The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

That night, Ye Ruolin hid for most of the night, and only returned by climbing over the wall at dawn.

Xiao Fan was not asleep; he was reading a book about interdisciplinary transmission. When he saw him come in, he put the book down.

"How is it?" he asked.

Ye Ruolin shook off the dew, sat down at the table, picked up a glass of iced tea, and drank it all in one gulp. She said, "He's in a secret room on the third floor of the Fire Crystal Workshop right now. I was eavesdropping by the window in the middle of the night, and the noise inside was quite loud. He just said to take the things to Cangyun Ferry in three days, and someone will come to pick you up."

"Cangyun Ferry" is located on a large river southwest of Chiyan City, and it takes another half a day to reach it.

This is a desolate place, usually frequented only by fishermen, with occasional merchant ships docking there.

Xiao Fan was stunned when he heard this.

Cangyun Ferry is not on the main road leading to the heart of the Daqing Empire, but rather at the very edge of the arc he had drawn earlier, which is also the farthest end.

If the man in the black veil and bamboo hat wants to obtain the Taixu Pill Saint's legacy, he must pass through Cangyun Ferry, and further west is the border.

"Three days from now," he uttered. He put down the manuscript in his hand and said calmly, "Then let's meet at the dock."

Xiao Fan and Ye Ruolin haven't shown up in the last two days.

The group temporarily left their horses at the inn, spending their days organizing scrolls and restoring their spiritual energy, and taking turns patrolling at night. On the morning of the third day, before dawn, the two checked out of their rooms and rode their horses out of the city.

Cangyun Ferry is truly a barren land.

The riverbank was overgrown with knee-high weeds, and only a dilapidated wooden boat was moored there, with an old boatman dozing at the bow. The river water was a clear, yellowish color, and across the river was a small hill, with blue skies and white clouds stretching into the distance.

Xiao Fan stopped his horse under an ancient willow tree near the ferry crossing, and he and Ye Ruolin found a quiet spot to squat down. The morning breeze carried the scent of grass and earth, invigorating them.

About two hours later, when the sun was high in the sky, the sound of boats could be heard on the river.

A small boat approached, with a man standing at the bow. He was wearing a gray robe and a black hat, and was of medium build, so his features were not clearly visible.

After the small boat docked, the man jumped ashore, looked around, took out a copper pipe, placed it on a flat stone next to the dock, and was about to board the boat.

Just then, Xiao Fan appeared from behind the willow tree.

"What's going on?"

The man in the straw hat looked slightly surprised.

He slowly turned around, looking at Xiao Fan through the black veil with a strange expression. As he got closer, Xiao Fan could see the man's face clearly: a sharply defined chin, fair skin, and an age that was difficult to discern, but he appeared to be middle-aged.

"It really is you." The man in the straw hat said in a hoarse voice, as if he had a problem with his throat.

Xiao Fan stepped forward, bent down, and pulled out the copper tube. Inside the tube was a thin leather scroll, which unfolded into a map. It depicted the westward route of Cangyun Ferry, but the destination was a place called "Burning Bone Abyss," which was completely unfamiliar.

"You sent people to steal all the pills and fire marrow crystals."

Xiao Fan put away the bronze pot, looked up at the man in the bamboo hat, and said, "You deliberately put the pills at the auction and then let me bid on that sword, all to lure out all the various forces. You left this map; are you perhaps trying to lead me into the Burning Bone Abyss?"

Upon hearing this, the man in black and a bamboo hat paused slightly, then burst into laughter. "You're very clever. The reason I brought out these pills at this treasure appraisal event is because of you. I need someone who can figure out the route taken by the Grandmaster of Pill Refining, and then come to me on their own initiative."

He raised a hand from under his bamboo hat, revealing several dark red scars on his fingertips, as if burned. "In the Burning Bone Abyss, that Grandmaster Pill Master left something behind. The only way to break the restriction is with the Creation Fire."

A strange light flashed in Xiao Fan's eyes. "How did you know?"

"Who doesn't know about the legacy of the Supreme Elixir Saint?" The man in the bamboo hat moved and landed on the small boat.

"The Burning Bone Abyss is clearly marked on the map, and anyone who wants to go can go there. I live near the Burning Bone Abyss now, so they should be able to find me."

He boarded the small boat, and the old boatman slowly rowed it, and the boat drifted downstream.

Xiao Fan stood on the bank, holding a copper pipe in his hand, staring blankly at the river. Ye Ruolin emerged from behind a tree and walked beside him, watching the boat gradually disappear into the distance.

Ye Ruolin crossed her arms and said, "Burning Bone Abyss, you can tell from the name that it's not a good place."

Xiao Fan clicked on another large image. It would take about three or four days to reach the destination from Cangyun Gorge westward.

He remembered that the "interaction of heaven and earth" recorded in the "Treasures of the Supreme Elixir Saint" referred to a world where heaven and earth formed their own realm.

Such places often contain extremely ancient spiritual energy nodes, and their value far exceeds that of ordinary spiritual veins, whether used for cultivation or for setting up formations.

The man in black with a bamboo hat once said that the Fire of Creation is needed to open the Abyss of Burning Bones.

After so many years of waiting, I've finally found the right person.

Ye Ruolin asked, "Are you going or not?"

Xiao Fan folded the map, tucked it into his pocket, and walked towards Old Liu. "Hmm. Everyone's waiting."

Two fine horses galloped along the riverbank in a southwest direction, leaving a long trail of footprints on the grass.

Following the riverbank westward for about three days, the terrain completely changed.

The green in the field of vision gradually disappeared, replaced by an endless expanse of gray-black rocky mountains, barren of vegetation and riddled with holes eroded by the wind, resembling a honeycomb from afar.

The further in he went, the higher the temperature became and the drier the air grew. By noon on the third day, Xiao Fan could feel the rocks beneath his feet getting hot.

The entrance to the Burning Bone Abyss is a narrow crevice in the rock. The rock walls on both sides of the crevice are dark brown, almost black, and covered with a layer of crystals as thin as cicada wings, which reflect a dark luster under the sunlight.

Xiao Fan squeezed into a crevice in the rock, and after walking about twenty or thirty steps, the view suddenly opened up before him.

A rift valley appeared, with spiderweb-like cracks covering the stone walls on both sides. Scorching steam constantly spewed out from the cracks, and the air was filled with a pungent smell of sulfur and burnt bones.

Standing at the edge of the rift valley and looking down, the area below the canyon is a deep red, like countless tiny streams of lava.

A heat wave swept in, causing robes to flutter wildly.

At the edge of the rift valley, a man wearing a black conical hat stood. He sat on a protruding rock, holding a black iron rod in his hand, his face obscured by the conical hat.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and laughed hoarsely.

"How could it be you? I didn't expect you to come so soon."