The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

Pei the Hunter stood by the counter and said, "The people from the Star Pattern Sect have arrived before us, but they still told you the location."

In other words, this stone chamber is merely a passageway that you've opened.

Not long after returning from the misty depths of the rift valley, something happened at the Star Pattern Sect.

A disciple in charge delivered a letter, saying that the Star Pattern Sect was willing to lend the contents of the jade box to the Twin Realms Platform for research for a period of time, in gratitude for the short staff's help in opening the node.

The letter also included a sketch showing the shape of the object: a square metal token engraved with patterns.

Xiao Fan neither refused nor accepted it immediately. Instead, he left his communication channel with the people from the Star Pattern Sect and then left.

While on patrol, Master Cheng discovered the Qingyan Sect's camp, which seemed to have recently expanded and been fortified.

Ning Yao also discovered that since autumn, there have been several more stone transport channels in Tiezhenji, all belonging to the Qingyan Sect.

Xiao Fan input the data of the new node of "Gray Rift" into the map and superimposed it on the metal scroll, confirming that although this stone chamber was located at the bottom of the rift, it was not parallel to the main passage, and the walls on both sides were not a complete passage, as if a main passage had been dug out by someone.

Bai Ye looked at the comparison photos and then said, "This stone chamber was only recently built."

The era of the builders may be different from that of the main passage of the Silent Fire Path, but their spiritual wave frequency is the same as that of the main passage, which means they possessed the same basic technology.

Looking at the data compiled by Bai Ye, Xiao Fan discovered that the square metal token and the expansion of the Qingyan Sect occurred almost simultaneously. One had just taken something out of the new stone chamber, while the other began expanding the territory of the Xingwen Sect in just a few days.

In the fourth week of autumn, the Starweave Sect formally made their request: they needed to use the psionic frequency of the short staff to carve out a secondary barrier in the hazy rift valley in order to confirm whether there were other passages behind the barrier.

In return, the Star Pattern Sect agreed to let them enter the barrier first when the Dual Realm Platform was opened, and then let them choose one item.

Xiao Fan glanced at the Star Pattern Sect's description of the barrier and determined the location of this secondary barrier, which was about one kilometer away from here, which was the location of the stone chamber.

He took his short staff, brought White Night with him, and went to the depths of the gray-white rift valley, where he found the barrier.

It was a smooth stone slab embedded in the stone wall, with nothing particularly special about it. However, when the reddish-gold crystal on the short staff approached the stone wall, it created a rhythm similar to that of the stone gate.

He infused his spiritual power into it according to the frequency given by the Star Pattern Sect.

As spiritual energy was continuously injected, silver lines began to appear on the surface of the stone slab. One line after another lit up, eventually converging into the shape of a door, with a uniform white light on its outline.

The door opened in response.

The space behind the door was much larger than I had imagined. The patterns on the ground were exactly the same as the runes around the Star Pattern Sect camp, except that they were much older and the wear and tear on the edges of the patterns far exceeded the modern craftsmanship of the Star Pattern Sect.

The people from the Star Pattern Sect did not enter the barrier, but stood in the passage outside the barrier, wanting to see what was happening inside first.

Xiao Fan checked the direction of the road and the surrounding environment. At the end of a short corridor, he saw a flat platform.

The platform is engraved with a route map that is contemporaneous with the stone gate in the Rift. This route extends all the way to the north of the Gray Rift, and there is no corresponding location on the existing maps, sect residences, or the Twin Realms Platform.

At the end of the map, there is a circular symbol. The shape of that symbol is exactly the same as the circular rune in the center of the silver star pattern disk in the Star Pattern Sect camp. The Star Pattern Sect has long known about the existence of this secondary barrier, but it requires external force to activate.

After recording all the spiritual energy on the map with his short staff, Xiao Fan left the passage and handed over his discoveries at the Star Pattern Sect.

After confirming the contents of the map, the Star Pattern Sect immediately agreed to the deal without attaching any conditions.

In the last week of autumn, the Ancient Bell Faction reappeared in the northern part of the Grey Rift.

Their formation became much looser, but each of them wore a bronze bell around their neck, which did not ring as they moved.

The group walked north along the rift valley, stopped at the entrance of the passage to check their location, and then continued north at the same speed.

The patrol team confirmed that they left in the same direction and did not encounter any ancient sect or dual realm platform facilities along the way.

Xue Han drew the route of the Gu Ling clan on the map, confirming that this route led to the circle beyond the second barrier.

Bai Ye organized the information and then turned to the record of the Ancient Bell Clan on the Silver Frost Sword. The page that read "Supreme Treasure Resonates by Its Own".

The last rays of autumn sunlight slowly rose from the western horizon of the rift valley, gilding this low-lying mountain area with a faint golden glow.

After the sun set, the array flags around the Twin Realms Platform lit up, and the bounty board was constantly being updated.

Master Cheng had already bound Qiu Zhi, and the cover showed the time, direction, and route of the reappearance of the Gu Ling lineage, which was compared with the circled positions on the map of the second barrier.

Bai Ye walked to the table in front of the main hall, placed the Silver Frost Sword on it, flipped through the map, glanced at it again, put it back on the table, picked up the Silver Frost Sword, and turned to walk towards the door.

The Gu Ling clan appeared for a very short time and quickly disappeared, but Bai Ye left a faint mark on the back of the route map, which piqued Xiao Fan's interest.

The mark was very thin and faint, like a natural trace formed after prolonged contact with an object, rather than a mark left intentionally.

Xiao Fan copied the map down and placed it on the table in the array room. He used a piece of crimson-gold crystal to illuminate the map, and the map gradually became clear under the guidance of the crystal. It was a circular mark, exactly the same size as the base of the ancient bell.

The mark has a very faint line in the center, which is not visible to the naked eye. It can only be barely seen under certain angles and lighting conditions.

Bai Ye scanned the patterns with the Silver Frost Sword, then recorded them on the sword. After comparing them, he confirmed that they were the bottom of the jade box taken from the stone platform deep in the rift valley.