The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

Xiao Fan sat on the edge of the stone steps and said, "The notes of the Grandmaster of the Void Pill say that only by collecting all seven marks can one enter a higher realm. However, with these two marks, the spiritual energy of the earth veins in the Gray Domain can be activated."

In other words, the gray area itself is an underlying system. Like the Nine Towers, the Burning Bone Abyss, and the Imperial Capital Array Eye, it has both backups and overlaps.

Mo Yuan understood this point, which is why he agreed to the three-day agreement instead of directly seizing the talismans. He needed someone to cooperate with him to activate both talismans simultaneously; forcibly taking them would only damage the integrity of the formation.

Cheng Xiushi said in a deep voice, "So, your plan is to fully master the Void Fire Ignition Array within three days, and then prove your strength to Mo Yuan on the arena?"

Xiao Fan took out a piece of parchment, sat down, and began to examine it carefully. The changes in the array patterns drawn by the illusory fire gradually became clear in his mind.

He spent the entire night calculating and testing, repeatedly simulating different changes using the frequency of the spirit core. By dawn, he could stably simulate three different frequencies through the output of the spirit core.

The next day, he conducted another experiment in the groove on the tenth floor, adjusting his spiritual power to a specific frequency and injecting it into the groove. The runes on the wall shone even brighter, but they were not fully activated yet and required the cooperation of another rune to be fully activated.

After the test, he confirmed that the projected structure at the top of the Moyuan Tower was exactly the same as that on the ground. He also noticed that there was an area on the wall of the third floor that he had not noticed before, which was a building that had not been used yet.

On the morning of the third day, Xiao Fan arrived at the top of the White Pagoda early, an hour earlier than expected.

He stood on the edge of the tower, watching the entire gray area illuminated by a pale purple light. The dilapidated buildings softened in the morning light, giving a sense of tranquility completely different from that of the daytime.

Mo Yuan arrived as promised, alone, stepping onto the final stone step. They stood facing each other; even before the competition officially began, their gazes met on the empty platform atop the tower. "Ready?"

"Yes." Xiao Fan took out a short axe from his spatial artifact and held it in his hand. With his spiritual core fully activated, his aura rose steadily, and a golden light shield appeared on his body, forming a solid protective layer.

Mo Yuan slowly raised his hand, and a layer of dark spiritual energy condensed in his palm, enveloping his entire body and forming a black armor around him.

"Let's do it." Xiao Fan was the first to make a move. Pure golden spiritual energy was wrapped around his short axe. With a single swing, a sharp axe wind howled out, heading straight for Mo Yuan's right side.

Mo Yuan flashed, his right hand flipping, and a giant handprint formed from jet-black spiritual energy descended from the sky. Xiao Fan withdrew his axe, dodging the attack, and with his left hand, he condensed a bolt of lightning and a golden flame, transforming them into a spiraling cone of light that pierced out.

The two fought for nearly half an hour, and wherever the aftershocks of their spiritual energy passed, charred marks appeared on the ground.

Mo Yuan's cultivation was indeed far superior to Xiao Fan's, but his attacks were not too fierce. Instead, it seemed that he was deliberately controlling his power instead of going all out.

Xiao Fan took a few steps back to steady himself. Fine golden patterns appeared on the short axe in his hand. This was the result of his full effort. The Heart-Protecting Mirror blocked most of the backlash.

After another strike, Mo Yuan stopped what he was doing, looked at the almost invisible wound on his palm, and then at the intact light shield on Xiao Fan's body, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Looks like you still have two cards to play. It's time to end this."

He suddenly withdrew all his aura of aggression and took the small, dark silver plate from his waist. "You've passed."

Xiao Fan stopped wielding the axe and ceased circulating his spiritual energy.

"From the very beginning, I've been testing your False Fire Induction Array." Mo Yuan pushed the small plate forward, and the dark silver saucer flew to Xiao Fan's front and hovered there.

"During the second clash, you used the third transformation of the illusory fire to neutralize the lateral pressure of my palm strike, and the transition was perfectly timed. With your current level, you are fully capable of activating the core of the formation within the tower."

Xiao Fan grabbed the small plate floating in front of him. The two small silver discs resonated gently in his palm.

After handing the mark to him, Mo Yuan turned and walked up the stone steps. When he reached the bottom of the steps, he didn't even look at him, but only said one sentence.

"The backup formation on the third level is for you. The next time you enter the Gray Domain, you can carry the silkworm ribbon that Old Man Jiao gave you with you, and then the Void Fire can activate that formation."

The footsteps went down the stone steps and quickly disappeared.

Xiao Fan held the two seals and stood at the top of the tower for a while before turning around, walking to the edge of the tower, and placing his hands on the stone slab at the top.

The two marks disappeared into the groove in the palm at the same time, and a soft and even white light spread from the top of the white tower to the bottom of the tower, and then spread outwards from the bottom of the tower.

Gray Domain awakens.

The white pagoda's light lasted for a full half hour before gradually becoming brighter.

Standing atop the tower, Xiao Fan watched as beams of light spread along the spiritual energy veins on the ground, like a long-dormant net slowly unfurling.

He arrived at the third floor. Just as Mo Yuan had said, there was an unused array here. It was a circular stone platform embedded in the inner wall of the tower. The surface of the platform was as smooth as a mirror and was carved with runes that were exactly the same as those recorded in the silk scroll.

He took out the half of parchment that Jiao Lao had offered him and compared it with the array patterns on the table one by one. He found that the two parchments matched more than 90% of the time, with only a small part of the pattern showing a slight crack at the edge of the silk.

After several small-scale tests, he has found the most reasonable way to supplement it.

As the illusory fire filled the entire array pattern and spiritual power was injected, the platform slowly rose to the size of a palm, and a shallow groove appeared in the center of the platform.

He embedded the dark gold rune into the shallow groove, and immediately a detailed map was projected onto the three-layered wall, with each map corresponding to the approximate location of a certain mark and the characteristics of the magic array that might exist in that area.

Guided by the talisman, all the spare locations in the White Tower were activated.

From this moment on, as long as he stands on the third floor of the White Tower, he can perceive the approximate location and general situation of the other five marks in real time.

The other five marks are distributed in the four directions of the gray area: east, south, west, and north. The farthest mark is almost at the edge of the gray area.