Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 503 - 483: The Trace of the Flame Spider Roving Merchant’s Spider Silk
Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid’s biggest concern was that while operating at sea or stealthily sneaking back to Cloud Trace Continent, they might bump into a certain Spider King heading to Leafcutter Island, get their origins seen through, and thus expose their smuggling route.
To play it safe, it was best to stagger their movements with the Flame Spider caravans operating here in the Southern Hemisphere.
...
Dragon Cypress was quite familiar with the Flame Spider Tribe; they were orthodox tropical insects, with an innate nature: a distaste for frigid climates.
All routes of the Flame Spider roving merchants followed a unified pattern: they traveled through colder regions during summer.
Now, 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
it was cold winter in the Northern Hemisphere, while the Southern Hemisphere should be in summer.
According to this pattern, the Flame Spider roving merchants in the Southern Hemisphere were likely roaming even further south, near Antarctica, at this time.
They wouldn’t be arriving in the tropical regions anytime soon.
...
Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid planned, in the next 2 to 3 months, to search through all the tropical seas far from the mainland.
The last time, Dragon Cypress and White Rice had only completed half of their survey.
They would continue to explore the remaining sea regions.
The Dominating Throne sped above the white clouds, heading due west.
Dragon Cypress lay at the edge of the Throne, looking all around, taking in everything within sight from above.
They flew to the western Divine Force Barrier.
Rested for one night.
Then followed the Divine Force Barrier southward for 600 kilometers.
Then turned east.
The blazing noon sun shone upon the carapace, light energy turned into physical strength, transforming into a gentle heat that coursed through the blood.
The Forest Symbiont ability, paired with the leaves of the Quandong Divine Tree, had one downside—that with too much sunlight, their bodies would be bursting with unused energy.
Dragon Cypress multi-tasked, piloting the Dominating Throne at high speed while scanning and searching, idly waving a claw at the air, releasing the ’Rend’ ability just to pass the time.
The waving motion suddenly froze,
Dragon Cypress’s eyes narrowed sharply.
Off to the left front,
where sea blue met sky blue, a flash of rich green appeared.
An island!
Dragon Cypress urged the Dominating Throne to accelerate.
Getting closer, he confirmed it was an island, and a rather large one at that.
Drawing even nearer, he was surprised to discover it wasn’t a single island—there were two, one big and one small, not far apart, with several reefs jutting up nearby.
The Dominating Throne restrained its Origin Force fluctuations, dropped straight down, and plunged into the sea.
Diving a hundred meters deep, he stealthily approached the smaller island.
Near shore,
he activated his Soul-Setting Ability to sense, and his heart skipped a beat.
A tree-shaped soul—a Divine-Given Seed!
Mountain Lord level, seemingly wild.
No other souls present nearby.
——Could this be another case like Swinging Leaf Island?
Dragon Cypress quickly calmed, mind racing, controlling the Dominating Throne to circle around the island.
He quickly finished probing,
a small, almost perfectly round island, about seven or eight kilometers in diameter, some 50 square kilometers in area.
The Soul-Setting Ability easily covered the whole island.
Confirmed that no Origin Force life existed.
——A purely wild Divine-Given Seed?!
——Too bad it’s only Mountain Lord level.
Dragon Cypress was secretly delighted, pondering, but dared not be careless—he didn’t rush ashore, but maneuvered the Dominating Throne away from the coast, diving deep and slowly moving toward the somewhat larger island.
The two were only twenty or thirty kilometers apart—he reached it quickly.
He hid at the seabed off the coast, using the Soul-Setting Ability to probe.
Two Divine-Given Seeds?
Wild?
Through the Soul-Setting Ability, there were two tree-shaped souls: one Lord-level, one Mountain Lord-level, far apart from each other.
Dragon Cypress tensed up, quite certain—these were by no means wild.
Including the one on the smaller island from earlier, that made three wild Divine-Given Seeds.
On a deserted island without intelligent life to manage it, it was impossible for three wild Divine-Given Seeds to survive.
The Natural Star Realm simply didn’t allow for such coincidences.
But,
the Soul-Setting Ability didn’t detect any Origin Force life souls.
Dragon Cypress had the Dominating Throne withdraw a bit to deeper waters, maintaining a cautious depth below 50 meters, circling around the island in secret.
From time to time he swept with the Soul-Setting Ability, quietly estimating distance and calculating the island’s shape and size.
Soon, he had circled half the island.
Preliminary checks showed this island was also nearly round, about 15 kilometers in diameter, roughly 180 square kilometers.
No Origin Force life souls detected.
Dragon Cypress didn’t let his guard down. Piloting the Dominating Throne, he continued diving deep, circling the island again, another full sweep with the Soul-Setting Ability.
Indeed, there was no Origin Force life present.
——Two islands, totaling 230 square kilometers, average Origin Force concentration, yet somehow naturally containing three wild Divine-Given Seeds?
——And one had evolved to Lord-level, the other two to Mountain Lord?
——That’s just impossible!
——If it were a Beast Clan Warrior, wouldn’t they keep constant watch under the tree?
Dragon Cypress was puzzled.
Without Insect Clan Warriors to tend them, and without raw stone resources invested, ninety-nine out of a hundred wild Divine-Given Seeds would die in the attempt to break through to Mountain Lord level.
Dragon Cypress picked a downwind spot, steeled himself, surfaced, dismissed the Hydrology Shield, and flicked his tentacles to catch scents in the air.
Ants were born with some of the sharpest sense of smell among the Insect Clan.
With the enhancement of various Divine-Given Origin Force foods, Dragon Cypress’s sense of smell was extremely strong.
He swept left and right, failing to catch even a hint of Origin Force life in the air.
So he could conclude there were indeed no Origin Force lifeforms on the island—at least, not in the last two or three days.
Dragon Cypress suddenly thought of a possibility: at one time, there had been Insect Clan Warriors isolated on this remote island, but they had died.
The Dominating Throne lifted off, turned, and flew to the small island.
Amid thick tropical rainforest on the southwest side, a large, obviously cleared vacant area, stood a straight and proud great tall tree, fifty meters high.
The Dominating Throne slowed down.
Spiritual power swept out, scanning everywhere, slowly drawing closer.
Twin Pillar Sumeru Wood!
Dragon Cypress’s attention was drawn to a reservoir high on a hill in the distance.
A square reservoir excavated by insects, with very obvious Earth System ability reinforcement marks.
There was also a water-diverting river canal, winding along the mountainside, passing right by the wild Twin Pillar Sumeru Wood Divine-Given Seed.
The Dominating Throne accelerated, searching the area—there were no traces of other Life Seed plants.
He turned and landed at the reservoir embankment, lowering his head to check.
Earth System abilities at King Level for reinforcement!
——Where’d an Insect King come from?
——Not living on the island?
Dragon Cypress suddenly thought of a possibility.
The Dominating Throne shot vertically upward, heading for the other, larger island.
The island had a rising great mountain.
A wild Divine-Given Seed sat on the northern mountainside—Lord-level, a Fragrant Silk Tree.
Another at the south foot, in the rainforest below—Mountain Lord level, Giant Beaked Ivory Palm.
On the mountain, there was a large reservoir built by insects, also reinforced with King-level abilities.
The two wild Divine-Given Seeds were more than four kilometers apart.
There were insect-dug channels, meandering, flowing past both Divine-Given Seeds on their way to the sea.
Dragon Cypress piloted the Dominating Throne unhurriedly in low flight, circling the island again and again, sweeping with spiritual power, narrowing down the search, finally returning to the mountain and stopping by the reservoir embankment.
He leapt from the Throne and searched the mountains and forests.
In the dense rainforest, the burly Flame Spider roving merchants would surely have knocked down or trampled plants as they passed.
If they traversed it year after year, they would leave behind a "commerce route" like an ant trail.
On the towering mountain and the rainforest below, there were faint "Flame Spider Trade Route" traces.
One or two Flame Spiders came every year, making the trip once.
This perfectly confirmed Dragon Cypress’s suspicion:
——From the Molan Continent mainland to Leafcutter Island, the Flame Spider roving merchants delivering resources to the Leafcutter Ant Kingdom on the island would pass through these islands, landing here once a year to tend the wild Divine-Given Seeds.
Judging by the rooting positions of these three wild Divine-Given Seeds, Dragon Cypress thought they hadn’t been planted by roving merchants.
If insects had planted them, they would’ve placed them closer together for easier management—not spaced more than four kilometers apart to the north and south, nor scattered between a small and a large island.
Moreover, if a Flame Spider roving merchant picked up a seed, they would surely send it back to the Kingdom.
The Flame Spider Kingdom in the Northern Hemisphere’s Wan Country continent had retired Old Flame Spiders dedicated to wild Divine-Given Seeds. The Flame Spider Kingdom in Shanglu, Southern Hemisphere, surely had similar arrangements.
Dragon Cypress piloted the Dominating Throne, arriving under the Fragrant Silk Divine-Given Seed, looking up for inspection.
The tree was covered in fruit.
The foliage luxuriant, its growth state excellent.
Spiritual power swept underground—clusters of fine roots, evidence of absorbing raw stone powder through their offshoot roots.
Dragon Cypress understood the Flame Spider roving merchant’s plan:
——Arrive promptly every early winter to harvest a massive batch of Lord-level Divine-Given Origin Force food—a considerable income.
——Once cultivated to King Level, they could guide it to condense a tree heart and take it back to the Flame Spider Kingdom.
Thinking it over, Dragon Cypress guessed the Flame Spider roving merchant wouldn’t have made a big detour. The mainland, these islands, and Leafcutter Island were almost in a straight line.
From this, he could infer where the Flame Spider roving merchant entered the sea from the mainland, and roughly predict their sea route.
Having deduced the approximate time and route of the roving merchant’s journey to Leafcutter Island, it would be easy to avoid them.
Dragon Cypress piloted the Dominating Throne skyward, then went to inspect the Divine-Given Seed Giant Beaked Ivory Palm below.
There were traces of raw stone powder usage under the tree.
The tree had neither flowers nor fruit.
Which made sense:
The Giant Beaked Ivory Palm’s fruit ripens at the end of summer, which doesn’t match the Flame Spider roving merchant’s landing time.
Moreover, its evolution was only at Mountain Lord level—the Spider King probably didn’t value it much, preferring it to rest from flowering or fruiting, focus on growing tall, and reach King level sooner so as to condense a tree heart and bring it back to the Kingdom for planting.
Having figured things out from the traces left on the islands, Dragon Cypress didn’t linger. He piloted the Dominating Throne aloft and continued eastward, surveying more islands in the sea.
