Western Desert.
Fang Yuan made no effort to conceal his presence. With his hands clasped behind his back, he stood proudly atop the Ten Thousand Year Battle Flying Carriage.
The Ten Thousand Year Battle Flying Carriage sliced through the sky like a gleaming silver sword, its tip aimed squarely at a pale yellow cloud mass drifting high above.
"Fang Yuan, you actually dare to return!" A sharp female cry erupted from within the pale yellow cloud, revealing the speaker's fury and hatred.
The pale yellow cloud, unremarkable on the surface, was in truth a grand Immortal formation of the Transformation Path.
Inside the formation was a layer of dreamscape, and trapped within that dreamscape was a mutated Immortal Gu along with a Gu Immortal named Red Cloud Dancer.
The one commanding the formation was Immortal Consort Qing Lan.
Immortal Consort Qing Lan possessed a Seventh Transformation cultivation level and was Thousand Transformations Old Ancestor's second wife.
Back when Fang Yuan had been traveling through the Western Desert, he was being hunted by Feng Jiuge. Upon encountering Red Cloud Dancer, he had feigned an alliance in exchange for the Array Path inheritance of Zhen Yuanzi.
Fang Yuan then orchestrated a false separation. At the time, Ying Wuxie had still been using the body of the Emerald Wave Fairy, and through the self-detonation of a Pure Dream Seeker Body, the pair of them had inflicted a devastating blow upon Red Cloud Dancer and the will of Thousand Transformations Old Ancestor.
Unfortunately, just as Fang Yuan was about to clean up the battlefield, Feng Jiuge's pursuit caught up with him, forcing Fang Yuan to retreat for the time being.
Thousand Transformations Old Ancestor, upon realizing he had been ambushed and sensing something amiss, immediately dispatched Night Fiend Woman and Immortal Consort Qing Lan to investigate.
Once they learned that Liu Guanyi was in fact Fang Yuan, Thousand Transformations Old Ancestor could do nothing about the dreamscape. He had no choice but to order Night Fiend Woman and Immortal Consort Qing Lan to temporarily construct an Immortal formation and seal off the area.
Truthfully, Red Cloud Dancer trapped in the dreamscape was merely one of Thousand Transformations Old Ancestor's wives, and he did not care for her all that much. What truly weighed on his mind was the mutated Immortal Gu trapped within the dreamscape.
It was an Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu!
When Thousand Transformations Old Ancestor had inherited a portion of the Madman True Inheritance, this mutated Immortal Gu had been its core component. Without it, activating many of his techniques would require tremendous effort, and their power and effectiveness would be severely diminished.
The mutated Immortal Gu absolutely could not be lost!
Thousand Transformations Old Ancestor lacked Fang Yuan's methods, so he could only follow the example of the Righteous Path in the Southern Border and cage off the dreamscape.
It was obvious, then, that the root cause of all this was none other than Fang Yuan.
Now, with Fang Yuan launching a proactive assault on the formation, it was no wonder that Immortal Consort Qing Lan was beside herself with rage.
But this female Immortal renowned throughout the Western Desert did not go on the offensive. Instead, she poured her energy into the formation, choosing to hold firm in strict defense.
"Fang Yuan may only have Seventh Transformation cultivation, but he has the strength to contend with Eighth Transformation cultivators. Moreover, he possesses the Ten Thousand Year Battle Flying Carriage, which once even defeated Heavenly Court — I alone cannot possibly resist him! The most urgent priority is to hold this position and buy time, so that my husband and the others can teleport here."
Immortal Consort Qing Lan sent out an urgent call for reinforcement while pouring her full strength into controlling the Immortal formation.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fang Yuan's assault erupted at full force the next moment. A ceaseless torrent of silver light swords shot forth like a waterfall.
Immortal Consort Qing Lan gritted her teeth and drove the yellow cloud, holding it steady against the onslaught.
Under the savage barrage, the yellow cloud manifested by the Immortal formation continuously crumbled, its volume shrinking. However, the rate of disintegration was disappointingly slow.
The Ten Thousand Year Battle Flying Carriage possessed four great killer moves: Swift Current Advance, Dawn Sword, Dawn Torrent, and Ten Thousand Year Hunt.
Each killer move was of the Eighth Transformation level, but clearly, the Immortal formation that formed the yellow cloud was also of the Eighth Transformation.
"It's a good thing the formation was reinforced. Otherwise, the previous Seventh Transformation formation would have been entirely insufficient to stand against Fang Yuan. So this is the Ten Thousand Year Battle Flying Carriage? It really is formidable!" Immortal Consort Qing Lan's face was pale. Under Fang Yuan's fierce assault, she was enduring tremendous pressure.
She had never anticipated that Fang Yuan would launch a surprise attack on this location, completely without warning.
The formation thundered as several Gu Immortals teleported in from the Myriad Image Desert.
Leading them was Night Fiend Woman, Thousand Transformations Old Ancestor's first wife. The other Gu Immortals who followed were all wives or concubines of Thousand Transformations Old Ancestor as well.
"Where is my husband?" Immortal Consort Qing Lan's expression shifted slightly.
Night Fiend Woman's face was grave. "It is not yet time for my husband to depart. The situation is far more complex than what we see before us. We were ordered to come here and help you hold the position."
Immortal Consort Qing Lan shook her head. "With only us, we are likely no match for Fang Yuan. We won't be able to hold for long."
No sooner had she finished speaking than another female Immortal scoffed, "Qing Lan, what are you afraid of? This formation is at the Eighth Transformation—"
BOOM!
At that very moment, a tremendous explosion sounded, and a small section of the yellow cloud collapsed in an instant.
Inside the formation, the faces of all the female Immortals turned pale.
Night Fiend Woman shrieked, "What are you waiting for? Activate the formation immediately and suppress it!"
The female Immortals abandoned their bickering without another word, each pouring their full strength into controlling the formation, defending against Fang Yuan's furious assault.
Fang Yuan still stood at the prow of the carriage, his eyes flickering with an intense gleam.
The Ten Thousand Year Battle Flying Carriage had rendered considerable merit. Within the River of Time, it had successively slain Qing Ye and Li Huang, both of whom were Eighth Transformation powerhouses — the latter in particular was extraordinarily formidable.
However, at that time, the Ten Thousand Year Battle Flying Carriage had held the advantage, because within the River of Time, all killer moves received a terrifying boost in power.
Conversely, Qing Ye, Li Huang, and the others had been greatly suppressed.
This time, the Ten Thousand Year Battle Flying Carriage was operating at high altitude in the Western Desert with no environmental advantages. The power of its killer moves immediately dropped to ordinary levels.
It was precisely for this reason that even with the Ten Thousand Year Battle Flying Carriage firing at full force, it could not overcome the yellow cloud.
"This formation is no ordinary matter. It's a Transformation Path Gu formation — not only does it possess excellent defensive capabilities, but it also has teleportation functions. It's likely a part of the Madman True Inheritance."
Fang Yuan pieced together a great deal from these observations.
His conjecture was not wrong. This formation was the Ten Thousand Li Transformation Formation from the Madman True Inheritance, its rank genuinely at the Eighth Transformation.
An Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu house versus an Eighth Transformation Immortal formation — the two sides were dead even.