Chapter 249 Ascending to Godhood
The primitive accumulation of capital is always bloody; for the benefit of a few, countless individuals are sacrificed on the path of exploration, becoming nameless corpses.
However, the situation at Bai Mo's research institute is different. Very few people truly died during the experiments; most experimental subjects, once the experiments were completed or they were used up, ended up in the countless bio-reactors deep underground.
These terrifying machines, which continuously extracted Spirit Energy from human bodies, had, after years of improvement by Bai Mo, matured to the point where they could even use ordinary people as raw materials.
Even brain-dead individuals, as long as they still had life signs, could provide output.
As products of the bio-reactors, the Spirit Energy-rich spiritual liquid, even after multiple improvements, still wasn't something humans could consume directly. With a ninety percent mortality rate, only desperate individuals would attempt to consume it.
Most of the spiritual liquid produced was sent to specialized farms to cultivate various Spirit Energy plants.
Although the mortality rate for the irrigated plants was also high, to obtain enough mutated spiritual herbs to supply the upper echelons of the Huaxia Federation, even humans could be sacrificed, let alone mere flowers and plants.
Even if only one out of five plants survived, it was still greatly worthwhile.
The remaining, minuscule portion was mostly embezzled by staff members, who then resold the stolen spiritual liquid on the black market, allowing some lunatics, who sought to change their fate and "ascend to heaven in one step," to acquire it.
For most people, the arrival of the Spirit Qi era, besides increasing instability and adding a host of monsters that could crush them with a breath, hadn't truly improved life much. They even had to worry about natural-disaster-like battles potentially falling upon their heads at any moment.
Thanks to Bai Mo's long-held belief that more knowledge should be shared, a dazzling array of cultivation techniques filled the Contribution Point System, and their prices weren't expensive at all, typically around ten Contribution Points.
However, practicing almost every one of them required certain types of resources for support, where the bulk of the cost truly lay.
No money—can't cultivate—work ability can't compare to cultivators—can only do low-income jobs—no money; most people were trapped in this vicious cycle.
Through all the bumps and scrapes, the Huaxia Federation entered its sixth year since its establishment.
“Have you truly made up your mind?” Chen Bo tried to persuade her to stay.
“Bai Mo was right. Perhaps I'm not truly suited for this circle of power. My initial power grab was merely a momentary impulse, a desire to try and change this country.”
“But I've found, even though I now possess such power and stand at the very apex, there are still too many things I can't change.”
“Therefore, I've decided to withdraw from the Seven-Person Council. The world is so vast, I want to go see it.” Ye Zi remained as cold as ever, and time hadn't left a single trace on her face.
“Accumulating spiritual materials has reached a bottleneck, so going out for a while is a good thing.” Having contended for years, the two were already quite familiar with each other, and Chen Bo naturally could guess Ye Zi's current situation.
“As for him, he has become increasingly unfathomable. In the past two years, his true body hasn't shown its face at all, and his movements rely entirely on avatars.”
“Indeed, in the past two years, the cultivation manuals he has written account for almost half of the total volume on the Contribution Point System. I'm starting to wonder if he's become a typewriter.”
“He's just someone who lives in his own world, though I rather envy him,” Ye Zi said. “At the council reshuffle two months from now, I will formally resign, and Liang Gong will take my place.”
“He succeeded in breaking through?”
“Half a month ago.”
Although statistics showed that the success rate for breaking through to the Xuanhua Stage was roughly two-thirds, it was almost a matter of life or death. Most people were still reluctant to take that step, remaining at the peak of the Unmelting Realm.
With the complete power of the Unmelting Realm, one could already enjoy wealth and luxury in any country, while also elevating their family to prosperity. The comfortable life and the responsibility of supporting their family made them hesitate; a one-third mortality rate was a difficult choice for anyone considering that step.
Some cases where the 'Heaven-Supporting Pillar' breakthrough failed, leading to families collapsing and scattering like monkeys from a fallen tree, served as a stark warning.
“Everyone has their own aspirations.” Although they were leaders of two opposing factions, Chen Bo and Ye Zi actually had a decent personal relationship. Upon hearing the news of her resignation, he also hesitated for a moment.
However, Chen Bo quickly firmed his resolve. He also wanted to change this country, to make her stand at the pinnacle of the world—this was an oath he had made many years ago, when he first became a soldier.
“Do you truly have a method?” Cheng Mu and the others looked at Bai Mo, who was draped in a black robe before them, appearing somewhat agitated.
“There are only two months left; can you truly allow us to bypass the Brain Spiritization hurdle and possess combat power comparable to the Xuanhua Stage?” Liu Zhen also found it hard to believe.
Two months later would be the reshuffle of the Seven-Person Council. As the current Speaker, Cheng Mu was under immense pressure.
Through years of overt and covert struggles, their faction had long been at a relative disadvantage, precisely because they consistently lacked an existence with combat power comparable to the Xuanhua Stage.
“Theoretically, yes, but it depends on luck. Take me to your storeroom.”
“A storeroom? Do you need something?”
“It's a strange crystal I recently discovered. I wonder if you have any in your collection,” Bai Mo said, completely out of context.
“Let's go.” None of them saw an issue with bringing Bai Mo into their faction's internal vault; it was like one magnate visiting another's wine cellar for a tasting.
Passing through numerous obstacles, they successively unlocked four or five locks specifically designed to counter various Ability Users. Under these security systems, no conceivable Ability User crime stood a chance of success.
“Found them.” After a casual glance around, Bai Mo successively found four of the crystals he wanted in the categorization room labeled 'Unknown Use.'
“What's the use of this thing?” Looking at the crystals shimmering with strange light, Liu Zhen subconsciously asked.
“Four pieces... Let's make a deal. I'll take two of them, and then I'll help the two of you ascend to godhood.”
“Ascend to godhood?” Although the term sounded far from simple, they still subconsciously raised a question.
“Yes. You don't have the talent to cultivate the Spirit Hub System path. It would be better to switch to cultivating the Divine Path. This is a new path I deduced earlier.”
“I've named this crystal 'Void Profound Crystal.' It can serve as the cornerstone of an artificial divine kingdom to construct your own divine kingdom...” Bai Mo then began to expound at length on various conjectures and principles, leaving the others completely bewildered.
“In short, you can use this Void Profound Crystal to establish divine kingdoms for us, making us what you call 'gods'?”
“Yes. The entire plan will cost approximately twelve billion, but I believe that's not a big deal for you.”
“Success rate? Any risk of death?”
“The success rate is about eighty percent. Even if it fails, death is unlikely. All the early-stage pitfalls I could test, I tested with experimental subjects. As for the remaining divine kingdom construction, because I'm very short on Void Profound Crystals, I haven't been able to truly test it.”
Bai Mo had originally intended to contact members of the Luminous Holy Church or the One-Wheel Cult to cooperate on this plan, as their specialty was utilizing Faith Power.
However, later he considered that cooperating with these theists, whose views on morality and values were misaligned, to create gods—they probably wouldn't be able to bear it spiritually, and the plan would most likely be cut short—which was why he turned to contact Cheng Mu and the others instead.
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