Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 424 - 406: Round Leaf Keg Vine (Part 2)

Dragon Cypress stayed in the Purple Tung Insect Nation for two months, far from idle—together with Round Cypress and White Rice, he demarcated the private bug territories for the Barley Bug Warriors.

With territorial issues resolved,

the Barley Bug Warriors all began to plan what plants to cultivate on their own lands.

The number of medium, small, and micro Worker Ants raised by Dragon Cypress reached 1,500, and the number of medium, small, and micro Soldier Ants also reached 500; they officially began the land reclamation and development planning for the Purple Tung Insect Nation.

First, the primary task: at the northernmost direction, at the edge of the Land of Origin Force—an area where Origin Force is thin but still traversable—they selected an appropriate site and dug a massive reservoir, 500 meters long and 400 meters wide.

Fish farming, to provide a stable food source for the ant colony.

In the future, matching reservoirs would be developed in the due east, due west, and due south, safeguarding a steady supply of animal protein for the ant colony.

...

At the same time, the second task: due to various limitations in the former Termite Kingdom, the reclaimed orchards had been planted with a lot of short shrubs, subpar vines, and even many herbaceous plants.

All these inferior orchards were cleared out and replaced with high-quality plants delivered by the caravans.

...

The third task: many excellent Great Tall Trees originally planted by the Termite Kingdom were not up to standard in cultivation management; many trees required pruning, and many old or weak individuals needed to be culled and replaced in a timely fashion.

...

The fourth task: all orchards would be assigned names and numbers, with sub-nests built nearby, and ant routes reasonably laid out to enable controlling the ant colony by character commands for all routine work, thus lessening the workload for Command Ants.

...

The Purple Tung Insect Nation covers a vast area and involves a significant workload—scheduled to complete in ten years.

With a shortage of Command Ants, Dragon Cypress would have to remain in the Purple Tung Insect Nation for most of the coming decade, personally commanding the ant colony’s work.

At present, five Land of Origin Force sites—Jianlan Plain, Cicada Orchid Mountain, Xuelan Mountain, Banlan Mountain, and Desolation Plains—remain unreclaimed; with too many tasks at hand, those could only be scheduled after the next ten years.

The already reclaimed White Lotus Lake, Molan Mountain, Southern Sour Jujube Mountain, Cold Orchid Mountain, Areca Rainforest, Red Cypress Mountain, and Hulan Mountain all needed regular maintenance and management.

There were too many tasks to handle.

More Command Ants were needed.

With the current income of the Xianglan Mountain Kingdom, it could well afford to support more Command Ants.

However, Dragon Cypress anticipated that in the future, the Ant Kingdom would surely produce all-round Assistant Kings like Black Cory, Black Leaf, and Black Birch, so he did not plan to raise any more territory-specialized Command Ants like Round Cypress and Fragrant Cypress, who focused solely on management and logistics.

He could afford to wait.

...

The time was late autumn.

The Dominating Throne departed with Ink Orchid aboard.

Autumn trade—

the first stop was Huagi Mountain,

with the critical maturity and harvest of the Soul-Setting Fruit.

The second stop was White Lotus Lake, to visit the Night Fragrance God-Given Seed,

with a detour to inspect the orchards and scout for Divine-Given Seeds.

The third stop was Xianglan Mountain, for a two-day rest.

Fourth stop, Molan Mountain.

Fifth stop, Southern Sour Jujube Mountain.

Ink Orchid streaked toward the bay where the Sea Blue Tree had taken root.

Dragon Cypress piloted the Dominating Throne and swooped down to the wild Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed.

After a year of skipping flowering and fruiting, the whole tree had not grown much taller, but had swollen noticeably thicker, with much stouter branches and trunk.

The rate of breathing in Natural Primordial Force had also increased remarkably.

If flowering and fruiting were continuously skipped, there was a good chance it would break through to the Evolution Lord Level next year, or at the latest the following year.

—The Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed stood a strong chance of evolving to King Level and leaving the Natural Star Realm.

Along the way, Dragon Cypress tossed down ten large sacks of Divine-Given Remains he had brought, leaped off the Throne, and walked up to the trunk for a closer inspection.

"Great King!"

Black Cory hurried over, surrounded by Soldier Ants.

"Black Cory, when you have time, instruct the Worker Ants to scrape these Divine-Given Remains into powder and apply it to the Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed."

"Understood, Great King."

"One hundred Source Stones a day, persist for a hundred days, then add another ten thousand Source Stones to help its growth."

"...Alright."

This was an order that wasted resources. Black Cory agreed, heart aching, then changed the subject:

"Great King, that suspected mutant ’Round Leaf Keg Vine’ now has a main vine over ten meters long—will you take a look yourself, to confirm again?"

"Sure! Let’s go see it!"

Dragon Cypress beat his wings and shot toward the Round Leaf Keg Vine.

Wooden stakes for support, guided by spider silk, the main vine climbed up the hillside.

Black Cory had commanded the ant colony to clear away surrounding shrubs and weeds, leaving a few Great Tall Trees for shade. Those Great Tall Trees had also been partially pruned to guarantee some sunlight would still come through.

The arrangement was just right.

The Round Leaf Keg Vine’s secondary and tertiary vines ran rampant, with dense foliage.

Dragon Cypress observed closely and, compared to an ordinary Keg Vine, the leaves of the Round Leaf Keg Vine were noticeably rounder—an obvious distinguishing feature.

"Great King—"

Black Cory sprinted over.

"Great King, what do you think?"

"Very good."

"Can we be sure it’s a mutant now?"

"I can’t guarantee a hundred percent, but I’m ninety-nine percent confident. More importantly, this Round Leaf Keg Vine is growing extremely well—strong roots, robust stem, flourishing branches and leaves—it’s a vigorous specimen. I suspect, if it is mutated, when it flowers and fruits, the chance of triggering a Natural Law and drawing down a Divine-Given Seed is very high."

"That’s wonderful!"

Black Cory cheered.

Dragon Cypress waved his claw for silence, then continued:

"Black Cory, for the next few years, stay mainly at Southern Sour Jujube Mountain. Manage the orchards, care for the Divine-Given Seeds of Red Cypress, Chestnut Beans, and Sea Blue, and pay special attention to this Round Leaf Keg Vine. If managed well, it should flower and fruit for the first time in two years."

"Alright...Great King...So I don’t return to Black Lotus Lake?"

"You may return to rest for two months during the winter."

As he said this,

Ink Orchid zoomed over, circling low before landing right beside Dragon Cypress.

"Wow! This Round Leaf Keg Vine grows so fast!"

"So robust!"

"When will it flower?"

"Will it really trigger a Divine-Given event and produce a Divine-Given Seed?"

Ink Orchid jumped in with a stream of exclamations and rapid-fire questions, finishing with, "Dragon Cypress, if a Divine-Given Seed does appear, who does it belong to—Black Cory? But I recall Southern Sour Jujube Mountain was mainly reclaimed and managed by Round Cypress, Fragrant Cypress, and Silver Cypress."

That really was an issue...

But this Round Leaf Keg Vine was discovered and sown by Black Cory, and had been under his care...

Dragon Cypress: "Nowadays, with more and more Command Ants in our Xianglan Mountain Ant Kingdom, keeping to the old profit-sharing rules would mean it’s nothing to do with either of us."

"Besides, as the territories we operate expand, the chances of a Divine-Given Seed appearing have been rising too."

"It’s time to keep pace with the times and adjust the rules."

Dragon Cypress bowed his head in thought, did a rough calculation, and said to both Ink Orchid and Black Cory, "Since Black Cory discovered the Round Leaf Keg Vine, if it produces a Divine-Given Seed, he gets the primary credit and receives 20% of the proceeds; the other eight Command Ants each get a 5% share."

Dragon Cypress: "Ink Orchid, if a Round Leaf Keg Vine Divine-Given Seed appears, it’ll most likely be top-level—you and I will split 40% of the proceeds, which should be fair."

Ink Orchid: "Yes—"

Black Cory was overjoyed and raised his forelegs in delight, "Thank you, Great King! Great King, you are generous! Great King, you are mighty!"

Dragon Cypress flicked his antennae and ordered, "Ink Orchid, be sure to search Southern Sour Jujube Mountain thoroughly. I’ll go check on Red Cypress and chat for a bit. Leave the harvesting to Black Cory. We’ll stay here for a day and depart for Ghost Fan Mountain at noon tomorrow..."

...

...

...

After wandering for a whole month in a roundabout circuit,

they finally arrived at Xuelan Mountain.

Situated among vast mountains, an elliptical Land of Origin Force about 18 square kilometers in area.

Twilight, with the sun about to set.

Dragon Cypress parked the Dominating Throne on the snow-covered summit.

"Let me get to work first!"

Ink Orchid tossed out this line, took off flapping, and skimmed low while conducting a search sweep.

Finding Divine-Given Seeds was a task best left to Ink Orchid.

Dragon Cypress quietly waited on the Throne, watching the setting sun.

—Given Ink Orchid’s obsession with Divine-Given Seeds, she would probably keep at it until midnight.

—A bit boring; perhaps find something to do?

—Also, not quite full.

Reflecting on this, Dragon Cypress steered the Dominating Throne into the air, gliding down toward the river valley below the mountain.

Whoosh—

A spray of water droplets leapt from the river, transforming into tiny ice cones, which shot out and knocked down a wild boar strolling along the bank.

Dragon Cypress strode up, bled it, and dissected it.

Making do with what was available, 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

with a casual wave of his antennae, he drew up a large mass of water from the river, morphing it into the shape of a stone pot, solidifying it with icy cold, and setting it lightly on the ground.

Another wave and more river water filled the ice pot.

Multitasking,

he unleashed his Freezing Ability to keep the ice pot solid,

while also using his Boiling Ability to heat up the water inside to a rolling boil.

Dragon Cypress trimmed off cuts of pork ribs, tossing them into the pot to stew.

A Lord-Level powerful soul meant Dragon Cypress could wield Primordial Energy with exquisite precision—even while focused on meat-cutting and tossing chunks into the pot to cook.

He fashioned dining plates by freezing water into ice.

He took out a jar of White Rice Ant King Honey from the Throne and poured it onto the plate.

He fished out boiled meat chunks from the pot, dipped them in the ant honey, and ate slowly and idly.

"Hmm?"

Dragon Cypress was suddenly startled, looking over his shoulder.

Off in the distance, beneath a golden thread wood, in the dim light, two little orange-glowing eyes were staring unblinkingly this way.