From its appearance, this was a rhinoceros beetle.
Fang Yuan held it in his palm, feeling its heavy, stone-like weight.
The broad carapace and stout head both projected an aura of raw, formidable power. And the tall, forked horn jutting upward resembled a spear pointed at the heavens.
Law Path Seventh Transformation Immortal Gu — Struggle!
This Immortal Gu was Fang Yuan's primary harvest from this expedition.
With his status as the Shadow Sect's new master, Fang Yuan quickly refined the Gu and stored it within his Immortal Aperture.
Besides this, there was another Immortal Gu.
Only at the Sixth Transformation, it belonged to the Earth Path and was called Yellow Sand.
This Immortal Gu's appearance closely resembled a ladybug — six natural yellow spots adorned its round, plump carapace.
With the Seventh Transformation Immortal Gu Struggle and the Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu Yellow Sand as the core, supplemented by numerous mortal Gu, combined with the abundant Earth Qi within the underground cave and the Earth Path Dao Marks, the Western Desert branch of the Zombie Alliance had constructed a protective Gu formation.
However, as Fang Yuan claimed these Gu insects one by one, the Gu formation crumbled apart and collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Fang Yuan then took a brief look at the storerooms in Corpse City.
The mortal Gu houses contained vast quantities of immortal materials.
The rarest was Cold Moon Divine Essence — a Seventh Transformation immortal material, formed from the condensation of moonlight essence in the deepest center of the desert over tens of thousands of years.
Even in Treasure Yellow Heaven, it was priceless and unobtainable.
Its quantity was extremely scarce; even those Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals possessed only small amounts.
The most abundant was a Sixth Transformation immortal material called Phosphorescent Wood. This wood grew within the Ghostly Desert, the very territory controlled by the Western Desert branch of the Zombie Alliance.
Phosphorescent Wood was extraordinarily plentiful — the accumulated result of the Western Desert Zombie Alliance branch's many years of collection.
"Just this one sight alone is enough to gauge the former formidable foundations of the Shadow Sect!"
"Unfortunately, the Shadow Sect invested far too much into refining the Supreme Immortal Aperture Gu. After the Battle of Yitian Mountain, the remaining forces were further oppressed and hunted by Heavenly Will, Heavenly Court, and myself."
Fang Yuan sighed inwardly.
The Shadow Sect remnants — Ying Wuxie and the others — had already visited and plundered the Zombie Alliance branches in nearly every other region. The treasuries of the Zombie Alliance branches in Central Continent, Northern Plains, and Southern Border had all been exhausted.
The Zombie Alliance headquarters in the Eastern Sea had been seized by the Eastern Sea Gu Immortal community and firmly brought under their control.
Now the last remaining treasury — the Western Desert branch — had been claimed by Fang Yuan.
This was the largest fortune the Shadow Sect had left in the world.
Beyond this, there were only miscellaneous scraps. Two resource points in the Western Desert still worth Fang Yuan's attention were sites similar to Jade Pot Mountain — places the Shadow Sect had secretly developed, and which appeared to have nurtured wild Immortal Gu.
Within the underground cave, Fang Yuan and Fairy Miao Yin waited a brief moment.
A white-robed figure phased through the walls — it was the Dragon Woman, Bai Ningbing.
She was cold as an iceberg, her white robes pristine as snow, without a speck of dust upon them. In her hand, she held a prisoner.
It was none other than the Fairy Cuibo from before!
At this moment, she had been frozen into a solid icicle, eyes tightly shut, her entire body coated in a thick layer of frost, completely motionless, entirely at Bai Ningbing's mercy.
Bai Ningbing had captured Fairy Cuibo alive.
This outcome drew effusive praise from Fairy Miao Yin, and even Fang Yuan's eyes brightened.
Although Bai Ningbing was only at the Sixth Transformation, her combat strength was genuinely that of a Seventh Transformation — and a powerful one at that.
One of the Ten Extremities Physiques, the Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique, combined with the Bai Xiang True Inheritance, amplified her effectiveness severalfold!
More critically, Bai Ningbing herself was someone who feared neither death nor life, blessed with extraordinary natural talent.
Back in the Southern Border, she had fought three opponents single-handedly, killing two and gravely wounding one — a formidable record. Now she had captured a Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal alive. In terms of combat strength on Fang Yuan's side, she was undoubtedly second only to Fang Yuan himself.
"If you've captured Fairy Cuibo, there's no rush to kill her and absorb her Immortal Aperture." Fang Yuan's thoughts turned.
Firstly, this place was saturated with Earth Qi with no Heavenly Qi whatsoever — entirely unsuitable for settling an Immortal Aperture.
The Sixth Transformation Gu Immortal Demon Mosquito who had died in the defensive Gu formation earlier — both his Immortal Aperture and his body had dissolved into mud and sand, completely devoid of any practical value.
Fang Yuan himself wasn't hungry yet; it wasn't time for him to absorb and devour one.
More critically, Fairy Cuibo was connected to the Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal Ancestor Qianbian. Perhaps she could be leveraged to alleviate some of Heavenly Will's schemes.
"Since you've captured her, temporarily lock her away in your Immortal Aperture for now," Fang Yuan said to Bai Ningbing.
Bai Ningbing nodded.
She had no path of retreat either — hunted by Heavenly Court and the Southern Border forces, and needing the Shadow Sect's resources to refine Immortal Gu, she could only continue cooperating with Fang Yuan.
Hei Loulan returned as well.
She had traces of blood on her: "That boy has been burned to ash by me, and his Immortal Aperture is finished too. Additionally, the commotion from the battle attracted a group of Western Desert Gu Immortals. I didn't engage and retreated first. From their aura, they seem quite formidable."
Fang Yuan nodded.
Though Hei Loulan had ascended to immortality not long ago, her eye for judgment had already been honed to a high standard.
If she assessed them as formidable, those Western Desert Gu Immortals were likely powerful ones among the Seventh Transformation.
But that was hardly surprising.
The Western Desert Zombie Alliance branch was a superpower's legacy. Its hidden treasury drawing large numbers of Western Desert Gu Immortals to explore it was entirely natural. The great powers would certainly be paying attention, to say nothing of Heavenly Will secretly working behind the scenes, stirring the pot.
"We leave now." Fang Yuan was speaking, but before his words had even fallen, three figures drilled in from the left, right, and above.
"Fellow Daoist, did you really think you could simply claim the Zombie Alliance's treasury and walk away? That's rather wishful thinking." From the left came a thin youth Gu Immortal draped in multicolored feathers, laughing in a shrill voice.