"Is Qing online?"
Deng Ru sent an inquiry to Qing.
It seemed that Deng Ru was set as a special contact by Qing, as he didn't have to wait long before Qing's avatar flashed and a message popped up.
"Haha, you finally contacted me. Did you persuade the provincial-level deity behind you?"
Qing seemed to have a habit of starting conversations with awkward laughter.
"Yes, my lord has said that in half a month, he will send me to attend your meeting in his place. The deities in City H have been acting recklessly, and the sacred power they offer has been shoddy. My lord has been dissatisfied for a long time."
Deng Ru replied, and then continued typing.
"By the way, Qing, do you have any methods to weaken the divine power that escapes from deities? I have a friend whose body is very frail, and I want him to absorb divine power to strengthen it."
Deng Ru naturally didn't tell him about his little army of ant believers.
It was normal for most humans to be unable to absorb divine power.
Divine power was powerful and violent.
Because this power represented the emotions of intelligent beings.
The joys, angers, sorrows, and happiness of all beings towards the deity were contained within it, converted into faith, and then into divine power.
It was very complex and violent.
Why could only fanatical believers absorb divine power and grow stronger?
That was because they spent their lives serving beside the deity, subconsciously strengthening their bodies through exposure to divine power, coupled with systematic training methods to aid them.
Only then could they cultivate divine power in large numbers.
"Absorb divine power to cultivate? Reduce the violence of divine power? Is that even possible? Brother, why don't you just ask the provincial-level deity behind you? After all, as a provincial-level deity, he should have such methods."
Qing on the other end of the phone seemed shocked and didn't quite understand.
As a fanatical believer, it was possible to ask deities to fulfill certain requests.
This was the contract between deities and believers.
Fanatical believers provided deities with a large amount of faith and powerful combatants to command, while deities also helped fanatical believers fulfill some reasonable requests.
Deng Ru's face was full of black lines.
Damn it, if he dared to ask any provincial or city-level deities, do you think those deities would immediately kill him and take over his cute little army of ant believers?
These ant believers were invaluable treasures among deities.
Moreover, the divine aura on his body could deceive Qing, a fanatical believer, but not other deities.
Other deities could see through him at a glance that he, Deng Ru, was also a deity.
He couldn't use the excuse of being a fanatical believer of a provincial-level deity.
"There are some reasons why the channel for my friend to cultivate divine power is, cough, not exactly proper, and cannot be known by deities. You understand, right? That's why I came to you."
Deng Ru started to fabricate a story with a straight face.
Of course, his lie was half-true and half-false.
After all, his little army of ant friends could not be known by other deities.
"Not to be known by deities? Could it be smuggled or stolen divine power stones?"
Qing on the other end looked shocked.
It should be known that divine power stones were troublesome to condense for deities, but their effects were quite significant. Therefore, the supervision of divine power stones was also very strict.
Smuggling divine power stones was not an uncommon occurrence.
"Shh, be careful of eavesdroppers, Qing. Just tell me if there is a way to make divine power gentler."
Seeing that Qing had alreadysay (imagined) a reasonably plausible reason, Deng Ru continued to ask, following the thread of the conversation.
"To make divine power gentler and easier to cultivate, there are ways, but they are all troublesome and require the intervention of deities. Also, the effect of divine power will be greatly reduced."
Qing replied on the other end. He didn't ask Deng Ru why he wanted ordinary people to cultivate divine power while hiding it from provincial-level deities.
In this world, everyone had their own little secrets, and that was quite normal.
Maybe it was for cherished ones, or maybe it was to let friends live as long as them during the long life of cultivating divine power?
There could be many reasons.
"Requiring the intervention of deities? That's not a problem. As a fanatical believer of a provincial-level deity, I can use his influence to ask some town-level deities for a little help in this matter."
Deng Ru was a deity himself, and he was even at the county level. Apart from not having the knowledge and territory that a county-level deity should have, he possessed everything else.
There was no reason why other deities could do it, but he couldn't.
"In fact, the method is quite simple. As you know, brother, the divine power of deities is condensed from the faith of intelligent beings like us, which is then refined by the deities to give birth to divine power."
"However, this is only a rough refinement. For most ordinary people, it is simply not absorbable. If they forcibly absorb it, they may suffer from paralysis in their limbs at best, or explode at worst."
"However, a long time ago, there was a great deity who separated the emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness in divine power, making the originally complex and violent divine power pure and easy to control."
"This method was buried because it was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the benefits were not as good as direct absorption. I found it while rummaging through the corners of the library."
Qing typed a long passage.
It was evident that he had a relatively deep understanding of this topic.
"Separating divine power into emotional energies? That would require the delicate manipulation of a county-level deity, I presume."
Deng Ru didn't ask Qing why he had a method for ordinary people to cultivate divine power, or why he remembered it so clearly.
Usually, fanatical believers wouldn't specifically look for ways for ordinary people to cultivate divine power.
Let alone remember it so clearly.
"Indeed, so brother, it will be quite difficult for you to let ordinary people cultivate divine power. After all, to convince a county-level deity, you would need to offer something that could appeal to them."
"That's not a problem. I have something that can appeal to a county-level deity."
After all, Deng Ru was a county-level deity himself, so it shouldn't be difficult to appeal to himself, right?
"Alright, I'll send you the file on purifying divine power."
A notification sounded on Deng Ru's phone, and a file was transferred over.
It read "Research Materials on Divine Power - Part 1".
Deng Ru opened the file and briefly skimmed through it, realizing that it was indeed a good method to weaken divine power.
Now that he had a way to weaken divine power, the next step was to figure out how these tiny ants could cultivate like humans.
Humans cultivated divine power by using their meridians to circulate energy and strengthen their bodies and minds.
But... ants didn't have meridians.
Even the queen ant only roughly polished her body with divine power.
She was strong and resilient.
The other small ants couldn't handle it. If they forcibly absorbed divine power, they would die.
Even if the divine power was weakened, these small ants' physical constitutions couldn't withstand too much of it.