The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

Following Xiao Fan's instructions, Cheng Xiushi stored all the first batch of harvested spiritual materials in the warehouse. Part of the materials were used to maintain the daily expenses of the stronghold, and the other part was used to purchase materials that he urgently needed.

Qinglu Manor sent them some low-grade pills as a return gift.

After obtaining the pills, Xiao Fan took two from the array room for component analysis. He discovered that the formulas for both pills were basic formulas from the Taixu Pill Saint system, which could be used to refine other pills.

With the continuous improvement of surface facilities, the laying of underground pipelines is also proceeding in an orderly manner.

With Xiao Fan's continuous maintenance, the underground pipe branches of the base became more and more stable, and the markings on the bone map also increased.

They are slowly extending from the south of Starfall Plain towards the Silver Plain.

Three weeks later, two groups of uninvited guests arrived at the stronghold.

The first group consisted of rogue cultivators from Tianhuo Plain. They had heard that there was a new stronghold at the border of Aurora Plain and Starfall Plain, where the array room would be opened every once in a while. The spiritual energy and resources there were plentiful, so they came together to confirm whether the news was true.

The second group was a small caravan of spiritual materials that set off from the Silver Plains. They planned to establish a temporary transit point here to facilitate future trade routes to the north.

Xiao Fan entertained the two groups of people.

The array room is only opened once every two months, and each opening lasts for two hours.

After experiencing it, the independent cultivators left two positive reviews, detailing the efficiency and comfort of the combined spiritual energy cultivation.

The Spirit Material Caravan established a temporary transit station outside the stronghold and used the stronghold's city wall as a coordinate point to draw a trade route, regularly transporting supplies to the Silver Plains.

When the young master of Qinglu Manor returned to the stronghold a month later, his attitude was noticeably more relaxed. He even took the initiative to inquire with Xiao Fan about the purpose of the composite spiritual energy in the array room.

Xiao Fan didn't say much, but simply provided a basic testing plan.

After the young master read it, he left Xiao Fan a copy of the information about the Qinglu Manor's cultivation system for his reference.

That evening, seven or eight people gathered in the hall.

Cheng Xiushi leaned against the door, flipping through documents, while Ning Yao held a charcoal pencil and kept writing on the map.

That day, Bai Ye did not appear, but Cheng Xiushi found a letter in the corner of the wall and handed it to Xiao Fan for safekeeping.

Xiao Fan picked up the paper and looked at it, only to find that it was a blank sheet of paper.

The charcoal fire in the hall was burning brightly, casting a faint, dark red glow on the floor.

The Earth Core Golden Mane Beast lay in the shadows by the door, its mane shimmering slightly with each breath.

Outside the main hall, the star map on Starfall Plain was slowly rotating, and the runes on the platform shone brightly in the night sky, illuminating the area like four bright lamps.

Just three months after the establishment of the stronghold, several fluctuations in the earth's spiritual energy occurred north of Aurora Plain, alarming everyone.

The intensity of the fluctuations increases over time.

That night, the mane on the Golden Mane Beast's mane shone for a full hour.

When Xiao Fan checked the holographic projection of the White Pagoda this morning, he had already confirmed the source of this fluctuation. It was located on a branch at the edge of the far north, and there was structural stress at its end, which prevented the spiritual power from being released. It had reached a critical point.

If left unchecked, this passage will likely collapse completely before long, affecting the spiritual energy supply to the three backup connection points in the northern part of Aurora Plains.

He led the cultivator Cheng and the golden-maned beast from the Earth's core forward.

The situation on site was far more urgent than what was seen in the holographic image. Several small cracks had appeared on the surface of the rock at the end of the pipe, and deep within the cracks, a silvery-white spiritual energy was slowly seeping out.

Xiao Fan squatted down and inserted the short staff into the bottom of the crack, pinpointing the location of stress concentration, which was approximately two meters deep in the rock strata.

"We must open the relief well and transfer the excess energy to the backup pipeline next to it." He stood up, looked around, and selected a relief well under construction in a low-lying area about ten meters away from the core.

Master Cheng accepted the order and left.

It took two days and one night to complete this relief well.

After digging for a while, Xiao Fan adjusted his short staff, added three crystals, and channeled the spiritual energy accumulated at the bottom of the well into a spare pipe.

The first traction lasted for about two hours. The pressure at the end of the channel weakened significantly, and the crack stopped expanding.

At dusk on the second day, Bai Ye finally arrived, and her gaze fell on Xiao Fan.

She held the Silver Frost Sword in her hand, and the light patterns on it flowed faster and faster.

After confirming that the residual stress had been reduced to a safe level, she stood by the well, looking at the scattered tools and the newly excavated mound of earth, and explained to Xiao Fan: "The stress accumulation at the end of the branch line is not a natural phenomenon, but man-made. According to the records on the Silver Frost Sword, there is a source of spiritual energy reaction in the far north, which is constantly squeezing outwards, and its influence extends far beyond the branch line."

Xiao Fan put away the short staff and stored it directly into his spatial magic artifact.

Bai Ye held the Silver Frost Sword, its tip pointing to the same level as the Aurora Primordial Star.

Xiao Fan looked in that direction. The surface of this ice field didn't seem to have anything special about it, but his spiritual core clearly felt a continuous stream of spiritual power being compressed at a constant frequency.

"I'll be there tomorrow," Xiao Fan replied.

Bai Ye sheathed his sword and stood up.

That night, everyone set up camp.

The Golden-Maned Beast from the Earth's Core lay prone on the ground, its ears perked up, listening to the sounds outside.

Outside the tent, Xiao Fan was sitting on a small rock, looking at a map showing the location of the northern part of the Aurora Plains.

Bai Ye also stepped out of the tent and sat down next to Xiao Fan, with the Silver Frost Sword across his lap, their shoulders almost touching.

The north wind blows, carrying the chill unique to the ice field.

The next morning, following Bai Ye's instructions, the group headed northeast.

The terrain in the far north is even more rugged, with potholes everywhere, as if something is pushing the ground.

The Earth Core Golden Mane Beast walked at the very front of the procession, its mane shining brightly against the ground. It would stop from time to time to sniff the soil to confirm its location.

At noon, Xiao Fan and his group finally saw the true form of the reaction source on the top of a towering iceberg—a circular meteorite crater with a diameter of more than ten meters.

In the center of the crater, a vertical crack about half a meter long can be seen, and deep inside the crack, a dark red glow can be seen, which is completely different from the silvery white or pale gold commonly seen in the aurora plains.