The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

Xiao Fan continued his actions, the golden flames enveloping the purplish-black object, then slowly burning, peeling away, and disappearing.

The purple glow in the stone chamber slowly dissipated.

After about half a cup of tea's time, a barely audible sound came from the crack, like thin ice shattering, and then everything fell silent.

Xiao Fan withdrew his hand and got up from the ground. The purple light spots on the stone wall had completely disappeared, leaving only a thin layer of white powder.

He reached out and touched it; the powder on his fingertips was cool and dry, without any spiritual power.

He said, "It's done."

Master Gu Yuan peeked out from outside, saw that everything in the stone chamber had returned to normal, and asked, "You're back so quickly? Faster than the cracks in the ice field."

"The Taiyin embers are different, and their strength is also different." Xiao Fan clapped his hands and walked out of the crack. "The bronze box in the Dry Bone Ridge has a special seal, and that crack came from the glacier, so this node should not have a foundation."

He stood at the entrance of the valley and looked back. The setting sun shone down, turning the valley entrance orange-red. The stone walls, which had originally shone with a purple glow, were now dry and barren, as if they had been washed away by water.

"Alright, let's move on."

After leaving Black Wind Valley, they walked along the dry riverbed for more than half an hour before returning to the carriage.

As night deepened, the night wind in the Gobi Desert was even more biting than during the day, rustling the curtains of the carriage.

Han Fei lit an oil lamp inside the carriage and added some charcoal, which made the carriage a little warmer.

Xiao Fan took out a piece of parchment and drew a small circle next to the first node to indicate that it was complete.

He looked up at the next place, where there was a marker that said "White Bone Beach," about 120 miles south of Black Wind Valley.

"We'll set off first thing tomorrow morning." He put away the parchment and closed his eyes.

Outside the carriage, the wind and sand howled. In the distance, a faint light flashed across the depths of the Gobi Desert, moving at an incredible speed, as if it were merely an illusion.

Xiao Fan opened his eyes, glanced through the carriage curtain, and then slowly closed them again.

The White Bone Beach was much more accurate than Xiao Fan had imagined.

It's called a beach, but it's more like a low-lying basin half-hidden by wind and sand. There's grayish-white gravel everywhere, and some of the stones do look like bones, but we don't know how many years ago the wind and sand eroded them.

The carriage stopped at a high point on the edge of the basin. Xiao Fan got off the carriage and stood on the high ground to look down at the center of the basin.

The afternoon sun shone on the gray-white rocks, emitting a dazzling white light. The entire basin looked like a giant stone pot, silent, desolate, and lifeless.

He probed it with his divine sense, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Deep underground, an extremely subtle spiritual energy fluctuation was slowly surging. Unlike the cold texture of the Taiyin Embers, it was more like a sealed earth fire spiritual vein, slowly breathing.

"Interesting," he muttered to himself as he walked down the slope.

The gravel on the ground was somewhat loose, and occasionally some gravel would roll down, making a crisp sound.

Gu Yuan followed behind him, holding two talismans in his hands. Yun Ruoxi lagged behind, her steps light, her eyes constantly scanning her surroundings. She seemed nonchalant, but in reality, she was always paying attention to the movements around her.

The bottom of the basin was much deeper than it appeared. After walking into the center of the basin, Xiao Fan found an irregular depression on the ground.

The rocks at the bottom of the pit are a dark brown color, as if they have been repeatedly baked by high temperatures, and are covered with fine cracks.

He crouched down and reached out to touch the brown stone.

Just as his palm touched the stone slab, a surge of scorching spiritual energy rose from beneath it, struck his protective aura, and was then bounced back.

"There's a fire vein below." Xiao Fan withdrew his hand and stood up from the ground. "But it seems to be blocked by something. The power sealing it is mixed with the aura of the Taiyin embers, suppressing and depending on each other, which is why it hasn't dissipated."

Master Gu Yuan also came over, squatted down and stroked the brown stone, a look of surprise on his face.

Someone forcibly suppressed this fire vein with spiritual power and then enveloped it with a layer of Yin embers, lowering its temperature. These two actions complemented each other, allowing it to persist for so many years.

Xiao Fan nodded, without saying anything more.

As he walked, he would stop from time to time to sense the direction of the flow of spiritual energy underground, and gradually a plan formed in his mind.

This sealing technique is extremely sophisticated. It uses the cold, yin energy of the Taiyin embers to suppress the heat of the earth fire, and then uses the power of the earth fire to counteract the spread of the Taiyin embers, thus creating a delicate balance.

However, it is precisely because of this delicate balance that once it is broken, the other side will instantly lose control.

He returned to the pit, squatted down, and placed both hands on the brown stone. With his left hand, he unleashed the power of the Creation Fire, and crimson-gold flames seeped into the ground from the cracks in the rock, chasing after the sealed earth fire vein.

Above his right hand, a silver lightning bolt shot out from the Thunderfire Token and drilled into the seal through the crack.

Two forces surged in simultaneously, causing the entire earth to tremble.

On the brown rocks at the bottom of the pit, the cracks suddenly widened, and tiny fissures extended from them, through which dark red light shone.

Master Gu Yuan stepped back a few paces, a talisman already held between his fingers, ready to unleash its power.

Yun Ruoxi stood not far from Xiao Fan, her gaze never leaving the ground. Her hand was raised, and her fingers were covered with a thin layer of frost.

Xiao Fan stood still.

He could clearly feel that deep within the earth's veins, the fire of creation was seeping in little by little through the cracks in the seal, peeling away the lingering embers of the Taiyin from the surface of the earth's fire veins.

Silver lightning bolts moved like needles on both sides, guiding the flames of creation to cut through the weakest point and sever it.

The forces of Yin and Yang, under his control, were perfectly fused together.

The cracks in the ground became more numerous, and the red light became even more dazzling. Suddenly, a muffled sound came from deep underground, as if something had been completely exposed.

Immediately afterwards, a blast of hot air, carrying a strong smell of sulfur, instantly dispelled the chilling atmosphere that had accumulated in the basin over the years.

Xiao Fan withdrew his hand, stood up, and his robes fluttered in the heat.

The brown rock at the bottom of the pit was mostly broken, and the earth vein energy gushing out from the cracks was spreading outwards at a steady and slow speed, completely dispelling the remaining Taiyin embers.