Although the land belonged to the Southern Border, the scenery was different from what one would expect. The land that had once been filled with trees had turned into plains of dead yellow grass, and even the clay soil had become yellow like sand.
This was not strange; after all, the borders of Wu Clan were adjacent to the regional wall of the Western Desert, and the desert-like environment had spread from within the regional wall into some parts of the Southern Border.
"Look, the Red Dragon River! We can already see the Red Dragon River. We must fly at a low altitude, or the Blood Path beasts that live near the river will attack us!"
They had already arrived at their destination, and now they were close to the boundary between Wu Clan's territory and Yang Clan's territory. Fang Tian smiled tiredly; his mental energy had been completely drained during this journey, to the point that he was almost unable to continue.
But at least he had gained a good understanding of his group through repeated battles with beast groups and casual conversations. However, he did not try to understand them any further, nor did he want to. He was far too busy trying to find a solution to escape the fate of self-detonation and to prevent Wu Clan from turning into a vast forest of humans who had transformed into trees.
"Brother Jun Yun, get ready. We will cross the Red Dragon River shortly. At that time, use your Gu Worm to investigate the locations of Yang Clan's resource points…"
Jun Yun frowned at this. He understood that they had to cross the Red Dragon River to enter Yang Clan's sphere of influence, but that did not mean it would be easy to find their resource points, which were protected by Gu formations.
"I will do it, but are you planning to attack them?… This is a blatant provocation against Yang Clan, and as someone older than you, I advise you to follow the ways of the righteous path."
Wu Ji laughed as if she had heard a joke.
"Brother Jun Yun, what is your understanding of righteousness? Is it about following rules or what?… Let me ask you: what are the standards for righteousness and for the demonic? Forget it, let me tell you something… what we call righteous is righteous, and what we call demonic is demonic. Etch these words into your mind!… As for Yang Clan's resources, we are merely taking from them along the border. What's wrong with that? If they lose one or two resource points along with their resources, so what?"
"Wu Ji, that is demonic thinking!"
"Have you forgotten the clan's teachings, you insolent girl?!"
The fat Gu Master, Qing Mo, turned on Wu Ji and began scolding her, along with the woman in her thirties, Ying Yue. However, the remaining three—Fang Tian, Jun Yun, and the Poison Path Gu Master—remained neutral or sided with Wu Ji. In truth, this was Fang Tian and Wu Ji's plan, and Wu Ji merely acted as his mouthpiece; since Fang Tian was an external member of Wu Clan, his opinion would not carry much weight.
"You ignorant fools!… Do you really think the clan sent us to the borders of Yang Clan with vague instructions to investigate any suspicious movements for no reason? Why didn't they explicitly order us to defend our borders, or explicitly order us to attack? That's because they are allowing us to gain wealth from Yang Clan without consuming our own clan's foundation! Of course, we will have to contribute some of it to the clan, but so what!"
Wu Ji was an eloquent speaker on top of being a fierce fighter. After all, if she were not at least this capable, she would not be Wu Clan's young leader candidate.
And so, the decision to plunder Yang Clan's resource points was approved, though two people still remained unconvinced, causing Fang Tian to finally speak.
"Qing Mo, Ying Yue, what are you afraid of?!… Even if a Rank Four Gu Master appears, he won't be able to do anything to us! With our cooperation and coordination, all we need to do is suppress him for a while until his primeval essence runs dry. Then leave him to me—I'll teach him a lesson he won't forget if he survives!"
This time, Fang Tian's words were not particularly eloquent, but the idea still seeped into their minds, giving them a bit of reassurance. However, their resistance did not completely fade.
The speed of the giant silkworm slowed, and its altitude gradually dropped until only a few meters separated it from the waters of the Red Dragon River.
This was extremely dangerous.
Countless lifeforms of the Blood Path, Water Path, Poison Path, and Earth Path lived within the waters of the Red Dragon River. Each of them was extremely ferocious and highly territorial toward its domain, so venturing this close to the river was something that even Rank Five Gu Masters would not dare to do recklessly.
"This is too scary. Imagine some monster grabbing one of us off this silkworm."
"I hope it won't be me. I still have many more important things to do than being bitten to death by some monster."
"You're such a boring person, Fang Tian. You were more interesting at the start of our mission!"
Wu Ji complained and looked down from the silkworm at the blood-red waters surging powerfully toward the river's branches. The Red Dragon River was extremely vast; it was no exaggeration to say that it was one of the rivers that divided the Southern Border into regions. Its width spanned several kilometers, while its length stretched for thousands of kilometers, reaching the far edge of the Southern Border.
Using the Thermal Snake Gu, Fang Tian was able to see many strange lifeforms swimming at the bottom of the river. Fish whose outer bodies were covered in blood-colored scales that absorbed and fed on the river's waters, and sponge-like trees that exuded a dark liquid he could not identify.
The lifeforms in the river were bizarre and strange, yet perfectly adapted to the harsh environment.
"This is the beauty of nature. The more drastically the environment changes, the more creatures change to adapt to it… Although the foundation remains that Dao marks slowly carve themselves into the bodies of living beings, gradually transforming them into new species."
Fang Tian sighed and continued gazing at the river until the waters beneath them turned into land. Then he withdrew the flying Gu Worm into his aperture. They had finally entered Yang Clan's territory, and now they would plunder what they wanted and flee like thieves.
"But we still have to advance hundreds of miles deeper before we find a resource point belonging to Yang Clan, and even farther before we find one suitable for our strength."
This time, they moved on the ground, but due to their eagerness to plunder, they moved at great speed. It only took them one week to find their target.