Western Desert, Fang family territory.
"Open!" Mo Shata bellowed.
As his killer move surged forth, the immortal formation before him blasted open.
It was completely empty.
Not a single resource had been left behind. It was practically a wasteland.
Nothing remained.
"Again!" many Gu Immortals cried out in outrage.
"Stripped clean, everything's been stripped clean..." others muttered, their eyes glazed and distant.
"What a ruthless Fang family!" still other Gu Immortals snarled through gritted teeth, eyes blazing with fury.
"The Fang family alone doesn't have the manpower or methods for this. Refining Heaven Demon Venerable must have been pulling strings behind the scenes!" These Gu Immortals could only sound helpless.
This was the Fang family's last resource point.
Just like every resource point before it, nothing had been left for the Alliance Against Fang.
The Gu Immortals chattered noisily among themselves.
This was nothing like what they had expected!
The Fang family had not only stripped every resource point bare, but had also left behind immortal formations in their wake. These formations had been laid using natural Dao marks and constructed with immortal materials.
The Alliance's Gu Immortals would need to spend Immortal Essence to break through each one.
They would burn through vast amounts of Immortal Essence, only to end up with nothing.
Staring at the deep pits and barren wastelands, the faces of the Alliance's Gu Immortals were as dark as storm clouds.
Xiao Yehu no longer even had the energy to be angry.
He was filled with regret.
"If I had known it would come to this, I never would have gotten involved in this mess!"
Xiao Yehu's injuries had yet to heal, and more critically, his Gu house Night Urn had been destroyed.
It was not that he had gained nothing at all, but the spoils were far too meager. His losses were enormous.
Wan Guchou gazed upon the scene before her and sighed inwardly. She felt utterly helpless.
In her first life, she had never seen a great power so utterly without bottom line. This resurrection had certainly broadened her horizons.
She had led the Alliance Against Fang on their entire advance and hadn't seen a single Fang family Gu Immortal. They had broken through countless formations, only to find no resources in any of them. Worse still, some formations were viciously cunning—if you didn't crack them the right way, they would explode!
This was absolutely despicable!
Quite a few Gu Immortals had been injured as a result.
As for the Fang family's main base—it had been completely relocated, vanished without a trace.
This was a public blessed land! The Fang family actually had the means to relocate their blessed aperture!
On Earth there was a saying: the monk may run, but the temple cannot. Well, now the Fang family had moved the temple too.
Wan Guchou, of course, was not aware of this saying.
But her mood was equally grim.
Though the Fang family had been defeated, Wan Guchou felt no joy whatsoever—only deeper worry.
The Fang family had disappeared, yet they still retained ample fighting strength.
Now it was the Wan family and the other great powers who had to worry. If the Fang family were to launch a sudden assault on any resource point one day, the chances of holding it were slim!
Without these resource points to defend, the Fang family no longer needed to station Gu Immortals at each location. They could commit their entire clan to attack, fully transforming their passive position into the initiative.
Wan Guchou turned her gaze toward the Heavenly Court Gu Immortal.
In this situation, the interests of Heavenly Court and the Wan family were aligned.
In truth, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable had long since issued her command: the entire Fang family was to be annihilated.
And so, the moment Zhou Xiongxin noticed Wan Guchou's gaze, he declared without hesitation:
"The Fang family's actions amount to severing their own roots entirely. It is tantamount to a complete defection to Refining Heaven Demon Venerable. This only proves that the Fang family and Fang Yuan are birds of a feather—both are demons, both are a blight upon the world!"
"Spare us the speeches. What are we supposed to do next?" The other Western Desert Gu Immortals were having none of it.
Zhou Xiongxin smiled:
"Our esteemed Star Constellation Immortal Venerable had long foreseen this possibility. That is precisely why she dispatched me—to search for clues and track down the Fang family's whereabouts. Once we find them, the Alliance Against Fang will strike with its full might, and the Fang family will certainly be destroyed."
On the other side, Wan Zihong actually understood the Fang family's decision quite well.
Some time ago, she had proposed recruiting the Fang family to Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, but her suggestion was rejected. Wan Zihong had known then that the Fang family had no path to surrender. Heavenly Court was determined to make an example of them—and in their position, she would have done the same.
The Alliance Against Fang had been far too slow in their actions. They had given the Fang family—and Fang Yuan—ample time to relocate their resources.
The Alliance's optimal strategy would have been to attack the Fang family immediately.
But they had spent far too much time on internal deliberations.
Negotiations were inherently time-consuming, and it was not until a final plan for dividing the spoils had been thoroughly settled that the Alliance finally mobilized.
But Wan Zihong could understand.
Without doing so, the Alliance's Gu Immortals could not be assigned to their respective roles, let alone settle on a battle plan.
Benefits and risks were equal.
Only once the benefits were confirmed could they allocate assignments by benefit—deciding which family would take the vanguard and which would hold the rear. Only then would the Alliance possess any real combat strength.
After all, this kind of alliance had been formed far too hastily. The Gu Immortals participating came from various great powers, none of whom were willing to defer to another, and individual capability was overshadowed by the weight of one's background.
Without the promise of profit, the Alliance Against Fang could never have come together.
Just as before, the Wan family had been forced to lay their treasury bare before the other great powers would agree to send their people and form the Alliance Against Fang. After Wan Guchou's identity was exposed, they had used the Fang family's resources to attract even more Gu Immortals.
But without a clear division of benefits, the Alliance possessed no real fighting strength.
The moment battle came and the Fang family launched a fierce assault, the Gu Immortals would immediately shrink back. Without clearly defined rewards, no one was willing to take the risk.