Gezheng examined each one and made his own judgment. He did not know whether Mancetto was a genius, but from the ancient stone equation, Gezheng guessed that the owner of the dry rock ice chamber was much simpler in his thinking compared to the alchemists of the present day. Otherwise, the equation would not be so simple.
It is likely that this "game" is not as complex as Mancetto imagined. He made simple matters complicated, perhaps due to his own lack of alchemical prowess.
Gezheng selected six pieces from the chess set and placed them in order from bottom to top. The bottom row of three pieces represents the basic operations of alchemy: the angel holding the sun represents evaporation and sublimation, the altar-shaped vessel represents boiling, and the dismembered body signifies purification.
The second row had two pieces: one with a snake swallowing and regurgitating itself, and the other depicting a youth undergoing a rite of passage.
The symbolism of this layer clearly surpassed that of the third layer. The snake eating and regurgitating itself meant that matter had changed, producing new matter, and reached a new level, representing a "change in essence." The rite of passage symbolized the youth's abandonment of his previous self, understanding new meanings, and expressing the meaning of "new material."
Combs did not understand alchemy, so he did not express any opinion on the chess pieces arranged by Gezheng. However, when Gezheng added the last piece, Combs couldn't help but gasp in astonishment as he watched him.
The final piece was not too mystical, but rather too simple: the piece was engraved with just an egg! Yes, it was a simple egg.
Gezheng clapped his hands and stood up, "Well, let's see if my answer is correct."
To Combs' further surprise, the six pieces turned to the left in unison within the chessboard, and the ground emitted a grinding sound of stone blocks being struck. The mechanism was activated, and the six pieces turned in a complete circle, returning to their original positions.
The serpent-shaped staff on the T-shaped altar suddenly came to life, traversing the stone wall, swallowing five planets in turn - Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon. Then it bit its own tail, transforming into a circle, with the T-shaped staff located at the center of the circle. With a clank, the staff sank down, emitting a cloud of smoke, and the massive stone wall trembled.
Combs stammered, "He really... got it right." Gezheng stood in front of the stone wall with his hands behind his back, appearing like a statue.
The seemingly ordinary egg had deep significance in alchemy. The eggshell represented the earth element, the air bubbles in the egg represented the air element, the egg white represented the water element, and the yolk, with its fiery color, represented the fire element. A single substance representing the four elements that make up the entire world. In the world of alchemy, there were only two things - the egg and the famous Ouroboros serpent. The latter symbolized the cycle of matter and also represented the four elements.
Combs did not understand alchemy, but Gezheng was an expert. Placing the egg at the top of the pyramid was more appropriate than placing the sun, which symbolized gold.
The massive stone wall that had been standing in front of Mancetto for three hundred years, moved with a rumble to be hidden in the left rock wall, revealing a large cave in front of the two. A pale blue light shone from the cave ceiling, and a chilling atmosphere enveloped them. A scraping sound filled the air, and rime frost covered Gezheng and Combs' eyebrows, beards, and temples.
The two were petrified at that moment, not from being frozen, but because they were dumbstruck by what was inside the stone cave.
Gezheng suspected that the dry rock ice room was either a crypt or a laboratory. However, what was before his eyes far exceeded his imagination.
Combs gaped, sticking out his tongue and asked, "Is that... a dragon?" Gezheng took a deep breath and nodded, "Not only a dragon, but a sacred ice frost giant dragon."
An ordinary dragon when standing on all fours was only seven to eight meters tall from head to tail, with a body length of between twenty to thirty meters. But the sacred giant dragon was considered a "giant" among dragons and stood thirty meters tall, with a body length exceeding two hundred meters. It was truly a colossal creature, and for a human standing before it, it was like a mouse facing an ancient mammoth!
The ice blue scales covered its body, and it boasted a robust single horn atop its proud head. Its two wings were spread open, covering the area of an entire football field. Its powerful four limbs were crouched on the ground, supporting the immense weight of its body.
Gezheng had never expected the dry rock ice room to contain a sacred ice-frost giant dragon, but he understood why the lion-shaped giant rocks in the scorching desert could maintain their coolness. Although this sacred giant dragon was dead, the frost magic elements on its body had yet to dissipate.
Silently, the giant dragon opened its massive mouth filled with sharp teeth and spat out a "tongue." The tongue extended all the way to the ground, landing in front of Gezheng. There was a staircase on the "tongue."
Gezheng walked up the staircase, and just as Combs was about to follow, the "tongue" retracted. For every step Gezheng took, the step behind him disappeared. Obviously, the dragon did not welcome Combs. The comical desert fairy shrugged and meekly remained in place.
As Gezheng stepped into the interior of the dragon's mouth and took a step forward, the mouth quietly closed. As soon as Gezheng was plunged into darkness, magical lights lit up inside the mouth.
Gezheng touched the insides of the dragon's mouth and felt a strange elasticity. Although he was already amazed to see the sacred ice-frost giant dragon, the sensation under his touch intensified his astonishment. This giant dragon was no longer a living being. It had been completely replaced by a semi-metal, semi-mineral body through alchemical replacement equations!
Furthermore, it had been unexpectedly bestowed with the complete retention of frost magic elements, and if this dragon were still alive, it would undoubtedly rank among the top three in the dragon race.
With shimmering magical light suspended in the dragon's throat, a narrow passage that could only accommodate one person appeared. Going through the passage, it gradually opened up ahead, and Gezheng determined that he was gradually entering the belly of the sacred giant dragon. In contrast to the narrowness of the throat portion, the dragon's stomach was significantly more capacious. It was undeniable that the original body of the dragon had highly elastic muscles and skin at the neck, designed for swallowing large chunks of food. However, after being replaced with this bizarre body, everything had become rigid.
In the throat area, Gezheng saw interconnected, well-equipped alchemical laboratories! Rows of equipment were neatly arranged, and large cabinets adhered to the "walls", each containing an array of small containers, arranged in the customary alchemical manner.
The equipment there was either forged of crystal or cast from magic crystal, both being the best materials for demonic properties. Moreover, each interface has undergone meticulous processing, fused together by unknown techniques, far more airtight than what an ordinary alchemist would achieve using clay or "philosophical sealant." These instruments are definitely ahead of their time!
For an alchemist, seeing a giant dragon was just a shock, but seeing a laboratory that was ahead of its time was truly an exciting moment.
Ge Zheng was infatuated with all the instruments, touching this one, inspecting that one. Many of the small items looked no different from ordinary ones, but when picked up, their intricacy became apparent. Every item made Ge Zheng unwilling to let go of it.
The dragon's belly was spacious, and the entire alchemy laboratory was arranged in an orderly manner. Despite the numerous instruments, it did not appear crowded. She passed through each instrument and walked all the way to the back, only to find an unexpected surprise: behind all the instruments, there was a "wall" with a puzzle on it.
The puzzle was made up of dozens of stone slabs, each containing an alchemical equation. Ge Zheng's gaze fell upon it, and indeed the entire puzzle was missing one piece. Ge Zheng took out the missing piece, embedded it in, and as soon as the slab was placed in the missing spot, Ge Zheng felt a distinct suction. Before he could let go, the slab had already fallen into place.
The "wall" undulated as if the giant dragon had suddenly come to life again, and the stomach wall began to ripple. The slabs were driven to undulate, some rising, some falling, and the friction between the slabs emitted a sour crackling sound. Soon, the entire wall quieted down, but the puzzle was no longer smooth, with some parts higher and some lower. Streams of golden light scattered from the wall, swirling around Ge Zheng, and a wonderful music filled his ears. The golden light gathered in his fingers, and with a ding, it turned into a ring. The music gradually faded away, barely audible in the end.
With a discernment spell, the inscription on the ring appeared: "Dragon Chamber Summoning Ring, sealed with a dry rock ice chamber, can be summoned and stored at any time."
This ring was the dry rock ice chamber. Ge Zheng no longer needed to worry about how to take such a huge laboratory with him.
Each stone slab, like the ones he had previously obtained, bore a completely different equation. Ge Zheng's interest was piqued. The laboratory within the dragon's belly and the equations on the slabs made him feel incredibly fresh and elusive. Alchemists were mostly the "mad" type, and as long as they had an equation in hand, they would not rest until they understood it. Ge Zheng naturally belonged to this category. With such a pile of equations in front of him, it was like a feast for a sex fiend. Ge Zheng naturally disregarded the outside world and was completely immersed in the art of alchemy.
Ge Zheng was not a native of the Star Refining World. Even for someone born and raised there, not many people knew that there were several powerful civilizations before the current era of star refining civilization. In those ancient times, people's characters were not as cunning as they are now, and alchemical achievements exceeded the present, but the encryption level of the equations was far lower than it is now.
The laboratory in the dragon's belly was fully equipped, and there were several small warehouses in the dragon's legs and tail, containing all the materials needed for the stone slab formulas! Ge Zheng immediately set to work verifying his guess.
On the entire wall, excluding the stone slab that Ge Zheng brought in himself, there were a total of three hundred and twenty slabs, all of which Ge Zheng successfully fabricated. Every result of the stone slab equation was a mysterious component.
Ge Zheng was completely immersed in the art of alchemy and ignored the passage of time and everything else. When he finally finished fabricating the three hundred and twenty components, a new challenge emerged: what were these components for? Or how to use them?
There was no hint on the wall. If he were an ordinary person, he would have been truly at a loss. But for an alchemist, even the smallest details could hide great secrets.
Ge Zheng stared at the uneven stone slabs on the wall, and they gave him inspiration. He arranged the components he had fabricated by the stone slabs' positions on the ground, adjusting the position of each component according to the slabs' different heights. When he raised the first component to its proper position, it didn't need external support. Once he let go, it was held up by an invisible force. Each component, when positioned at the right height, was similarly supported by this force.
When three hundred and twenty-one components were completely placed at the corresponding heights to the stone slabs, they attracted each other, and a magical golden force moved between the three hundred and twenty-one components. Then, "swoosh, swoosh..." all the components, under the convergence of this force, automatically assembled and, in the blink of an eye, the three hundred and more components had formed a huge metal wheel.
The metal giant wheel spun counterclockwise in the air and suddenly cast a golden light on Ge Zheng's finger. "Ding!" The golden light brushed his finger, and the summoning ring of the dry rock ice chamber made a low hum. Ge Zheng suddenly felt a connection to the ring, and when he looked down, the ring had vanished, leaving a dark ring mark on his finger as if a rope had wrapped around it.
At the same time, he received a message: "Heart contract of the Dragon Chamber Summoning Ring. Effect: Cannot be removed."
It turned out that the stone slab equations on the wall were another test. Only by passing this test could the dry rock ice chamber be fully acknowledged. No wonder the warehouse had all the materials ready.
The huge metal wheel was still rotating slowly in the air. The golden light passed from his finger to his wrist, and suddenly the entire wheel burst into a dazzling light. Ge Zheng instinctively shielded his eyes with his hand. When the light dissipated, there was no trace of the metal giant wheel in the dry rock ice chamber!
As he wondered, a metal arm guard appeared on his wrist. Although it was made of metal, it didn't feel uncomfortable on his arm and seemed to fit even better than a soft arm guard made of animal skin.