Five days later.
The queen ant had already reproduced hundreds of millions of ants, and the number of the ant colony was approaching two hundred million.
Their faith was fed back to Deng Ru, allowing him to successfully advance to a city-level deity, albeit one of the weakest among them.
Compared to five days ago when he only received a trickle of divine power every hour, it was like night and day.
In the kitchen, colorful halos of light began to glow.
It was as if some forbidden magical laboratory had sprung to life.
Deng Ru had completely transformed his kitchen into his laboratory of life.
Tiny traces appeared on the ants' bodies, and divine power followed these traces as it flowed through their tiny frames.
"The flow can't be too fast, or the divine power will overwhelm their fragile bodies," Deng Ru muttered.
"But it can't be too slow either, or it will dissipate before it can be absorbed, rendering it ineffective."
Like a wizard from Western mythology, Deng Ru delved deeply into the forbidden arts of life, his face etched with concentration.
Creating meridians, a feature exclusive to primates, in a species that naturally lacked them was indeed treading into the forbidden territory of life.
Perhaps only the mythical Creator could accomplish such a feat.
And now, Deng Ru was determined to play the Creator.
Although he didn't know what meridians were made of, he understood their function: to guide the flow of divine power.
As long as he could replicate this function, the materials were immaterial.
"Perhaps I can mimic the human meridians' circulation pattern, allowing the divine power to flow through 365 cycles, corresponding to the heavenly cycles. Completing one cycle would be sufficient," Deng Ru mused.
He watched as his meager divine power swirled frantically within the dead ant's body, flowing through the artificial meridians he had constructed. With each revolution, the ant's carapace hardened slightly.
It was evident that Deng Ru's approach was feasible. By weakening the divine power and carefully guiding the ants in their cultivation, he could achieve his goal.
However, this was only a dead ant and couldn't provide the most direct feedback.
If divine power ran rampant within a living body, it could be fatal. But since these ants were already dead, they couldn't die again.
He needed to test his theory on living ants.
"Who should be the unlucky subjects of my experiment? While there are plenty of ants, they are sentient beings. Perhaps I should ask for their consent first," Deng Ru pondered.
He realized that randomly selecting subjects wasn't ideal and could tarnish his image among the ants.
Maintaining a positive image among his followers was crucial for a deity.
Every deity had their own... divine persona to attract and retain believers.
...
"Great God, have you chosen us to fight for you?" one ant asked excitedly.
"You fool, why would the Almighty God need us to fight?" another chastised.
"Well, maybe there are some monsters that the God deems unworthy of his attention," the first ant reasoned.
Deng Ru looked on as the three ants, whom he had marked with his divine power five days ago, chattered excitedly among themselves, seemingly oblivious to his presence.
These three ants were, in his opinion, quite amusing.
And so, he had decided that they would be the unlucky subjects of his experiment.
"Just their imagination alone is something that other ants don't possess.
"I need the three of you to assist me in an experiment. If successful, you will achieve immortality and possess boundless strength. However, if it fails, there is a high chance that you may perish and your souls may dissipate," proclaimed Deng Ru.
Upon hearing these words, the three ants felt as if countless celestial bodies were exploding in their minds.
Could it be that the Almighty God actually needed their help, three weaklings like them?
Immortality for success, death for failure?
"Oh my Deng Ru God, is the Almighty really going to grant us such a miraculous gift?"
"Immortality? Oh my goodness, what does that mean? We won't die anymore?"
The antennae of the three ants waved rapidly, expressing their excitement at this moment.
"Do not rejoice too soon. Even I do not have much confidence in this experiment. There is a good chance that you may achieve immortality, but there is also a greater possibility that you may perish completely," cautioned Deng Ru.
"The choice is yours. I will not force you. It is up to you whether you wish to ascend to a higher realm or live out your days in obscurity."
Although Deng Ru claimed not to force the ants to make a decision, his words were clearly诱导them.
The choice between ascending to a higher realm and living out one's days in obscurity was obvious to anyone with discernment.
However, Deng Ru conveniently omitted mentioning the nearly 90% chance of death.
These ants, with their limited intelligence, were unable to detect the linguistic trap in Deng Ru's words.
After a moment of silence, the antennae of the three ants suddenly began to wave frantically, their movements perfectly synchronized.
"We are willing, O God! We are willing!!!"
"O God, please allow us to dedicate ourselves to your experiment!"
"Death cannot hold us back. Courage is the anthem of our ant kind!"
Undoubtedly, Di was the most imaginative and intelligent among the three ants, as evidenced by the philosophical undertones in his words.
Perhaps he had the potential to become a great philosopher of the ant race.
Satisfied with the ants' enthusiasm, Deng Ru nodded and used his divine power to carry them to the kitchen, which had now become his laboratory.
"This may be extremely painful. Bear with it," warned Deng Ru.
Creating meridians from scratch would cause excruciating pain, comparable to having one's kidney removed without anesthesia.
Of course, ants probably didn't have kidneys, and even if they did, they wouldn't be very big.
"Rest assured, O Almighty God, we are not afraid!"
"Yes, please proceed as you wish, O Lord!"
The three ants bravely declared their resolve.
Without further ado, Deng Ru condensed his divine power into a needle as thin as a cell and selected one of the ants that appeared somewhat dull. He then inserted the needle into its body.
Then, countless emotions were stripped from his divine power in his body, leaving only one emotion, the softest one.
This emotion was extremely tender, originating from the yearning of all living beings for their departed or distant loved ones.
These ants naturally possessed such emotions, which were far more subdued than the extreme emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
Deng Ru had truly racked his brains to enable these ants to cultivate divine power.
The divine power flowed through the ant's body, leaving traces that would guide the subsequent flow of divine power.
Even though Deng Ru had weakened the divine power countless times using the method taught by Qing, the little ant still writhed in pain, its six legs twitching uncontrollably.
"Hang in there, little guy. You have to hang in there. If you make it through, the path to immortality will be wide open for you. You must endure," urged Deng Ru, his expression now tense.
This was the moment to validate the results of his experiment. If this ordinary little ant could endure, it would prove that this method was viable for mass production.
That would truly be a small step for an ant, but a giant leap for a deity.