Chapter 1272 - 773: Ink Orchid Leader_2

Wind and Thunder Primordial Energy surged, his figure flickered, arriving at the Ant Nest entrance halfway up the mountain, then diving straight into the nest.

"Great King!"

"Greetings, Great King!"

"Great King, you've worked hard~"

Six Specialized Blue Ants were grouped as a unit, living in one nest chamber. As Dragon Cypress passed by, countless lively ants poked their heads out to peek, waving their tentacles in greeting.

The Specialized Blue Ant whose soul had undergone an abnormal mutation clearly hadn't realized its own peculiarity yet; it hung upside down from the stone wall, motionless.

—You, come out.

—Follow me.

Dragon Cypress issued the command.

"..."

The Specialized Blue Ant, confused, acted according to the order, rapidly climbing down to the ground, following behind Dragon Cypress and walking out of the Ant Nest.

Dragon Cypress turned back, examined it closely at short range, and confirmed it was the right one.

His thoughts moved.

From the distant Main Nest, in the Royal Family chamber where the Ant King resided, the Artist shuttled through space and teleported over.

The Specialized Blue Ant was startled by the sudden appearance of the "monster", moving in a flash, shuffling to hide behind Dragon Cypress.

"..."

The vertical pupil on the Artist's forehead flashed with white light, and a metallic tube appeared out of thin air, floating.

The Artist vanished on the spot.

"Great King?"

The Specialized Blue Ant was bewildered.

Very smart—it quickly realized that the strange creature that appeared and vanished abruptly had something to do with the Great King, but it couldn't understand the connection.

Dragon Cypress ignored it. His tentacles gently swayed as he sent out a hint of Metal System Ability, and the cap of the metallic tube twisted open.

A faint blue crystal bead drifted out, falling toward the Specialized Blue Ant.

A refined Black Lotus Origin Force Bead.

The Specialized Blue Ant was very familiar with it, and even faintly understood Dragon Cypress's intent. Without waiting for a command, it opened its mouth, inhaled, and swallowed the bead into its belly.

"This little guy is smart!"

Dragon Cypress watched, another wave of joy rising in his heart.

The Specialized Blue Ant also sent over a spiritual power thought full of doubt and anticipation.

The Primordial Energy contained in the Origin Force Food was absorbed by its brain, strengthening it.

In its haziness, it instinctively realized that this thing was good for it.

Dragon Cypress's tentacles lightly swayed, and he flicked over two more beads for it.

After a simple tidy-up, he controlled a patch of cloud mist and rode it back toward the Ant Nest.

He gathered all the insects of the Xianglan Chamber of Commerce and held a grand banquet in celebration.

The Second King was absent.

The Great King personally named it: Nebula Pomelo.

…

Eleven months later, Nebula Pomelo smoothly leaped in evolution to become an Assistant King.

Dragon Cypress kept it by his side and personally instructed it.

He led it across the six Life Planets of the Azure Star System for hands-on teaching, to recognize and become familiar with all kinds of animals and plants of the Natural God System.

He personally guided it in the refinement of various plant fruits, blending delicious Ant Honey.

…

…

[Time: Era 78 - Cycle 143 - Year 831]

Another six-hundred-year period was about to pass.

Ink Orchid returned to the Sheep Hoof Armor Star System right on schedule.

Potato Leaf Star, North District 4201, Xianglan Mountain.

White Willow and Wintergreen, patrolling high in the sky, were simultaneously drawn by the myriad-colored dazzling light in the distant clouds.

"That radiance? The Second King is back?"

"Yes! Wintergreen, wake everyone up and notify them to assemble in the first-floor hall of the Short-handled Horn Tree God-Given Seed."

"Okay~"

"The Second King is back!"

"Time's up."

"Everyone, gather!"

"The Second King is back."

Wintergreen sped along at low altitude, sending out vibrations of spiritual power to inform everyone.

White Willow flew up to meet the light.

"Ink Orchid!"

"White Willow, how are things? How many Little Warriors have successfully completed Nine Traces Combined and advanced into the Nine Traces Realm?"

"Including Wintergreen, there's a total of 42."

"Only that many? Notify everyone to gather."

"Wintergreen is already notifying them."

White Willow flipped in midair and turned around, flying side by side with the Radiant Throne, sliding sideways and landing on the Throne.

"Ink Orchid, I have a suggestion."

"What suggestion?"

"The Azure Star System has been under development for so many years, and I still haven't seen what it actually looks like. Wintergreen is perfectly capable of handling the aerial patrol and alert duties over Xianglan Mountain. Ink Orchid, um, how about I go over there with you to take a look? Maybe I can even stay and help."

—They're working over there.

—What help could you possibly provide?

Ink Orchid tilted her head in thought, then reluctantly agreed: "Going over to take a look is fine."

"Nice——"

White Willow cheered, then asked: "How are things over in the Fire Pear Star System?"

Ink Orchid said, "Under my guidance, after six hundred years of grueling training, all warriors have successfully evolved into the Nine Traces Realm, and have independently condensed at least six Traces. And some stronger warriors have surpassed ten Traces and have combined them into their own core abilities."

"Ink Orchid, you're amazing!"

White Willow sincerely marveled.

The Radiant Throne accelerated as it drove into the Xianglan Mountain Territory.

Under the Short-horned Divine Seed Tree, three Star Spiders more than ten meters long were parked in orderly fashion.

Round Cypress and Fragrant Cypress waited beside the Star Spiders.

They greeted each other.

Round Cypress explained, "According to Dragon Cypress Ant King's request, these are the additional First Level Star Spiders we ordered. Same old arrangement—Chairman Seven-Leaf gave us a discount, 1.1 billion per ship."

The Azure Star System has six Life Planets. When there were fewer insects, three Star Spiders running back and forth was no problem.

Later, as more trained warriors passed the requirements and went off to work, traffic between planets would increase. Three Star Spiders would definitely be insufficient, so they added three more. With six Star Spiders, each planet gets one.

"Round Cypress, you've done very well!"

Ink Orchid tossed the praise offhandedly, then stepped back a few paces, gauged the distance, locked onto one Star Spider, and let the colored light on her forehead blaze forth, stars rotating as a beam of white light projected out and enveloped the entire Star Spider.

The Star Spider vanished on the spot, stored into the Crystal Space attached to the Technological Star Core.

The colored light kept shining, white beams cast out, and she quickly collected the other two ships as well.

Once finished,

Ink Orchid turned and looked at Fragrant Cypress.

The Shanglu Divine Pattern on Fragrant Cypress's forehead lit up, and a large stack of stone slabs flew out, neatly piled on the ground.

"Second King, these are the income ledgers for the past six hundred years from the Territories of you and the Great King, as well as from the Chamber of Commerce."

Round Cypress then took out a huge pile of Accounting Slates and said, "Ink Orchid Leader, these are the expenditure ledgers."

"Good——"

"I'll take a look when I have time."

Ink Orchid swept everything up in one go, then promptly asked, "How are the Evolution statuses of the Divine-Given Seeds for me and Dragon Cypress?"