The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

Yun Ruoxi sat on a wooden chair under the eaves, holding a book in her hand. Sunlight filtered through the ginkgo leaves, casting dappled patterns of light on her shoulders.

Xiao Fan finished his porridge, put down the bowl, and stood up to stretch his shoulders. He had already put away the map on the table, along with the parchment scroll left to him by the Grandmaster of the Void, carefully tucking it into his robes.

He stepped out of his room and onto the veranda, taking a deep breath of the cool morning breeze.

The ginkgo trees in the yard have already shed most of their leaves, with only a few golden leaves still hanging on the branches. A gentle breeze blows, and the leaves rustle.

He said, "Let's go."

Han Fei didn't stand on ceremony and jumped directly onto the handlebars.

Gu Yuan glanced at the doors and windows from behind, then instructed Old Zhao to manage the daily affairs of the Pill Tower properly. Yun Ruoxi closed the book in her hand and walked to Xiao Fan's side.

As the carriage exited the south gate of Danta, the rising sun slowly ascended from the eastern mountain ridge, turning the flowers and plants on both sides of the official road golden yellow.

Xiao Fan leaned against the carriage, resting with his eyes closed, his fingers unconsciously resting on the parchment in his pocket.

The Western Regions, the Black Sand Sea, and the Black Fire Gate mentioned in Wei Huo's letter are all located here.

This trip will likely involve more than just three locations.

The carriage traveled westward. Although the road was relatively flat, the villages along the way became much sparser after leaving the heartland of the Daqing Empire.

On the fourth day, the trees on both sides of the road began to thin out, replaced by large areas of gravel and low shrubs.

Master Gu Yuan sat atop the carriage shaft, his eyes slightly narrowed, and said, "Shahe Town is still a day's journey away. It's the last major city we'll pass through before entering the Western Regions. From Shahe Town westward, it's all Gobi Desert, a dry journey that will take several days, without even a drop of water."

Xiao Fan lifted the curtain and looked out. The horizon was gray and blended into the azure sky, making it impossible to see the outline of the mountains.

"We'll rest for the night in Shahe Town and replenish our supplies." He lowered the curtain. "Let's head straight to the first node."

Han Fei stood on the carriage shaft and lashed out with his whip.

Shahe Town was indeed a large town, where merchants from the Western Regions would rest and resupply, making the streets bustling with activity.

Xiao Fan and his companions found a reasonably clean inn to stay in. Han Fei was busy buying dry food and water bags, while Gu Yuan was looking for information in the market.

At dusk, Gu Yuan returned, but his expression was rather grim. He sat down opposite Xiao Fan, poured himself a cup of tea, and then said in a low voice, "I've heard some news. In the past two weeks, some strange things have been happening deep in the Gobi Desert."

A caravan was camped in the desert when they spotted a purple flame in the distance. The flame flickered, as if something was burning. Upon closer inspection, however, there was nothing there. Frightened, the caravans took a detour.

Xiao Fan paused, his hand still holding the teacup. Purple flames.

He put down his teacup, took out the parchment scroll from his pocket, spread it out on the table, and, by the candlelight, found the location of the first node, which was about two hundred miles west of Shahe Town, marked with the words "Black Wind Valley".

"Blackwind Valley," he murmured. "It's very close to Sand River Town, and almost exactly where the caravan saw the purple flames."

Master Gu Yuan leaned closer to take a look, then smacked his lips and said, "This is an ominous sign. Could the Yin Embers within the node spontaneously reappear?"

Xiao Fan did not answer, but simply put the parchment away and then slowly took a sip of tea.

Before dawn the next day, the carriage left Shahe Town and headed west along a muddy path.

The road became increasingly bumpy, and the sound of the wheels rolling over the gravel grew louder and louder.

In the afternoon, what came into view was a desolate desert, with gray-brown rocks stretching all the way to the horizon, occasionally revealing one or two withered camel thorns.

The temperature was much lower than I had imagined, and the desert wind carried a dry chill that felt like fine sand on my face.

Yun Ruoxi tightened her clothes, leaned against the car wall, and looked at the scenery outside the window, lost in thought.

Xiao Fan closed his eyes, but his divine sense continued to spread out.

This desert gave him a strange feeling; the flow of spiritual energy here was more chaotic than in other places, as if something was stirring up underneath.

Just as the sun began to set, a dark shadow appeared on the horizon ahead, resembling a mountain range or a relic buried by sandstorms.

Xiao Fan lifted the curtain, glanced in the direction of the carriage, and silently calculated in his mind.

Soon, they arrived at Blackwind Valley.

The carriage stopped beside a dry riverbed; a few steps further and it would be stuck by a rock.

Xiao Fan jumped off the car, and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he felt an extremely faint but incredibly familiar fluctuation of spiritual energy coming from the other side of the riverbed.

The Fire of Yin. Master Gu Yuan and Yun Ruoxi followed, while Han Fei watched the horse.

This is a very long riverbed, and the rocks on both sides have been eroded by the wind, losing their sharp edges and appearing as rounded gray rocks.

After walking for about 15 minutes, the riverbed suddenly narrowed, and the rock walls on both sides also rose sharply, forming a long and narrow canyon.

On the stone wall at the valley entrance, a faint purple light flickered, as if someone had lit a lamp inside the stone wall.

Xiao Fan stopped at the entrance of the valley.

He reached out, and the spiritual power of the Creation Fire surged from his palm. The crimson-gold light touched the purple light shining through the cracks in the stone wall, and the purple light seemed to be burned, throbbing violently a few times before retracting.

"Similar to the bronze box in Bone Ridge, but much less powerful." Xiao Fan withdrew his hand. "The person who set up this formation was weaker than the one in Bone Ridge, and the amount of Yin Embers was also less."

Master Gu Yuan stepped forward, took out two spirit-detecting talismans from his talisman bag, and stuck them on the crack. Soon, the talismans lit up with a purple light, which then slowly went out.

"Although the purity is not high, these nodes are more hidden than the Dry Bone Ridge. Without the markings on the parchment, outsiders would not be able to find them at all."

Xiao Fan nodded, turned sideways, and squeezed into the gap in the canyon.

The interior space wasn't large, about the size of a room, with smooth walls that looked as if they had been repeatedly baked by some kind of high temperature. In the very center of the stone chamber, a crack about the thickness of a finger was emanating purple light.

He crouched down and probed inside with the Fire of Creation.

The crimson flames spread downwards along the crack, and at the bottom of the crack, a ball of purplish-black gas curled up, its shape exactly the same as the Taiyin embers in the ice crevice.

As soon as the Creation Fire came into contact with the gas, the gas began to twist violently and emitted a slight hissing sound, as if something was struggling.