He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

This is a downward-facing passage.

The gray mist transformed into steps beneath her feet, extending the road downwards. Ai, holding a cat doll in one hand, arrived at a fog gate in the silent grayness.

- This is the place.

He held his breath and stepped inside.

.

.

What comes into view is an exceptionally vast space.

With a ceiling height perhaps exceeding ten meters, the black brick walls and pristine white marble give it the appearance of a grand hall.

A black and red carpet was laid on the floor in the very center. Near the marble walls, there were some stained glass windows. Above the ceiling was a huge carved dome, under which hung a luxurious and grand crystal chandelier, which was also dim and colorless in the dim light.

The transitions between the walls are seamless, presenting near-perfect curves and arches.

Elegant, solemn, and dignified.

It's called a basement, but it's more like a church.

Wow, that Gray guy is really impressive.

The flickering candlelight behind the paper curtain created a mysterious and reserved atmosphere. Ai shrank back, feeling that she had come to the right place.

—This is what esoteric Buddhism should look like.

Bypassing the unknown deep red magic circles on the ground, Ai slowly walked into the depths of the building. What came into view was a semi-circular altar, surrounded by four steps two fingers high in the center, with tall candlesticks arranged irregularly on both sides.

A hard-to-describe smell, like something burnt and then cooled, lingered in his nostrils. The damp, fishy air filled the space, making Ai feel a little nauseous.

-What...did I do here before?

In his confusion, a gray mist appeared beneath his feet, and a dusty path faintly pointed towards the prayer altar above.

"Wait for me a moment."

Instructing Nie to wait with Number Six below the stage, Ai followed the guidance of Chenlu alone and stepped onto the first step.

"The first step towards the crimson color is to remove the marks etched on the rusted iron and green copper. Useless black rust is not only an impurity but also a pollution—try to dissolve them, remove those ugly rust spots. We need a purer substance to resist the corrosion of the pool liquid..."

What's that sound...?

A chant that seemed to come from nothingness rang in his ears, accompanied by the dull sound of his shoes hitting the steps. The first step seemed to be made of metal, perhaps... iron?

Rusty iron, mottled green copper—Ay suddenly felt an even stronger nausea, as if base metal covered in rust was being thrown into a molten liquid, emitting a pungent chemical reaction odor.

"The rust in your dish dissolves like black water—this is the process of blackening and dissolving."

The melting rust was accompanied by an irresistible stench of blood. Ai covered her throat, and after a violent bout of nausea, she vomited a pool of dark, foul-smelling blood.

The texture of his body was becoming strange little by little. The flesh clinging to the skeleton flowed like red wax in Ai Yi's vision, but returned to normal in the blink of an eye.

"What's going on...?"

Ai didn't understand what was happening. In the midst of the changes, the flames of the seven elevated candlesticks around him silently ignited, and the bright red candle flames faintly enveloped him and the altar in the center.

It's like... a ceremony that has already been set up, only lacking the participation of the main person in charge.

His instinct was to escape this eerie place, but the next second, the light curtain from the door resolutely etched itself into his eyes:

"forward."

Ai swallowed hard. "This is the ritual that Ash didn't finish?"

"No, this is far inferior to that ceremony. It's just one of the legacies he left you. Don't worry about it, just keep moving forward. Would Brother Men harm you?"

"But it's really scary..." Ai complained, but still took a step towards the second step.

Another muffled thud, this time even heavier than the previous step, seemingly... lead?

The chanting continued: "...As impurities gradually disappear with the black water, the pure color is an upward spiral of gravity. I remove the turbidity from it—like plucking the heart of a rose, breaking the veins of a rosy rose. In the courtroom where clarity and turbidity intertwine, I raise the scales of justice, letting the filthy sink and the pure rise..."

Ai felt herself rising.

His flesh and blood burned like silken fabric, and before turning to ashes, they were immersed in a solution thicker and heavier than mercury. Thus, the black sank to the bottom of the pool, and the pure color shone even brighter—

"The second step towards crimson: whitening, the extraction method."

Ai could no longer feel the existence of his own body; he had undergone dissolution and then extraction. In his pale blue pupils, which were filled with red liquid, a crimson outline was reflected. He tried to look at his limbs—where his arms had once been, only emptiness remained; flesh and bones had long since turned into pure white material.

The pure substance awaits the next reaction.

The door opened no room for compromise: "Forward, don't stop."

Ai took her third step, this time her voice became light and airy, thin and luxurious, stripped of its baseness—silver.

"The intangible substance sinks into the molten silver. Silver, richer than pure white, the color of a mirror, the color of mercury, the color of lightness—in order to transform it into heavy gold, we add sulfur and salt to the refined silver, just as we pour a solute into a vessel holding red liquid, merging body, mind, and spirit into one..."

-My soul, a vessel holding three cavities of crimson liquid, flows into the formless...

Suddenly, the candles nearby burst into flame, their bright red light illuminating the altar just a few feet away. On the deep red floor, several indentations that had always been there but had never been noticed flickered faintly, forming a perfect equilateral triangle.

At the apex of the triangular engraving, the unknown material placed there instantly liquefied, and with honor and joy, it gathered at Ai's feet, like birds returning to their nests.

"The third step towards crimson: yellowing, the method of fusion."

The vessel lost its silvery sheen, and a vibrant red liquid surged within, faintly revealing a touch of gold on its outer surface.

Door: "Continue—"

Step 4.

Ai took the final step, the fourth step—a dull echo, a heavy and noble resonance, this was gold.

"Gold is the pinnacle of materialism. Apprentices who study the art of the intangible know that before the lowly things shed their rust, cleanse themselves of impurities, and merge into one, we need a universal catalyst to banish my former ugliness forever."

"Therefore, the all-purpose, all-powerful thing chose crimson as its color, making it bright and dazzling, and setting it apart from the mundane."

"exile--"

The seven candles went out silently.

Ai suddenly opened his slightly narrowed eyes, his pupils reflecting the azure surface of the abyss, like a solar prominence emerging from a calm sea, the light flowing from it becoming the only source of light in this dark space.

An endless mist enveloped the altar, while the limbs of light, gentle and without purpose, completely reshaped this gilded shell.

"Reconstruction—"

"The final step towards crimson: reddening, the method of crystallization."

Beyond the incomprehensible surging, the colors in those eyes were filled with a contradiction of coldness and heat.

Crimson branches spread toward the present world.

"Recreate your vessel, using rose-red philosopher's stone as the raw material."

The altar beneath their feet began to collapse, the solid metal creaking and groaning. It could not support the weight of the shell, and the downward gravity pressed down on the inorganic steps, preventing them from crossing it.

My soul should grow in accordance with my will.

Driven by an invisible yearning, Ai bit her invisible finger, turning it downwards. At first, no blood seeped out, but after a moment, a luminous bead of blue blood, like a flawless gem of the highest quality, dripped down in a perfect circle.

Upon contact with the liquefied matter gathered at its feet, it assimilated it all into a beautiful cyan color, which then transformed into a crimson hue.

His arms began to grow, and his joints began to spread.

The dissolved flesh and bone sprouted new shoots along the flow of the red liquid—growing into flocculent structures that resembled crystals, exuding a beautiful and pure rose-red color.

A light screen appeared before his eyes:

"Ritual and Dyeing"

-Is this one of the legacies that Ash left me?

"Your vessel is painted crimson, the color of the philosopher's stone—sublimated mercury, dissolved salt, and extracted sulfur have all become your flesh, bones, and vessel, which have shed their inferiority and, at the promised time, have achieved the unity of your body, mind, and spirit."

Snapping out of the ritual, Ai stood in the center of the altar, beneath which lay a dim and lifeless triangular magic circle. Some nauseating, filthy slime oozed from his body and accumulated at his feet.

-What does that mean...I've been enhanced?

He tried swinging his fist, and apart from a lighter feeling, the actual strength didn't seem to have been enhanced.

But Ai had a vague feeling: he felt that his body was as transparent as glass—if light shone on him, no matter how weak or dim the light was, it would soak into every corner of his body like liquid, penetrating his bones and flesh, illuminating all the vessels and souls...

My shell is crystal clear, allowing all light to pass through.

In layman's terms, he felt he had become a genius, a super genius who studied the art of the invisible.

The door suddenly began to clamor: "Of course, a single dyeing ritual is enough to give an unqualified mediocre person the potential to become a master of the intangible arts—the intangible essence that just reshaped you is a creation of one of the three pinnacles of alchemy, the Crimson Philosopher Stone."

"You just mentioned alchemy?"

Ai Yi touched his new body with a hint of disgust. The flowing black mud didn't smell strange, but it was still disgusting. He really wanted to take a shower: "Is it the kind of alchemy that can turn lead into gold, resurrect the dead, and create life?"

"You've summed up all three peaks of alchemy in one go, what am I supposed to say?"

The door was furious: "You can't even have a proper conversation at such a crucial moment. If it weren't for my excellent conversational skills, I would have ignored you long ago. Your two cat dolls are just mechanical girls made from ashes using alchemy. Of course, both of them are still a bit lacking in skill."

Ai hadn't forgotten his promise; he was going to complete Nephew and Number Six, so he pressed on, "What exactly is missing?"

"The main problem... the 'artificial life' technology used to replace human souls isn't perfect yet. That tattered one looks like a high-level AI at best. The other one is quite advanced, but it still needs further refinement. You wanted to give her a sense of taste, right? Let's start by researching alchemy."

"Alchemy..."

"Alchemy is one of the major branches of the mystical arts, a foundational discipline on par with ritual studies, much like mathematics is in the sciences. Studying it well will definitely not hurt you; letting you learn something will certainly not harm you. Knowledge is power."

Ai wagged her more agile tail: "Is Gray very skilled in alchemy?"

"Skilled? More than skilled, his alchemy level would make him a leading figure in the field even within the Foundation."

Men seemed quite proud of something, looking rather smug: "What kind of person do you think he is? He managed to run such a large secret cult in this desolate, godforsaken place in the far suburbs. He relies entirely on increasing revenue and cutting costs to manage resources—increasing revenue means using alchemy to create mystical items to sell to the Foundation, or consuming them internally. That's how he barely manages to solve his financial crisis."

"So, in order not to end up penniless, you have to learn alchemy too."

"All right……"

Ai sighed, then silently walked to the table in the center of the altar.

On a high platform covered with a red tablecloth, there is a closed book.

Its cover is woven from fine golden threads, and in the center of the equilateral triangle on the title page, a crimson stone is quietly presented—it is clearly painted with pigments, yet it is as dazzling and beautiful as a real object.

"Three years to make gold, five years to eat dirt: Here we go!"

Ai gently opened it, and in the next instant, the book ignited a crimson flame in his eyes, like a rose that had bloomed and then withered.

Just like the first time he opened the secret manual of the Insight, the secret knowledge turned into red liquid and flowed into his eyes.

The Secret of the Red Stone

"Legend has it that a philosopher was strolling along a riverbank covered in flowers when he noticed something reflecting light on the shimmering water. He picked it up and found it to be a transparent, sparkling red stone, covered in crystals and shaped like a heart. The philosopher liked its color and compared the stone to roses and wild roses, finding that the red of the stone was more vibrant than that of the flowers."

"Upon returning to his homeland, the philosopher shared the red stone with the people, praising its beauty and extraordinary nature. The ignorant, peering at its form, reached out their greedy hands and feet to try to snatch the red stone. In an instant, the fool turned into gold, losing his life while achieving the pinnacle of material wealth."

"This is the first crystal to form from the red liquid after the world dissolved, and then washed into the present world. It is a universal and versatile medium, and philosophers have named it the Rose Philosopher Stone."

The story in her eyes gradually faded away.

"You seem to have glimpsed the crimson hue of the finish line, and so you embark on this path of pursuing the same pinnacle of matter and spirituality: alchemy."

"You have learned the skill: Alchemy Section I - Dissolution"

The intangible knowledge transformed into the red liquid within Ai Yi's cavity, boiling and churning, leaving a crimson imprint deep within the vessel.

He repeatedly tried to understand the knowledge he had just acquired:

In alchemy, the ritual for reinforcing vessels is called dyeing. This process can be summarized as "ascension," using the recipient's body and the vessel as the main materials, adding gentle and mystical materials, and performing processes of dissolving, purifying, fusing, and crystallizing to further reveal the intangible and sublime essence, shedding the inferiority of the mundane.

The first step in alchemy, corruption, is the process of dissolving physical materials into "intangible matter."

.

.

Uh, that sounds like a lot of trouble.

No amount of theory can compare to practice, so Ai Yi chose to immerse himself in the perspective of "solution science" and then looked at the ground beneath his feet.

At first, nothing seemed different, but when Ai unintentionally looked up and took in everything in the distance, he suddenly felt a strong wave of dizziness.

—It was an incredibly abstract perception, as if the world had turned upside down before him, and the concepts of up and down were confused.

He saw the ground, the brick walls, the glass and the dome—those seemingly unrelated things suddenly became blurred under the perspective of "dissolution," and an invisible barrier separating cognition was shattered from the inside.

From then on, the upper and lower realms became one, and all things seemed to lose their distinguishing characteristics, transforming in his eyes into an indescribable chaotic ocean, merging all matter into pure crimson.

This is... the theory of dissolution.