The old sophora tree in front of the cave residence actually produced a Divine-Given Seed, which made Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid, who had originally planned to give up the spring search, change their minds. After seeing off the Snow Velvet Spider King, they returned to Cloud Trace Continent and began searching each Land of Origin Force one by one.
They found nothing.
On the way, they delivered the Divine-Grade Ink Fruit to Silver Cypress Mountain and handed it to Mountain Persimmon.
Ink Orchid stayed at Scarletlight Mountain to help out.
Dragon Cypress headed to Fragrant Silk Island to continue developing the sub-colony.
Two months later, Wanglan Continent entered a cold winter. The specialized ant larvae nurtured in the sub-colony had mostly stabilized in their differentiation, needing little attention. The Worker Ants and Blue Ants knew to feed them until they spun cocoons and underwent Feather Transformation into adult ants.
After finishing things up on Fragrant Silk Island,
Dragon Cypress set out for Swinging Leaf Island.
...
The transplanting work for Rain Tree No.1 saplings was all completed.
The newly sown seeds had sprouted and grown into seedlings over ten centiters tall. Black Birch was directing small and dium Worker Ants to select saplings in the nursery.
On a distant hillside, Tie Bush was wielding its double pincers, busy logging wood and preparing reclaid land for the next batch of sapling transplants.
Dragon Cypress sped over, circling and landing on the hill where Tie Bush was working.
"Tie Bush, don't destroy the Fragrant Silk Trees, Ironheart Wood, Fey Oil Fruit, or White Wax Trees—these great tall trees should stay where they are."
"Understood, Great King."
Tie Bush responded, raising its double pincers in excitent: "Great King, you're here!"
Dragon Cypress: "...I'm here."
Tie Bush: "Great King, good news! Silver Cypress and Black Birch have been waiting for you for half a month. They said a Specialized Blue Ant has appeared in the ant nest, one that can evolve to Assistant King. It urgently needs a Black Lotus Seed."
"Oh!"
"Blue Ant?"
Dragon Cypress was overjoyed and activated his Soul-Setting Ability for perception.
At the summit of the western sub-colony, next to Silver Cypress, there was a cluster of vague and feeble soul energy.
"Tie Bush, you keep working!"
Dragon Cypress tossed a brief command, vibrated his wings, activated Wind Wings, and in a few breaths landed atop the peak.
"Great King!"
Silver Cypress had been observing the activity below, shook his antennae, and tapped the Blue Ant by his side, "I guess Tie Bush has already told you about the discovery of the Specialized Blue Ant capable of evolving to Assistant King. Yes, it's this one."
—Greetings, Great King~
The Specialized Blue Ant waved its antennae, greeting Dragon Cypress.
Silver Cypress introduced enthusiastically: "Great King, here's what happened: half a month ago, I led the Blue Soldiers out to sea and brought back a haul of fish and handed them over to the Blue Ants for refining and storage. My attentive self noticed that this one's belly never got round. Watching in secret, I found that all the food entrusted to it was transferred to other ants."
Silver Cypress: "On top of that, this guy loves to wander all over the ant nest. So my preliminary judgnt is: this is a Spiritual Sublimation, a Specialized Blue Ant capable of evolving to Assistant King! Then I taught it all sorts of knowledge, and indeed, it displayed mory and comprehension far beyond normal specialized ants."
Silver Cypress: "Great King, I've already picked a na for the Second King—let's call it Black Sophora. The Second King is currently guarding a Divine-Given Sophora Seed, so that's definitely the right na."
Silver Cypress finished: "Great King, as for the reward for my discovery..."
Dragon Cypress: "...I'll reward you with Ant King Honey worth 100,000 Source Stones."
Dragon Cypress asked: "Is all the work on the island going smoothly?"
Silver Cypress: "Smoothly. There's just a lot to do; Black Birch is having a hard ti keeping up."
Dragon Cypress: "No problem, no rush. Tell Black Birch to keep focusing on digging the underground water vein network—the reclaid planting of Rain Tree No.1 is not urgent."
Dragon Cypress then asked: "No sign of any other Insect Clan Warriors passing by nearby?"
Silver Cypress: "None—"
Then there's no problem.
Dragon Cypress opened his mouth and released the Dominating Throne, expanded it, grabbed the Specialized Blue Ant, and boarded the throne.
"I'm taking Black Sophora back to Xianglan Mountain—for evolution and study at Xianglan Mountain."
...
Because of the Dominating Throne, the Blue Ant is rather special—it has mastered a 'Refinent' ability that even an Ant King hasn't comprehended.
Dragon Cypress once believed that there would never be a Blue Ant capable of evolving to Assistant King.
He didn't expect it to work out after all.
So the question is, after evolving to Assistant King, will the Refinent Ability disappear? Or will it further improve and advance?
The knowledgeable trio of Huagi, Linnan, and Quandong—three Divine Trees—agreed: transforming food in the belly, refining it into Ant Honey, is just the primary form of the Refinent Ability. This power has much room for advancent.
Having observed Blue Ants refining Origin Force Food, Dragon Cypress shared the sa view, and was almost certain that upon reaching King-Level evolution, one would fully comprehend this ability.
...
Silver Cypress was a bit too clever for his own good; he got it wrong—Dragon Cypress didn't go to Scarletlight Mountain to spread the news, but instead carried Black Sophora straight back to Xianglan Mountain.
The Dominating Throne drew an arc through the sky and stopped at the entrance of South Mountain Ant Nest.
"Dragon Cypress, you're back?"
The azure spiritual power approached.
Currently, the Azure Divine Seed Tree stood over 180 ters tall, with its spirit able to extend directly to the mountain, commanding ant swarms and managing the entire southern mountain territory.
Nourished by the Water System Primordial Energy Force Field, many Life Seed plants grown by Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid on the mountains' southern slopes had improved in both yield and quality. Common plants grew lush, and all kinds of animals beca more abundant.
A pair of white-necked crows actually nested in the Dragon Cypress Life Seed Tree.
Dragon Cypress glanced at them, and almost instinctively thought about driving them out.
But on second thought, abandoned that idea, and led Black Sophora off the throne.
Azure's spiritual power followed up with a question:
"Dragon Cypress, is this a Specialized Blue Ant?"
"Yes."
"Capable of evolving into an Assistant King like Black Persimmon?"
"Yes. Its na is Black Sophora."
"Oh!"
Azure: "I hear the Purple Tung Insect Nation can't keep up with its work. This is just right—it can go help Round Cypress."
Dragon Cypress: "That's what I had in mind."
Dragon Cypress waved his antennae, issued orders, and arranged for a squad of Green Soldiers guarding the nest entrance to lead Black Sophora into the ant nest to familiarize itself with the scents and environnt.
User Comments
0 comments from readers