Supreme Immortal Aperture, Small Central Continent.
A brand-new Time Path immortal formation had been deployed to a critical stage.
"Go." Fang Yuan's mental will moved, and a large mass of Epiphyllum essence honey cascaded onto it.
This was Eighth Transformation Time Path immortal material.
The next instant, brilliant light erupted, transforming into countless motes of light that suddenly expanded outward. With a boom, it burst like a silvery-white firework.
The motes of light dissipated swiftly, leaving no trace—as if the grand formation Fang Yuan had painstakingly constructed had failed utterly.
However, when Fang Yuan activated his investigative killing move, he saw the phantom of a pool hovering in mid-air. This pool bore a resemblance to the Year Pool, but was far smaller, only a tenth its size.
Fang Yuan observed it for a moment, then nodded with satisfaction. This formation deployment had been quite successful.
He immediately directed his will, and the Eighth Transformation Year Pool in the Small Nine Heavens opened its floodgates. A tributary of Time wound its way downward, flowing into the newly constructed branch pool.
When the Time stream in the branch pool had accumulated to a certain depth, it began operating on its own. The water seeped through the bottom, pouring into the ground directly below.
At the very bottom of the branch Year Pool lay a stretch of thick white mist. Beneath the mist, on a shallow bank, grew a great number of wild plants—Tai Ze Flowers.
Some of these flowers stood upright as buds, large as houses. Others had bloomed, their petals fused together into a trumpet shape, from whose heart tendrils of white mist constantly wafted outward.
This was precisely the Flower Mist Tai Ze Shoal that Fang Yuan had painstakingly created.
The food required by the Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu, Regret, was fresh Tai Ze Flower Mist.
The tributary of Time flowed down and immediately accelerated the passage of time across the entire Flower Mist Tai Ze Shoal. The Time stream continued to spread outward, but a ring of pale-blue translucent light walls rapidly manifested around the shoal's perimeter.
Thus, the time-acceleration effect was confined entirely within the area enclosed by the light walls.
"Success. Quite perfect." Fang Yuan inspected everything several times, found not the slightest problem, and felt greatly satisfied.
The pale-blue translucent light walls were a remarkable technique Fang Yuan had obtained from the Time Differential Grotto-Heaven.
Every major resource point in the Time Differential Grotto-Heaven was structured this way—wrapped in light walls, with the time flow inside accelerated many times over relative to the outside. This was what made the Time Path resources in the Time Differential Grotto-Heaven so extraordinary in yield.
Building upon the existing foundation, Fang Yuan had added branch Year Pools, each one responsible for regulating a single Time Path zone. The Eighth Transformation Year Pool served as the main dam, while these branch Year Pools functioned as auxiliary dams. The tributaries of Time drawn from the Long River of Time first flowed into the Year Pool, then the largest branch spread across the entire immortal aperture, while numerous smaller tributaries fed into the auxiliary dams to accelerate resource production.
In this way, Fang Yuan's resource output could multiply tenfold once more!
Of course, this method was not limited to accelerating resource production—it could also be applied to Gu insects.
In a Time Path zone with slowed time, the food requirements of Gu insects dropped significantly.
This method yielded negligible results in the hands of other Immortal Gu Masters, for a simple reason—Dao Mark interference. Time Path zones were fundamentally Time Path methods. If the Gu insects affected belonged to other Paths and possessed high transformation levels, the effect diminished proportionally.
Fang Yuan, however, possessed Freedom Dao Marks, which reduced internal friction. After testing, he found the results surprisingly effective.
On one hand, it reduced the food requirements of his Gu insects; on the other, it increased his resource output. Fang Yuan's Gu food crisis passed without incident before it even had a chance to erupt.
Ancestor Qi Sea had departed, but in the past few days, Fang Yuan had not been idle.
The Immortal Gu Masters of the Eastern Sea had fallen in battle, and nearly all the immortal aperture blessed lands left behind on the seafloor had been devoured by him.
As for the grotto-heavens within the Two Ancient Heavens, Fang Yuan intended to keep them for the time being.
On one hand, the Supreme Immortal Aperture required food. Absorbing one grotto-heaven at regular intervals would reset the calamity countdown, giving Fang Yuan greater flexibility.
On the other hand, grotto-heavens were like potted plants—ideal for cultivating Qi Gong Fruits. Though the chances were slim, if the Qi Gong Fruit continued to grow, it would not only constrain the Alien Species Grand Alliance from top to bottom, but also nourish his Qi Sea clone.
As for the three grotto-heavens Fang Yuan had previously absorbed—those had been essential.
Fang Yuan's Immortal Essence reserves were far too low, and he needed massive replenishment.
For an Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu Master, relying solely on Immortal Essence Stones to replenish Immortal Essence was too inefficient. The superior method was self-production.
But immortal aperture Immortal Essence production depended on the aperture's origin, and the vigor of that origin was gauged by the aperture's development level.
To raise that development level, Fang Yuan had been compelled to absorb three grotto-heavens.
The Battle of Destiny had consumed a vast portion of Fang Yuan's Immortal Essence reserves. Afterward, he had been unable to rest even for a moment, dashing through the Qi Tide in search of methods to counter the Dao Marks of the Heavenly Dao. Having found one, he entered the Heavenly Court—and was immediately plunged into a pursuit battle.
During this period, Fang Yuan had fought far too frequently, and nearly every battle had pitted him against the strongest opponents in the Immortal World. The intensity had been staggering.
By now, his Immortal Essence reserves had fallen below the warning line. For the short term, he truly needed to recuperate and could fight no more.
"Thankfully, I seized the Year Pool. With Time Path methods in abundance, I was able to push the immortal aperture's time flow to its absolute limit. Otherwise, my Immortal Essence would have been completely depleted long ago."
"If only I had the Eighth Transformation Heavenly Origin Treasure Emperor Lotus. Then I wouldn't need to worry about this."
The Heavenly Origin Treasure Emperor Lotus Immortal Gu could produce Immortal Essence. In history, Immortal Venerable Yuan Lian, who had possessed it, was the Immortal Venerable with the most abundant Immortal Essence reserves of them all! From the very beginning of his cultivation, Yuan Lian seemed never to have worried about shortages of True Essence or Immortal Essence. By contrast, his enemies, locked in attrition against Yuan Lian, frequently found themselves in the desperate situation of True Essence and Immortal Essence running dry.
Fang Yuan's current Immortal Essence shortage was, in fact, severely hampering his recovery.
Exploring the Dream Realm required Immortal Essence.
Practicing the Soul Path required Immortal Essence.
He had lost many Immortal Gu and needed to forge replacements. The low-transformation Immortal Gu were numerous and required refinement upgrades. Damaged Immortal Gu needed rapid repair through Refinement Path means, which also required Immortal Essence.
Because Immortal Essence was scarce—and he had to reserve the last of it for emergencies—all of these cultivation efforts had to be shelved for the time being.
Only the planning of composite killing moves could still proceed, since the difficulty was genuinely manageable. Testing new killing moves undoubtedly required Immortal Essence as well, but that alone fell within what Fang Yuan could tolerate.