Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 482 - 462: 9th Age Period Mountain Lord

Dragon Cypress, as planned, assigned 100 specialized Green Ants each to his and Ink Orchid’s God-Given Life Seeds, as well as to the two wild God-Given Seeds: Scarletlight and Southern Sour Jujube.

Ten per group, taking turns releasing the Flourish Ability on the corresponding God-Given Seed.

Each ordinary Life Seed also required 30 assigned ants.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid had a fair number of ordinary Life Seeds—up to 49 in total.

After completing the search for God-Given Seeds and transporting Source Stones, Dragon Cypress took up permanent residence on Xianglan Mountain.

He cultivated specialized Green Ants.

He taught Black Peach all kinds of knowledge.

At the same time, he prepared for the evolution to Age Period 9, starting to steadily use Origin Force Food.

...

For a Mountain Lord evolving from Age Period 8 to Age Period 9, if only ordinary Origin Force Food is used, the cost is about 700,000 Source Stones.

If only Divine-Given Origin Force Food is used, the cost goes up to nearly 3 million Source Stones.

The Flame Spider Caravan delivers between 1.5 and 2 million Divine-Given Origin Force Food each year, offering a wide array of types—there’s pretty much everything.

Dragon Cypress selects what he and Ink Orchid need, storing a fixed 1 million a year in the Huagi Mountain Treasury, with the remainder distributed as needed, or by elemental type, to other insects on Cloud Trace Continent and the Command Ants under his command.

In five years, Dragon Cypress has stored 5 million Divine-Given Origin Force Foods, more than enough for the Age Period 9 evolution.

He eats selectively: Strength System, Life System, Water System, Wood Element, constitution, carapace, vision, tentacles, membrane wings—sampling them all for all-round enhancement, comprehensive improvement, and laying a solid foundation for Evolution Lord Level.

He eats slowly, at a rate of ten thousand units a day, to ensure full absorption and digestion.

...

The North Elm fruit matures rather quickly.

In the Purple Tung Insect Nation, the North Elm flowers in late spring and bears ripe fruit in midsummer.

The God-Given Seed, needing to absorb Origin Force to complete its Life Level metamorphosis, matures a bit later, but not by much.

At the end of summer, Black Peach fruit at Molan Mountain, Black Lotus Lake, Southern Sour Jujube Mountain, and Cold Orchid Mountain ripen one after another.

Dragon Cypress, together with Black Peach, finished harvesting and drying the fruit and hurried to the Purple Tung Insect Nation.

The Dominating Throne had not yet entered the Land of Origin Force when Ink Orchid, carrying a Spider Silk Bag, dashed over to greet him.

"Dragon Cypress!"

"Black Peach?"

Ink Orchid circled once in the sky, tossed the Spider Silk Bag to Dragon Cypress, then landed atop the throne’s backrest to peer down.

Black Peach had just completed three leaps of evolution, now measuring about 1.6 meters in length—half-grown, not too small or large.

Lively as ever, if she spotted a leaf of unusual color, she had to climb up and take a bite or two, leaving her carapace painted in a riot of colors.

Her eyes were beautiful, an unusual shade of azure-gold.

But with a Mantis eyeing her covetously from above, Black Peach was quite panicked, shrinking back behind Dragon Cypress repeatedly.

Dragon Cypress quickly tore open the Spider Silk Bag, pulled out a Metal Case and opened it, gave it a quick look, then flicked out his tongue, rolled up the North Elm God-Given Seed, and stored it in his Life Pouch.

"Black Peach? What are you hiding from? That’s the Second King! Come pay your respects. Hail Second King."

Dragon Cypress flicked his antennae, delivering two quick whips across Black Peach’s carapace.

Black Peach: "..."

Black Peach shook her antennae in greeting, then moved to the edge of the throne—putting a little more distance between herself and this rather fierce-looking Second King.

"Careful you don’t fall and kill yourself."

Dragon Cypress warned kindly, then casually asked Ink Orchid, "When did the North Elm seeds ripen?"

"Just ripened a few days ago."

Ink Orchid gestured lightly with her antennae, then asked again, "Black Peach?"

Dragon Cypress: "Black Peach."

Black Peach had yet to develop spiritual power; she couldn’t communicate by mental intent and didn’t understand what the two were saying—she just kept being scared, backing away.

"Cowardly ant."

Ink Orchid observed and gave her verdict.

This Black Peach really was timid, much like Giant Cypress in personality—cunning, sly, disliking the spotlight, and having a habit of hiding in the ant swarm to command secretly.

Dragon Cypress refrained from commenting, tacitly accepting Ink Orchid’s take.

Ink Orchid changed the subject: "How’s the development work going on the Jianlan Plain?"

Dragon Cypress: "Not sure. Let’s swing by during the autumn Roving Merchant trade and check it out."

Ink Orchid: "Planning to send Black Peach to help out?"

Dragon Cypress: "Yes. Next year I’ll have Black Peach work with Black Cory, so we can finish developing the Jianlan Plain as soon as possible."

Dragon Cypress asked, "How about Round Cypress and company? Shouldn’t the end of summer be a slow time for them?"

Ink Orchid: "Not busy. Mainly just some harvesting of fresh fruit..."

The two discussed the upcoming work arrangements.

The Dominating Throne entered the central region of the Land of Origin Force.

Dragon Cypress led Black Peach to visit Huagi, Linnan, Night Fragrance, Purple Tung, and Jinhe in turn, letting her broaden her horizons, before finally arriving under the White Poplar Divine-Given Seed tree to introduce her to Spruce, Spiked Cypress, Round Cypress, Black Leaf, and Black Birch.

This autumn, some Divine-Grade Jinhe Fruit were set to mature and be harvested, so Dragon Cypress stayed in the Purple Tung Insect Nation for the time being.

Recently, Divine-Grade fruits have all tended to ripen in these past few years; next year, it will be the Kunlun Seed, and the year after, Night Fragrance Fruit crops up.

...

...

...

Early winter,

Dragon Cypress finished nurturing the North Elm and returned to Xianglan Mountain to undergo evolutionary sleep.

Upon waking from sleep, he shed his old shell...

Dragon Cypress swept his spiritual power over his own body—the new carapace was hardening rapidly, its color darkening to pitch black...

He glanced at the old, dark green shell he had just shed...

—He couldn’t go bother the Quandong Divine Tree for leaves every time he underwent Molting Evolution, could he?

—The green vitality in the old shell’s leaves hadn’t yet dissipated.

Dragon Cypress turned this over in his mind, lowered his head to take a bite, wrapped the wood primordial energy inside his abdomen, decomposed and successfully extracted the Quandong Divine Tree leaf part from the old shell, and reintegrated it into the new shell.

Deep green leaf-vein patterns floated to the surface of his pitch-black carapace.

"Truly a genius ant!"

Dragon Cypress praised himself, then sped up and swallowed all his shed carapace.

Meanwhile, the new shell was fully hardened.

Ninth Age Period Mountain Lord.

His size and membrane wings had been further optimized; his whole body was ink green, and the four blue rings at the tail were now dyed a deep green.

Dragon Cypress lowered his head, calmed his mind, quickly gained insight, then raised his head anew.

He had successfully comprehended a new ability: Bean Vine Entanglement.

"Silver Cypress!"

"Black Peach!"

Dragon Cypress called out.

Silver Cypress and Black Peach were lying by the entrance, peeking inside through the gap in the door panel. When he called, they immediately pried open the door and scrambled inside, vying to be first.

"Congratulations, Great King!"

"Great King, mighty!"

"Great King, did you comprehend a new ability?"

Silver Cypress asked with hopeful anticipation.

"Of course!"

Dragon Cypress tapped his antennae lightly, leapt down, and called, "Let’s go try it out!"

The trio quickly ran out of the cave.

Outside South Mountain Restaurant, two Crown Vines were growing—they were bean-type lianas.

Dragon Cypress looked them over, selected one, locked on with his spiritual power, and unleashed his wood primordial energy inside.

Wooden vines grew at lightning speed, whipping toward Silver Cypress.

Silver Cypress leapt clear.

Then the vines whipped toward Black Peach.

Black Peach, after five leaps of evolutionary jumps and a regressed Evolution Level, was now only 1.2 meters long, with a much slower reaction and speed. She failed to dodge and was snared at the waist and hoisted into the air.

"Great King, have mercy~"

Black Peach writhed and screamed piteously.

"..."

Dragon Cypress tossed her, "Silver Cypress, test the vine’s strength."

Without a word, Silver Cypress stepped up and opened his mandible teeth, bit down on the vine, and wrenched his head—Bean Vine was sliced apart by sharp teeth.

"Not bad!"

Dragon Cypress was fairly satisfied.

With a thought, he withdrew the ability.

The rapidly grown bean vines immediately lost their vitality and withered away.

The entire Crown Vine had exhausted its life—dead as dead could be.

"This ability’s only worth about 1.5 million."

Dragon Cypress didn’t seem especially pleased after all.

After some thought, he called to Silver Cypress and Black Peach to follow him down to the Peach Garden.

Beneath the orchard’s peach trees, the ground was thickly planted with alfalfa, thousand-leaf fescue, thousand-mountain wild peas, and, in recent years, the newly promoted Soldier Beans.

Silver Cypress and Black Peach were both clever; each stood on the ant trail, unwilling to step down into the fields.

"Silver Cypress, you go!"

Dragon Cypress was a little annoyed.

"Uh—"

Silver Cypress walked reluctantly down into the orchard.

Dragon Cypress unleashed his spiritual power, gathered a bit of strength, and let his wood primordial energy surge.

Across the orchard floor, alfalfa, thousand-mountain wild peas, and Soldier Beans burst into wild growth, bean vines surging at breakneck speed towards Silver Cypress, their six legs yanked hard to the sides. For a second or two, motion was limited, and then countless bean vines engulfed him.

Silver Cypress struggled hard, shattering the binding vines with crackling force.

Yet in the next instant, even more vines twined around him.

Silver Cypress fought desperately, like an insect that couldn’t swim caught in a whirlpool—slowly to be drowned in infinite bean vines.

Black Peach turned tail and fled.

The surrounding Soldier Ants and Blue Soldiers, who were watching for fun, were horrified and immediately turned to run as well.

"......"

Dragon Cypress withdrew the ability.

The rampant bean vines withered away; throughout the orchard, all the alfalfa, thousand-mountain wild peas, and Soldier Beans died off.

"Great King—"

Silver Cypress: "This ability works best on masses of herbaceous legumes!"

Dragon Cypress nodded, then shook his antennae, "My wood element ability isn’t strong enough yet, so for now, it works better on herbaceous plants. With further enhancement, bean-type lianas would be even more impressive."

Silver Cypress: "This ability is worth 3 million!"

If Green Soldiers can inherit this ability, then yes, it’s worth 3 million.

Dragon Cypress: "Silver Cypress, go hunt some fresh meat."

Cypress sensed the commotion and was hurrying over. Dragon Cypress shook his antennae forcefully and gave an order: "Cypress, grab Black Peach and bring her here."