"Hmm? What were they saying just now?" Zhang Chen asked, rubbing his eyes.
The speed of the event was incredible. He had barely opened his eyes before a group of people welcomed him, pushed him into a carriage, shoved a large stone into his hand, and then with fireworks erupting, the convoy moved forward. The entire process took less than five minutes.
"They seemed to say that Master should go to the Endless Abyss, find the Soul of the Ancient God, and destroy the Heart of the Ancient God there." Keke said, mimicking the old professor. "Although that's what they said, from their expressions and eyes, I read: 'Great, we've finally sent away the danger, we're safe!'"
"Is this the Heart of the Ancient God, the thing those black-clothed people wanted to snatch last night?" Zhang Chen held the large stone in his hand, playing with it, but found nothing special.
Activating Absolute Vision!
The stone didn't even have visible energy flow. Was Absolute Vision malfunctioning? Zhang Chen looked at Keke in surprise. The energy flow on her body was clearly visible. He then looked at the surrounding trees and the birds in the sky. Although the energy on them was negligible, if he looked closely, he could see subtle energy. But the legendary Heart of the Ancient God in Zhang Chen's hand, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see any energy lines on it.
"This is really strange... I can't sense its energy at all!" Zhang Chen said, frowning, utterly perplexed. "As an artifact like the Heart of the Ancient God, it should contain immense energy. Even if its energy came from the third meteorite, I should still be able to sense it. But now, it seems to be just an ordinary stone..."
"Let me see!" Keke took the meteorite, tossed it into the air, caught it, and tossed it a few more times. "It's just a very ordinary stone, not even magnetic. Even a stone randomly scooped from a river looks better than this!"
"Is something like this worth fighting for?" Zhang Chen nodded. Keke's feeling was the same as his.
There were two possibilities now. One was that the Heart of the Ancient God was indeed an ordinary stone, and either Zhang Chen or the Dean had been deceived. However, judging by their expressions when he left, it seemed they were finally rid of a hot potato. This suggested they hadn't lied to Zhang Chen.
The second possibility was that the power of the Heart of the Ancient God was far beyond Zhang Chen's perception. But this possibility was extremely slim. After all, Zhang Chen possessed the core of the nearly complete Meteorite of Destruction and Creation, along with part of the core of the Meteorite of Time. For something to far surpass them was almost impossible. Moreover, if the Heart of the Ancient God truly possessed such immense power, the energy in this world wouldn't be so weak. And the Ancient God wouldn't have been defeated by mortals; even Zhang Chen would likely be crushed by a finger. So... what was going on with this Ancient God!? Zhang Chen was bewildered.
"To destroy something like this, they need to go to the Endless Abyss?" Keke said, squeezing the Heart of the Ancient God in her hand. "Why not just smash it?"
With a crunch and a snap, the entire Heart of the Ancient God shattered into dust, scattering all over the ground.
"This..."
Both Zhang Chen and Keke were stunned. Keke had actually just been joking. She thought that if the Dean of the Magic Academy had specifically instructed them to take the Heart of the Ancient God to the Endless Abyss for destruction, it must have some ability that ordinary external forces couldn't destroy. So, she just gave it a try. To her surprise, the Heart of the Ancient God shattered like tofu.
"I... I... I was just joking... do you believe me?" Keke stammered.
"Do I believe you..." Zhang Chen hadn't recovered from the shock.
Suddenly, several dark figures jumped down from the branches on both sides. More black-clothed men. They blocked the carriage and shouted, "Hand over the Heart of the Ancient God, or we will destroy the entire Magic Academy! We have planted magic bombs throughout the academy. As soon as I give the order, or if we die, the academy will be blown to smithereens."
"If you don't want your classmates and teachers to die, do as you're told and don't try anything funny!"
"Uh..." Zhang Chen and Keke looked at the black-clothed men like naughty children, not knowing how to respond.
"Well... if I say the Heart of the Ancient God was destroyed by me... would you believe it?" Keke asked the black-clothed men with a sheepish grin.
"What nonsense are you talking about? The Heart of the Ancient God is protected by powerful magic and can only be destroyed in the Endless Abyss!" The black-clothed man said, laughing in anger. "Everyone knows this. You can destroy the Heart of the Ancient God here? Do you think I believe that?"
"Master... what he's saying sounds just like what you just said!" Keke said, looking at Zhang Chen.
"I'm not as verbose as him!" Zhang Chen retorted.
"That's right, Master is the most handsome. Even if you say the same thing, your demeanor and charm are completely different!" Keke said, rubbing against Zhang Chen's arm.
"Hey, you two, be serious! This is a robbery!" the black-clothed man roared in anger. "I don't have much patience. Hand over the Heart of the Ancient God quickly!"
However, he only dared to roar and didn't dare to act. They had informants in the academy. So they knew that Zhang Chen had taken down more than a dozen Apostle of the Ancient Gods with a single fireball that night. He wasn't confident he could defeat someone protected by the Goddess of the Sacred Spring. That's why he came up with the plan of planting bombs in the Magic Academy as a threat.
"Well... have you seen the Heart of the Ancient God?" Zhang Chen asked after thinking for a moment.
"We are Apostles of the Ancient God, of course we've seen the Heart of the Ancient God!" the black-clothed man replied confidently, puffing out his chest.
"His expression tells me he's lying..." Keke whispered into Zhang Chen's ear, then deliberately licked his earlobe.
"Alright, since it can't be hidden from you, this is the Heart of the Ancient God!" Zhang Chen said, jumping off the carriage. He walked to the base of a large tree at the edge of the forest and picked up a large stone. At the same time, he injected a trace of energy into it.
"Indeed, so cunning! You actually threw the Heart of the Ancient God on the ground!" the black-clothed man exclaimed. "The most dangerous place is the safest place. Most people would think you hid the Heart of the Ancient God in the carriage or carried it with you. I didn't expect it to be placed in such a conspicuous spot! If you are willing to join the ranks of the Apostles of the Ancient God, you will surely have a great future!"
The black-clothed man was utterly impressed by Zhang Chen's cunning. He picked up the stone and quickly disappeared into the forest...