第37章 更大的代价

"The time for this traversal is still quite ample; there is still some time before the dimensional fluctuations begin."

The mentor said respectfully, "What I will bring to you is information regarding the composition of the current world."

Gu Jianlin thought to himself that these people were certainly not stupid. If a supreme being had been suppressed for two thousand years, the thing they would want to know most was surely intelligence about the outside world.

"Since the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty unified the six states, and after your battle with the Candle Dragon Venerable in the East Sea, humanity has gradually gained the upper hand in the war against the Ancient God Race. In the world today, the Ether Association is the largest alliance of Ascenders. The President is a person of destiny unique in human history, and she is already four hundred years old. Under her leadership, humanity created its first golden age."

The mentor continued, "In the human world, the concept of Catastrophes has emerged. Their combat power in the real world is enough to rival the Ancient Gods. The Ether Association has formed alliances with various Catastrophes to jointly maintain world order and resist the invasion of the Ancient God Realm."

"Mount Buzhou, Yunmeng Marsh, the Gate of Hell, the Fusang Divine Palace, and your Kirin Immortal Palace."

He explained, "These Ancient God Realms have all fallen into a state of silence. For the past two hundred years, there have rarely been large-scale wars. Those ancient ancestors who worshipped the Ancient God Race also rarely appear in the real world. Traces of the Ancient God Race are even rarer."

Gu Jianlin thought, So that's how it is. No wonder the real world is so peaceful; I hadn't heard a whisper of this before.

"Of course, besides the Ether Association, there are many organizations of various sizes around the world, but they either work for the Ether Association or are insignificant. Only one force, known as the Youying Group, possesses sufficient scale."

The mentor spoke eloquently, "The relationship between the Ether Association and the Youying Group is also like fire and water."

Gu Jianlin remained silent.

"However, when facing the invasion of the Ancient God Race, a portion of the Youying Group's factions can reach a consensus with the Ether Association."

The mentor reminded him, "The dimension of the Kirin Immortal Palace is currently unstable, and humans cannot enter it on a large scale. But once the dimension stabilizes, Ascenders from all over the world will swarm in to enter the Kirin Immortal Palace, seeking opportunities and treasures. At that time, if any of the Ancient God Race emerge within the Immortal Palace, a war of the largest scale in two hundred years will inevitably break out."

He paused for a moment, "In no more than a month, the dimension of the Kirin Immortal Palace will be completely stabilized."

Gu Jianlin felt his scalp tingle as he listened.

Furthermore, this mentor was beating around the bush to tell him that the Ether Association was about to break in.

"My rank is low, and I cannot access higher-level secrets."

The mentor said, "Please give me some time."

Gu Jianlin looked at him coldly. In truth, this old guy probably knew quite a bit but simply wasn't saying it.

"Great Supreme, I will show you the fruits of human research in alchemy over the past two thousand years."

The mentor bowed slightly, spreading his hands as if offering a tribute, "Please accept my sacrifice."

At the entrance of the tomb, an ancient stone altar had been erected at some unknown time. Spirit Potions, deep and brilliant like the starry sky, flowed like water into vessels resembling bronze cauldrons, shimmering with rich, vibrant colors.

Boom!

The mentor snapped his fingers, the bronze cauldron was suddenly ignited, and flames surged upward!

Gu Jianlin felt a rich surge of spirituality, filling the entire tomb like mist.

Deep within his consciousness, the Kirin suddenly opened its Golden Eyes.

Immersed in the massive amount of spirituality, Gu Jianlin felt an unprecedented sense of comfort.

The Kirin swallowed like a whale once more, and the spirituality that had permeated the darkness like mist was devoured in an instant!

The dark tomb chamber began to tremble, and dust shook down in cascades.

Gu Jianlin felt as if he were bathing in an ocean of spirituality, yet he was also enduring intense pain.

Because the massive influx of spirituality into his body felt as if it were tearing him apart.

The Black Kirin deep within his consciousness maintained absolute dominance, greedily devouring the vast amount of spirituality.

Half of the spirituality was then exhaled by it.

It was absorbed entirely by his form as the Divine Priest.

This process was accompanied by tearing, unbearable pain.

If Gu Jianlin were still in his human body, with his spirit and body both exhausted, he would absolutely not have been able to absorb so much spirituality at once; his human shell would have collapsed.

The bottle of potion Jing Ci had given him earlier restored very little spirituality, precisely because he had considered that his body would not be able to withstand it.

However, once Gu Jianlin had undergone Ancient God transformation, his powerful physical constitution, which had completely transcended the human category, forcibly helped him withstand the crisis brought about by such a massive influx of spirituality.

His body did not collapse; instead, it stubbornly absorbed all the spirituality.

Judging by the look of it, this Spirit Potion is about five times what I absorbed last time. It's a bit meager for an Ancient God, but it's just right for me. I wouldn't dare to rashly absorb even a slightly higher-grade Spirit Potion.

After all, these people probably don't dare to provide me with too much spirituality at once. Otherwise, once I become strong enough to break free, they would be useless. I have to say, they have a good grasp of the situation.

For Gu Jianlin, although it hurt like hell, this was indeed an unexpected joy.

This group of five could truly become a channel for him to obtain resources!

If converted into the previous CMJ-113 Spirit Potion, that was a full fifteen portions. Although not high-grade, it met his needs perfectly!

Once the spirituality in his body was full, absorbing more would continuously expand his own spiritual capacity.

Until he reached the peak, and then advanced!

Originally, Gu Jianlin had only completed one-fourth of his spiritual accumulation.

But this time, the massive influx of spirituality directly maxed out his spiritual accumulation.

Gu Jianlin clearly felt the spirituality in his body expand to the limit, as if it were about to break through some kind of shackle.

In the dark, he seemed to feel himself descending once again into the illusion where he had originally chosen his path of inheritance.

He wore white sacrificial robes, in his Ancient God form, standing in the center of a massive altar.

Pale flames burned, and a void staircase condensed before him, waiting for him to cross.

--He had a premonition that as long as he stepped onto this staircase, his abilities would undergo a qualitative change!

Gu Jianlin could clearly feel that this was because his spirituality at the current stage had accumulated to the peak, and he could break through the boundary at any time to ascend to the first rank of the Divine Priest path, the Life Controller rank!

However, just as he was about to cross that staircase, he suddenly heard a dragon roar that pierced his soul.

That sound exploded like Thunder, and the dragon bone chains binding him tightened suddenly.

In the void, it felt as if a pair of massive, blood-red vertical pupils were looking down at him.

In the endless darkness, those blood-red vertical pupils seemed to burn with the flames of divine wrath!

Boom!

Terrifying dragon might rolled over him.

Gu Jianlin was almost stunned to the point of numbness; all the illusions in his mind vanished, and the advancement was forcibly interrupted.

Deep within his consciousness, the Black Kirin let out a roar of unwillingness and fury, enraged to the extreme.

It was the imprisonment of the Candle Dragon Venerable again!

In that instant, he was both shocked and fearful, his eyes darkening.

So that's it. The imprisonment of the Candle Dragon Venerable isn't just a simple seal. He perhaps even calculated that someone would break into the depths of the tomb years later to provide spirituality for the sleeping Kirin Venerable to restore his strength. Therefore, the seal of the Candle Dragon Venerable can even prevent the advancement of the Kirin Venerable!

Gu Jianlin began to feel wary of that Ancient God he had never met.

If he couldn't advance, then no amount of spirituality would be of any use.

Because without advancement, his abilities would not undergo a qualitative change, and his spiritual ceiling would not increase.

For an Ancient God, if they had been sealed for thousands of years and their power had been completely worn away, they should also need to consume spirituality to recover. Every time they reached a new stage, their abilities would have a qualitative leap.

After all, the advancement of an Ascender is a process of imitating the gods.

Wait!

At this moment, Gu Jianlin suddenly realized something.

Since Ancient God transformation in reality comes at a great cost, but he can evolve at will in the Kirin Immortal Palace, then conversely, if he cannot advance in the Kirin Immortal Palace, perhaps there is no such restriction when he returns to reality!

Because, in reality, he is not bound by the seal of the Candle Dragon Venerable!

However, he could not attempt it right now, so he could only forcibly suppress the rioting spirituality in his body, which was rising and falling like the tide, and force it to calm down.

Silently, the roaring echoing in the ancient tomb gradually dissipated.

Gu Jianlin sat in the golden coffin, his cruel and majestic vertical pupils flickering with an eerie light; the spirituality was temporarily suppressed.

The five people led by the mentor seemed to be able to feel His emotions. That terrifying aura unique to an Ancient God shook the pitch-black tomb like a tidal wave, making one's hair stand on end.

In reality, the mentor had been observing the expression of this Ancient God the whole time.

When he felt that this Ancient God was vaguely enraged, his heart jumped into his throat.

Because he knew very well that his alchemy was not worth mentioning in the eyes of these primordial supreme beings.

The reason the other party was angry was clearly because they were dissatisfied.

However, in the next moment, this Ancient God calmed down again.

No one knew what He was thinking.

This also matched the records in ancient texts; the legendary Ancient Gods were just this fickle and difficult to fathom.

"Supreme! If you are dissatisfied, next time I will provide you with more spirituality to help you restore your strength! Please give me at least one more chance! I will prove my value! Although I am currently most skilled at refining Spirit Potions of the Transcendent stage, I have already advanced to the fourth rank and can attempt to create Trans-dimensional Spirit Potions!"

The mentor's voice was extremely devout, "I just need a little time!"

As soon as these words were spoken, even his students became nervous.

In the golden coffin, Gu Jianlin looked down at him indifferently, his golden vertical pupils burning like fire.

No need, this potion is actually enough for now.

He thought to himself.

He was no longer a novice regarding common knowledge about Ascenders.

Transcendent level refers to the first to third ranks.

The zero rank counts as well.

Trans-dimensional level refers to the fourth to sixth ranks.

Spirit Potions are things that must be used according to the stage.

Advancement at the Transcendent level is actually just the simplest accumulation of spirituality.

Trans-dimensional level potions often require complex and precise rituals to be used.

If you were at the Transcendent level and rashly used a potion higher than your current rank, not to mention whether your body would collapse, even if you absorbed the spirituality, your spirit would become disordered, and it would be very easy for errors to occur during advancement.

Because in the world of Ascenders, accumulating spirituality is also a process of getting to know yourself.

You must learn to control your spirituality and experience its latent power.

Only then can you perfectly master all your abilities when you advance.

The simplest example is trying to play a 3A masterpiece on an old-fashioned computer from twenty years ago and insisting on running it at the highest graphics settings; the final outcome is predictable.

Gu Jianlin's Ancient God power might not have this problem due to his status.

But he still possessed the power of an Ascender, and there was no guarantee what kind of trouble might arise.

He dared not take the risk.

"As a human, you are not too bad."

Gu Jianlin raised his golden eyes and said indifferently, "It is clear that you are obsessed with alchemy, to the point of almost driving yourself to drug-induced loss of control. No wonder you couldn't stay in the Ether Association and had to defect with a stolen ancient document."

Just such a light sentence exploded in everyone's ears like a thunderclap.

The expressions of the group were as if they had seen a ghost.

The mentor felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

How did the Supreme know about this!

He only felt that the pair of golden vertical pupils in the darkness were about to see right through him.

In the presence of a god's gaze, there were no more secrets!

At this moment, the mentor and his four students exchanged glances for a split second.

The meaning expressed in their eyes was: "Did you feel your spirit being eroded?"

As a result, everyone shook their heads subtly and unanimously.

No!

However, the Ancient God before them had pointed out the mentor's secret in one word.

As if He had read the mentor's spirit.

Legend has it that there are some powerful Ancient Gods who possess such eerie abilities.

But the Kirin Venerable should not have such authority...

"Time, I can give you, but these Spirit Potions alone are not enough."

Gu Jianlin raised his hand to press against his heart, using his Ancient God-transformed body to forcibly squeeze a drop of golden blood from his chest and out through the tip of his right finger, "You need to pay more."

Come back tomorrow!