Dragon Cypress waited with the prepared Origin Force Honey at the Starship Rift for half a day.

Grass Dragon arrived, loaded with bundles and packages of Origin Force Food.

"That stingy Melde, after all my coaxing, was only willing to sell you a hundred Divine-Given Red Torreya Seeds. At least the price is decent, eighty Source Stones per seed. Plus, he threw in ten regular Red Torreya Seeds for you to use as Life Seeds."

Dragon Cypress: "…"

Red Torreya Seeds and Green Torreya Seeds have similar strengthening effects, both enhancing muscle strength. Red Torreya Seeds are more focused on muscle elasticity and stretching, which is beneficial for advanced stage evolutionary growth.

Melde holds exclusive trading rights to a wild Lord-Level Divine-Given Red Torreya Seed. The guy is really stingy—one hundred seeds isn't much, and the price he offered wasn't exactly kind.

"Grass Dragon, did you skim something off the top? I really should have had Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple follow you." Dragon Cypress half-joked, half-accused.

"Do I look like that kind of spider? I do not." Grass Dragon showed no guilt at all.

Dragon Cypress was not lying. Because of his trust in Grass Dragon, he hadn't made Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple trail along.

For Natsumi and Red Peach, Dragon Cypress had both of them under surveillance, just in case anyone tried to pocket anything or sneak away some of the goods.

From experience, Natsumi and Red Peach were both very honest.

Oddly enough, Grass Dragon was always the shifty one, ever since he was young.

Dragon Cypress threatened, "Next time, I'll make sure Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple keep a close eye on you."

"Fine, fine, sure. Boss, go ahead and check the goods."

Grass Dragon didn't care at all, undid the Spider Silk Rope on his carapace, and began unloading the goods, one bag at a time, passing them through the Starship Rift to Dragon Cypress.

Dragon Cypress opened each bag for inspection.

Working while talking.

Grass Dragon said, "As for the One-Glimpse Fruit, Melde just can't wrap his head around it. He called you a prodigal ant, and said that if you can't spend all your Source Stones you might as well give them to him. But, Melde still talked things over with Spider King Spurge. Spider King Spurge seemed to think your plan was reasonable, and agreed straight away. It basically accepted your lending proposal with very little pushback. There's just one tiny condition."

Dragon Cypress: "What condition?"

Grass Dragon: "You can't repay the principal early—within ten years, no principal repayment. In other words, you have to pay at least ten years' worth of interest."

Dragon Cypress: "…"

Dragon Cypress fell silent.

Spider King Spurge definitely doesn't know what I'm really up to. But it's gotten a sense of some of my ideas.

Dragon Cypress' plan was: after reaching Evolution Mountain Lord Level, and getting the One-Glimpse Fruit, he would then confess about the White Poplar Divine Seed to Spider King Spurge, try to negotiate, get the interest waived, and treat the 3.6 million loan as a down payment…

Spider King Spurge guessed part of it, but not all.

"It's not like I could repay early anyway." Dragon Cypress promptly agreed, "Fine, let's go with Spider King Spurge's condition."

"Alright—"

Grass Dragon said, "So this year, Spider King Spurge will get you a ticket to the auction; in five years when the One-Glimpse Fruit ripens, Melde will represent you at the auction. If it sells for under 3.6 million, the difference is Melde's fee."

Dragon Cypress: "Great! Remind Melde for me, I need it urgently, tell him not to be too greedy."

"Mmm—" Grass Dragon seemed even more suspicious, but didn't press the issue, switching topics and asking:

"Has Ink Orchid evolved to a High-Level Flower Mantis Warrior, 5 Age Periods? Say, I've never seen it once."

Dragon Cypress: "Ink Orchid is guarding the Emerald Flower Cold Orchid Divine-Given Seed, I'll bring it by to meet you next year."

Dragon Cypress: "The first time the Emerald Flower Cold Orchid Divine-Given Seed put out shoots, there were twelve, triple rate…"

While they chatted, all the Origin Force Food was checked and confirmed correct.

Dragon Cypress counted out thirty-eight Spider Silk Scrolls for Grass Dragon, then handed over the Origin Force Honey can by can.

This year's transactions, all done—return to the mountain fully loaded.

…

…

…

Dragon Cypress immediately sent Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple back to Kiwifruit Mountain and brought Round Cypress back to Xianglan Mountain.

Counting up the treasury's wealth.

After extravagant spending, there were still thirty-seven Spider King Silk Scrolls left—total value, thirty-seven thousand Source Stones.

Current Source Stones: twenty-eight thousand on hand.

The amount of Origin Force Food skyrocketed, with a total value of 162,000 Source Stones.

This year's accounting: total assets reached 227,000 Source Stones.

As agreed, the reward for the six Command Ants increased to 2,000 Source Stones each.

The most precious were the hundred Red Torreya Seeds—Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid split them fifty-fifty. Over the next period, Dragon Cypress secluded himself in the King Nest to cultivate, consuming vast quantities of Liu Dao Zi to strengthen his soul.

Fragrant Cypress and Cypress both used the Dominating Throne to evolve in succession to 9 Age Periods, Mid-Level; this year, they could consider advancing to High-Level Assistant King.

Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, and Giant Cypress also started preparing to evolve to 2 Age Periods, High Level.

...

Dragon Cypress spent more than ten days finishing the 20,000 Source Stones worth of Liu Dao Zi and fell into a deep sleep.

Woke up.

Shed the old shell.

Body swelled, new shell hardened rapidly.

At 4 Age Periods, most of the Origin Force Food eaten was for strengthening spiritual power and soul, so this evolution did not increase his size much—settled at about 1.6 meters.

Spiritual power spread outward, extending down the tunnels.

—Around seventy meters!

—If I take the Dominating Throne, a trip between White Lotus Lake and Night Fragrance Mountain should take only three days, with plenty of time to rest in between.

—But my current spiritual power is almost at the limit of a High-Level Ant King. Any further increases are going to cost a lot more.

—By the way, this year Ghost Fan is evolving to Mountain Lord, so for the next few years, no Divine-Given Ghost Fan to eat.

—Mountain Lord Level Ghost Fans offer a whole new level of benefit; that's exactly what I need right now!

—In the future, I'll get myself a Divine-Given Liu Dao Fruit!

Dragon Cypress mused happily to himself.

He grabbed the Metal Case set to the side, infused it with Origin Force to open it, spat out the fully formed Azure Seed, and picked up a Red Torreya Seed to store in his Life Pouch.

He took a Metal Can full of Ant Honey, opened it, about to start eating, when Ink Orchid peeked in from the entrance and then crawled inside.

"Dragon Cypress, you're awake?"

"Just woke up. How long was I asleep?"

"Four and a half days. It's morning now."

Ink Orchid, quite cheerful, took out her beloved Ice-Fire Water-Making Pot and said, "Have some water first! Hot or cold?"

Dragon Cypress: "Hot?"

Ink Orchid: "Don't you have the 'Boiling' ability?"

Dragon Cypress: "… Then give me some iced water. Thank you."

"Alrighty—"

Ink Orchid jumped up onto the Throne, deftly funneled Origin Force into the Ice-Fire Water-Making Pot, made water, opened the lid, and poured in some Ant Honey.

Lid back on, her tentacle softly pressed the snowflake button, infusing it with just a touch of Origin Force.

She opened the lid again—a pot and a half of half-frozen iced water was served up in front of Dragon Cypress.

"Drink up!"

"…Okay."

Dragon Cypress was starting to regret buying Ink Orchid the Ice-Fire Water-Making Pot.

...

Azure Blue Reservoir.

Dragon Cypress flapped his wings, flying down to the shore.

"Azure."

"Dragon Cypress, you've evolved?"

"5 Age Periods, High-Level Ant King."

Dragon Cypress opened the Metal Case and showed it off. "Just finished incubating—Azure Life Seed. Planting it here at the reservoir, help me look after it, will you?"

Azure was delighted. "No problem!"

Dragon Cypress pointed his claw at the five ordinary Azure Trees he'd planted the year before last and asked, "Azure, they're going to flower this year, right?"

Azure: "…Probably."

Dragon Cypress: "Let's let the trees grow a couple more years, bear fruit the year after next."

Azure: "Got it!"

Dragon Cypress had the Worker Ants and Blue Soldiers use stones and mud to raise a protective barrier in the southwest shallows of the reservoir, planted the Azure Life Seed, and stood by to watch over it.

With nothing else to do, he had Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, Fragrant Cypress, and Cypress take turns wandering through the forest. Whenever they encountered unfamiliar plants, they'd bring them back for Dragon Cypress to identify, while teaching Azure as well.

Once the plant lessons were over, he had them catch every kind of animal they spotted, again mainly to teach Azure.

Time slipped by, and soon it was late spring.

The freshly planted Azure Life Seed sprouted roots and leaves, quickly growing to twenty centimeters tall.

The Emerald Flower Cold Orchid Divine-Given Seed had finished its third round of sprouting, but unfortunately missed the flowering season—next year they'd learn what the yield per plant was.

Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, and Giant Cypress had each used the Dominating Throne to sleep and evolve in succession.

All the affairs of Xianglan Mountain were settled.

Dragon Cypress sent Round Cypress back to Southern Sour Jujube Mountain, and took Black Cory along the way to continue land reclamation. He then made a quick run to Ghost Fan Mountain, delivering 10,000 Source Stones' worth of high-quality Origin Force Food and 2,000 Source Stones in cash.

Once everything was done, he rushed toward White Lotus Lake to keep helping the Night Fragrance Divine-Given Seed transport its Exuviae.

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