Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 533 - 512: Black Peach 4

The strengthening of Origin Force Life has no upper limit, but during the evolutionary journey, the enhancements possible in each Age Period are extremely limited.

This is one of the rare vexations only super-wealthy insects have to deal with. Unfortunately, the Spider King Snow Velvet happens to be one of them.

The Spider King Snow Velvet is still very young.

Yet already possesses an inexhaustible fortune at a tender age.

Exceptionally talented,

If desired, could easily evolve to the 9th Age Period and leave the Origin Force Star Realm.

But, what does the world outside the Star Realm look like? Peace or war?

The Spider King Snow Velvet plans to improve strength as much as possible before departing.

Sadly, that decision was made too late—at the 7th Age Period, very little room for improvement remains.

That Soul System Detection Ability last time was really ideal! Extremely powerful!

Yet, after searching the entire continent and asking every kingdom large and small, not a single clue to such a Divine-Grade Fruit was found, nor even word of such a talent ability.

It must’ve been granted by a Divine-Grade Fruit.

Was that mysterious Insect King perhaps an ant from West Sea Blue Island?

Why would Blue Island’s Ant King come to this remote sea island?

Why attempt to land on the island again and again?

None of the three wild God-Given Seeds on the island have been stolen.

The reason remains unknown.

But Spider King Snow Velvet suspects the other party will return, perhaps even came ashore at a different time to avoid being noticed.

The Spider King Snow Velvet plans to lie in wait on the island for three years.

This is the second year...

...

Dragon Cypress stowed away the Dominating Throne and, together with Ink Orchid, flew just above the ocean’s surface.

After flying for half a day, they grew tired.

They released the Dominating Throne again, submerged, and rested underwater.

"Dragon Cypress!"

Ink Orchid raised a claw and pointed, "Shall we stop by Fragrant Silk Island and Twin Pillar Island on the way?"

Dragon Cypress replied coolly, "No."

Ink Orchid analyzed, "The Spider King Snow Velvet got the Divine-Grade Dew Pocket Fruit last year—King-Level, after eating it just needs to take a nap to gain a new ability. He might have hidden out on Fragrant Silk Island last year, lying in wait for us. He’s definitely gone this year."

Dragon Cypress swayed his antennae, "Doesn’t matter. Just a 230 square kilometer island, not bothering."

"230 square kilometers!"

Ink Orchid was pained and reminded, "We once found a Divine-Given Seed Fay Oil Fruit on that island!"

Dragon Cypress: "To be mystical about it, once a Divine-Given Seed has emerged somewhere, it usually won’t happen again for many, many years."

Ink Orchid: "Uh..."

Ink Orchid: "Dragon Cypress, really not going to try and communicate with the Spider King Snow Velvet?"

Dragon Cypress: "No."

Ink Orchid: "What about the Stone Hunt Red Ant Kingdom? We’re not going there, right?"

Dragon Cypress: "Keep testing the edges of danger, and sooner or later you’ll make a mistake and fall into the abyss of death."

Dragon Cypress: "We’ve already explored most of the Wanglan Continent seas. Swinging Leaf Island and the Thousand Islands Cluster are enough for now—no need to complicate things."

Ink Orchid: "...Alright then."

Ink Orchid: "Going back?"

Dragon Cypress: "Back."

...

...

...

Everything renews; spring is vibrant.

Cold Orchid Mountain.

On the broad southeastern slope of the mighty mountain, at the base, a narrow nursery runs a hundred meters long and over ten meters wide. Most of the area has been cleared, leaving only a solitary peach sapling.

Black Leaf led the ant colony, guarding the nursery’s edge.

Tie Bush was also lying by a distant creek pond, only her eyes exposed above water, staring this way.

"The Great King is here!"

Black Leaf looked up.

"How wonderful~" Tie Bush nimbly crawled from the pond.

The Dominating Throne sped closer,

Ink Orchid swept with Soul-Setting Ability, locked onto the location, leaped into the air, and landed in a blink.

"Black Leaf!"

"Tie Bush!"

Ink Orchid stared straight at the nursery’s lone seedling, asking in surprise, "Black Leaf, is this Black Peach No.2 seedling?"

Black Leaf: "Yes! Second King, we’ve successfully selected a robust Black Peach No.2 seedling!"

Ink Orchid, quite the expert, asked, "Is this the only one?"

Black Leaf: "We searched all the nurseries in both South Mountain and North Mountain, only found one."

Ink Orchid: "Did you harvest all last year’s fruit?"

Black Leaf: "Not a single one missed."

Ink Orchid: "All the seeds have been sown?"

Black Leaf: "All sown."

Ink Orchid analyzed, "If this were a branch mutation, there’d be more than one fruit and seed, and more than one seedling in the nursery. So, this must be a seed mutation."

Isn’t that obvious? Black Leaf: "...Yes."

Tie Bush raised her pincer limb high in praise: "Second King, you’re amazing!"

Ink Orchid flicked her antennae with satisfaction, clearly displeased with Black Leaf’s lack of enthusiasm, and took the initiative to say, "I’ve successfully collected the Golden Key Fruit. I’ll be evolving to 9th Age Period Mountain Lord very soon."

"Congratulations, Second King!"

"Second King, you’re invincible!"

Black Leaf and Tie Bush cheered with all their might.

The Dominating Throne sped over.

"Eh?"

"Black Peach No.2 succeeded?"

Dragon Cypress leapt down, hurried closer, and inspected the seedling closely.

"Dragon Cypress, we did it at last!"

Ink Orchid hopped up, urging, "Quick, look—how is it?"

The seedling stood just over ten centimeters tall.

The trunk was straight and sturdy.

The leaves were thick and deep green, but compared to close kin like Dark Peach, Black Peach No.1, Black Peach No.3, and Black Emperor Peach, the leaves were much smaller—two whole sizes smaller.

With plant mutations, smaller leaves don’t matter, so long as the plant is healthy. Plants will self-regulate; if single leaves are small, the number of leaves will naturally increase.

Ink Orchid asked again, "Dragon Cypress, what do you think? This seedling looks robust—should be able to trigger a Natural Godsend, right?"

Dragon Cypress: "Not bad! Very healthy! Black Leaf, Tie Bush, you’ve done well! If it can pass down these traits normally, it should meet the conditions to trigger a Natural Godsend."

Black Leaf: "Second King, should this seedling be renamed ’Black Peach No.4’?"

Ink Orchid: "Of course. By the rules, number it as Black Peach No.4 for now. Once it produces a Divine-Given Seed, we’ll give it an official name based on its plant or fruit characteristics."

Dragon Cypress tapped his antennae in approval, then swung them again and ordered, "Careful, dig it out with roots and soil, wrap it in an Ice Disc, transplant to Xianglan Mountain, and hand it over to Azure!"

...

Xianglan Mountain.

Azure directed the micro worker ants to collect leaf buds, cut them into tiny particles, and using Bud Cultivation Technique, started by propagating 1,000 Black Peach No.4 seedlings.

Just like with Ink Emperor Peach before,

these seedlings would go through several rounds of elimination, nine out of ten culled, until only the 100 strongest were left, to be planted together in a single orchard plot.

About three years later, at their first fruiting—if all goes well, everyone can once again witness a Natural Godsend.

...

In the vibrant spring when the peach trees were in bloom,

it was time again to trade with the Flame Spider Roving Merchants.

Dragon Cypress went to Huagi Mountain, brought Ivy to Xianglan Mountain, used the Dominating Throne to assist evolution, and organized the team for departure.

Red Peach, Heliotrope, and Column Spotted all arrived on time.

One year apart,

They greeted each other enthusiastically.

"Column Spotted, you’re at 6th Age Period now?"

"Ivy, you’ve reached 5th Age Period?"

"I evolve every six months."

"I evolve once a year."

"Then I’ll overtake you soon."

"Aren’t you helping Dragon Cypress Ant King with trades?"

"I am. But let me evolve into an intermediate warrior at 9th Age Period first..."

...

Dragon Cypress discussed business with Red Peach and Heliotrope.

Dragon Cypress asked, "Any news from the Aconite Spider King and Spider King Spurge about Divine-Grade Fruit?"

Red Peach: "Yes!"

Heliotrope: "The Spider King Branch, who’s been traveling the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, possesses a Divine-Grade Fruit called ’Thunder Melia Fruit’. It comes from a 9th Age Period King-Level Divine-Given Seed, and bestows a Thunder System elemental talent."

Thunder System!

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid’s eyes shone bright at the news.

Among all Elemental Systems, Thunder System has the strongest combat power and is the rarest.

Even in the Origin Force Star Realm, innate Thunder System plants are scarce.

To have hunted down one of the hardest to find—Thunder System—first!

Heliotrope paused, then continued, "Spider King Wormwood is a distant relative of Spider King Branch. They know each other. Through Spider King Wormwood’s introduction, Aconite Spider King and Spider King Spurge met with Spider King Branch and reached a tentative deal: in 26 years, when the next-next batch of Divine-Grade Leilian Seed is produced, they can exchange for one."

Heliotrope paused again, shooting a guilty look at Red Peach.

Red Peach picked up, "But this Divine-Grade Leilian Seed has always been sold by Spider King Branch to great tribes with fixed trading. The price is as high as 12 million Source Stones, and for Aconite, Spurge, and Wormwood, it’s even steeper—up to 14 million Source Stones."

Red Peach: "The three Spider Kings don’t dare pocket any extra; they’ll offer Dragon Cypress Ant King the base price of 14 million Source Stones."

"Fourteen million?!"

Ink Orchid jumped in rage: Old spiders, don’t be so greedy!

Dragon Cypress lifted his wings, pinning down the overly excited Ink Orchid, signaling for silence.

Didn’t even bother using Soul-Setting Ability to check for lies.

Aconite, Spurge, and Wormwood—those old spiders are obviously trying to make a killing.

Divine-Grade Fruit granting Thunder System Talent is certainly pricier, but not outrageously so—the market caps at eight million at best.

Those three old spiders want to make six million off me in one go?

Unlikely.

Most likely, the three old spiders were too stingy to trade their own Divine-Grade Fruits. Instead, they’re paying hard Source Stones to buy one. The buy-in must be at least ten million.

In this scheme, each of Aconite, Spurge, and Wormwood make a million, and the younger spiders plus Red Peach the Golden Mantis each get a piece. That’s how the 14 million price tag appears... 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

—So black-hearted!

Dragon Cypress considered for a moment and asked, "Next-next batch? That’s 26 years from now?"

Heliotrope: "Blossom-fruit cycle is 14 years. Tough luck—they harvested a batch two years ago. Next batch is in 12 years, but already pre-ordered. We have to wait till the one after—26 years."

Dragon Cypress: "Alright! Go back and tell Aconite, Spurge, and Wormwood—I’ll buy the Divine-Grade Leilian Seed for 14 million each, and I want two. By the way, let them know that when Divine-Grade Molan Fruit is produced, they’re out—I’m not joking."

Dragon Cypress: "Not a single one of those spider kings can be trusted—they’re all cunning merchants. The Divine-Grade Molan Fruit quota, hand it all to Lord White Ivy and the Luoli Caravan. Sooner or later, White Ivy and Luoli will help me find all the Divine-Grade Fruits I need."

Red Peach cheered, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, you can always trust Lord White Ivy!"