*Whoosh—!*
Fang Yuan shot forward like an arrow loosed from the bow, tearing a wake through the air as he flew at tremendous speed.
Below, immortal materials carpeted the mountains and fields as far as the eye could see, but Fang Yuan didn't so much as glance at them. These "dead" materials were utterly worthless.
Suddenly, Fang Yuan's gaze sharpened.
On the horizon, a desolate beast had appeared without warning.
The creature was as large as a small hill, lying prone on the ground, utterly motionless — a Scripture Turtle.
Fang Yuan was intimately familiar with this species. Just a while ago, he had successfully captured one in the fragment world of Central Continent's Starry Sky grotto-heaven.
He slowed his flight and banked smoothly toward the Scripture Turtle.
Drawing closer, Fang Yuan realized it was a Scripture Turtle that had been dead for quite some time.
It lay on the ground with its head drooping forward, more than half of it buried in the soft purple sand.
The way it had perished suggested the spine beneath its skull had been shattered — and from the state of its limbs, its flesh had grown extraordinarily lax.
Yet the expression frozen on its face at the moment of death was serene, almost peaceful, which sent an eerie chill through Fang Yuan.
"Among countless 'dead' immortal materials, a desolate beast's corpse lies here..."
Fang Yuan attempted to harvest the Scripture Turtle's remains.
A moment later, his heart sank as he watched a hard corner of its shell crumble to purple sand in his hands, scattering in the wind.
His eyes flickered with thought. After a few breaths' time, he departed the spot and resumed his aerial exploration.
Soon, he spotted a second desolate beast.
It was an Earth Spirit.
It had a human torso with a serpentine tail, a bat-like face, an upturned nose, and large protruding ears. Its entire body was pitch-black and covered in fleshy armor.
From its chest, fifty or sixty fleshy tentacles extended in every direction, each over six zhang long. The surface of every tentacle was studded with countless suction-cup organs, packed densely together.
At the tip of each tentacle was a blossom-like aperture capable of spraying a milky-white liquid of extreme corrosive power. Within the liquid lurked swarms of parasitic microorganisms, capable of burrowing directly through a person's pores, entering the body, and wreaking havoc from within.
The Earth Spirit's corpse was remarkably well-preserved, almost lifelike.
But when Fang Yuan tried to harvest the materials from its body, the same scene as before played out.
Fang Yuan was no longer surprised, muttering only, "The Scripture Turtle is a Central Continent species, while the Earth Spirit is mostly found in the Northern Plains..."
He left the spot and continued exploring.
Before long, Fang Yuan made yet another discovery.
"Sandalwood Sacred Elephants — and three of them!" Fang Yuan murmured in amazement.
The Sandalwood Sacred Elephant was a tier above the Scripture Turtle and the Earth Spirit.
It was an ancient desolate beast — a fully grown Sandalwood Sacred Elephant possessed combat power rivaling a Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal.
Long ago, at the grand auction organized by Qin Baisheng that had virtually encompassed the entire Northern Plains Gu Immortal community, someone had placed a bid on a Sandalwood Sacred Elephant's enormous egg, causing quite a sensation.
In the present-day five regions, Sandalwood Sacred Elephants had become quite rare — sightings were few and far between.
But right now, before Fang Yuan's eyes, lay the corpses of three Sandalwood Sacred Elephants.
Next, Fang Yuan discovered even more desolate beasts and ancient desolate beasts — their corpses scattered here and there on the ground, surrounded by clusters of brilliantly colorful or lushly green immortal material plants.
Howling Moon Heavenly Wolves, Star Desert Hounds, Golden Sand Black Steeds, Ice-Spike Divine Apes, White-Hoofed Dark Chargers, Nine Palace Cranes, Iron-Crown Eagles, Dragon Fish, Tusked Boars... creatures of the sky, the land, and the sea — all could be found here. It was like some grotesque exhibition of specimens.
The closer to the center he flew, the more corpses Fang Yuan found — the sheer numbers were staggering!
The Northern Plains' Coiled Mountain Goat Kings, the Southern Border's Phoenix-Feather Lava Crocodiles, Central Continent's Drilling Bears, the Eastern Sea's Mist Flower Turtles — desolate beasts and ancient desolate beasts from all five regions of the world, one might say every variety was represented.
"Hmm? A Void Bat." Fang Yuan involuntarily slowed his flight.
This Void Bat was a rare Space Path desolate beast, though it couldn't compare with the primordial-level Void Bat Fang Yuan had once encountered in the Northern Plains' Grand Mound.
"Half-Moon Qilin!" Fang Yuan's figure froze in midair.
The current Northern Plains Zombie Alliance branch kept a living Half-Moon Qilin, treasured by the entire alliance as a priceless gem.
"This ancient desolate beast looks like... a Celestial Cripple Hound?" After confirming several times, Fang Yuan settled on this answer.
He had never seen a Celestial Cripple Hound in person, having only glimpsed its appearance in ancient texts. This particular ancient desolate beast was a fierce creature that appeared only during daylight hours.
The more he saw, the more desensitized Fang Yuan became.
His knowledge was already vast and wide-ranging, yet there were many ancient desolate beasts and wild plants here that he simply couldn't identify.
"And this space — it's far more vast than I expected. I've been flying at such high speed for so long, yet I still haven't reached the edge of the Gu formation."
This was somewhat beyond Fang Yuan's expectations.
He had previously attempted to decipher this colossal Gu formation and knew it was primarily a Space Path construct.
Fang Yuan had estimated the spatial dimensions within, but now it was clear his earlier assessment had completely underestimated the formation's true power.
"It seems my previous deductions and attempts at unraveling it barely scratched the formation's true core."
"Whose work could this possibly be? It's simply unheard of! So many immortal materials — an oceanic quantity! Could this be the work of an Immortal Venerable or a Demon Venerable?"
Fang Yuan speculated in silence.
Even an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal would lack the ability to single-handedly construct something on this scale.