CHAPTER 403: CHAPTER 388: REVIVAL OF THE LINNAN DIVINE TREE

Black Leaf directed the worker ants to dig up the compacted earth.

White Rice used earth system abilities to slightly harden and clump it together.

Then, the Blue Soldiers lined up to carry it away.

With efficient teamwork, in just one afternoon, the sixty-meter-wide pit was dug a meter deep, its shape beginning to form.

Estimating, it should be done in three or four days.

Twilight,

Dragon Cypress set out, piloting the Dominating Throne.

...

Huagi Mountain.

Yellow Stem lay on a giant rock on the ridge, enjoying the breeze.

Spruce was busy alone among the mountains. Sensing the origin force fluctuations from the flying Dominating Throne, he flapped his wings, took off, and landed in a circle upon the ridge.

"Quandong Divine Tree!"

"Yellow Stem! Spruce!"

Dragon Cypress called out.

Spruce asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, are you here to pick up Black Birch?"

Yellow Stem waved his tentacles, pointing, "Black Birch is studying in the Knowledge Hall."

Dragon Cypress: "Oh—"

The characters Dragon Cypress "invented" himself were basically evolved from the characters used to record and pass down information at Huagi Mountain, with little variation. They’re interchangeable, recognizable.

Dragon Cypress: "Very good!"

He hadn’t yet advanced to formal Assistant King, but already knew to study and improve himself.

Black Birch was a very smart ant, and also very ambitious.

Dragon Cypress was quite gratified.

Quandong Divine Tree noticed the large bundle of spider silk bags on the throne and asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, how is Huagi Divine Tree’s recovery going?"

Dragon Cypress: "The tree has surpassed a hundred meters in height, and is growing rapidly at a rate of nearly ten meters a day. I believe it will soon reach two hundred meters."

Quandong Divine Tree: "So, Huagi Divine Tree sent you to transport Linnan Divine Tree’s exuviae, getting ready for Linnan Divine Tree’s revival?"

—That urgent?

Yellow Stem couldn’t lie down anymore, instantly jumping up in excitement.

Spruce also got up.

Dragon Cypress answered briefly: "Yes."

Quandong Divine Tree: "Once Huagi Divine Tree sets its mind to something, it’ll get it done at the most efficient speed."

The agitated Yellow Stem calmed down again, thought for a moment, and grumbled, "There’s really no need to be so rushed, though."

Quandong Divine Tree reminded: "Yellow Stem, you have to be careful. Huagi Divine Tree has this temperament—whatever needs to be done, never dawdle or hesitate. If it finds out, it’ll get angry. When Huagi Divine Tree gets angry, it’ll scold insects into the ground."

Yellow Stem: "Oh. Got it..."

Quandong Divine Tree: "Spruce, you were born on Huagi Mountain, so you’re part of the Huagi Mountain line. You need to watch out too."

Spruce: "Okay."

Quandong Divine Tree: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, you’re working in cooperation with Huagi Mountain now, and getting great benefits from it. Don’t expect Huagi Divine Tree to be polite to you either."

Dragon Cypress: "...Fine."

Getting bossed around by a tree?

Just the thought annoyed him.

But thinking again about the generous gains he was getting, maybe it was endurable.

Dragon Cypress: "Let’s not waste time then. Yellow Stem, Spruce, let’s head up the mountain and move things now."

—Good!

Yellow Stem and Spruce agreed.

Together, they set off toward the summit.

The soldier ants posted at the cave entrance on the mountain saw Dragon Cypress approaching and notified Black Birch.

Black Birch, surrounded by the ant crowd, was running this way.

Dragon Cypress sped up the Dominating Throne to meet them.

"Great King!"

Black Birch shook his tentacles in greeting, while simultaneously transmitting the inquiry: Heading back to Purple Tung Insect Nation?

Dragon Cypress: "Black Birch, you can continue to stay at Huagi Mountain to study."

"Okay, Great King!"

Black Birch replied happily.

Dragon Cypress: "Let’s go up the mountain together first, move out Linnan Divine Tree’s exuviae, I’ll transport them to Purple Tung Insect Nation..."

...

Linnan Divine Tree’s trunk was much smaller than Huagi Divine Tree’s, so it only took eight days to finish the move.

On the Purple Tung Insect Nation side, preparations were completed in parallel.

The prepared pit, with one layer of wreckage, one layer of enriched soil, stacked layer by layer, making a mound sixty meters in diameter, rising five or six meters above the ground.

...

Linnan Divine Tree was not easy to communicate with.

Yellow Stem sought advice from Quandong Divine Tree, while Dragon Cypress offered strategies and helped prepare a set of talking points. After all preparations, Yellow Stem nervously ventured down into the treasure vault where Linnan Divine Tree slept.

The vault was covered in source stones.

In the central position, a white jade pedestal carved in the shape of a pine cone.

On the pedestal sat a silver, egg-shaped metal orb. In the darkness, accompanied by long, drawn-out breathing, a faint silver glow brightened and dimmed slowly.

"Linnan~ Divine Tree~"

Yellow Stem shrank back at the entrance of the cave, ready to bolt at any sign of trouble, nervously called out and waited with caution.

After a moment.

Silver light erupted, illuminating the entire cave.

A surging wave of spiritual power shook the air, a rugged mind-voice came through.

"A shield grasshopper warrior about to die of old age?"

Shouldn’t the first question be [Has the origin force revived?]

Such an unexpected question...

Yellow Stem paused for a second, then replied, "Yes, getting on in years."

Linnan Divine Tree: "What about those two, Huagi and Quandong? Haven’t died, have they?"

Yellow Stem: "...No."

Linnan Divine Tree’s questions were a bit all over the place~

Yellow Stem took the initiative to explain: "My name is Yellow Stem. The origin force hasn’t revived yet. This time we’re awakening you because a certain Ant King has appeared on Cloud Trace Continent, one who possesses an outworld civilization artifact, able to traverse the origin force vacuum lands, moving freely between origin force points..."

"Stop!"

Linnan Divine Tree interrupted, asking: "So, Huagi isn’t dead?"

Yellow Stem: "...No."

Linnan Divine Tree: "Where did it go?"

Yellow Stem: "Purple Tung Insect Nation."

Linnan Divine Tree: "And Quandong?"

Yellow Stem: "Quandong Divine Tree awakened twenty years ago and rooted itself on Huagi Mountain."

Linnan Divine Tree: "Purple Tung Insect Nation?"

Yellow Stem: "That is an origin force land with a radius of about fifteen kilometers, extremely high origin force concentration in the central region. There used to be hordes of insect clan warriors gathered around a wild Purple Tung blessed seed, but later they were slaughtered by a pair of termites named White Poplar and Red Phellodendron..."

Yellow Stem explained the whole situation of Purple Tung Insect Nation in detail.

Linnan Divine Tree didn’t interrupt, listening with great interest, tut-tutting in admiration: "A mountain lord level Ant King, a group of mountain lord level warriors, ambushed and wiped out a lord-level termite kingdom—fascinating! Rather brave!"

Linnan Divine Tree: "Tell me more about this Dragon Cypress Ant King. God-level outworld civilization artifact?"

Yellow Stem: "It is said to have been found in the wreckage of a starship connecting Cloud Trace Continent and the western Wan Country Continent, called the Dominating Throne. That Dragon Cypress Ant King is a male ant, born in the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent west of Wan Country, was brought over by a Flame Spider Roving Merchant..."

Yellow Stem recounted Dragon Cypress’s origins once more.

After listening, Linnan Divine Tree said gravely, "To sum up, from what you’ve said, the Dominating Throne can help Huagi Mountain safely survive the origin force silent period."

Yellow Stem: "...I’m not sure."

Linnan Divine Tree: "With something so important, can’t you just kill the insect and seize it?"

Yellow Stem: "...I’m afraid not."

Yellow Stem: "Just as Glinting Gold can only be used by plants, the Dominating Throne is able to produce ant eggs and probably only the ant and bee clans can use it. Now, with the Huagi Mountain source stones about to run out, if we used force to snatch it and then couldn’t use it, the consequences would be disastrous. We can’t take the risk, and don’t dare either."

"Oh~ right!"

Linnan Divine Tree suddenly got it, gloomily: "So we can’t even take it by force?!"

Linnan Divine Tree changed tone: "I’ve always advocated harmonious coexistence with other insect clans..."

Yellow Stem: "...Yes."

Yellow Stem spoke rapidly: "Presently, Huagi Mountain and Dragon Cypress Ant King are working together. He acts as a middleman, exchanging Huagi Mountain’s output for source stone supplies and high-quality origin force food."

"Dragon Cypress Ant King also has another skill—he can refine origin force food into long-term-preservable ant honey..."

Linnan Divine Tree didn’t seem to be as irritable or difficult to talk to as Quandong Divine Tree had described.

Yellow Stem steadied himself, narrating while organizing his words and thoughts, laying out the full situation on Cloud Trace Continent and Huagi Divine Tree’s plans.

When he finished,

after a brief silence,

Linnan Divine Tree suddenly erupted in angry, desolate emotion.

"Huagi Mountain has really fallen so far as to trade me away for source stones? Can it endure the endlessly uncertain origin force silent period?"