CHAPTER 407: CHAPTER 392: MUTATED KEG VINE

Red Moonseed recounted everything in detail.

The other little spiders were ruthlessly driven away by the Aconite Spider King to continue trading at the mountain top.

Seven-Leaf was left alone.

The Aconite Spider King spoke: "The trade with the Cloud Trace Continent is no longer just with a Little Ant King and a group of inexperienced little warriors. Now, our actual trading partner is the former number one tribe of the continent—Huagi Mountain."

Spider King Spurge followed up: "Dragon Cypress is easy to talk to, but as for the Huagi Divine Tree, we must take it seriously."

The Aconite Spider King said gravely, "Exactly. This guy makes such demands right after awakening, which shows just how forceful its personality is."

Wormwood Spider King: "To sum up everything before us, nothing is more important than finding two more Flame Spider Caravans... Should we go look?"

Spider King Spurge: "You think we can still get away with any tricks?"

The Aconite Spider King: "The thing the Flame Spider Roving Merchants avoid most is greed."

Aren’t you the greedy one? Wormwood Spider King choked for two seconds, then asked, "So, who do we look for?"

The Aconite Spider King: "Of course, the ones we agreed on earlier—the ones who work with me and Spurge, transporting Source Stones over here... Purple Jade!"

"Oh! Right!"

Wormwood Spider King was suddenly enlightened, realizing another layer to the Huagi Divine Tree’s request for expansion: to stabilize the Caravans’ Source Stone supply!

The Aconite Spider King saw Wormwood’s reaction and was instantly annoyed: Now you get it? Stupid spider!

Spider King Spurge said, "For the second Caravan, I suggest we choose Spider King Tiankui."

Wormwood Spider King, who had previously been enthusiastic about discussing this, now seemed to understand and slowly lay down.

Purple Jade Spider King is close with the Aconite Spider King, and they interact frequently.

Spider King Tiankui has more trading interactions with Spider King Spurge, and they get along well.

However, since Purple Jade and Tiankui both control the trading rights of Source Stone Mines and provide large Source Stone spot and transport services for all Dulai Flame Spider Tribe Caravans, they are competitors—there’s no harmony between these two Spider Kings...

The situation just got a bit more complicated.

Wormwood Spider King decisively chose not to participate, merely staring on as a spectator.

Unexpectedly,

The Aconite Spider King did not object, but instead turned and ordered, "Seven-Leaf, go invite Spider King Tiankui. Spider King Spurge and I have important matters to discuss with him."

"Alright!"

Seven-Leaf turned and dashed off.

Wormwood Spider King: "!!!"

Seven-Leaf was kept back especially for this, huh...

Wormwood Spider King thought it over twice, feeling like he’d learned something new again.

...

...

...

Natsumi, Silvergrass, Red Peach, and Red Moonseed arrived once more at the Starship Rift.

"Red Moonseed, how’d it go?"

Dragon Cypress asked.

Red Moonseed: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, I conveyed everything as you instructed. Aconite, Spurge, and Wormwood—none of the three Spider Kings had any objections."

Dragon Cypress: "That’s good."

Natsumi asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, can you tell us in advance how the shares of Kunlun Seeds and Jinhe Fruit will be distributed?"

Dragon Cypress: "Jinhe Fruit will definitely be prioritized for the two new Spider King Caravans we’re bringing in. As for Kunlun Seeds, the Aconite Spider King and Wormwood Spider King are taking two; the remaining three—Spurge and Aconite Spider Kings will each have one, and the last goes to White Ivy Mountain Lord. However, there are conditions..."

Dragon Cypress: "The one for Spider King Spurge has to be exchanged for a ’Mountain Pillar Fruit’ granting Earth Talent. I don’t need many—maybe two, maybe three. It’s not urgent; can wait several decades, a hundred years—whenever convenient is fine."

Silvergrass glanced around and asked, "Should I pass this to Grass Dragon Mountain Lord, and let Grass Dragon Mountain Lord go discuss with Spider King Spurge?"

Dragon Cypress: "Of course."

Silvergrass: "I don’t think Spider King Spurge will refuse."

Silvergrass quickly asked, "Divine-Grade Kunlun Seed—Aconite Spider King gets two? What about the condition for the second one?"

Dragon Cypress: "It’s simple, I want a Divine-Grade Six Paths Fruit. I need it urgently, but I can’t pay with Source Stones, and I don’t have any Divine-Grade Fruits to trade at the moment..."

Dragon Cypress: "My thought is: in 23 years, when the second batch of Kunlun Seeds is harvested, I’ll exchange 2 Kunlun Seeds then."

Another trade on credit?

And it’s a Divine-Grade Six Paths Fruit worth 12 million Source Stones.

Silvergrass and Red Peach glanced at Natsumi.

Natsumi, though reluctant, said, "I’ll talk to the Aconite Spider King. I don’t think he has grounds to refuse..."

Natsumi, still unwilling, asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, White Ivy Mountain Lord gets a Kunlun Seed too? What are the conditions?"

Dragon Cypress: "Same deal—also need to send Divine-Grade Fruits that Ink Orchid and I require."

The specifics, it’s not convenient to say.

Dragon Cypress waved his tentacles and said, "There’s no rush on the Divine-Grade Fruit trade. We’ll negotiate next year and finalize it then. Natsumi, what Divine-Given Origin Force Food did Seven-Leaf Lord send over this year?"

Natsumi: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, you probably want the Divine-Given Black Leaf Citrus fruits..."

...

With the Aconite Spider King’s support, Seven-Leaf could send top-quality Divine-Given Origin Force Food every year, and a wide variety of high-quality regular Origin Force Food besides.

Dragon Cypress proceeded to complete the trade with Natsumi first.

White Ivy and Grass Dragon had no Spider King backing them, so it was mainly an Origin Force Honey trade—just leave it to Areca and Red Moonseed to handle.

In the Rednan Mountain sub-colony, only one Fragrant Cypress was in charge of refinement, and couldn’t handle all the work.

Dragon Cypress hurried off, making a beeline for Southern Sour Jujube Mountain.

...

A sunny midday.

The Dominating Throne entered Southern Sour Jujube Mountain’s territory. With a sweep of his soul-setting Divine Power, Dragon Cypress roughly understood the situation.

Black Cory had arranged for Blue Soldiers and Worker Ants to guard the Sea Blue Divine-Given Seed Tree, while he led a team of Soldier Ants to patrol the orchard.

"Black Cory!"

The Dominating Throne dropped straight down before Black Cory. Dragon Cypress shook his tentacles and said, "For the spring roving merchant trade, you go help out at Rednan Mountain first, while I watch over the Silver Cypress Evolution. Once it’s done, you can also use the Dominating Throne to enter hibernation and evolve to a 9th age period High-Level Assistant King."

Black Cory: "Alright, Great King."

Dragon Cypress urged, "There’s nothing major here, right? Settle things up quickly and let’s go."

"Okay—"

Black Cory raised his foreleg, pointing, "Great King, there’s one matter... This spring, the Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed sprouted many new buds, and they’ve been growing extraordinarily well lately. If I’m not mistaken, it’s just like what happened with the Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed before—a sign it’s about to break through to Evolution Lord Level..."

"Oh?"

Dragon Cypress extended his soul-setting ability to sense.

The soul of the Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed was clearly a bit more condensed.

The Dominating Throne took off, flying straight over.

The Southern Sour Jujube is also a Great Tall Tree; this wild Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed specimen had already grown to seventy or eighty meters high.

A mass of new branches and leaves, lush green everywhere.

That’s right!

It’s indeed a precursor to breaking through to Evolution Lord Level.

Maybe a year or two at the soonest, three to five years at the latest.

There were still fruits hanging on the tree, which would be ripe for harvest this year...

Black Cory, surrounded by the ant colony, rushed over in a hurry...

Dragon Cypress steeled his heart, shook his tentacles, and gave the order: "Black Cory, direct the Worker Ants to climb up and pick all the fruit."

"Ah?!"

"Understood... Great King."

Black Cory agreed, shaking his tentacles and directing the Worker Ants up the tree. At the same time, he hesitantly said, "Great King, there’s something else..."

Dragon Cypress: "What is it?"

Black Cory raised a claw to point at the distant hill, saying, "Great King, do you remember the Keg Vines we planted there? Early this spring, a batch of Keg Vine Fruit Pods ripened, and the Keg Vine Seeds fell naturally. When I went to take a look, I picked up a particularly unusual seed..."

Dragon Cypress’s tentacles abruptly straightened, interrupting: "Unusual how?"

Black Cory took his time and explained: "As I observed, regular Keg Vine Seeds have a brownish shell, but this one had a conspicuous reddish-brown shell."

Black Cory: "At the time, I suspected it might be a natural random mutation, or maybe the soil, water, and climate here on Southern Sour Jujube Mountain were different from its place of origin and triggered some mutation... so I went ahead and planted the seed."

Black Cory: "The seed took root and sprouted just fine. The main vine has grown over two meters already. Compared to ordinary Keg Vines, its leaves are a bit more oval. Other than that, I can’t find any differences, and I can’t be sure if it’s a mutant."

Black Cory: "Great King, would you like to check for yourself?"

The Dominating Throne landed and parked, and Dragon Cypress leapt down.

"Lead the way!"