The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

Han Fei jumped off the carriage, wrapped the horse in a felt cloth, stuffed a piece of dry food into the horse's mouth, and then got back into the carriage, looking disheveled.

"This damn weather," he spat out a mouthful of sand, "changed without warning."

Mr. Gu Yuan leaned against the carriage wall and added another piece of charcoal to the brazier. In the dimly lit carriage, the firelight flickered. "Sandstorms in the Gobi Desert are always like this. Hold on for another hour."

Xiao Fan leaned against the corner of the wall, with only the sound of the howling wind in his ears.

With his eyes closed, he extended his divine sense out of the carriage, trying to detect any spiritual energy fluctuations within the sandstorm.

When he extended his divine sense to the east, he sensed an extremely faint aura.

His eyes suddenly opened.

A figure emerged from the sandstorm.

The sandstorm lasted for more than two hours before gradually subsiding.

The wind changed from a low growl to a broken sob, and finally disappeared into the night sky.

Han Fei lifted the curtain and looked outside. It was pitch black outside. The clouds had been blown away by the wind, and only a few stars were visible. The cold sunlight shone on the beach, giving it a silvery-white appearance.

Han Fei jumped off the carriage, shook his slightly numb shoulders, and then walked to the horse's side.

The two horses were not seriously injured, but they were a bit wilted by the wind and sand, and stood motionless on the felt with their heads drooping.

Xiao Fan also got out of the car and said with a serious expression.

Behind the sand dune, the ground was covered with a thick layer of new sand, which was very soft to walk on, and your ankles sank in half an inch.

Once he regained his footing, he once again probed the eastward with his divine sense—the chilling aura had vanished, as if it had never existed.

But he was certain that this was not an illusion.

"Someone entered the stone formation before us," he said, turning to Master Gu Yuan. "He left the formation during the sandstorm. It was quite far away, but I could sense his presence; it was like the embers of the moon, very dense."

Gu Yuan frowned and said, "Carrying the remnants of Taiyin through a sandstorm? This person is definitely not an ordinary person. When ordinary cultivators encounter a sandstorm, they would think of finding a place to hide, but he chose to travel through the sandstorm, obviously not wanting to expose his whereabouts."

Yun Ruoxi also got off the carriage and stood side by side with Xiao Fan. Her gaze also turned eastward, and she whispered, "We can't catch up. The sandstorm has covered all traces; there are no footprints left."

Xiao Fan nodded and withdrew all his divine sense. He truly couldn't catch up; the surrounding area was covered in fresh sand, leaving no trace whatsoever.

This person is extremely cautious, even using the sandstorm as cover; he must be either very experienced or well-prepared.

"Let's rest tonight. We'll take another walk around the stone circle when it gets light. After the sandstorm passes tonight, the ground will change a lot, and something might be exposed."

Han Fei had already unharnessed the horses and pitched a tent on the sand dune to shelter from the wind. The tent was small, only able to accommodate four people.

Master Gu Yuan affixed a talisman to the tent flap to keep out the cold night wind. The flame in the brazier was small, radiating warmth.

Xiao Fan leaned against the tent wall, holding the parchment and examining it carefully in the dim firelight. He opened the map, found the node, and drew a question mark at the location of the stone circle.

"What are you thinking about?" Yun Ruoxi's voice rang in his ear.

Xiao Fan didn't even look up, his finger still hovering over the question mark. "I wonder what those guys who collect the Taiyin Embers will do after they've gathered them up."

The Taiyin Embers are no ordinary rare treasures; they possess sealing power, and direct refinement could very likely result in a backlash. However, if guided in a special way—”

He paused here, as if remembering something, his eyes flickering in the flames.

"He must have wanted to do something. The copper box on the Bone Ridge, the seal on the Bone Beach, and this stone array in front of us—all of them bear traces left by someone. They don't seem like naturally formed seals; they're more like a kind of seal."

Yun Ruoxi listened quietly until he stopped, then she said, "Now, someone is already unlocking these chains."

Xiao Fan put away the parchment scroll. "Yes. Besides, he's already unlocked quite a bit. We must get there before him."

The tent was silent except for the sound of burning charcoal.

Gu Yuan was fast asleep, his breath coming in long, drawn-out gasps. Han Fei was curled up in the corner, snoring away.

Xiao Fan didn't fall asleep immediately, but sat in the chair, looking like he couldn't sleep.

He sat at the tent entrance, peering his divine sense through the curtain. In the boundless desert, markers were placed, like threads buried deep in the earth.

Someone was walking along that line. The two people were walking the same path, but in completely opposite directions.

The next day, Xiao Fan got out of bed. Han Fei rubbed his eyes and went to prepare the horses, Gu Yuan packed up the tents and talismans, and Yun Ruoxi covered the brazier with sand.

The carriage continued on its way, making a long detour, until it arrived at the stone formation buried by sandstorms.

After a night of wind and sand, the stone formation indeed underwent a dramatic transformation.

Some of the stone pillars that were originally half-buried in the quicksand are now exposed, while others have been buried even deeper.

Xiao Fan carefully walked around the stone formation and finally found a shallow pit under a stone pillar that he hadn't noticed yesterday.

The groove was very small, only about a finger's length, and the sand inside was a dark purple color. He squatted down and placed the Creation Fire on the dark purple sand. The flames flickered and hissed softly.

"Embers of the Moon." "That person stayed here for a long time. He must have used something to absorb all the embers of the Moon at the base of the stone pillar. Only some residue remains. These are all the waste products he created."

Master Gu Yuan glanced at it and shook his head, saying, "That slap was clean and swift, even more swift than the two of us combined. His research on the Taiyin Remnants is probably even more advanced than that spy from the Southern Frontier who stole Tawa."

Xiao Fan stood up, his gaze leaving the depression and turning to the endless sand dunes in the distance. "Let's head west."

To the west. There lies the Black Sand Sea.

The carriage stopped about eighty miles northwest of the stone formation. There were no landmarks or map markers in this area, but Xiao Fan still had Han Fei stop it.

He saw flames.

The sky had completely darkened, and the desert was deathly silent, with only the stars in the sky emitting a faint glow.