It could not even be said that this was entirely a negative process. The gold that fell down to the ground would begin stimulating the growth of various Metal Path Gu worms and could also be used as a refinement resource. Likewise, the Sonic Pelican's corpse might end up generating small amounts of Sound Path resources in the waters where it had fallen. Not only that, but it had multiple Sound Path gu worms atop its corpse. Those at Rank 5 or Rank 4 could be refined and sold on Yellow Treasure Heaven. Additionally, its body parts could also be sold to Sound Path cultivators.
Fang Yuan was not particularly interested in any of those kinds of resources, but that was fine with him. The damage done was minimal, and if anything, perhaps this would finally convince those living on the Fang Yuan Continent to start cultivating gu worms. As with all paradigm shifts, sometimes it only happened when the old order was torn down.
Fang Yuan glanced over at his Vital Gu. Since Heaven's Will was already going to make its way in anyway, he had temporarily unsealed the Spring Autumn Cicada and allowed it to feed for the time being. Its withered body greedily gulped in the River of Time, preventing it from completely dying, but now Fang Yuan had to seal it once more and send it into hibernation.
This process could only be done a few times, however, before the Spring Autumn Cicada ultimately perished. Fang Yuan would need to find a solution before then.
With the calamity over, a large number of Human Path Dao Marks were added to Fang Yuan's body, and he relaxed slightly. A wind blew throughout his aperture as the addition of Human Path Dao Marks resulted in the creation of many new Human Path gu worms including more Relic Gu. Fang Yuan could harvest a few of them in order to recoup his losses from having used Ambition Triumphing Over Heaven. All in all, the move had cost him around fifteen beads of Grape Green Immortal Essence to use when considering all of the gu worms involved, ninety percent of which had been consumed once the move was done. Not only that, but it needed time to prepare given that he couldn't just stuff Ambition Gu with Immortal Essence, and that Relic Gu also needed time to prepare. That said given the result it was difficult to complain.
'The greatest gain is that the number of dao marks that I were to gain from the tribulation haven't gone down in the slightest,' Fang Yuan thought to himself, eyes shining. Now that was a major breakthrough. Generally stronger and harder calamities came with more dao marks, and vice-versa. But his move did not decrease the strength of the calamity before Heaven's Will sent it, rather, it did so after it occurred. Because of this there was no loss in dao marks gained.
It was also clear that he would need to improve upon the move if possible. He would need to find a way to incorporate Rank 6 Ambition Gu without consuming it. But this would involve adding thousands of Gu worms on top of what he was already using. It would be very expensive to experiment with and finalize, but it was for the best that he develop it by the time his second earthly calamity came around.
If he was successful, though, he might be able to turn it into a true Immortal killer move, which could likely completely suppress not only an earthly calamity but a heavenly tribulation as well. He estimated that Rank 6 Ambition Triumphing Over Heaven could probably help him deal even with a Grand Tribulation.
As it was, he was aware that the Integration Formation had absorbed the bulk of the earthly calamity, or what remained of it. That had allowed him to escape with only minor troubles. But Heaven's Will was devious and cunning, it would not make the same mistake twice and would choose its targets more carefully next time. But Fang Yuan was no slacker either. Just as Heaven's Will could innovate and improve, so could he. And so it was, a race between Gu Master and Heaven's Will to see which one could outmaneuver the other.
Fang Yuan wasted very little time. After a quick rest within his aperture, he lifted his Blessed Land off the ground and headed back towards the Miasma Regional Wall. He had lost progress by being forced to retreat, but he had also gotten over his earthly calamity with minimal injuries and minimal loss of resources.
Now it had granted him breathing room of about six months before he had to deal with the next one.
Finally, he could search for the Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable inheritance without further interference.
***
Wang Tian continued cultivating in his cave. His light red primeval essence splashed around the walls of his aperture before he grew tired of the process and laid down for a nap.
His Vital Gu, the same strange gu worm that he had found initially, still looked like it was dying. But Wang Tian could find no solution other than to replace it with some other gu worm when that happened.
He had witnessed Fang Yuan's earthly calamity and the massive cloud of gold pass over the rest of the Fang Yuan Continent - it had covered nearly a fourth of the area of the Fang Yuan Continent. It had however, avoided the general region where he was staying, thankfully. He had simply watched the strangely colored and far too large cloud from a distance.
But that didn't mean that he was completely insulated from whatever effects occurred because of Fang Yuan.
"Eh? Wuzz happening? Is the world ending?" he wondered as he snapped awake, yawning. "Oh no! The earth is shaking! Just like last time!"
Fang Yuan was traveling through the Miasma Regional Wall like last time. And much like last time, he aperture was being affected. "What should I do? Should I go hide deeper inside? Or go outside? I don't want to be crushed!"
Outside, there was chaos like he had expected. Various animals had come out of their burrows. The predators like the hawks had no inclination to hunt the rabbits coming out as they had to ensure their own survival first.
Wang Tian wondered what he should do but his mind came up blank. What even could one do in a situation like this? His elders had not taught him anything about something like this!
A gu worm smacked him in the face before he grabbed it and placed it in his aperture. He had a large number of gu worms - but had no idea what most of them did and so could not use a good portion of them. Some of them had even died before he could feed them, before even his Vital Gu had. He didn't even know why he was collecting so many gu worms, but it felt right as a Gu Master.
Finally, after what felt like forever, the shaking stopped. Nearby, a gush of water burst out from the ground, soaking him.
"Just my luck... huh, wait?" Wang Tian said. The gush of water was coming from deep underground, and it quickly formed a large puddle that submerged the cave that he was staying in. That meant that he had lost both his home as well as food supply. He would've gone ahead and cursed his luck once more before he got a closer look at what the water looked like. It was clear and colorless, with small sparkles within it that spoke to mysticism. No, those weren't sparkles, he realized, they were wild Hope Gu!
"I did it! I found a primeval spring!" Wang Tian said, excitedly. He then glanced around himself. There was no one else, thankfully, otherwise they might come for this primeval spring. But he could now extract primeval stones from it, as far as he understood, and then use them for his cultivation! "If only I had someone around who would tell me what the gu worms did and how to use them, though."
There were far more wild gu worms than before. By observing some of them he could get a small idea as to what they did and what they needed to eat. For now though, he was busy trying to collect as many primeval stones as possible. Who knew when someone else might discover this spring?