The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

He groped on that soft body for a while before he felt his fingertips touch something hard.

He took it out slowly.

A grayish-brown crystal core, only the size of a fist, appeared before everyone. The crystal core was translucent, with a dark golden light slowly rotating, emitting a rich and pure spiritual energy of earth and fire attributes.

Holding it in his hand, Xiao Fan felt a weight in it. A surge of spiritual energy flowed from his palm, circulating through his meridians.

"A good find," he said. Meng Boyuan stepped forward to examine it closely, his face showing admiration. He said, "Earth and fire attributes. If this were taken to the market, it could at least be exchanged for a medium-sized spirit stone mine. This snake must have lived underground for at least three hundred years to condense such a pure crystal core."

Old Zhao also came closer to him, took a closer look, and stroked his beard, saying, "A dual-attribute inner core is a relatively rare material that can make your meridians stronger."

However, to master it, one must have an extremely high level of proficiency in fire element; otherwise, earth element will clog the meridians and affect the flow of spiritual energy.

Xiao Fan took the crystal core, sensed it for a moment, and then looked up at everyone. "This stone snake was attracted here when the array eye of our Qingyun Mountain trembled. As agreed before we set off, we'll share the spoils. Three days later, regardless of whether I've used it or not, I'll return it to the management office."

One of them moved his lips slightly, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. The newcomer was a representative of a small organization, dressed in a dark yellow robe, with a thin face.

He was about to speak when Meng Boyuan interrupted him: "You have a problem with that? Did you see when Young Master Xiao was the first to rush forward? If he hadn't accurately struck the weak point of the third joint, we might not have been able to take it down. So what if it's a three-day core?"

The man in the yellow robe said, "..." No one else objected, so Xiao Fan put the crystal core away.

Three days is enough.

That night, he found a secluded spot, sat cross-legged on a flat rock, and placed the grayish-brown crystal core in his palm.

Within his dantian, the flame of creation surged forth, slowly seeping into the surface of the crystal core. The dark golden specks within the crystal core began to spin wildly the moment they came into contact with the flame of creation.

The earth-attribute spiritual energy was calm and steady, forming a solid foundation in the dantian. The fire-attribute spiritual energy flowed upwards along its original path, merging with the power of the Creation Fire and Thunderfire.

The two types of spiritual energy did not conflict due to the balance of Yin and Yang. On the contrary, the earth attribute laid a solid foundation for the fire attribute, making the output of spiritual energy more stable.

Three days passed. At dawn, Xiao Fan opened his eyes and let out a long breath. The crystal core had shrunk by one size, and its color had changed from grayish-brown to light gray.

The rest don't need further refining; they can be used as samples or stored for future use.

He stood up, stretched, and felt that the spiritual energy in his dantian was much more abundant than it had been three days ago. The capacity of his meridians and the density of his spiritual energy had been greatly improved, and he was only one thin barrier away from breaking through to the fourth rank.

As he passed a camp, he saw the representative, dressed in a dark yellow robe, sitting on the ground, eating dry rations in large mouthfuls.

Xiao Fan stopped as he passed by him and handed him the crystal core, which had shrunk to half its original size. "The rest is up to your forces to study. Seventy percent of the spiritual energy inside has been refined, but the structure is still intact, which is much better than an empty shell."

The man took the crystal core, his face flushed red, but he forced himself not to react. Finally, he cupped his hands to Xiao Fan and said in a muffled voice, "Thank you." The people around laughed. The man blushed, took the crystal core, and turned to go into his tent.

With everyone's combined efforts, the giant serpent's corpse finally revealed the massive crack at the foot of the main peak. The crack stretched downwards, wide enough for two or three people to walk side by side.

Standing at the cave entrance, Xiao Fan used his divine sense to investigate and discovered that the crack was not formed naturally, but rather an ancient passage that had been opened by the rock serpent.

Traces of human excavation can be faintly seen on the cave walls, most of which are covered by a thick rock shell, but there are also a few places with regular corners and straight walls.

Xiao Fan was the first to step into the crack and slowly walked downwards. Yun Ruoxi followed, while Meng Boyuan and Elder Zhao each led two of their skilled disciples down with them.

The passage was much shorter than I had imagined; after walking down about a hundred feet, I reached the end.

This is a stone chamber that has been polished to an extremely smooth finish. It is not large, only about the size of an ordinary room. On the opposite wall, there is a gray-green stone tablet.

The stone tablet was smooth as a mirror, with no words on it except for a round pit the size of a bowl in the middle, and a ring of fine patterns around the edge of the pit.

Xiao Fan stepped forward and carefully examined the patterns. A thought struck him: the size of the groove was exactly the same as the size of the Thunderfire Token. He took out the Thunderfire Token and inserted it into the groove.

The moment the Thunderfire Order was placed, a faint halo appeared on the surface of the stone tablet, and the halo condensed into a line of words in the center of the stone tablet.

"The three great formations cover an area of ​​a thousand miles, all under our control. But the abyss remains, and one crack has not yet been filled. Three thousand miles south of the Burning Bone Abyss lies a volcano, beneath which lies a hidden passage. If you wish to eliminate the threat completely, you might as well go and take a look."

The words lingered in the air for about ten breaths before slowly dissipating, and the radiance on the stone tablet gradually faded. Xiao Fan took out the Thunderfire Token from the groove and turned to look at the crowd behind him.

Meng Boyuan and Zhao Lao's expressions darkened. Three thousand miles south of Burning Bone Abyss was the southernmost border of the Great Qing Empire, which was unclaimed territory.

Old Zhao was the first to speak: "I've passed through a place three thousand miles south of Burning Bone Abyss before. Some of the volcanoes there erupt year-round, making it impossible to find a foothold. You're saying that road is hidden beneath a volcano? How deep must that be?"

Xiao Fan pondered to himself, "Since the clues left by the Grandmaster of the Void Pill were so accurate, it means he had been there before and found a way. This crater is just an entrance; the real fissure is below."

He put away the Thunderfire Token, glanced at the stone tablet (which had now returned to its original state as an ordinary bluish-gray slab), and continued walking upwards. Meng Boyuan and Elder Zhao were talking in hushed tones, both calculating the time to the south of the Burning Bone Abyss.