The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

He had completely solidified his foundation at the first level of the Tribulation Realm. The flow of true qi in his dantian was smooth without any stagnation, and the power of thunder and fire between his five fingers had become even more adept.

"Not bad." He nodded. Gu Yuan looked at him and said, "Your aura has become much stronger. You shouldn't have any problems if you encounter that gray-robed man again next time."

Xiao Fan stretched, a flash of gold and silver light appearing at his fingertips. "That's not all. This Earth Fire Spring is in a very special location, situated right at the intersection of the ley lines on the western edge of the Black Sand Sea, which is why there's been such a commotion. The gray-robed man's choice to refine the Taiyin Embers here is probably not accidental; he's likely after the Earth Fire as well."

He turned around, looked at the crack, and walked towards the carriage. "Let's go. I have a feeling he should be here soon."

After traveling for another half a day, the terrain of the wasteland gradually changed.

The hard, brownish-yellow soil was gradually replaced by grayish-white weathered rocks, and the surface became increasingly undulating, with the jagged rocks appearing as if sharp bone spurs were growing out of the ground.

Xiao Fan called out, signaling Han Fei to stop. He jumped off the carriage, placing one foot on the gray-white stone, his eyes slightly narrowed.

Above the pile of rubble in front, a very thin stream of air swirled.

An ordinary person might not be able to see anything, but with his current perception, he could clearly feel that there was a trace of the aura of the Taiyin embers mixed in with this aura, like water that had just been stirred and had not yet completely dissipated.

"He hasn't been here long." Xiao Fan walked forward more than ten steps following the direction of the airflow, then stopped on a flat stone slab. There was a faint black layer on the stone slab, as if it had been soaked in something, which quickly dried.

Master Gu Yuan went over to take a look, then took out a spirit-testing talisman and affixed it to the stone. As soon as the talisman touched the stone slab, a dark purple light flashed across its edge, then quickly faded.

"It's even purer than what was collected from the stone formation," Master Gu Yuan said solemnly. "He has removed most of the impurities, and the remaining clump of Taiyin embers is purer than any I've ever seen."

Xiao Fan squatted down and carefully examined the black circle. He extended a finger and gently touched the surface of the mark. An extremely fine and cool sensation came from his fingertip, as if he had touched cold jade buried deep underground.

He stood up and looked in the direction where the embers of the Moon had dissipated. "He's not fast. The terrain here is unfavorable to him; there are too many loose rocks, and carrying the refined items will slow him down. If we speed up, we should be able to reach him before nightfall."

As Han Fei spoke, he climbed onto the carriage and rode away. The carriage bumped and jolted across the rocky beach, the wheels crunching over the pebbles.

The deeper you go, the more pronounced the scent of the Yin embers becomes.

Xiao Fan stood atop the carriage shaft, facing the wind. His divine sense extended forward, and he vaguely caught a moving phantom of spiritual energy, cold and solid, even more powerful than the spiritual energy he had felt in the sandstorm.

The man stopped.

As if sensing someone following behind, the phantom of spiritual energy paused slightly, then suddenly turned and accelerated toward the northwest.

Xiao Fan immediately tensed up. He'd been exposed.

He immediately jumped down from the carriage and shouted at Gu Yuan, "I'll go after him first! You all follow behind me, and be careful!"

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the pile of rocks suddenly narrowed, and the stone walls on both sides closed together, turning into a narrow canyon.

Upon reaching the valley entrance, Xiao Fan slowed his pace and immediately spotted a man in a gray cloak standing there.

The man noticed him too.

The man was not tall, and he wore a gray-black robe with a hood that covered his face, revealing only his angular chin.

The small bronze cauldron was still placed in front of him, the purple flames inside long since extinguished, with only a faint halo remaining on its surface, indicating that it had been operating just moments before.

"You've been following me for a while now," the gray-robed man said in a calm tone, as if he were merely recounting a trivial matter.

Xiao Fan stood about ten feet away, glanced at the bronze cauldron, then at the gray-robed man. "What are you going to do with the Taiyin embers?"

The gray-robed man remained silent. With a slight lift of his hand, the purple flame on the bronze cauldron, which had been extinguished for a long time, suddenly flickered and reignited, its color changing from light purple to deep purple, faintly revealing a hint of dark red, as if it had been infused with something.

Instead of retreating, Xiao Fan advanced. A ball of crimson-gold creation fire condensed in his left hand, and the silver lightning patterns between the five fingers of his right hand lit up. He took a step forward, and the pebbles on the ground rolled to both sides.

Xiao Fan calmly said, "The thing you create will break through the seal of the ninth level."

The gray-robed man then looked up. Beneath the hood, only a pair of eyes gleamed with an eerie light, as if they had been perpetually whitened by the cold air.

"You know nothing!" the gray-robed man said indifferently, his tone still calm but with a hint of sarcasm. "The Nine Towers Seal is only a temporary solution."

The Yin energy has been sealed for over a hundred years; who knows how many things are hidden underground. If I don't draw it out and refine it, and it falls out on its own, the entire Great Qing Empire will be buried inside.

A strange light flashed in Xiao Fan's eyes. These words were spoken with such conviction that they didn't seem like a hastily fabricated excuse. He glanced at the purple flames within the bronze cauldron, his mind racing.

"Are you concocting medicine?"

The gray-robed man was taken aback, seemingly not expecting him to ask that question.

"By repeatedly purifying the embers of Taiyin to extract even purer substances," Xiao Fan continued, "what is that for? To draw away the great formation suppressing the Yin veins? Or to strengthen the seal in turn?"

The gray-robed man remained silent. The purple flames within the cauldron burned quietly, without any movement, like an eye listening.

Finally, the gray-robed old man simply closed the lid of the cauldron and put it into his sleeve, disappearing from sight.

"So what if we catch up?" he said as he backed away, as if he were becoming one with the shadow on the stone wall behind him.

"If you want to know where it is, go south of Yan Yuan and find an abandoned fire god temple. You'll find out when you go take a look."

His figure gradually became blurred, as if swallowed by the shadow of the stone wall, leaving only a blurry outline.

Xiao Fan took a step forward, and the Creation Fire transformed into a crimson-gold whip, lashing fiercely at the figure, but only striking a wall.

The stone wall was burned with a deep, bone-revealing mark.

Xiao Fan stood in the valley for a while, making sure the gray-robed man had left, before withdrawing his hand.