Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 423 - 405: Melde Switches Careers, White Ivy’s Plan

Chapter 423: Chapter 405: Melde Switches Careers, White Ivy’s Plan

Outside Yuezuo Mountain, Plain Trading Plaza.

Jerusalem Cross Lord hurriedly rushed back to the caravan.

Among the group, Lord Coriander, an impatient type, rushed forward to ask, "Where’s Lord Melde? Did they really get something good?"

Jerusalem Cross Lord: "Of course! Absolutely top-notch stuff. Yuezuo Mountain now has one more caravan."

Lord Coriander: "!!!"

Lord Coriander leaned in, lowered their mental power, and asked, "What good stuff?"

Jerusalem Cross Lord looked left and right, signaling with his eyes: not convenient to talk here.

Jerusalem Cross Lord also lowered his mental power, saying to Revolve Spider King, "Revolve Spider King, the Luoli Caravan wants to travel together with our convoy. We’ll rendezvous here at Yuezuo Mountain and then continue to Cloud Crown Mountain. Both convoys will take basically the same autumn return commerce route."

Revolve Spider King replied briefly: "Sure!"

Revolve Spider King gathered primordial energy at the tips of his eight spider legs, channeled it into the earth, and erected a hemispherical primordial energy shield, enveloping himself and Jerusalem Cross Lord, and asked:

"Divine-Grade Fruit?"

Jerusalem Cross Lord explained in detail: "Divine-Grade Fruit! That Melde and White Ivy made a huge fortune in the Ten Thousand Nations Continent. They’ve gotten stable trading rights for more than one kind of divine-grade fruit..."

...

Twilight.

White Ivy led the caravan, bouncing and bustling energetically back to the trading plaza, heading straight for the Revolve Trade Caravan.

After a round of enthusiastic greetings and friendly discussions, the two caravans agreed to travel together.

Starting this year.

Setting out early the next morning.

...

Revolve Spider King’s caravan was not headed to Purple Back Mountain.

The two caravans split up at Yiye Mountain, agreeing to regroup two days later at Shuiqu Mountain.

White Ivy led the group, traveling at night, running along the rolling hilly mountain paths.

Crossing mountain after mountain, climbing up a tall peak.

In front of them stretched vast plains and dense forest. Traveling further west for half the night, they’d reach Purple Back Mountain before dawn.

White Ivy stopped, gathering primordial energy in her eyes, her crimson gaze scanning all around.

"Alright!"

"Safe!"

"Rest here! Move out at midnight."

"Melde, why are you hanging at the back all timid and sneaky? Come here! Over here!"

"..."

Melde was very speechless, and rather helpless.

Never expected that White Ivy’s origin force honey would even penetrate a top-level great tribe like Yuezuo Mountain, and that the steward Crimson Moss Beetle King would be so fond of it and offer full support.

This was an opportunity to get rich not to be missed.

But looking at White Ivy all smug and dizzy with success...

Melde trudged forward slowly.

White Ivy untied the spider silk rope and took out the metal can containing bee king jelly.

"Lupine, you come over too, let’s talk business."

"Aww—"

Lupine sulked and dawdled over.

White Ivy restrained her swagger and said seriously, "Melde, for those five million units of origin force honey in Yuezuo Mountain, if packaged per Crimson Moss Bettle King’s request, at 30,000 source stones per can or 50,000 per sealed can, the profit nearly hits a million source stones. Do you and Lupine want in on this?"

Melde hesitated a little.

Lupine was suffocating, unable to utter a word.

Melde had worked hard all his life—how much trade volume had he accumulated? How much did he earn in a year?

This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to strike it rich.

In the past, never even dared dream about it.

White Ivy asked, "Melde, aren’t you trying to compete for Spider King Spurge’s inheritance? All Spider King Spurge’s deals are in the Ten Thousand Nations Continent. You’re running between the Ten-thousand Tribes and Ten Thousand Nations Continents, swinging back and forth, with no clear goal and indecisive will—this won’t work, you know."

White Ivy: "To do great things, a spider must let go when needed. Melde, Lupine—learn from me. On the Ten-thousand Tribes side, drop all those insignificant deals. We’ll focus on business over in the Ten Thousand Nations side, specialize in origin force honey trades, and on this side... focus only on top-level great tribes like Yuezuo Mountain."

"Besides, now that we possess so many divine-grade fruits, caravan safety must come first!"

Melde said gravely, "That’s true—safety first..."

White Ivy: "We’ll merge into a single caravan and travel together from now on. Replan the commerce route. Until Evolution Spider King, the safest option is to stick with other spider king teams."

White Ivy lifted her foreleg, pointing toward Purple Back Mountain with heroic spirit, and declared, "We’ll go one last time this year, wrap things up with the Banded Assassin Bug Tribe. The inheritance Carpesium left me, my million trade record in Purple Back Mountain—I’m giving it up."

White Ivy: "Give up what you can bear to lose—only by letting go can you gain. Lupine, you come with us too! Let’s all head to the Ten Thousand Nations Continent together."

Lupine: "..."

Lupine: "Okay—"

White Ivy said with annoyance, "So wishy-washy, you’ll never amount to anything big."

White Ivy: "Anyway, let’s talk caravan routes. There’s nothing much to debate about the Ten Thousand Nations side. We obviously follow Old Spider King Spurge’s footsteps, only doing divine-given origin force food and divine-grade fruit trades, only big deals. No ordinary origin force food trades, no tiny places or little deals."

White Ivy: "At early autumn, we’ll return from the Ten Thousand Nations, following Spider King Boneset back."

White Ivy: "The goods Spider King Boneset brings back from Ten Thousand Nations, it will process itself. I checked into it—their roving route mainly passes through Hidden Wing Mountain, Dabai Tribe, Xi Mountain, Sunlight Mountain, Yuezuo Mountain..."

White Ivy: "After returning to the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, we stick with Spider King Boneset, follow its route, and try to get into the top-level great tribes Dabai Tribe, Xi Mountain, and Sunlight Mountain to gain trading eligibility. At Yuezuo Mountain we’ll part ways with Spider King Boneset and join up with Revolve Spider King’s team, then head together to Cloud Crown Mountain and eventually circle back to the Flame Spider Kingdom."

White Ivy: "A perfect and safe route—altogether we pass through six top-level great tribes, more than enough for us to make a fortune. Along the way, there are also twenty-five great tribes with insect populations over a thousand; Lupine, Grass Dragon, Silvergrass, the three of you smaller folks can do some business there if you like—or don’t, up to you."

White Ivy: "Melde, until Evolution Spider King, we stick together and make money together. After evolving into a spider king, we can split up and go our separate ways."

After finishing, White Ivy asked, "Melde, Lupine, what do you two think?"

Lupine: "I think it’s doable! I’ve always wanted to go see the Ten Thousand Nations Continent."

Melde: "..."

Melde asked, "White Ivy, how do you plan to get Spider King Boneset to take us along? Tell it you have a lot of divine-grade fruits?"

White Ivy replied confidently, "We can tell it, but that’s not the key. The real key is, our caravan’s origin force honey sales will skyrocket, so we need more caravan partners to help transport origin force food. Cooperation that increases caravan profits—Spider King Boneset has no reason to refuse."

Melde: "..."

Melde said seriously, "Fine. White Ivy, I’ll trust you this one last time. If things go wrong, if we fail, I..."

If he gave up decades of trading partners and switched to origin force honey, and it fails, Melde’s whole roving merchant career would collapse more than half.

Even the fearless White Ivy didn’t dare quip back.

Melde complained, "White Ivy, didn’t we agree—the Cloud Crown Mountain deal, you handle; Yuezuo Mountain, I handle. Why are you competing with me?"

White Ivy shot back, "Didn’t we negotiate it just fine?"

Melde: "This time’s an exception!"

White Ivy: "I saw you turn to mush around the Insect King, brain freezing up. I’m helping you. Fine, it’s the last time. I really don’t want to bother with you."

Who asked you to bother?

Melde fumed again. After thinking, he said, "The caravan still needs a permanent leader."

White Ivy: "I’ll do it!"

"..."

Melde shot her a cold sideways glance.

White Ivy’s mind spun fast, and she suggested, "Fair competition—let’s elect someone with strong financial power, courage and smarts, and moral standing to convince everyone as leader!"

Red Peach immediately raised a foreleg and shouted, "I nominate White Ivy Mountain Lord!"

"..."

After a brief pause,

Silvergrass timidly raised a foreleg and said, "I nominate Lord Melde?"

Traitor! White Ivy glared fiercely.

Silvergrass explained, "White Ivy Mountain Lord, you run too fast—I can’t keep up."

Silvergrass is only a 5th age-period high-level flame spider warrior, carrying cargo on her carapace, and following White Ivy’s pace often left her half-dead with exhaustion.

White Ivy: "This year is urgent—we run faster. Next year, it won’t be so rushed. Just elect me."

Silvergrass: "Um... I still think Lord Melde is steadier."

White Ivy glowered at Lupine.

Lupine: "I nominate Lord Melde."

Grass Dragon quickly added, "Then I nominate White Ivy Mountain Lord."

Grass Dragon: "Two to two. White Ivy, Melde, you’re tied. How about this—one spider per year, rotate as leader. This year, White Ivy Mountain Lord is leader; next year, Lord Melde; and the year after, back to White Ivy Mountain Lord."

That’s a great idea!

White Ivy: "Deal!"

White Ivy: "Melde, as your leader, I command you to lie down and rest—don’t go wandering around."