Ghost Fan Mountain.

After the Divine-Given Seed of Ghost Fan evolved to Mountain Lord Level, it rested from blooming and fruiting for a year, growing another three to five meters taller.

The recovery of the Quandong Divine Tree was delayed, and Dragon Cypress missed the honey collection season—now the tree was full of green fruit.

Ghost Fan currently had 27 Common Life Seeds, of which 25 had smoothly transitioned to Mountain Lord Level, blooming and bearing fruit this spring. The two Common Life Seeds bred during the 8th and 9th Age Periods as High-Level Warriors were sown late, so it would take them two to three years to reach Mountain Lord Level.

Ghost Fan was currently working in the forest with Woodberry. For them, who lacked Water System Ability, irrigation and fertilization was a time-consuming task.

The Dominating Throne approached and landed.

"Ghost Fan. Woodberry."

Ink Orchid greeted them.

Areca spat out a thread of Spider Silk, stuck one end to the Stump Ant Nest, and slid down along the silk to the ground.

"Greetings, Ghost Fan Mountain Lord."

"Hi, Woodberry."

Areca greeted politely.

"Eh—"

"Who's this?"

Ghost Fan and Woodberry stared blankly in confusion.

Their first reaction: Where did Dragon Cypress find a Flame Spider Roving Merchant?

Searching their Inherited Memory, they realized this one was unlike any Roving Merchant Tribe ever described.

After a closer look, it still took them a while to react.

"Native Breed Flame Spider!"

"Primordial Spider Warrior!"

Ghost Fan and Woodberry were once again stunned.

Ghost Fan said, "Dragon Cypress, I remember, when we chatted before, you mentioned this ancient tribe was supposed to be extinct?"

Dragon Cypress replied, "There aren't any on the Ten Thousand Nations Continent or the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent. I found it on the Cloud Trace Continent."

Ink Orchid pointed southeast and said, "Found in the tropical rainforest of the southeast region."

Areca said, "I'm Areca."

Woodberry said, "Nice to meet you, Areca~"

With great interest, Woodberry asked, "Areca, you can spit silk! Then you must know how to make Spider Silk Bags, too?"

Areca answered, "…No. I'm just starting to learn."

"Woodberry, take Areca to the orchard and show off your Life Seed Plants."

Dragon Cypress called out, "Ghost Fan Mountain Lord, let's go have a look at the Divine-Given Seed of Ghost Fan."

Ink Orchid eagerly asked, "Ghost Fan Mountain Lord, how many flowers did it bloom this year? How many fruits are there?"

Ghost Fan: "..."

Ghost Fan: "You two better just call me Ghost Fan. Calling me 'Ghost Fan Mountain Lord' sounds weird."

Ghost Fan said, "The yield of the Divine-Given Seed of Ghost Fan has increased significantly—this time it bloomed 2,717 flowers. I was worried too much fruit would hinder its growth, so I had Woodberry climb the tree and thin some out. This time I only kept an even 2,000 fruits."

Ghost Fan said with confidence, "Next time it blooms and bears fruit, the quantity will definitely exceed 3,000, and there's plenty of room for future growth."

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid nodded their tentacles in agreement.

Divine-Given Ghost Fan Fruits at Mountain Lord Level could be sold to a caravan, with each fruit going for as much as 24 or 25 Source Stones.

With just this single Divine-Given Seed, Ghost Fan could obtain resources needed for Evolution Lord Level.

"Very reasonable—"

"That's amazing—"

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid were even happier than Ghost Fan.

All they needed to do was wait for the fruit to ripen, buy them up, and greatly enhance their own spiritual power—which would allow the Dominating Throne to fly even faster.

Dragon Cypress: "When I have time, I'll ship you more Divine-Given Remains."

Ink Orchid asked, "Woodberry, when are you planning to evolve into a High-Level Warrior?"

"—Huh?" Woodberry looked at Ghost Fan.

Ghost Fan: "…There's no rush, right?"

Ghost Fan's temperament, just like both its Talent Ability and Awakening Ability, was extremely conservative.

The Talent Ability of the Three-Spot Click Beetle is 'Feigned Death', and Woodberry was naturally timid.

Woodberry always maintained a slow and steady pace of evolution, and had lingered at the 9th Age Period mid-level for over a year.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid were getting anxious watching this.

Dragon Cypress: "Ink Orchid and I aren't particularly busy lately. Let's stay at Ghost Fan Mountain for a while. We brought quite a bit of high-quality Origin Force Food, so we can arrange for Woodberry to evolve."

Ink Orchid: "With aid from the Dominating Throne, there won't be any danger."

"Woodberry is still very young…" Ghost Fan hesitated.

Woodberry hesitated, stammered, "I think… I'm ready…"

Ink Orchid said cheerfully, "Let's do as Woodberry says, then."

Dragon Cypress: "Ink Orchid and I will stay and help out for a few days. Also, I'll give Areca some proper lessons on weaving Spider Silk Bags."

…

Weaving Spider Silk Bags wasn't an ability found in the Flame Spider's Inherited Memory—it had to be learned later on.

Dragon Cypress had learned a bit as a child by watching Melde teach Grass Dragon.

It was rather complicated.

Since Dragon Cypress couldn't spin silk, he couldn't demonstrate in person, so teaching was tricky.

Luckily, Areca was clever and quick to understand, so could just barely pick it up.

It took a total of 11 days, and Woodberry successfully evolved into a High-Level Three-Spot Click Beetle Warrior.

Before leaving, Areca lived up to expectations—he wove his first Spider Silk Bag in his spider life, which made a perfect gift to present to Woodberry as a congratulation.

…

Dragon Cypress believed that the best way to nurture and train little warriors was to let them meet more insects, communicate with more intelligent life forms, see more landscapes, and broaden their horizons.

The Dominating Throne headed north, entered Southern Sour Jujube Mountain, and showed Areca the Divine-Given Seed of Southern Sour Jujube.

After a night's stay, they continued north and entered Black Lotus Lake to introduce Areca to White Willow.

At last, they came to Xianglan Mountain.

Areca got to know Azure, Fruit-Scented Orchid, Southern Gorgon, Northern Gorgon, and Emerald Flower Cold Orchid—the five Divine-Given Seeds. They explored the mountain, played around, and visited the orchard.

Day by day, the weather got hotter.

Dragon Cypress piloted the Dominating Throne, set off again, arrived first at Kiwifruit Mountain, introduced Areca to Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple, and showed off the rare male Green-Red Kiwifruit Divine-Given Seed.

Next, they went to White Rice Mountain and visited White Rice, Black Rice, and Red Fox.

Finally, keeping an eye on the time, they hurried back to Scarletlight Mountain to harvest the Divine-Given Scarletlight Fruit.

Areca stayed behind to take care of his own Primordial Spider colony.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid set off eastward.

…

The Second Source Stone Mine.

Midnight.

Black Cory was directing the ant colony to dig pits in the flat land at the foot of the mountain, burying heaps of Source Stones nearby to keep them from getting damaged or lost after prolonged exposure to the elements.

100,000 Source Stones per pit—a rock on top, inscribed with marks, numbered and counted.

Black Cory's waving tentacles suddenly paused. He bowed his head in perception, then raised it, quickly climbed onto a nearby giant rock to look into the distance from high up.

Bathed in moonlight, the Dominating Throne glowed a faint blue as it sped closer.

"Great King!"

Black Cory waved his tentacles in greeting, and the ants below cheered along.

"Black Cory!"

Dragon Cypress greeted him and asked curiously, "What's the good news?"

Black Cory: "Nothing… All the work's done…"

Black Cory reported, "Great King, there are 12,400,000 Source Stones altogether. As you ordered, 100,000 per pit, we've dug 97 pits… not much left, we'll finish in a day or two."

"Great King, can I go back to Black Lotus Lake now?"

"Of course. You think I'd go back on my word?"

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid jumped down from the Throne, sweeping the area with their spiritual power, strolling around to inspect.

With a quick count, there were 97 underground Source Stone pits, and 28 heaps left above ground, including a small pile of two or three tens of thousands of leftover Source Stones.

Dragon Cypress jumped back onto the Throne and took out four large Spider Silk Bags.

"Black Cory, go fetch 4,000 Source Stones, bring them back to Black Lotus Lake. White Willow manages Life Seeds; he'll surely find a use for them sooner or later. Think of this as an extra reward for your hard work in the Desolation of Death for a year."

"Thank you, Great King."

Black Cory was delighted, took the bags, and directed the Worker Ants to fill them.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid helped with their claws.

Even 100,000 Source Stones weren't that much when piled up together.

What was left would be finished in another two nights.

They rested for a day.

The Dominating Throne set out fully loaded, returning straight to Black Lotus Lake.

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