Northern Plains, the Bone Burial Ground.
This was a land of white bones, where countless corpses and skeletons were heaped together.
Some bones were enormous, like small hills, while others were so tiny that, placed at one's feet, they would go unnoticed.
Most of the bones were ghastly white, their flesh and skin long since consumed by nature through wind and sun. Only these bones remained, bearing witness to the toughness of the Desolate Beasts and Ancient Desolate Beasts they had once belonged to.
But some bones bore strange colors. Some had a golden luster that gleamed brilliantly, while others had an eerie purple hue, emanating poisonous fumes.
Gu Immortal Liu Yong paid close attention.
He was of the Golden Bloodline, a Sixth Transformation Slavery Path Gu Immortal of the Liu Family.
At this moment, he was guiding six Desolate Beast Bone Armor Dogs through the Bone Burial Ground, searching for suitable targets.
Opinions differed on the origin of the Bone Burial Ground.
Some said this had been the site of a life-and-death battle between two great Slavery Path experts in ancient times, which was why so many Desolate Beasts and Ancient Desolate Beasts had perished here.
Others claimed it was the graveyard of Bone Monsters. Countless Bone Monsters, sensing their end approaching, would choose a place to bury themselves.
Still others theorized that in the primordial era, a grandmaster of the Refinement Path from the Northern Plains had specifically established this as an extraordinary location for Gu refinement. Over the vast sweep of time, it had gradually taken on its current form.
Regardless of the truth, the Bone Burial Ground certainly contained a massive number of Desolate Beast and Ancient Desolate Beast remains.
The Liu Family controlled this place and had meticulously developed it into a production base for Bone Path Gu Insects.
And every year, Liu Yong would borrow this location to select suitable bones for his Bone Armor Dogs, supplementing their external bone armor.
"This white bone looks like a snake bone, and it's soft bone at that. No good. If they eat it, the bone armor they produce will be soft too. No protective value whatsoever."
"This is a poison Gu. The Bone Armor Dogs don't have high poison resistance — eating this would be suicide."
"This bone is pretty good. It seems to be from a Desolate Beast Iron-Skinned Giant Lizard. It's not the hardest, but it's decent, and it can bear weight especially well."
After inspecting for a while, Liu Yong made more and more discoveries.
In the end, he released his beloved dogs — the six Bone Armor Dogs — into six separate areas.
As for himself, he lay down atop an enormous skull, gazing up at the sky.
"What fine weather today — gentle breeze and warm sunshine."
He looked at the azure sky, cloudless for ten thousand li, the sunlight not too intense, a light breeze caressing his face, making him feel rather pleasant.
After gazing at the sky for a while, Liu Yong gradually began to feel bored.
"Hm? A family intelligence Gu Insect is coming?" Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows, his eyes lighting up. He sensed something interesting had arrived.
He quickly focused his mind, entering his own immortal aperture, and dove into that information-path Gu Insect.
The contents carried by the Gu Insect detailed some of the gratifying progress the Liu family had made in various areas over the past few months.
Then it mentioned some rumors and the latest movements of powerful experts.
Finally came the highlight — a detailed account of the Blood Battle Martial Arts Tournament's developments over recent days.
"Murong Gang has won eight consecutive victories! Impressive!"
"However, between each battle, he takes about one shichen to recover. Not like Yelü Qunxing before him, who accepted challenges nonstop."
"I heard that although Murong Gang's defensive methods are extraordinarily powerful, his immortal essence consumption is also extremely heavy!"
"Sigh. Speaking of Yelü Qunxing, what a shame. He was ambushed and killed by the Chu clan's Supreme Second Elder, Liu Guanyi. Truly despicable!"
As a golden family and a Righteous Path force, the Liu family naturally wove its own stance and political interests into the intelligence it disseminated.
Although the information itself was not distorted, the way it was recorded differed greatly, producing very different impressions on the reader.
It was like the famous example from Earth — "defeated repeatedly in battle" versus "repeatedly battle despite defeats." Simply swapping the order of the words produced a noticeably different feel.
In summary, after describing Fang Yuan's formidable strength and the fact that he had mastered the Ancient Sword Flood Dragon Transformation, these reports also emphasized his image as a shameless, despicable, and insidious scoundrel.
With this identity of "Liu Guanyi," Fang Yuan had absolutely become famous in a single battle — infamous, of course — known to every Gu Immortal in the Northern Plains. Even Prince Fengxian, Heavenly Lord Hundred Legs, and others were well aware of it, and even distant regions like the Central Continent had learned of Liu Guanyi's name.
After venting his indignation and contempt toward Fang Yuan, Liu Yong turned his thoughts to himself and let out a long sigh.
"I cultivate the enslavement path. One-on-one combat isn't suited to me."
"When will I get my chance to show my prowess at the Blood Battle Martial Arts Tournament?"
"Maybe someday I'll crush Liu Guanyi and easily challenge Overlord Immortal Chu Du! How impressive would that be!"
Liu Yong's thoughts soared with wild fantasies. Just then, a violent explosion suddenly erupted.
BOOM!
The entire ground shook violently.
"Wh-what's going on?!" The massive skull beneath Liu Yong was jarred loose from the skeletal neck and toppled over.
Liu Yong hastily scrambled into the air, hovering above the ground. He stared wide-eyed in alarm and confusion. "The defensive Gu Formation is being attacked — someone is actually attacking here? This is Liu family territory!"
At this realization, Liu Yong found it almost inconceivable.
The Liu family was a distinguished Righteous Path force, a golden family, a clan that dominated a region of the Northern Plains with unrivaled power.
Especially recently—the old enemy Black family had fallen, their foe Chu Du had also been targeted—this was precisely when spirits were soaring and momentum was at its peak, and yet someone had actually dared to attack the Liu family's territory.