A Greater Price

"This time, I had a decent amount of time to cross over. There was still a while before the dimensional fluctuations began."

The mentor said respectfully, "I will bring you information about the current world and how it is structured."

Gu Jianlin thought that these people really weren't stupid. If he were a supreme being who had been suppressed for two thousand years, the thing he'd most want to know about would be the outside world.

"Since the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty unified the six kingdoms, and you and Candle Dragon Venerable fought in the East Sea, humanity has gradually gained the upper hand in its war against the Ancient God Race. In the world today, the Ether Association is the largest alliance of Ascenders. Its president is the only person in human history to have faced a calamity, and she is already four hundred years old. Under her leadership, humanity ushered in its first Golden Age."

The mentor continued, "In the human world, there are people powerful enough to embody the concept of Calamity, whose strength in the real world is comparable to that of an Ancient God. The Ether Association has allied with the various Calamities to safeguard Order and resist the invasion of the Ancient God Realm."

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

He explained, "These Ancient God Realms have all fallen into a state of dormancy. There have been few large-scale wars in the past two hundred years. The ancient people who worship the Ancient God Race have also rarely appeared in the real world, and traces of the Ancient God Race are rarer still."

Gu Jianlin thought, So that's why the real world is so peaceful. I hadn't heard a word about any of this before.

"Of course, aside from the Ether Association, there are many organizations of all sizes around the world. But either they work for the Ether Association or they're too insignificant to matter. Only one force, known as the Youying Group, has enough influence to count."

The mentor continued at length, "The relationship between the Ether Association and the Youying Group is also bitterly hostile."

Gu Jianlin said nothing.

"However, when it comes to the invasion of the Ancient God Race, some factions within the Youying Group can reach an agreement with the Ether Association."

The mentor cautioned him, "The dimension of the Kirin Immortal Palace is still unstable, so humans can't enter in large numbers yet. But once the dimension stabilizes, Ascenders from all over the world will pour into the Kirin Immortal Palace in search of opportunities and treasures. If members of the Ancient God Race emerge from the Immortal Palace, then a war on a scale unseen in the past two hundred years is inevitable."

He paused. "The dimension of the Kirin Immortal Palace will be fully stabilized in no more than a month."

Gu Jianlin felt a little numb.

The mentor was also indirectly telling him that the Ether Association was about to break in.

"My rank is low, so I can't access the secrets known to those higher up."

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

Gu Jianlin looked at him coldly. The old man probably knew quite a lot, but simply wasn't saying it.

"Great Supreme, I will show you the results of humanity's research into alchemy over the past two thousand years."

The mentor bowed slightly and spread his hands as if presenting an offering. "Please accept my sacrifice."

At the entrance to the tomb, an ancient stone altar had appeared at some point. A Spirit Potion, deep and dazzling as a starry sky, flowed like water through a vessel shaped like a bronze cauldron, its rich, vivid colors gleaming.

Boom!

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

Gu Jianlin felt a dense Spirituality fill the entire tomb like mist.

The Qilin deep in his consciousness abruptly opened its Golden Eyes.

Immersed in the vast Spirituality, Gu Jianlin felt more comfortable than ever before.

The Qilin swallowed again. In an instant, it devoured all the Spirituality that had spread through the darkness like mist!

The dark tomb chamber trembled, and dust sifted down from above.

Gu Jianlin felt as though he were bathing in a sea of Spirituality, yet he also endured excruciating pain.

The sheer amount of Spirituality pouring into him felt as though it would split him apart.

The Black Kirin deep in his consciousness remained firmly in control, greedily devouring the massive influx of Spirituality.

It spat half of it back out.

His Divine Priest form absorbed it all.

The process came with a tearing pain that was almost unbearable.

If Gu Jianlin still had a human body, he wouldn't have been able to absorb so much Spirituality at once while both his mind and body were exhausted. His human shell would have collapsed.

The potion Jing Ci had given him earlier had restored only a tiny amount of Spirituality because he'd taken his body's limits into account.

But when Gu Jianlin transformed into an Ancient God again, his powerful body—completely beyond the human realm—held out against the danger of so much Spirituality flooding into him.

His body didn't collapse. Instead, it forcibly absorbed all the Spirituality.

"Judging by the looks of it, this Spirit Potion has about five times as much Spirituality as the one I absorbed last time. That's a bit meager for an Ancient God, but just right for me. If the Spirit Potion were even a little higher-grade, I wouldn't dare absorb it recklessly."

"These people probably wouldn't dare provide too much Spirituality at once anyway. If I became strong enough to break free, they'd be useless to me. I have to admit, they've got their calculations down."

For Gu Jianlin, the experience was agonizing, but it was certainly an unexpected boon.

This group of five really could become a source of resources for him!

Converted into CMJ-113 Spirit Potions, it would be the equivalent of a full fifteen doses. It wasn't especially high-grade, but it was exactly what he needed!

Once the Spirituality within his body was full, absorbing more would steadily expand his capacity for it.

He would keep doing so until he reached his limit, and then he would advance!

Originally, Gu Jianlin had only completed a quarter of his Spirituality accumulation.

But now, the massive influx had filled it completely.

Gu Jianlin could clearly feel the Spirituality in his body swelling to its limit, as if it were about to break through some kind of barrier.

In a haze, he seemed to have returned to the vision where he had chosen his Path of Inheritance.

Dressed in white ceremonial robes and in his Ancient God form, he stood at the center of a vast altar.

Pale flames began to burn. A staircase of nothingness took shape before him, waiting for him to climb it.

He had a premonition: once he stepped onto the staircase, his abilities would undergo a fundamental change!

Gu Jianlin could clearly feel that his Spirituality had reached its limit for his current stage. He could break through at any moment and advance to the first tier of the Divine Priest Path: the Life Controller rank!

But just as he was about to step onto the staircase, he suddenly heard a dragon's roar that pierced his soul.

The sound boomed like Thunder, and the chains of dragon bone binding him suddenly tightened.

In the void, a pair of enormous, blood-red vertical pupils seemed to look down at him.

In the endless darkness, the fire of divine wrath seemed to burn within those blood-red pupils!

Boom!

Terrifying dragon might came rolling toward him.

Gu Jianlin was almost shaken to the point of numbness. Every illusion in his mind vanished, and his advancement was forcibly interrupted.

Deep in his consciousness, the Black Kirin let out a furious, unwilling roar, raging with anger.

It was Candle Dragon Venerable's restraint again!

For a moment, he was both shocked and afraid. His gaze darkened.

"So that's how it is. Candle Dragon Venerable's restraint isn't just a simple seal. He may have foreseen that, years later, someone would enter the depths of the tomb and provide Spirituality to the sleeping Kirin Venerable, restoring his strength. That's why Candle Dragon Venerable's seal can even stop Kirin Venerable from advancing!"

Gu Jianlin had begun to fear the Ancient God he had never met.

If he couldn't advance, then no amount of Spirituality would help.

Without advancement, his abilities wouldn't undergo a fundamental change, and his Spirituality limit wouldn't increase.

For an Ancient God sealed away for thousands of years, with his power completely worn down, he would presumably also need to devour Spirituality to recover. Each time he reached a new stage, his abilities would undergo a fundamental leap.

After all, an Ascender's advancement was a process of imitating the gods.

Wait!

At that moment, Gu Jianlin suddenly realized something.

If transforming into an Ancient God in the real world came at a great cost, while he could transform freely in the Kirin Immortal Palace, then perhaps the reverse was also true: he might be able to advance in the real world instead!

After all, the Gu Jianlin in the real world wasn't bound by Candle Dragon Venerable's seal!

But he couldn't try it just yet. All he could do was forcibly suppress the Spirituality surging within him like the rising and falling tide, making it settle down.

The rumbling that echoed through the ancient tomb gradually faded away without a sound.

Gu Jianlin sat in the Golden Coffin. His fierce, imposing vertical pupils glimmered with an eerie light, and the Spirituality was temporarily suppressed.

The five, led by the mentor, seemed to sense his mood. The terrifying aura unique to an Ancient God surged through the dark tomb like a tide, making their blood run cold.

In truth, the mentor had been watching the Ancient God's expression the whole time.

When he sensed the Ancient God's faint anger, his heart leaped into his throat.

He knew full well that, in the eyes of these ancient supreme beings, his alchemy was utterly insignificant.

The other party was clearly angry because he was dissatisfied.

Yet the next moment, the Ancient God calmed down again.

No one knew what he was thinking.

That, too, matched the descriptions in ancient texts. The Ancient Gods of legend were fickle and impossible to fathom.

"Supreme! If you're dissatisfied, I'll bring you more Spirituality next time to help you recover your strength! Please, give me just one more chance! I'll prove my worth! Right now, I'm best at making Spirit Potions for the Transcendent stage. But I've already advanced to the fourth tier, so I can try making Spirit Potions for the Transdimensional stage!"

The mentor's voice was utterly devout. "I only need a little time!"

His students tensed up along with him.

Inside the Golden Coffin, Gu Jianlin looked down at him impassively, his Golden Eyes burning like flames.

That won't be necessary. This potion is enough for now.

He already knew the basics of Ascenders.

The Transcendent stage covered the first through third tiers.

The zeroth tier counted too.

The Transdimensional stage covered the fourth through sixth tiers.

Spirit Potions had to be used according to one's stage.

Advancing through the Transcendent stage was really just a matter of accumulating Spirituality.

Transdimensional potions, on the other hand, usually required the aid of complex, precise rituals.

If you used a potion above your current rank while still at the Transcendent stage, your body might collapse. Even if you managed to absorb the Spirituality, your mind could become disordered, making it very easy for something to go wrong during advancement.

That was because, in the world of Ascenders, accumulating Spirituality was also a process of getting to know yourself.

You had to learn to control your Spirituality and experience the power hidden within it.

Only then could you fully master all your abilities when you advanced.

The simplest example was trying to play a modern AAA game on a twenty-year-old desktop, then insisting on running it at the highest graphics settings. You could guess how that would turn out.

The Ancient God power within Gu Jianlin might not cause this kind of problem, perhaps because of its status.

But he also possessed the power of an Ascender, and he couldn't rule out the possibility that something might go wrong.

He didn't dare take the risk.

"For a human, you're not bad."

Gu Jianlin raised his Golden Eyes and spoke indifferently. "I can tell you're obsessed with alchemy. You've nearly driven yourself to the point of losing control of your drugs. No wonder you couldn't stay at the Ether Association and ended up defecting with a copy of an ancient text hidden away."

Those casual words exploded like thunder in everyone's ears.

They all looked at him as if they'd seen a ghost.

The mentor felt as if he'd fallen into an icy abyss.

How did the Supreme know about this?

Those Golden Eyes in the darkness seemed almost to see right through him.

Under a god's gaze, no secret could stay hidden!

At that moment, the mentor and his four students exchanged a glance.

Their eyes asked, Did any of you feel your minds being invaded?

Every one of them gave a subtle shake of the head.

No!

Yet the Ancient God before them had revealed the mentor's secret with a single sentence.

It was as if he had read the mentor's mind.

According to legend, some powerful Ancient Gods did possess such strange abilities.

But Kirin Venerable shouldn't have held that kind of authority...

"I can give you time, but these Spirit Potions aren't enough."

Gu Jianlin pressed a hand to his heart and, using the body he'd gained after transforming into an Ancient God, forced a drop of golden blood out of his chest. It welled from the tip of his right finger. "You'll have to give me more."