Chapter 489: Chapter 469: The Real Leafcutter Ant

After running around Silver Cypress Mountain, I finished the last big trade of the autumn Roving Merchant season.

The cold wind howled, and heaven and earth fell silent.

Time entered winter.

Ink Orchid stayed in the Purple Tung Insect Nation to have fun.

Dragon Cypress set out alone for Ghost Fan Mountain, picked up Ghost Fan, and headed straight for the sea region.

Precisely locked onto the position, skillfully passed through the undersea Starship Passage, and entered a cave at one end of Molan Continent.

Ghost Fan swept his tentacles back and forth in the crack of the door, using the “Jinhe Pattern” ability in reverse, breaking the reinforcement left by an Ancient Flame Spider.

Then, using the Metal Rot ability, he transformed the de-strengthened metal into fine grains of sand, directly devouring it and converting it into Metal Armor.

At Evolution Lord Level, the ability was greatly enhanced, much more efficient than at Mountain Lord Level.

But after all, it was contending against the power left by an Insect King, so he could only wear it down bit by bit, and it consumed Origin Force at an extraordinary rate.

After a bout of busy work, Ghost Fan had to leap onto the Dominating Throne to recover his energy.

Dragon Cypress, making use of Ghost Fan’s rest break, lay down in front of the door crack and activated his Soul-Setting Ability to sense.

It was pretty much the same as the last time he observed: every day or two, a small troop of ants passed by in marching formation.

Occasionally, they might linger within sensory range, busily climbing up and down trees, but they usually stayed only for a short while before leaving.

Thanks to Ghost Fan’s persistent efforts, the width of the crack grew day by day, and the sensing range also expanded along with it.

Soon, a semicircular sensing radius of over ten kilometers stretching southward took shape.

Within this range, it became easy to observe the activity of ant groups.

No sub-nests had been found; they came from afar.

They too divided the woodland into plots.

Then, very methodically, they entered each plot, climbed up and down the trees and harvested fruits.

Dragon Cypress observed for a month and also found that they visited the same plot twice, and had climbed and harvested the same tree twice.

All plots were harvested in rotation.

He continued observing,

Another month passed.

The same frequency: within a month’s time, the same plot was visited twice.

Up the tree, down the tree, harvested twice.

All plots were rotated in a regular cycle.

What kind of fruit could be harvested twice in a month, and continuously picked for two months straight?

Within Inherited Memory, there were absolutely no such high-yielding plants in the Natural Star Realm.

A large number of mid- and small-sized ants moving up and down trees could not be for hunting pest insects, either.

But then,

What were they doing?

Consider—what’s on the tree?

Aside from leaves, what else is there?

There are only leaves on the tree.

Dragon Cypress pondered for a long time before suddenly realizing—the ant kingdom across the way might be eating leaves.

Definitely not termites.

That leaves only one possibility: the true Leafcutter Ant.

A special ant type, highly similar to termites, capable of awakening Wood and Earth Talents. They use leaves to cultivate mycelium and eat the mycelium.

Recorded in Inherited Memory as a powerful Ant Clan branch.

Like the Giant-Headed Ant, they have five size variants: specialized, large, medium, small, and micro. They’re adept at farming and management.

They have almost no food restrictions, their populations can reach millions or even tens of millions.

The Cloud Trace Continent, the Ten-Thousand Tribes Continent, and the Wan Country Continent ruled by Ant Clan and Bee Clan that Dragon Cypress was familiar with, all lacked this kind of ant.

So they hadn’t gone extinct after all.

Turns out, they live in the Southern Hemisphere.

Dragon Cypress shared his suspicions with Ghost Fan to discuss.

Ghost Fan was also certain that it must indeed be a Leafcutter Ant Clan on the other side.

Furthermore, it could be confirmed that many creatures and plants recorded in Inherited Memory but never seen before were likely living in the Southern Hemisphere.

…

After two months, Ghost Fan completed cleaning all the cracks in the main door.

The door was unsealed,

But behind the door, a mighty Spider King from the Flame Spider Tribe had reinforced a stone wall with Earth System Abilities.

The door couldn’t be pushed open; White Rice would need to evolve to Lord Level and use Earth System Abilities to break it.

“Dragon Cypress, should we head back now?”

Ghost Fan asked.

Dragon Cypress said, “The crack is too narrow, not ideal for working. Ghost Fan, is the door’s metal completely impossible to move?”

Ghost Fan: “It can be moved. But it’s a hundred times harder than the crack. The main door is made from a very high-strength alloy, and the reinforcement is even stronger. I can only destroy it little by little.”

Dragon Cypress: “Oh——”

Dragon Cypress: “If we bored a hole about four to five centimeters in diameter at the door crack, how long would that take?”

Ghost Fan: “That would probably take half a year.”

Dragon Cypress: “…”

Ghost Fan: “I could work overtime, maybe get it done in four or five months.”

Dragon Cypress shook his tentacles. “Forget it. We’ll come back next winter and dig it then.”

Ghost Fan pointed at the crack between the two doors and asked, “If we bore a hole right in the center, would that make it easier for White Rice to use her ability to dig out the stone inside?”

Dragon Cypress: “Yes.”

Ghost Fan: “Dragon Cypress, the stone wall on the other side is even harder than the metal. You should bring White Rice over to take a look and confirm if it’s doable. If White Rice evolves to Lord Level but still can’t move the stone wall…”

Then we’d have to wait several more years and use resources to help White Rice undergo another Age Period Evolution.

Dragon Cypress: “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Dragon Cypress called out: “Ghost Fan, let’s go, I’ll take you back to the mountain.”

…

After dropping Ghost Fan off at Ghost Fan Mountain, he detoured to White Rice Mountain, picked up White Rice, and returned to the Molan Continent cave.

White Rice spun in place, inspecting the murals on the walls, then craned her head as high as she could, her gaze fixing on the domed continent map above, visibly awed.

“White Rice?”

“The world is so big!”

“…Yeah.”

“There must be tons of plants in the Southern Hemisphere that we don’t have in the Northern Hemisphere, right?”

“…Definitely.”

“That’s great.”

White Rice lowered her gaze and ran over to the stone wall, eyes bright as she examined the mural closely.

At some point, White Rice had also become keen on collecting all sorts of plants.

After evolving to Mountain Lord Level and awakening Earth System Abilities, she leveraged her Talent to gradually complete the reclamation of White Rice Mountain.

She’d expanded from farming Rice Trees to managing a whole variety of easy-to-grow plants.

“Dragon Cypress, is that an Ivory Coconut?”

White Rice lifted her claw, pointing at a plant drawn high up in the mural.

“Looks like it.”

Dragon Cypress had long since studied the murals, which essentially recorded the day-to-day activities of production, management, and Roving Merchant trade in the Flame Spider Kingdom—nothing particularly noteworthy.

Dragon Cypress raised his claw at the main door and said, “White Rice, want to give it a try first?”

“Such a big spider! Two of them!”

“How much metal did they use on this door? Not cheap at all!”

“I’ll try…”

White Rice gazed at the spider-shaped relief on the door, marveling as she strode forward.

She sensed through the crack for a while, raised her claw, gathered Primordial Energy at her claw tip, and struck.

“No good…”

Unwilling to accept that, White Rice switched to her more agile tentacles, gathered Primordial Energy again, and attacked through the crack once more.

“Still no good…”

White Rice mused silently and slowly said, “They’re blocking it with a special mud and sand. After solidifying it with Earth System Abilities, it’s harder than any stone. The solidification method is also unusual and extremely tough to reverse.”

White Rice: “I definitely can’t do it at Mountain Lord Level. Even after evolving to Lord Level, I could only grind at it little by little, bit by bit.”

Dragon Cypress: “How much time would it take?”

White Rice: “I’d need to try once I actually reach Lord Level. It would definitely take a long time. Quite a challenge.”

——All right then.

Dragon Cypress lightly tapped his tentacles. “White Rice, let’s rest here for two days, then we’ll leave. I’ll go to the Purple Tung Insect Nation to find the Huagi Divine Tree and try to secure some funding for you.”

White Rice was delighted. “Thank you in advance, Dragon Cypress Ant King!”

White Rice added, “I’ll just take my time looking at these murals. Dragon Cypress Ant King, if you’re not tired, one day of rest is enough for me.”

…

They left a day later.

Dragon Cypress took White Rice back to her mountain, then headed straight for the Purple Tung Insect Nation.

Ink Orchid quickly sensed the Origin Force Fluctuation and came up to meet him.

“Dragon Cypress, how did it go?”

“Ghost Fan has already successfully cleared the metal blocking the door crack.”

“Any new discoveries?”

“A little…”

The Dominating Throne dropped vertically beneath the Huagi Divine Tree.

Linnan, Purple Tung, and Night Fragrance all gathered their spiritual power toward him at once.

Linnan Divine Tree: “Little Ant, is the door open?”

Dragon Cypress: “Almost.”

“Almost?”

Linnan Divine Tree was furious. “I knew it, you’re all useless! Wasted so many Source Stones and still can’t open a simple door!”

Dragon Cypress ignored it and looked up. “Huagi Divine Tree, Ghost Fan has cleared all the metal from the door crack, and the door can move. Now we just have to wait for White Rice Mountain Lord to evolve to Lord Level and slowly dig out the stone wall behind the door.”

Huagi Divine Tree: “Excellent work!”

Dragon Cypress: “I brought White Rice to try it out. At her current Soil Improvement ability strength, it’s impossible to move. I’m very worried that even after evolving to Lord Level, it still won’t be enough…”

Just then, Yellow Stem detected some commotion and hurried over.

Huagi Divine Tree: “Then let’s give White Rice another million Source Stones worth of Divine-Given Origin Force Food. Yellow Stem, make a note.”

Yellow Stem: “…Noted.”

Dragon Cypress: “There’s one more discovery. After watching for two months, I believe the other side is a Leafcutter Ant Kingdom…”

“Leafcutter Ant Kingdom?”

“What’s a Leafcutter Ant?”

Linnan Divine Tree and Night Fragrance God-Given Seed asked at the same time.

Dragon Cypress explained, “A special ant species that cuts plant leaves and cultivates mycelium to eat. They’re very similar to my Giant-Headed Ant Tribe—we’re even somewhat related…”

Linnan Divine Tree: “That’s fine then, shouldn’t pose any threat to our plan.”

Dragon Cypress: “…”

Huagi Divine Tree: “Back to the point. In any case, at the Lord-Level Stage, avoid contact between the Molan Continent Ant Clan and the Flame Spider Tribe as much as possible. Follow my plan: after the door is opened, dig a tunnel straight into the deep sea, infiltrate Molan Continent from the deep ocean, figure out the situation over there, and then make further decisions.”

Dragon Cypress: “Understood.”

Huagi Divine Tree: “Too little information at this point, I have nothing else to add.”

Dragon Cypress: “I’ll check on White Poplar…”

Linnan Divine Tree, unusually serious, said, “Dragon Cypress Ant King, let me give you some advice—don’t use that Assistant King called Black Peach to command the Ant Army guarding the White Poplar Divine Seed.”

Linnan Divine Tree: “Might as well not have anyone at all.”

Linnan Divine Tree was passionate about training Insect Clan Warriors, but had so far refused to teach only two insects: Woodberry and Black Peach.

Woodberry would feign death at the drop of a hat.

Black Peach was even trickier—today it was a stomachache, tomorrow a twisted leg, the next day it was feeling listless because of gloomy weather, after that it was afraid the wind and rain would hurt its leg…

In short, would rather die than work or suffer a bit.

Dragon Cypress: “…Forget it, Black Peach has been spoiled. I’ll bring Black Leaf back instead.”

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