Western Desert.
The tranquil desert suddenly erupted, dust billowing into the sky as a colossal beast burst out from underground.
This beast had the body of a python, a crocodile's head, and six legs with sharp talons like an eagle's.
Dragon Crocodile!
An ancient-era Dragon Crocodile.
The Dragon Crocodile roared, its voice shaking the surrounding lands, but there was a trace of terror woven into its furious bellow.
Dragon Crocodiles had an innate talent for riding clouds and soaring through the sky. The moment it burst from the desert, it immediately shot upward.
But halfway up, the Dragon Crocodile's body suddenly seized. A pillar of fire erupted from its gaping maw, blazing toward the heavens.
The Dragon Crocodile let out a mournful wail and plummeted to the ground, crashing down and sending up a massive wave of sand.
It struggled in its death throes for a while, gradually growing still, until finally it lay motionless.
Before long, three Gu Immortals crawled out from its open crocodile mouth.
Two men and one woman — all Gu Immortals.
They hailed from the three great super-forces of the Western Desert: Shi Kang, Zuoqiu Yanming, and Tuoba Fengyan.
Shi Kang cultivated the Earth Path, while the other two cultivated the Flame Path.
Many Western Desert Gu Immortals walked the Flame Path.
"The last Dragon Crocodile is dead too."
"According to the agreement between our three families, this Dragon Crocodile should go to Sister Yanming."
The sole female immortal, Zuoqiu Yanming, nodded. She opened her aperture gateway and stored the ancient-era Dragon Crocodile's corpse inside.
She sent her divine sense sweeping through the aperture, and a smile crept across her face. "This ancient Dragon Crocodile's body is quite excellent — it's retained a great many Dao marks. Thanks to Brother Fengyan for devising such a clever method of dealing with our enemy."
"You flatter me," Tuoba Fengyan smiled. "Without Brother Shi Kang's abilities, we wouldn't have been able to enter the Dragon Crocodile's belly and take that risk. So the greatest credit for this battle belongs to Brother Shi Kang."
"Not at all, not at all," Shi Kang returned the smile with a modest wave of his hand.
Dragon Crocodiles originally inhabited the Ancient Black Heaven. But recently, the Ancient Black Heaven and White Heaven had been merging, completely upending the once-stable ecosystem. A pack of Dragon Crocodiles lost in the fighting and fled downward out of the Ancient Black Heaven.
They rampaged through one territory after another, passing successively through the lands of the Zuoqiu, Tuoba, and Shi families.
The three great families consulted with one another, each dispatching a Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal to eliminate the already-wounded pack.
Shi Kang, Zuoqiu Yanming, and Tuoba Fengyan joined forces, spending three days and three nights to finally wipe out every last Dragon Crocodile.
But just as the three were about to go their separate ways, they almost simultaneously received orders from their respective families.
"Oh? The Wan family wants to rally all the great families to jointly attack the Fang family?"
"Heh heh, so the first one who couldn't sit still is the Wan family after all."
"It seems the three of us are closest to the Wan family's territory — that's why we all received orders to serve as envoys."
The three immortals discussed briefly and immediately decided to travel together.
"Though we're not far from the Wan family, we still need to rest and recuperate first."
"Indeed. At the very least, we need to tend to our injuries."
"And the Dragon Crocodile corpses stored in our apertures need to be dealt with."
Shi Kang pondered for a moment, then smiled. "The two of us will be heading to the Wan family through the Myriad Mine Gobi. Our family's Gu Immortal, Shi Zhong, is stationed at that resource point — we could stop there to rest."
Conditions in the wild naturally couldn't compare to a resource point.
Almost every resource point had an immortal formation and was relatively safe.
Zuoqiu Yanming and Tuoba Fengyan exchanged a glance, then nodded to Shi Kang. Tuoba Fengyan said: "Then we'll have to trouble you for your hospitality."
Shi Kang laughed heartily. "You're welcome!"
The Myriad Mine Gobi stretched flat and featureless to the horizon. Cracked stone ground blanketed every inch, with not a blade of grass in sight.
But beneath the gobi's surface lay a different world entirely. Massive ore veins converged here, and over a hundred thousand Stone People lived and worked as miners, extracting various minerals for the Wan family Gu Immortals.
However, these Stone People were all mortals — Gu Masters at most — with limited ability. They could only extract mortal-grade minerals.
For this reason, the Shi family always stationed a Gu Immortal here to oversee operations, mining the immortal-grade ore.
This was a thankless assignment. Gu Immortals who were typically posted here were almost invariably those who had been sidelined by their families.
Shi Zhong was a textbook case.
Shi Zhong's father had betrayed the Shi family, inflicting severe damage — not only in lost resources but also in the deaths of Gu Immortals.
To earn the family's trust back, Shi Zhong had personally changed his name. Surname Shi, given name Zhong — "loyalty" — to demonstrate his unwavering devotion to the family. But even that hadn't helped.
At this very moment, Shi Zhong's divine sense was drifting through the Treasure Yellow Heaven.
In the Treasure Yellow Heaven, what drew Gu Immortal attention more than anything was that massive slab of Yuan Jing!
"That's the legendary Heavenly Secret Realm! In the battle for the Crazed Demon Cave, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable traded it to Refining Heaven Demon Venerable Fang Yuan. If only I could get even a small piece of it…"
Shi Zhong was deeply envious.
The reason he knew the origin of this Yuan Jing was, naturally, because Fang Yuan had publicized it.
The purpose was self-evident — to let everyone under heaven know: even Giant Sun Immortal Venerable trades with me, so what are the rest of you afraid of?
Of course, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had since been condemned as a Demon Venerable by Heavenly Court for creating and cultivating the Blood Path.