The gate is over ten centiters thick.
Dragon Cypress and Ghost Fan took turns working on it. After thirteen days, they finally broke open a gap about twenty centiters wide at the base of the door.
A sweep with spiritual power,
Ghost Fan was stunned.
Dragon Cypress stomped his feet.
The other side of the gate was blocked and further reinforced with Earth System Abilities.
Ghost Fan said with effort, "Dragon Cypress, these two gates seem to need to be pushed forward to open."
Dragon Cypress: "I can see that..."
Dragon Cypress: "It's not a big deal. Call over White Rice and use Soil Improvent to destroy it, then dig out enough space to open the door..."
Dragon Cypress activated his Soul-Setting Ability to sense.
Due to the limitations of the Jinhe Pattern-strengthened tal, Soul-Setting could only sense a flat, fan-shaped region ahead. The sensing range increased with the distance forward.
No Origin Force Life detected.
"Dragon Cypress, how is it?"
"Apparently, no retired old spiders from Fla Spider Kingdom are guarding nearby."
"That's great!"
"Don't get happy too soon. This exit is at the foot of the mountain, level with sea level. Maybe the old Fla Spiders are all sprawled out on the mountain."
"...Right...that's possible."
Ghost Fan asked, "Dragon Cypress, if we make it through, how do we communicate with them? Will we be killed?"
Dragon Cypress: "Fla Spider Kingdom doesn't want other Insect Clans to learn the secret of this passage. So, we'll explain the situation on Cloud Trace Continent, make it clear—we'll tell them that whether or not we leave the Origin Force Star Realm, we can't establish or preserve a tribal inheritance. Those old spiders have no reason to kill us."
Dragon Cypress: "But we mustn't reveal the existence of Huagi Mountain. Huagi Mountain will be inherited. We also can't ntion Purple Tung Insect Nation—it's large enough that Barley Bug Warriors might pass down an inheritance."
"But..."
Ghost Fan tapped the tal gate with his claw. "The Jinhe Pattern Ability isn't easy to hide."
Dragon Cypress: "We can't call it 'Jinhe Pattern' anymore. We need to rena it 'tal Destruction' and claim it's a tal ability we comprehended ourselves. After all these years and dozens of spider generations, they've probably forgotten about Huagi Mountain and its three Divine Trees."
Ghost Fan: "Fla Spider Kingdom also has wild Divine-Given Seeds."
Dragon Cypress: "Yes. That's why we have to be extra careful. The Soul-Setting Ability from the Soul-Setting Fruit and the Jinhe Pattern Ability from the Jinhe Fruit are very distinctive and shouldn't be exposed. The Wood Elent Talent from the Kunlun Seed doesn't matter as much—nothing special, and similar divine grades still exist in the world."
Ghost Fan twitched his tentacles to show understanding.
Dragon Cypress paused, then continued: "Once we cross, we'll definitely run into Fla Spider Tribe warriors. Every Insect on our side of Cloud Trace Continent should prepare a unified set of talking points. The core is that Cloud Trace Continent only has a handful of Origin Force Points, each covering maybe a dozen or twenty square kiloters, and only a handful of Insect Clan Warriors surviving..."
As Dragon Cypress spoke, his tentacles suddenly stiffened upright.
A large group of souls, of varying strength, entered the range of his Soul-Setting sense.
They stopped, spread out, and moved up and down.
"Dragon Cypress, what's wrong?"
Ghost Fan inquired.
Dragon Cypress, uncertain: "Ant Clan? Or Termite Kingdom?"
Dragon Cypress: "Lord-Level... The other side is actually an Ant Kingdom?"
Dragon Cypress turned and looked at the map on the cave ceiling.
Checked repeatedly.
This really was an island about sixty kiloters long, no more than ten kiloters at its widest. The total area was about four hundred square kiloters.
An isolated island in a vast sea.
Could such a small sea island hold a Lord-Level Ant Clan Kingdom?
Whether ants or termites, without Water System Abilities, it's nearly impossible to cross the ocean and communicate with the mainland.
How did they evolve to Lord-Level?
Must be so kind of trade exchange.
Fla Spider Kingdom?
Dragon Cypress's thoughts spun rapidly, then he understood.
It must be an ant king raised by Fla Spider Kingdom, guarding this passageway for them.
Dragon Cypress turned, leaned towards the crack in the door, and used Soul-Setting Ability to observe more closely.
—The ant swarm, in groups, climbing and descending trees, were probably picking fruit from the branches.
—They resembled Giant-Headed Ants, with many size variations. Small ants might be only a few centiters long, with just a faint soul, but existed in vast numbers. Larger ants had strong and solid souls, and could be over two ters long. Small ants worked busily, while large ants commanded and supervised.
—Termites don't have that much diversity in size, nor do they like eating fruit. It's not a Termite Kingdom.
—So it's so kind of omnivorous or vegetarian Ant Clan.
Dragon Cypress cald down, observed, analyzed, and ca to a judgnt.
Ghost Fan waited quietly for a long ti beside him, then tentatively asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, any findings?"
Dragon Cypress: "My initial assessnt is the other side is an Ant Clan Kingdom similar to Giant-Headed Ants."
Ghost Fan: "Uh..."
Ghost Fan fell silent.
Not all ants are easy to deal with.
On the contrary, every ant king in the Ant Clan can found a kingdom of their own. Their sense of territory is strong, they're naturally belligerent, and among the hardest to communicate with.
Dragon Cypress: "Stay calm. Let's observe for another two days."
…
Soul-Setting Ability is especially taxing.
Dragon Cypress withdrew his ability, returned to the Throne to rest for a while, then ca back to the door crack to sense again.
The ant swarm that had been busy picking earlier was nowhere to be seen.
No other soul traces were detected within the sensing range.
He pulled back his ability and waited patiently for a while,
Activated the ability again, still no sign of any ant swarm.
Withdrew the ability, waited so more…
After repeating this many tis and finding nothing, Dragon Cypress proposed, "Ghost Fan, should we open a vertical slit along the door crack? It could let us expand the vertical sensing range of the Soul-Setting Ability."
"Alright—"
Ghost Fan agreed without hesitation, stepped forward, and used his 'Jinhe Pattern' ability to destroy the reinforced tal structure inside the vertical slit between the double gates.
He used up all his Origin Force at once, then returned to the Dominating Throne to rest.
Dragon Cypress continued, scraping away a layer of destroyed tal with his claw.
They took turns like this.
At the sa ti, Dragon Cypress used Soul-Setting Ability through the gap at the bottom of the door, observing from ti to ti.
…
Another thirteen days passed.
Ghost Fan and Dragon Cypress worked together to carve out a vertical slit.
The two slits, horizontal and vertical, crossed, and the Soul-Setting Ability's sensing range suddenly expanded greatly.
But still, nothing new was discovered…
In the past thirteen days, Dragon Cypress only caught traces of the island's ant clan seven tis, always specialized ants leading foraging teams, moving like they were on a military march, coming and going in a hurry. Only once did they pause within the Soul-Setting Ability's range, busily climbing and descending trees before quickly leaving.
Again, Dragon Cypress looked up at the map on the cave's dod ceiling.
The island they were on was narrow and long, stretching north to south.
That put their current position right against the Divine Force Barrier on the island's northern tip.
The northern part of the island was quite narrow, only four or five kiloters wide.
The southern end was broader, the width possibly exceeding ten kiloters.
A broader land ant greater resistance to the frequent storms and rough weather of the ocean.
The Ant Kingdom's main nest must be built in the island's southern part.
If they cultivated and managed orchards, most of the effort would surely be in the south.
Four hundred square kiloters isn't that small.
The other side's Ant Kingdom didn't pay much attention to the island's north. Maybe they just planted a few hardy, low-maintenance plants there, and only occasionally sent an ant swarm to check in.
Dragon Cypress switched perspectives, thinking from the viewpoint of the Fla Spider Tribe:
First, the Fla Spider Tribe would never have imagined there were still Insect Clan Warriors on this side of Cloud Trace Continent.
Second, Fla Spider Kingdom should be based in the ancestral land "Shanglu" on neighboring Dragon Cypress Continent, not over here on Molan Continent.
Third, which Insect Clan on Molan Continent would be bored enough to cross three or four thousand kiloters of ocean just to find the equator's Divine Force Barrier?
Besides, with such a vast ocean, this tiny island isn't very likely to just be randomly discovered.
So, on the whole, it's clear the Fla Spider Tribe feels very confident about the passage's secrecy. They simply supported an Ant Clan Kingdom on the island to act as guardians. Most likely, one or two tribe veterans, whenever traveling as roving rchants to the south each year, would swing by, deliver resources to the island's Ant King, and check the passageway.
Dragon Cypress was already pretty clear-headed about the situation.
They'd stay a bit longer and keep observing for another five days.
Spotted signs of ant swarms three tis.
One ti they paused to gather fruit in the sensing range.
Twice, they just marched past.
The situation on the other side basically understood, they started packing up for the return trip.
It was already deep winter.
Ghost Fan conveniently returned to Ghost Fan Mountain.
Dragon Cypress went first to Xianglan Mountain to organize winter fishing.
Once that was done, he made his way at a leisurely pace to Purple Tung Insect Nation.
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