The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

He turned around and walked out of the valley. Gu Yuan and Yun Ruoxi had already arrived. Han Fei picked up a thick tree branch from somewhere and followed behind him.

"Where is everyone?" Master Gu Yuan asked, looking around.

"I'm leaving," he said calmly. Xiao Fan recounted their conversation, and when he mentioned the Fire God Temple, Grand Master Gu Yuan's expression changed.

"The Fire God Temple is south of Yan Yuan? I remember now. More than thirty years ago, a fire god who appeared out of nowhere was worshipped here. The incense has long since died out, and most of the temple has collapsed. Later, when people went there to collect herbs, they saw steam coming out of the cracks, but no one went to check."

Xiao Fan frowned. "He said a crack appeared there and asked me to go check it out. That was too certain. If he just wanted to lure me away, he wouldn't have needed to specify the exact location."

Yun Ruoxi thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps we really need someone to fix the rift. What he refined might only be the first step; to go further, we'll need external help."

Xiao Fan nodded, saying nothing more. This was a thought that had flashed through his mind in the valley. When the gray-robed man said this, he didn't seem to be lying; on the contrary, it was as if he had already made his move and was just waiting for the next one.

He looked up at the sky; it was already evening, and the western horizon was turning from orange-red to deep blue. It would take at least seven or eight days to get from here to the south of Yan Yuan.

"Let's go." He turned and walked towards the carriage. "Let's go to Shahe Town to replenish our supplies first, and then head straight to Yan Yuan. Whether it's the Fire God Temple or the Rift, we can see for ourselves whether what he said is true or not."

The journey was unimpeded. No one from the Earth Fire Hall appeared again; the gray-robed man seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving not even a trace of spiritual energy behind.

Xiao Fan spent several days sitting in the carriage, going through all the details on the parchment given to him by the Grandmaster of Pill Refining, and comparing them with the gray-robed man's movements, gradually forming a vague outline.

These labeled nodes are not evenly distributed on the map.

They connect together like an arc, running along the border of the Daqing Empire, through the Thousand Mist Mountains of the Southern Frontier, through the Dry Bone Ridge of Lingwu City, through the Black Sand Sea of ​​the Western Regions, and then turning towards the Flame Abyss.

At the end of the arc lies the south of the Flame Abyss.

On the evening of the eighth day, the carriage arrived at the long-abandoned temple of the fire god.

Gu Yuan was right. Only one wall of the temple remained, half of the gable wall was still in place, the wall had been eroded by wind and sand and was pitted and uneven, and there was a faded mural on it, which depicted a flickering flame.

Xiao Fan got out of the car and walked around the ruins. He soon discovered a crack in the northeast corner of the ruins.

The crack was only two fingers wide and was half-hidden by rocks and weeds, so it was barely noticeable unless you looked closely.

He parted the rock, and a warm breath emanated from the depths of the crack, mixed with a trace of extremely thin yet pure Yin energy.

He crouched down and probed inside with the Fire of Creation.

The spiritual energy spread downwards for dozens of feet along the crack, and the space below suddenly opened up, like a huge underground stone chamber.

In the very center of the rock chamber, a halo of light slowly rotated, its color between gray and purple, like a thin mist being repeatedly kneaded. The edges of the halo were perfectly neat, as if it had been meticulously sculpted, neither expanding nor contracting.

Xiao Fan withdrew his hand, stood up from the chair, and said, "This is the Taiyin Remnant he refined. This place is at the end of the arc, which should be a rendezvous point."

Master Gu Yuan also squatted to the side, staring at the crack. Although he couldn't see what lay below, the mixed aura emanating from it made him frown. "So much Yin Remnant, all that effort to purify, just to be placed here?"

Xiao Fan remained silent for a moment. He stood at the edge of the rift, looking down at the slowly rotating halo, which floated quietly deep in the earth, like a chess piece that had been deliberately arranged.

"He stayed here to wait for the right person," Xiao Fan finally said. "But now that I'm here, he's mine."

He crouched down again, pressing his hands against the rock walls on either side of the crack, took a deep breath, and simultaneously activated the power of the Creation Fire and the Thunderfire Token.

Two beams of light, one gold and one silver, shot out from the crack, enveloping the gray-purple light within them.

The moment the halo touched the Creation Fire, it trembled slightly, like a sleeping beast being touched on the ear. Xiao Fan calmed himself down, activated the Qiankun Refining God Technique, and guided the extremely pure Yin energy slowly upwards along the crack.

This process was more exhausting than he had imagined. The light, though seemingly heavy, was actually incredibly complex. After repeated purification and mixing, the Taiyin embers appeared to be taking initial shape.

When the halo finally drifted out of the crack and floated above Xiao Fan's palm, Xiao Fan felt his entire right arm go numb.

This power was neither scorching nor icy, but rather balanced and peaceful, like a gentle river swirling in his palm.

A moment later, he suddenly realized.

The base of this array is not yet complete.

Someone gathered the scattered remnants of the Yin energy, continuously purified and fused them, and finally formed a base for the array.

As long as the corresponding array is injected with spiritual power, the array base will automatically operate, bearing a portion of the Yin energy, which only the Nine Towers Seal can withstand.

This is what the gray-robed man meant by "Go and see for yourself."

Xiao Fan carefully absorbed the ball of light into his sea of ​​consciousness, enveloping it with the Flame of Creation and letting it quietly sink into his sea of ​​consciousness. He got up from the ground and brushed the dust off his knees.

"Got it."

Gu Yuan looked at him, tired but with an undeniable light in his eyes, and a smile appeared on his lips: "It was worth it."

Han Fei had already turned the carriage around and placed two torches on either side. In the dim night, the ruins of the temple cast a long shadow in the darkness.

Xiao Fan boarded the carriage, leaned against the side, and closed his eyes to rest. Within his sea of ​​consciousness, the grayish-purple halo hovered quietly, like a piece of ancient jade that had just been polished.

The silver lightning patterns on his fingertips shone even brighter. The barrier, at the first level of the Tribulation Realm, seemed to loosen slightly the instant it touched the array base.

In the west, on the horizon of Yan Yuan, a faint red light flickered, as if the earth were breathing.

On the way back, the carriage traveled much faster than it had on the way there. Han Fei, preoccupied with the incomplete scrolls of the Earth Fire Hall, sped along the way, changing horses only twice. In less than five days, he arrived at the north side of Shahe Town.