Ordinary Emerald Flower Cold Orchids ripen in early autumn.

The Divine-Given Seed of Emerald Flower Cold Orchid not only turned its blossom-fruit cycle into two years, but also pushed its fruit ripening back by another month or two. The exact season was hard to pinpoint, so Ink Orchid stayed behind at Xianglan Mountain to keep watch.

Dragon Cypress set out alone, heading straight for Scarletlight Mountain, bringing along Areca for an autumn trade journey.

The Divine-Given Seed of White Rice originally ripened in early autumn, but after reaching Evolution Mountain Lord Level, its ripening was delayed again…

This was a full month later than Dragon Cypress had predicted.

Taking advantage of this time, Dragon Cypress bagged up the Divine-Given Southern Sour Jujube and Mulberry exuviae from the Zikui Mountain ruins and sent them to Southern Sour Jujube Mountain and Scarletlight Mountain, respectively.

...

Golden late autumn.

White Rice Mountain.

The area around the Divine-Given Seed of White Rice formed an Origin Force Vacuum Land spanning over a hundred meters.

Under the tree, the sound of pounding echoed continuously.

White Rice and Black Rice gripped stones, smashing with all their might, shattering one Source Stone after another in order to quickly replenish their origin force.

The Dominating Throne drew close, yet the two insects didn't notice.

"White Rice."

"Black Rice~"

Dragon Cypress called out.

"Dragon Cypress. Areca."

White Rice and Black Rice stopped, turned around, looked up, then turned back and buried their heads, hammering away even harder at the Source Stones.

—Help us!

Dragon Cypress set Areca down.

Glancing around, he fetched two sturdy rocks but didn't rush to help, instead extending his spiritual power to try and communicate with Red Fox.

"Red Fox? Are you awake?"

"I'm awake."

"What does it feel like when the Divine-Given Seed bears fruit?"

"…My heart is filled with an irresistible longing."

"What kind of longing?"

"To eat meat."

"???"

Dragon Cypress: "Red Fox, you're joking now too?"

Red Fox: "I'm serious."

Red Fox: "When a Divine-Given Fruit ripens, it attracts flocks of birds and beasts. These ordinary creatures die violently after consuming Origin Force Food, and their corpses decompose under the tree, supplying the plant with the nutrients it needs to grow. Perhaps this is a fundamental law of nature."

"Alright—"

"Got it—"

Divine-Given Remains provide origin force material, but can't make up for the nutrient demand during the Divine-Given Seed's growth.

The Divine-Given Seed of White Rice has a much greater need for flesh-based nutrients than other Divine-Given Seeds.

Dragon Cypress turned to warn Areca: "You go play over there, don't get too close, be careful not to get hurt."

"Got it." Areca agreed, quickly moving to stand by the trunk of the Divine-Given Seed of White Rice.

Dragon Cypress didn't fuss, swiftly unloaded the goods from the throne, took off, and plunged into the forest.

He hunted a batch of large animals.

By the time he returned, the Divine-Given Seed of White Rice's frantic absorption of origin force had faded, and the fruits had entered the final stage of ripening.

He dug pits and buried the animal carcasses, tossing in a batch of Divine-Given Remains as well.

Working together under the tree for two days, and by dusk, the fragrance of fruit filled the air—the fruits were fully ripe.

Dragon Cypress leaped up and picked one.

Compared to the High-Level Stage, after advancing to Evolution Mountain Lord Level, the White Rice Fruit had grown larger and fleshier.

The flesh was snowy white, crystal-clear, with light blue veins and black seeds clearly visible.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King, how is it? How much can you sell it for?" Black Rice asked eagerly.

"…It's not quite like what we guessed and hoped for…"

Dragon Cypress examined the fruit repeatedly, then stuffed it in his mouth…

"The fruit's quality is a bit higher than most Mountain Lord Level wild Divine-Given Seeds, but still lower than a proper God-Given Life Seed."

"The fruits it produces haven't reached Life Seed quality. Judging by the Divine-Given Seed of White Rice's growth over the past two years, it's clear we were a bit too optimistic—there's no way for it to breeze straight through to Evolution Lord Level and Evolution King Level at high speed…"

Dragon Cypress: "But, its evolutionary growth speed is clearly still a lot faster than ordinary wild Divine-Given Seeds!"

White Rice: "That's still good!"

Black Rice: "We'll evolve together with Red Fox!"

White Rice and Black Rice were happy, content with things as they were.

Dragon Cypress felt a tinge of disappointment and analyzed in detail:

"The fruit pulp's healing effect is better, so the value can go up to 5 Source Stones each. The White Rice Seeds are still too tiny: each fetches 3 Source Stones, five seeds to a fruit, that's 15 Source Stones."

Dragon Cypress: "For Mountain Lord Level Divine-Given White Rice Fruit, I can offer 20 Source Stones apiece!"

Once this trade price was set, it wouldn't change again until the Divine-Given Seed of White Rice evolved to Lord Level.

This concerned both parties' trade revenue for decades to centuries to come.

Dragon Cypress watched for White Rice and Black Rice's reactions.

Black Rice didn't really understand Divine-Grade Origin Force Food prices, so it looked toward the Divine-Given Seed of White Rice, waiting for Red Fox's answer.

White Rice fluttered up, picked a fruit, inspected it and took a bite to taste it.

Dragon Cypress asked, "Red Fox, what do you say?"

Red Fox: "Ask White Rice."

White Rice: "A very fair price."

Dragon Cypress: "Alright, settled, there are 645 fruits this year… Shall I buy them all?"

White Rice: "Not this year! Black Rice and I need to keep some for ourselves."

White Rice: "We'll sell 500. That's exactly 10,000 Source Stones. For the next three years, we'll only sell 500 a year and keep the rest for ourselves."

"…Fine."

"…But you don't need to eat that much."

Dragon Cypress wanted to persuade them otherwise but didn't push it, saying, "At least give Little Betel Nut a few, huh?"

Areca was a bit shy and quiet.

Back in the day, whenever Dragon Cypress brought Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple to a new Land of Origin Force, those two would scheme to pick up every bit of information and rack their brains for a way to score some benefits.

Areca had none of that mindset whatsoever.

So, Dragon Cypress had to help out instead.

This time, the little stingy bug White Rice was unusually generous, waving its tentacles: "Give Little Betel Nut 10 fruits—as an early gift for evolving into an intermediate warrior."

"Great—"

Dragon Cypress tapped Areca with his tentacle, reminding, "Areca, say thank you."

Areca: "Thank you…"

...

The Divine-Given White Rice Fruit collected was directly refined into White Rice Ant King Honey.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid used it first.

The Ant Kingdom's Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, and Giant Cypress could use some.

Mountain Persimmon, Mulberry, White Willow, Spruce, and other insects also needed some.

The Divine-Given Seed of White Rice kept growing rapidly, and its output increased year by year. Once all the Cloud Trace Insects in the region had their fill, it was time to consider exporting it as White Rice Royal Jelly beyond the Cloud Trace Continent.

This wouldn't take long.

Should it go to White Ivy? Or the Grass Dragon?

When the time comes, the price for the caravan can be set at 25 per fruit—each Divine-Given White Rice Fruit brings in an extra 5 Source Stones in profit.

Add on the fee for refining it into White Rice Royal Jelly, and the profit margin stays healthy…

...

After bidding farewell to White Rice, Black Rice, and Red Fox, the Dominating Throne took off and drifted away.

Areca immediately realized they weren't going the usual way.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King, where to next?"

"Red Cypress Mountain."

Dragon Cypress replied.

Sure enough, he discovered an Origin Force Land with a dying Divine-Given Seed of Red Cypress and named the place Red Cypress Mountain, per Ink Orchid's suggestion.

Areca didn't know about this place yet.

With nothing to do on the road, Dragon Cypress explained it in detail.

After a day and a half of flying,

At noon, the Dominating Throne reached their destination.

"Great King!"

Fragrant Cypress was lying on the mountaintop admiring the view and just happened to meet Dragon Cypress.

"How is the Divine-Given Seed of Red Cypress doing?" Dragon Cypress asked.

"A little bit better…"

Fragrant Cypress's attention was all on Areca.

He'd heard Dragon Cypress talk about it, but this was the first time seeing for himself.

Fragrant Cypress waved his tentacles in greeting to Areca.

Areca lifted his foreleg in response.

Dragon Cypress: "Fragrant Cypress, have you been gathering Red Cypress Tree and Flat Cypress Tree seeds in the forest?"

Fragrant Cypress: "Yes! Got a whole sack! Dragon Cypress Ant King, I found six species in all. They look pretty much the same, I can't tell them apart…"

Dragon Cypress: "The reddish-brown trunked ones are Red Cypress Trees. There are two kinds: regular Red Cypress, and a variety with slender leaves, which we can call Slender-Leaf Red Cypress. As for Flat Cypress, there are four in total: Flat Cypress, Sharp-Leafed Thuja, Emerald Flower Cypress, and a variety that bears bigger fruit—let's call it Giant-Fruited Flat Cypress. Bring the seeds back and make these core plants for our Ant Kingdom, for large-scale cultivation around Black Lotus Lake and White Lotus Lake."

Fragrant Cypress: "Understood!"

Dragon Cypress: "Go tidy up in the cave, we'll be heading back to Xianglan Mountain soon. I'll take Areca down the mountain for a walk."

"Sure thing!" Fragrant Cypress agreed.

The Dominating Throne descended rapidly, finally hovering above the Divine-Given Seed of Red Cypress's crown.

A calm, gentle thread of Mental Power wafted out, as if greeting Dragon Cypress.

The Divine-Given Seed of Red Cypress had awakened and realized its days were numbered, and also knew Dragon Cypress was trying to save it.

Dragon Cypress crouched at the edge of the throne, carefully examining with his eyes.

Last time here, many tender leaves at the tips of the Red Cypress Divine-Given Seed had withered yellow. The Dragon Cypress Divine-Given Seed exuviae with massive fruit had helped somewhat; the withering trend hadn't spread.

Areca joined him, observing from the edge of the Stump Ant Nest.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King, will it last until the One-Glimpse Fruit ripens?"

"Looks like…it just might…"

Dragon Cypress wasn't certain.

Recalling Red Fox's words, he spent another half day hunting big animals in the forest, burying their bodies as fertilizer at the tree's base.

He'd done what he could.

Whether it survived was up to the Natural True God.

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