The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

She closed the recording layer of the Silverfrost Sword and calmly said to Xiao Fan, "They're not trying to fight you head-on; they're just copying your network."

Xiao Fan did not take immediate action, nor did he change the patrol route in the direction of the watchtower and the anvil.

He instructed Master Cheng to add a backup item to the patrol log of the southern section: to record the spiritual energy fluctuations in both the north and south directions every day.

The next day, Bai Ye, holding the Silver Frost Sword, stood at the entrance of the array room and adjusted the spiritual energy sensor to better sense the south.

After doing all this, she put the longsword back by the door, explained the effects of the adjustment to Xiao Fan, and confirmed some parameters in case of emergency.

In the last month of spring, Xiao Fan conducted a small-scale scan of the short staff.

The scan area included the Dual Realm Platform, the Tower, the Anvil, the mineral vein, and two areas marked as having abnormal spiritual energy.

The scan results from the array chamber indicate that the anomaly point in the southern region stopped moving after spring, as if it had reached a certain destination and then remained stationary.

Bai Ye precisely synchronized the red crystal on the Silver Frost Sword and the short staff, determining that the coordinates of the stationary point were the direction of the passage's northern extension.

After reviewing today's missions, Pei the Hunter walked to the bulletin board in the main hall, looking at the mission distribution and the lines in various directions.

He said, "That point to the south is not in the known conduits of the Twin Boundaries, but on a flat tundra. However, beneath this tundra, there is an ancient fissure, which, according to the map, marks the northern end of the narrow corridor."

On the map table in the main hall, Xiao Fan used a dotted line to connect the north side of the narrow corridor with that stationary spot. By comparing it with the ancient crack on the entire bronze disc, he determined that the northward extension of the narrow corridor coincided with the direction of the ancient crack after passing through that stationary point.

He made no adjustments to the bounty plan for the day, nor to the number of patrols at the tower and the anvil settlement. Instead, he added a line of text next to the intersection on the map: "To be confirmed."

Before leaving the Twin Realms Platform, Bai Ye glanced at the cross mark on the map. The light patterns on the Silver Frost Sword resonated briefly with the tabletop, but did not touch the map.

She sheathed her sword, glanced at the still-operating array flags, and walked into the darkness without a word.

The spring sunshine is getting longer and longer.

The array flags on the walls of Shuangjietai were lit up by Duan Zhun at sunset. By spring, the number of bounty missions on the list had recovered to more than sixty per mission.

The rust rift mining site has completed routine equipment maintenance for the spring, and the deep mining operation of the anvil vein has entered a stable cycle for this quarter.

In the end-of-quarter briefing, Brother Cheng confirmed that the base's material storage, personnel rotation, and pipeline routes were all stable, and all indicators were the same as last year, with no abnormal fluctuations.

When Xiao Fan stood at the entrance of the main building, it was the time when the sun was at its strongest. The snow inside the walls had completely melted, revealing a patch of brown earth.

Two people were looking at the tasks in front of the bulletin board. One of them wrote down the task number and then went to the registration desk to register.

As Grandpa Pei walked out of the registration office and passed by Xiao Fan, he said, "There's a task that's a day later than expected. You can reschedule it for tomorrow."

Near the end of spring, Bai Ye came here once, standing in the corridor between the magic laboratory and the main building, looking at the scenery outside.

The patterns on the Silverfrost Sword gleamed with a silvery sheen under the sunlight, even more even than in winter. In the sunlight and the glow of the array flags, the sword blade emitted a faint silver light.

No further news came from Tiezhenji, and the narrow passageway remained sealed off.

Last time, the messenger from White Camel Ridge arrived at Shuangjietai on time in spring, delivering the last set of topographical data for the season.

When the messenger handed it to him, he simply said, "Throughout the spring, the narrow path at the edge of the silver plain was unobstructed."

When Xiao Fan imported the data into the array room for seasonal synchronization, he noticed a new pattern on the Silver Frost Sword. When he placed the short staff on the table, he compared it with the pattern on the sword and confirmed the connection between the two.

Spring passed and autumn came, and Xiao Fan placed a newly drawn large map in the main hall.

The Shuangjietai, Beita, Tiezhenji ore vein, Tiexiu Rift mining point, Binglang outpost, Baituo Ridge bypass route, and an area around Heishiguan are all connected by a clear line.

He drew four important strongholds on the map: Twin Realms Platform was the command center, North Tower was the front-line command post and rapid response center, Iron Anvil City was the logistics supply base, and Iron Rust Rift was the spiritual material area and cultivation area.

"Starting this summer, the Twin Realms Platform will no longer be a separate stronghold. In the hall, Xiao Fan said to Cultivator Cheng, Ning Yao, Elder Hunter Pei, and Bai Ye, "The four core strongholds will each have their own resident personnel, each with their own responsibilities, and they can help each other."

Master Cheng took out a map with a detailed plan for the garrison: twenty permanent guards, eight permanent tower guards, six permanent miners in Iron Anvil Town, four permanent miners at the Rust Rift Gathering Point, plus support personnel at the gathering point.

The supply lines between the four battalions consist of three main channels and two backup channels, ensuring that if one channel is cut off, the other channel can continue to operate.

Under the guidance of Master Cheng, Ning Yao listed the material quotas for each stronghold, the minimum reserve amount for each quarter, and the supply cycle for each quarter.

Pei added a personnel rotation system for the four battalions, with rotations every quarter to ensure that each battalion is familiar with the terrain and environment of each location.

After the meeting, Bai Ye compared the spiritual energy circuits recorded on the Silver Frost Sword and confirmed that the pipeline connections and spiritual energy flow efficiency between the various strongholds could meet the needs of the expansion.

After the establishment of the four major camps, Xiao Fan made special adjustments to the combat strength of the Twin Realms Platform.

At the suggestion of the old hunter Pei, the guard team was no longer a unified organization, but was divided into three independent squads according to their functions: the first squad was the "Patrol Battalion", which was mainly responsible for patrolling and escorting supplies between various strongholds every day, and its main task was to travel light.

The second squadron is the "Guardian Battalion," stationed on the Twin Realms Platform and the tower, responsible for frontal defense and positional warfare; the third squadron is the "Hunter Battalion," composed of experienced and highly skilled cultivators selected from those registered on the bounty list, specializing in high-difficulty pursuit battles and raids.