Dao Ke Dao Immortal Gu!
This immortal gu was round at both ends, pitch-black throughout, and divided into multiple segments. The moment Fang Yuan activated it, faint starlight began to radiate from its body.
Azure starlight washed over Fang Yuan's entire form.
He held his breath and focused his mind, observing carefully, remaining fully on guard against any unexpected developments.
Using gu was never safe. Many gu insects carried side effects or drawbacks.
Immortal gu were no different — in fact, because they were so extraordinarily powerful, their side effects and drawbacks were proportionally greater as well.
This was Fang Yuan's first time employing the Dao Ke Dao Immortal Gu. Though he had used wisdom-path methods to perform calculations beforehand, one could never be too careful.
At first, the starlight merely covered Fang Yuan's body. But after several breaths, it began to accumulate, flowing like a thin layer of water across every inch of him.
The luminous flow condensed from starlight grew thicker and thicker, gathering on his face, limbs, and torso.
Then, as time passed, the flow gradually diminished. After a dozen or so breaths, it slowed and faded to nothing.
The starlight radiating from the Dao Ke Dao Immortal Gu vanished without a trace, returning it to a state of utter blackness.
But within Fang Yuan's mind, a surge of information appeared, letting him know exactly how many dao marks resided on his body.
Snow Path and Ice Path dao marks were the most numerous — over sixteen thousand!
Fang Yuan's heart skipped a beat at this revelation.
A hundred dao marks could amplify the effect of a corresponding immortal gu by ten percent. A thousand dao marks could double its effect. So sixteen thousand ice and snow dao marks meant a sixteen-fold amplification!
This meant that whenever Fang Yuan used an immortal gu of the ice and snow path, its power would be extraordinarily potent. If a Gu Immortal with no dao marks on their body simply activated an ice and snow immortal gu, then Fang Yuan's version would be seventeen times as powerful!
The most critical point was that this seventeen-fold increase in power came with the same consumption of Green Ape Immortal Essence as any other Gu Immortal.
Unlike in the mortal market — when an immortal killer move's power surged by dozens or even hundreds of times, Fang Yuan's consumption of Green Ape Immortal Essence would also skyrocket by dozens or hundreds of times!
That was truly terrifying.
The reason Gu Immortals grew increasingly disparate in combat strength as their cultivation rose was precisely this.
Below the ice and snow dao marks, the next most numerous were Luck Path dao marks — over fifteen thousand!
"My Luck Path dao marks came mostly from absorbing the accumulation on Feng Jun's body. This man had a deep foundation — he had personally breached Mount Ji Immortal and directly obtained a large number of Luck Path dao marks through the inheritance."
"Oh, right. There was also a terrestrial calamity that spawned the Great Calamity Burning Wood. Surviving it added more Luck Path dao marks as well."
Below the Luck Path dao marks were Qi Path and Sound Path dao marks.
Both numbered over thirteen thousand.
"The Qi Path dao marks mainly came from Qi Zai — he was a Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal who cultivated primarily the Qi Path. Nearly all of his Qi Path dao marks fell to me after I absorbed them."
"The Sound Path dao marks came from Tang Song, who was also a Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal and a Supreme Elder of the Tang Family, one of the Eastern Sea's superpowers."
Fang Yuan thought for a moment and realized that the remaining paths with over ten thousand dao marks all came from the corpses of Seventh Transformation Gu Immortals.
Among them, Rule Path dao marks numbered around twelve thousand, originating from Chen Chi, a Rule Path Gu Immortal from the Black Mortal Grotto-Heaven.
Water Path dao marks stood at roughly eleven thousand, absorbed from the independent immortal Zhou Li's Water Path foundation.
Below those came Transformation Path and Strength Path dao marks, which together totaled over nine thousand — nearly ten thousand.
The remaining paths were a mixed bag.
Greater quantities included Wind Path, Wood Path, and Food Path.
"The calamities I survived included the terrestrial calamity Wind Blossom and the Spring Dawn Emerald Oriole, which accounts for the growth in Wind Path and Wood Path dao marks. But Food Path somehow has even more than both — it seems the Mysterious White Flying Salt Calamity added Food Path dao marks."
Smaller quantities included Earth Path, Time Path, and Information Path.
"Earlier, when I joined the Alien Race Grand Alliance, the method they used was an Earth Path technique that achieved an Information Path effect. That's why my Earth Path dao marks increased considerably."
"As for Time Path, that should be from the Hundred-Year Harmony pact I made with Chu Du — the situation is similar to the Alien Alliance."
"And these Information Path dao marks likely come from the oath of alliance when I joined the Lang Ya Sect."
The smallest quantity was Void Path, still at only one hundred — the base dao marks that came with the Supreme Immortal Body.
Fang Yuan analyzed these figures and in doing so gained insight into the nature of some calamities.
He summarized his findings.
The greatest number were ice and snow dao marks, followed in order by Luck Path, Qi Path, Sound Path, Rule Path, and Water Path — all over ten thousand.
Below those were Transformation Path and Strength Path.
Further down came Food Path, Wind Path, Wood Path, Earth Path, Time Path, and others.
"In combat, I mainly rely on Strength Path, Sword Path, and Time Path methods. 'We Have Met Before' and 'Blood Capital Immortal Gu' can only be considered supplementary."
"The Four Great Grandmaster Realms I've achieved are in Wisdom Path, Strength Path, Blood Path, and Transformation Path."
Fang Yuan cross-referenced this with his actual situation and couldn't help feeling a bit awkward.
The paths with over ten thousand dao marks were almost entirely different from his primary methods and his four grandmaster realms.