Hearing that he was about to be sent to the distant southeastern region, so barren that not even a single blade of grass grew there, Black Cory immediately felt that tonight's Origin Force Ant Honey was tasteless, and wailed in protest.

Round Cypress had toiled at Southern Sour Jujube Mountain for three years and wanted to stay behind at Xianglan Mountain to rest.

Spiked Cypress was sick of staying at Xianglan Mountain and clamored to go out and broaden his horizons.

Cypress was uneasy about leaving the work at Xianglan Mountain to the inexperienced Silver Cypress.

The dining hall became a noisy mess.

"Spiked Cypress! Keep yelling and I'll smack you dead!"

"Alright. Quiet. Any complaints, talk privately, don't bring them up in front of me."

Dragon Cypress shook his tentacles forcefully, signaling for calm, then said sternly:

"Everything I just said is nothing but trivial matters. Now I've got something important about the Divine-Given Seeds to tell you all."

The dining hall instantly quieted down.

Dragon Cypress said slowly, "This is a secret that Ink Orchid and I learned when we helped the Night Fragrance God-Given Seed from the previous Origin Force Era achieve rebirth."

"The birth of Divine-Given Seeds comes in two types. The first is the extremely low-probability random birth; the second is when the Natural God's Law is triggered, and the Divine-Given descends."

Law? There really are Divine-Given Seeds? The ants all looked at each other in confusion.

"The condition to trigger Divine-Given is very simple: breed a new plant species that is recognized by the Natural Law."

"To give a simple example, Silver Cypress and Green-Red Kiwifruit are both new plant types, so they definitely triggered the Divine-Given, but because they weren't discovered in time, they withered away."

"Another example: our current Cuihua Hanlan Divine-Given Seed—it was actually bred into existence by Yours Truly and the Second King through hybrid breeding that created a new plant recognized by Natural Law, which triggered the Divine-Given."

"Breeding new plant types is, in itself, a matter of mutation probability. But we can greatly increase our odds of success through hybridization, grafting, and changing the plant's growth environment to stimulate mutation, among other methods."

Dragon Cypress didn't keep them in suspense and laid it all out in one go.

Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, and Giant Cypress—the seven guys—were stunned.

Round Cypress: "Great King, it's that simple?"

Spiked Cypress: "That's waaay too easy, isn't it?"

Fragrant Cypress: "Great King, in that case, I could breed you ten thousand Divine-Given Seeds!"

Silver Cypress, unwilling to be outdone, said, "I can breed one hundred thousand Divine-Given Seeds."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "It's not that simple. There's another Law: the same plant type can only trigger Divine-Given once. For example, our Cuihua Hanlan—it's already triggered Divine-Given once, right? Let's say, some years from now, another insect breeds Cuihua Hanlan from the same Orchid Grass hybrid, it won't trigger a second time."

Dragon Cypress: "Likewise, if, years and years ago, any Insect Clan Warrior bred a plant type through hybridization, whether or not it still exists, it will never trigger Divine-Given again."

Dragon Cypress: "Think about it, how many years' history does the Natural Star Realm have? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of millions? How many generations of insects have there been? How many plant types have they bred? There's not much left for us, you could even say next to nothing."

The seven guys stood straight with their tentacles, full of confidence and fighting spirit. How many plant species are there in the Natural Star Realm? About 400,000! Lots of opportunities.

Dragon Cypress: "When it comes to hybrid breeding, you can forget about all the arbors—those trees. Surely, some insect has tried them before. As for Orchid Grass, since it's less common, we can give it a shot. And lots of other herbaceous plants even lamer than Orchid Grass—Fragrant Cypress, you're in charge, try as many as you can. Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, you help Fragrant Cypress and handle the gathering."

"Yes!"

"Understood!"

"Great King mighty!"

Fragrant Cypress, Spiked Cypress, and Giant Cypress agreed.

Dragon Cypress turned to Round Cypress and said, "The second, more commonly used method is grafting. This technique is more difficult, so you're in charge, Round Cypress. When I have time I'll teach you the details. Cypress and Silver Cypress, you'll assist Round Cypress."

Dragon Cypress: "As for grafting, here's a general idea. Let's use kiwifruit as an example—the big category. Green-Red Kiwifruit is incredibly vigorous, right? So why not use it as the mother plant, and then graft other kiwifruit varieties—say, Purple Kiwifruit branches—onto the Green-Red Kiwifruit mother? The grafted branch will then be more likely to mutate, greatly increasing our chances of getting a new kiwifruit the Natural Law will recognize."

"Understood!"

Round Cypress nodded his tentacles.

Dragon Cypress said, "The graft itself needs to be wrapped up with a Spider Silk Bag. In the coming spring, I'll get the caravan to order a batch for us. So, no hurry—we can wait a year or two to try it."

Dragon Cypress: "Let's talk about using environmental changes to stimulate plant mutation. This is easy to understand and do. Move a plant that normally grows in the foothills up into the mountains; move a southern plant to the north; move a plant from the eastern continent to the west; take a swamp plant and put it in the arid desert…"

"All in all, we stimulate plant mutation by changing the growth environment. We can set aside plots at Southern Sour Jujube Mountain, Black Lotus Lake, Xianglan Mountain, White Lotus Lake, just for experimenting."

The ants all nodded their tentacles: this job's a breeze!

Dragon Cypress looked at Black Cory and said, "Black Cory, you run your own show. I'll teach you everything I know, then you do whatever you want."

Black Cory: "Okay, Great King!"

Dragon Cypress: "I'll be taking a break at Xianglan Mountain for a while. Black Cory, you stick around too, take the soldier ants out to wander the forest. If you find any unfamiliar plants or animals, collect samples, bring them to Azure Blue Reservoir, and I'll teach you what they are."

...

Southern Gorgon Reservoir.

The Dominating Throne swiftly approached, hovering above the Southern Gorgon Divine-Given Seed mother plant.

Dragon Cypress's action immediately earned Southern Gorgon's intense displeasure.

"Dragon Cypress, stop acting up above my head!"

"Cut the crap. I've got something to tell you. Ink Orchid and I found an artifact from an Outworld Civilization, used specifically for plants, called 'Glinting Gold.' Try it out."

"Not interested. Go away."

Southern Gorgon got the gist—he was about to be used for testing—and angrily refused.

Dragon Cypress said calmly:

"This Glinting Gold's function is called the 'second heart,' very similar to the tree heart of a King-Level Divine-Given Seed, but even more practical. Normally, if there's surplus Origin Force, energy, or nutrients, you can store them inside the Glinting Gold and extract them when needed."

"Oh——"

Southern Gorgon blinked, gave it a thought, and said, "Give it here!"

Dragon Cypress manipulated the Dominating Throne to gently descend, hover over the water, then turned and picked up Glinting Gold, passing it to a broad leaf on Southern Gorgon's mother plant.

"Use your spiritual power to make contact…"

Dragon Cypress was just about to explain the usage, when Glinting Gold slipped from his claw, plopped into the water, and disappeared.

Spiritual power swept along.

Glinting Gold was dragged down, buried in the silt, sticking closely to Southern Gorgon's underground rhizome, slowly dissolving, and merging into the woody root.

—Spiritual power contact, and he learns how to use it right away? Southern Gorgon's really not a fool~

Dragon Cypress patiently waited for a while and then asked, "Southern Gorgon, how is it?"

Southern Gorgon: "Not bad."

Southern Gorgon: "Pretty handy."

Southern Gorgon: "It's mine now. You may go. Don't disturb my thoughts."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "Store extra Origin Force as you go. When the fruit ripens, use it up to save Source Stones. I'll sink the saved Source Stones in the reservoir for you to stash."

Southern Gorgon: "!!!"

Southern Gorgon: "You're a clever ant. I approve of your idea."

Heh~ Hah~ Dragon Cypress piloted the Dominating Throne up into the air and departed.

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