The center of Cloud Trace Continent?

By rough estimate, it's probably in the central area of the continent. But how did you know?

Huagi Mountain?

This Land of Origin Force already has a name?

Dragon Cypress looked at Ink Orchid.

Ink Orchid: "Yellow Stem? That's such a strange name, is it some kind of cultivated plant variant?"

Yellow Stem: "A variant of the White Fir tree."

Ink Orchid: "Huagi Mountain is named after the Huagi Pine?"

Yellow Stem: "Of course."

Ink Orchid pondered for a while, then found this plant, White Fir, in her inherited memory, "A truly remarkable great tall tree!"

Yellow Stem: "Yes."

Yellow Stem countered with a question: "Your name is Ink Orchid? The orchid grass growing in the southern valley?"

Ink Orchid: "That's right."

Yellow Stem: "You didn't choose a bunch of orchid grass as your life seeds, did you?"

Ink Orchid: "I have one Divine-Given Fruit-Scented Orchid Seed, and one hybrid-cultivated Divine-Given Cuihua Hanlan Seed."

Yellow Stem: "…"

Yellow Stem, half-skeptical, turned to Dragon Cypress and said, "Dragon Cypress is truly an excellent great tall tree, though it also grows in the south."

Yellow Stem: "You came from the deep south. You're Southern Insects."

"Yes—"

Dragon Cypress raised his hind leg and gently nudged Ink Orchid again, signaling her to say no more.

This was a mature, stable Insect Clan Warrior with a mind of his own.

"This is the Shield Grasshopper Tribe territory? Are there a lot of Shield Grasshopper Warriors here?"

"Not many, just one."

"Oh~ then it's not incorrect to call this the Shield Grasshopper Tribe territory. But, judging from the life seed plants, it's clearly more than just you."

"That's right."

Yellow Stem turned around and looked back toward the mountain forest.

A white-carapaced Insect Clan Warrior stood up from a patch of bushes, kicked its legs, glided down the ridge, and stood by Yellow Stem's side.

There were black spots on both sides of the chest and abdomen—black and white, distinct.

Long Shield Grasshopper Warrior.

Dragon Cypress kept his questions to himself.

Yellow Stem said, "This is the Long Shield Grasshopper Warrior born in my territory, named 'Spruce.'"

Yellow Stem also introduced, "This is Dragon Cypress Ant King, and this is Ink Orchid. They used an Outworld Civilization Artifact to cross the Origin Force vacuum zone, traveling all the way from the south..."

Yellow Stem did not buy Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid's 'Natural God messenger' explanation, so he didn't mention it at all.

Everyone exchanged greetings and got acquainted.

Yellow Stem quickly briefed Spruce about the situation.

Upon hearing that they were here for trade as 'roving merchants,' Spruce's attitude was totally different from Yellow Stem's, her antennae danced in excitement, and she started babbling incoherently.

Rooted on an Origin Force Isolated Island, limited by the types of Origin Force Food, becoming a high-level warrior is the end of evolution.

The arrival of Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid brought hope for further growth and evolution.

Spruce rushed forward, picked up the spider silk bag, scurried up the mountain, and a moment later came trotting back, carrying an inflated spider silk bag.

Opening it, it was filled to the brim with pine nuts.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King, Ink Orchid, how are you purchasing?" Spruce asked expectantly.

"Let me take a look. I'll give an estimate."

Dragon Cypress guided the Dominating Throne to descend and land slowly, parking steadily.

Ink Orchid carried a metal can forward, twisted off the lid, opened and closed it again as a demonstration, then set it on the ground and explained:

"This can of Origin Force Ant Honey is worth 2000 source stones, refined from 5 types of persimmon fruit, mainly used for enhancing carapace. You can check it out first."

"Wonderful! For high-level stage evolution, what we're short on is Origin Force Food for enhanced carapace." Spruce was overjoyed and handed the spider silk bag to Ink Orchid.

Ink Orchid lifted the bag and headed back to the Dominating Throne.

Dragon Cypress scanned through with his spiritual power.

Yellow Stem was also a type of cedar.

In this Land of Origin Force, the most abundant trees are cedars and pines—a great variety, all great tall trees.

Half of Yellow Stem's and Spruce's life seed plants were great tall pines and cedars.

They mixed together all the pine nuts harvested from their various pine and cedar life seeds.

Dragon Cypress checked more closely. There were as many as 21 different types; it gave him quite a headache.

"Are these pine nuts from Redwood? One source stone for eight nuts."

"These must be pine nuts from Golden Pine, right? One source stone for five nuts."

"Spruce seed nuts, one source stone for five."

Dragon Cypress picked through and priced them.

Meanwhile, Yellow Stem and Spruce listened to the prices while examining the Origin Force Ant Honey inside the metal can, weighing and considering.

Yellow Stem soon realized that this transaction was not an even trade.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King, Ink Orchid, were you guided by the Natural God to help Insect Clan Warriors trapped at various origin force points?"

"Yes—"

"You're not after profit?"

"The journey is tough. We charge a modest labor fee."

Heh~ heh~ Yellow Stem dropped the subject.

Spruce also realized their counterparts were earning a margin, quickly running some mental calculations, silently comparing and getting a general idea.

The price they were offering was within the acceptable range.

In inherited memory, the Flame Spider Tribe was the true roving merchant; they didn't own territory, relying entirely on trade to gather resources and evolve.

While Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid weren't Flame Spider roving merchants, since they were acting as such, they were naturally in this for profit.

Spruce reached out a foreleg, dipped a bit of Origin Force Ant Honey, tasted it, and praised, "Great taste! Really delicious."

"…Well, of course." Ink Orchid gradually realized that these two in front of them were totally unlike the old Ghost Fan, White Rice, Mountain Persimmon, or White Willow.

Something felt very off—they weren't just smart, but exuded a completely different energy and spirit.

Dragon Cypress asked, "My prices are pretty fair, aren't they?"

Yellow Stem: "Acceptable."

Dragon Cypress: "Do you have any other Origin Force Food for sale?"

Yellow Stem: "We do. How much will you buy?"

Dragon Cypress: "We'll buy as much as you've got."

Yellow Stem: "…There's a lot!"

"Good! Bring it all!" Ink Orchid took three large spider silk bags, rolled them up into tubes, and threw them down.

Spruce scampered up and quickly dashed back to the cave.

Dragon Cypress directed a troop of medium-sized worker ants to climb atop the stump ant nest and sort the cedar and pine nuts, separating them into piles.

Yellow Stem was a 4th age-period high-level warrior, while Spruce was a 3rd age-period high-level warrior, and together they had 41 unique life seed plants.

Yellow Stem had reached the aging period, unable to further grow or evolve, and like many old warriors, had stopped eating Origin Force Food altogether.

Spruce had reached 3rd age period very young, but probably didn't dare to try further evolution.

This year's harvest was barely touched; even some from previous years remained uneaten.

Bag after bag was brought over, all of it mixed together.

Dragon Cypress fixed the prices and directed the worker ants to sort, working from mid-morning all the way until late night to finally finish.

"That comes to a total of 31,478 source stones."

"We'll round it up to 31,500 even."

Dragon Cypress did the math, gave the total purchase price, and admitted, feeling both pained and delighted:

"Ink Orchid and I are heading north mainly to search for Lands of Origin Force, so we carried very little cargo. We never expected your stockpiles to be this large."

Ink Orchid hesitated, picked up a metal case, continuously channeled origin force to open it, placed a seed inside, infused it with origin force again, and demonstrated closing it. "This is an Outworld Civilization Artifact, specially used for seed storage. We'll use it as collateral, all right?"

Another Outworld Civilization Artifact?!

Yellow Stem and Spruce exchanged glances.

Spruce moved her antennae in agreement.

Yellow Stem asked, "How many source stones is it worth?"

Ink Orchid: "We can pay 11,500 source stones worth of Origin Force Ant Honey. As for the metal case, let's price it at 20,000 source stones."

Dragon Cypress: "During the next trade, we'll bring more Origin Force Ant Honey and redeem the metal case."

"Check out the item." Ink Orchid tossed down the metal case.

Spruce picked it up, channeled origin force to open and close it, then quickly returned and handed it to Yellow Stem.

Yellow Stem tried it out too, then promptly agreed: "All right—"

When Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid traveled, they brought some Origin Force Ant Honey for themselves to eat, and combined with what they bought from the Mountain Persimmon Territory, they managed to fill four cans.

"Normally, Origin Force Ant Honey can only be stored for about a year. If you seal it with Ant King Jelly, storage time can be extended to over three years."

"As a high-level warrior, eating about 10,000 source stones worth of Origin Force Food per year shouldn't be an issue, right? This can of Origin Force Ant Honey is worth 3,000 source stones, I'll seal it for you to eat last."

As he spoke, Dragon Cypress opened a delicate small stone vial, dabbed a little Ant King Jelly with his tentacle, evenly spread it over the jar mouth, screwed the lid on several times to make it more uniform, and finally capped it tight.

Spruce raised a claw in inquiry: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, if I may ask, what is Ant King Jelly?"

Dragon Cypress: "It's made by collecting nectar and pollen from Divine-Given Seeds in bloom, then refining and brewing them. It's fragrant and sweet, and has an exceptionally strong ability to bind origin force."

"Oh—" Spruce half-understood.

Yellow Stem's antennae trembled imperceptibly, inwardly wary: These two really have Divine-Given Seeds?

——Most likely they do. But claiming to have as many as seven is an exaggeration.

——These two love to play mysterious and inflate their boasts, though it does look like they have some real skills.

Yellow Stem pondered, evaluating silently.

The first trade took some effort, but it counted as a smooth conclusion.

"You have so much Origin Force Food for sale, we'll need to stay here for a day or two to refine it all..."

Dragon Cypress waggled his antennae and directed the Blue Ants who traveled with them to get to work.

Spruce cradled the metal can, eating with relish.

Yellow Stem, making small talk, asked, "Ink Orchid, do you and Dragon Cypress Ant King live in the same place?"

Ink Orchid: "We do. Xianglan Mountain."

Yellow Stem: "Is it far from here?"

Ink Orchid: "Far, oh yes. Our place is in the southwest of Cloud Trace Continent—no ice in winter, blazing hot in summer. Your Huagi Mountain is basically at the center of the continent. Even flying the Dominating Throne straight as the crow flies takes five or six days."

Yellow Stem: "That means you must spend a lot of time and energy on roving merchant trade every year?"

Ink Orchid: "Exactly."

Yellow Stem: "Are there many similar Lands of Origin Force?"

Ink Orchid: "Not especially—they're only about fifty or sixty on the whole continent."

Yellow Stem: "What's the size and scale? Are they all about the same?"

Ink Orchid: "There are two kinds. The ordinary Lands of Origin Force are roughly the same size as Huagi Mountain."

Yellow Stem: "Ordinary? So, there are some that aren't ordinary?"

Ink Orchid: "…Yes."

Dragon Cypress looked up, raised a foreleg, and pointed northeast. "Less than two days from your Huagi Mountain, over there is a huge Land of Origin Force about 30 kilometers in diameter. It was originally called 'Purple Tung Insect Nation,' with a wild lord-level Divine-Given Purple Tung Seed. It was originally jointly held by many Insect Clan warriors. Later, a pair called 'White Poplar' and 'Red Phellodendron,' King and Queen of Termite, killed the others and took the Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed for themselves..."

A Shield Grasshopper, a Long Shield Grasshopper—two grass-eating Insect Clan warriors; until they awakened Elemental Ability at the Evolution Mountain Lord Level, even Ink Orchid alone could take on both.

Dragon Cypress had no reason to hide the situation of Purple Tung Insect Nation, and finally sighed:

"Ink Orchid and I really pity the enslaved Barley Bug Warriors and want to help them, but unfortunately, we're powerless."

"Lord-level... Lord-level King of Termite..." Yellow Stem chewed over the words. "Without roving merchant trade, lord-level is the limit of evolution. When they die of old age, you and Ink Orchid can go claim that Divine-Given Purple Tung Seed."

Dragon Cypress: "Not necessarily. When one batch of Barley Bug Warriors have used up their Origin Force Food, they can be killed and a new batch cultivated."

Yellow Stem gently waggled his antennae, saying, "Insect life is short—who has the time to train a second batch?"

Dragon Cypress: "Termite's gift is life span. Lord-level King and Queen of Termite can easily live six hundred years."

Yellow Stem was still shaking his antennae.

Dragon Cypress: "And the White Poplar Ant King also has a Divine God-Given Seed called 'White Poplar.' Its fruit can extend life by as much as ninety years. Their life span is long enough—they've got plenty of time."

Yellow Stem suddenly jumped up. "A Divine-Given Seed that extends life?"

Dragon Cypress was satisfied with the reaction, and said slowly, "That's right! It extends life."

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