Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 443 - 423: Mutant Ink Orchid

"Great King!"

"Great King, we’ve managed to breed a kind of Dark Peach with extra large and sweet fruits!"

"Giant Cypress discovered it earliest—a bud-mutation branch."

"But the seeds from the fruit can’t be directly cultivated, the superior traits don’t pass on stably, and grafting is just too slow..."

Fragrant Cypress and Cypress took turns reporting the situation to Dragon Cypress.

Red Moonseed, Chinese Clematis, and Pueraria had also heard of the Law Divine-Given matters and were momentarily stunned: Were they about to witness the birth of a Divine-Given Seed again?

Dragon Cypress had already heard all the details from Azure, patiently listened, and then said:

"A thousand seedlings isn’t enough. Open up more nursery plots, I want ten thousand. This autumn, I’ll go to Molan Mountain first and dig up all the peach trees there. Next spring, we’ll replant the orchards with seedlings of the mutated variety of Dark Peach."

"Alright!"

"Understood!"

Fragrant Cypress and Cypress answered, crisp and clear.

These days, everyone firmly believed in the Law Divine-Given theory.

A mutant variety with especially large and sweet fruits.

The only issue was that the seeds couldn’t be propagated through sowing.

But that’s not a hard problem to solve.

Dragon Cypress was one hundred percent sure they would obtain another Dark Peach Divine-Given Seed.

These past years have really been a streak of Divine-Given blessings~

The decades of hard exploitation and management were finally starting to pay off.

Dragon Cypress was in high spirits, "Let’s give this mutant variety a name first..."

Fragrant Cypress: "Giant Dark Peach!"

Dragon Cypress waggled his tentacle: Too generic.

Chinese Clematis raised her claw, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, what about calling it ’Great King Dark Peach’?"

That name sounded imposing~ Dragon Cypress still shook his tentacle.

Cypress was about to speak, but Fragrant Cypress slapped a claw over him to keep him quiet.

Fragrant Cypress quickly sized up the situation, "Great King, it’s all thanks to your excellent planning and guidance. You should be the one to name it." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Fragrant Cypress was smart as a whip~

Dragon Cypress gently tapped his tentacle approvingly, and said, "Let’s keep it simple for now—just call it ’Black Peach.’ In the future, if we manage to get a Divine-Given Seed that reaches the top-level plant seed standard like the ’Black Emperor Peach,’ then we can rename it ’Great King Black Peach’ or ’Black King Peach.’"

Fragrant Cypress: "Great King, you’re amazing! You’re always thinking so far ahead!"

Cypress: "..."

Kiss-ass~ Cypress lifted his head and stepped away from Fragrant Cypress.

Hearing the commotion, Spiked Cypress led a squad of Soldier Ants hurrying over.

Dragon Cypress waved his tentacle and ordered, "Fragrant Cypress, Spiked Cypress, it’s trading season—prepare to set off. I’ll go take a look at Southern Sour Jujube Mountain and be back soon."

...

Southern Sour Jujube Mountain,

The Divine-Given Seed of Round Leaf Keg Vine, still developing, was about half-grown and would likely mature next winter.

Dragon Cypress checked on the growth status of the Little Wild Chestnut Divine-Given Seed, confirmed all was well, and then chatted with the Red Cypress Divine-Given Seed until midnight.

The next morning, he set out in haste toward the Rednan Mountain Ant Nest.

This year’s trades with the Flame Spider Roving Merchant were all routine—nothing fancy—the main point was just introducing Chinese Clematis and Pueraria to the caravan.

...

Spring trading completed,

Dragon Cypress picked up Mulberry, Blue Catalpa, and Black Rice, then headed to the Purple Tung Insect Nation to visit the Jinhe Divine-Given Seed and receive combat training from the Linnan Divine Tree.

A noisy, lively half-year flew by again.

...

Early autumn,

Dragon Cypress set off early with Ink Orchid to seek out Divine-Given Seeds, making a loop around the continent before arriving at Molan Mountain.

They planned to stay there a whole month, dig out all the orchard’s peach trees, and get ready to transplant Black Peach seedlings the following year.

"Ink Orchid, go look for any Divine-Given Seed you can find; I’ll head back to Xianglan Mountain to muster the troops."

"Okay—"

Ink Orchid kicked off and leapt into the air, diving and then skimming rapidly over the forest, searching at low altitude.

Dragon Cypress maneuvered the Dominating Throne toward Xianglan Mountain.

Over at Xianglan Mountain, Azure had cultivated three thousand Black Peach seedlings this year, to be transplanted at the start of spring next year, freeing up nursery plots for breeding new stocks.

It was quite the workload,

Dragon Cypress bustled back and forth for three days, bringing in five hundred Worker Ants of various sizes, personally giving orders to begin uprooting trees.

The pits left by the removed trees were backfilled with marsh slag and humus as a substrate, to help the transplanted fruit seedlings grow better.

Ink Orchid quickly finished searching the entire Land of Origin Force. With nothing else to do, she stood by and watched Dragon Cypress direct the Worker Ants—after a while, bored, she wandered off into the woods on her own.

Dragon Cypress was busy when he suddenly sensed something, activated his Soul-Setting Ability, and locked onto Ink Orchid.

"Great King! Great King!"

"Second King?"

"Bring the metal case over here, quick."

"???"

"I’ve found a mutant Molan Seedling—I’m collecting some seeds to take back to Xianglan Mountain for sowing."

"Oh—"

Dragon Cypress had thought a Divine-Given Seed had been found and got excited, but upon hearing it was just orchid grass, he lost interest in an instant.

Thinking it over, he still turned and hopped onto the Dominating Throne, grabbed a large metal case, and flew over to the hillside where Ink Orchid was waiting.

Because of the name, every woodland on Molan Mountain suitable for planting Ink Orchid had been planted with Molan Grass...

"Dragon Cypress! It’s a mutant variety!"

Ink Orchid pointed at a tuft of orchid grass.

"Is it?"

Dragon Cypress inspected it closely, "How has it mutated?"

"Look closer!" Ink Orchid took the big metal case and opened it, carefully stowing away two seed pods.

Dragon Cypress stared hard, "I can’t tell."

"Dummy!"

"You’re too careless."

Ink Orchid, a bit exasperated but also proud, said, "The veins! Compare the normal Molan with this one—the vein patterns are different!"

"..."

Dragon Cypress looked left and right, compared it to the regular Molan beside it, and—it was true, the vein distribution on this Molan was noticeably different.

But still...

Gazing around the hillside, under the mixed pine and cypress, thousands upon thousands of Molan Grass thrived—how had she even picked this one out?

Little Mantis of the unimaginable!

Dragon Cypress couldn’t help but poke fun at her. "Not every mutant plant triggers a Natural God’s blessing."

"I know."

"This one didn’t trigger it, so it doesn’t make the cut."

"Why not?"

"Maybe the seeds can’t be used for propagation; maybe the seedling isn’t strong enough for Natural Law’s approval..."

"Oh—"

Ink Orchid: "So it’s similar to Black Peach."

Ink Orchid: "I’ll just take the seeds back and sow them at Xianglan Mountain. If they can’t be grown from seed, I’ll have Azure use the Bud Cultivation Technique to help me raise a hundred thousand seedlings."

Ink Orchid: "Same approach as with Black Peach: cultivate on a large scale, pick out the seeds that can propagate, or select even better, stronger seedlings."

Ink Orchid: "I’m going to uproot all the Molan on Molan Mountain and replant with the new mutant species."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "Azure is really busy~"

Ink Orchid: "Busy with what?"

Dragon Cypress: "Black Peach~"

Ink Orchid: "Black Peach likes light, so you put it up on the top leaves to cultivate. Molan doesn’t like intense sunlight, so you can do it on the lower leaves at the same time. The leaves on lower layers are big, so you can grow many, many at once."

Dragon Cypress: "All right~"

Dragon Cypress: "It’s still hot these days—wait till autumn cools down, then dig them out with soil attached, wrap them up in spider silk bags, and bring them back to Xianglan Mountain. Isn’t Molan a late winter sprouter? By then Azure can just get it straight to work."

"Yes! Dig them up and take them back!"

Ink Orchid, rarely, spoke solemnly: "This is a Molan Divine-Given Seed! With a Molan Divine-Given Seed, the titles of Mountain Lord Molan, Ink Orchid Lord, and Mantis King Ink Orchid will all become prominent."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "...Uh-huh...prominent..."

Ink Orchid’s Static Vision Ability boost is actually pretty decent, as far as enhancements go.

But, for a lowly herb like this...

Judging by the Divine-Given Seeds of Fruit-Scented Orchid, Cuihua Hanlan, and Snow Orchid...

You do you, Ink Orchid.

Dragon Cypress went back to directing the Worker Ants, digging up peach trees.

Ink Orchid, meanwhile, got to work on her own, clearing ordinary Molan from the Land of Origin Force ready for planting.