Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 554 - 533 Large-Fruited Hippophae

The optimization and selective breeding of Silver Cypress No. 1 has been underway all along. After a full ten years of cultivation, seedlings with relatively darker, thicker green leaves have finally been selected and named Silver Cypress No. 2.

First, a batch of Silver Cypress No. 2 saplings was planted on Xianglan Mountain. After three years of growth, they bloomed and bore fruit for the first time.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to trigger a Natural Godsend. However, compared to Silver Cypress No. 1, the trunks are markedly thicker, sunlight absorption efficiency is improved, seedling growth and development are faster, mature cypresses are taller and sturdier, bear more flowers, and the fruit is also slightly larger.

Very obvious improvement—worthy of comprehensive promotion.

The plan is to start from the north, replace every Origin Force Point, uproot all original Silver Cypress No. 1, and plant Silver Cypress No. 2 instead.

...

Last year, Round Cypress and Black Birch sowed over ten million Silver Cypress No. 2 seeds. After several rounds of selection, about two million saplings were finally retained, densely growing in the nursery.

They must be transplanted in time.

This spring is especially busy.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid set off from the Purple Tung Insect Nation, made a rapid circuit around the continent, then dashed back to the Purple Tung Insect Nation.

"Dragon Cypress!"

"What?"

"Head straight back to the Purple Tung Insect Nation?"

"Of course."

"Aren’t you forgetting somewhere?"

"No."

"Desolation Plains, hmm?"

"..."

At Desolation Plains, Dragon Cypress only performed simple land clearing. After ensuring all kinds of trees survived, left behind 270 Lord-Level Specialized Blue Soldiers, some replaced Mountain Lord-level Blue Soldiers, Blue Ants, and Green Ants, assigned tasks, and didn’t intervene further...

Desolation Plains remained desolate...

In recent years, it has seemed as though Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid’s luck was used up—they haven’t collected a new Divine-Given Seed in a long while.

The Great King Molan’s Divine-Grade Fruit is about to ripen, and Ink Orchid was getting anxious again. Couldn’t sleep at night.

Ink Orchid: "Dragon Cypress, it’s really not far—just across a mountain range, just a short trip. Take me over there, I’ll stay and search, you can come pick me up in a couple days."

"Sure—"

Dragon Cypress didn’t think much of it, simply agreed, turned the Dominating Throne around, and headed straight for Desolation Plains.

The northern desert isn’t just arid and lacking water; at night, temperatures drop especially low, and plant growth is slow.

After seven or eight years, it’s still the same plants planted back then, sparse and clumpy patches of green.

Trees grow slowly, and grasses can’t get established. Gazing out, the landscape is still dominated by sand-loam’s earthy yellow color.

Drawing closer,

Ink Orchid spread her wings and soared, diving down toward the Land of Origin Force.

Dragon Cypress turned around right away, heading back to the Purple Tung Insect Nation.

...

"Night Fragrance!"

Passing by where Night Fragrance was rooted, he greeted her in passing.

Night Fragrance: "..."

Before Night Fragrance could reply, the Dominating Throne was already landing near the White Poplar Divine Seed.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

"Great King, you’ve arrived!"

Spruce and Cypress were stationed beneath the tree.

Cypress asked, "Great King, where’s the Second King?"

White Poplar also chimed in, "Dragon Cypress, where’s Ink Orchid?"

"Desolation Plains, searching for the Divine-Given Seed."

Dragon Cypress parked the Dominating Throne under the tree, looking up to inspect.

Once the White Poplar Divine Seed’s trunk exceeded a hundred meters, its growth slowed. After thirty-two years at Evolution Lord Level, it had only just reached above 130 meters.

On the lower part of the trunk, the first nine lateral branches, nine Divine-Grade Baihe Fruits were about to ripen.

This is the second batch of yield.

Unwittingly, Dragon Cypress has already been at Evolution Lord Level for thirty-two years.

White Poplar offered, "Dragon Cypress, stop looking. There’s no problem here. Fruit ripens right on schedule at Mid-Autumn Festival."

"Okay—"

Dragon Cypress tapped his antennae repeatedly, dropping eight bursts of Flourish, then leapt off the Throne and asked Spruce, "Where’s Ivy?"

Spruce flicked her antenna, pointed, and said, "At the Linnan Divine Tree, undergoing the highest level of comprehensive physical training for High-Level Warriors."

Normally, Shield Grasshopper Tribe Warriors at High-Level Stage only need half a year of training per age period.

But now, at Huagi Mountain, with Ivy as the only seedling, the Linnan Divine Tree has doubled her training volume.

—Poor Ivy~

Dragon Cypress gloatingly sympathized, then looked at Cypress and asked, "How’s the Silver Cypress No. 2 transplanting coming along?" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Cypress: "Round Cypress and Black Birch are busy."

White Poplar: "Heard from their chat last night, seems about one million saplings have been transplanted."

Dragon Cypress: "Only half done?"

Dragon Cypress said anxiously, "Summer is almost here! I’ll go help!"

As summer temperatures rise and sun blazes overhead, transplant survival rates for plants drop sharply.

It’s urgent.

Dragon Cypress mobilized two thousand Green Ants and Worker Ants, took personal command, and focused exclusively on tree seedling excavation and transport.

Round Cypress and Black Birch were only in charge of organizing ant colonies for planting.

With the Ant King joining in command, work efficiency jumped.

After two days of busyness, finishing at dusk, Dragon Cypress rushed to Desolation Plains.

Ink Orchid sensed the Origin Force Fluctuation as the Dominating Throne flew, and instead of moving, activated Soul-Setting Ability to lock onto Dragon Cypress.

Dragon Cypress felt a response at once, delighted, and activated his own Soul-Setting Ability in turn.

"Second King? Any results?"

"Yes! Divine-Given Seed!"

"What tree?"

"Large-Fruited Hippophae!"

"Not bad..."

Communication cut off.

Dragon Cypress sped up the Dominating Throne, heading toward Ink Orchid’s location.

Sea Buckthorn is a relatively drought-tolerant small arbor bearing berries, quite sour, and when mixed with Sea Blue Fruit Ant Honey, Blue Soldiers and Blue Ants especially love it.

The vast majority of plantings on Desolation Plains are Large-Fruited Hippophae, Willow-Leaved Hippophae, and native Hippophae.

Acres of sea buckthorn orchards.

A Large-Fruited Hippophae tree just over two meters tall, at the top, a pea-sized greenish fruit, giving off a faint Origin Force Fluctuation.

On closer inspection, the branches and leaves show no abnormal mutations, confirming it’s a random occurrence.

The tree is small, but is one of the most prolific fruit bearers among fruit trees.

Sea buckthorn, Large-Fruited Hippophae, and Willow-Leaved Hippophae—all three species strengthen comprehensive Earth System abilities, and all lean toward sand-soil type ability reinforcement.

The enhancement effect price is pretty decent, too.

Similar to Little Wild Chestnut, but revenue is a little higher than the Wild Chestnut Divine-Given Seed.

A pretty good Divine-Given Seed.

Ink Orchid had already picked the fruits from the lower branches, leaving the ones on the upper and middle branches untouched.

"Dragon Cypress, wasn’t my intuition spot on? You almost missed this one!"

Ink Orchid reproached, unable to hide her pride.

"Congratulations, Second King, now you have an Evolution Lord Level Divine-Given Seed."

Dragon Cypress was also delighted.

Previously, there had been worries that luck wasn’t holding, and Ink Orchid’s evolution progress might get stuck on a Divine-Given Seed bottleneck.

But now it’s fine.

Can be at ease now.

Dragon Cypress: "The Large-Fruited Hippophae is not bad, similar to Little Wild Chestnut. The tree is small, but the yield is high."

Ink Orchid: "Yes!"

Ink Orchid: "Dragon Cypress, remember? In the Gao’gang Mountain ruins, there’s the remains of a King-Level Willow-Leaved Hippophae Divine-Given Seed!"

Dragon Cypress: "Of course I remember!"

Dragon Cypress: "I’ll bring it back when I get the chance."

Dragon Cypress sent out a thought, streams of Wood Primordial Energy gathered to his antennae, and he gently released a pulse of Flourish Ability.

Antennae swaying, he activated Water Creation Ability, two giant water spheres a meter in diameter condensed, hovered low, and quickly split into a misty drizzle that fell upon the land.

Dragon Cypress then turned back, ran to a satellite nest, brought over twelve small Green Ants, and let them climb the tree to snip away all the ordinary, unimportant fruits.

After finishing processing, all they had to do was wait for the fruit to ripen at the end of autumn and start of winter.

Dragon Cypress: "There’s so little life here, barely any animals capable of threatening the fruit—no need to send an Assistant King over, right?"

Are you kidding? Ink Orchid: "Safety first!"

Dragon Cypress: "Then I’ll assign two squads of Specialized Blue Soldiers and Green Soldiers to help out. Ink Orchid, you stay here and keep watch. Once Purple Tung Insect Nation is finished, I’ll have Black Birch come over."

Dragon Cypress added: "Right now they’re still green; nothing’s going to harm them."

Ink Orchid: "Fine—"

Switching topics, Ink Orchid asked, "Dragon Cypress, where’s a good place to sow the Large-Fruited Hippophae Divine-Given Seed?"

Dragon Cypress: "Drought tolerance doesn’t mean it can only survive in arid desert. For Lord-Level Origin Force Life, environmental adaptability is plenty strong—keep to the plan: sow them at White Lotus Lake."

Dragon Cypress: "Desert plants can’t have standing water; it’s best to plant them on a ridge. Ask White Rice for help to use soil modification ability and create a patch of breathable sand-loam."

Ink Orchid: "As the Great King commands!"

Dragon Cypress assigned orders to Blue Soldiers and Green Soldiers: Protect the fruit on the tree

Rushed back to Purple Tung Insect Nation to continue transplanting work.

...

...

...

All Silver Cypress No. 1 trees at Origin Force Lands such as Tiger Orchid Mountain, Xuelan Mountain, Banlan Mountain etc. are to be uprooted.

Next year, Silver Cypress No. 2 saplings will be transplanted in their place.

Dragon Cypress personally led the team, busy for another year—a year of harvest as well.

Mid-autumn, Divine-Grade Baihe Fruit is harvested.

End of autumn, Large-Fruited Hippophae Divine-Given Seed is successfully harvested.

As per tradition,

Every sixteen years, with the Baihe Fruit harvest, a grand all-hands gathering is held.

By chance, this year is also the exact one-hundredth year of Dragon Cypress’s birth—Dragon Cypress turned 100—a significant life milestone worth commemorating.

In midwinter, at the coldest time, warriors from each Origin Force Land convene, first to celebrate for seven days and nights at tropical Scarletlight Mountain. Next, everyone heads to Purple Tung Insect Nation, invites the Barley Bug Tribe warriors too, and then celebrate another five days under the Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed.

Feasting and merry-making, the winter passes in a bustling blur.

Come spring, transplanting of Silver Cypress No. 2 saplings begins bright and early...