This spring's wealth tally hasn't improved much, and a major reason is that Dragon Cypress, over the past year, devoured Origin Force Food like crazy at a rate of 2,000 Source Stones per month, plus various celebration activities and harvest tastings—altogether, it ate over 25,000 Source Stones single-handedly.

There are already signs of a breakthrough and evolution.

47 Divine-Given Sky-Blue Persimmon Seeds—Dragon Cypress eats 10 per day, then 20 Divine-Given Fruit-Scented Orchid Seeds, finishes them in five days, and falls into slumber.

Waking from slumber, it sheds its old shell, its body expands, and the new shell hardens.

Body length settles at around 1.5 meters.

Age Period 4 High-Level Ant King.

Haven't used Silver Cypress Seeds in a long time, didn't pay attention to diet, the body is starting to bloat and gain weight again.

Opens the Metal Case kept by its side, lowers its head, spits out the Water Stone Banyan Seed, then pinches the Azure Tree Seed and puts it into the Life Pouch.

Unscrews a Metal Can next to it, bends its tentacles to dip and eat Ant Honey.

Finishes the whole can in one go, stamina mostly restored.

Spiritual power unfolds, but this evolution brings only a minuscule boost.

The Divine-Given Ghost Fan Seed won't mature until autumn this year; in the Age Period 3 High-Level Ant King stage, didn't use the Divine-Given Ghost Fan; in Age Period 4, can eat a bit more.

Retracts its spiritual power, shifts its mind, communicates with the Throne, activates 'Messenger' function.

[Please select messenger type]

[Guardian of Strength]

[Guardian of Hydrology]

[Producer—Agriculture]

[Producer—Refinement]

Dragon Cypress casually selects [Guardian of Strength]

The Dominating Throne quickly follows with the next prompt:

[Please select quantity]

[Quantity 1]

[Quantity 2]

...

[Quantity 8]

The pattern is very clear: as a High-Level Ant King at Age Period 4, the maximum number of Ant Eggs produced per batch by the Dominating Throne has increased from 7 to 8.

One batch every four days, which averages out to 2 Ant Eggs per day.

A slight improvement, still rather slow.

Dragon Cypress directly cancels the selection, places the newly bred Water Stone Banyan Life Seed into the Metal Case for safekeeping, grabs a can of Ant Honey, and continues eating.

"Great King?"

Guarding the King Nest's entrance, Spiked Cypress, bored and passing the time fiddling with a Peach Kernel, finally senses something odd and peers over.

"Great King, you're awake!"

"That's wonderful!"

"Great King, I'll go hunt some fresh meat for you!"

Spiked Cypress's tentacles wiggle excitedly, cheering as it turns to dash away.

"Stop!"

Dragon Cypress calls out, asking, "How many days was I asleep?"

Spiked Cypress: "Four days?"

Dragon Cypress: "Are you sure you counted right?"

Spiked Cypress: "Counted right, it was four days."

Dragon Cypress: "Go notify Fragrant Cypress and Round Cypress, we're having a banquet to celebrate tonight, and then bring back more food from the forest."

"Understood! Great King."

Spiked Cypress energetically waves its tentacles and leads the Soldier Ants away.

...

The Dominating Throne flies straight to the Azure Blue Reservoir in South Mountain, landing in the shallow western area and hovering above the water.

"Azure,"

Dragon Cypress calls out, lowering its head to check this year's batch of Azure Tree saplings.

There are 89 seeds in total; all have sprouted successfully, each reaching about 15 to 20 centimeters in height.

"Dragon Cypress, you evolved?" Azure asks.

"Yes. Just woke up from slumber."

Dragon Cypress lifts the Metal Case and says, "Water Stone Banyan Life Seed, water element type enhancement, and it's a plant that likes warm and humid climates."

Continuing to inject Origin Force, Dragon Cypress opens the Metal Case and asks, "Azure, sense it, will you?"

Azure: "Looks good—"

Dragon Cypress asks, "Do you like this type of plant?"

Azure: "I do—"

Dragon Cypress: "Then I'll plant it on that hillside, within the range of your spiritual power. Since you can watch over it regularly, would that be all right?"

"Of course!" Azure replies happily.

"Settled then." Dragon Cypress shakes its tentacles vigorously to issue instructions.

In the distance, Worker Ants digging at the base of the dam come running in line; under Dragon Cypress's directions, they weed, loosen soil, sow the Water Stone Banyan Seed, and construct protection around it.

Dragon Cypress doesn't dare to be careless, keeping watch personally.

Three days later, the seed germinates.

Five days later, the third true leaf opens on the seedling, and growth becomes basically stable.

Cypress finishes up with spring tasks up and down the mountain and leads a team of Soldier Ants to stand guard nearby.

Dragon Cypress has a busy year, and after using the Dominating Throne to help Fragrant Cypress, Cypress, and Silver Cypress slumber and evolve once, gathers Round Cypress and Silver Cypress to set out.

...

Black Lotus Lake.

The weather is fair, the lake gleaming in the sunlight.

White Willow lies atop the mountain, gazing out from on high, idly waiting as the Origin Force fluctuations of the Dominating Throne's flight drift over. Turning, it sees a blue dot slowly approaching from the distant skyline.

Wings vibrating, it lifts off vertically to intercept.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

"Heading to Southern Sour Jujube Mountain?"

"When is Black Cory coming home?"

Before, every time they met, White Willow asked most often: "Where's Ink Orchid?" "Why didn't Ink Orchid come?"

Now, every meeting, White Willow asks: "Where's Black Cory?" "Where is Black Cory?" "When is Black Cory coming back?"

Dragon Cypress: "I'm going to pick up Black Cory right now."

Dragon Cypress: "White Willow, I brought you two cans of Origin Force Food, and one for Black Cory. Keep them for now. Eat your own share—don't mix—keep the evolution frequency steady."

White Willow: "Got it!"

The Dominating Throne lands at the Ant Nest entrance on the hillside.

Dragon Cypress lays down a wooden board, directs 20 Specialized Worker Ants, 30 Large Worker Ants, 20 Specialized Soldier Ants, 30 Large Soldier Ants, and 10 Large Blue Ants along with 10 Large Worker Ants to land and enter the Ant Nest to rest and become familiar with the surroundings.

Dragon Cypress also puts three cans of Origin Force Ant Honey into a Spider Silk Bag and hands them to White Willow, giving some simple instructions, then pauses two seconds and says:

"White Willow, there's one more thing."

White Willow: "What is it?"

Dragon Cypress: "Ink Orchid and I discovered a 'Huagi Mountain' Land of Origin Force and met two new Insect Clan Warriors there. They still have a map of Insect Tribe settlements from the previous Origin Force Era on Cloud Trace Continent..."

Dragon Cypress: "Once, Black Lotus Lake was a prosperous Great Tribe, and there may be a ruin here. I'll send Black Cory home—Black Cory will lead the ant colony to search everywhere. Focus on the tall mountain you used to live in, dig a few new passages deeper into the cave and see what you find."

Dragon Cypress: "There's hope of finding exuviae of Wild God-Given Seeds, Outworld Civilization Artifacts, even Source Stones!"

White Willow: "!!!"

White Willow: "Sounds great!"

White Willow: "I always suspected the cave I lived in before was left behind by a Dragonfly Warrior."

Dragon Cypress: "Exactly. Black Lotus Lake was once jointly run territory of your Beautiful Winged Dragonfly Tribe and the Stealth Beetle Tribe."

Dragon Cypress: "Search the surrounding peaks too and see if there's a treasury. If you dig one up, all spoils go to you and Black Cory."

White Willow: "...Okay."

White Willow: "Thank you."

Dragon Cypress: "Black Lotus Lake has always been Blackwing territory. Any treasures you uncover belong to your tribe's ancestors—rightfully yours."

Dragon Cypress doesn't expect much from the Black Lotus Lake ruins, so after a short explanation, quickly says farewell: "I'm sending Round Cypress and Silver Cypress to Southern Sour Jujube Mountain; tomorrow morning I'll deliver Black Cory home."

...

Round Cypress and Silver Cypress continue to blaze trails and break ground at Southern Sour Jujube Mountain.

Dragon Cypress briefs Black Cory on the situation, instructs it on how to search and excavate for ruins, and lets it lead a group of Worker and Soldier Ants to scout the peaks surrounding Black Lotus Lake.

Dragon Cypress returns to Xianglan Mountain, picks up Ink Orchid, and heads straight to Xinghu Lake.

The roots and trunk of the Giant-Fruited Dragon Cypress Divine-Given Seed have been chopped and torn into fragments, piled up deep in the treasury built by the Fine-Lined Mayfly Tribe.

According to the Huagi Mountain map, the Giant-Fruited Dragon Cypress's Divine-Given Seed by Xinghu Lake should have reached King-Level.

According to Grass Dragon, there ought to be a Tree Heart.

"Dragon Cypress, buttress root! Does the Tree Heart sit near the buttress root?" Ink Orchid calls out excitedly from the adjacent cave.

"Don't know. No rush—let's search it slowly," Dragon Cypress says, even more composed.

Doesn't expect much from this expedition.

Even if it turned into a Tree Heart or seed, in an Origin Force vacuum, it couldn't have survived until now.

The only hope is that the Fine-Lined Mayfly Tribe had some kind of super-large Metal Case—an Outworld Civilization Artifact designed specifically to store plant seeds.

Not holding out too much hope.

Dragon Cypress sorts through the timber unhurriedly, using spiritual power to scan every piece to be sure nothing is missed, while also examining every stone wall in every cave, watching for hidden passages.

"Dragon Cypress!"

After a quiet moment, Ink Orchid exclaims in surprise from the next cave, "Major discovery! Come here quick!"

Ink Orchid really is...

Dragon Cypress sweeps its spiritual power over to check.

Ink Orchid is frantically rifling through the woodpile; nearby is a piece of timber with an oval groove, its surface smooth—no Insect Clan claw could have made it that flat.

Dragon Cypress: "!!!"

Dragon Cypress hastens to the neighboring cave.

Ink Orchid uncovers another splintered piece of wood over one meter long.

The two pieces fit together, perfectly matching the shape of a Cypress Tree Seed, with a groove around 20 centimeters long.

Ink Orchid: "The Tree Heart was dug out! Dragon Cypress, what do we do?"

"No need to flip any more wood..." Dragon Cypress quickly thinks. "First, empty this cave, let's see."

Working together, they soon clear it out.

Nothing at all.

The stone walls, reinforced using Earth System abilities by the Insect King, are perfectly integrated, not a crack to be found—unlikely anything could be hidden.

The two caves next door are emptied and inspected in detail as well, still nothing discovered.

Next, they carefully scour the lowest, empty cave—also nothing found.

Then up to the top-floor living room and residence caves—searched through all, not a single clue found.

Lastly, using spiritual power to sweep the rooms where exuviae of Divine-Given Seeds were piled—still nothing gained.

In the Origin Force vacuum, even simple movement is exhausting.

Unknowingly, four or five days pass. Searching like this won't do.

Ink Orchid reminds just in time, "Dragon Cypress, use your brain!"

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress keeps thinking while searching.

All the stone walls of these ruin caves were reinforced by the Insect King with Earth System abilities; most warriors couldn't dig them. There aren't many places where things could be hidden, and the most likely caves have already been checked thoroughly.

Nothing.

Then it likely isn't here.

If it's outside the ruin caves, then there are just too many possible hiding places—no clue where to start.

Dragon Cypress says helplessly, "Ink Orchid, let's stop the search for now. Let's go back."

Ink Orchid: "Stop searching?"

Dragon Cypress: "Come again when we have time. Maybe there's another treasury on another peak, dedicated to precious treasures. Let's return to Xianglan Mountain—the late spring, early summer period is when the roving merchant trades start. There's a lot going on this year."

"Alright."

Ink Orchid is speechless, momentarily disappointed.

They pack eight large bags full of the giant-fruited Dragon Cypress Divine-Given Seed exuviae and head back to Xianglan Mountain.

After a night's rest, they pack in the morning and set out quickly.

On the way, they check up on Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple—both clever, tending their Divine-Given Seeds well.

Then they head straight for the first trading stop: White Rice Mountain.

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