Having consumed this piece of Heavenly Dao Immortal Material, Fang Yuan's Supreme Immortal Aperture immediately gained nine Heavenly Dao marks.
A catastrophic tribulation that had plunged Shi Zong to despair, when fully converted back into Heavenly Dao marks, amounted to a mere nine. And this tribulation's power far exceeded the average — normally, the Heavenly Dao marks yielded after conversion would be fewer than nine.
"Probably around seven," Fang Yuan estimated.
This was incomparable to the gains from devouring two Heavens.
Every time he devoured a two-heaven grotto-heaven, Fang Yuan harvested several thousand Heavenly Dao marks. He had continuously devoured grotto-heavens, and his Supreme Immortal Aperture had already reached its limit, with a development rate as high as eighty percent.
The Heavenly Dao marks he now possessed had already surpassed two hundred thousand!
Because of his grand plan of Refinement Path supremacy, he had focused on devouring Refinement Path grotto-heavens, resulting in the greatest number of Refinement Path marks — over six million!
"Right now, the Supreme Immortal Aperture cannot swallow any more grotto-heavens. So I can only use this method to increase my Heavenly Dao marks."
"Though each increase is small, Gu Immortals undergoing tribulation are endlessly numerous. With this approach, I can certainly accumulate small gains into great ones, turning drops of water into an ocean."
In the long run, the path of helping Gu Immortals undergo tribulation was actually more promising.
Two-heaven grotto-heavens had accumulated their foundations over hundreds of thousands of years. But each one Fang Yuan devoured was one fewer.
Whereas Gu Immortals were an inexhaustible supply.
Shi Zong had succeeded in his tribulation, advancing from Seventh Transformation to Eighth Transformation.
Upon returning to the Supreme Immortal Aperture, he was immediately greeted by numerous congratulations, as everyone inquired about the specifics.
Shi Zong had come prepared — on the day of his tribulation, he had used Information Path Gu Insects to record the complete footage.
These recordings spread throughout, sending shockwaves through the Gu Immortal community of the Supreme Immortal Aperture!
"Our Lord is this powerful?!"
"In an instant, he unleashed more than twenty Eighth Transformation killing moves — is he even human?"
"So this is the Totem killing move? It seems remarkably convenient!"
The Gu Immortals were initially captivated by the Totem killing move, and when the nest of thieves appeared, they cried out in unison.
In the end, when the All-Encompassing Yellow Dust Cloud was completely neutralized by Fang Yuan, the Gu Immortals were filled with emotion.
"Lord's methods are truly beyond imagination — he can actually cause tribulations to subside ahead of schedule."
"Throughout history, these tribulations have always had to run their full course before they could be pacified. But Lord Fang Yuan is so unfathomable, able to eliminate the tribulation entirely in advance."
"By that calculation, this task is a huge gain. Not only does it improve one's cultivation, but there's also a rather substantial amount of contribution to claim."
"Hold on — didn't you hear what Shi Zong said? Even though he succeeded in his tribulation and became an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal, he didn't gain a single new Dao mark."
"What? Something like that actually happened? No wonder this task comes with compensation contributions."
Shi Zong had not concealed the results. He had originally been somewhat hesitant, but after the tribulation, Fang Yuan had personally ordered him to make the true results public.
The news of no Dao mark increase was like a bucket of ice water doused over the heads of the excited and exhilarated Gu Immortals.
The Gu Immortals gradually calmed down.
This outcome required careful consideration.
Without Dao mark growth, the losses for a Gu Immortal were significant. After all, tribulations were the primary source of Dao mark accumulation.
For the next several days, there was no activity, but once Shi Zong used his contribution to exchange for two Seventh Transformation Earth Path Immortal Gu and three Earth Path killing moves, a second person stepped forward to take on the tribulation task.
Then, more and more Gu Immortals began to follow suit, and before long, a trend swept through the Gu Immortal community of the Supreme Immortal Aperture.
These Gu Immortals were, of course, shrewd — they had calculated everything clearly.
Although they lost a batch of Dao marks, the value of the contribution far outweighed the loss.
A Gu Immortal's combat power and their immortal aperture's environment would indeed weaken due to this loss of Dao marks, but Dao marks were only one factor among many.
There were numerous factors that determined a Gu Immortal's combat power. Immortal Gu, for instance, were the primary factor, and Immortal Path killing moves were far more important than several thousand Dao marks.
While the immortal aperture's environment would be affected, Gu Immortals could fully exchange for various immortal materials to cultivate more resource nodes and make up for the shortfall.
What pushed even more Gu Immortals down this path was that the exchange list contained specialized projects allowing Gu Immortals to provide their own immortal materials, spend a certain amount of contribution, and have Fang Yuan's clone deploy Food Path killing moves to add corresponding Dao marks for them!
For all these reasons, Gu Immortals undergoing tribulation came in an endless stream.
And so Fang Yuan's Heavenly Dao marks continued to increase.
Southern Border.
Kexin Hong soared through the clouds.
He was exchanging messages with a friend.
"You have no idea — all the surrounding Gu Immortals are taking on this tribulation task. Some are still far from their tribulation, yet they've already started choosing an item on the exchange list, having the Lord's Time Path clone accelerate the flow of time in their own immortal aperture! They're doing everything they can to get in on this task."
Kexin Hong read this and replied using an Information Path Immortal Gu: "Because the contribution from this task is quite generous, and whoever claims it first gains a head start, getting the initiative and entering a virtuous cycle. Look at that Shi Zong — he must be thriving lately. His strength has surged, allowing him to take on harder tasks, complete more of them, and earn more contribution faster."
"Too bad I received a compulsory mission this time — I must go on a diplomatic mission to the Wu Clan. Otherwise, I'd have been the very first to take on this task."
His friend quickly replied: "You must be careful this time. You're heading to the Wu Clan's stronghold to demand Hudi — that's a Heaven and Earth Secret Realm! And Wu Yong is the Lord of the Southern Alliance!"
But Kexin Hong was confident: "This trip, I have great hope of success. Even if I fail, Wu Yong certainly won't do anything to me. You haven't witnessed it yourself, so you don't truly grasp the Lord's imposing majesty. Alright, I've arrived — I'll contact you later."
Kexin Hong slowly descended.
Below lay Wuyi Mountain.
The Wu Clan's stronghold was situated there.