74: Chapter 74 First Exploration

A demigod-level powerhouse's Divine Kingdom, the lair of level-six transcendent Cyst Demons.

Since this person could use the rare Cyst Demon race as believers and had Thunder Servants as subordinate kin, they must have a substantial fortune; this was an undefended super vault.

Thank you, Mother Nature, for the gift!

Gu Han stared at the deep blue spatial rift that had yet to heal, his breathing becoming slightly heavy with excitement.

However, his mind remained clear; he was not blinded by the prospect of a free looting spree right before his eyes.

That was a demigod-level Divine Kingdom.

Even if the Divine Lord's consciousness was absent, it was bound to still be occupied by a large number of high-level transcendent creatures. Cyst Demons were poisonous all over, and the Divine Kingdom was likely filled with lethal toxins; rashly sending in the Ant-men army to crusade would be purely handing them over as fodder.

"Let's scout it out first." Gu Han snapped his fingers.

Following the order, thirty thousand Hidden-Armor Ant-men quickly assembled beneath the rift.

Their carapaces came with a built-in color-changing stealth effect, and their tiny size made them perfect for scouting.

"First squad, one thousand units, step forward." Gu Han watched the dense crowd of tiny black dots below and issued the exploration order.

The Ant-men all vibrated their wings in unison, and the one thousand Hidden-Armor Ant-men formed a thin line, entering one after another and disappearing into the deep blue rift.

Gu Han waited outside; his current cultivation realm had not yet reached demigod status, so he could not project his consciousness into his believers, nor did he want his main consciousness to enter rashly, so he could only rely on these little guys to bring back intelligence.

About an hour later.

A Hidden-Armor Ant-Man poked its head out of the rift to convey the intelligence they had gathered to Gu Han.

Within a one-kilometer radius of their spread, there were only vast patches of brightly colored plants, and no animals were seen.

"No poisonous mist?" Gu Han rubbed his chin.

He had originally thought the opponent's Divine Kingdom would be like a large gas chamber. But upon further thought, the Divine Kingdom contained not only Cyst Demons but also Thunder Servants, a kin that was not immune to poison. In a situation where multiple races cohabited, the Cyst Demons certainly couldn't just turn their home into a miasmic mess.

"No animals, brightly colored plants—they are likely highly toxic. There are no believers within a one-kilometer radius; it seems the opponent's Divine Kingdom is unexpectedly large." After quickly analyzing the intelligence, Gu Han grew bolder.

Since there was no poisonous mist, things would be much easier.

"All forces, advance!"

Gu Han waved his hand, sending out all the remaining one hundred thousand-plus Hidden-Armor Ant-men.

"Spread out and scout, and record all the terrain you can see for me. Remember, you must not touch any plants within the Divine Kingdom! Most importantly, do not expose yourselves."

The army of one hundred thousand surged into the rift like an invisible tide.

Gu Han planned to proceed on two fronts; since no one was watching, it was even easier to manage.

He summoned ten thousand sturdy Black-Armored Ant-men, plus ten impregnated queen ants, and finally brought along one hundred Earth Rampagers.

"Your mission is to clear land underground. Dig through from deep underground. Remember, the deeper you dig, the better, and you must absolutely not touch the root systems of those poisonous plants!"

"Once you arrive, just dig tunnels and build nests, rapidly expand the population, and transport food back to the Divine Kingdom; do not consume the creatures there." Gu Han repeatedly instructed.

Before figuring out the details of the opponent's Divine Kingdom, he could slowly infiltrate through the underground, and even use their territory to massively expand the number of Black-Armored Ant-men, which would facilitate the collection of supplies later.

After arranging all of this, Gu Han could no longer stay awake and exited the Divine Kingdom. Lying on the bed in his bedroom, he tossed and turned; this was destined to be a sleepless night.

Every hour, he had to sink his consciousness into the Divine Kingdom to receive the intelligence that the Hidden-Armor Ant-men brought back in batches.

As for the original plan to concentrate resources on cultivating the queen ants to break through to the transcendent level, it was all temporarily postponed.

What could be more exciting than robbing a demigod's home?

He stayed up until dawn, when the dispatched Hidden-Armor Ant-men began to return one after another. They brought back a massive amount of intelligence information.

With dark circles under his eyes, Gu Han sat on his bedroom chair, holding an electronic drawing tablet, and pieced together the full picture of the opponent's Divine Kingdom bit by bit.

After several hours of intense work, an extremely detailed map of the Divine Kingdom appeared on the screen.

The area was ridiculously large, preliminarily estimated to be around eighty thousand square kilometers. It was one hundred and ten thousand times the size of Gu Han's Divine Kingdom, equivalent to a large province. The terrain was mainly composed of rolling hills and poisonous swamps.

If he could fight his way to the Divine Kingdom Core and extract its Divine Kingdom origin, Gu Han's Divine Kingdom area would expand by one hundred and ten thousand times, and the Ant-men would no longer have to live on the one-hundredth underground floor.

It would be just like when his father, Gu Yanxiao, was defeated and had his Divine Kingdom origin extracted, causing his Divine Kingdom's area to shrink back to its initial size.

Gu Han also estimated the social hierarchy of the opponent's Divine Kingdom based on the Ant-men's descriptions.

The number of Cyst Demons was extremely large, spreading to every corner of the Divine Kingdom. But the vast majority were ordinary, low-level Cyst Demons, and these individuals' toxicity was not very strong.

Their daily task was to soak in poisonous swamps and go out to collect plant toxins, ferment more potent venom, and then pay the venom up to their superiors layer by layer.

Even their trading currency was venom.

The Cyst Demon race relied on cyst poison; the more potent and pure the venom, the more likely they were to step into the transcendent realm.

The number of transcendent Cyst Demons in the Divine Kingdom was few and far between, probably fewer than one hundred. But each one lived in an extremely luxurious palace, enjoying the offerings of the lower-level Cyst Demons.

"This is good news—typical centralized exploitation." Gu Han drew an 'X' over several circles representing palaces.

As for those of the Thunder Servant race, they were all patrolling the perimeter of these dozens of transcendent Cyst Demon palaces.

Clearly, the positioning of the Thunder Servants in this Divine Kingdom was that of bodyguards, specifically responsible for protecting the safety of the high-level Cyst Demons, and incidentally suppressing any potential low-level rebellions.

What excited Gu Han the most was the news sent back by the underground reclamation team. The Black-Armored Ant-men discovered several Thunder Source veins with terrifyingly huge reserves deep underground, accompanied by large amounts of rare metal ores in the surrounding area.

No wonder this person chose Thunder Servants as their subordinate kin.

As long as he captured these Thunder Source veins, the Hidden-Armor Ant-men that Gu Han had recently bred would not have to worry about Thunder Source Crystals.

Gu Han gulped down a large mouthful of cold water, forcibly suppressing the wild joy in his heart.

The opponent's Divine Kingdom had relatively weak underground defenses, so before he could conquer the Divine Kingdom, he could completely and quietly move away all the mineral veins in the deep underground. Even if the subsequent attack failed, he wouldn't end up empty-handed.

As for why he estimated the attack might fail, it was because there was also bad news, according to intelligence that a group of Hidden-Armor Ant-men, who had penetrated deep into the core area of the Divine Kingdom, had risked their lives to bring back.

At the Divine Kingdom Core in the very center of the enemy's Divine Kingdom, there was a mountain palace that erupted with black poisonous miasma all year round.

Inside the magnificent mountain palace, a Cyst Demon, whose size was even larger than a small hill, was coiled up, accepting the venom offerings of other powerful Cyst Demons.

The Hidden-Armor Ant-men dared not get too close; just by glancing at it from afar, that terrifying life-level pressure had almost caused them to faint.

This huge Cyst Demon guarding the core was likely far more than level six; he had not expected this person's foundation to be so deep.