"Don't let the... apostles know?" Chen Yue was so shocked that he became a bit tongue-tied.

  He really wanted to tell Thorn that the person he was about to tell the secret to was actually a genuine apostle.

  A sense of absurdity flashed through his mind. There couldn't be anything more speechless than this. However, in the next moment, a strong curiosity welled up in Chen Yue. What was the secret that couldn't be known by the apostles?

  "Yes." Thorn said unknowingly. In his opinion, Chen Yue's reaction was quite normal. For non-apostles, anything related to apostles was always an earth-shattering event.

  It was no wonder he thought of this point. Mainly because no matter how hard he racked his brains, he would never think that this young man with powerful martial skills in front of him was a relatively weak apostle.

  "Excluding the apostles. Well, what's the reason for that?"

  Looking at Chen Yue strangely, Thorn smiled bitterly: "The continent is dominated by those high and mighty apostles. Their strength is far above ours. If they knew about it, do you think we would still have a chance at this treasure?"

  He held up one finger: "There's no need for the three abnormal deacons in the association to take action. Even if just a third-order peak apostle came, we would be in big trouble. Therefore, for everyone's benefit, this matter must not be known by the apostles."

  Chen Yue understood. The third-order peak referred to those apostles who had summoned a three-star summoned beast and raised it to the third order. Three-star and third-order, that was equivalent to the strength of a sixth-order professional of other professions. The higher the level, the greater the strength gap. For someone like Thorn, that would be an overwhelming force.

  As far as Chen Yue knew, there were more than ten such people in the Apostle Association of the Tianye Empire. However, in general mercenary groups, there were very few professionals above the sixth order.

  "Do you think the apostles would be interested in this secret?" Chen Yue was really shocked. From what Thorn said, if necessary, even someone like Vinia, a deacon, might take action?

  How could this be possible? It was just a treasure.

  "If it were just an ordinary treasure, of course it wouldn't attract those big shots. In fact, many things that seem very precious in our eyes are not in their eyes at all." After a pause, Thorn narrowed his eyes slightly: "But..."

  "What if it's ancient ruins?"

  "Crash." As soon as the words "ancient ruins" entered his ears, Chen Yue couldn't sit still anymore. He stood up with a whoosh, and the things under him fell and made a mess.

  "Is it really ancient ruins?" Chen Yue's right hand tightly grasped the hilt of the Blade Beast. His eyes, which were as wide as they could be, stared at Thorn fixedly, and his whole body emitted a terrifying momentum.

  Thorn nodded vigorously.

  In the next moment, the momentum disappeared completely. Chen Yue restrained his excitement a little and sat down again, but his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

  Just like in the previous life, some commodities would become extremely expensive as long as they were labeled as being produced by XXX. In this world, as long as something was marked with the golden signboard of "ancient ruins", the value of that treasure would soar to an incredible level.

  Chen Yue didn't know much about the ancient ruins, but he had also heard of them. It wasn't the so-called ancient wild period, nor was it some empire that had once been established on the land of the Tianye Empire.

  The ancient ruins represented another civilization, a once glorious civilization that had now disappeared.

  Come to think of it, Chen Yue was no stranger to the products of that civilization. The teleportation device and the elemental measurement device were passed down from that civilization. Even the scenes he had experienced in the purgatory difficulty were a microcosm of that civilized period, although Chen Yue didn't know it at that time.

  "Okay, I agree." Raising his head, Chen Yue said firmly.

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  Undoubtedly, with such a rare opportunity in front of him, it would be too stupid not to seize it. Compared with the position of a disciple, the ancient ruins were undoubtedly more tempting. What's more, there was still some time before the bet. If things were done quickly, it definitely wouldn't be delayed. And with the Blade Beast and the Ice Rabbit that could move freely and had great power in the Ace Mountains, Chen Yue was also fully confident of striving for the greatest benefit.

  However, in that case, he would inevitably have to expose his identity, and then he would immediately be in a helpless situation. And without the help of the Ice Rabbit, it would be impossible to obtain huge benefits.

  This was a contradiction that was difficult to solve. It could be said that if Chen Yue wanted to obtain benefits, then in the end, exposing his identity would be inevitable.

  Looking deeply at Thorn, Chen Yue knew that showing his cards was just a matter of time. And choosing when to show his cards could largely determine Thorn's attitude.

  He coughed gently a few times to attract Thorn's attention.

  "Brother Chen Yue, do you have any questions? Don't worry. Just say it." Thorn laughed loudly. After getting Chen Yue's agreement to join, he felt unprecedentedly relaxed.

  "I'm an apostle." Chen Yue said straightforwardly.

  As if a piece of silk had been cut in half at the waist, Thorn's laughter stopped abruptly. A solemn look slowly appeared on his face, and his voice became cold.

  "What did you say?"

  "Second-order apostle, Chen Yue." Chen Yue repeated it, with the smile on his face unchanged.

  "Don't joke." Thorn's face was stiff: "This isn't a good joke."

  Chen Yue didn't say much. He just raised his right hand and then let it go.

  Without support, the Blade Beast floated in the air against common sense.

  Thorn's pupils suddenly contracted.

  His gaze was fixed on the hilt of the Blade Beast. There, two dim light rings were slowly rotating.

  "Summoned beast..."

  The two words came out unconsciously. In the next moment, as if facing a formidable enemy, Thorn's body suddenly sprang up from where he was. When he landed, his whole body was already burning with fighting spirit, ready to attack at any time.

  Chen Yue, however, didn't react at all. He sat there, looking at Thorn leisurely.

  The two of them stared at each other in a stalemate for a moment.

  Suddenly, Thorn withdrew his fighting spirit, turned back to his original place and sat down, scratching his head in annoyance.

  "How could this be."

  Such a helpless act appeared on Thorn, who had always regarded himself as a leader. It could be seen that he was extremely shocked in his heart and didn't know what to do at all. However, one thing was certain that he no longer had any hostility towards Chen Yue. In fact, just think about it and you'll understand. Chen Yue could have concealed his identity and then profited from it because no one could tell, at least Thorn couldn't. But Chen Yue didn't do that, which showed that he didn't have any malicious intentions.

  The words had already been said, and it was too late to take them back. Could he kill Chen Yue on the spot? Thorn asked himself that he couldn't do it, let alone that he wasn't sure if he could succeed.

  In this situation, he made the smartest choice.

  "What would you do if you were in my position?" Chen Yue asked.

  "If it were me?" Thorn raised his eyebrows and was about to answer without hesitation. However, after thinking about it, he had to reluctantly agree with Chen Yue's approach.

  A second-order apostle was far from being able to run amok. Even the most powerful second-order apostle at most only had the strength equivalent to a fourth-order professional and wasn't enough to affect the whole situation. Of course, Chen Yue was an absolute exception.

  The attraction of a low-order apostle was extremely great, and being in a region outside the influence of the Apostle Association, it wasn't difficult to imagine what would happen if the identity was exposed. At least Thorn had witnessed such an incident before. Although those people finally didn't get any benefits under the wrath of the Apostle Association and even died without a burial place, the huge benefits were enough to make any sober and rational person take a gamble with their lives.

  After understanding Chen Yue's approach of concealing his identity, the biggest knot in his heart had been removed, and the following conversation became a bit less stiff.

  "Are you really just second-order?"

  After seeing Chen Yue nod affirmatively, Thorn's feeling of strangeness was indescribable. A second-order apostle actually dared to come to the Ace Mountains alone, and he even had a strength that he himself was wary of...

  "I'm very interested in the ancient ruins." Chen Yue stretched out his hand, with a sincere look on his face: "Let's cooperate. The two of us work together to grab the biggest piece of the cake."

  "Do I have any other choice?"

  Thorn smiled bitterly.