To activate the move Myriad Star Fireflies, at least sixteen Dao Marks were consumed, with no upper limit. The wider the area Myriad Star Fireflies encompassed, the greater its power — and the more Dao Marks it devoured.
But it was precisely this that made the move exceptionally formidable.
The Dao Marks were embedded in midair, forming a special battlefield that was extremely difficult to destroy. Once a Gu Immortal entered, every passing thought and notion would transform into Star Thoughts, which in turn generated more Myriad Star Fireflies. The longer it dragged on, the more powerful Myriad Star Fireflies became. It was a technique that skillfully converted the enemy's own strength into its power, then turned that power back against the enemy.
For the opposing Gu Immortal, the sensation was utterly revolting. It was like lifting a rock only to drop it on your own foot, or stabbing yourself with your own blade.
After grasping the operating secret of Myriad Star Fireflies, Fang Yuan understood something else.
No wonder Dongfang Changfan had relied primarily on schemes and calculations throughout history. Only when absolutely cornered would he engage in direct combat and deploy this move.
Because even Dongfang Changfan — the number one Wisdom Path Gu Immortal of the Northern Plains — could not use Myriad Star Fireflies as a regular tool. The cost was simply too enormous.
Once Dao Marks were consumed, they naturally did not regenerate on their own. The sources of Dao Marks were also extremely limited; the vast majority of Gu Immortals could only obtain large quantities of Dao Marks by surviving tribulations.
"This Myriad Star Fireflies is roughly on par with my current Immortal Killer Move, Myriad Self. Of course, Myriad Self still has vast development potential — something Myriad Star Fireflies cannot hope to match. I have no Wisdom Path Dao Marks on me, so unless I walk the Wisdom Path in the future, I'll likely never be able to use this move for the rest of my life."
Of course, there was one more critical factor.
This Myriad Star Fireflies move required three Wisdom Path Immortal Gu as its core.
Fang Yuan didn't have a single one.
When Dongfang Changfan had been defeated, he had detonated all of his Immortal Gu, leaving not a single one for Fang Yuan.
Among these three Wisdom Path Immortal Gu, the one Fang Yuan wanted most was the Star Thought Immortal Gu.
This Wisdom Path inheritance included over a dozen Immortal Gu recipes, one of which was the recipe for the Star Thought Immortal Gu. It even contained the insights and experiences of past inheritors on how to refine it — along with numerous accounts of their failures!
Once he had the Star Thought Immortal Gu, Fang Yuan wouldn't need to go through the great trouble of slowly accumulating Star Thought mortal Gu.
According to the records in the inheritance: consuming a single Green Grape Immortal Essence through the Star Thought Immortal Gu would produce at least one hundred thousand Star Thoughts.
Of course, if Fang Yuan activated the Star Thought Immortal Gu, the number of Star Thoughts he obtained would certainly be fewer than one hundred thousand.
Because all past inheritors of the Wisdom Path had possessed Wisdom Path Dao Marks, which amplified the Star Thought Immortal Gu's effects. Just as Fang Yuan, with his Strength Path [Dao Marks], could increase the power of the Great Hand Seal by a full twenty percent.
Twenty percent was actually on the low end. Typically, powerful Gu Immortals possessed Dao Marks that could multiply the power of Immortal Gu and Immortal Killer Moves — two-fold, three-fold, four-fold, even ten-fold or a hundred-fold!
The reason the gap between Eighth Transformation and Seventh Transformation was so enormous came down largely to Dao Marks.
The higher one's cultivation, the more terrifying the tribulations. And once one survived them, the more Dao Marks one obtained.
Fortune hides within misfortune, and misfortune harbors fortune. From a different perspective, the greater the power of heavenly tribulations and earthly calamities, the greater the potential benefit.
It could be said that once he had the Star Thought Immortal Gu, Fang Yuan's obstacles in computation would be greatly reduced. He would no longer need to be so meticulous and frugal, carefully rationing every Star Thought.
Moreover, with Fang Yuan's current wealth, he could actually afford the cost of using them.
But unfortunately, while Fang Yuan could afford the consumption of using Immortal Gu, he lacked the wealth to refine them.
Even after making a few fortunes, he was still a very long way from being able to refine Immortal Gu.
Immortal Gu were unique — they were fragments of the Great Dao's laws. Refining an Immortal Gu required enormous quantities of immortal materials and Immortal Yuan Stones.
More critically, when refining an Immortal Gu, you couldn't just prepare a single set of materials. You had to prepare many sets, because the success rate of refining Immortal Gu was miserably low!
Dongfang Changfan had been a generation's hegemon, the Northern Plains' foremost Wisdom Path Gu Immortal, commanding a super force for many years while secretly trading with the Heavenly Crane Sect for considerable support. Even so, at his peak, he had only possessed eight Immortal Gu.
Among those eight were side-path ones like the Essence Blood Immortal Gu and the Separated Shadow Immortal Gu. Of the dozen-plus Immortal Gu recipes recorded in the Wisdom Path inheritance, he had successfully refined only a small fraction.
Take Old Ancestor Snowy Beard or Lady Longevity — the former was currently the Northern Plains' number one Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal in combat power, and the latter was one of the Northern Plains' four great Refinement Path Gu Immortals. Both were considered to have deep foundations and extensive resources.
Yet to refine the Eighth Transformation Fortune Equal to Heaven Immortal Gu — even with Ma Hongyun available, which would save much of the process and many resources — the preparations would still consume nearly everything they owned. It was truly an all-or-nothing gamble!
As for Fang Yuan's current situation, refining Immortal Gu was simply out of the question. Even thinking about it was pure wishful thinking.
Aside from the Star Thought Immortal Gu, the other Immortal Killer Move Fang Yuan valued most from this inheritance was called Star Mist Veil.
This move's utility was that it enveloped the Gu Immortal in a perpetual layer of starlight mist, obscuring their face and figure so that outsiders could not see them clearly.
Of course, this was merely its external effect.