Ant Lord in the Star Realm

Although Sang survived, and did not retain the wounds from the carapace being torn, this evolution left extremely serious internal injuries within its body, and it was weakened to the utmost limit.

It was only just the beginning of autumn.

Dragon Cypress did not hurry to leave, but instead stayed, hunting animals for refinement, supplementing Sang's nutrition, and helping it recover from its period of frailty.

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple kept Sang company, chatting with it.

Ink Orchid meanwhile continued to loosen the soil and fertilize the Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed, and even painstakingly reclaimed a patch of wasteland to serve as a nursery for next year's Golden Light Fruit seedlings.

Busy for four or five days, and having confirmed that Sang's physical condition was robust, they left behind 5 large gourds of Ant Honey, as well as a team of Worker Ants and Blue Ants for harvesting Yellow Vein Berry and Jade Ling Puto Peach,

and bid farewell to depart.

The Dominating Throne flew northeast, arriving first at Jianlan Plain to search for Divine-Given Seeds.

No harvest.

So, along the way, they picked wild fruits for refinement and brewing Ant Honey.

Then continued northward,

timing their travel, and they arrived at White Rice Mountain in the morning.

It happened to be the season when Rice Tree Fruits ripened.

Black Rice was guarding its Life Seed Tree all by itself, vibrating its wings, flitting up and down, driving away birds and beasts attracted by the fruity scent.

Red Fox was lying under a Black Rice Life Seed Tree, tail swaying lazily, rather perfunctorily helping drive off intruders.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King! Ink Orchid!"

As the Dominating Throne approached, Black Rice flew over, vibrating its wings to greet them.

It had tasted some Divine-Given Southern Sour Jujube Seed now and then, and had gained a bit of flying ability.

"Black Rice. Red Fox." greeted Ink Orchid, carrying Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple to the ground.

Dragon Cypress said apologetically, "Looks like we're late."

"Not late. My Life Seed ripened the day before yesterday. White Rice's hasn't matured yet..."

As Black Rice spoke, its gaze was drawn to Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple atop Ink Orchid's head, staring, unable to look away.

Red Fox stood up from the ground, "Sky Ox Little Warriors?!"

"Hello, Black Rice."

"Hello, Red Fox."

"I'm Blue Catalpa."

"I'm Snakebark Maple."

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple waved their tentacles in greeting, introducing themselves.

Ink Orchid: "We discovered them at a Land of Origin Force we named 'White Lotus Lake'..."

After some introductions.

Dragon Cypress directed the Worker Ants up the trees to harvest.

— I heard you have a Wild God-Given Seed?

— The White Rice Tree?

— Over there.

— The pulp of the Divine-Given White Rice Fruit has a special effect for healing internal injuries.

— Sang and Ghost Fan only survived thanks to this.

— Sang survived? That's wonderful!

Black Rice, Blue Catalpa, and Snakebark Maple, the three little ones, started chatting, getting quite animated.

White Rice, noticing the commotion, hurried over; after greeting Ink Orchid and Dragon Cypress, it was also intrigued by the two little warriors and, after inquiring, started to chat casually.

White Rice is a High-Level Warrior, and the ripening of its Rice Tree Life Seed Fruit had been somewhat delayed.

Dragon Cypress and company decided to stay, and took the opportunity to harvest a large batch of Rice Tree Fruit to refine into Common Ant Honey...

...

With the autumn trade at White Rice Mountain complete,

Dragon Cypress maneuvered the Dominating Throne and continued on, reaching Ghost Fan Mountain just in time for the Woodberry Life Seed to ripen.

"Woodberry, we're not late this year, are we?" asked Ink Orchid.

Woodberry: "Not at all."

Ghost Fan, whose spiritual power was strong and keen, spotted Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple at a glance, exclaiming in shock, "Sky Ox Little Warriors! Two of them!"

"Hello, Ghost Fan!"

"Hello, Woodberry!"

"I'm Blue Catalpa."

"I'm Snakebark Maple."

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple greeted and introduced themselves, acting as if they'd always known everyone, fluttering their wings as they circled and landed before Woodberry.

"Hello to you…" Woodberry greeted them.

A round of eye contact followed.

Blue Catalpa took the initiative: "We were born at a Land of Origin Force named 'White Lotus Lake.'"

Snakebark Maple: "Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid discovered us when passing by..."

The two little ones eagerly introduced their origins.

Woodberry: "White Lotus Lake? What a coincidence! I was born at Black Lotus Lake."

Blue Catalpa: "That really is quite the coincidence!"

Snakebark Maple: "We're truly connected by fate."

Blue Catalpa: "We're all brother insects."

Snakebark Maple: "Woodberry, you're the big brother."

Blue Catalpa: "We'll all look out for each other."

Woodberry: ???

Woodberry, feeling happy, replied shyly, "Sure—"

Woodberry then asked, "Where do you live? At White Lotus Lake?"

Snakebark Maple: "No idea, really."

Blue Catalpa: "We're still young. For now, we're tagging along with Dragon Cypress Ant King and Ink Orchid."

Snakebark Maple: "Heard Ghost Fan is the wealthiest bug in Cloud Trace Continent, so we came to visit."

Woodberry asked in confusion, "Wealthiest? How come I never knew that?"

Blue Catalpa: "Ghost Fan's Divine-Given Seed! Enhanced spiritual power! It's super valuable!"

Snakebark Maple: "Ghost Fan will soon advance to Mountain Lord, right? Its Divine-Given Seed income will double."

Blue Catalpa: "All that Origin Force Food you can't finish!"

Woodberry: "Uh—"

Is that for real?

Woodberry felt a bit confused.

Never even thought about these things before.

Ghost Fan, listening to these two, was a bit embarrassed as well, but inwardly delighted, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, these two little ones are really clever."

Ink Orchid muttered, "They picked up these tricks from Dragon Cypress."

Me? What's that got to do with me? Dragon Cypress was speechless.

Ghost Fan: "Where will they settle? They don't have a place yet? Why not come to Ghost Fan Mountain? They can keep Woodberry company."

Dragon Cypress quickly said, "Ghost Fan, better not. Your place has a high Origin Force concentration, but the area's a bit small. You and Woodberry living here is just right and very comfortable. But if two more little warriors squeezed in, it'd get crowded. This mountain hollow can't fit four warriors."

Ghost Fan: "Oh—"

Ghost Fan: "Then… They don't have elders, right? Since it's their first visit, I'll give them two jars of Origin Force Ant Honey worth 1,000 Source Stones each."

"No, no, no!"

Dragon Cypress waved his tentacles to stop him: "Ghost Fan, looking after just Woodberry is enough for you. Don't neglect your own growth and evolution—advance to Mountain Lord as soon as you can."

Ink Orchid: "Sang is also wealthy, and willing to sponsor their evolution and growth."

Hearing this, Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple were dumbfounded, glanced at Dragon Cypress, then Ink Orchid, then looked at Dragon Cypress with innocent eyes: Don't cut off our financial support!

"Sang?" Ghost Fan was a bit curious, and asked with some concern:

"You said its wounds were serious... is it alright?"

Ink Orchid: "Sang, with the help of the Dominating Throne, still spent seven days to evolve three Age Periods, and was just a bit away from..."

Dragon Cypress: "It was a narrow escape, but it overcame the ordeal."

Ghost Fan: "That's wonderful!"

At the same time,

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple, seeing their lucky break spoiled, and knowing Dragon Cypress meant what he said, turned to tell Woodberry about Sang's thrilling evolution process at Scarletlight Mountain.

...

Ghost Fan's Woodberry Fruit wasn't fully ripe yet, maybe another day or two to go.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid chatted idly with Ghost Fan about daily life.

— Big rains this year, did the river get blocked?

— How is Ghost Fan's Divine-Given Seed?

— How's the output of Common Life Seeds?

— The Maple Poplar and White Willow in the nursery were transplanted this year, right? What's the survival rate?

— How's the Keg Vine sown by the riverside doing?

...

They stayed at Ghost Fan Mountain for a while, touring and exploring for two days.

After harvesting the Woodberry Life Seed Fruit, this autumn's trade ended.

The Dominating Throne flew northwest, heading straight for Southern Sour Jujube Mountain.

Staring up at the Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed towering in the heart of the plain's forest, Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple cried out "Wow!" and "Oh!" in amazement and delight, then immediately started...

— This Divine-Given Seed is Mountain Lord Level too.

— Though it's a bit on the small side.

— But it belongs only to Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid.

— Its enhancement effect is even more powerful!

— Very valuable!

As for these two little flatterers, Dragon Cypress showed no reaction.

Their choice of words was weak, awkward, and clumsy—not clever at all.

Compared to his own childhood, the two were still a whole realm behind.

Ink Orchid, on the other hand, couldn't help but be pleased. "Almost all the Lands of Origin Force were discovered by me."

Blue Catalpa: "Wow!"

Snakebark Maple: "Ink Orchid is so amazing!"

Blue Catalpa: "Blessed by the Natural God—how could she not be awesome?"

Snakebark Maple: "Exactly! Only beautiful and kind insects can receive the Natural God's favor."

Ink Orchid beamed, beaming with delight. "The Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed's effect for enhancing membrane wings is very powerful. Sky Oxen can fly too—eat some for yourselves, strengthen your flight ability."

Just what they were waiting for!

Snakebark Maple: "Wow!"

Blue Catalpa: "That's fantastic!"

Snakebark Maple: "We can finally eat Divine-Given Seed too!"

Blue Catalpa: "Thank you, Ink Orchid!"

Snakebark Maple: "Thank you, Dragon Cypress Ant King."

Dragon Cypress glanced at them with a cold eye, silently watching their show before finally saying, "Eat as much as you want—but whatever you eat gets charged to Sang's account."

Blue Catalpa: "..."

Snakebark Maple: "..."

The two previously elated little ones drooped their tentacles, completely deflated.

...

The Dominating Throne slowed down, hovering above the Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed for a while, then circled the trunk to inspect the fruit's condition.

On the very verge of final ripening.

By their calculations, it would be about three to five more days.

Ink Orchid: "Search for Divine-Given Seeds first, and gather wild fruits along the way?"

Dragon Cypress: "Ink Orchid, you focus on searching for Divine-Given Seeds. I'll direct the ant colony to pick regular Southern Sour Jujube fruit for refining Ant Honey, to be blended later and made into Ant King Honey."

Ink Orchid: "Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple..."

Dragon Cypress: "I'll take them with me."

Ink Orchid: "Good. I wouldn't feel at ease leaving them here by themselves."

It was just mid-morning,

and after a simple division of tasks, they set out separately.

Two days later, Dragon Cypress had stripped all the common Southern Sour Jujube trees on Southern Sour Jujube Mountain bare, and then commanded the Dominating Throne to enter the Origin Force Vacuum Land. In such places, Worker Ants weren't suited for activity, and with the low degree of evolution of Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple, they definitely couldn't leave the Throne easily. So Dragon Cypress had to harvest with his own claws.

On a day still filled with some Blazing Insects of autumn, as he was busy working, a rhythmic, wave-like pattern of Origin Force Fluctuations suddenly came from the distance.

Dragon Cypress circled and landed the Dominating Throne.

At the stump ant nest, Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple peeked out.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King, is it time for the Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed fruit to ripen?"

"Of course."

"Wow!"

"Oh!"

The two little ones cheered and came bouncing out.

Dragon Cypress piloted the Dominating Throne back.

Under the Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed Tree, Ink Orchid was already waiting.

After a brief moment of excitement, Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple quieted down, lifting their heads and gazing dreamily at the towering tree before them.

Silently waiting.

Late at night, the Origin Force Fluctuations subsided.

Dragon Cypress kept watch under the tree.

Ink Orchid continued searching and checking.

Three days later, a sweet fragrance of fruit spread through the air.

The fruit was ripe—time to harvest!

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple joined the Worker Ant team, lined up the tree to pick the fruits, and then lay on the tree eating them.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid circled about the tree, releasing Origin Force Fluctuations to scare off the birds and beasts attracted by the scent.

Over the past five years, they'd often come to tend and fertilize; with such care, the yield had improved markedly—this time, they harvested a total of 4,193 fruits.

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple were so small, they only ate the pulp of 4 fruits.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid ate a few fresh fruits themselves, and made two jars of fruit-pulp honey preserve.

The rest,

the entire pulp was refined into Ant King Honey, but even so it failed to fill the belly of a single High-Level Blue Ant.

The fruit cores were sun-dried and stored in Spider Silk Bags.

Then they set off again, bound for Scarletlight Mountain.

There were still Yellow Vein Berry and Jade Ling Puto Peach waiting to be harvested.

Taking a long detour, they searched for Lands of Origin Force, picked fresh fruit along the way, and refined Ant Honey as they traveled.

This time, Dragon Cypress brought along 15 Specialized Blue Ants and 20 Large Blue Ants, planning not to head back to Xianglan Mountain until their bellies were absolutely full.