I respect your choice

The little ant didn't make it.

With a spasm, its soul completely left its body.

Deng Ru sighed.

"As expected, even after being weakened countless times and selecting the gentlest attribute, it's still too brutal for these little ants, especially when it comes to developing meridians in their bodies. It's extremely difficult."

[Yin is dead.]

The remaining two ants communicated.

[Yes, Yin just left like that.]

[Let me try next. If I die too, Di, you ask the divine being to excuse you from participating in this experiment. At least one of us three brothers should survive.]

One ant walked up to Deng Ru and waved its two antennae.

[Divine being, let me continue your experiment!]

Deng Ru looked at this ant and couldn't help but be moved by its bravery for a moment.

Fear of death is an instinct of intelligent life, even if these ants were once willing to die for their queen, or even actively seek death.

But from the moment intelligence is born, the fear of death is inscribed in their genes.

However, there are always some things, some matters, that can make intelligent beings forget their fear of death.

Just like this ant, in order for one of the three brothers to survive, even with the premise of one ant's death, it still stepped forward.

"Are you not afraid of death, little one? I have already told you that this experiment could lead to death, and the chances are high. As you can see, this little one has already passed away."

Deng Ru still decided to give this ant a chance to back out.

[Divine being, I have made my decision. I don't want to die an ordinary death. I want to become powerful, I want immortality, I want to protect the king and the colony until the heavens and earth decay.]

Deng Ru nodded, seemingly reminded of something.

Perhaps this is how fanatical believers among humans come to be, a weak and frail ape reaching out to the divine, professing his desire to protect his people.

This is perhaps a process that every intelligent species goes through, from simplicity to complexity.

"Since that's the case, let's begin. I still can't guarantee your survival."

As Deng Ru spoke, his divine power once again transformed into cellular needles and probed into the ant.

The divine power flowed into the ant's body along with the needles.

Without exception, the ant's body also began to convulse.

"Hold on, you must hold on. There's no shortcut here, you can only rely on your own body to endure."

Deng Ru continued to encourage the little ant.

If all three ants died, even if this method could truly create fanatical believers, it would not be worth it.

At least a survival rate of one-third or higher would make it worthwhile.

The ant's two large pincers were tightly clenched together, expressing the pain it was enduring and its persistence.

[Mu, you must hold on. Yin is already dead, we can't afford to lose any more ants.]

The ant named Di beside him continued to encourage the ant named Mu.

But it seemed that heaven did not favor man's wishes, nor did it favor the wishes of the divine or the ants. The world does not stop for anyone, no matter how lofty their ideals.

After a spasm, Mu also gradually came to a rest.

Its body, strengthened by the divine power, had begun to become more resilient.

Unfortunately, even so, it still didn't make it.

But its body did become stronger while it was still alive.

This showed that Deng Ru's approach was not wrong. To allow ants to cultivate, they must have meridians engraved upon them.

"It's dead too, Di. Do you want to try? I can let you go back now and continue to be an ordinary ant, living a carefree life until the end."

Deng Ru looked at Di, the last remaining of the three brothers, and asked.

Di stared at the corpses of Yin and Mu, deep in thought.

His two brothers were completely dead.

If he continued, he too might die.

No ant would remember the three brothers who had directly spoken to the divine and even briefly touched the boundaries of immortality today.

But if he didn't try, he felt like he would miss out on immortality.

Perhaps this is a characteristic of intelligent beings.

They always hold onto hopes for uncertain, ethereal things.

What if, just what if, good luck comes to me?

Perhaps the Emperor Qin Shi Huang had the same thought back then, what if the elixir of immortality was really found by him?

An ordinary individual would have such thoughts, let alone the once wealthy and powerful Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

And at this moment, Di also held onto such a "what if" thought.

Someone will always have good luck, so why can't that someone be me?

Participating in this experiment, even if it fails, will only lead to regret for a moment, or perhaps no regret at all before death.

But not participating in this experiment will lead to regret for a lifetime.

Except for the queen ant, the lifespan of their species is only one year. How can they resist the temptation of immortality?

"I'll participate, although I feel sorry for Mu and Yin, I can't resist the temptation of immortality. Please, divine spirit, transform me."

Di finally made its decision.

Originally, with the sacrifice of Mu and Yin, Deng Ru was going to give Di a chance to back out.

But in the end, immortality is too enticing.

Di couldn't resist such a tempting offer.

"I respect your choice," said Deng Ru.

Without further ado, Deng Ru stabbed the ant's body with his divine needle for the third time.

Di also began to convulse uncontrollably, just like the others.

Its body was slowly growing stronger.

Everything was exactly the same as it had been for Mu and Yin.

The divine power flowed through its body, constructing a long meridian.

Deng Ru had lost hope for Di. He had already planned to continue improving the method of inscribing divine power.

After all, Di's transformation was following the exact same pattern as Mu and Yin.

There were no surprises.

If nothing unexpected happened, Di would die when the divine power constructed the meridian in its brain.

Both Mu and Yin had died this way.

Di would be no exception. They were all ants, and Di's brain couldn't be much stronger than the others.

Although he had mentally sentenced Di to death, Deng Ru's hands were still steady as he inscribed the meridian.

Soon, his divine power would enter Di's brain and inscribe the meridian belonging to it.

And then Di would accept its fate.

Di's body began to turn a deep red, a sign that its body was being strengthened.

Soon, Deng Ru's divine power reached Di's brain and began to inscribe the meridian belonging to it.

As a little bit of divine power trickled in, something surprising happened.

Di didn't die as the divine power was injected. Silver traces began to appear in its brain.

These traces had also appeared on the queen ant's body before.