The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

A caravan from the Silver Plains heard about the Highland Fortress and made a special stop here for a while, leaving behind a batch of crystal ore from the Silver Plains as a "gift".

Xiao Fan collected the ore and handed it to Ning Yao so she could register it.

The flow of supplies within the base is becoming more and more frequent. At first, supplies would only come once every few days, but now guests from all directions come here to drink tea almost every day.

One day, after taking inventory of the stock, Master Cheng said:

"At the current rate of transportation, our warehouse will need to be expanded by the end of the year."

After things stabilized at the outpost, Xiao Fan turned his attention to the stone gate that the leader surnamed Lu had mentioned.

One morning, he came alone to the northern part of the Aurora Plains and found the location of the Stone Gate.

It was a cliff covered with a thick layer of ice, and the stone gate was almost integrated with the ice, leaving only a very thin gap at the edge of the door frame.

He affixed the red crystal to the door frame, and the spiritual energy in his spiritual core resonated with the short staff, seeping in layer by layer through the gaps in the door frame.

The spiritual energy structure inside the door frame is somewhat similar to the White Pagoda magic array, but it is much simpler and looks more like an early experimental work of the Grandmaster of Alchemy.

The red crystal and its accompanying crystal lit up simultaneously, their two lights overlapping, accompanied by a muffled mechanical sound, and the stone door moved inward about a foot.

This is a very small space, only about two zhang long and wide.

The walls of the stone chamber were pitted and uneven, with unrefined marks everywhere.

Facing the wall is a flat stone slab with a simple diagram of the distribution of spiritual energy channels drawn on it.

This distribution map is smaller than the bone fragment map, but it is more detailed, mainly showing areas that have not yet been fully explored.

Just as Xiao Fan was memorizing the route on the stone slab, a bronze disc lit up in each of the four corners of the stone chamber.

The disc emitted a faint light, forming a faint projection of spiritual energy in the center of the stone chamber.

The holographic projection showed the actual route of the main road north of Aurora Plain, an area that had never been marked before.

At the far end of that area was a relatively complete enclosed space, and in the very center of that space was a completely enclosed space.

The diagram of the pipeline route recorded on the stone slab, combined with the dynamic simulation on the holographic projection, is enough to fill the gap in the bone fragment north of Aurora Plain.

He left a trace of spiritual energy on the short staff, then put it away and left the stone chamber.

As he left, the stone gate slowly closed, becoming sealed again.

After returning to the base, Xiao Fan compared the map of the skeletons line by line and confirmed that the enclosed space was located in the northeast of the White Tower Domain, about three hundred kilometers away.

That area was a blank space on the map, and the spiritual core could not sense any spiritual energy fluctuations there.

However, it is indirectly connected to the northeast of Xingluoyuan by a ley line, which means that although that area has not yet been explored, there is at least one passageway through it.

He added the phrase "the place indicated by the projection of the stone gate" and made a note in the blank space at the edge of the map.

Led by Xiao Fan, Cheng Xiushi, Ning Yao, and Bai Ye joined the team on the second day.

The Earth Core Golden Mane Beast took the lead, its golden scales gleaming in the sunlight.

After leaving Shimen, they continued northeast for two days.

The ice on the ground began to thin out, and in its place was a patch of dark red rock.

The rocks were covered with a thin layer of rust, and they made a rustling sound when you stepped on them.

Bai Ye crouched down, dipped his finger in the rust stain, and examined it carefully:

"These rust-like powders contain extremely high levels of residual fire-elemental spiritual energy, far more concentrated than any known natural mineral deposits in Aurora Plains. This is very likely a large fire-elemental mineral vein."

The Earth Core Golden Mane Beast moved much faster across the rusty earth, its mane flashing with golden light as if absorbing the remaining spiritual energy from the ground.

After walking along the rock strata for half a day, the group finally saw a straight rift valley appear on a rusty piece of land.

The cliffs on both sides of the rift valley are a rusty red, varying in shade and distinct in color, like a cross-section formed by deposits of ore from different eras.

Ning Yao stood at the edge of the rift and looked down. At the bottom of the rift, a faint red light slowly flowed, as if liquid spiritual energy was flowing on its own deep within the canyon.

She turned to look at Xiao Fan and said:

"The flowing substance below looks very similar to the spiritual energy emanating from the staff I saw in the formation."

Xiao Fan probed the bottom of the rift with his short staff. As he approached the bottom, the crimson crystal at the head of the staff emitted a brighter light than usual, which stabilized at an even higher level.

The crimson spiritual energy at the bottom of the rift is similar to the Crimson Desolate Crystal in the short staff, but it is much thicker, like a transitional state between an unrefined ore and a completed spiritual artifact.

He found a relatively flat spot and began to climb down.

Only when they landed on the ground did they see the true nature of the red light:

It was a thin, semi-solid layer of spiritual energy sediment, its surface still slowly flowing, and you could feel a warmth when you touched it.

The spiritual energy contained in these sediments is indeed somewhat similar to the Crimson Desolate Crystal in the short staff, but it also contains some impurities. To become a spiritual material, it needs further purification.

Cheng Xiushi walked around the valley floor and found that the distribution of mud and sand here was very uneven.

In some places, the mud and sand are thicker than in other places, and the cliff face is correspondingly darker in color.

He marked these places to make it easier to organize people to collect the information.

Bai Ye walked around the valley and returned to Xiao Fan's side.

The light of the Silverfrost Sword shone much brighter in the valley than on the ground:

"This rift valley is large enough to accommodate a medium-sized spiritual material gathering point. This is already a mine on the edge of the Gray Zone."

Xiao Fan marked the location of this rift on the bone armor map as "Rust Rift," and also marked the properties of the spiritual energy deposits and a preliminary assessment of its mining potential.

The Earth Core Golden Mane Beast ran to Xiao Fan's side and rubbed its forehead against the back of his hand, the tips of its mane gleaming in the red light.

The events at the Rust Rift had already attracted everyone's attention within five days.

A team from the northeast of Aurora Plains set up camp on the edge of the rift valley, led by a rugged-looking one-eyed man.

He claimed to be from the "Red Iron Gang" in the northeastern part of Aurora Plains.

The Red Iron Gang has been operating in the northeastern part of Aurora Plain for many years and is very sensitive to any newly discovered mining sites in the vicinity.