Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 492 - 472: Ink Emperor Peach, Ink Orchid Evolution
Dragon Cypress was meticulous and saved up Spider King Silk Scrolls for six years.
The Divine-Grade Six Paths Fruit promised by the Aconite Spider King arrived right on time.
Dragon Cypress took out six million himself, borrowed another six million from White Ivy, and bought it in full.
But there was still no Divine-Given Seed, and Ink Orchid was stuck at the 6th Age Period.
The Divine-Grade Six Paths Fruit could only be stored in the Huagi Mountain Treasury for now.
Top-level divine grade!
He had it in hand, but couldn’t eat it.
Ink Orchid was restless at night, wandering the mountain forests every evening, and often woke the sleeping Dragon Cypress in the middle of the night to join him for a walk.
...
The spring sun shone high, and the earth was warming up again.
Finally,
After three rounds of elimination, the carefully selected fifty No. 3 Black Peach trees were starting to grow to maturity.
The branches were thick and sturdy, the buds plump.
They were about to bloom and bear fruit for the first time.
These healthy and robust mutant trees were very likely to trigger the Natural Law and bring down a Divine-Given Blessing.
Dragon Cypress adjusted the distribution of insect workers.
Those who had witnessed the Natural Godsend—Silver Cypress and Black Cory—were sent to the Purple Tung Insect Nation to help Cypress guard the White Poplar Divine Seed and organize spring work.
Those who hadn’t seen a Natural Godsend—Round Cypress, Black Leaf, Black Birch, and Black Peach—were transferred back to Xianglan Mountain to watch the excitement and broaden their horizons.
Led by Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid, the seven Assistant Kings each commanded Soldier Ants, Blue Soldiers, Green Soldiers, Worker Ants, and Green Ants, forming a tight circle around the fruit orchard with No. 3 Black Peach trees.
They slept during the day and kept watch at night.
...
Peach trees are deciduous plants. Bathed in the spring breeze, little by little, vivid green unfurled along the bare branches.
The flower buds followed closely, pushing out flowering branches, each bud gradually swelling, ready to bloom.
Late one night, suddenly,
Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid lifted their heads at the same time.
In the night sky, a speck of white light flashed into being, then vanished in an instant.
A wisp of powerful Primordial Energy, enough to make all insects tremble, descended from the sky and merged into the orchard below.
The ant crowd watching the excitement all stood up, turned around, and bolted.
"That one!"
Ink Orchid raised his claw, "That fruiting branch!"
"Whoa~oh~"
Spiked Cypress dashed forward at full speed.
Ink Orchid darted over, raised a claw, and pinned Spiked Cypress down, "Stupid ant! Don’t move!"
Dragon Cypress, Round Cypress, and the others who had been running slowed their pace, jogging forward.
Under the gaze of eight or nine pairs of eyes, under the crisscrossing mental power sensing, the flower branch struck by the Divine-Given Power suddenly emitted faint Origin Force Fluctuations from one of its flower buds.
—It worked!
The insects cheered.
"Yes!"
Ink Orchid was overjoyed.
Finally, he could evolve into the 7th Age Period.
Dragon Cypress secretly let out a sigh of relief, "Congratulations, Second King! Your wish has come true."
"Congrats to Second King!"
The ants offered their congratulations one after another.
"Great King!"
Spiked Cypress raised a claw and asked, "Great King, please take a good look—is this Divine-Given Seed top-level?"
"Can’t tell, can’t be sure."
Dragon Cypress gently shook his antennae, and said, "But, it’s about two-fifths Black Emperor Peach bloodline, the other three-fifths Black Peach bloodline. Black Peach fruits are big, and not bad themselves. Two strong lines combined, it won’t be bad however you look at it."
"Yes!"
Ink Orchid flapped his wings and slapped Spiked Cypress’s carapace, showing strong agreement.
Fragrant Cypress raised a claw, looking hopeful and expectant: "Great King, Second King, Black Peach No. 3 was bred by me."
Dragon Cypress: "This peach tree’s Divine-Given Seed, all Command Ants get a fifty percent split."
Dragon Cypress: "Fragrant Cypress gets an extra reward of 500,000 Source Stones worth of Divine-Given Origin Force Food. Giant Cypress was the first to notice the mutant branch in Black Peach, so Giant Cypress gets an additional 300,000 Source Stones’ Divine-Given Origin Force Food reward. For the other Command Ants, you’ve all worked hard these years—each gets 100,000 Source Stones’ Divine-Given Origin Force Food reward."
Dragon Cypress: "From now on, any major discovery or gain in territory management won’t increase the Divine-Given Seed share—only Divine-Given Origin Force Food will be rewarded. The discoverer gets a big bonus, but the other Command Ants will also get a certain amount. Why set this rule? Simple—it’s not fair to Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, Silver Cypress, and Cypress, who are in charge of fighting and territory defense; they work hard too but aren’t involved in territory management."
The ants went silent.
Dragon Cypress went on: "The development of the Land of Origin Force at Cloud Trace Continent is basically finished. The work assignments will be adjusted a bit."
"Three plant breeding bases will be planned. The first is Xianglan Mountain, a warm temperate plant base, led by Fragrant Cypress; the second is Purple Tung Insect Nation, a cold temperate plant base, led by Round Cypress; the third is Areca Rainforest, a tropical plant base—Black Leaf, Black Birch, and Black Peach, you three will run it in rotation."
Dragon Cypress: "Ink Orchid will guard the peach trees. Black Peach stays, and the Command Ants will help."
Dragon Cypress: "Round Cypress, Cypress, Black Birch, I’ll send you back to Purple Tung Insect Nation."
Dragon Cypress: "Black Leaf, you can rest in Xianglan Mountain for a while; I’ll take you to the Areca Rainforest at the start of summer."
...
At Cloud Trace Continent’s Land of Origin Force, only a single arid, water-scarce Desolation Plains remained tillable.
The original plan of Dragon Cypress was to dig two deep ponds, ask White Rice for help to harden them, and store water for irrigation.
But the plan changed temporarily.
According to pattern, after evolving to Evolution Lord Level, the Water System Talent will invariably awaken a "Water Making" ability similar to the Ice-Fire Water-Making Pot.
This ability can be inherited by Blue Soldiers and Blue Ants. At that time, reclaiming the arid Land of Origin Force will be twice as effective with half the effort.
Dragon Cypress considered that, if he smoothly infiltrated the Molan Continent, he’d definitely begin by operating in the tropical seas, searching for suitable islands to take root.
At that time, he might need to move cultivated seeds over to the Molan Continent, or he might gather rare and innately excellent seeds there to bring back and plant in Cloud Trace Continent.
Getting ready early.
He split off Black Leaf, Black Birch, and Black Peach—three Command Ants—to start running the Areca Rainforest, so they could get familiar with the tropical jungle environment and tropical plant cultivation techniques, always ready for assignments.
...
Late summer, early autumn.
No. 3 Black Peach’s Divine-Given Seed matured and was harvested.
With the Black Emperor Peach bloodline, based on Origin Force Fluctuations, its enhancement type was similar—mainly muscle strength enhancement.
Officially named the "Ink Emperor Peach."
Exclusive to Ink Orchid, who placed it in his Life Pouch to nurture.
...
Late winter.
Ink Orchid finished nurturing the Ink Emperor Peach Divine-Given Seed, and headed to the relatively warm Southern Sour Jujube Mountain to sleep and evolve.
Dragon Cypress waited outside the cave.
This was a relatively easy age period evolution.
Five days later, Ink Orchid awoke from his slumber and quickly shed his old shell.
"Dragon Cypress!"
Ink Orchid called out, thrilled, "Wow! I’ve comprehended so many new abilities!"
Dragon Cypress pushed aside the brambles blocking the cave entrance, just about to stick his head in, when—bang!—Ink Orchid crashed out.
"Four abilities!"
Ink Orchid announced proudly.
Dragon Cypress’s mind buzzed.
Ink Orchid: "First ability, Night Fragrance!"
In a daze, Dragon Cypress seemed to catch a whiff of the scent of Night Fragrant Flower.
Ink Orchid: "Second ability, Mottled Remnant Realm."
Dragon Cypress felt the light before his eyes flicker, the world spinning, and suddenly found himself standing beneath the giant trees of a primeval forest.
Blossoms in full bloom.
All kinds of floral scents assailed him.
The scene before his eyes shifted again, and he was suddenly under a three-hundred-meter-tall Night Fragrance Tree, faint fragments of spiritual power echoing around him:
—Ants repay their debts.
—Ants repay their debts.
—Ants repay their debts.
Dragon Cypress shook his head hard and shouted in annoyance, "Ink Orchid! Enough! Testing’s over!"
The light and shadows around him flickered and returned to normal.
"Ants repay their debts!" Ink Orchid sprang out.
Dragon Cypress: "..."
Dragon Cypress: "The Spotted Thicket Fruit’s ability is pretty powerful, and Night Fragrance is also a nice touch."
Ink Orchid: "Mottled Remnant Realm!"
Dragon Cypress: "Good naming."
Dragon Cypress: "Four abilities?"
Ink Orchid buried his head, pondered a bit, then lifted his left foreleg—a current of air swirled around his claw tip.
"Wind System, support ability, restricts the opponent’s movement, basically like Bean Vine Entanglement."
As he spoke, he tilted his head and targeted a Specialized Green Soldier dazedly watching from under the peach tree nearby, and tapped with his foreleg.
The airflow curling around his claw tip twisted out like water, meandered over, and instantly wrapped the Specialized Green Soldier.
The ability kept blasting out.
The invisible currents swelled in a flash, coil after coil wrapping the baffled Green Soldier and pinning him to the ground.
The Green Soldier struggled with all his might.
After a few tries, he realized it was pointless, and simply lay still.
Ink Orchid waved his claw.
The airflow dispersed.
The Specialized Green Soldier stood up, glanced at Dragon Cypress, then at Ink Orchid, and dashed away.
Dragon Cypress: "This is a very interesting ability, and quite useful."
Ink Orchid: "This ability is called ’Air Entanglement.’"
Dragon Cypress: "..."
Dragon Cypress: "And the fourth ability?"
Ink Orchid: "The fourth ability is pretty mundane."
With that, he flapped his wings, and the weeds by the ant road instantly stood tall, their blades hardened and sharpened by Primordial Energy, and shot into the sky.
Midair, Ink Orchid withdrew the ability.
The blades of grass drifted down.
Dragon Cypress twitched his antennae, commenting, "The most common Wood Element attack, but very practical. Honestly, I always wanted this ability, but never managed to comprehend it."
Ink Orchid: "This ability is called Flying Leaf."
Dragon Cypress: "..."
Dragon Cypress waved his antennae and called out, "Ink Orchid, go hunt and fill your belly, do some moving around to adjust, then you can use the Divine-Grade Six Paths Fruit."
Dragon Cypress: "It’s getting warm lately; the Ink Emperor Peach can be sown soon."
