The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

The day after Ning Yao formed the guard team, she reorganized the entire stronghold, with everyone paired up and acting independently.

After a week of inspection, Ning Yao found that although these newcomers did not have much practical experience, they were all very serious, cooperated well, and quickly adapted to the environment.

Brother Cheng wrote down the fortress's defense plan in a simple table and posted it on the main building, which detailed the responsibilities of each position and the shift change times.

Upon hearing that Shuangjietai was beginning to assemble a guard team, Qinglu Manor transported all the armor materials produced by Qinglu Manor over, including thin and tough ice silk as well as fine leather.

When Xiao Fan handed the items to Cheng Xiushi, he also received a short letter. The letter stated that Qinglu Manor was expanding its defenses and that the two sides could conduct joint exercises to strengthen cooperation.

That evening, Xiao Fan's reply to him was only one sentence: "The time for the first joint exercise will be arranged separately."

This month, Bai Ye came again, just in time for the guards to practice their basic formations. She glanced at them and didn't leave.

The Earth Core Golden Mane Lion lay at her feet, watching the eight people line up, turn around, and disperse as instructed by Master Cheng. Their manes radiated golden light.

In the third week, the Black Stone Pass Lord delivered a batch of military-grade defensive spiritual materials to him. This was a considerable sum: twenty array flags, six high-capacity spirit stones, and a template for setting up a city-defense-level array plate.

Both in terms of specifications and capabilities, it far exceeds Shuangjietai's current production capacity.

After receiving the materials, Xiao Fan first checked the spiritual energy reserves of the array flags and energy storage stones, as well as the compatibility of the interfaces.

These devices not only enhance the defensive system's capacity but also significantly reduce communication and response time between the main hall and Blackrock Fortress, decreasing response time to less than a quarter.

After confirming that the equipment was in place, Master Cheng began to work on improving the rune system of the Twin Realms Platform city wall, transforming it into a defensive system based on array flags and energy. It was expected to be completed in ten days.

On the eighth day, the guard team's training ended. Under the arrangement of Master Cheng, the eight people were divided into two groups.

This was Bai Ye's fourth visit this month. It was during the testing of the defense system. She was standing on the city wall, watching as the four array flags lit up at the same time. A light screen rose from the city wall, reaching a height of more than three meters, and then slowly descended, forming a semi-transparent dome that enveloped the entire stronghold.

The experimental results show that the scheme achieved the expected results.

Master Cheng, along with eight guards, conducted four entry and exit drills to confirm the speed at which the protective shield would open and the emergency switching procedures in case of an emergency.

When Xiao Fan returned to the southern region of Xingluoyuan after Bai Ye, he specifically asked her for confirmation of the Frost Shadow Sect's emergency contact method, which surprised her somewhat.

As he passed the entrance to the wall, he glanced at the newly installed spiritual energy transmission pipes beneath the array flags and remarked, "Blackstone Pass must have an even more advanced defense system, right?"

In the days that followed, Xiao Fan kept thinking about how to enhance his own strength. The defense system had been formed, but the means of attack and long-range support were seriously lacking. He had to consider introducing some long-range magical artifacts to make the whole system more complete.

After the defense system of the Twin Platforms was upgraded, the entire stronghold has been completely transformed.

The city wall remains the same height, but a row of defensive array plates is now embedded in it. Under the sunlight, these array plates emit a faint glow, which is completely invisible in the sunlight.

The energy storage stone is placed in a small energy storage room in the basement of the main house, connected to the array flag bases in the four corners. It serves as a low-power backup on ordinary days, but in case of an emergency, it will release powerful spiritual energy to keep the shield at full power.

After the first round of recruitment, the guard team gradually expanded to fifteen people. Cheng Xiushi selected three agile individuals from among them to serve as captain and vice captain, respectively. The team was divided into groups of fifteen and groups of five, taking turns to stand guard and keep watch.

Ning Yao established a fixed supply line between the rendezvous point in the Iron Rust Rift Valley and Shuangjietai, and set up three small supply points along the way to ensure that supplies between the two supply points could be unimpeded even in harsh weather conditions.

Five days had passed since the defense system was upgraded, and Qinglu Manor also sent a team of ten people to participate in the first joint exercise at Shuangjietai.

The two sides engaged in a series of skirmishes and coordinated defenses on a wide expanse of ice on the east side of Shuangjietai.

After half a day of drills, the captain of the Qinglu Village team took the lead in suggesting that "both sides cooperated well," while Cheng Xiushi noted down some communication breakdowns that occurred during the drills so that he could improve them in the future.

At the end of this month, the gatekeeper of Black Stone Pass passed by Twin Realms Platform and inspected its defense system. He didn't say much, only remarking, "If there is another attack from the north, this place should be able to withstand the first wave of attacks."

Upon hearing this, the patrolling guards and the monk Cheng stopped what they were doing and continued with their own tasks.

Two months later, in the far west, Shuangjietai and Tiefengbao clashed for the first time.

An exploration team that came from Shuangjietai went to the edge of the shared mining area of ​​Tiefengbao to collect samples as previously agreed, but was intercepted by the Tiefengbao patrol team on the grounds that they had "crossed the boundary".

The leader was a centurion known as "Ironback," with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a square face. He always pouted before speaking, looking determined to win.

The exploration team leader did not insist any further, but led the team to retreat to the edge of the mining area and immediately sent a distress signal to Shuangjietai.

After receiving the news, Xiao Fan did not immediately send reinforcements. Instead, he took out two maps of the mining area and carefully checked the boundaries.

The patrol team from Tiefeng Fort intercepted them about two hundred paces from the border, but this was only due to the terrain and not a deliberate provocation.

He took a detailed map of the mining area and rushed to the scene of the incident.

When he saw Xiao Fan, the Ironback Centurion's expression changed slightly before returning to normal.

Xiao Fan spread out the map and pointed out the dividing line on the map, which deviated significantly from the actual terrain, indicating that the exploration team had not yet crossed the boundary line.

The Ironback Centurion looked at the two markers, remained silent for a moment, then waved his hand, signaling the soldiers to make way.

After collecting the samples, the exploration team returned to the Twin Platform and conducted preliminary tests on the samples, and the results were all normal.

After listening, Bai Ye frowned slightly but said nothing.

She stood at the entrance of the magic array laboratory, checked the samples, and closed the notebook after confirming that there were no problems.

Before leaving, she stood at the entrance of the hall, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Border."