The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

With each step he took, he would mark his position on the bone fragment, and the resonance between his spiritual core and the underground pipe would deepen accordingly.

The fourth backup port is located in a bottomless ice valley at the westernmost edge of Aurora Plains.

The entrance was much more hidden than he had imagined; the map marked it as a flat ice field.

He crouched down and used his Moon-Rank spiritual power to investigate. Sure enough, he found a location with fluctuations in spiritual power about ten feet below the ice.

After the ice was cut open, an archway appeared before everyone.

This archway looks quite different from the other buildings. It is covered with dense runes, which are more ancient than those of the Taixu Dansheng, and the edges and corners exude a rugged and sharp feel.

Pushing open the archway and stepping inside, the spiritual energy within was noticeably different from other places.

The air was filled with a dry, warm smell of wood ash, as if some living thing had once lived here.

At the end of the passage was a spacious underground stone chamber, the floor of which was covered with dry, grayish-white moss.

This strange beast was covered in fine, dark gold scales, and its shape resembled both a leopard and a lizard, with a pale gold stripe running down its back.

It slept soundly, and with each breath, the surrounding air would glow with a faint golden light.

Xiao Fan stood at the entrance of the stone chamber, not daring to approach rashly.

His spiritual core resonated with this monster, whose mental fluctuations were in sync with the frequency of the channel on the bone armor. This indicated that it was not an ordinary guardian creature, but a living conduit.

Just then, the strange beast opened its eyes.

Those were amber-colored vertical pupils, and when they looked at Xiao Fan, their gaze was calm, yet held a scrutinizing quality.

It slowly raised its head, its dark gold scales shimmering faintly in the dim light.

It twitched its nose, stood up, and shook the mane on its back. Its posture was relaxed and non-aggressive.

Xiao Fan advanced instead of retreating.

He crouched down, placed his hands on the ground, and adjusted his spiritual energy frequency to prevent the other party from being threatened.

The dark golden beast stood still and slowly walked towards him, stopping two steps in front of him. Its amber vertical pupils stared at the bone map in his hand for a while, then it made a low "gurgle" sound, like a cub.

As the distance closes, the spiritual energy frequencies between the spirit core and the beast will naturally synchronize, just like two parts that should cooperate automatically docking when they get close.

The dark golden beast lowered its head and rubbed the back of his hand with the scales on its forehead.

Xiao Fan spread out the bone map and placed it on the ground. The monster pressed its claws against the edge of the map, raised its head and looked at him, its expression as if to say, "I recognize it."

He tried to reach out and touch the pale golden mane on the back of the strange beast. An extremely subtle yet stable spiritual energy fluctuation emanated from his fingertips, a fluctuation exactly the same as the spiritual energy flow in his meridians.

This strange beast is a ley line node placed here by the Grandmaster of the Void Pill, and it has been awakened as the pipeline system is gradually activated.

He sat down on the ground, looked at the strange beast, and made sure that the spiritual energy in its body was functioning normally before walking towards the exit.

Looking back, he saw that the dark golden beast had caught up and was following him at a leisurely pace.

Leaving the valley and returning to the Aurora Plains, the dark golden beast shook its mane, and a pale golden halo shimmered with iridescent light in the sunlight.

It paused on the ice for a moment, then followed behind Xiao Fan, heading towards the White Pagoda.

The appearance of the dark golden beast in the open space in front of the white tower immediately caused a commotion.

When Cheng Xiushi saw an unknown beast following behind Xiao Fan, he pulled out the dagger halfway and then put it back.

Ning Yao peeked out from the second floor, looked at the dark gold scales on that body, and whispered something to the members of the Silver Hammer Society.

Xiao Fan stopped at the entrance of the White Tower, and the strange beast behind him also stopped.

He turned around and looked at everyone, saying, "This is a leyline node creature. Its function is to maintain the stability of the spiritual energy within this passage. It is harmless."

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and the dark golden beast lay down at his feet, looking quite relaxed.

Ning Yao stepped down from the white tower, squatted down to examine it, and said, "This thing looks very similar to the one described in the ancient books of the Silver Hammer Society. It's a kind of demonic beast called 'Golden Mane of the Earth Core,' a living energy-conducting node commonly used in some large-scale ancient formations. It's said that once this creature recognizes a master, it remains loyal for life, and it can also issue an early warning based on its own spiritual power status."

Xiao Fan squatted down and stretched out a hand. The Earth Core Golden Mane Beast rubbed its head against his palm to feel its body temperature before standing up and lying on the stone steps, seemingly having accepted the position.

In the afternoon, Xiao Fan conducted an experiment. He simulated the pressure change in a pipeline, and the Earth Core Golden Mane Beast immediately stood up, its mane standing on end, looking at the anomaly to the west of the Aurora Plain.

Its reaction speed even surpasses that of the alarm system within the White Tower area.

Master Cheng, who had been watching from the side, suddenly whispered, "This is a treasure."

Ning Yao added, "If we had a living alarm, we could know immediately wherever we went. That would be much more reliable than detection devices that rely solely on talismans or talisman arrays."

Xiao Fan opened the skeletal map. The Earth Core Golden Mane Beast lowered its head and sniffed at the markers that had not yet been activated. When it arrived at the center of the Silver Plain, the Earth Core Golden Mane Beast let out a low cry, as if reminding people of the difference at this node.

As Xiao Fan spoke, he drew a circle on the skeletal map, deciding to first go to the middle section of the Silver Plains to see what was going on at that node.

That evening, when Xiao Fan descended the tower, he found the Earth Core Golden Mane Beast lying beside the stone steps of the white tower, its amber eyes gazing at the slowly rotating star map on Starfall Plain.

The dark gold scales were sprinkled with starlight, reflecting a soft glow.

It stands silently guarding the entrance to the White Pagoda, like a living seal.

He sat on the stone steps, leaning against the tower wall, and closed his eyes to rest. The Golden Mane Beast from the Earth's Core also changed its posture, supporting its head with its two front paws. The two of them slept quietly like this all night.

The wind blowing from the north felt extremely cold, but as you approached the stone steps of the White Pagoda, it was as if you were being kept out by an invisible layer of warmth.

The peculiar backup connection point in the center of the silvery plain was even harder to find than the one marked on the bone fragment map.

Xiao Fan and the Earth Core Golden Mane Beast spent an entire day finally finding the entrance amidst a dense array of crystal pillars.

The cave entrance was blocked by collapsed crystal pillars, and the ground was covered with densely packed spirit stones, which were clearly not natural collapses, but man-made accumulations.