Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 502 - 482 Frost Birch

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid returned smoothly to Cloud Trace Continent, heading straight for the Areca Rainforest to hand over the gathered seeds to Black Leaf.

Dragon Cypress explained to Black Leaf, teaching it to recognize and understand these tropical plants from the Southern Hemisphere, and had Black Leaf attempt to sow them.

The annual spring search for Divine-Given Seeds must not slacken.

They immediately headed north, searching each Land of Origin Force one by one, and eventually arrived at the Purple Tung Insect Nation.

The Dominating Throne assisted Yellow Stem in evolving into a 3rd age period Mountain Lord...

...

The first God-Given Life Seed nurtured by Yellow Stem was the ’Nine-Leaf Huangqian’, planted in the central region of the Purple Tung Insect Nation, keeping a 1000-meter safety distance from the central Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed and Dragon Cypress’s White Poplar Divine Seed.

The second God-Given Life Seed nurtured by Yellow Stem was named ’Lesser Vein Kunlan’, a kin of the Linnan Divine Tree, with unique strengthening effects—modifying the physique to improve the rate at which Insect Clan Warriors convert Natural Primordial Force into Wood Primordial Energy.

Many insects—Dragon Cypress, Ink Orchid, Spruce, Mountain Persimmon, Blue Catalpa, Woodberry, Black Rice, Black Peach, and others from Cloud Trace Continent—all had a demand for it; the more, the better.

The unit price is very high,

In terms of profit, it’s a top-level Divine-Given Seed that can rival the Sky Blue Persimmon.

Plan to plant it in the central region, and maintain a 1000-meter safety distance from the Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed and the Night Fragrance God-Given Seed.

Round Cypress and Black Birch had helped out early on, digging holes, composting, mixing in Divine-Given Remains, and refilling to build a half-round tubao mound.

After Yellow Stem evolved, it immediately spat out the Life Seed and sowed it into the earth.

The central region of the Purple Tung Insect Nation was limited in area, and could only accommodate a few Divine-Given Seeds—there was only one slot left...

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid placed the stew pot by the river canal, just out of the reach of the spiritual power of the Huagi Divine Tree and Linnan Divine Tree, and brought Yellow Stem over.

"Yellow Stem, hurry up and eat to recover," Ink Orchid greeted warmly.

"Yellow Stem, you haven’t selected your 3rd age period Life Seed yet, right?" Dragon Cypress inquired.

Ink Orchid also asked with concern, "Is your Divine-Given Seed stored in Huagi Mountain Treasury? Dragon Cypress can take you back to fetch it."

Yellow Stem knew these two were up to their old tricks~

Yellow Stem warily said, "...I need to go back to the mountain."

Dragon Cypress: "What are your plans for the third God-Given Life Seed?"

Yellow Stem: "..."

Yellow Stem: "Frost Birch Divine-Given Seed. I told you about it—the Heavenly Frost Divine Tree’s kin, a tough birch mutant. The mutation is considerable; its strengthening effect is for the Water System, enhancing frost-type abilities in a specific direction."

Dragon Cypress: "!!!"

The Shield Grasshopper Tribe Warriors who evolve to Mountain Lord Level—if they awaken Water Element Talent—are bound to comprehend the two major Talent Abilities: Frostfall and Frost Thorn.

Isn’t this Frost Birch Divine-Given Seed made precisely for their Shield Grasshopper Tribe Water System warriors?

—This Divine-Given Seed is fantastic!

Dragon Cypress was overjoyed.

Its own Water System Talent was mainly just a Freezing Ability that barely counted as having some combat ability; seriously needed to strengthen it.

Really need it!

These Divine-Given Origin Force Foods that specialize in enhancing a specific Elemental ability are several times more effective than general-purpose comprehensive Elemental ability strengthening foods.

Of course, the price is also higher.

Dragon Cypress tentatively asked, "Boss Yellow, is this a top-level Divine-Given Seed?"

Yellow Stem: "According to Boss Dragon Cypress’s classification of top-level Divine-Given Seeds, it barely counts, I guess."

—Another top-level!

Ink Orchid’s eyes went green at these words.

Dragon Cypress quietly envied for a moment, then got down to business in a formal tone: "Yellow Stem, look, now we’ve opened up a route to Molan Continent. Ink Orchid is needed there with me, to search for islands and look for Divine-Given Seeds on deserted isles."

Dragon Cypress: "Ink Orchid has already eaten Divine-Grade Six Paths Fruit. Only by evolving once more can it bring out the full strengthening effect and urgently needs a Divine-Given Seed. Boss Yellow, what do you say..."

"No borrowing."

Yellow Stem shook his tentacle forcefully, saying, "Last time, because of the Leigangli Divine-Given Seed, the Huagi Divine Tree already severely scolded me once. Can’t lend it again. It’s not that I’m stingy, nor is the Huagi Divine Tree petty—it’s just that Divine-Given Seeds cannot be lent."

Ink Orchid weakly said, "I don’t need a top-level one, just lend me an almost-adequate one and I’ll pay back with something better later."

Yellow Stem continued to shake its tentacle, asking, "Ink Orchid, you have a Divine-Grade Ink Orchid Divine-Given Seed. Could you recognize it when it’s in seed form?"

—No!

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid instantly understood what Yellow Stem meant, and fell silent.

Yellow Stem: "Most Divine God-Given Seeds, in seed state, are indistinguishable from ordinary Divine-Given Seeds—you can’t tell. Think about it: what if, in the future, you repay me with a Divine God-Given Seed? Would you be okay with that?"

Yellow Stem: "On the flip side, what if I lend you a Divine God-Given Seed? How would you pay back? You couldn’t. Then wouldn’t our Huagi Mountain lose big?"

Yellow Stem: "Divine-Given Seeds are the Natural True God’s favor to approved Insect Clan Warriors—the supreme treasures concerning destiny, bestowed by the Natural God. Don’t do any more trading, buying, gifting, or similar deals."

This made perfect sense.

The chance of a Divine-Grade being born is extremely low; even among ten thousand Divine-Given Seeds, one might not appear.

But, what if it does?

Senior Orchid Mantis is one example.

On the far-off Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, Melde and White Ivy had also encountered the Shashuo Divine-Given Seed, another example.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid were left speechless.

Dragon Cypress had long understood the logic and never really wanted to borrow one.

Mainly, Ink Orchid kept losing sleep every night, waking Dragon Cypress in the middle of the night to take walks.

Dragon Cypress was on the verge of collapse, too.

Dragon Cypress sighed, "Let’s drop it. Ink Orchid, don’t worry, the Mutant Blue Ice Cypress should soon meet the Divine-Given criteria."

Ink Orchid: "I’m not worried!"

Yellow Stem advised, "Dragon Cypress, Ink Orchid, really, don’t rush into things on Molan Continent! Safety first! Dragon Cypress Ant King, you need to evolve to Evolution Lord Level first..."

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid could only tap their tentacles in agreement.

...

There were many affairs this year.

Back at Xianglan Mountain, Dragon Cypress arranged for Black Cory and Black Peach to transplant Black Peach No.2 saplings to Black Lotus Lake and Southern Sour Jujube Mountain respectively.

The 4.5 million Source Stones from Huagi Mountain had to be transported over there.

Chinese Clematis, Pueraria, and two other warriors from the Barley Bug Tribe needed the help of the Dominating Throne to break through to Mountain Lord Level.

Spiked Cypress and Silver Cypress also needed the Dominating Throne to evolve into 9th Age Period Mountain Lords.

At the end of summer,

there were still some peach fruits from Black Peach No.2 trees on Molan Mountain that needed to be harvested by hand, seed selected, and seeds sun-dried.

When all was completed, autumn had arrived.

Dragon Cypress stayed on Molan Mountain for two months, using the Flourish Ability in person to help Leigangli, Two Kings Ink Orchid, and North Elm to grow.

The Leigangli Tree had just passed 120 meters tall, with lush branches and leaves, the tree in its prime, and ready to break through to Evolution Lord Level with no problem.

North Elm was a great tall tree; with no expense spared, it grew rapidly, reaching nearly a hundred meters in just 11 years. Just another year of accumulation, and breaking through to Lord-Level would be no issue.

Junior Orchid, 5 years older than North Elm, was actually a bit worse off; Dragon Cypress could only get some Glinting Gold back from Senior Orchid Mantis for Junior Orchid to use. Next year, another fifty thousand Source Stones should sort it out.

Dragon Cypress broke through to Evolution Lord Level; all Life Seeds and God-Given Life Seeds had been settled, the tree and fruit were resting, storing energy, just waiting for the scheduled time to begin.

...

Autumn roving merchant’s trade, circling the continent to search for Divine-Given Seeds.

Back at Xianglan Mountain, it was early winter.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid packed lightly and set out.

...

Swinging Leaf Island.

A morning made dazzlingly bright after a rainstorm.

Tie Bush seemed to have never moved, most of its body hidden in the water, only its carapace and two eyes showing, motionless, staring at the Swinging Leaf Iron Core Tree Divine-Given Seed ahead.

The Dominating Throne was parked under the tree.

"Tie Bush!"

Ink Orchid waved its tentacle in greeting, landing lightly with a bag of Divine-Given Remains in tow.

Tie Bush’s reactions and movements seemed a bit sluggish; hearing the greeting, it finally clambered out of the water hurriedly.

"Ink Orchid."

"Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

Tie Bush waved its pincer limb in response.

Ink Orchid corrected, "Wrong, Tie Bush. You addressed us wrong. Now that you’ve joined Xianglan Mountain Ant Kingdom, you should call me Second King, and address Dragon Cypress as Great King."

Tie Bush: "...Second King...Great King..."

Tie Bush said anxiously, "Great King, Second King, the Origin Force Ant Honey you left for me is all gone, but I haven’t felt any signs of breaking through to evolve."

Ink Orchid: "That’s normal. The Origin Force Ant Honey left last time wasn’t enough for you to evolve into 3rd age period."

Ink Orchid jumped up onto the Throne, then jumped down again with a large Spider Silk Bag, saying heroically, "Tie Bush, we brought you 3 cans of Origin Force Ant Honey!"

Dragon Cypress looked up at the Swinging Leaf Iron Core Tree Divine-Given Seed’s growth state, then, hearing the conversation, withdrew its gaze and reminded:

"Tie Bush, go easy. Eat half a can each month; finish three cans in half a year, and you should be able to evolve to 3rd age period. But don’t evolve by yourself—wait for me to come, use the Dominating Throne to assist, and you’ll almost certainly succeed."

Tie Bush: "Understood. Thank you, Dragon Cypress...Great King."

Tie Bush happily accepted the Spider Silk Bag handed by Ink Orchid, and with its giant pincers somewhat clumsily opened it for inspection.

It took out a metal can, brought it to its mouth, twisted open the lid skillfully with its tentacles, took a couple of bites, and suddenly froze, pausing for a few seconds, then forcibly held back its instinctive craving for the Origin Force Food and screwed the lid back on tightly.

Tie Bush: "I have to eat sparingly!"

Ink Orchid: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress said, "Tie Bush, look carefully at the wooden tag on the metal can; see the characters carved on it."

Tie Bush: "Oh—"

Tie Bush: "I know, Great King. You explained before—those mark the strengthening type and scent/flavor info of Origin Force Ant Honey."

Dragon Cypress: "That’s right."

Dragon Cypress: "The Xianglan Mountain Kingdom has a rather complete system of characters, able to record and describe most things. As a kingdom member, Tie Bush, you need to learn them."

Dragon Cypress: "Ink Orchid will stay on the island for a while and teach you these characters."

Tie Bush: "Okay!"

Dragon Cypress raised a claw, pointing at the towering tree overhead, and asked, "Tie Bush, have you already harvested the Divine-Given Ironheart Wood Seeds once?"

Tie Bush: "Yes. I used 3,000 Source Stones."

Tie Bush clumsily turned its body, raising its giant pincers to point at the mountain peak, "971 Divine-Given Ironheart Wood Seed Fruits—I dried them all and put them in Spider Silk Bags, stored in the cave."

"Good! Tie Bush, excellent work."

Dragon Cypress continued, "Tie Bush, specifically, when did they mature?"

Tie Bush: "After Great King and Second King left last time, about three months later, I think?"

Last time they left, it was late spring in the Northern Hemisphere; three months later it was midsummer. According to the Huagi Divine Tree’s deduction, that lines up with it being winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Ironheart Wood mostly matures in late autumn or winter—the seasons match up.

"Good! Noted!"

Dragon Cypress called out, "The Swinging Leaf Iron Core Tree Divine-Given Seed’s growth has clearly improved, meaning the Divine-Given Remains were very useful to it. This time we brought ten large bags—use them up first."

...

They worked together with their claws to dig holes under the tree.

The task was completed.

Together, they climbed the mountain to check on the newly harvested Divine-Given Ironheart Wood Seeds. Dragon Cypress directed the worker ants and blue ants to refine them all into high-concentration ant honey.

Ink Orchid stayed on the island for now.

Dragon Cypress set off south alone.