The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

Gu Yuan sat down beside him and said, "The Blackfire Sect is already making its move. You've been too hasty; even Wei Huoshou was able to find out about the Thunderfire Token, so how could the Blackfire Sect not know? This journey is unlikely to be peaceful."

"Hmm." Xiao Fan looked at the gradually darkening night outside the window. He knew that Gu Yuan was right; after this point, the Blackfire Sect would only escalate the situation.

However, what he was most concerned about now was not the Blackfire Sect assassins, but something else entirely. In the previous exchange, he discovered that his lightning and fire power was much more flexible than he had imagined. After the fusion of Yin and Yang energies, a completely new spiritual power was gradually changing his fighting style.

And this is all the progress made in just a few days.

If I could cultivate for a longer period of time by the two-colored bronze furnace underground and fully understand the fusion method recorded on the parchment, how much would my strength increase?

He already had a plan in mind: first, return to the Pill Tower to refine all three pieces of parchment, and then go to the depths of the valley to cultivate in seclusion.

At that time, the harassment from the Blackfire Sect will be like a stone that can be kicked away.

No further attacks occurred after that.

As the number of pedestrians and vehicles on the official road gradually increased, the closer we got to the heart of Daqing, the denser the villages and towns became on both sides of the road, and the stronger the atmosphere of daily life became.

Seven days later, the convoy entered a rolling hilly area. According to the map, it would take at most another day and night to enter the Danta Mountains.

That night, Han Fei was taken by Xiao Fan to a mountain valley, where they set up camp.

The valley is small, surrounded by low hills on three sides, with a flat open space in the middle that can be used to pitch tents.

Han Fei gathered some dry firewood, started a fire, and cooked a pot of hot soup. Everyone sat down together and began to eat.

Xiao Fan had just drunk half a bowl of hot soup when he suddenly put the bowl down and stood up. His gaze pierced through the firelight, looking towards the low hill on the east side of the valley.

From that small hill, he could sense a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy. It didn't seem to be a living thing, but rather something deep underground was slowly releasing power.

The rhythm was steady, as if something was breathing rhythmically.

"You guys eat, I'll go take a look." He put the bowl on the table, leaped up the hill, and stood on the hill looking eastward.

Not far to the east, in a valley, lies a dark swamp. This swamp is not large, only a hundred meters long, with a thin layer of gray mist floating on the surface, almost blending into the shadows in the twilight.

The spiritual energy fluctuations emanated from this swamp, like a needle piercing into it.

Xiao Fan did not act rashly.

He squatted on the hill and observed for a while, and found some strange traces on the edge of the swamp—there were several thick drag marks on the muddy ground at the edge of the puddle, as if something had crawled out of the puddle and extended all the way to a pile of rocks in the distance.

"Elder Gu, look what this is?" Master Gu Yuan walked over with a bowl of soup, glanced at the direction Xiao Fan was pointing, and his expression changed drastically, his eyes showing horror.

"This is not a naturally formed swamp."

Gu Yuan put down the soup bowl in his hand and squatted down to observe it carefully.

It was irregularly shaped, but the thickness was uniform. If I'm not mistaken, it should be some kind of root-like thing, emerging from the mud.

Xiao Fan also noticed this. Although the spiritual energy fluctuations at the bottom of the swamp were weak, they were almost imperceptible to the remnants of the Taiyin, as if they had been affected by the Taiyin energy and undergone a change.

"Perhaps the embers of the Taiyin have leaked underground and contaminated the underground plants." Xiao Fan stood up. "If left unchecked, once it takes root and sprouts, it will absorb all the spiritual energy of the earth's veins."

He looked back at the camp.

Yun Ruoxi stood by the fire packing her things, while Han Fei squatted beside the fire, poking at the embers with a twig. It was getting dark; they could leave tomorrow.

"I'll stay here tonight. I'm going to check out the swamp. Keep an eye on things." He took a stack of talismans from Mr. Gu Yuan, put them in his pocket, and then walked along the hill towards the edge of the swamp.

The water at the edge of the swamp was pitch black, and the bottom was completely invisible.

Xiao Fan stood on the shore for a while, then used the Creation Fire to condense a ball of light, which he then submerged in the water. The ball of light extended downwards for more than ten feet before reaching the bottom.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of silt, which was fine and viscous, and faintly emitted a kind of yin energy.

He walked a short distance along the edge of the swamp and came to a patch of muddy ground that was clearly raised.

The bulge was about ten feet in diameter, like a huge root nodule, half of which was buried under the swamp.

Xiao Fan squatted down and poured the Creation Fire into the water. The crimson-gold light shone through the silt onto the root nodules below. When he saw it clearly, his brows furrowed.

Its main trunk is as thick as an adult's waist, and countless tiny roots spread out in all directions.

The entire root system is grayish-black in color, and the surface is covered with a layer of viscous liquid. Tiny bubbles occasionally emerge from the viscous liquid, and each time a bubble bursts, a wisp of extremely thin Taiyin Qi is ejected.

This is where the pollution source is located.

Xiao Fan wasn't in a hurry.

He took a few steps back, searching along the edge of the swamp for the direction of the drag marks. Every drag mark eventually converged in the center of the swamp, where the silt was thickest and the spiritual energy fluctuations were most frequent.

He returned to the raised spot, placed his palms on the damp earth on the bank, and then, following the roots, slowly poured the fire of creation into the ground.

The crimson flames burned down the thickest root, causing the blackish-gray sap to hiss and emit a pungent, burnt odor.

The charred root, like a scalded creature, began to twitch.

In the middle of the swamp, a gurgling sound suddenly came from the center, as if something was awakening.

The water surface shook violently. Just then, a huge, grayish-black root suddenly broke through the water's surface, sweeping towards Xiao Fan and splashing up a large amount of muddy water. It moved so fast that the air itself seemed to be torn apart wherever it passed.

Xiao Fan leaped backward, dodging the attack. The roots swept across a boulder on the shore, snapping it in two with a crack, leaving a charred, blackened edge—clearly, the viscous substance was highly corrosive.

"It really is a living person."

He landed on the ground, a silver arc of electricity, generated by the Thunderfire Token, shooting between his fingers toward the roots of the plant.

The silver light struck the point where the roots met the water's surface with pinpoint accuracy. With a sharp "crack," the roots shuddered violently and broke in two.