dmims Chapter 63: Cross-Border Passage
Chapter 63: Cross-Border Passage
"Wu Yuan, you've been stuck at the first-stage lord level for quite some time now. If we want to guard against the Fire Ant Kingdom with its divine runes, we all need to improve our strength."
The old ant king, known as the Buttercup, got to the point: "We are both metal-type. That wild black citron seed in your territory should be full by now, right? How about we exchange?"
"My divinely bestowed iron-sapling fruits are almost full, which is perfect for exchanging most of the output. Since our kingdoms are neighbors, let's not let those treacherous flame spider merchants profit from the difference."
There is a limit to the additional enhancements that a single type of Force food can provide to insect warriors. The more they eat, the more limited the additional enhancements they can provide, until they have almost no effect.
This is one of the reasons why insect evolution requires "complementary" life forms among multiple Force warriors of the same kind, or can only rely on the Flame Spider Merchant.
Before coming here, Ye Zhi had already heard from the Blackwood Ant King that the Mountain Ranunculus Ant King had a divinely bestowed tree-type life seed called "Iron Tallow," which was transformed from a tallow tree and had the same metal-type enhancement.
"Trading a King-level Divine-given Seed for a Mountain Lord-level Wild Divine-given Seed? Argan, you old codger, you'd really be that kind?" The Black Ant King's mental power transmitted.
"Crack, crack!" The Buttercup Ant King rubbed its mandibles together, seemingly excited, and looked at the mountain giant toothed ant team that had followed it: "I heard from Brown Luan that you robbed a raw stone vein? You can make up for the shortfall with raw stones."
"Your Tree Ant Kingdom has so many raw stones that you can't possibly use them all. Instead of trading them with the Flame Spider merchants, why not exchange them locally?"
"...Buttercup, I knew you old codger weren't up to any good ideas." Wu Yuan transmitted his mental power, but he slightly twitched his antennae, agreeing to the exchange proposed by the Buttercup Ant King.
"Alright, let's exchange the bulk of our annual production..."
......
To be precise, the mountain ant kingdom and the tree ant kingdom did not form a military alliance this time, but rather signed a "non-aggression pact".
The exchange of God-given food was indeed beneficial to both sides, and it also stabilized the tree ant kingdom, which was not a mortal enemy to begin with, thus avoiding being betrayed and falling into the predicament of fighting on two fronts.
On the way back, Ye Zhi simply lay silently on the chest and back of the Black Ant King, lost in thought.
Huo Yun, who was close to a group of lords, king-level ant kings and soldier ants, was startled by the powerful aura of the lords and king-level ants. At this moment, she was somewhat listless and lay beside Ye Zhi, her antennae drooping limply.
They remained silent until they reached the entrance to the nest, where Wu Yuan sent out a telepathic message: "Little Mantis, go back to your dwelling first. Ye Zhi, you stay here."
"Oh, yes." Huo Yun was still somewhat listless, but upon hearing this, she shuddered, flapped her wings, and sent out a reassuring mental signal before immediately flying towards the tree hole.
Ye Zhi looked at Wu Yuan with a puzzled expression, but the other party just silently waved its antennae, emitting waves of complex pheromone signals unique to the long, thin ant tribe.
"King Ant." A minute later, the figure of King Zoe emerged from the nest chamber surrounded by two worker ants and nodded its antennae toward the King Ant in front of it.
"The changes in the Fire Ant Kingdom may disrupt the balance of this borderland... It's time to tell you some things."
The black cypress's antennae twitched, looking at the green cypress before it, then at the leaf weaver that had just flapped its wings and landed on the ground, and it slowly spoke:
"Little one, have you ever wondered what lies on the other side of this divine barrier? What lies beyond the vast star realm, beyond the Dragon Bamboo Continent and the Cloud Realm Continent?"
Ye Zhi shook her antennae, tentatively answering by drawing on her knowledge from her past life: "Is the Astral Plane a giant sphere, and beyond the divine barrier are other continents like the ones we inhabit?"
"Yes, but not entirely." The Black Ant King nodded and shook its antennae, seemingly surprised that Ye Zhi knew some information, but more than that, it conveyed a deep-seated, unspoken emotion.
"The Astral Plane is indeed a sphere. Long, long ago, those skilled flying butterfly and dragonfly warriors tried to fly higher and higher, reaching the highest point they could reach, and the entire continent they saw was part of the sphere."
"Outside the divine barrier are indeed other continents, but they are not the same as the ones we live on."
The Black Ant King's mental power suddenly became serious: "That continent also has mountains and rivers, plants and flowers, beasts and insects, but it has only one thing... it lacks natural primal force."
There is no natural primal force! Ye Zhi was shocked.
Natural forces are to life forms what oxygen is to ordinary life; without a natural environment, life is like a fish out of water, unable to survive.
Even Ye Zhi, a "Muggle" from a world without the Force in her previous life, was astonished that the Force was not common in this world. Huo Yun, on the other hand, was so shocked that her jaws gaped open and her antennae stood up.
"Surprised? When I first learned of this, I felt the same way as you, and even more so, fear." Wu Yuan retracted its tentacles and calmly transmitted its mental energy.
"The Force of Nature is as indispensable to us as breathing. Without it, no matter what kind of lord, insect king, ant kingdom, or bee kingdom we are, we are nothing more than fish out of water, struggling and waiting for death."
"Furthermore, the Azure Ant King learned from the Flame Spider Merchant that the natural forces on the continent are not permanent."
The cypress's tentacles traced a roughly circular pattern on the ground, seemingly representing the planet beneath its feet, and then drew a line roughly representing the planet's equator:
"On this giant sphere of the astral plane, a divine barrier encircles it, dividing the astral plane into two parts, the south and the north."
Then, another vertical line was drawn, and Wu Yuan continued, "The southern and northern parts are each divided into four sections. Here, the Dragon Bamboo Continent and the Cloud Realm Continent are two of the northern sections."
"The other six pieces may also be in pairs, ruled by, or formerly ruled by, ordinary solitary insects and social insects such as ants and bees."
"The Flame Spider merchants travel across the continent, gathering more information. According to them, the eight continents, arranged in a cycle of dormancy and awakening, with two in the south and two in the north. And this so-called dormancy is the complete depletion of the natural primal force."
"This is the law of the astral plane, deliberately arranged by the true gods of nature. We are powerless to change it, but we can... take advantage of it."
"Use?" Before Ye Zhi could recover from the shock, she felt that she had heard something even more incredible, and she sent out a surprised mental message.
"Little one, you'll find out soon enough."
Wu Yuan did not answer directly, but the light in his compound eyes returned to its sharpness as he looked at Zuo Wang Qing Yuan beside him and slowly transmitted his mental energy:
"Qingyuan, take the little guy and go through that cross-border passage."