Ant Lord in the Star Realm

Chapter 783 - 617 Fire Crystal Persimmon_3

Wuye: "The probability of this happening is almost negligible, right?"

Dragon Cypress: "Almost negligible, but we should still take it into account."

Fuzzy Flower: "Whether it's something lent out or returned, if a Divine-Grade item appears, we each accept it as our own—no going back on it."

Dragon Cypress: "Alright, it's settled then."

Dragon Cypress said solemnly, "Our Xianglan Mountain Kingdom does truly need Lord Ink Orchid to break through to Insect King as soon as possible, so we can relocate everyone there and concentrate our strength on Rainbow Island. Lord Fuzzy Flower, Wuye, your Barley Bug Tribe has done us a great favor. Thank you!"

"Dragon Cypress Ant King, you're too polite."

"Far too polite."

"Dragon Cypress Ant King has helped our Barley Bug Tribe so much, this is only right."

...

The Barley Bug warriors exchanged courtesies.

The matter was thus agreed upon.

Round Cypress and Ink Orchid stayed behind to watch over things.

The other insects headed to the Central Region, beneath the Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed Tree, to hold a feast and have a small celebration first.

...

Early autumn,

The Divine-Grade Baihe Fruit ripened and was harvested. Dragon Cypress set aside three, distributing them to Pueraria, Cornel, and Beach Wheat for use.

The White Poplar Divine-Given Seed took advantage of the last warmth, resting and recovering.

End of autumn.

The Fire Crystal Persimmon Divine-Given Seed ripened and was harvested.

Ink Orchid placed it into the Life Pouch for nurturing.

After hastily completing the autumn roving merchant trades and Divine-Given Seed searches, upon returning to the Purple Tung Insect Nation, the White Poplar Divine-Given Seed had also finished condensing its Tree Heart.

"Ant, are you never coming back once you leave?"

Jinhe Divine-Given Seed asked, its spiritual power and thoughts drifting with a faint sadness and reluctance.

"How could that be? I come by every year."

"I meant White Poplar."

"White Poplar? Most likely. Maybe, in the future, I'll come back to say farewell to everyone."

"What about your Assistant King?"

"Round Cypress will stay behind to handle the final details. Giant Cypress is heading to Xianglan Mountain to help."

"What about the winter gathering?"

"Things have been unstable the past few years, so we're putting it off for now. Once I've condensed a combat Divine Mark and have enough strong ant army to protect Rainbow Island, we'll hold it again."

Jinhe said helplessly, "Alright—"

Jinhe was a tree that talked a lot, couldn't stand loneliness, and was rather sentimental~

Dragon Cypress maneuvered the hydra tentacle, extracting the White Poplar Tree Heart from a crack in the trunk, placed it into a Spider Silk Bag, and set it atop the Throne.

Then it activated the Refinement Ability and began dealing with the massive exuviae of the withered tree.

Linnan Divine Tree's spiritual thoughts drifted over.

"I didn't expect the Refinement Ability could be used this way."

"At first, neither did I. I suddenly discovered it when migrating the King Cypress."

"Ant, your Refinement Ability is extraordinary, and it still has great potential for further development."

"Combining with the Sea Spring Ability? I've considered that. Unfortunately, insect life is short; before Insect King at Age 7, there isn't the time or energy."

"How about the Heavenly Frost Remnants Realm? How far have you gotten?"

"The freezing ability just isn't strong enough."

While speaking, Dragon Cypress leaped up, wings vibrating as it soared, activating water system primordial energy; pale blue mist diffused instantly across a hundred-meter radius.

The pale blue cloud sank down, chilling air spreading everywhere.

The withered branches and leaves of the White Poplar Divine-Given Seed frosted over with a thin layer of pale blue rime.

The full version of Frostfall.

Combined with water system's 'Mottled Remnant Realm', it becomes 'Heavenly Frost Remnants Realm'.

Linnan Divine Tree: "Everything else is fine, but the freezing destructive power is a bit lacking."

Dragon Cypress: "At present, I can't find any Divine-Grade fruit to enhance with, and I don't want to use up my share of Origin Force Food to strengthen it—so I can only keep practicing hard. You are right, Linnan Divine Tree. To condense a Divine Mark, I need at least another twenty or thirty years of hard work."

Linnan Divine Tree said indifferently, "I've always believed that what you gain from hard practice is truly yours—more reliable than what you get from Divine-Grade fruit or Divine-Given Origin Force Food."

"I think so too..."

With a thought, Dragon Cypress caused the pale blue mist to sweep swiftly downward, hit the ground, and dissipate.

Dragon Cypress's figure emerged, and it spoke actively: "My 'Explosive Jet' should have reached the third stage of 'Enlightenment'. Linnan Divine Tree, could you take a look for me?"

Saying this, it turned to face the main trunk of the White Poplar Divine-Given Seed, raised its right tentacle slightly backward, and a petite ice pillar about 10 centimeters long formed.

The tentacle flicked forward.

The ice pillar shot out, and the instant it hit the Life Seed Tree's trunk, it exploded with a 'bang', sending out cold water that, at the right moment, turned metallic, piercing a hole four to five centimeters in diameter and over 10 centimeters deep into the trunk.

Right after, Dragon Cypress's left tentacle also raised back slightly, forming an ice pillar a full three meters long, which also shot out and exploded, blasting a giant hole half a meter wide and four or five meters deep into the trunk.

The shattered wood chips and water spread all over the ground.

Linnan Divine Tree was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Ant, with your ability at this level, you still don't get that sense of triggering the Law or of condensing a Divine Mark?"

Dragon Cypress: "Not at all. Not the slightest bit."

Linnan Divine Tree pondered for a while, then said, "Your talent is lacking, so you'll have to increase the difficulty of the ability to lower the barrier for condensing a Divine Mark."

"Don't you have a thunder system ability called 'Lightning Mark'? Try using that for reference. See if you can transform the primordial energy of the Sublimation or Metal Jet abilities into a mark form, merge it into the ice pillar, use your mind to construct a clever triggering mechanism. When the pillar hits a target, it should trigger a detonation, or automatically activate 'Metal Jet'. Of course, the best would be if both can trigger at once."

Dragon Cypress froze for a moment, then sighed, "That sounds great, but when I think about it, it's a bit too difficult~"

Linnan Divine Tree: "I'm just offering some casual advice from experience; you handle the specifics yourself."

Linnan Divine Tree: "If you can achieve automatic triggering, that ability's upper limit will open up; you could go from single-target attacks to firing ten, even a hundred ice pillars at once—evolving it into an area explosive ability."

Linnan Divine Tree always seemed to have inexhaustible experience and could offer genuinely effective advice.

Dragon Cypress: "Understood. I'll try more often. Thanks for your guidance, Linnan Divine Tree."

Linnan Divine Tree's spiritual power receded.

Huagi Divine Tree's spiritual power then reached out.

Dragon Cypress took the initiative to ask: "Huagi Divine Tree, with White Poplar relocating, the central area of Purple Tung Insect Nation now has a pit open. Should we move Quandong Divine Tree here?"

Huagi Divine Tree: "I was just thinking the same."

Dragon Cypress: "All right, perfect. The next batch of Quandong Divine Tree's fruit will be ready in four years; I'll come then to help with the move."

This was something Dragon Cypress had already mulled over.

The Quandong Divine Tree, rooted in Huagi Mountain, needed to consume Source Stones daily to survive, and more so when its fruit ripened. It couldn't fully maximize production either.

If relocated to the central region of the Purple Tung Insect Nation, it would save on daily Source Stone consumption, restore its blossom-fruit cycle to 15 years, and bump each batch's output from 3 to 5 fruits.

Annual revenue would increase by at least 350,000.

As for the Flame Spider Caravan, their shares could be slightly adjusted. Seven-Leaf Spider King's portion would go from 2 fruits to 3, Melde's from 1 to 1.5, with the blossom-fruit cycle extending from 10 to 15 years, but otherwise unchanged.

The remaining 0.5 would go to Little Column Spot—so every 30 years, it gets a share of one fruit.

White Ivy and Grass Dragon had split, and Column Spot ultimately ended up with Grass Dragon.

Can Grass Dragon support it?

Have to look after Column Spot a bit—that junior I've watched grow up since childhood.