Astral Cockroach

Looking down from a high vantage point, everything was clear.

The central location of the plains jungle had transformed into a sea of fire, with sporadic bursts of flames erupting elsewhere.

The wails and慘 cries of wolves echoed continuously.

The surprise attack was a success!

The intense battle began and ended quickly.

The central sea of fire was rapidly extinguished.

The fires in other areas were spreading, but were also being extinguished patch by patch.

Some warriors were using another fire control ability – forcibly interrupting the jungle fire's combustion.

The damage caused by a spreading jungle fire would likely be greater than a beast warrior attack on the territory, so it had to be extinguished immediately.

Extinguishing a fire was much more difficult and laborious than starting one.

According to the tactical arrangement, three mountain lord-level warriors formed a group: one was responsible for tracking beast warriors, one for setting fires to kill enemies, and one had to follow behind, specifically responsible for extinguishing fires.

… …

"Youcha, that's about enough, let's go take a look."

Banbu opened the snakeskin bag.

Youcha jumped into the bag.

Banbu, carrying the bag, flew towards the center of the jungle.

… …

Large areas of ancient forest trees had been burned into charred remains by the high-temperature flames released by the County Lord-level warriors.

It was a blackened, desolate mess.

Scattered here and there were the corpses of many forest wolf warriors, emitting the aroma of roasted meat – they couldn't withstand the scorching flames of the red ant tribe's County Lord-level warriors.

The cleanup was very professional, leaving not a single spark.

Only the Red Steadfast Ant King and County Lord Youli remained, surrounding a lush green sapling.

As agreed, the moment the battle broke out, the Red Steadfast Ant King rushed forward, using his wing scales to protect this precious wild, God-given seed seedling. The other County Lord-level warriors fully released their flame abilities to annihilate the forest wolf warriors.

It was well protected; the sapling suffered no damage whatsoever.

The Red Steadfast Ant King, seeing Banbu's arrival, directly instructed, "Banbu, you are smaller in size and have nimble forelimbs; you come and dig it out."

"Okay!" Banbu responded, stepping forward, carefully identifying it, and couldn't help but exclaim, "Chinese Torreya tree!"

After praising it, he felt a pang of heartache.

County Lord Youli rotated her antennae, regretting, "There were originally more than a dozen grown Chinese Torreya trees around here, but they were all burned to death during the battle. What a pity!"

County Lord Red Steadfast said, "County Lord Youli, you stay behind to clean up and search around. There should still be other Chinese Torreya trees in this jungle; you can dig up some seeds to take back."

"I know," County Lord Youli nodded her antennae.

The wild Chinese Torreya tree seedling was about 0.6 meters tall and should have sprouted in the last two years. It was found and planted by the forest wolf warriors.

The Chinese Torreya tree is a rare, large tree species. As a seed of life, its development prospects are comparable to blood peach trees, autumn maple trees, and red steadfast trees.

It can be sold for a good price.

"Damn it, now all my original stones are gone! I might even have to pay extra," Banbu thought silently, starting to dig.

He used his mental power to scan the ground, checking the distribution of the roots, carefully digging with the surrounding soil, and putting it into the snakeskin bag.

Now that the snakeskin bag was gone, he couldn't fly back with Youcha either.

Banbu instructed, "Youcha, go back to our Jinping Mountains and scout the movements of that group of black wolf warriors. Pay attention to their migration patterns and see if there's a possibility of encirclement."

"Okay," Youcha burrowed into the jungle and disappeared.

The Red Steadfast Ant King, carrying the snakeskin bag, spread his wings and ascended into the air.

Banbu followed along, returning first.

County Lord Youli stayed behind, leading the warriors to continue pursuing and killing the escaped forest wolf warriors.

… …

"How is it… what kind of tree seed?"

Seeing the Red Steadfast Ant King personally carrying the snakeskin bag and hurrying back, County Lord Autumn Maple had already understood that this surprise raid and robbery had been successfully carried out. While asking, he scanned with his mental power, then exclaimed in surprise:

"It's actually a Chinese Torreya tree!"

"Where are the seeds? A very rare and precious tree seed! Didn't you look for some common tree seeds to bring back? The cultivation value of the Chinese Torreya tree is no less than that of the autumn maple and red steadfast trees!"

"County Lord Youcha will handle it," the Red Steadfast Ant King gently placed the snakeskin bag on the ground, saying, "This wild God-given seed is quite valuable. The seedling shouldn't be delayed for transplanting. To make a long story short, accelerate its growth by 200 years!"

Accelerating its growth by 200 years meant that a County Lord-level warrior of the Black and White Flower Ant tribe would have to sacrifice 100 years of life.

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The Red Steadfast Ant King didn't take the opportunity to raise the price.

This Chinese Torreya tree was more useful to their Black and White Flower Ant tribe and was worth the price.

County Lord Autumn Maple was silent for two seconds, said nothing more, gently nodding her antennae to indicate agreement, picked up the snakeskin bag to check, confirmed it was sturdy enough, directly flapped her wing scales, and took off into the air.

… …

"Trading with lifespan is a behavior that will be spurned and despised in the Black and White Flower Ant tribe, Banbu. Don't publicize this matter."

"I understand."

"Starting next spring, County Lord Autumn Maple will send County Lord-level warriors from their tribe to accelerate the growth of your cliff cypress God-given seed. Every spring for 3 months, they can only accelerate the growth once per month. Each acceleration by a County Lord-level warrior will accelerate the plant's rapid growth by about 10 years."

"They need to accelerate the growth a total of 20 times, lasting 7 years… If you can't wait, you can also have them help accelerate the growth of the red fruit oil-tea God-given seed that is about to be conceived."

"But don't rush. The red fruit oil-tea God-given seed is crucial and cannot have the slightest mishap. After planting it, the seedling is fragile. It's best to let it grow for a year or two to strengthen the seedling before accelerating its growth. Accelerate it once or twice is enough, don't be greedy."

"Understood!" Banbu asked, "What preparations do I need to make in advance?"

The Red Steadfast Ant King said, "Prepare some original stones. God-given seeds need to use original stones to replenish original power when they grow rapidly. However, trees grow slowly, so even if you accelerate their growth for 10 years, the change won't be that obvious. A small amount of original stones will do."

Banbu said, "Accelerating the growth for 200 years, I should pay 400,000 original stones. Do I still need to supply you with 70,000?"

The Red Steadfast Ant King shook his antennae, saying, "Wait until you advance to Mountain Lord status. Give the original stones directly to Mountain Lord Kuji of the Red Tangerine Mountains. He will purchase a batch of original power foods to cultivate potential warriors to advance to Mountain Lord status."

"Understood," Banbu replied.

County Lord Red Steadfast stretched out his forelimbs and carefully drew on the ground.

It was a rough map, but it was roughly recognizable as the current territorial distribution map of the Red Steadfast Ant King's lineage of the Red Ant tribe.

"The Hoof Mountains and the Banyan Mountains are both part of the same mountain range, so it's reasonable to combine them into one county."

"Banbu, your Jinping Mountains are not fertile. Have you considered the matter of advancing to County status in the future?"

Banbu had considered it. The most ideal situation would be to merge with the Iron Saber Mountains, but they weren't part of the same mountain range, so it wasn't very reasonable.

Banbu shook his antennae, boastfully saying, "I'm still young, I haven't considered it."

County Lord Red Steadfast said, "It's best to have some mountain ranges buffer between counties. I think you can consider developing towards the northwest in the future and occupying the Jinping Mountains… The Jinping Mountains and the Jinping Mountains are of the same lineage, so it would be best to combine them into one county."

"You are naturally intelligent, and it's also a good opportunity to communicate with the Flying Flame Ant tribe of Youma Land."

"That's too far away, isn't it?" Banbu said, "Li Bamboo Peak currently only has 6 Red Ant warriors in total, and I don't know when new little warriors will be born… How about you send some over?"

"This… there's no rush," the Red Steadfast Ant King choked for a moment, then continued, "The Big Eucalyptus Mountains and the Jinping Mountains are currently unclaimed wilderness. County Lord Youli and I have discussed it and plan to gather strength in 5 years to develop them, first sending out warriors to occupy the territory."

"Sending out little warriors to occupy the territory will require a large investment of original stones to support their growth and development. What I mean is, County Lord Red Steadfast will support the Big Eucalyptus Mountains, and you will support the development of the Jinping Mountains. Li Bamboo Peak has a considerable number of God-given seeds. After you advance to Mountain Lord status, your annual income will increase significantly, right? It's much better than I was back then."

After the Red Steadfast Ant King finished speaking, he sighed, "Banbu, there's not much wilderness left for our Red Ant tribe."

Banbu thought for a moment and said, "Red Steadfast Ant King, I will take out a batch of original stones to support this matter."