The black fire did not burn suspended in midair — it clung to the surface of enormous bones.
The bones were a milky white, radiating a sense of sanctity.
There was a central trunk running from east to west, piercing through heaven and earth like an ancient dragon stretching into the horizon, extending far beyond Fang Yuan's field of vision. On either side of this trunk, countless branch ribs extended outward in neat formation, resembling colossal ivory tusks.
The entire skeleton resembled the spine and ribs of some titanic being, holding up the firmament itself!
"The Celestial Dome Spine…" Fang Yuan murmured. The sight before him was overwhelming in its grandeur. Standing beneath these colossal bones, he felt as insignificant as an insect.
And these bones towered like ancient trees, their surfaces blanketed by汇聚的 black fire clouds that covered the majority of their surface.
After a thorough examination, Fang Yuan began to grasp several mysteries: "This Celestial Dome Spine is actually a Ninth Transformation bone path immortal material!"
This fact alone was staggering.
The Celestial Dome Spine could not be human bone — what Gu Immortal possessed such an enormous body?
If it was not human bone, then it had to be beast bone.
But what savage beast could ever reach the Ninth Transformation level?
Impossible!
The Ninth Transformation was the realm of Gu Venerables. Throughout all of history, only nine humans had ever achieved it. Other races at most reached the Eighth Transformation, or were Primordial Desolate Beasts, or Primordial Desolate Plants.
Could there truly exist a Ninth Transformation Desolate Beast or Desolate Plant in this world?
Only such a being could leave behind immortal material of this grade upon death.
"Could it be that the Blessed Land Immortal Venerable forged it himself?" Doubts swirled in Fang Yuan's mind.
That possibility was equally slim.
Because he had already divined the purpose of the Celestial Dome Spine — it had only one function: to reinforce this Dragon Whale Paradise.
If the Blessed Land Immortal Venerable wished to reinforce the paradise, he could have used earth path methods, or even sound path methods. Those were his specialties. Why would he need to resort to bone path?
"Furthermore, why did the Blessed Land Immortal Venerable arrange things this way, specifically to reinforce Dragon Whale Paradise? As if the Dragon Whale Paradise were unstable and could collapse at any moment."
"Yet in truth, the Azure Dragon Whale was a Primordial Legendary Desolate Beast, possessing peak strength in all the world. Beings that could threaten it were exceedingly rare. If its life were in danger, would reinforcing the Dragon Whale Paradise even help?"
"The biggest mystery of all is: why does the Celestial Dome Spine have such an enormous volume of black fire?"
This was clearly not caused by Shen Shang.
If Shen Shang could leak black fire on this scale, how could he possibly have returned in one piece, voluntarily requesting to be sealed away?
"What connection exists between the black fire here and the black fire on Shen Shang?" Fang Yuan continued to calculate. During this process, he watched as an entire branch rib dissolved completely within the black fire.
The vast black fire corroded with terrifying intensity, relentlessly destroying the Celestial Dome Spine!
If the Celestial Dome Spine were utterly destroyed, what would happen?
Fang Yuan did not know, but it certainly would not be anything good.
He tried to act, commanding the Ten Thousand Year Fighting Flying Chariot and activating the Dawn Breaker Sword Swarm to launch an assault on the black fire.
Just as he had anticipated, the black fire was like an ocean — his attacks were merely pebbles cast into the sea, unable to stir even the slightest ripple.
Fang Yuan attempted this for a good while before helplessly giving up. Even a figure of his caliber felt powerless.
This was the difficulty of a super-tier mission.
Fang Yuan considered the situation briefly, then departed the area and returned to Guidance Island, before making his way to the Undersea Grand Formation.
Shen Shang was still conscious, so Fang Yuan informed him of the situation with the Celestial Dome Spine.
"Do you have any recollection of this place?" Fang Yuan asked.
Shen Shang shook his head in distress. "Not the slightest. However, this must be connected to my black fire in some way. If we can unravel the mystery of the black fire, we may be able to see through the Blessed Land Immortal Venerable's original schemes, and the deepest secret within Dragon Whale Paradise!"
After saying this, Shen Shang paused. "I would like to see it for myself. May I?"
"Of course." Fang Yuan agreed immediately. Having told Shen Shang of the situation, he had no intention of hiding anything.
To attempt a super-tier mission of this magnitude, his own strength alone was far too meager. He needed to gather the power of every Gu Immortal available.
Before long, the assembled immortals gathered together and arrived at the Celestial Dome Spine.
Upon witnessing the vast sea of black flame clouds overhead, the immortals' expressions shifted in awe.
They attempted to purge the black fire, but progress was negligibly slow. It seemed the greater the scale of the black fire, the more difficult it became to eliminate.
Among the assembled immortals, only Shen Shang's human path methods showed any notable effectiveness — all others were overshadowed by comparison.
After the effort to clear the black fire continued for several days, the Flower Butterfly Immortal was the first to reach her limit.
Not because her physical or mental state had deteriorated, but because her immortal essence expenditure had been too great.