Eastern Sea.
Fang Yuan exhaled a breath of turbid qi.
"This time, I managed to keep it hidden again."
Just moments ago, Stellar Venerable had activated an investigative killer move to probe Fang Yuan's true situation.
Heavenly Secret Confusion had once again proved its worth, helping Fang Yuan conceal the truth.
The Heavenly Dao...
Giant Sun Venerable not understanding the Heavenly Dao was one thing, but for Stellar Venerable to be deceived time and time again—she had once merged her body with the Dao, influencing and even altering the Heavenly Will.
"She was actually fooled by me as well. Is it because the Heavenly Dao is too profound, or because her resurrection came with hidden flaws—at least in regards to the Heavenly Dao, she didn't inherit the foundation of her previous life?"
"The power of Stellar Venerable's investigation just now was stronger than ever before. The likelihood that she has fully refined the Dao marks of Heaven's Court is quite high."
Fang Yuan merely speculated in silence, without activating any investigative methods of his own.
Fang Yuan examined his Supreme Immortal Aperture.
The Earth Path Dao veins had already been constructed through the third ring.
The Wind Path and Flame Path Dao veins were also nearly complete—just a few more would finish the first ring of complete Dao veins.
Several transactions in Treasure Yellow Heaven had been completed, exchanging for some resource points. The Fang Family's contributions were the main driving force; without them, progress wouldn't have been nearly this significant.
The Western Desert had exceptional Dao marks in the Flame Path, Earth Path, and Wind Path, which was why resource points for these three major paths were relatively plentiful.
The Fang Family had been backed into a corner and had no choice but to cut their losses to survive.
The Supreme Immortal Aperture had gained a great deal, but this constant expansion kept it in a perpetually dangerous state.
Currently, Fang Yuan had slowed the pace of acquiring Earth Path resource points and shifted focus to resource points of other paths.
According to his calculations, he should first bring every type of Dao vein to an initial stage—each with at least a first ring's worth. Once that was achieved, it would have an immediate stabilizing effect on the entire Supreme Immortal Aperture.
"The Supreme Immortal Aperture is unstable, abnormal incidents occur frequently, and the Gu Immortals inside have been pushed to their absolute limit. Even after recently recruiting six shark-women immortals, it still wasn't enough."
Over this period, several more Gu Immortals had burned out.
Fortunately, Fang Yuan had constructed the Treatment Hall; otherwise, if Gu Immortals took too long to recover, the situation within the Supreme Immortal Aperture would collapse entirely, ultimately forcing his main body to intervene personally.
"I need to increase my Gu Immortal manpower."
It was true that Venerables were invincible, but with three Venerables currently locked in a standoff, the situation was considerably more complex.
As things stood, the foremost task for all three Venerables was to refine the natural Dao marks.
But the scale of natural Dao marks in heaven and earth was terrifying. For all three to fully refine them would take an extraordinarily long time.
Giant Sun Venerable, who had made the most progress so far, was still hard at work refining the Dao marks of the Northern Plains.
The three Venerables were nowhere near a decisive battle.
Because Eternal Life and Heaven's Court had been refined, Giant Sun Venerable and Stellar Venerable now had stable bases of operations. Even if the other Venerables allied against them, they couldn't form a sufficient advantage.
Without a clear advantage, launching a premature battle would be extremely unwise.
The Venerables would never do such a thing.
So for a considerable stretch of time to come, each Venerable would need other Gu Immortals to assist them, to handle tasks on their behalf.
Because of these circumstances, even ordinary Gu Immortals held significant value for the Venerables.
This value during the standoff period was quite substantial.
Even though Fang Yuan was a Refinement Path Venerable—capable of refining any Eighth Transformation or lower Immortal Gu at will, and able to construct numerous Immortal Gu Houses—he still couldn't replace Gu Immortals.
One need only look at the recent Fang Family conflict to see that clearly.
What truly determined the outcome wasn't Immortal Gu Houses, but individuals like Fang Gong and Wangu Chou.
For powerful Gu Immortals, once an Immortal Gu House's patterns were figured out, it became rigid and inflexible, easy to counter.
Whether it was the Fang Family's "Roof Tile Removal" killer move or the Zuoqiu Family's "Scattered Sand," both could suppress Immortal Gu Houses.
So it all came down to people.
Gu were the true essence of heaven and earth, and humans were the most spiritual of all living things.
Having more Immortal Gu was certainly good, but the human factor was equally important.
Fang Yuan needed a large number of Gu Immortal subordinates.
On one hand, during the Venerable standoff, having enough followers at his disposal would be very convenient—especially when refining natural Dao marks and unable to extricate himself.
On the other hand, managing the Supreme Immortal Aperture required a large number of Gu Immortals to suppress the abnormal incidents.
Giant Sun Venerable and Stellar Venerable also needed Gu Immortals.
On one hand, during the Venerable standoff, Gu Immortals could help handle certain affairs. For instance, when Stellar Venerable was refining the Dao marks of Heaven's Court, Jun Shenguang had ventured deep into the Two Heavens to gather stars.
On the other hand, both Eternal Life and Heaven's Court were attempting to nurture a second Venerable.
With the Fate Gu destroyed, it was entirely possible for a new Venerable to emerge. As for Giant Sun Venerable and Stellar Venerable themselves, due to Dao mark repulsion, neither could become a second Venerable.
But how could he increase his Gu Immortal manpower?
Recruiting Gu Immortals from the Five Regions would be the most convenient approach.
But this carried significant risks.
On one hand, these Gu Immortals might be moles carefully planted by other Venerables. Fang Yuan had already taken a risk when he recruited the six shark-women immortals earlier.
If recruiting from the Five Regions, Fang Yuan would prefer non-humans.
After all, non-humans were naturally inclined to stand against Heaven's Court and Eternal Life.
Besides recruiting external Gu Immortals, Fang Yuan's primary method was ascension—cultivating his own Gu Immortals within the Supreme Immortal Aperture.
This approach had both advantages and disadvantages.
The benefit was that the loyalty of these Gu Immortals could be more reliably ensured.
The drawback was that cultivating Gu Immortals took a very long time. As the saying goes, distant water cannot quench a present fire.
However, one advantage Fang Yuan had over the other Venerables was that his Supreme Immortal Aperture didn't exclude the Time Path, so the flow of time could be easily adjusted. Among all the Venerable apertures currently in existence, the Supreme Immortal Aperture's time flow was considerably fast—almost certainly the fastest.