Multi-layered Gu Formation
Fang Yuan finds a quasi-rank nine material, its dao marks bright enough to see with the naked eye, of a quality he never owned even in his previous life. More dao marks give a Gu worm higher rank and power. In theory this fragment could refine a rank eight Immortal Gu, or, from just a tiny sliver of it, a rank six. This bee wing, resembling a tiger-striped honey bee, carries mainly metal path dao marks, suited to a metal path Immortal Gu, not the star thought Immortal Gu he wants. He collects it anyway, since even unneeded it would stir a huge commotion in treasure yellow heaven and certainly sell. ch. 936
He soon finds a second rank eight material, slightly lower in quality, with no visible dao-mark light. It does not disintegrate once out of the sand; materials of this level, Fang Yuan judges, no longer feel the purple sand’s power. He finds it very soft, moldable into different shapes, holding a huge amount of cloud path dao marks. A breath of water vapor lightens it, and it floats into the shape of a tiny cloud phoenix. Fang Yuan recognizes a fragment of the immemorial desolate beast cloud phoenix. It is not a lifeform of the five regions, but an ancient cloud of white heaven that becomes a living being after a phoenix’s aura or blood spreads through it, its body neither flesh and blood nor cloud. It is only a small fraction of the true body, but its cloud path dao marks can serve as the main material for refining a rank six Immortal Gu at least ten times. ch. 936
Circling the whole desolate land, he gains eighteen immortal materials in total, their dao marks spanning most Gu paths. Three carry heavy star path or wisdom path dao marks. With those three alone, Fang Yuan could do without Blazing Heaven Demoness and refine star thought Immortal Gu himself. The recipe would need adjusting, but as a wisdom path grandmaster he expects no difficulty there. ch. 936
Piecing the site together, Fang Yuan concludes it once held an incredibly profound refinement path Gu formation, whose maker likely attempted an immensely powerful Immortal Gu. The refinement failed. A huge explosion followed, destroying the formation and most of the materials gathered for it, leaving only scattered fragments. The maker is most likely dead, he reasons, since the site would not otherwise sit unmaintained so long. Even as remnants, materials at this level are valuable enough to move rank eight Gu Immortals, Old Ancestor Xue Hu among them, who bankrupts himself on supplementary materials for his rank eight fortune rivalling heaven Immortal Gu and robs the zombie graveyard instead. ch. 936
At the unexplored center, Fang Yuan hopes for a revival method, a way to shed his immortal zombie body that rumor once promised. He is slightly disappointed to find none. Here the sand runs finest, with no materials left. But his own investigation turns up a buried Gu formation, confirming this as the site’s central control area. ch. 936
Judging the design the work of a formation path great grandmaster, Fang Yuan realizes the refinement formation is central, with the space path structure only a supplement. He also finds defensive formations, and several food path formations meant to keep countless Gu worms fed. Two or three still function, perhaps why the outer space formation still works. A phantom path formation nearby is already destroyed, its two or three mortal Gu barely alive, kept going only by the food path formation beside it. He recognizes the design from Dong Fang Chang Fan’s phantom formation at the battle of Tai Qiu, and reasons it hides a Gu formation from attack, perhaps why this one survived the blast. ch. 936
Refinement path Gu Immortals of such attainment keep supplementary formations around their main one, Fang Yuan reflects, and Snowy Mountain blessed land’s own multi-layered formation of twelve is his example, called the best for refinement path in Northern Plains’ demonic path. He could build such formations too. They would stay very superficial, though, since his own formation path attainment is very low. ch. 936
