies. It had to be said that with a spatial rune equipment, it was indeed convenient.

What was this thing in front of him? Two glowing leaves.

Just from their appearance, they were indeed leaves, slightly smaller than a palm, with five leaf veins, resembling maple leaves but clearly not a natural product, more like a craft.

An antique, priceless treasure.

Du Qian naturally thought this, but the glow on them seemed a bit familiar. Something that glows isn't necessarily a treasure.

He reached out to take one of the leaves, holding it in his hand, and instinctively channeled a thread of combat power. This was almost a habit for all martial cultivators. Although Du Qian had been a martial cultivator for a very short time, this habit had formed naturally, without needing to be taught.

Combat power could not only be used for battle but was also the best instrument, convenient and practical. Once you were proficient, it was better than most instruments.

Suddenly, Du Qian's vision brightened, and his consciousness entered a completely different space. Unlike the space where the three nebulae were, this place was snow-white all around, making it hard to distinguish colors. The light was soft and not blinding.

"This is a room, no, a corridor." After a few seconds of observation, Du Qian realized he was indeed in a corridor, which seemed very long, with no end in sight.

On both sides of the corridor walls, there were densely packed characters and patterns, almost the same color as the walls. If you didn't look closely, you wouldn't notice them.

"What is this?" Du Qian reached out to touch the left wall, and suddenly, the characters and patterns came to life, wriggling continuously, densely packed like countless worms, making his scalp tingle.

After a few dozen seconds, the wriggling characters and patterns stabilized, floating out from the wall, glowing red, clearly distinct from the background wall, but somewhat blinding.

"Aggregation of Spirits and Transformation of Runes, the Way of the Sage."

"Controlling Runes to Enter the Dao, the Beginning of the Divine."

Suddenly, the four large characters "Sage Rune Divine Path" emerged from the many characters, flashing continuously in front of Du Qian's eyes.

"Sage Rune Divine Path." This is a book, a rune.

Du Qian continued to look down, but he couldn't see anything. There were countless characters and patterns in front of him, but they were all blurry, and he couldn't make out a single word.

"Damn, I don't have myopia." Du Qian naturally didn't just stretch his neck to look. He took a few steps forward, pressing his whole body against the wall. But he still couldn't see anything clearly, even with his eyes almost touching the characters.

A line of characters floated out: "Reading Requirements for Sage Rune Divine Path: 1. Combat power over ten thousand, entry-level martial cultivator. 2. Fine as a hair, perception as sensitive as a spirit. 3. Both upper and lower runes complete, hold the upper rune in the left hand and the lower rune in the right hand. 4. Provide one thousand combat power per minute."

This line of characters floated in front of Du Qian for a few minutes, then retreated into the character cluster. His vision brightened, and his consciousness was forcibly expelled.

Du Qian blinked a few times. The reading requirements weren't long, only four conditions. Combat power over ten thousand was no problem, and providing one thousand combat power per minute was also fine. The upper and lower runes...

Looking at the two leaves in the box, Du Qian immediately understood. These two leaves should be the so-called upper and lower runes. Only when the two runes were together could he read the Sage Rune Divine Path. He didn't know what kind of book this was, but it was made into a rune book, with so many requirements just to read it.

Holding a leaf in each hand, he waited for a while, but nothing happened. He then realized and quickly switched hands. You didn't even label which was the upper and lower rune. Who would know?

This time it was right. A few seconds later, Du Qian was standing in the corridor again. The walls moved, and this time, the characters that flew out were very clear.

"History of Rune Aggregation, Basic Theory of Rune Aggregation, Understanding Spirit Runes, Introduction to Spirit Rune Creation, Advanced Spirit Rune Creation, Advanced Spirit Rune Creation, Theory of Spirit Rune Combination..."

No mistake, this was the table of contents. The problem was that there were too many entries, dozens of them. Du Qian scanned them with his eyes, his mind working continuously. Clearly, this was a rune book related to rune aggregators.

He really didn't know what the creator was thinking. If you were writing a book, just write it. Give you paper and a pen, write however you want. Why make a rune book? It's tiring to read, and even more tiring to create.

Knowing that reading a rune book required combat power, Du Qian naturally didn't dare to waste time. One thousand combat power per minute. With his combat power, he could only read for about ten minutes. Unfortunately, this was a consciousness space, and he couldn't bring a camera in.

He pointed at "History of Rune Aggregation," and the table of contents flew toward him. The light in front of him grew bright, and Du Qian felt his head sink as countless pieces of information flooded his mind, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. After about ten seconds, the influx of information stabilized.

"Damn, this thing is intelligent, able to automatically adjust the speed of information I can accept, based on my own capabilities."

And this was completely different from reading a book. It was like using a rune in the association, where the information contained in the rune directly entered the depths of his memory, without needing his eyes or ears. He just knew it.

Du Qian calmed his mind, and the speed of information transmission indeed increased slightly. If someone had walked into the office at this moment, they would have seen Du Qian sitting cross-legged on the floor, his palms facing up, each holding a maple-leaf-shaped rune leaf.

The Sage Rune Divine Path was the most famous rune book in the world of rune aggregators. It wasn't because it was high-end; on the contrary, it was widely recognized as the best foundational rune book for rune aggregators.

This rune book was also known as the Maple Rune or Leaf Rune, created by the divine-level rune aggregator Yan Nuo from the Republic of Heaven. Calling it the holy scripture of rune aggregators was not an exaggeration.

Originally, these two rune leaves were stored in the Star Valley of the Republic of Heaven, serving as one of the two guardian stars of the valley. Somehow, they leaked out of the Star Valley, changing hands several times. The Zhou Shan Empire spent a great deal of effort and finally obtained them.

Such a treasure was not easy to bring back to the empire. The land routes were long sealed off, and it was impossible to travel at low altitudes. They could only go by sea, as the vast ocean made it impossible for even the strongest navy to completely seal it off.

Who would have thought that the news would leak, and halfway through the journey, they were ambushed by pirates. Although the pirates were strong, they couldn't compare to a behemoth like the Zhou Shan Empire. After several battles, they were captured by the Zhou Shan Empire, with the final battle taking place near Pingchuan City.

The sea was not as safe as the land. On the way to Pingchuan City, the pirate leader Beining made his move, and the upper and lower runes were separated, each half taken by different parties.

A half-rune was useless, and neither the Zhou Shan Empire nor Beining was willing to give up. Pingchuan City was buying time, waiting for reinforcements from the capital, while Beining couldn't wait. Facing only the forces of Pingchuan City now, if the reinforcements from the capital arrived, he would have no chance.

This was why he boldly entered the trap. Beining was indeed formidable, not only killing several battle masters in Pingchuan City but also seeing through their strategy of feinting east and attacking west. He broke into the Flying Tiger Team, entered the heavily guarded combat skills room, and stole the treasure.

No one expected that Beining could kill and steal the treasure through heavy resistance, but in the end, the treasure fell into Du Qian's hands.

After about ten minutes, the two rune leaves in his hands automatically flew up and returned to the ancient box. Du Qian also regained his consciousness, his face serious, his eyes tightly closed, trying to digest the information he had received.

No wonder this book called the Sage Rune Divine Path was made into a rune book. The way knowledge was transmitted through a rune book was completely different from ordinary learning methods, more direct and effective.

The orphanage school was really a joke. If everyone could learn with such a thing, it would be great. What took ten years to learn could be completed in a month, with much better results.

Du Qian's understanding of rune books was still very limited, which is why he had such thoughts. The amount of information received over ten years was enormous, not only including basic knowledge but also everything that happened during those ten years.

Rune books were not omnipotent. The rune book he used in the association contained very little content, and even so, the number of rune books the association produced each year was extremely limited.

More importantly, ordinary rune books were one-time use. Once used, they were gone. A high-quality rune book like the Sage Rune Divine Path was extremely rare. Using it for basic education was a pipe dream.

It took Du Qian two hours to open his eyes, his body sore. He never thought reading could be so tiring and exhilarating.

Taking out a spirit horn, Du Qian began to absorb its energy. He didn't dare to use Baldy's thing.

When Du Qian left the office, it was already mid-afternoon the next day, and the sun in the sky was emitting the warm light of autumn.

In the Flying Tiger Team, people were coming and going, and the number of personnel was clearly much greater than usual. However, everyone's faces were filled with solemnity. The battle two days ago had disgraced the entire Pingchuan City.

As the violent institution of Pingchuan City, the Flying Tiger Team was the first to receive a lot of criticism.

The best personnel, the best equipment, the best logistics, the best...

Everything was the best, but the result was the worst. Not only were the casualties heavy, but the supposedly foolproof plan had a major problem.

The restaurant was empty, and even the chef was nowhere to be found. Fortunately, the food was still steaming hot. Du Qian helped himself, filling two large plates with food and quickly eating them.

In just five minutes, there were over a dozen empty plates in front of Du Qian. Patting his full stomach, he walked out of the restaurant.

He should go see Yao Jing.

...