Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 563 - 542: Corrosive Wind

Deep winter,

Molan quietly stayed in Xianglan Mountain, speeding up the consumption of Ant King Honey.

After a month, the preparation was almost complete.

Dragon Cypress began to make arrangements and set things up.

Currently, Molan had a total of 11 God-Given Life Seeds.

The Red Phellodendron Divine Seed pledged at Huagi Mountain was managed by Yellow Stem, Spruce, and Ivy.

The Fruit-Scented Orchid, Northern Gorgon, Emerald Flower Cold Orchid, and Snow Orchid planted at Xianglan Mountain were overseen by Fragrant Cypress and Black Persimmon’s command ants, with the assistance of Silver Cypress and Spiked Cypress; the Azure Divine Seed at South Mountain could also command ant groups to help.

The five Divine Seeds—Chestnut Beans, Sea Blue Tree, Ink Emperor Peach, Fey Oil Fruit, Golden Key Tree—planted at Southern Sour Jujube Mountain were managed by Black Cory, Black Leaf, and Black Birch.

And the most important of all, the Great King Molan Divine Seed, was planted alone on Molan Mountain.

Black Peach had lost its vision, making accurate judgment and precise command difficult, so Giant Cypress was sent to assist.

Each Divine Seed was prepared with 100,000 Source Stones.

Senior Orchid Mantis, being Divine Grade, received preferential treatment—200,000 Source Stones prepared, to be used generously, with strict instructions not to be stingy, and to avoid using reserves from Glinting Gold if possible.

Additionally, centering on the mother plant of the Great King Molan Divine Seed, all the orchard within a kilometer radius was to be cleared, the soil turned and fertilized, in preparation for the evolved underground rhizomes to spread and produce new shoots.

...

Late winter.

Xianglan Mountain.

The Molan Flowers planted at the South Mountain Ant Nest exit began to set ears.

The temperature warmed up.

Molan was also prepared and fell into slumber at night.

Dragon Cypress guarded outside the cave with troops.

At midnight,

Northern Gorgon’s absorption rate of Origin Force gradually increased, and it was the first to enter evolution state.

The Divine Seeds of Fruit-Scented Orchid, Emerald Flower Cold Orchid, and Snow Orchid followed closely behind.

Fragrant Cypress and Black Persimmon rushed up and down the mountain, directing small and medium worker ants to arrange Source Stones, everyone at their posts, ready to act at any time.

Meanwhile,

The God-Given Life Seeds of Molan, scattered at Huagi Mountain, Molan Mountain, Southern Sour Jujube Mountain, all their soul consciousnesses slipped into slumber, entering into evolution state.

The Great King Molan Divine Seed erupted first, frantically drawing in Natural Primordial Force, creating a force-vacuum centered on the mother plant, expanding rapidly.

Soon, the force-vacuum area covered the entire clonal distribution range.

"Black Peach, Giant Cypress, don’t wait, don’t be stingy with the Source Stones!"

Thunder Oak was also watching the changes and reminded them.

"Everything is under control."

Black Peach patiently waited for a bit, and only when the force-vacuum reached its feet did it wave its tentacles and issue the order.

Over a thousand green ants and worker ants moved in unison, gnawing apart the Source Stones with their mandible teeth.

Packed densely, waves of pure Origin Force exploded outward, only to be instantly sucked into the Origin Force Vortex.

The ant group didn’t pause their actions.

In just half a minute, over ten thousand Source Stones were consumed. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The force-vacuum area was rapidly compressed back into the clonal range.

Black Peach didn’t feel a bit of heartache over the Great King’s Source Stones and waved its tentacle, issuing the order: Work faster!

The working green ants and worker ants picked up the pace, and soon another thirty thousand Source Stones were used up.

With even higher frequency of input, the force-vacuum shrank rapidly, pushed back to a radius of twenty or thirty meters around the mother plant.

The Origin Force fluctuation of the entire Land of Origin Force quieted along with it.

"Enough. That’s enough."

"Pause."

Giant Cypress and Thunder Oak reminded them.

Black Peach flashed its tentacles, the ant group stopped actions and rested in place.

Having drawn in enough Origin Force in one go, the Great King Molan also quickly settled back into tranquility.

...

At Xianglan Mountain, Huagi Mountain, Southern Sour Jujube Mountain, assigned assistant kings and ant swarms worked through the night, tens of thousands of Source Stones poured in.

Molan had stagnated at Mountain Lord Level for a long time, but the benefit was that the Life Seed plants had developed well, so breaking through to Lord-Level was relatively easy.

In just four days, the Great King Molan completed the breakthrough first.

Of the prepared 200,000 Source Stones, twenty or thirty thousand remained; Black Peach commanded the ants, replenishing its Primordial Energy at a rate of ten thousand per day.

The mother and clonal plants of the Great King Molan withered overnight; another day later, the mother plant was already sprouting new buds...

During the evolution sleep on the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth days, the scattered God-Given Life Seeds all completed their breakthroughs one after another.

On the eleventh day,

At midnight, Molan woke from its slumber and quickly completed molting.

"Dragon Cypress?"

Molan called out.

Nothing dangerous happened during evolution.

At the cave entrance, Dragon Cypress, who was sound asleep, woke up muddleheaded. Its spiritual power swept out in one quick scan and it pushed aside the door panel to check.

"Second King. Awake?"

"Were you asleep?"

"No, my legs got numb from standing too long, so I laid down for a bit."

Dragon Cypress got up, strode quickly into the cave, climbed up the stone wall, hung upside down from the ceiling, and inspected from close range.

Molan’s carapace had reverted to the white tinged with pink typical of an Orchid Mantis Warrior.

On its back carapace, there was an imprint of an emerald green Kunlan Wood leaf.

A scan with spiritual power revealed the signature of leaf factor Origin Force from the Linnan Divine Tree.

Molan also obtained the fully-formed ’Forest Symbiont’ ability!

However,

Before evolution, Molan had used leaves from all three Divine Trees—Huagi, Quandong, and Linnan—but in the end only the leaf factor from the Linnan Divine Tree remained.

This confirmed two things:

First, with the Forest Symbiont ability, using King-Level or higher leaves for symbiosis and a Divine-Grade Six Paths Fruit to elevate the soul to King-Level, a fully stable symbiotic form could be awakened upon reaching Evolution Lord Level.

Second, the Forest Symbiont ability can indeed only symbiose with a single plant species.

Yet, a puzzling question emerged for the ants: why Linnan Divine Tree?

In terms of evolutionary degree, the Huagi Divine Tree was the highest, unmatched.

In terms of compatibility, the Quandong Divine Tree was at least as suitable as the Linnan Divine Tree.

Was it random?

Or was there some other rule?

Dragon Cypress’s mind spun, cycling through thoughts, then landed lightly on the ground.

"Molan, are you hungry?"

"What do you think? I called you over to bring me food."

Molan was annoyed.

"..."

Dragon Cypress glanced over, and a metal can placed in the cave’s corner floated up, drifted before Molan, and, with a light burst of Origin Force, its lid unscrewed itself.

Dragon Cypress then shook its tentacles, sending a message.

Soon,

Spiked Cypress and Silver Cypress dashed in.

"Great King!"

"Second King!"

"Congratulations Second King!"

"Second King, you’re mighty!"

"Cut the crap! Spiked Cypress, go hunt up some fresh food from the nearby forest. Silver Cypress, go notify Fragrant Cypress and Black Persimmon to prepare the meal."

Dragon Cypress waved its tentacles and drove Spiked Cypress and Silver Cypress away, watching Molan devour a whole can of Ant Honey, noting it didn’t expend much physical strength and had nearly recovered, and then tested by asking:

"Molan, your Water System Talent..."

"Has awakened successfully!"

"So, how many abilities did you comprehend?"

"Let me think..."

Molan tilted its head in thought, thought a bit, said in surprise, "A lot!"

Then thought more, and exclaimed, "So many abilities!"

Thought again, uncertain, "Seven? Eight abilities? That’s way too many, right?"

Suddenly it jumped up and cheered, "Wow! Dragon Cypress! I’m awesome! I even comprehended Water Creation Ability!"

...

South Mountain Restaurant,

Fragrant Cypress and Black Persimmon simmered a rich and tasty soup,

Spiked Cypress and Silver Cypress brought back fresh meat,

Molan quickly filled its belly.

The group headed to the Ridge’s Shandong Reservoir.

Molan walked on water, stopping in the center of the reservoir.

"I’ve awakened four Water System abilities!"

"First: Water Control."

Molan said while raising its claw; a great water sphere, one meter in diameter, leaped from the surface.

"Second, similar to White Willow’s talent Reflection..."

Molan spoke; beside it, a ripple stirred, and a mantis identical in every detail rose from the water.

With a sweep of spiritual power—not just the appearance, but the Origin Force fluctuation was the same, hard to tell true from false.

——Wow!

——An ability the Great King doesn’t have!

——It really looks powerful!

——Seems like the Second King is a bit better than the Great King after all.

Onshore, Spiked Cypress, Silver Cypress, Fragrant Cypress, and Black Persimmon were all instantly amazed, laying on the flattery.

Dragon Cypress deployed Soul-Setting perception; the mantis made by a Water System ability had no soul, a fake at a glance.

This ability was so-so.

Dragon Cypress said calmly, "Second King, what else?"

Molan spread both wings, Water System Primordial Energy flared, suddenly swinging to raise a huge wave over a dozen meters high, surging towards shore.

Dragon Cypress waved its tentacles, and the incoming wave froze solid, then let off Strength System Primordial Energy—a light tremor, and the frozen wave shattered into ice pieces with a crash, scattering everywhere.

Molan: "..."

Molan: "The reservoir’s too small. I didn’t use real force. If it were at sea, I’d have made waves dozens of meters high."

Dragon Cypress: "That one’s alright. Anything else?"

There was Water Creation as well.

Already shown off while eating earlier.

At Evolution Lord Level, awaken Water System Talent and comprehend four Water System abilities: Water Control, Reflection, Wave Creation, and Water Creation.

According to the Linnan Divine Tree, Water Creation’s potential is limitless and immensely precious; the other three abilities are pretty average, perhaps even unimpressive.

Molan, beaming with enthusiasm, said, "Then there’s a Wind System ability, a Wood Element ability, a Waterwood System ability, and a Water-Wind dual system ability."

Molan thought quickly, then raised a claw and tentacle, activated Wind System Primordial Energy—in front, two or three meters ahead, air compressed violently to a single point, then shot forward explosively, detonating with a thunderous boom fifty meters away.

Molan: "A pure offensive power: Air Compression!"

——Wow!

——So strong!

——Such a powerful ability!

——Second King is just too strong!

Spiked Cypress, Silver Cypress, Fragrant Cypress, and Black Persimmon exclaimed, full of praise and flattery.

Strong where? Where did you four ants pick up these bad habits?

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "Not bad——"

Molan pondered, then looked up, left foreleg raised high as Wood Primordial Energy gathered, and struck downward suddenly.

A gigantic green Origin Force blade shaped like its foreleg cleaved vertically, slicing a twenty-meter gash through the water’s surface that reached the shore, and even the dam was cut, leaving a breach four or five meters long.

"!!!"

All the ants were stunned.

This ability was fierce!

"Wood Element attack ability—Orchid Leaf Slash."

Molan thought again, head lowered, muttered, "I also comprehended a healing-type ability, Waterwood System."

With that, pale green water vapor rose on its body, quickly condensing into an insect cocoon and wrapping it up.

Crunching and cracking sounds, the cocoon shattered, and Molan popped out, saying, "It works in cases of severe injuries, provides continuous treatment and recovery, but it’s rather lackluster. Let’s just call it ’Feather Transformation’."

Molan muttered, walking on water as it headed ashore.

Dragon Cypress: "One more ability?"

Molan: "Water-Wind dual system: attacking ability, Corrosive Wind."

Speaking, it turned around, targeted a Silver Cypress tree on the bank, slowly spread its wings, and fluttered gently, sending out a breeze.

Danger!

Dragon Cypress and all the ants felt a chill, raised their tentacles upright, scrambling to get out of the way.

The light breeze swept past the Silver Cypress tree.

It was as if life itself was blown away by the wind—the Cypress died instantly.

The leaves turned to fine dust, drifting in the breeze, leaving only a bare trunk.

All the ants were dumbstruck.

They rushed in for a closer look.

The Silver Cypress trunk was riddled with countless tiny, nearly invisible holes.

Spiked Cypress lifted a claw and tapped it gently.

The trunk toppled, shattered over the ground.

This ability...

Kills silently, eerie and terrifying!

All the ants didn’t dare make a sound.