Astral Cockroach

In the following days, Mountain Lord Iron Blade led the tribe's warriors and began to extensively cut down the living bamboo forest on Mount Lizhu.

After the drought, only a small portion of the bamboo on the mountain had survived, and now a large portion was cut down.

The lush and verdant mountain rapidly became desolate in just a few days. Moreover, this desolation would last for a long time, at least until Banbu grew into a high-level warrior and had the ability to start anew and cultivate some promising tree species.

Heisang and Banbu couldn't really help, so they teamed up and wandered aimlessly all over the mountain.

Heisang was purely doing it for fun.

Banbu, on the other hand, silently surveyed his future territory. Currently, Mountain Lord Iron Blade and Mayu were helping to take care of things, but they couldn't continue to support him forever. Sooner or later, he would have to take office, and how to develop the territory would ultimately fall on Banbu himself.

However, Mountain Lord Iron Blade promised to provide various support to Banbu before he became a high-level warrior, so Banbu wasn't in a hurry at the moment.

Leisurely times always passed quickly.

All the work on Mount Lizhu was completed.

Banbu finally welcomed his fifth molt and evolution, and was taken back to the cave in the Iron Blade Mountains by Mayu to sleep.

After waking up, Banbu stayed in Mayu's territory and continued to learn various knowledge from him.

Mayu was indeed a more qualified elder than Flame Cluster Banmao, especially with his experience of traveling around the continent with merchant caravans.

Through Mayu, Banbu gained a general understanding of this planet—a completely primitive planet.

The highest level of civilization was nothing more than a large number of tribesmen gathering to survive, forming a "prototype city". They cultivated on a large scale, sowing, managing, selecting, and cultivating various new plant species suitable as life seeds in a relatively scientific and rational manner.

Tribes with this ability became the "powerful tribes" that borderland tribes like the Iron Blade Mountains yearned for, envied, and admired.

Compared to the boring and tedious knowledge of farming, Banbu preferred to listen to stories about various insect races and local customs.

There were also stories about wars: the cruel and greedy northern beastmen, the brave and fearless fire roach warriors, the giant roach kingdom warriors, the wolf scorpion kingdom warriors, the double-bladed mantis kingdom warriors, the ghost cricket kingdom warriors...

A chaotic and diverse array of insect races had established hundreds of kingdoms of various sizes, so the continent was called the "Continent of Myriad Races".

...

"Banbu, the first time I saw you, I knew that you were far more outstanding than Flame Cluster Banmao, and your future achievements would far surpass his."

"Flame Cluster Banmao was born in my territory, and you were born in Flame Cluster Banmao's territory. You are all my descendants. Child, promise me that when you grow up in the future, you must remember to support Flame Cluster Banmao and help him become a mountain lord as well..."

These were Mayu's last words.

He was already in his twilight years, and recently he had overworked himself too much for the affairs of Mount Lizhu, overdrawing his energy. In the end, he couldn't survive this winter...

There was no grand funeral ceremony.

Mountain Lord Iron Blade brought all the warriors of the mountain range to take one last look.

Then, Mountain Lord Iron Blade opened his mandibles and continuously spewed out crimson flames, cremating Mayu's remains.

Banbu carried the snakeskin bag with half a bag of Force Fruits left, and followed Flame Cluster Banmao to live in his territory.

Flame Cluster Banmao's mind was actually equivalent to that of a five- or six-year-old child. He couldn't accept the death of his loved one and was depressed all day, lying under the raspberry bushes, silent and speechless.

Banbu also grieved for two days, but quickly cheered up and worked harder every day to exercise and strengthen his body.

...

L7 Elementary Warrior, body length 43, body shape slightly changed. Compared to the L1 Elementary Warrior stage, the accumulation of small changes resulted in a considerable qualitative change. In addition to the developed forelimbs, the originally flat and slender body became much rounder, the muscles controlling the vibration of the wing membranes were strong and powerful, and the flight ability was greatly enhanced.

"Banbu, the sleeping ordinary tribesmen are gradually awakening, and spring is coming. Your Xun Grass life seed can be transplanted."

After being depressed for more than a month, Flame Cluster Banmao finally emerged from his grief.

Having experienced the pain of losing a loved one, he became much more calm.

"Oh, are we leaving today?"

Banbu could now communicate relatively fluently using mental power.

Flame Cluster Banmao said, "That's right, let's leave now."

Banbu crawled into the cave and dragged out a roll of python skin that he had prepared long ago.

Flame Cluster Banmao saw him struggling, took the python skin, signaled Banbu to jump on his back, and flapped his wings towards the jungle.

Landing on the black boulder, Banbu immediately sensed the existence of the Xun Grass life seed through the soul connection.

Putao's method worked. Covered with grass leaves and dead branches to keep warm, the root system of the Xun Grass life seed successfully survived the winter.

Banbu planned to move it to Mount Lizhu before the beginning of spring, so that it could sprout and grow strong after spring.

Flame Cluster Banmao landed carefully, lifted the covering grass leaves, and said, "Banbu, you need to mark out the range of the root system's distribution. This poor life seed, it probably can't withstand any damage."

"Yes, its vitality is very weak." Banbu flew to the ground, and with the connection between his soul and the life seed, he used his forelimbs to draw crooked lines, marking the distribution range of the root system.

Coming into close contact, Banbu felt that a large number of the Xun Grass life seed's slender roots had rotted and died, and only a few thick rhizomes remained alive. He immediately became a little worried and reminded, "Flame Cluster Banmao, be careful, the Xun Grass life seed is deeply rooted, dig deeper."

"I understand."

Flame Cluster Banmao responded, waved his forelimbs a few times, and began to dig.

Banbu crawled into the nest under the boulder to check the situation.

The grass seeds harvested from the Xun Grass life seed were well preserved, but unfortunately, the Force had been lost over time, and they had lost their strengthening effect.

The painstakingly accumulated dried meat was still there. Returning to the tribe, these foods were not used, and they would not be used in the future.

He went out to check the condition of his old neighbor, the Big Harvest Ant.

A small number of worker ants began to move, working in the fields, carrying seeds, digging soil, and sowing.

Before spring arrives, hibernating insects are the first to know.

Banbu moved all the dried meat out and placed it at the entrance of the ant nest.

At this time, Flame Cluster Banmao had dug out the root system of the Xun Grass life seed along with the soil, wrapped it in python skin, and asked strangely, "Banbu, these are just ordinary big-headed ants."

Banbu said, "Yes, they are very interesting."

Flame Cluster Banmao suddenly realized and laughed, "Haha, you stole your Xun Grass life seed from them, right?"

Banbu laughed, "That's right."

Flame Cluster Banmao spread his wing membranes and said, "The journey is long, we should set off."

...

After landing, Flame Cluster Banmao asked, "Banbu, where are you planning to transplant the Xun Grass life seed? You must think carefully and strive to do it in one step. Moving the life seed will inevitably cause damage to them."

Banbu said, "Let's plant it at the entrance of the cave. This place was previously covered with weeds, so it should be very suitable for herbaceous plants to survive."

Flame Cluster Banmao immediately rejected, saying, "The entrance of the cave should be planted with the most important life seed, for easy care, such as your God-given seed, and the Red Iron Tree and Fire Oil Tung that will be bred in the future."

Banbu stretched out his forelimbs and pointed to the distant slope, saying, "In the future, I will move the residential cave over there. The shady side is more suitable for the Red Iron Tree to grow."

Banbu pointed in another direction, saying, "The Fire Oil Tung must be planted on the sunny side. I plan to plant it with Sun-Reflecting Fruit, Cypress Seeds, and Lizhu Bamboo, all of them over there."

The life seeds were all planted together for easy care. When the plants grew tall and had a certain ability to resist blows, they would be moved to the most suitable place for growth.

"Oh, it seems you have planned it long ago, then I am relieved." Flame Cluster Banmao continued, "I will dig the tree pit, and you go collect some rotten branches and leaves to put at the bottom. This way, your Xun Grass life seed will grow more vigorously."

Banbu twitched his antennae and began to get busy.

Flame Cluster Banmao dug the pit very deep, put a layer of dead branches and leaves, then a layer of fertile soil, and laid several layers repeatedly before putting the Xun Grass life seed in and finally covering it with soil.

After finishing, Banbu followed Flame Cluster Banmao and lived in his territory for the last half month.

When the locust tree branches sprouted new buds, Flame Cluster Banmao and Banbu set off again.

This time, Banbu carried his snakeskin bag that was about to bottom out. Inside the bag were not only the Force food that was gradually losing its effect, but also 5 precious life seeds.

Planting the life seeds, Banbu would settle down on Mount Lizhu and begin to live alone.