After flying to a distance, Fang Yuan descended to the ground.
From his immortal aperture, he released another large batch of stone people.
Both the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land and the Star Constellation Blessed Land had raised batches of stone people.
Fang Yuan had extracted the majority of them and kept them on his person. Now he released all of them to serve as workers.
"We pay our respects to the Immortal Lord!" The stone people greeted Fang Yuan in unison, bowing low to the ground.
Fang Yuan gave a curt grunt, his expression cold and distant, looking down from on high.
After issuing orders to the stone people to collect resources, Fang Yuan departed, concealing his figure as he secretly returned to the dream.
These stone people were all elites, carrying many Gu insects on their bodies.
These were all things Fang Yuan had deliberately prepared beforehand.
Armed by Fang Yuan, these stone people had a vastly improved fighting capacity. They moved in teams of ten, so even if they encountered squads from other sects, Fang Yuan had no worry that the stone people would come to any harm.
This was merely a layer of camouflage.
The externally manifested dream was the size of a small hill.
After concealing his figure and cautiously circling around to the back, Fang Yuan threw himself into the dream.
Last time, at the edge of Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's dream within the eighth star hall of the Starry Firmament Grotto-Heaven, he had nearly perished. Only after self-detonating his bat wings had he struggled free.
This time, however, he threw himself in of his own volition—all because he now commanded the Dream Dissolution killer move, his strength having skyrocketed beyond all previous measure.
His vision shifted abruptly.
Fang Yuan had entered Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's dream!
Night.
A towering bonfire blazed skyward.
Countless burly beastfolk surrounded a massive bonfire, leaping and dancing.
Awooooo...
Roarrooooo...
Some of the beastfolk had tiger faces atop human bodies, their gaping maws wide open as they roared toward the sky. Others sported iron-hard eagle beaks that let out piercing shrieks. Still others had leopard tails sprouting from their backs, which whipped into blurs of motion as they danced wildly.
"Is this... the Beastfolk Clan, which went utterly extinct in ancient times?" Fang Yuan steadied himself and identified the origin of the creatures before him.
The beastfolk were one branch of the Alien Races.
In the Primordial Era and the Antiquity Era, they had been the most formidable of all the Alien Race lineages.
The beastfolk possessed formidable combat strength. They worshipped savage beasts, and their culture was fierce and ruthless.
In particular, they could attract wild Transformation Dao Gu insects to parasitize them, enabling them to transform into half-human, half-beast forms that granted them a portion of a fierce beast's natural talents and power.
However, with the passage of time, the human race gradually rose to prominence. In the Primordial Era, Primordial Immortal Venerable and Star Constellation Immortal Venerable emerged to lead humanity against the Alien Races' dominion and establish human governance. By the Ancient Era, three great human Demon Venerables appeared in succession, extending their victories and utterly exterminating the Beastfolk Clan, cementing humanity's ruling position.
"Star Constellation Immortal Venerable was a Ninth Transformation Gu Immortal of the Primordial Era. That was precisely when humanity and countless Alien Race clans clashed in fierce battle for supremacy over the world. This truly is Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's dream!"
At this thought, Fang Yuan felt a stir of excitement.
He surveyed his surroundings and quickly discovered that within this dream, he had become a human boy.
He was bound by hemp rope, one end of which was secured firmly around the trunk of a great tree.
Tied up alongside Fang Yuan were over a dozen other humans—all young children.
"This is bad! The Beastfolk Clan is bloodthirsty by nature—they're also called the Man-Eaters. Historical records state that the beastfolk's favorite food is the flesh and blood of human children. Beastfolk tribes treated the surrounding humans as prey, venturing out to hunt every few days. After a successful hunt, they would hold a grand Fire Festival."
Realizing the dire situation, Fang Yuan struggled with all his might, but the hemp rope only tightened further.
The ropes dug into his body, leaving welts of blood. Intense pain spread through every part of him.
"It's no use. The more you struggle, the more it hurts."
"We're done for! We're all going to die!"
"Boo-hoo... I don't want to be eaten!"
The other human children around him reacted to Fang Yuan's desperate thrashing—some offered cold, indifferent warnings, while others wept in despair.
Just as the Fire Festival was reaching its peak, the beastfolk chieftain suddenly let out a thunderous roar: "Men! Bring up our most delicious morsels!"
Awooooo!
The other beastfolk threw back their heads and howled in unison.
An elephant-headed figure standing two zhang tall, who had been sitting on the ground, rose to his feet.
He extended his long, powerful trunk and uprooted the very tree to which the hemp ropes were tied, pulling it from the ground in one motion.
The tree trunk was hoisted high into the air.
The children bound to the ropes dangled like a string of tiny beads, their panicked cries filling the air as they were lifted off the ground.
The beastfolk roared again. The elephant-man who had so successfully demonstrated his prowess let out a hearty laugh, then loosened his trunk and slammed the tree trunk back down to the earth.
The children, powerless to resist, crashed down with it. Some of the unluckiest were crushed to death on the spot by the trunk.
The scent of blood spread outward instantly.
Several beastfolk, unable to contain their bloodthirsty urges, leaped into the fray and scrambled to seize the children's remains, stuffing them into their mouths to chew.
"Delicious!"
"The flesh of human children is so tender and smooth, hahaha!"
In their words, the savage and cruel nature of the Beastfolk Clan was laid bare for all to see.