Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 477 - 457: Arrival of the Thousand-Layer Fruit
A hundred flowers in bloom, the whole mountain steeped in the rich fragrance of late spring.
Dragon Cypress had organized the trade convoy to depart early, arriving at Rednan Mountain’s Ant Nest a day ahead of schedule, settling the ant army and preparing everything in advance.
Starship Passage,
The rumbling roars of wagon wheels came thundering closer from afar.
Red Peach and Silvergrass, one leading and one trailing, each pulling a large and a small wagon, arrived right on time.
"Dragon Cypress Ant King! Clematis!"
"Fragrant Cypress. Cypress. Is that Black Cory? Haven’t seen you in years."
"I am Black Cory."
They exchanged greetings upon meeting,
Dragon Cypress waved his tentacle in acknowledgment.
Fragrant Cypress and Clematis passed over three Spider Silk Bags.
Clematis: "Divine-Grade White Poplar Fruit, newly harvested—three in total. Please check."
"Will do!"
Red Peach quickly opened and inspected them.
Silvergrass untied his Carapace Spider Silk Rope and took down two Spider Silk Bags.
"Everything’s good. Thank you, Dragon Cypress Ant King."
Red Peach finished checking and promptly screwed the lids shut.
Silvergrass handed over one Spider Silk Bag and said, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, this is the Divine-Grade Thousand-Layer Fruit sent by the Seven-Leaf Lord. Please confirm."
Dragon Cypress lifted a claw to receive it, opened it up—inside was a clay jar wrapped in a layer of spider silk embroidered with an exquisite Thousand-Layer Tree motif.
He lifted the lid, scanned quickly with his spiritual power, and closed it at once.
Dragon Cypress: "Very good! No issues."
Silvergrass passed over another Spider Silk Bag.
"Dragon Cypress Ant King, this is a Divine-Grade Moon Peach Fruit."
"Excellent—"
The Moon Peach Fruit was meant to be sent to Yellow Stem.
Dragon Cypress gave it a cursory check, confirmed it was fine, lightly tapped his tentacle, and did the accounting: "Three White Poplar Fruits—2.25 million, Moon Peach Fruit 2 million, you owe me 250,000 Source Stones. We’ll settle up after the rest of the trading is done."
"Understood."
Red Peach and Silvergrass answered in unison.
Dragon Cypress: "The Thousand-Layer Fruit goes for 3 million? Put it on the tab. When the Jinhe Fruit arrives in a few years, we’ll settle accounts then."
For the past two years, Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid had been evolving together, and the cash flow was tight. It was fine to owe the caravan for several years and pay back with Huagi Mountain’s Divine-Grade Fruit, effectively transferring the debt onto Huagi Mountain.
Huagi Mountain’s debt didn’t carry interest and could be repaid slowly.
Silvergrass: "I’ll check with the Seven-Leaf Lord. Should be all right."
Silvergrass: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, the Wormwood Spider King heard about a Divine-Grade Fruit called ’Green Bean.’ It grants a Wood Element ability called ’Bean Vine Entanglement.’ As the name implies, it allows one to rapidly grow and control the vines of wild peas or other bean-type plants, binding opponents."
Dragon Cypress: "Only able to control the vines of wild peas and the like?"
Silvergrass: "Actually, the range is quite broad. Soybeans, wood beans, insect beans, lentils, peas, blue peas, thorn beans, velvet beans, cassia, vine locust, crown vine, chicken bloodvine, and dozens of other large clans—over three thousand species. Including your keteng, it should work as well."
Dragon Cypress twitched his tentacle thoughtfully.
It did sound like a wide variety.
But on closer thought, it was clear that most of these bean-type plants are hardly abundant in the wild.
A supportive, combat-aiding Wood Element ability—with too many limitations.
Dragon Cypress suddenly reconsidered: Wait, in Xianglan Mountain’s orchards, aren’t the bases of the trees full of Thousand Mountains Wild Peas?
If the Green Soldiers or Green Ants could inherit this ability, it’d be excellent for defending the territory!
Dragon Cypress: "Silvergrass, it’s not expensive, is it?"
Silvergrass: "No, very cheap! 1.5 million each. Dragon Cypress Ant King, if you want, we can send a batch next year. ’Divine-Grade Green Bean’ has a blossom-fruit cycle of 13 years. If you need more, we can send one or two more in another 13 years."
Dragon Cypress: "Good! Send me one first to try out. When Divine-Grade Molan Seeds are produced in future, I’ll consider the Wormwood Spider King’s offer."
Silvergrass: "Alright!"
Silvergrass: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, there’s another Divine-Grade Fruit I think you’ll be interested in..."
Another one?
Dragon Cypress suddenly felt as if he’d never run out of Divine-Grade Fruits to eat.
"What type of Divine-Grade are we talking about?"
"Metal System Talent Granting."
"!!!"
"It’s called ’Shashuo’—a newly discovered Divine-Grade in the last few years. A warrior named Golden Frost Mountain Lord picked it up in the wild, didn’t recognize it, and nurtured it into a Life Seed. It bloomed for the first time the year before last, yield was extremely low—only three fruits in the first batch. Right now, Lord White Ivy is leading a team, and we’ve reached a tentative agreement with Golden Frost Mountain Lord. If it evolves to Evolution Lord Level and produces a fourth fruit, the stable trading rights to that fourth fruit will likely go to us..."
Silvergrass spoke in a rapid-fire tone, giving the rundown.
—Metal System Talent Granting!
Originally, Dragon Cypress was anxious to finish up the deal and return to the Ant Nest to eat the Thousand-Layer Fruit, but now he was in no rush.
Dragon Cypress pondered, turning over Red Peach’s words, and quickly grasped the gist, "Lord White Ivy is leading the team?"
Red Peach: "Last year, Lord White Ivy was caravan leader."
Dragon Cypress: "What about Melde?"
Silvergrass: "Lord Melde just tags along."
Dragon Cypress: "..."
That old fox Melde was really doing poorly now? Clearly, Red Peach and Silvergrass were both siding with White Ivy.
Dragon Cypress: "So, the Divine-Grade Shashuo Fruit isn’t exactly secure, is it? These kinds of talent-awakening Divine-Grade Fruits are rare, expensive, in high demand. In places like Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, competition among caravans is nothing short of cutthroat."
Silvergrass: "Yeah, we’re up against some very powerful Spider King caravans."
Red Peach: "At least White Ivy and Lord Melde control a wide variety of Divine-Grade Fruits—enough to intimidate the others. Plus, in recent years, Origin Force Honey has been successfully upgraded into high-grade Origin Force Food, giving our caravan a fantastic reputation and prestige. Even if we can’t secure steady trading rights for Divine-Grade Shashuo Fruit, it’ll still be possible to exchange for a few in small amounts."
Silvergrass: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, do you need a Lord-Level Shashuo Fruit?"
Dragon Cypress gently twitched his tentacles and said, "Lord-level, the success rate isn’t very high... How about this..."
Dragon Cypress was about to refuse out of instinct, but then a flash of inspiration changed his mind and he switched tack:
"How about sending me one to try first. If it fails—if I fail to awaken Metal System Ability—I’ll at least gain Metal System potential, right? Then I can talk to Wormwood, Spurge, and a few more Spider Kings, do some more digging; there must be other Divine-Grade Fruits granting Metal System talent out there. No matter the cost, I’ll get my hands on one and use it as the second fruit—then it’s basically a guarantee."
"Uh..."
Red Peach and Silvergrass were momentarily speechless.
This wasn’t how they thought he’d respond~
No problem though.
Might be even better this way.
Red Peach happily said, "Deal, Dragon Cypress Ant King. Once that Golden Frost Mountain Lord evolves to Evolution Lord Level, we’ll do whatever we can to get you a Divine-Grade Shashuo Fruit."
Red Peach: "And Lord White Ivy can help you look out for other types of elemental-talent-granting Divine-Grade Fruits as well."
Dragon Cypress: "Good! I trust Lord White Ivy’s abilities."
Dragon Cypress turned and called out—Cypress and Black Cory exited the ant nest, while two Specialized Worker Ants carried in a giant pod over three meters long into the cave.
Dragon Cypress: "First batch of Divine-Given Keteng Seeds, ripe and harvested..."
What a massive bean!
Red Peach and Silvergrass exclaimed in surprise.
But unfortunately, the pod’s shell was too thick to fit entirely through the Starship Rift, so they had to split it open and pass the seeds inside, one by one.
...
Dragon Cypress personally oversaw the trade of Divine-Given Origin Force Food.
Direct receipt and transport of source stones, routine deals for Origin Force Food, and brewing of Origin Force Honey were all handled by Clematis, Black Cory, Fragrant Cypress, and Cypress.
Dragon Cypress himself returned to Xianglan Mountain, ate the Thousand-Layer Fruit first, then quickly gorged on Wood Element Divine-Given Origin Force Food, preparing for Age Period Evolution.
Half a month later,
all business with the Flame Spider Roving Merchant was completed.
Dragon Cypress came to check, made sure everything had gone smoothly, and organized his convoy to return home.
Then he traveled to the Purple Tung Insect Nation to finish spring trading, bringing Ink Orchid to journey around the continent in search of Divine-Given Seeds.
Upon returning to Xianglan Mountain, he went into hibernation to evolve.
PS: At the end of the previous Chapter, I miscalculated the income, forgetting to include four Divine-Given Seeds: Night Fragrance, Purple Tung, Scarletlight, and Southern Sour Jujube. This has been corrected; the annual income of Xianglan Mountain Kingdom is now 3.3 million Source Stones.
