51: Chapter 51 The Long Road to Immortality

Teacher Qin Lin picked up her thermos, took a sip, and continued to elaborate on the specific details of extraordinary paths.

"The vast majority of Divine Lords plan out paths for their believers in advance. Orcs stimulate their bloodlines, Elves specialize in magic, and Sapiens develop technology—these are all ready-made templates. Of course, there are extremely rare races that can explore a new path through generations of reproduction, but that relies too much on luck; don't hold out too much hope."

Could the Ant-man Race have their own extraordinary path? However, as Teacher Qin Lin said, Gu Han did not have such unrealistic thoughts.

Gu Han took the opportunity to ask, "Teacher Qin, what about the path of immortal cultivation?"

"Immortal cultivation? Is your friend very wealthy? Immortal cultivation is indeed one of the most effective extraordinary paths. But you must understand, it is also the path that consumes the most resources! Not to mention anything else, just the Dharma Stone for testing a believer's aptitude, the Meridian-Opening Pills for clearing meridians in the early stages, and the introductory 'Spirit Sensing Chapter' all sell for exorbitant prices."

"Furthermore, the Divine Kingdom must have an environment rich in spiritual energy. If you don't have a net worth of tens of millions, you should dispel that notion early."

Gu Han nodded in thanks. After leaving the office, he opened his handheld device and checked the items essential for immortal cultivation on the trading platform.

Teacher Qin Lin was right; immortal cultivation was indeed expensive.

However, he happened to have some money on hand, with over ten million credits saved in his account.

[Low-tier Spirit Testing Stone (can be used 100,000 times): 3 million credits.]

[Meridian-Opening Pills (pack of 100): 200,000 credits.]

[Foundational Immortal Cultivation Technique 'Spirit Sensing Chapter': 5 million credits.]

This was just the most basic configuration. Gu Han gritted his teeth and clicked purchase.

His account balance instantly dropped to five million.

Money really doesn't last long in the era of the Divine Kingdom.

Returning to his room at home, Gu Han's consciousness entered the Divine Kingdom.

Gu Han hovered above the Ant-man Race. With a thought, he used a shimmering card.

A massive cyan boulder, ten meters high, crashed down, landing steadily in the widest central clearing of the ant colony.

The impact of the boulder landing made the entire underground space hum.

The Ant-men, who were polishing bone spears in the plaza, were startled and immediately formed a defensive formation.

"All my believers must touch this stone. Those favored by the light will receive an extraordinary inheritance."

The oracle descended.

The entire ant colony was in an uproar, even though they didn't understand what an extraordinary inheritance meant.

The role of the Sapiens teachers became apparent. The Ant-men did not fall into chaos. Under the direction of the Sapiens and their leaders, the more than 300,000 Ant-men lined up into dozens of phalanxes, touching the bluestone in an orderly fashion.

The scene was extremely spectacular, as a black tide of ants spiraled down along the tunnels, one by one pressing their claws against the Spirit Testing Stone.

The first hundred: no reaction.

The first thousand: still no reaction.

After who knows how many tens of thousands, the Spirit Testing Stone finally flashed a faint white light.

Gu Han shook his head as he watched from above.

It took nearly a month of Divine Kingdom time for all 300,000+ Ant-men to finish testing, even the immobile Queen Ant was carried out to be tested.

In the end, standing beside the Spirit Testing Stone, only a mere eighty Ant-men possessed the aptitude for immortal cultivation.

Out of a base of over 300,000, picking out eighty with spirit roots—this probability was ridiculously low.

What was even worse was that the light emitted by the Dharma Stone for these eighty Ant-men was all low-aptitude white light.

This meant their spirit root aptitude was of the lowest grade, lacking even the Five Elements spirit roots. It was a trash spirit root; while not impossible to cultivate, the path to immortality would be difficult.

Gu Han exited the Divine Kingdom and opened his trading handheld device to look up information.

Since they were born with a deficiency, he could only compensate later, or perhaps buy something to improve the believers' constitution.

He entered "improve spirit root constitution."

The first page of search results made Gu Han's heart sink.

[S-rank Divine Plant—spirit root network: Consuming its leaves year-round can significantly improve a believer's constitution and purify spirit root aptitude. Price: 50 million credits/plant.]

Fifty million for one, and there was no supply to meet the demand.

Gu Han closed the page directly, completely abandoning the idea of relying on external forces to improve aptitude. This stuff was rare and hard to come by; even if he had the money, he might not be able to buy it.

He would just have to make do with training. He had already spent the money; he might as well treat a dead horse as a living one.

Gu Han entered the Divine Kingdom again, distributed the Meridian-Opening Pills to these eighty lucky ones, and simultaneously infused the cultivation method of the 'Spirit Sensing Chapter' directly into their minds.

The eighty Ant-men who received the gift were isolated and arranged to go into seclusion in the depths of the underground where the spiritual energy was most dense.

Gu Han adjusted the time flow and used his smart assistant to record their activity logs.

One day passed, ten years in the Divine Kingdom.

When Gu Han checked the Divine Kingdom logs, he was almost angered to laughter.

Among these eighty Ant-men, thirty-seven were Fine Black Ant-men with extremely short lifespans. Although they had spirit root aptitude, their lifespan limit was right there—only a short one year.

Before they had even grasped the basics of the technique or fully absorbed the medicinal power of the Meridian-Opening Pills, these thirty-seven Fine Black Ant-men had already exhausted their lifespans and died of old age in the seclusion stone chamber.

Before cultivation had even begun, half the team was lost.

The remaining forty-three Ant-men were Hidden-Armor Ant-Man and Shield-Armored Ant-Men, whose lifespans were much longer, capable of living for twenty to thirty years.

But their aptitude was truly too poor, and combined with a lack of comprehension, half of the Ant-men gave up and left the place of seclusion.

Gu Han rubbed his throbbing temples.

For now, the path of immortal cultivation was also a dead end.

Insufficient comprehension, poor aptitude, and short lifespans—three fatal flaws directly blocked the path of immortal cultivation.

If there was a chance, he had to get a divine plant that could improve the believers' spirit root aptitude; only then would it be possible to open the path of immortal cultivation for the Divine Kingdom.

Most people's cognition suffers from survivor bias; it is only when you actually put it into practice that you realize how difficult it all is.

Gu Han distributed the remaining Meridian-Opening Pills to the Ant-men who hadn't given up yet; keeping them was useless anyway.

He even moved them to practice next to the 100,000-year spirit-enlightening flower and sent Sapiens to explain terms they didn't understand, making a final effort.

The path of cultivation is dull and tedious. Gu Han even accompanied them personally, feeling the passage of time, holding a heart that constantly sought to ascend, yet unable to see where the path ahead lay.

In the end, those dozen or so Ant-men who persisted to the very end still could not break through that invisible shackle of aptitude.

They sat cross-legged next to the spirit-enlightening flower until the very last moment of their lives, still unable to truly draw spiritual energy into their bodies.

Gu Han rubbed his throbbing temples, cutting off his connection with the Divine Kingdom several times along the way.

It was too draining.

He had spent most of the night staring at the Divine Kingdom for three consecutive days, exhausting his mental energy, and he was exhausted to the extreme.

It wasn't until everyone failed that he fell asleep in frustration, and he overslept.

When he woke up with a jolt and grabbed his handheld device to check, he almost rolled off the bed.

The Saturday practical test! He was late!

(Quite a few people urged me to update today, and there were even gifts. Thank you everyone. More comments, more urging, the long road to immortality, may we walk it together. Here is an extra chapter!)