The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

After reviewing the records, Grandpa Pei suggested that they avoid contact with him for the time being and only record his comings and goings.

Three days later, the man in the gray robe never appeared again.

Following the events outside their base, the Star Pattern Sect sent a brief letter through official channels, confirming the gray-robed man's affiliation as one of the forces that had failed to qualify for the competition.

After the competition ended, this force attempted to contact all the forces of this year, but had no connection with the Star Pattern Sect or the Twin Realms Platform.

According to the brief description, this organization is often identified by wearing a gray robe, and its main activity is intelligence gathering, without taking action against anyone it comes into contact with.

In the spring, a high-ranking deacon from the Star Pattern Sect came to the Twin Realms Platform and formally proposed a cooperation.

The other party made it very clear at the meeting: the Star Pattern Sect is willing to cooperate with the Twin Realms Platform to explore the area north of the Gray Rift.

The Starweave Sect is willing to provide them with all the information they have in the Gray Rift as the basis for cooperation, while the Twin Realms Platform will provide them with the spiritual energy guiding ability of a short staff, an entrance to the Gray Rift, and the right to choose first.

Xiao Fan confirmed the entire cooperation framework in the lobby, and both parties signed the agreement on the spot.

Later, the old files of the Star Pattern Sect were handed over to the Twin Realms Platform by Cultivator Cheng, which mentioned the relationship between the Gray Rift and the Ring.

Xiao Fan compared the ring and the stone slab and determined that both belonged to the "road beacon" system, used to mark the waterway conditions in a specific area north of the Gray Rift. All three items had the function of assisting in positioning, but their structures and connection methods were different.

The stone slab and the ring are connected by a spiritual energy channel, but the contact time and distance between them are directly related. When the two rings are in a room, a pattern similar to that on the surface of the stone slab will appear on the surface of the ring.

These patterns change depending on the spatial distance between the stone slabs, and as the distance changes, the patterns gradually disappear.

These old archives do not provide the exact location of the road in the northern Grey Rift, but they do provide supplementary explanations of the principles of the road sign system.

In the third week of spring, Xiao Fan, Bai Ye, Xue Han, and a disciple of the Star Pattern Sect traveled to the northern part of the Gray Rift Valley for their first on-site inspection after the signing of the cooperation agreement.

The Star Pattern Sect's records indicate a turning point in the terrain, located north of the Gray Rift, about a day's journey away, between the south side of the Low Tower and the end of the route map.

Bai Ye scanned the terrain on the ring with his Silver Frost Sword, confirming that the spiritual power of the short staff was identifiable.

When Xiao Fan placed the ring on the ground, the patterns on the ring extended from the ground to the entire ring, forming a complete ring.

Xue Han noticed that the ground temperature fluctuated briefly where the light patterns appeared, but quickly returned to normal.

A disciple of the Star Pattern Sect recorded the coordinates and rock strata of this area on a logbook.

The investigation records for that day were divided into two parts: one was brought by the Star Pattern Sect, and the other was recorded by Cultivator Cheng in the Gray-White Rift Valley Archives of the Twin Realms Platform.

After its first use, the light patterns on the surface of the ring became more stable, and the sensory connection between it and the red gold crystal of the short staff completed a full docking.

After completing the survey, Shuangjietai updated the area north of the Gray Rift Valley. The section from the south of the Dwarf Tower to the end of the route map was officially marked with the words "Surveyed, pending further confirmation" and synchronized with the records of Qingyan Sect and Xingwen Sect.

In late spring, a strange squad appeared in the northern part of the Gray Rift.

The group consisted of about ten people, dressed in short, gray-green robes, a style never before seen in Shuangjietai, with collars made of finely sewn scales.

The leader's eyes were somewhat different from those of humans; his pupils were long and narrow, and they would automatically contract when he looked at the sunlight.

They stopped on a hillside north of the rift valley, observed for half an hour, and then returned to the Silver Plain at the same speed.

After reviewing the information provided by the cultivator, Bai Ye confirmed that this team was unrelated to the Gu Ling family and the gray-robed man. His eye color was similar to the description of an indigenous tribe in the southeast of the Silver Plains recorded on the Silver Frost Sword: "The Azure Scale Clan, with vertical eyes, are skilled at identifying spiritual energy patterns and are often employed as observers by various major forces."

The Linju tribe confirmed that the group had passed through the edge of the forest, and after confirming this, they turned back.

After completing the survey, the disciples of the Star Pattern Sect, together with Cultivator Cheng, conducted the first survey of the northern part of the Gray Rift Valley, and made detailed records of the direction of the rock strata, the distribution of spiritual energy, and the degree of consistency with the old archives.

On the walls of the Twin Realms Platform, the glow of the array flags shone brightly until the end of spring. Before leaving, Bai Ye left the Silver Frost Sword in the array room to synchronize the data of the end of spring. After it was completed, a new pattern appeared on the Silver Frost Sword, exactly the same as the groove on the edge of the ring. The pale silver pattern kept shining.

In the last week of spring, the group of Azurescale Clan members voluntarily returned to the area north of the Gray Rift.

This time, he and his group did not linger on the slope for long. Instead, they followed an open area on the north side of the rift valley to the border between the Shuangjietai patrol team and the rift valley.

The leader was wearing a gray-green short robe and carried nothing with him.

When the patrol soldiers saw someone lingering at the border, they proceeded according to procedure.

The leader introduced himself as an observer from the Azure Scale Clan, surnamed Meng. He had been commissioned by an independent force in the southeast of the Silver Plains to investigate the terrain of the Gray Rift Valley.

However, he did not come to accept this mission. Instead, while exploring the Twin Realms Platform north of the Rift Valley, he discovered a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation, which matched the environmental markers in the Azure Scale Clan's records.

He wanted to meet with the person in charge of the Twin Realms Platform to exchange information.

Xiao Fan received Elder Meng in the main hall.

After Elder Meng sat down, he didn't beat around the bush and directly stated that the Bilin Clan had written records of a place further north of the Gray Rift Valley, as well as oral traditions passed down by the elders. That area was called "Scale Ridge Land" by the Bilin Clan. It was an extremely rare dark black rock with a dense texture and a spiritual energy transmission efficiency far exceeding that of ordinary stones.

The ancient records of the Bilin tribe state that several road signs, which existed at the same time as this gray rift valley, are embedded in the rock strata of the Scale Ridge Land. However, the Bilin tribe does not know how to open them.