"White Rice?"

Black Rice lay at the entrance of the cave, glanced inside, pushed aside the blocking brambles, walked in, took two gourd containers filled with ant honey from the corner of the cave, and jumped onto the throne.

Ink Orchid ran to the White Rice Divine-Given Seed, bringing good news to Red Fox: White Rice has successfully broken through and evolved to White Rice Mountain Lord!

Dragon Cypress sprinted into the forest and, on the way, hunted a wild deer and brought it back to the cave.

After eating the ant honey and recovering some physical strength, White Rice moved its own claw, cutting fresh meat to eat.

Swallowing an entire deer in one go, fully recovering its state, White Rice leapt down from the throne.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King, Ink Orchid, thank you both!"

After successfully making it through the most dangerous hurdle in the evolution process, White Rice was in high spirits and sincerely gave thanks.

"No need to thank us."

"You're being too polite."

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid both shook their tentacles in unison.

Black Rice asked hopefully, "White Rice, how many abilities have you comprehended?"

"Two? Three? Let me carefully sense for a moment."

White Rice lay down again, drooped its tentacles, and bowed its head in deep thought.

—Just advanced to Mountain Lord Level and already comprehended three abilities?

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid exchanged glances, a bit surprised, and waited quietly.

After quite a while,

White Rice raised its head, got up, and said, "I can control earth, which counts as the basic ability of the earth element talent."

As soon as it finished, its tentacle lightly tapped the solid earth at the cave entrance, forming a hemispherical bulge about a meter in diameter, then stretched and transformed it into a sharp cone shape.

White Rice: "The second ability is the more common earth-stone hardening."

After speaking, the cone-shaped earth collapsed and solidified, turning into hard rock.

Almost all Insect Clan Warriors who awaken the earth element talent can master these two most basic abilities.

With a wave of White Rice's tentacle, a sharp stone cone shot out and hit the nearby hillside with a bang.

Ink Orchid: "...Impressive."

Dragon Cypress: "That's great. White Rice, you'll be able to help us a lot."

Black Rice: "Is there more?"

White Rice: "There's one more, but..."

White Rice: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, Ink Orchid, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you."

After speaking, White Rice turned slightly and lightly tapped the ground with its tentacle.

The ground at the entrance, hardened from years of being trampled, began to squirm, bulge, and become fluffy and loose.

White Rice: "The third ability can truly be called the earth ability awakened after I evolved to Mountain Lord Level. It's the exact opposite of 'earth-stone hardening,' causing the soil to become loose and breathable. This ability is suitable for territory management, improving soil to make it more suitable for plant growth."

"..."

Dragon Cypress was rendered speechless.

"...Still pretty amazing."

Ink Orchid was now even more courteous and sophisticated than Dragon Cypress.

Dragon Cypress: "Starting next year, I'll try to bring you as much origin force food that enhances earth element abilities as possible..."

If the ability isn't strong enough, then make up for it with further evolution...

The White Rice Divine-Given Seed brings in thirty or forty thousand source stones of yearly profit, split evenly between White Rice and Black Rice—so about twenty thousand each.

All the Life Seed plants in White Rice's own territory, after advancing to Mountain Lord Level, bring in increasing revenue each year—another twenty, thirty, or forty thousand source stones. The Life Seeds it picked in earlier times were rather average, so even with Divine-Given Remains strengthening, in the Mountain Lord phase the max annual income is forty or fifty thousand.

All together, White Rice's yearly income is only about forty to seventy thousand.

It takes at least 200,000 source stones for a Mountain Lord of age period 1 to evolve to age period 2.

From age period 2 to age period 3 as Mountain Lord, at least 250,000 source stones are needed.

Barring surprises, the attack on the Termite Kingdom will be in nine years.

If something unexpected happens, maybe a year earlier—then the war will start in eight years.

Roughly calculating, using the cheapest evolution standard and with a little assistance, White Rice still has time to evolve twice.

Dragon Cypress: "White Rice, you don't need to think about attacking—just use earth-stone abilities and assist Ghost Fan and Mountain Persimmon with the defense!"

White Rice: "Okay!"

A flash of inspiration struck Dragon Cypress's mind, and it suddenly thought of something, exclaiming with delight:

"There's another critical point! The Termite King's Palace is constructed using earth abilities, and the earth was hardened as well, right? White Rice, your reverse ability that loosens soil and stone will really come in handy!"

Dragon Cypress: "So, instead of charging the palace head-on, we'll launch a flank attack. White Rice, use your earth ability to create openings in the palace walls so Ink Orchid can sneak in more easily."

White Rice raised its tentacle and said, "Exactly!"

"That's right!"

Ink Orchid and Black Rice both caught on and responded with delight.

Dragon Cypress: "Black Rice, you should also go get something to eat and sleep well. I'll use the Dominating Throne to help you evolve to 7th age period high-level warrior."

…

This winter was a bit hectic.

Dragon Cypress used the Dominating Throne to help Mulberry evolve to 8th age period; helped Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple to 5th age period, helped White Willow to 7th age period, helped Spruce to 8th age period.

Then there were the Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, and Cypress from Xianglan Mountain—they all needed the Dominating Throne to assist with reaching 6th age period high-level.

Running back and forth, round and round, and another winter passed.

Time flies,

and again, it's the spring Trading Season for roving merchants.

…

…

…

On Cloud Trace Continent, at the Starship Passage, Natsumi, Red Peach, and Silvergrass were already waiting, all looking extremely tense and alert.

Seeing their lineup, Dragon Cypress already had its answer, so it asked symbolically, "Natsumi, did you bring the One-Glimpse Fruit?"

"Of course!"

Natsumi was direct and efficient, using spider silk to unload the cargo from her carapace, fishing out a spider silk bag from the very bottom and handing it to Dragon Cypress.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King, please check."

"Alright!"

Dragon Cypress opened the bag, took out the metal can, and unscrewed it.

The snow-white Bee King Jelly was sealed inside.

A sweep with spiritual power.

"No problem!"

Dragon Cypress quickly screwed the lid on tight.

Natsumi: "Ten years later—one Divine-Grade Soul-Stabilizing Fruit."

Dragon Cypress corrected: "Three of them. I also want to exchange for a Divine-Grade Six Paths Fruit."

Natsumi: "That's right."

Natsumi: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, so the latest batch of Divine-Grade Soul-Stabilizing Fruits is ripening this year?"

Dragon Cypress: "Of course."

Natsumi: "The Aconite Spider King and Spider King Spurge asked me to inquire if it would be possible to leave one here. It could be brought over in the spring trade next year so they can take a look and broaden their horizons."

Can I really trick you on this? Dragon Cypress pondered for a moment, then agreed, "The Divine-Grade Soul-Stabilizing Fruit is a dried fruit, so it keeps well. I can borrow the one from Huagi Mountain for you!"

Natsumi: "Sorry to trouble you!"

Natsumi relaxed a bit and, somewhat shyly, asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, you haven't rushed the Red Cypress Divine-Given Seed to flower and bear fruit already, have you?"

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "The tree is almost thirty meters tall. It'll flower in early spring, leave two hundred flowers at most, bear two hundred cones, and each cone has exactly seven Cypress Seeds."

Natsumi couldn't hide her joy, saying, "No wonder it's a top-level Great Tall Tree! Awesome!"

Natsumi: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, I have nothing else to discuss."

Dragon Cypress looked at Silvergrass.

Silvergrass said, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, Grass Dragon asked me to say hello on its behalf and tell you that it has smoothly evolved into a 9th age period high-level Flame Spider Warrior."

Dragon Cypress: "Great! Silvergrass, please advise it to wait another two years before evolving to Mountain Lord Level—there are plenty of opportunities to make money, there's no rush for a couple years."

Silvergrass: "Alright!"

Dragon Cypress turned to Red Peach.

Red Peach asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, is the Divine-Grade Night Fragrance Fruit maturing this year?"

Dragon Cypress: "Yes."

Red Peach: "I have nothing else important."

Red Peach: "Natsumi, Silvergrass, you guys go ahead with the trade. The White Ivy Mountain Lord is busy delivering goods on that end—I'm going over to help!"

…

Up next was the usual origin force food trade.

Selling and buying, the amounts were huge.

It took seven days from start to finish, all wrapped up.

After getting the origin force food, Dragon Cypress quickly handled the roving trade, sending them off to all the Lands of Origin Force.

Finished, Dragon Cypress took the One-Glimpse Fruit and rushed straight to Huagi Mountain.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.