80: Chapter 80 A Little Extraordinary

Gu Han stared with great anticipation at the Ant-Fist Shrimp-Man that had swallowed four transcendent crystals, thinking that it should finally be able to upgrade this time.

As it turned out, the tiny beam of light symbolizing transcendence did not belong to this Ant-Fist Shrimp-Man at all; instead, it descended directly into the core area, heading straight toward the altar of the blessing of the sacrificer.

"It's not it?" Gu Han was stunned for a moment, his gaze quickly following the beam of light as it swept past.

Over by the altar, tens of thousands of old Fine Black Ant-men were standing in a long line.

This was a voluntary sacrificial ceremony. The Fine Black Ant-men only had a lifespan of ten years. Whenever their time was near, they would spontaneously line up and throw themselves into the altar, transforming into the power for the race's advancement.

At this moment, a tiny figure was enveloped by that pillar of light reaching toward the sky.

It was a young Fine Black Ant-man. Its body was trembling violently due to the massive infusion of energy, its fists clenched tightly, and it suddenly raised its head, letting out a sharp, long cry.

The surrounding Fine Black Ant-men who were seeing it off were all startled by this commotion; they withdrew their gazes and gathered around.

An old Ant-man, who was about to walk into the altar, turned back. Looking at the beam of light, it was confused, its voice filled with anxiety: "Zhangsheng! Are you alright!"

Zhangsheng slowly opened its eyes within the pillar of light, feeling the unprecedented heat flowing through its body, its expression shifting from confusion to ecstasy.

"Grandmother! I'm fine!" It waved its slender arm, its voice trembling with excitement, "I... I think I've changed! It's spiritual energy, there really is spiritual energy, I can feel it!"

The old Ant-man shuddered, and two lines of hot tears instantly welled up in its cloudy eyes. It suppressed its excitement and did not leave the line to check, but instead nodded continuously, waving its arms repeatedly.

The other old Ant-men also stopped in their tracks with tacit understanding. They did not urge it on, but instead looked toward Zhangsheng, who was surrounded below the altar, with burning gazes.

"Good, good, good! It succeeded... it finally succeeded!" The old Ant-man wept with joy, then turned and resolutely stepped toward the center of the altar, "Go back, child. Grandmother is going now!"

The old Ant-man had never dared to imagine in its entire life that on the very last day before its death, it could actually witness the "Transcendence Inheritance" that the Eighty-First Ancestor spoke of appear in the world.

Although most were born from the same Queen Ant, the Ant-man Race still followed the habits of the Sapiens, determining seniority based on birth batches.

At this moment, Gu Han had already discovered the Fine Black Ant-man named Zhangsheng.

He was a bit bewildered.

How could a Fine Black Ant-man be the one to achieve transcendence?

Wasn't this race created by him specifically for sacrifice?

Short lifespan, no combat power.

The greatest purpose of the entire race was to increase the probability of the [blessing of the sacrificer] before they died of old age.

When he synthesized them at the time, he used that Disabled Wise-man as the paternal parent. The father was amazing.

Primarily because the Fine Black Ant-men were not combat units, Gu Han did not use Level 2 Sapiens to iterate them at the time.

Could transcendence really be related to their innate constitution?

Gu Han scanned this Fine Black Ant-man with his smart assistant.

Seeing this, his eyes widened.

[Believer: Zhangsheng (Fine Black Ant-man)]

[Level: First-Order Transcendence (Cultivation)]

[Technique: "Spirit Sensing Chapter" (Entry Level)]

[Status: Spiritual Energy Infusion, Lifespan Greatly Increased]

"Cultivation? 'Spirit Sensing Chapter'?"

Gu Han gasped, his mind buzzing.

Although he had heard them mention spiritual energy, he hadn't dared to think in that direction. Wasn't this the technique he had spent a large sum of money to buy, just to have those eighty Ant-men with trash spiritual roots try it out?

As a result, half died from practicing it, and half ran away.

Wasn't this matter long over?

Gu Han immediately pulled up the tribal logs of the Fine Black Ant-men recorded by the smart assistant and quickly scrolled back.

Rows of records slid past his vision. A relay of enlightenment spanning nineteen generations left him stunned.

It turned out that among those eighty Ant-man cultivation seeds, most were indeed Fine Black Ant-men, including Zhangsheng's grandmother, the Seventy-Ninth Ancestor.

Before the Seventy-Ninth Ancestor died, it carved the "Spirit Sensing Chapter" and its own insights onto the stone wall where it had secluded itself, dying with the regret of not being able to guide spiritual energy into its body.

Later, the Eighty-First Ancestor, who was responsible for cleaning, discovered the stone carvings left by its grandmother. It saw the Spirit Sensing Chapter and its grandmother's insights.

From that day on, the Eighty-First Ancestor preserved the stone carvings left by its grandmother and made all the descendants of this lineage study them, even if they didn't know if they had the talent for it, passing it down from generation to generation like this.

The lifespan of the Fine Black Ant-men was too short.

They watched those Hidden-Armor Ant-men and Black-Armored Ant-men fight for the God Lord, their lifespans reaching up to thirty years. Yet they only had a mere ten years, and when the time came, they could only line up and go to the altar to die.

Although the tribe shouted every day that sacrifice was a sacred journey home and dying for the future of the tribe, no one wanted to die if they could scrape by and live.

Perhaps it was the regret regarding the Spirit Sensing Chapter in the Seventy-Ninth Ancestor's insights, the yearning for transcendence, and the thirst for a longer lifespan.

Even if it seemed like wishful thinking to other lineages, their descendants went on wave after wave, using that meager bit of comprehension and their short ten-year lifespans to stubbornly struggle with the obscure and difficult Spirit Sensing Chapter.

They held onto hope; if one generation's lifespan wasn't enough to comprehend it, then they would pass the relay of enlightenment from generation to generation.

They struggled stubbornly for nineteen generations, passing it down to the hundredth generation, which was the current Zhangsheng. It was gifted and had excellent comprehension.

Today, as Zhangsheng watched the grandmother who raised it walk step by step toward the altar, listening to the tribespeople chanting the sacred dirge, the unwillingness it had been holding back in its heart completely exploded.

At that very moment, it had an epiphany.

It had long since mastered the insights of its predecessors in its mind. The Divine Kingdom just happened to undergo a drastic change because of the transcendent crystals, spiritual energy surged, and both the altar and the Divine Kingdom Core lit up simultaneously.

Zhangsheng sat cross-legged on the spot and actually managed to grasp that trace of ethereal spiritual energy, directly guiding it into its body and breaking the shackles of a mortal.

Gu Han had goosebumps all over; he was moved by the spirit of the Fine Black Ant-men.

"Holy crap... they actually succeeded in practicing it without Meridian Opening Pills!"

He couldn't help but curse; the hardship involved could be imagined.

He hadn't expected that what he initially thought was his most failed investment would, under the arrangement of fate, pile up to create a miracle.

He had originally thought he was the absolute ruler of this Divine Kingdom, and all development was within his plans. But now, these tiny creatures had taught him a lesson with their actual actions.

It was the smallest and most useless, yet it was the most determined to succeed.

Gu Han calmed his mood and turned his attention back to the Divine Kingdom.

As Zhangsheng broke through to transcendence, the Divine Kingdom also expanded accordingly, with the original area of 700,000 square meters surging to a full one million square meters in one go.

However, Gu Han was a bit puzzled: was it because the Ant-Fist Shrimp-Man swallowed four transcendent crystals that triggered the Divine Kingdom, or was it because Zhangsheng's breakthrough in cultivation that triggered the Divine Kingdom?

Or perhaps these two things just happened to collide, creating today's situation.

"Whatever, anyway, the Divine Kingdom believers now have a transcendent. Tiny as it is, it is still a transcendent." Gu Han checked the altar while he was at it.

[E-Grade Divine Building: blessing of the sacrificer]

[Current probability of breaking through to the next level of transcendence: 0.23777779%]

[Blessed Race: Ant-man Race]

[Triggered: 1 time]

That was just the altar triggering this extremely small probability. Gu Han's emotions could not settle for a long time. Was this considered the blessing of the Seventy-Ninth Ancestor and the predecessors?

Gu Han didn't know, but he truly felt that obsession found in novels and picture books, the spirit of constantly exploring and seeking knowledge in order to live longer.

With a thought, his massive consciousness descended directly above the altar.

The sky in the Divine Kingdom instantly churned with wind and clouds. The Fine Black Ant-men around the altar felt that familiar and terrifying pressure and immediately knelt to the ground in unison, not even daring to breathe.

Zhangsheng also hurriedly knelt down with a thud, pressing its head deeply against the ground.

A phantom image condensed in mid-air, and Gu Han looked down at the tiny figure below.

"What is your name?" Gu Han's voice echoed throughout the Divine Kingdom like rolling thunder, even though he already knew Zhangsheng's name.

Zhangsheng was flattered; in its lifetime, it had actually seen the legendary God Lord and was even asked its name in public. This was a tremendous honor, even more honorable than achieving transcendence.

It answered loudly with a trembling voice: "Replying to the God Lord! I... I am called Zhangsheng!"

"Zhangsheng, a good name. Your lineage has made great contributions, so I reward you with ten Longevity Pills. This God Lord will open the path of transcendence to your race, and the Fine Black Ant-men will be governed by your lineage."

The entire Fine Black Ant-man Race gasped in astonishment, all of them envious of the Longevity Pills; this pill was mentioned in the widely circulated fairy tales in the tribe.

Some might think that ten pills are a bit few, but things are precious when they are rare, and the pills are actually quite large for the Fine Black Ant-men, enough for many to share.

Some might ask again, why not give Meridian Opening Pills? Zhangsheng is a good example; the number of Fine Black Ant-men is too large, and the damn spirit-testing stone has a limited number of uses.

Gu Han waved his hand, and an invisible force wrapped around Zhangsheng, lifting it from the spot.

"Follow me to a place."

Zhangsheng only felt a blur before its eyes, and the surrounding scenery changed instantly. When it stood firm again, it found that it had arrived at an open space in the core area of the Divine Kingdom.

Directly in front of it stood a mountain-like black boulder, its surface pitted and pockmarked, exuding an ancient aura. This was the new spirit-testing stone Gu Han had bought.

"Put your hand on it and try." Gu Han ordered.

Zhangsheng did not dare to delay, hurriedly walked forward, took a deep breath, and placed its trembling right hand on the cold surface of the spirit-testing stone.

Gu Han held his breath.

He wanted to see what kind of aptitude this little one, who didn't need a Meridian Opening Pill and had excellent comprehension, possessed.