The most powerful race of the Natural God System is the termite. They feed on plant branches, leaves, and trunks, and the size of their kingdom is almost unlimited by food supply.

Termites only need a very small territory to develop and thrive.

In the inherited memory, more than three thousand termite races are recorded, and based on their feeding habits, they are roughly divided into three types:

The first type, eats fermented rotten wood.

The second type, cultivates mycelium with plant branches, leaves, and trunks, and eats the mycelium.

The third type, adult worker ants and soldier ants eat rotten wood, while young ants eat mycelium.

Termites are also divided into soldier ants and worker ants. They are the race most skilled in agricultural cultivation, and are by no means weak in marching and combat.

The larvae hatched from termite eggs are called 'young ants', which have age periods, and grow through molting.

Young ants are small in size and can take up logistical work in the ant nest or participate in delicate cultivation tasks.

When the kingdom has needs, older young ants can be differentiated on demand into fighting soldier ants or laboring worker ants.

The innate talent ability of the termite race is 'Life Span'; they are born carrying a Divine-Grade Origin Force Fruit.

Ordinary high-level insect clan and beast clan warriors have lifespans of about 100 years. High-level termite kings and queens can live up to 200 years.

Typical Mountain Lord Level insect clan and beast clan warriors have about 200 years of lifespan. Mountain Lord Level termite kings and queens can live as long as 300 to 400 years.

With longevity, they also awaken Earth System or Wood Element talent abilities.

An almost all-powerful race.

But the Natural God is also fair, and left a fatal flaw for the termite race.

To establish a termite kingdom requires the simultaneous birth of a male ant king and a female queen, and they must see eye to eye, fall for each other, and keep their intake of Origin Force Food basically the same.

Ant and bee clans at the Origin Force Life level produce ant eggs that are replicas of themselves, but termites produce ant eggs as life crystals of both the king and queen.

...

There is actually a suspected lord-level termite kingdom in this Land of Origin Force!

On the Ten Thousand Nations Continent, ants and termites are mortal enemies and sworn foes, but who knows if on the Cloud Trace Continent, they can turn swords into ploughshares.

"Dragon Cypress, what do you think is the relationship between that beetle warrior and the termite kingdom? Cooperation?"

"It should be."

"Then there must be other warriors."

"There definitely are."

"Shall we go talk to that beetle warrior tonight?"

"Let's gather some information about the termite kingdom."

"Maybe it's a friendly ant king. If we can establish trade relations here, we'll be rich."

"No! Most termites are greedy, brutal, and evil."

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid retreated along the way they came, returned to the Dominating Throne, and rested for a day.

They set out at midnight.

Crossing mountains and ranges, they skillfully reached the mountain where the beetle warrior lived as they did in daytime.

"Ink Orchid, you hide at the cave entrance. I'll try to communicate. If the other party overreacts, you control it at once."

"Alright!"

Ink Orchid activated her talent ability. Her carapace color shifted, blending perfectly into the surroundings, suppressing her presence and disappearing from sight.

Dragon Cypress repeatedly swept with spiritual power, confirming the concealment was thorough, then moved down the mountain.

Soon, he arrived at a gently sloping mountainside, in front of a cave mouth about half a meter wide and oval in shape.

Upon closer inspection, Dragon Cypress recognized that this was a one-year-old high-level barley bug warrior.

"Hello—"

Dragon Cypress called using spiritual power.

Inside the cave, the resting beetle warrior was startled awake, and in the darkness, both compound eyes lit up unexpectedly, filled with shock.

"You are—"

"I am Dragon Cypress Ant King, from another place."

"Another place?"

"That is, other places similar to here, where Origin Force is abundant."

"You are an Ant King..."

The beetle warrior's reaction was a bit surprising: joy, ecstasy, then warmly, it rushed out of the cave.

The other party's reaction was intense, but... Ink Orchid hidden at the cave mouth was uncertain what to do, "Dragon Cypress, should I control it?"

"...No need."

The beetle warrior suddenly turned and saw Ink Orchid's form gradually emerging at the cave entrance.

"Hello, I am Ink Orchid." Ink Orchid greeted forthrightly.

"She is my companion. Orchid Mantis Warrior." Dragon Cypress succinctly explained and introduced.

Dragon Cypress asked again: "What is your name?"

The beetle warrior calmed down, slowly turned around, and backed up a few steps warily, forming a triangle with Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid.

"I am Wuye."

Wuye raised a claw and pointed at the Wuye Creeper Life Seed sprawling across the distant mountainside.

Both sides had many questions.

Wuye was the first to ask: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, Ink Orchid, where did you come from? How did you get here? What are you here for?"

Dragon Cypress: "We came from Xianglan Mountain, very far from here. We found this place unintentionally. As for how we came… It doesn't seem important."

Dragon Cypress raised his forelimb and pointed to a Life Seed walnut tree fifteen or sixteen meters tall at the front left of the cave, asking:

"Wuye, your arbor life seeds have grown so tall; you must be quite old too? Why are you still a 1st age-period high-level warrior? Are there no other warriors of your kind here?"

"I'm twenty-eight this year, and there are many companions of my kind, but…"

Wuye suddenly seemed deeply concerned, pondering, and probed cleverly: "You found this place unintentionally?"

Dragon Cypress: "Yes."

Ink Orchid asked puzzled: "Twenty-eight? Since you have so many of your kind, how come you're only at the first age period?"

Wuye: "Because we all made a deal with the White Poplar Ant King."

Ink Orchid asked one after another: "White Poplar? Is that the name of a Divine-Given Seed? Which kind of plant? Some sort of Daphne tree?"

Wuye: "Yes. It's a type of Poppet not recorded in inherited memory. The White Poplar Ant King possesses a White Poplar Divine Seed. Its blossom-fruit cycle is sixteen years, and each time it only produces nine pure white fruits. The strengthening effect is to increase lifespan by fifty years…"

Ink Orchid: "Divine Grade!"

Dragon Cypress: "Life Span type!"

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid exchanged shocked glances.

There is no plant to increase lifespan in inherited memory; those that do exist are insect clan-cultivated mutants.

White Poplar? Definitely a mutant of some poppet.

The Red Fox badly needs to extend its lifespan! Ink Orchid urgently asked: "Sixteen years blossom-fruit cycle? So when is the next ripe season? Can Dragon Cypress and I also trade with the White Poplar Ant King?"

"No! By no means!"

Wuye hurriedly stopped them: "You must not let the White Poplar Ant King notice you. You're just at the high-level stage, right? If you're discovered by its ant colony, you're dead for sure."

"Why?" Ink Orchid: "I have a friend who desperately needs longer life! Dragon Cypress and I have five Divine—"

"Ink Orchid!" Dragon Cypress's voice was stern as he interrupted, "It's not that simple. Listen to Wuye first."

Wuye glanced at Ink Orchid and at Dragon Cypress, then turned to Dragon Cypress and explained:

"The fruits of the White Poplar Divine Seed can be eaten at most three times. The first one increases lifespan by fifty years, the second by thirty years, and the third by ten years. Any more have no effect."

"The White Poplar Ant King has long eaten enough and doesn't need them, so it forces us into trade."

"The White Poplar Ant King provides resources so we can evolve into high-level warriors, and gives us three White Poplar Fruits so we get a lifespan close to Mountain Lord Level warriors. But the trade condition is, once we evolve into high-level warriors, all products from the life seed plants of our territory must be handed over to the White Poplar Ant King."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Ink Orchid: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "So the total yield of your life seeds is all taken by the White Poplar Ant King, and that's why your evolution has stagnated at the first age period."

Wuye: "Yes."

Ink Orchid: "That's not a trade, it's robbery!"

Wuye: "Exactly."

This is more than robbery—they have been corralled and kept in captivity.

Ink Orchid, indignant with righteous anger, but then turning despondent at the thought, sighed, "The White Poplar Ant King is lord-level."

Wuye: "Lord-level Ant King and Queen."

Dragon Cypress: "The White Poplar Ant King seized your Origin Force Food and evolved to lord-level."

Wuye: "Right."

Dragon Cypress: "How many warriors? What races?"

Wuye: "All are Barley Bug Warriors, a total of forty-seven. The White Poplar Ant King deliberately cultivated us because we are weak and easy to control."

Dragon Cypress asked, "All at high-level?"

Wuye: "Origin Force Food from the territory of high-level warriors can't meet the evolutionary needs of a lord-level, so it also allows some warriors to continue evolving."

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