Fang Yuan suppressed his excitement.
The quality of the immortal material in his hand was so high that even in his previous life, he had never obtained anything like it.
This quasi-Ninth Transformation Gu Refining immortal material contained so many Dao marks that their radiance was visible to the naked eye.
Though Fang Yuan was no Grandmaster of Gu Refinement, he understood one thing — immortal materials could be refined into Immortal Gu because they contained abundant Dao marks.
Humans are the spirit of all things, and Gu Insects are the true essence of heaven and earth.
Gu Insects are the vessels of the Great Dao. Why do they possess such power? It is because the tiniest Gu Insect carries within it a wealth of Dao marks.
Dao marks are the imprints of the Heavenly Dao. It is precisely this that allows Gu Insects to unleash their various wondrous abilities.
The more Dao marks a Gu Insect carried, the higher its Transformation level, the more wondrous and profound its power.
Refining an Immortal Gu meant extracting the specific portions of Dao marks from countless mortal Gu and immortal materials, then concentrating them in one place.
Now, the immortal material in Fang Yuan's hand possessed an extraordinary number of Dao marks — theoretically, it was sufficient to refine an Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu!
Even taking just a corner or a small fragment would be enough to refine a Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu.
The Dao marks on an Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu were tens of thousands of times those on a Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu.
"Of course, this piece — likely the wing of a Spotted Tiger Bee — primarily contains Metal Path Dao marks. If I wanted to refine a Metal Path Immortal Gu, this would be extremely useful. Unfortunately, it won't help much with refining the Star Thought Immortal Gu at present."
Fang Yuan carefully stored this precious immortal material away.
Not needing it now did not mean he wouldn't need it in the future.
Even if he never needed it, immortal material of such quality placed in the Treasury of Yellow Heaven would undoubtedly cause a sensation — there would be no shortage of buyers.
"Since entering this Gu formation, I've finally reaped some rewards."
Fang Yuan's mind grew lively, and schemes began to stir.
He didn't rush toward the center. Instead, he began searching across the purple sand wasteland.
Sure enough, moments later, while hovering in midair, he made another discovery!
In the purple sand, a piece of white gauze — like a handkerchief — caught his eye.
He quickly descended and approached for a closer look, and joy immediately flooded his heart.
The aura could not be faked — this was another Eighth Transformation immortal material!
Though its quality was slightly inferior to the bee wing before, as it had not produced a halo of Dao marks.
Fang Yuan picked it up, and just as he suspected, the immortal material was not damaged after separating from the purple sand.
"It seems that at this level of quality, immortal materials can no longer be assimilated or decomposed by the power of the purple sand."
Fang Yuan squeezed it and found the material to be remarkably soft, pliable enough to be kneaded and reshaped at will.
"So it's not gauze at all. It's a piece of... cloud?"
Fang Yuan examined it closely, greatly surprised.
It resembled a fragment of cloud, yet it contained an immensely vast reservoir of Cloud Path Dao marks.
"Could this be...?" A sudden thought struck Fang Yuan. He activated his Gu Insects, opened his mouth, and exhaled a puff of ordinary water mist.
The immortal material, shrouded in the mist, became weightless, lifting free of Fang Yuan's palm. It drifted into the air, transforming into a small, phoenix-shaped wisp of white cloud. Its wings vibrated gently as it glided gracefully through the air.
Fang Yuan's body trembled, then he was overcome with elation: "Indeed! This is a body fragment of the Primordial Desolate Beast — the Cloud Phoenix!!"
His heart pounded with excitement.
The Cloud Phoenix was no creature of the Five Domains. It was a wondrous species that existed only in one of the nine Primordial Heavens — the White Heaven.
It was not born of phoenix bloodline. Rather, it originated from ancient clouds in White Heaven that endured for tens of thousands of years without dissipating. When such a cloud was touched by the aura or blood of a phoenix, it gradually transformed from a mere cloud into a living being.
Thus, its body was utterly unique — neither ordinary flesh and blood, nor truly cloud. Something in between.
The Cloud Phoenix fragment Fang Yuan had obtained was probably less than one ten-thousandth of the Cloud Phoenix's true form, yet the Cloud Path Dao marks within it could serve as the primary refining material for a Sixth Transformation Cloud Path Immortal Gu more than a dozen times over!
The discovery of the Cloud Phoenix fragment confirmed his earlier speculation.
He continued searching, and after circling almost the entire purple sand wasteland, his harvest was substantial.
Taking stock, he had collected a total of eighteen such immortal materials, their Dao marks spanning most of the major Gu Path traditions. Among them, three pieces contained rich Star Path and Wisdom Path Dao marks, which would be enormously helpful for refining the Star Thought Immortal Gu.
With these three pieces, Fang Yuan could entirely discard the Burning Heaven Demoness and refine the Gu on his own.
Of course, with the change in materials, the recipe for the Star Thought Immortal Gu would need drastic revisions. But Fang Yuan wasn't worried — he had the Wisdom Path halo to aid him, and he was already a Wisdom Path Grandmaster. The calculations would not be difficult!
"The immortal materials I've collected are priceless, yet each is merely a fragment of its original body. The Gu Immortal who arranged all of this used so many precious materials — could they have been attempting to refine a Ninth Transformation Immortal Gu?"
Fang Yuan couldn't help but wonder.
As he gathered the immortal materials, he gradually began to notice certain clues.