Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 491 - 471 Black Peach No. 2 and No. 3
Huagi Mountain funds White Rice with Divine-Given Origin Force Food worth one million Source Stones.
White Rice evolves into a Life Seed at 9 Age Periods, Mountain Lord.
Dragon Cypress also proactively adds another one million, sends a large amount of Divine-Given Remains, and dispatches one hundred Specialized Green Ants to help nurture the Multi-Veined Elm Life Seed grown during the 8 Age Period Mountain Lord stage.
White Rice only awaits this Common Life Seed to enter a stable growth phase, after which it can break through and evolve into an Evolution Lord.
...
...
...
Another two years pass in a flash.
The first batch of Blue Ice Cypress transplanted to White Lotus Lake blossomed and bore fruit last year. Seeds were collected in large quantities for the first time, and this spring, mass cultivation of seedlings began in the Purple Tung Insect Nation, initiating their promotion.
At the same time,
Dragon Cypress, together with Molan, stayed at Molan Mountain, and with the first warming of the temperature, sowed last year’s harvested Black Peach No.1 seeds into the soil.
Unable to find a Divine-Given Seed and unable to evolve to 7 Age Periods, Molan was on edge, nearly frantic.
The Great King Molan was also peculiar—the first time it swelled fruit was in the third year of blossoming and bearing fruit, then there was no more movement. The pods stagnated at two or three centimeters in length, not growing at all for a full nine years.
Asking Senior Orchid Mantis brought blank confusion; it had no idea what was happening.
It wasn’t just Molan who was anxious.
Dragon Cypress also faintly sensed that something was wrong.
According to the Wormwood Spider King, the Blossom-Fruit cycle of Divine-Grade Zhifeng Grass Divine-Given Seed at the Mountain Lord Level is thirty-eight years: after blossoming and setting fruit for two years, the first fruit swelling occurs, then, very regularly, there’s swelling every six years, with the fruit enlarging a ring each time. After seven times total, the fruit matures.
The Great King Molan hadn’t shown a second fruit swelling even after nine years.
How many years would this Blossom-Fruit cycle last?
If the cycle lasts forty or fifty years, wouldn’t Molan have to wait another thirty or forty years to evolve into Evolution Lord?
Wouldn’t that require Divine-Grade Fruit to extend its life?
Dragon Cypress could only console Molan with: "Orchid Grass and Zhifeng Grass are different plants, the fruit development models are not the same."
...
Peach tree seeds, with their thick shells, need to be fully soaked in warm water before planting. About ten days after sowing, they begin sprouting one after another.
After another four or five days, the nursery was full of twisted, deformed seedlings.
Dragon Cypress began using spiritual power to scan and inspect, directing Worker Ants to eliminate seedlings with especially severe deformities.
Relatively upright and robust seedlings were kept, and another round of screening and elimination would be done in summer...
"Eh—"
After finishing at Nursery No.3, Dragon Cypress led the Worker Ants to Nursery No.4. Looking around, its eyes suddenly lit up.
Among the crooked seedlings, one stood proudly alone, distinctly eye-catching.
Rushing over, drawing near for a careful look.
The seedling was a bit frail, the tips of its four true leaves slightly curling under.
Judging by the size, shape, and vein pattern of the seed coat, it was confirmed to be a Black Peach No.1 seed.
Finally found it!
A weak seedling, but at least it was growing upright and straight upwards.
Dragon Cypress was overjoyed, finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, and directed the Worker Ants to clear the malformed seedlings around it.
There had been no rain for the last seven or eight days; the soil was getting quite dry, so it rushed to the nearby Marsh Gas Pool, activated Water Control Ability to stir and mix marsh slag and swamp water, condensed it into a one-meter-diameter black Water Sphere, and controlled it back to the nursery.
It thoroughly watered the soil around the seedling.
Finished now,
Dragon Cypress scrutinized it again and, after confirming everything was correct, activated Soul-Setting Ability for perception.
In the distant mountain forest, Molan, who was fussing over orchids, immediately sensed it, activated Soul-Setting Ability, and anchored onto Dragon Cypress.
"Great King?"
"Second King, get over here."
Molan did not waste words, leaping into the air, shimmering as it circled low to the ground, landing lightly next to Dragon Cypress, eyes fixed on the upright seedling before it.
"This is grown from a Black Peach No.1 seed?"
"Yes. I’ve checked again and again. No mistake."
"That’s wonderful!"
Molan cheered perfunctorily, but then said worriedly, "But it looks weak."
"It needs to be optimized and selectively bred through successive generations."
"How long will that take?"
"Six years at the very least; ten or eight years if things go fast; if slow..."
"Ah~ah~ah~"
Molan was frantic.
Dragon Cypress: "Molan, be patient. Didn’t you hear the Quandong Divine Tree? Over four hundred years were spent selecting Nine-Leaf Huangqian on Huagi Mountain! What are we going through? This is just the beginning."
Molan: "..."
Molan: "Dragon Cypress, stop scaring me."
Dragon Cypress waved its tentacles and said, "This seedling can be named ’Black Peach No.2’. Using the same method, let Azure propagate it en masse with Bud Cultivation Technique, and then graft it onto the Black Peach Tree at Black Lotus Lake. We also need to find out whether it can blossom and bear fruit normally, and if its seeds can correctly develop into seedlings."
Dragon Cypress: "If it works, this will be a qualitative leap, and we’ll have taken a huge step forward. The next step will be large-scale promotion."
Molan: "Oh——"
Dragon Cypress: "Molan, stand guard here. I’ll go check the other nurseries."
No second upright seedling was found in any other nursery.
Dragon Cypress and Molan stayed behind, patiently keeping watch.
Spring growth is relatively rapid for plants.
After five days,
The seedling’s fifth and sixth true leaves grew out, and the seventh and eighth true leaves unfolded.
Dragon Cypress used Water System Freezing Ability to make an ice basin, then carefully dug up the seedling along with a large clump of soil, placed it in the ice basin, and transported it.
...
Xianglan Mountain.
At dawn, as the morning sun just peeks out, white mist shrouds the mountain reservoir.
The Dominating Throne plunges straight from the sky, heading straight for the southern Azure Blue Reservoir.
"Dragon Cypress! Morning~"
Azure greets them, then immediately senses something and sends a thought full of delighted curiosity, "Dragon Cypress?"
Dragon Cypress: "Azure, good news. The Molan Mountain Nursery successfully selected a Black Peach No.1 seedling with upright growth."
Azure: "That’s great!"
Azure perked up, "Dragon Cypress, we’ve got good news here too! Fragrant Cypress, through hybridization, used Black Emperor Peach pollen on Black Peach and also selected a seedling that can sprout and grow normally. By convention, we’re naming it ’Black Peach No.2’."
Dragon Cypress: "???"
Dragon Cypress: "Wonderful! Excellent!"
Dragon Cypress: "Mine is already named ’Black Peach No.2’; by sequence, Fragrant Cypress’s should be ’Black Peach No.3’."
Dragon Cypress activated Soul-Setting Ability, sensed Fragrant Cypress’s location, slowed the Dominating Throne, and headed over for a look.
In the nursery on the eastern hillside of the reservoir, Fragrant Cypress and Silver Cypress were present.
Black Yellow also chimed in with spiritual power, "Dragon Cypress! Look! Fragrant Cypress succeeded! But I took care of this nursery, I was the first to discover it!"
Black Yellow is also enthusiastic about cultivating various plants and animals, always wanting to emulate Azure, but unfortunately, it can’t command any ant colonies, so it can’t actually do anything.
"Black Yellow, you did great!"
Dragon Cypress praised seriously.
"Great King."
"Great King, you’ve returned!"
Fragrant Cypress and Silver Cypress greeted.
The Dominating Throne landed.
Everyone now noticed the ice basin on the throne and the peach seedling inside it.
Black Yellow: "Dragon Cypress? What’s this...?"
Dragon Cypress: "This is a Black Peach No.2 I personally cultivated. Yours is the No.3."
"Fragrant Cypress, Silver Cypress, quick, dig a hole and transplant No.2."
Dragon Cypress controlled the ice basin to float down, gently landed, leaped down itself, and leaned in close to examine Black Peach No.3.
This is a seedling with a thick main stem and lush, broad green leaves—a strong plant!
Dragon Cypress inspected carefully, "Azure, you’re sure this isn’t a Black Emperor Peach?"
Azure: "Certain! It’s not!"
Azure: "This seedling does look quite similar to Black Emperor Peach, but there are a few fine differences. Look at the color of the young branches—they’re faintly rust-red, whereas Black Emperor Peach’s are brown-red. Look closely and you can tell. Also, Fragrant Cypress is meticulous: every year it collects seeds and labels and organizes them carefully. Mixing things up is highly unlikely."
"Oh——"
"Good!"
Dragon Cypress looked again and speculated, "If Black Peach No.3 can blossom and bear fruit normally, and its seeds can be cultivated normally, then Black Peach No.3 has a high chance of triggering a Divine Endowment!"
Dragon Cypress: "Azure, use Bud Cultivation Technique to propagate a thousand Black Peach No.3 seedlings, plant them in the Xianglan Mountain nursery, screen them rigorously, and end up keeping only fifty. Gather these in an orchard plot."
Dragon Cypress: "We can observe a Law Divine-Given again!"
Azure: "Okay!"
While they talked, Fragrant Cypress and Silver Cypress had quickly completed transplanting the Black Peach No.2 seedling.
Dragon Cypress gave Fragrant and Silver Cypress another round of instructions, then hurried back to Molan Mountain to inform Molan of the good news about finding Black Peach No.3.
This was a pleasant surprise.
After years of repeated attempts,
The infertile Black Peach, even when crossed with all sorts of other types, produced seeds that still could not grow properly.
The half-deformed Black Peach No.1, hybridized with other peach trees, also yielded half-deformed, even weaker seedlings.
Dragon Cypress never really believed in the prospects of hybridization selection.
Fragrant Cypress, however, had kept at it persistently.
No one expected it would actually work.
Looking at all aspects, Black Peach No.2 and No.3 are very different, and if cultivation continues, both have the hope of triggering a Natural Godsend and obtaining a Divine-Given Seed.
Tracing it all back, starting from a single mutant branch of a Dark Peach Tree, decades of effort have produced two new varieties, with hopes of acquiring two high-quality peach Divine-Given Seeds—and even a certain chance for a top-level Divine-Given Seed.
