His own blessed land was also continuously collapsing and disintegrating, shrinking its territory. The black oil would be useful for him as well.
But to get this black oil, he had to go through the Corpse Alliance.
The Northern Plains Corpse Alliance's headquarters, Yin Liu Giant City, was built right above the entrance to the trench, with the alliance's greatest strength stationed there.
The Corpse Alliance sold a large amount of black oil every year, but they had fixed sellers. Low supply, high demand—it was a complete seller's market, just like the Courage Gu trade. So Fang Yuan couldn't get a foothold in this area.
Although he had formed an alliance with Fairy Li Shan and Hei Lou Lan, his power was too small to compare with super forces.
"In that case, I'll have to work from inside the Corpse Alliance. Taking on this mission is one way." Fang Yuan silently noted the black oil collection mission.
The discussion continued. The meeting hall was dimly lit, and even though most of the twenty-plus corpse immortals had only left their will there, the atmosphere was still heavy with yin energy.
The entire meeting lasted nearly a full day and night. Fang Yuan participated throughout and got a general understanding of the Corpse Alliance's standing in the Northern Plains.
Roughly speaking, the Corpse Alliance's position in the Northern Plains was only slightly below that of the super forces. But from many of the missions, it was clear that the righteous super forces were tacitly suppressing the Corpse Alliance. The Corpse Alliance had many collaborations with demonic Gu immortals, especially Great Snow Mountain Blessed Land, the headquarters of the Northern Plains demonic path.
The Corpse Alliance was a force that was neither fully righteous nor fully demonic.
This positioning had to do with its high-level members. All of the Corpse Alliance's high-level members were corpse immortals. Almost every corpse immortal wanted to regain a new life. These corpse immortals came from all walks of life, with various identities when alive. After death, they gathered together for the same goal.
Anything related to the goal of regaining new life, the Corpse Alliance was extremely interested in and would go to any lengths to obtain. This often encroached on the interests of the righteous path, and the Corpse Alliance frequently used many methods that the righteous path couldn't employ openly.
This also gave the Corpse Alliance another feature: many members but a loose structure.
The Corpse Alliance had over twenty members—a number that couldn't even compare to Great Snow Mountain Blessed Land. Although corpse immortals were usually weaker in combat than living Gu immortals, over twenty members was still a formidable force. If they were truly united, they would have become a super force long ago.
But the Corpse Alliance had a very low entry threshold. This was clear from how Fang Yuan himself joined. The corpse immortals had complicated backgrounds, making it hard to achieve unity.
That led to the recent situation where many corpse immortals were being extorted by Gu immortals.
After the meeting ended, Fang Yuan left a sliver of his will in the meeting hall. Then he followed Gu Ye to another hall to collect his Corpse Alliance token.
This token not only represented his identity but also recorded Fang Yuan's personal contributions to the Corpse Alliance.
In addition to the token, there was also a set of mortal information-path Gu worms, used for communication, transmitting Corpse Alliance missions, or important information about members joining, leaving, or dying.
Gu Ye wanted to take his leave and suggested Fang Yuan take a look around Yin Liu Giant City. Now that he had a token, he could move freely in the city.
But Fang Yuan wasn't ready to let him go yet. He dragged Gu Ye along for a walk and some casual chat, probing for information.
Fang Yuan focused his inquiries on the Northern Plains Corpse Alliance's leader.
She was originally a female corpse immortal, known as the Burning Heaven Demoness, with a cultivation of Rank Eight. She acted willfully and arrogantly, and her combat power was especially formidable.
Fang Yuan asked in what way she was formidable. Gu Ye only said one sentence, and Fang Yuan understood: "Her lifespan wasn't exhausted. She deliberately turned into a corpse immortal just to make a breakthrough."
Most corpse immortals were Gu immortals whose lifespans were nearly spent, forced into this last resort to prolong their existence.
Of course, it should be noted that Gu immortals had many ways to prolong their lives, not just turning into corpse immortals. For instance, wood-path Gu immortals could transform into tree-men.
But these methods usually had limitations. For example, strength-path or fire-path Gu immortals couldn't become tree-men.
Turning into a corpse immortal was the most common method, usable by Gu immortals of all paths.
This Burning Heaven Demoness hadn't become a corpse immortal because she was forced to—she did it deliberately. It was precisely to make a breakthrough and vastly increase her combat power.
Think about it: just how much did her combat power need to increase, what level of breakthrough did she need to achieve, for the Burning Heaven Demoness to make such a choice and willingly become a corpse immortal?
Clearly, this breakthrough had to be extremely significant—enough to make anyone covet it.
"There's a rumor going around in the Corpse Alliance that the leader actually already has a method to regain new life," Gu Ye said in a lowered voice, quite cautiously.
Fang Yuan smiled.
These rumors weren't groundless. Since she had voluntarily become a corpse immortal, it was entirely possible she really did have a way to regain new life.
Fang Yuan dug quite a bit of useful information out of Gu Ye. Combining this with what Fairy Li Shan had given him and what he had seen himself, Fang Yuan quickly sketched a rough outline of the Corpse Alliance in his mind.
Gu Ye still had the task of guarding the Old Earth Tree, so he finally took his leave from Fang Yuan in Yin Liu Giant City.
Fang Yuan left as well. Before leaving, he climbed to a high vantage point and gazed into the distance at the giant trench guarded beneath Yin Liu Giant City.