While reaping his rewards, Fang Yuan had naturally also paid a heavy price.
Among the Minor Five Regions, the most prosperous — the Minor Southern Border — had already been more than half destroyed.
Ji Xian Mountain had been obliterated, scoured clean by the floodwaters. This immortal mountain was itself a mid-tier resource node that Fang Yuan had extracted from Hei Fan's Grotto-Heaven. It once possessed the power to guide mortals toward immortality.
Then there was Feng Tian Mountain. Built by Fang Yuan himself, it was squat and unremarkable in appearance. Its interior was hollow — he had once set up a Gu formation here to seal away the body of a Force Path Immortal Zombie.
Beyond these, over a hundred other peaks had been ravaged. The most significant losses were Inner Scenery Rain Mountain, Copper Seal Mountain, and Bone Bird Peak.
The summit of Inner Scenery Rain Mountain had always been shrouded in a layer of dark clouds, from which fine threads of rain drifted ceaselessly. But this rain was no ordinary precipitation — it was Inner Scenery Rain, a Sixth Transformation immortal material! This resource node had produced water-path immortal materials. Now it was nothing but rubble.
Copper Seal Mountain had been reduced to a mere shell. Originally, the mountain had been a vivid crimson, its shape square and imposing like a great seal planted upon the Minor Southern Border. Not a speck of soil had ever covered it — the entire structure was composed entirely of various types of copper.
These copper materials spanned mortal and immortal grades: among the mortal-grade coppers were Mixed Heaven Copper, Prajna Copper, Snowflake Copper, and others, while among the immortal-grade coppers were Dark Profound Copper and Ascending Dragon Copper.
Copper Seal Mountain's unique nature had made it a priority target even during the Forest Lightning of Ten Thousand Tribulations and Extinctions. Now it had been blasted to half its former height, blackened and charred, still smoking with traces of lightning flickering across its surface. The entire mountain had fused into a single molten mass, emanating a powerful acrid stench.
This mountain had once produced Domineering Copper — a Seventh Transformation immortal material! Alas, after such devastation, there would be no more.
As for Bone Bird Peak, it had once teemed with Flower-Wing White Bone Birds, brimming with vitality. Now the entire peak had collapsed. The Flower-Wing White Bone Birds had all been struck dead by lightning.
Thunder shattered mountains. Floods annihilated forests.
The vast quantities of Curved Beauty Wood that Fang Yuan had originally harvested from Hei Fan's Grotto-Heaven had formed the primeval jungles of the Minor Southern Border. After the Myriad Tribulations, what jungles remained? Let alone the exotic Vexing Birds or the fragrant Tea Stream within them.
The Minor Southern Border had been left in near-total devastation.
Only a handful of places, which Fang Yuan had specifically protected, remained.
Among them were the Silk Thread Cave, the Stalactite Cave, and the Dark Inkstone Ore Vein. These resource nodes were all located underground, making them relatively easy for Fang Yuan to defend. Moreover, Stone People inhabited all of them.
Fire Bird Mountain was an exception — its remote location had allowed it to narrowly escape disaster.
This mid-tier resource node housed fire-path avian creatures of many diverse species. Within its volcanic crater lurked a Fire Phoenix, imprisoned and suppressed by a grand formation. The mountain's Sunset Wutong trees absorbed magma through their root systems for nourishment; their branches swayed gracefully and their leaves gleamed brilliantly, radiating a beautiful luminescence reminiscent of a sunset glow — a truly rare and wondrous sight.
Beyond the Minor Southern Border, the other Minor Four Regions had also suffered severe damage.
The Stone Shoals of the Minor Northern Plains — which Fang Yuan had acquired by swallowing Han Dong's Blessed Land — had been completely swept away by the floods. The Pink Spirit Snakes that had lived within perished to the last.
The Dog Desert of the Minor Western Desert, which Fang Yuan had created using Liu Yong's Blessed Land, had been obliterated. The twenty-odd Wasteland Dogs within had been reduced to nothing but bone dust.
Even the Minor Central Continent, the Minor Eastern Sea, and the Minor Nine Heavens had been struck by the Myriad Tribulations!
Fang Yuan could no longer afford to worry about all of that.
The Myriad Tribulations was an existence that had claimed the lives of untold Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals. Throughout the vast sweep of history, it had been the primary cause of death for countless geniuses. If he handled it poorly, Fang Yuan's own life would be forfeit!
And Fang Yuan wasn't just contending with the Myriad Tribulations — he also had to fend off three hostile parties pursuing him from outside!
If abandoning some resources could improve the situation, why wouldn't he do it?
What mattered more — his life, or his resources?
The answer to that question was self-evident.
With his life, there was still hope and possibility.
Even in the worst-case scenario — even if Fang Yuan lost every last resource, even if his Supreme Lord body and all his clones perished — as long as he survived, as long as he weathered this crisis, even if he were left clinging to his very last breath, that was an outcome he could accept.
A true man refuses to break; what are success and failure worth measuring?
"At this point, the loss of these resources actually helps me. The Heavenly Way maintains ultimate balance — with my resource nodes destroyed, the Myriad Tribulations' power will decrease correspondingly. That means my efficiency in refining Heavenly Way Dao marks will only keep climbing. Hmm?"
Fang Yuan's expression suddenly changed.
BOOM!
A tremendous explosion rocked the An Tu Zhong Shan Fort, shattering hundreds upon hundreds of Gu insects into fragments.
This was a devastating blow that Qi Jue Demonic Immortal had been building power to unleash for a long time!
Qi Jue Demonic Immortal!
This old demon, who had once stood against Limitless Demon Lord in the ancient past, was truly ruthless. He possessed the terrifying capability to weaken and batter the An Tu Zhong Shan Fort. If left to continue his assault unchecked, the fort would inevitably be breached.
It wasn't that Lu Wei Yin and the Qi Sea Clone didn't want to intervene — it was that Ghostly Soul Reverend kept launching attacks, intercepting every one of them.
Ghostly Soul Reverend was wreathed in billowing black smoke, shifting between offense and defense. He flung out Primordial Soul Beasts by the cluster and unleashed eerie Soul Path killing moves. He not only protected Qi Jue, buying him ample time and space, but had further probed the Phantom Sand Shadow-Shift Battlefield and achieved entirely new results — he successfully stripped away yet another layer of the battlefield's transformations!
"Lu Wei Yin, Qing Chou, and the Qi Sea Clone are all attacking Ghostly Soul Reverend together, and he's still handling it with ease. And this level of Ghostly Soul Reverend is merely a remnant soul from the past — wounded, not having reached the peak state he enjoyed when he underwent his tribulation to refine the Supreme Immortal Embryo Gu."
Fang Yuan marveled inwardly.
Ghostly Soul Reverend's strength — he had now felt it in full.
"This can't go on. Wu Shuai, you join the fight too. Help them take down Ghostly Soul Reverend!" Fang Yuan ordered.
The current battlefield was starkly divided: Ghostly Soul Reverend and his two allies were trying to kill Fang Yuan. On the other side, Lu Wei Yin had inherited Le Tu's dying will and sought to eliminate Ghostly Soul Reverend.
Fang Yuan was the key target. Ghostly Soul Reverend was equally critical.
With less external pressure on himself at the moment, and with Ghostly Soul Reverend being the greater immediate threat, Fang Yuan did not hesitate to redirect his firepower.
Wu Shuai entered the battle!
In an instant, legion ants converged into a rolling river of insects, surging eastward as they closed in on Ghostly Soul Reverend.
Ghostly Soul Reverend diverted a portion of his attention, deploying killing moves to counter them.