The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

After listening to this, Xiao Fan became much more sober.

If the other side truly possesses information about the structure of the dual-boundary platform node, then their attack targets will certainly not be limited to the geothermal channel.

Other critical nodes in the backup network may also be at the same risk, with the most vulnerable being the pipeline branches below the Rust Rift collection point and the connection points of the tower base.

That evening, Xiao Fan instructed Master Cheng to dispatch a team of maintenance personnel to the tower and the Rust Rift Valley to provide additional protection and reinforcement for these two nodes.

After doing all this, he sat in the array room, watching the red crystal continuously rotate. As the passage was repaired, the patterns on it gradually lit up.

Less than half a month after the geothermal tunnel incident, the guards of the North Tower suddenly sensed an unusual fluctuation of spiritual energy during their morning patrol.

As they walked around the edge of the anvil settlement, they saw more than a dozen people dressed in various colored armors standing downwind of the mine.

Upon receiving the news, Xiao Fan rushed to the north and encountered Bai Ye on the way. She had already received the news from the guards in the watchtower.

When they arrived at the iron ore vein, those people were still there.

The group consisted of about thirty people, with varying levels of equipment, but all of excellent quality. The old leather on their collars had been repaired many times, indicating that they frequently appeared at the border between the north and south of the Aurora Plain.

The woman surnamed Shi from Tiezhenji stood at the edge of the mine shaft, and the other miners also retreated into the shed, but none of them showed any sign of panic.

Xiao Fan walked to the edge of the mine and stood opposite the group of people.

A burly man with a short beard in the group glanced at him, clearly recognizing the short staff at his waist, and spoke first: "From Shuangjietai? A small force in the south has already sent several teams to the north to inspect the pipeline entrance. I thought you would also transfer your manpower there, but I didn't expect you to react so quickly..."

Xiao Fan did not answer the question immediately. He looked at the people around him before saying, "You came from the south? To send the message here, you have to cross the gap between Iron Peak Fortress and Green Deer Manor. It's a road rarely traveled by people."

The burly man with the short beard froze instantly, and the team members behind him also subconsciously released their tools.

The woman surnamed Shi from Tiezhenji had reached the edge of the mine. Although her voice wasn't loud, it was clear enough for everyone to hear. "You don't need to stand here anymore."

The bearded man remained silent for a moment, and after confirming that no one else was around, he waved his hand, signaling his men to leave the mine.

The group returned along the same route, leaving no trace, and soon disappeared into the vast winter fog.

Cheng Xiushi only received the message from Shuangjietai that evening, saying that a small force was patrolling in the north, but it did not affect the border of Tiefeng Fortress.

After sorting through the information gathered from all directions, Xiao Fan discovered that many forces were spying on the border between the northern and central parts of Aurora Plains.

After the minor incident involving the iron ore vein, the defenses of Shuangjietai entered a period of rest and recuperation.

Under Master Cheng's arrangement, the guards were divided into four groups: one group patrolled near the Twin Realms Platform, one group patrolled the North Tower, and one group patrolled the mining area and the direction of the ore vein.

Xiao Fan put everyone in the Anvil Collection into the nighttime mineral vein observation system and had Bai Ye patrol back and forth between the tower and the Rust Rift regularly, scanning the nodes along the way with the Silver Frost Sword.

It wasn't until the evening of the third week that the short staff finally proved this point: once again, a strong fluctuation of spiritual energy emanated from the entrance of the geothermal tunnel.

This time, the signal was faster and more conflicting than before.

The message from the crimson crystal staff was that a second group of people were using more powerful tools to break through the ice at the entrance to the underground passage, and this time the excavation was much faster than before.

Xiao Fan, carrying a short staff and accompanied by Bai Ye, rushed to the entrance of the geothermal tunnel overnight.

In the distance, several figures were busy in the ice crevices, and about ten steps behind them was a thin man wearing a dark brown leather robe with several dark crystals radiating spiritual energy hanging from his waist.

As Xiao Fan got closer, he could see the man's appearance clearly. He recognized him; he was one of the free explorers from the northern part of Aurora Plains and Black Rock Pass, surnamed Tong.

The cultivator surnamed Tong did not stop as Xiao Fan approached. Instead, he looked up at him and said unhurriedly, "The southern defenses have been tightened for now, but the northern defenses are looser than I expected. I'm going to get something, and then I'll leave."

Xiao Fan stopped a few steps away from him: "The thing in the geothermal tunnel is the backup network for the Dual Boundary Platform. If you take it, the passage will be destroyed."

The cultivator surnamed Tong sneered, planted the last chisel into the ice, and said, "If you can block it, I don't need it."

Xiao Fan also fell silent.

The short staff traced an arc in his hand, and the Sun-Rank Spirit Core operated at full power, guiding the spiritual energy in the northward-extending pipe to converge at the entrance of the geothermal channel.

Guided by the short staff, the spiritual energy had already surpassed the thinnest layer of the passage wall. As the spiritual energy was injected into the chisel in the hands of the cultivator surnamed Tong, it was shaken off its original trajectory, and his body involuntarily tilted half a step to the side.

He looked down at the chisel that had been moved from his hand, then looked at Xiao Fan, pulled the chisel out of the ice crevice, and ran north, quickly disappearing into the winter night.

The ice surface was covered with crooked chisel marks and half-cut stone strips embedded in the ice cracks, but the dark red light deep in the cracks had stabilized.

After the geothermal channel stabilized again, Xiao Fan and Bai Ye walked onto a branch line.

In the direction where the cultivator surnamed Tong had left, there was a patch of freshly turned snow on the ground. After chasing for a while, the cultivator surnamed Cheng and the other two guards turned back to make sure that the other party had left their sight.

"The retreat route of the cultivator surnamed Tong has been blocked by several people, and their formation is also in a state of disarray. It doesn't seem like a temporary retreat, but rather as if they had prepared an escape route in advance."

Xiao Fan and Bai Ye confirmed their guesses and returned to the watchtower to report the situation to the security personnel in the north.

That evening, he used a short cane to draw a security map on the second floor of the North Tower, marking the events of the past few months and the location of the intruders.

Shuangjietai, Beita, the geothermal channel, and the southern mineral vein have all been discovered.

He drew several small circles on the straight line between Shuangjietai and the tower, and also found and comprehensively organized the historical records of Tiezhentai and Baituoling.