Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, Jade Peach Kingdom.
A morning just cleared after autumn rain.
White Ivy led the way, dashing along the narrow, muddy mountain paths of the primitive forest. Red Peach, Grass Dragon, and Silvergrass followed close behind, leaving a long trail of ssy footprints.
The team entered the peach orchard at the foot of the mountain, ran straight through, and headed directly up the mountain.
"White Ivy Mountain Lord!"
Lupine popped out from the peach orchard beside the mountain path. Behind, thousands of Little Fla Spiders—big and small—rushed after, swarming around and surrounding the team.
Caravans traveling this side of the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent usually brought along Little Fla Spiders. If a Fla Spider Warrior was born, they could be discovered and protected at once.
If journeying to the Wan Country Continent for roving trade, the Little Fla Spiders could be fostered in the Diaphus Fla Spider territory of the Fla Spider Kingdom, with veteran warriors to care for them, though numbers were limited.
After White Ivy made a fortune, she kept thinking of raising two more juniors to expand the scale of the caravan. So, she changed to fostering them at Yellow Peach Mountain Lord's place.
The number of Little Fla Spiders grew year by year, but…
"Any Little Warriors born?"
White Ivy asked.
Lupine: "No…"
White Ivy: "So what are you so happy about?"
Lupine asked, "Um, respected elder White Ivy, did you get the Divine-Grade Night Fragrance Fruit?"
White Ivy: "Of course!"
Grass Dragon asked, "Has Lord lde arrived?"
Lupine: "Of course. We arrived seven or eight days ago."
White Ivy couldn't help feeling smug: Haha! Now even lde has to rely on !
"lde's here? Then why isn't he coming down the mountain to welco ?"
White Ivy complained, muttering, "After all the effort I spent to help him get a Divine-Grade Fruit share."
Lupine: "???"
Grass Dragon: "Good news! Let's talk up the mountain."
On the mountain.
lde was helping open and spread a bunch of oversized silk bags, airing out the premium peach kernels that Yellow Peach Mountain Lord had harvested and sorted this year.
"Yellow Peach Mountain Lord, I'm back!"
"Lord lde!"
Red Peach rushed up the mountain first, bringing good news: "Lord lde, we have good news."
lde: "You successfully got the Night Fragrance Fruit?"
"Of course!"
Red Peach: "The Huagi Divine Tree and the Linnan Divine Tree on Huagi Mountain have already rooted this spring. And surprisingly, there's a third Divine God-Given Seed on Huagi Mountain!"
Red Peach: "It's called 'Jinhe'—the Jinhe Fruit it produces grants a tal-enhancent ability called 'Jinhe Pattern.' It's very valuable. White Ivy Mountain Lord helped secure you a fixed trading share for a Jinhe Fruit..."
"Wait a second!"
lde raised a foreleg to interrupt, asking, "The Huagi Divine Tree has also been reborn?"
Red Peach: "Yes. Rooted in the Purple Tung Insect Nation."
lde: "Then the share allocation for the Divine-Grade Kunlan Seed..."
Red Peach: "White Ivy Mountain Lord gets one!"
lde: "And there's another Divine God-Given Seed called Jinhe? I get a share?"
lde was baffled, unable to comprehend, finding it hard to believe: This year I've been traveling this side of the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, haven't even gone to the Insect Capital…
And I still get a share?
Red Peach emphasized, "It was White Ivy Mountain Lord and I who helped fight for it for you."
lde didn't believe it, asking, "Red Peach, do you even believe what you're saying?"
Red Peach retorted, "Lord lde, then how do you think your share of Jinhe Fruit ca about?"
lde: "What's the catch?"
Red Peach: "You need to trade for Moon Peach Fruit from Yuezuo Mountain…"
"Heh~heh~" lde knew it! Nothing falls from the sky for free.
Still, this business was sure to be worth it—a huge gain for him.
lde's gaze turned to the mountain path.
"Yellow Peach! lde."
White Ivy charged up the mountain, full of bluster, starting to mock from afar.
"Oh lde, like I told you, everything is calculated, just stick to my plan. Look at you, not young anymore, yet you're still so restless—ca seven or eight days early. Isn't that just a waste of life..."
lde replied coolly, "I was just afraid you'd even forget the date."
"Lord lde."
"White Ivy Mountain Lord."
Grass Dragon and Silvergrass hurried up right after.
Seeing lde and White Ivy clash at first sight, Grass Dragon quickly stepped forward to smooth things over,
"Good news, good news! Huagi Mountain also has a 'Jinhe Divine God-Given Seed', divine grade, lde, you get a share of Jinhe Fruit…"
After simple greetings, the bugs gathered together. Grass Dragon gave a detailed account of the situation on Cloud Trace Continent. After a round of discussion and calculation, they began sorting goods and packing up.
Yellow Peach and Red Peach headed into the forest to hunt.
Fed and rested, after a day's pause, they would set off at night.
…
…
…
Cloud Crown Mountain.
The late afternoon sun slanted fiercely.
The Mid-Autumn sun was still rather hot.
Beneath the two towering Cloud Crown Trees on either side of the planted checkpoint entrance, the guarding Beautiful Ji Bug Warriors clustered in little groups, lazing and chatting in the shade.
A lord-level Beautiful Ji Bug Warrior keenly sensed vibrations from the ground and stood up.
The other Beautiful Ji Bug Warriors all stood as well.
A mont later,
a Fla Spider Caravan burst from a side mountain trail, appearing on the broad main road, charging straight for the checkpoint.
"Eh?"
"Them again?"
Lord Spiny Mulberry recognized them.
To outsiders, Fla Spiders all looked similar.
But the flashy tal Mantis Warrior running with this caravan was brightly colored and easy to identify.
The caravan selling Origin Force Honey?
Stopped last year,
And this year, they brought a lord-level Fla Spider to bolster their presence?
Just one lord-level Fla Spider?
Lord Spiny Mulberry shuffled slowly, blocking the middle of the main road.
"Lord Spiny Mulberry!"
More than a hundred ters away, White Ivy slowed her pace, waved her foreleg enthusiastically, and nudged lde beside her, hinting for him to mind his position.
White Ivy walked briskly to the front of the caravan to negotiate.
"You are…"
Spiny Mulberry rembered this small caravan sold Origin Force Honey, but had forgotten their na—or perhaps never cared to know.
Spiny Mulberry glanced at the carapace on White Ivy's back, recalling that last year her carapace was nearly empty, holding almost no goods. This year, it didn't look much different.
But the lord-level Fla Spider Roving rchant behind her was loaded with goods atop his carapace, and from the way the silk bags on his back bulged, it was obvious the cargo was rich.
Spiny Mulberry had kept this checkpoint for years and seen countless Fla Spider rchants. Just a glance at a Roving rchant's cargo sufficed to tell rich from poor.
"I am White Ivy Mountain Lord!"
"Oh——"
"I told you last year…"
"Honey?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"Divine grade…"
"Divine-Grade Fruit?"
"Divine-Grade Night Fragrance Fruit!"
"You brought it?"
"Brought it!"
"???"
Spiny Mulberry instantly grew serious: Divine grade for real?
Divine-Grade Fruits are extrely rare in trade, and are monopolized by the Spider Kings.
How could a minor mountain lord possibly get their hands on divine grade?
Spiny Mulberry waited for White Ivy to act.
White Ivy just stood still, unmoving.
Spiny Mulberry imdiately grew suspicious and asked icily, "ssing with ?"
White Ivy: "I brought it. Go report in. I will only negotiate with the Insect King of Cloud Crown Mountain who manages the Divine God-Given Seed with Waterwood dual hallucination abilities."
Spiny Mulberry: "That would be Fenghuai Mountain, Insect King Yanguan? I can't report at random—I have to confirm the goods before passing word."
White Ivy: "Fine! Once you see and confirm it, you'll go report, right?"
Lord Spiny Mulberry nodded his tentacle.
White Ivy wasted no words, unfastened the Spider Silk Rope on her back, pulled a silk bag from the bottom of the goods, opened it, took out the tal can, and held it to Spiny Mulberry.
Seeing this, Spiny Mulberry accepted it solemnly, inspected it, hooked a claw under the lid loop, twisted it open, and gently pried open a crack, scanning within with spiritual power.
"!!!"
Spiny Mulberry snapped the lid shut at once, screwed it tight, and handed it back to White Ivy.
"Wait a mont!"
He finished, turned, and dashed off.
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