Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 535 - 514: Sea Insect Fruit

Time cycled forward in the yearly repetition of work.

In a flash, three years had passed.

In total, over eight years, the Purple Tung Insect Nation’s eighth and ninth Blue Soldier Legions, as well as the tenth Soldier Ant Legion, were formed.

Dragon Cypress also increased the number of Specialized Green Ants dedicated to caring for the White Poplar Divine Seed from 100 to 200.

...

Next, Dragon Cypress planned to reside permanently on Xianglan Mountain, beginning cultivation of Specialized Green Soldiers there.

The plan was to form two Green Soldiers Legions, one Blue Soldiers Legion, and two Soldier Ant Legions.

The Specialized Blue Soldiers nurtured at Mountain Lord Level would be sent to the southern coast, right next to the Divine Force Barrier at Zilian Mountain, led by Lord-Level Blue Soldiers, to fish in the ocean.

The Mountain Lord-level Specialized Green Soldiers and Soldier Ants would be split into four groups and sent in turn to garrison Zilian Mountain, Red Banyan Mountain, Rednan Mountain, and Snow Cedar Mountain.

For the next seven or eight years, Dragon Cypress would have to stay on Xianglan Mountain, gradually completing the renewal of Xianglan Mountain’s Combat Ants.

Time shows no mercy to ants,

All the large, medium, small, and micro ants Dragon Cypress had cultivated at High-Level Ant King stage had already met their natural end; even the longer-living Specialized Ants had entered old age, their sense of smell dulled, their movements slowing, their lives at the final stretch.

In another ten, twenty years, the entire Kingdom would only have ants of the Mountain Lord and Lord-Level left.

In the future,

When Dragon Cypress evolved to Evolution King Level, perhaps even the Mountain Lord-Level ants would have reached the end of their lifespan...

...

Spring arrived.

In the South Mountain Peach Garden, all 100 Black Peach No. 4 trees were budding.

They’re about to bloom!

On the basis of the first-generation Dark Peach, through multiple mutations, a completely new variety of peach tree had emerged with an utterly changed appearance.

There’s a strong chance of triggering a Natural Godsend.

Let’s watch the show~

Dragon Cypress gathered the Black Leaf, Tie Bush, Black Cory, and Black Peach from various southern Land of Origin Forces and brought them all to Xianglan Mountain.

A bunch of insects clustered along the ant trail beside the Peach Garden.

Azure, Black Yellow, and Southern Gorgon didn’t even rest at night, spreading their spiritual power over to keep constant watch.

In the waiting, the days passed one by one,

The tips of the peach tree branches turned green,

The flower buds swelled day by day,

about to burst into bloom.

Suddenly, one night, a warm spring breeze from the south swept through.

"Look!"

Ink Orchid raised a claw to the sky, sending a wave of spiritual force as a reminder.

In the dark night sky, a point of white light flashed.

A wisp of terrifying Divine Power, familiar yet strange, descended.

This was everyone’s third time witnessing such a scene, and they all managed to calmly steady themselves.

"Over there!"

Ink Orchid activated her Youlian Step ability, vanishing in an instant, and in the next moment stood before a little peach tree just over two meters tall in the orchard.

Dragon Cypress and a swarm of ants all ran up.

Tie Bush was the slowest to react, crawling over last.

At the tip of a peach branch, a flower bud gradually began emitting a faint Origin Force Fluctuation.

It’s done!

The insects held their breath and observed, confirming over and over before cheering with celebration.

Fragrant Cypress commanded small Worker Ants to climb the tree and snip off the ordinary peach flower buds, then directed a Mountain Lord-Level Green Ant forward, who released a burst of Flourish Ability onto the tree.

Everything taken care of.

Ink Orchid asked, "Dragon Cypress, who will nurture this Divine-Given Seed? You? Or me?"

Dragon Cypress: "You?"

Ink Orchid sighed, "I’m still a long way from Lord-Level—why don’t you handle it."

Dragon Cypress did not decline, tapping his tentacle in agreement.

Dragon Cypress was also keen to evolve to 2nd Age Lord and awaken an Earth Talent.

Black Leaf raised a claw, shyly asking: "Great King, Second King, I heard there’s a reward?"

Dragon Cypress: "There’s a reward. Once the Divine-Given Seed matures and is harvested, we’ll discuss."

Black Leaf: "Oh—"

Spiked Cypress immediately popped up, "Second King, since the reward is definitely coming, better to give it early so Black Leaf can rest assured. My suggestion, Second King, is to listen to Black Leaf and hand it out now!"

And immediately, Dragon Cypress controlled woodland bean vines to whip Spiked Cypress on the head.

—Scoundrel! You’ve learned to be cheeky now?

—And now you’ve learned to bypass the Great King and speak to the Second King directly?

Second King agreed, "What Spiked Cypress said makes sense too. Dragon Cypress, let’s distribute the rewards first."

"Second King is right!"

"Second King is wise!"

"Second King is mighty!"

Fragrant Cypress, Silver Cypress, and Black Peach waggled their tentacles in agreement.

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "Alright—"

Dragon Cypress: "Black Peach No. 4 was bred by Black Leaf, who deserves the most credit—a reward of 500,000 Source Stones worth of Ant King Honey."

"Tracing back, it was Giant Cypress who first discovered the Black Peach variant, so Giant Cypress receives 300,000."

"Everyone has worked hard, so the other Assistant Kings each receive 100,000. Tie Bush, you’ll also get 100,000 Source Stones worth of Ant King Honey."

"From now on, whenever our Kingdom cultivates new plants and successfully triggers a Law Divine-Given event for a Divine-Given Seed, there will be rewards. The reward rules are fixed. I’ll add two more bonus rules: first, if a top-level Divine-Given Seed is bred, the reward is doubled; second, if a Divine God-Given Seed is accidentally obtained, the reward increases tenfold!"

Ten times?!

The chance of getting a Divine-Grade is basically zero.

But a top-level Divine-Given Seed doesn’t seem that hard!

This very Black Peach No. 4 Divine-Given Seed in front of us already has a shot!

A very good chance!

—Great King is generous!

The ants all cheered.

Azure could command the colony, handling daily management duties.

Silver Cypress stayed with troops to guard the orchard, specializing in security.

The other insects went to their respective posts, taking care of their own assignments.

A change in Giant Cypress’s duties.

Giant Cypress excelled at spotting mutant branches and mutant fruit.

So far, thanks to Giant Cypress’s discoveries, they had successfully cultivated the Ink Emperor Peach and two Purple Poppet Divine-Given Seeds, were about to reap a Black Peach No. 4 Divine-Given Seed, and in the future would surely obtain a Blue Ice Cypress Divine-Given Seed.

However, Giant Cypress had always been in charge of guard duty, daily patrols, and jungle hunting on Xianglan Mountain. His range of activities was limited to the narrow Xianglan Mountain, so in recent years, there had been no new finds.

What a waste of his talent.

So Giant Cypress’s assignment was drastically changed.

This year, he would first guard White Lotus Lake, next year Molan Mountain, then Southern Sour Jujube Mountain the year after, and then Cold Orchid Mountain...

And also Jianlan Plain, Areca Rainforest, Red Cypress Mountain, Cicada Orchid Mountain, Hulan Mountain...

Wherever Dragon Cypress controlled a Land of Origin Force on the Cloud Trace Continent, Giant Cypress would rotate duty, going to a different site each year to search...

...

The peach blossoms bloomed.

It was the season for another round of transactions with the Flame Spider Roving Merchant.

Dragon Cypress led the team, setting out on time.

Red Peach, Heliotrope, and Column Spotted were already waiting.

They greeted each other.

Ivy squeezed through the Starship crack, crawled to the other side, then leapt onto Heliotrope’s carapace, pawing at the Spider Silk Bag on top, "Divine-Grade Fruit? Sea Insect Fruit? Let me have a look!"

"Ivy!" Ink Orchid scolded.

Heliotrope mulled over the thought, then untied the Spider Silk Rope attached to the carapace.

Red Peach whipped out a claw in a flash, took off the Spider Silk Bag from Heliotrope’s carapace, opened it to check, then passed one over, saying: "This is a Divine-Grade Green Bean!"

Dragon Cypress accepted it, pulled out the porcelain bottle inside, glanced at it, then handed it to Ink Orchid.

Green Beans weren’t exactly rare.

Ink Orchid took a look and closed the lid.

Red Peach immediately handed over another Spider Silk Bag.

Ivy ran over again, "Let me see!"

Shield Grasshopper Tribe Warriors had both earth and water system potential.

For now, Ivy was at 9th Age Mid-Level and already showed signs of earth system talent; eight or nine out of ten, she would awaken an earth talent.

So, in the future, Ivy would need a Divine-Grade Sea Worm Fruit too.

Dragon Cypress bent his tentacle, took out the fruit from the bottle, pinched it between his claw tips, and examined it closely.

A round fruit about 8 centimeters in diameter, with a layer of densely-packed, purple-red spines about 1 centimeter thick on the surface.

Spiritual power swept over it—the shell was very thick and very hard.

It looked like a kind of Divine-Grade fruit extremely suitable for long-term storage.

The Aconite old spider had a black heart, but it had to be admitted, among all the Spider Kings, its strength was unmatched, holding the most top-tier resources and the widest connections—no question about it, the other Spider Kings simply couldn’t compare to the Aconite Spider King.

"This is legit!"

Dragon Cypress finished inspecting and passed it to Ivy.

Ivy cradled it with both claws, gazing at it in fascination for a long time before handing it over to Ink Orchid.

Ink Orchid inspected it repeatedly, returned it to the bottle, and happily put it away. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

This year’s two Divine-Grade Fruits were both for Ink Orchid.

"It’s cramped in this cave. I’m heading back to Xianglan Mountain!"

Ink Orchid picked up her things and turned to leave.

Red Peach: "Sea Worm Fruit—10 million Source Stones. Green Bean—1.5 million Source Stones. Lord White Ivy helped cover the cost."

Dragon Cypress: "The 1.5 million for the Green Bean can be paid up front. Altogether, we owe White Ivy 22 million Source Stones. Starting next year, I’ll repay 2 million annually, paid off in eleven years."

Red Peach: "Alright!"

Dragon Cypress: "Any news on other Divine-Grade fruits I need?"

Red Peach: "None yet."

Dragon Cypress: "What about over at the Spider King Spurge? Anything about the Divine-Grade Winged Gourd?"

Red Peach: "The Spider King Spurge hasn’t said anything, so probably nothing yet. We haven’t asked, either."

Dragon Cypress: "Alright. No rush. I trust the Spider King Spurge."

Dragon Cypress called out: "Let’s trade now. Same routine—let’s settle the Divine-Given Origin Force Food transaction first. Ink Orchid is going to evolve to 9th Age Mountain Lord and I need to hurry back for guard duty."