Astral Cockroach

The area where the Red Ant tribe's transport team and the Purple Stem Beetle tribe's team met belonged to the territory of the Crab Spider Kingdom, a desolate land with no insect rule. The White River was a wide river, a natural border dividing the kingdoms, and the Ant Spider Kingdom was on the opposite bank.

Going north along the river for six days, they would enter the border between the Liqiu Kingdom and the Golden Mantis Kingdom, and further north would be the territory of the Loujia Kingdom.

All the vassal tribes were similar, and the Purple Stem Beetle tribe occupied barren borderlands with scarce natural essence.

All weevils, tiger beetles, stem beetles, and other coleopteran insect tribes shared a common characteristic: weak reproductive ability among ordinary insects, leading to fewer tribal warriors and insufficient control over their territory.

Along the way, Banbu deeply realized that large areas of the Loujia Kingdom were as desolate as the Jinping Mountains a hundred years ago, with various ferocious beasts rampaging freely.

They traveled for two days to cross a plain jungle ruled by no insects before entering a continuous hilly area.

This was the core territory of the Purple Stem Beetle tribe, the Purple Crystal County, famous for growing grapes!

The slopes were gentle, the soil fertile, lush, and neatly arranged gardens, laden with fruit. Many grapes that ripened in the hot summer of May began to emit a fruity fragrance, creating a strong exotic atmosphere.

Overall, the natural essence of Purple Crystal County was similar to that of southern Red Rock County, neither particularly rich nor as barren as Li Bamboo County.

Purple Crystal Beetle King personally accompanied Banbu, standing on a hilly mountain peak looking into the distance, waving his antennae, and pointing to a small hill across the hills, saying, "Lord Banbu, that is Goat Milk Peak, I hope you don't laugh. The Central Region mostly consists of plains and low hills, lacking the majestic mountains like those in your Eastern Region."

Banbu said, "Mountains don't necessarily have to be tall and majestic; abundant essence is what makes a treasure land."

Purple Crystal Beetle King sighed, "The essence is also very average; there is no particularly rich place in Purple Crystal County. Managing divine-bestowed seeds is not easy! Each flowering and fruiting cycle requires millions of essence stones, making the cost too high."

"Yes, the cost is too high." Banbu empathized, slightly turning his body and saying, "Lord Grass Pearl has been to Li Bamboo Peak and should know that, overall, Purple Crystal County is much richer than our Li Bamboo County."

"Almost the same, actually almost the same." Lord Grass Pearl said, "Lord Banbu, you frequently travel to Red Crow Mountain, you should have gone up the mountain to see it, right? That kind of place is a treasure land favored by the true god of nature."

While chatting idly, they crossed the hills, followed the plank road, crossed the river plain, and approached Goat Milk Peak.

In the dense grape plantation, tens of thousands of bee colonies were busily working. The Purple Stem Beetle tribe coexisted with a small bee tribe called "Yellow-bellied Acid Bees."

This area of the park they passed was very interesting. Strings of white grapes were about to ripen. The fruits planted in the garden on the left side of the plank road were mixed white, and the ones on the right side were crystal clear white. They should be two different high-quality derivative species cultivated from the same original species.

Purple Crystal Beetle King continued to introduce, "Lord Banbu, these are Goat Milk Grapes cultivated on our Goat Milk Peak, and this is the better derivative species, Goat Fat Grapes. The variety has been cultivated for much longer than Purple Crystal Grapes. Initially, Goat Milk Peak was named because of this, and it has been passed down from generation to generation. I can't remember the exact time."

"Goat Fat Grapes ripen in midsummer, and there happens to be a corresponding divine-bestowed seed. A legacy from our ancestors, a wild divine-bestowed seed that has survived for thousands of years. Fortunately, it was preserved intact from the Northern Wilderness Beast Clan's sneak attack. Now is the fruit ripening season, and in a few days, you will be able to taste it."

Banbu smiled and said, "Then I'm in for a treat."

The group arrived at the foot of Goat Milk Peak.

The mountain peak was surrounded by newly installed steel wire fences, encircling the foot of the mountain, and a large number of Purple Stem Beetle warriors were distributed, guarding it closely.

Lord Grass Pearl organized and instructed the warriors to carry bags of remains up the mountain and into the prepared warehouse.

Purple Crystal Beetle King led Banbu up the mountain, explaining at the same time, "Our Purple Crystal County has a good number of warriors, over a thousand, but unfortunately, not enough warriors like grapes. There are a total of 93, residing on Goat Milk Peak. The other warriors live around the other 16 peaks. Beforehand, no one thought there would be a sneak attack, so we were negligent... Alas, this loss... is more than just the Purple Crystal divine-bestowed seed."

The Purple Stem Beetle tribe's loss was indeed tragic. Banbu couldn't think of any good words of comfort, so he simply remained silent, observing the mountain environment with interest.

Several years had passed, and the traces of the beast warrior's attack had long been erased.

Goat Milk Peak was indeed small. Banbu immediately confirmed through both essence and soul perception that there were only three gardens on the mountain where life seeds were planted, which meant that only three warriors lived on the mountain. One was the Purple Crystal Beetle King, one was the Bee King of the Yellow-bellied Acid Bee tribe, and the other should be Lord Grass Pearl, who would inherit the position of Lord of Purple Crystal County in the future.

Standing on the top of the mountain and looking down, Banbu's attention was first attracted by the large area of empty wasteland. There were also semi-dense grape vines. Looking closely, the diameter of the main trunk of the plant was at least 10 meters, the height was more than 20 meters, and it branched out into 49 thick main branches with a diameter of more than 0.5 meters, which in turn branched out into countless vines.

Undoubtedly, this was the Purple Crystal divine-bestowed seed.

It originally covered nearly half of the northern and eastern sides of Goat Milk Peak, and its scale could be described as vast.

At this time, 27 main branches had been amputated, which was extremely miserable.

The empty land was attacked by the frost ability of a snow leopard warrior at the county lord level. The vines were not only frozen to death, but it was said that they were directly turned into powder, which should be damage at the microscopic particle structure level.

This level of attack meant that not only was the essence nature lost afterward, but the tree spirit could not even recover the powder and absorb the precious nutrients to regrow.

"How tragic!" Banbu mourned silently in his heart for this unlucky divine-bestowed seed and the Purple Stem Beetle tribe.

"Lord Banbu, that is the Purple Crystal divine-bestowed seed. Shall we go down and take a look?"

"Please lead the way, Beetle King." Banbu replied simply.

Purple Crystal Beetle King led the way, and Banbu followed to the mountainside.

As they approached, a buzzing roar sounded, and the bee colony guarding the Purple Crystal divine-bestowed seed briefly rioted, then calmed down again.

"This is the Goat Fat Bee King of our Goat Milk Peak. Our Purple Stem Beetle tribe has cooperated and coexisted with the Yellow-bellied Acid Bee tribe for generations, jointly managing the territory."

A bee king at the insect king level!

It awakened the earth and stone ability.

The Yellow-bellied Acid Bee and the Red-ringed Acid Bee are closely related bee races, with almost no difference in size. The only difference is the color of the abdominal rings of the bee king and worker bees.

Purple Crystal Beetle King sent out his divine sense from afar and introduced, "Goat Fat, this is Lord Banbu of Li Bamboo Peak."

"I know." Goat Fat Bee King seemed to be in a bad mood and was still a little depressed at this time. He asked, "Have the remains arrived? Thank you." He was in a low mood, greeted them simply, and then drooped his antennae and remained silent.

"You're welcome." Banbu was a little embarrassed.

Purple Crystal Beetle King immediately became nervous and asked, "How is the state of the Purple Crystal tree spirit?"

Goat Fat Bee King said sadly, "Last night, the tree spirit fell into a deep sleep. I hope it will get better after waking up."

Purple Crystal Beetle King waved his antennae and said, "Bury the remains first."

Goat Fat Bee King released pheromones and directed the bee colony to act.

Five combat worker bees jointly used their earth and stone abilities, and the soil on the ground automatically lifted off the ground and scattered to the side, forming pits.

Lord Grass Pearl brought four warriors and brought 10 bags of remains in one breath.

Medium-sized worker bees stepped forward, holding the remains with their forelimbs, cutting them into powder with their mandibles, putting them into special clay pots, mixing them with swamp residue and soil to make nutrient soil, pouring it into the pits, and finally backfilling the soil.

Most of the branches and vines of the Purple Crystal divine-bestowed seed were severely damaged, and the tree spirit's soul was also damaged and weakened. It was too weak and had to fall asleep.

Nutrients entered the soil, and the plant instinctively began to absorb them.

Banbu stood aside, observing with his heavenly eye all the time, and soon discovered that the situation was not as serious as Purple Crystal Beetle King and Goat Fat Bee King worried.

The tree spirit condensed into an oval ball, shrunk in the main trunk near the ground, purple-red, and as the roots absorbed the remains, the color gradually changed to deep, which was a sign that the soul injury was recovering.

But it was not a normal phenomenon.

Iron birch strengthens metal element abilities, and Purple Crystal divine-bestowed seeds strengthen basic physique, which is completely incompatible.

Iron birch is a tree that grows in the cold forests of the Northern Wilderness. In terms of tree species, it is vastly different from Purple Crystal divine-bestowed seeds. Theoretically, the compatibility should be very, very low.

"Is it a coincidence? A chance match? Or..." Banbu kept an eye out, and there was still a possibility: the remains of the iron birch tree had the ability to help the injured tree spirit recover from soul damage.

The remains cannot all be exchanged for the Purple Stem Beetle tribe. Keep a batch and take it back.

Fortunately, the soul of the Tata tree spirit was weakened by an unknown force, erasing all important memories and directly reducing it to a newborn state, which can perhaps be regarded as another form of soul trauma, so let's try it on it.