Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 550 - 529: The Development Paths of Qingqi and Snakebark Maple

Chapter 550: Chapter 529: The Development Paths of Qingqi and Snakebark Maple

The two guys, Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple, have always been a bit wild since they were little.

With the powers of Grafting, Flower Spot, and another called Life Transfer, the plants of the natural world have already been played to pieces by them.

Especially the Grafting ability—absolutely a divine skill of joining species.

Grafting forty or fifty kinds of kiwifruit onto a single Kiwifruit Tree; grafting fifty or sixty kinds of grapes onto a single grapevine... These are still considered normal operations.

The abnormal operations, for example, are like what’s before our eyes now...

At our feet should have been an Apricot Orchard...

And before us, an apricot tree...

Dragon Cypress took a careful look for a long time before recognizing it—confirmed it was some kind of apricot tree as the rootstock, aided by Wood Element ability for growth, resulting in a trunk half a meter thick and nearly 30 meters high.

But it can hardly be called an apricot tree anymore...

Dragon Cypress spent even longer to distinguish and roughly figured out there were 11 apricot tree varieties, 21 peach tree varieties, 26 plum tree varieties, and also 42 cherry tree varieties grafted onto this one tree.

The four major family lines—exactly 100 varieties—merged to make a single tree.

This is an operation that overturns the Law of Life for plant-based beings in nature.

All over Kiwifruit Mountain, the orchards large and small are filled with such operations.

All sorts of messy varieties, good or bad, elite or inferior, are all crammed haphazardly onto one tree.

However,

The way Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple do things isn’t exactly chaotic either.

On the same tree, with so many different varieties, they cross-pollinate each other when the flowers bloom.

Once the fruit is harvested, they randomly obtain hybrid seeds.

Normally, when these hybrid seeds are sown, the first-generation seedlings are usually more robust than either the mother or father plant.

Dedicated orchards have been opened up for cultivation.

When the first-generation hybrid saplings grow up and bear fruit, the next batch of collected seeds, once sown, start having problems in the second generation: they may not germinate normally, may be deformed, or revert to ancestral forms.

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple have also set up dedicated nurseries, where every spring they mass sow and screen second generation hybrid seedlings, selecting vigorous, stably reproducible high-quality hybrids.

Similar hybridization attempts were surely done by countless Insect Clan predecessors, so these actions don’t break the Natural Law or receive Divine-Given rewards.

So they continue to graft, hybridize, and select—the third generation, fourth, fifth...

Until they finally get a new hybrid that fulfills the Divine-Given criteria.

So many varieties, endless hybrid choices, infinite possibilities.

Out of countless unpredictable variables, they search for those rare correct paths that fulfill the requirements for Natural Godsend.

There’s nothing wrong with the logic at all.

At first glance it even seems easy, like a shortcut.

On Xianglan Mountain, Azure, Fragrant Cypress, and Silver Cypress also tried this approach.

But in practice, it’s extremely tedious and difficult, time-consuming, energy-draining, and the only harvest is failure after failure after failure...with no end in sight.

...

Dragon Cypress: "Judging from the trunk, this should still count as an apricot tree."

Ink Orchid: "Look at the roots underground."

Dragon Cypress swept below with spiritual power, his sense pausing.

The apricot trunk was grafted on; the underground root was some kind of cherry tree...

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress looked up, gazing at the treetop.

After the flowers fell, a newly formed tiny green fruit about the size of a mung bean was exuding a faint Origin Force fluctuation.

Looking at the twig, it should be...

Dragon Cypress: "...Apricot tree...looks like a weeping Snakebark Apricot."

Ink Orchid: "It could also be Weeping Red Apricot."

Dragon Cypress controlled the Dominating Throne to slowly ascend, hovering at the treetop for a closer look.

The leaves of the Weeping Red Apricot should be a bit rounder.

But if it’s Weeping Snakebark Apricot, the new branch should have a pale purplish-red hue, not green.

"Maybe it’s just a mutated branch."

"Which apricot has a mutated branch?"

"...I can’t tell."

"Neither can I."

"Maybe even Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple themselves can’t tell."

"Here they come now."

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple had long sensed the Origin Force fluctuation of the Dominating Throne flying overhead; noticing Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid hadn’t gone straight to find them, they immediately realized something was up and rushed over.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

"Ink Orchid——"

"You’re here!"

"This is..."

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple greeted them, their eyes fixed on the treetop—delighted, shouting, practically hopping with joy: Divine-Given Seed!

"Blue Catalpa, what kind of fruit is this?" Ink Orchid asked sternly.

"...Apricot?!"

Blue Catalpa replied, cheering and running under the tree, looking up for a closer look, glancing at Snakebark Maple in confusion, and asking, "Weeping Snakebark Apricot?"

Snakebark Maple came closer too, stared up for a while, not quite certain: "...Think so."

Blue Catalpa: "...Seems a little different."

Snakebark Maple: "Then maybe it’s a mutant branch?"

Ink Orchid snapped, "You two idiots, what have you been doing all day? Such a huge mutant branch and you never noticed?"

Blue Catalpa asserted, "It’s a bud mutation! All these trees were bud-grafted. Snakebark Maple handled the bud collection during grafting."

Snakebark Maple: "At the time I collected it, it was just one bud—how could I tell if it had mutated?"

Blue Catalpa: "I just graft whatever Snakebark Maple brings over. Didn’t pay much attention to the rest. The orchard is massive, there are too many fruit trees. Once grafting’s done, we hardly ever come back to check."

Snakebark Maple: "Our main focus is still on cultivating Kiwifruit Trees."

Ink Orchid: "..."

Ink Orchid: "So the Divine-Given Seed was born and you didn’t even know?"

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple both tapped their tentacles and chorused, "You’re incredible, Ink Orchid!"

—Ink Orchid’s the greatest!

—The Natural True God clearly favors Ink Orchid!

—Ink Orchid, you definitely have to visit Kiwifruit Mountain more often!

—Wherever Ink Orchid goes, Divine-Given Seeds are sure to appear!

...

These two really have no baseline for being decent Insects.

Dragon Cypress couldn’t stand it, swinging his tentacles to swat at them, scolding, "Enough nonsense! Business now. Since it’s a mutant branch, it’s best to figure out—is it a mutation of Weeping Snakebark Apricot, or Weeping Red Apricot, or some other apricot?"

The Weeping Snakebark Apricot is a Metal System-enhanced variety.

The Weeping Red Apricot is Fire System-enhanced.

Their names are similar, branches and leaves almost alike, but the enhancement effects are totally different.

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple looked blank, waving their tentacles: Hasn’t it been more than a dozen years since the grafting? Can’t possibly trace it back.

Ink Orchid waved a claw and said, "That’s not important. Even knowing the mutation’s source won’t change what’s already happened. Once the Divine-Given Seed ripens, we’ll just sense the Origin Force fluctuation to basically figure it out."

Ink Orchid gave instructions: "Snakebark Maple, you stay and keep watch with me under the tree. Blue Catalpa, you’re still busy pollinating? Go on then. Dragon Cypress, go to the Areca Rainforest and get Black Leaf and Tie Bush to help stand guard—Black Leaf should bring soldiers and keep watch for a few months."

"Got it!"

"Understood!"

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple agreed crisply.

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Tie Bush’s original plan was to advance to Evolution Mountain Lord Level at White Lotus Lake early this summer—switching to Kiwifruit Mountain works as well.

...

Areca Rainforest,

All the native Rain Tree species have been eliminated; the first-generation Rain Tree replacements have all grown into seven- or eight-meter-tall big trees.

Moreover, some more land was cleared so that now there are 5,000 Rain Tree No.1s planted.

Dragon Cypress only manages this one patch of Origin Force Land in the tropics on Cloud Trace Continent, with a large number of tropical plants planted and no more room for expansion.

The plan is, in a few years, to reclaim land on Swinging Leaf Island and popularize cultivation on a large scale.