Ant Lord in the Star Realm

The banquet began at noon. After eating their fill, everyone gathered to chat, and it continued until twilight before ending.

The Barley Bug Warriors said their goodbyes and gradually dispersed.

Dragon Cypress led the other insects and once again arrived in front of the Termite King's Palace.

A large Ant Nest built on the plain with Earth-Stone Abilities; it looked quite magnificent.

The lower half formed a whole, while the upper half was adorned with spires of varying heights.

Two spires were especially tall, about forty or fifty meters high, representing the Ant King and Ant Queen of the Termite Kingdom.

Clustering around them were ten more spires of various heights, symbolizing the ten Assistant Kings.

"We really have to admire the Termites' building skills. This Ant Nest only needs a little remodeling to be put to use."

Dragon Cypress stood in front of the nest's main entrance, looked up to examine it, then pointed with a claw at the Termite patterns carved on the arched lintel and said:

"So flashy! White Rice Mountain Lord, do me a favor—soften this area with your Abilities and wipe it off."

"Alright!"

White Rice stepped forward and used Earth System Abilities to soften the earth and stone with the engravings, then used Control Abilities to smooth out the designs, and finally solidified it again with Earth-Stone Hardening.

Dragon Cypress climbed up along the wall, gathering Primordial Energy at his toe-tips, and swung his claw to carve. Soon, a vivid and lively Giant-Headed Ant was engraved, then in another spot, the image of a Flower Mantis Warrior was added.

The other insects were speechless.

Dragon Cypress crawled slowly back down and formally announced, "From today onward, this will be the Xianglan Mountain Kingdom's first permanent nest in the Purple Tung Insect Nation!"

Dragon Cypress lifted his claw and pointed upward, saying, "Those spires are real eyesores. White Rice Mountain Lord, you stay and help for a while. Get rid of all of them! The spires at other nests too—tear them all down and replace them with simple flat tops. It's a big project. I'll pay you monthly wages. I'll give you a raise—1,500 Source Stones a month."

White Rice: "No problem! Dragon Cypress Ant King, the territory still needs someone to manage it, and Red Fox must also be worried about us. You should send Black Rice back to White Rice Mountain first."

Dragon Cypress: "Absolutely! First thing tomorrow, I'll send Mountain Persimmon back to Silver Cypress Mountain."

Dragon Cypress lowered his Mental Power and said, "The situation here in the Purple Tung Insect Nation isn't stable right now. Those of you who can stay, try to stay a bit longer. I'll send everyone back to your territories during late autumn."

—Alright!

The insects all agreed.

Mountain Persimmon raised his claw and reminded, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, it snows in the north during winter..."

Dragon Cypress: "…Of course!"

Mountain Persimmon wiggled his tentacles and pointed at the spires, saying, "Here in the Purple Tung Insect Nation, rainfall is abundant. Winters bring heavy snow, blizzards. These spire designs are likely to prevent the weight of snow piling up on the tops and collapsing the nest. If you change to flat roofs, well, they also seem to help with nest ventilation in winter."

That's right!

Earth and stone are already heavy; if you add snow on top, it would easily collapse!

The insects suddenly understood.

Dragon Cypress: "…"

Dragon Cypress looked over at White Rice.

White Rice: "We can change them to gentle domes, or four, six, or eight-sided sloped roofs."

"Alright! We'll see about changing that in a few days." Dragon Cypress wiggled his tentacles and called out:

"Let's go check out the Treasury and share the wealth inside!"

...

The Treasury of the Termite Kingdom was located in the dry upper levels of the nest, with a total of four vaults, each neatly filled with boxes made using Earth-Stone Abilities.

The boxes were uniform in shape, about 60 centimeters long, 50 centimeters wide, and 40 centimeters high.

After flipping through them all, they found most were already empty; only a few still contained some Origin Force Food.

Judging by the appearance, they were leftovers from last year's harvest.

The most important valuables were the Divine-Given Red Phellodendron Seed and the Divine-Given Purple Tung Seed.

The Divine-Given Purple Tung Seed, which increased endurance, was useful to everyone. They counted the total on the spot and divided it up.

The Divine-Given Red Phellodendron Seed was useful for Ghost Fan. They tallied the quantity and value, letting Ghost Fan take them to eat first, with the difference to be settled later.

There was also plenty of regular Origin Force Food; they counted and calculated the value, and would later distribute it in Source Stones.

The inventory was quickly finished.

Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, and Cypress went to arrange for the Ant Army to settle into the nest and rest.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid assigned nest chambers to the other insects so everyone could have a sound sleep.

...

The next day,

Before dawn, Mountain Persimmon was already waiting at the entrance to the Royal Family's chamber, where Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid rested.

Dragon Cypress was utterly speechless, set off early, and headed straight for Silver Cypress Mountain.

The distance was not too far, so they arrived at noon.

Looking at the tidy orchard and the familiar persimmon trees, Mountain Persimmon finally relaxed.

After confirming that everything in the territory was safe, Dragon Cypress didn't linger, picked up Fragrant Cypress, gathered the ant colony, and returned to the Purple Tung Insect Nation by midnight.

This was all accomplished in just one day.

Cypress coordinated the ant colony, while Ink Orchid, Ghost Fan, Spruce, and the other insects helped dig up the main trunk and underground roots of the White Poplar Divine Seed, temporarily storing them in the Ant Nest until there was time to grind them into powder for future use.

There was a lot to do.

The next morning,

White Rice led the team, working together to reconstruct the palace spires.

Dragon Cypress and Fragrant Cypress directed the ants to dig right where the White Poplar Divine Seed used to be rooted, making a pit 30 meters in diameter and 6 meters deep.

They buried the corpses of the White Poplar Ant King, Red Phellodendron Ant Queen, all the Termite Assistant Kings, and a huge number of Termite Workers at the bottom of the pit.

The early autumn weather was still a bit warm, so the bodies were starting to smell. They quickly covered them with half a meter of soil.

By mid-afternoon, while they were busy, the entire Barley Bug Tribe Warriors, led by Mountain Thorn, Magnolia Bark, and Fuzzy Flower, came for a visit.

After a simple greeting, Fuzzy Flower Mountain Lord spoke first: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, at the gathering the other day, regarding the land question, you offered three solutions… After careful consideration and discussion, we've decided to pick the third one."

Mountain Thorn Mountain Lord said, "That means setting the private territory of each warrior as a circle with a radius of one thousand meters, centered on their mountain cave dwellings; then, using the river canal encircling the Central Region of the Purple Tung Insect Nation as a center, measure three thousand meters outward, make a large circle, and dig a ring-shaped canal two meters wide and one meter deep. The land between the inner and outer canals will be the common territory of our Barley Bug Warriors."

Dragon Cypress: "Good! Then let's start as soon as possible—mark the boundaries and dig the canals. While White Rice Mountain Lord is still here in the Purple Tung Insect Nation, have him use his Earth System Abilities to reinforce them."

Fuzzy Flower Mountain Lord: "That would be for the best."

Dragon Cypress wiggled his tentacles, brought along a team of Blue Soldiers, and called Ink Orchid, Ghost Fan, Spruce, White Rice, and the other insects to follow all the Barley Bug Tribe Warriors for a field survey.

The Dominating Throne had spider silk ropes, including a standard 10-meter rope measured by the Flame Spider Tribe.

The measurement showed that 100 Blue Soldiers, lined up head to tail, were 220 meters long. After adjusting for uneven terrain, it worked out to about 200 meters in a straight line.

Using Blue Soldiers as measuring tools.

Starting from the riverbank and measuring 3,000 meters outward, White Rice used Earth System Abilities to erect stone columns as marks.

They worked from morning till evening, circling the area to make 72 points.

The Barley Bug Warriors could start digging, connecting the marked points with canals. The overall shape was a circle.

It was a big job, and Dragon Cypress made arrangements for the Worker Ants to help as well.

...

On the Desolation Plains, there were still some Worker Ants, Blue Ants, Ant Eggs, and Larvae.

The next morning, Dragon Cypress set out and made multiple trips to bring them all over.

Fragrant Cypress managed the work.

Dragon Cypress took the Blue Soldiers, Ghost Fan, Spruce, White Rice, and the others to continue surveying and dividing the private territories of Barley Bug Warriors.

The Barley Bug Warriors all lived in the mountains, where the slopes and gullies made accurate measurements impossible. So Dragon Cypress rode the Dominating Throne, floated overhead, and estimated visually.

Similarly, White Rice used Earth System Abilities to erect stone columns as marks.

They would later renovate the plots, dig ditches, and plant Large Fruit Round Cypress Trees around the perimeter to mark the boundaries of the territory.

The complex terrain made the work especially difficult, but after nearly a month of hard labor, all the marks were finally laid.

By now, it was late autumn and getting chilly.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid were both worried about Xianglan Mountain.

Blue Catalpa, Snakebark Maple, White Rice, Black Rice, White Willow—their territories had been left without any insect to guard them for a long time, and everyone was getting anxious and chattering about it.

After some discussion, Dragon Cypress first sent Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, Blue Catalpa, and Black Rice back to their territories.

The other insects remained behind to keep helping.