A spring with not much to do, a bit boring.

Dragon Cypress directed the worker ants to dig and expand the South Mountain Restaurant, smoothing out the ceiling of the cave, and using his superb memory to copy and render the Cloud Trace Continent map from the Huagi Knowledge Hall onto it, adjusting it based on his years of field exploration.

Then he conducted a comprehensive inventory of the various plants currently collected, categorized them, and illustrated on the restaurant's stone walls, combining patterns with symbols to record descriptions of cultivation and propagation methods.

At present, Xianglan Mountain possesses three top-level plant seeds unique to Cloud Trace Continent: Keg Vine, Silver Cypress, and Red Cypress.

Black Lotus probably also counts as a top-level plant seed.

High-quality plant seeds suitable to become Life Seeds include Azure Tree, Green-Red Kiwifruit, Golden Light Fruit, Black Cory, White Mulberry, Flat Cypress, and so on—up to 31 varieties.

Through Flame Spider Roving Merchants, top-level plant seeds collected from Ten-thousand Tribes Continent and Wan Country Continent include Large Fruit Hemlock, Green Torreya, Black Emperor Peach, Golden Pine Nut, Great King Fir, Dominant Chestnut, Spotted Star Pear, Sky Blue Persimmon, Blood Oranges, Purple Kiwifruit, Snake Blood Apricot—a total of 11 kinds.

High-quality plant seeds suitable to become Life Seeds include Dragon Cypress, Round Cypress, Giant Cypress, Water Stone Banyan, Yellow Peach—all together more than a hundred varieties.

The cultivated area was still not vast, but the sheer variety was already catching up to Huagi Mountain at its peak period.

Huagi Mountain has preserved 8 top-level plant seeds to this day, along with 62 excellent plant seeds suitable as Life Seeds, almost all unique to Cloud Trace Continent.

In the early days, Dragon Cypress even considered making quick cash by selling seeds, but now that there's no shortage of Source Stones, he definitely wouldn't sell anymore.

It would be appropriate to promote the unique plant species of Cloud Trace Continent within the local trade network—a future plan could be to sell Origin Force Food made from Cloud Trace specialties to caravans and make sustainable, long-term profits.

...

Dragon Cypress timed his departure, heading for Kiwifruit Mountain, leaving Round Cypress to help care for the territory, and taking Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple along to White Rice Mountain to gather nectar from the Divine-Given White Rice Seed and complete the spring trade along the way.

Next they'd head to Scarletlight Mountain, taking Areca along, passing by Ghost Fan Mountain, Southern Sour Jujube Mountain, Black Lotus Lake, and finally returning to Xianglan Mountain.

The whole mountain was covered in blooming flowers.

Ink Orchid stayed behind, watching over the home with Silver Cypress, Cypress, and Black Cory.

Dragon Cypress, Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, Blue Catalpa, Snakebark Maple, and Areca headed for the Rednan Mountain ant nest to start this year's trading.

...

Starship Passage.

Racing ahead, Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple suddenly stopped at a branch in the passage and turned around.

Blue Catalpa: "Areca, aren't you curious about what's inside the Starship?"

Areca: "Not curious."

Snakebark Maple: "You better not go wandering off—up, down, left, right, the place is riddled with passages and rooms. If you get lost, you'll be trapped in there forever."

Areca: "I know."

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple turned back and continued running down the main passage.

After a while,

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple stopped again.

Blue Catalpa: "Areca, I think it's necessary for me to share some of the experience that Snakebark Maple and I have gathered."

Areca: "What experience?"

Snakebark Maple: "Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord is the richest, most generous, has a good personality, and will be the future caravan leader. Natsumi has a calm character, but also a bit sly, always trying to snoop out the secrets of Xianglan Mountain."

Blue Catalpa: "White Ivy Mountain Lord is fierce, Red Peach Mantis is ruthless—don't tangle with these two."

Snakebark Maple: "Melde is stingy. Also, it's the one who sent the Dragon Cypress Ant King from Ten-thousand Tribes Continent to Cloud Trace Continent."

Blue Catalpa: "And then there's that Grass Dragon, an absolutely infuriating spider. It's a friend of the Dragon Cypress Ant King. The Ant King wants to support it so it becomes the fourth independent caravan."

Snakebark Maple: "And whatever you do, don't ask White Ivy or Grass Dragon for kickbacks. The consequences are severe."

Areca: "…Kickback?"

Blue Catalpa: "Don't be surprised. We're intermediaries, running back and forth, exhausting body and mind—it's only natural to take a little benefit from time to time."

Snakebark Maple: "Mostly, Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord is the easiest to talk to."

Blue Catalpa: "This will be your only chance. We can only demonstrate for you once."

Snakebark Maple: "This is a skillful technical job—pay close attention."

Areca: "..."

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple set off again, running onward.

This year for sale to the caravan are Divine-Given Deep Blue Seed, Fruit-Scented Orchid Seed, and Cuihua Hanlan Seed. The important thing is that Cuihua Hanlan Seed is being sold for the first time, so price negotiations are needed with the Flame Spider Caravan.

Soon, they reached the Starship exit.

Snakebark Maple held the spider silk bag, waiting behind with Areca in tow.

Blue Catalpa ran alone up the hillside to show himself.

At the foot of the hill, Natsumi immediately noticed and informed Seven-Leaf.

...

"Huh?"

"That is…"

Seven-Leaf walked up the hillside, unhurriedly, swept the area with spiritual power—and instantly fluffed up in shock.

"Flame Spider?!"

Natsumi jumped up.

Striding quickly forward to get a closer look, catching another shock.

It didn't belong to any of the five major Roving Merchant Tribes: Lilacs, Illusory Color, Grape Hydrangea, Diaphus, or White-Legged.

—Primordial Spider Warrior!

—Native Breed Flame Spider!

Seven-Leaf recognized it immediately.

Blue Catalpa: "Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord, please stay calm."

Snakebark Maple: "Let me formally introduce you. This is our fifth warrior of Xianglan Mountain, Areca."

"Greetings, Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord."

"Hello, Natsumi."

Areca greeted them in turn.

And yet, completely unexpectedly, Seven-Leaf didn't stay calm at all. He turned around and dashed off, vanishing like smoke.

Natsumi froze for a moment, chased after him some distance, then gave up and returned.

"..."

Blue Catalpa, Snakebark Maple, and Areca were all stunned.

Blue Catalpa: "Natsumi, come on, wasn't Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord's reaction way over the top?"

Snakebark Maple: "Native Breed Flame Spiders are the ancestors of the Dulai Flame Spiders, but that doesn't mean Areca is yours or Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord's literal ancestor."

Areca asked seriously, "Natsumi, what's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Natsumi was also a bit bewildered, answering stiffly, "In Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, the Primordial Spider Tribe has disappeared… Seeing a clan member… Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord must just be happy…"

Areca: "Then is he…?"

Natsumi: "He must be eager to share the good news with the Aconite Spider King."

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple exchanged glances: Something's wrong!

Dragon Cypress surmised—the five major Flame Spider Tribes of Ten-thousand Tribes Continent would, more or less, feel threatened by the Primordial Spider Tribe.

They united to form their own Flame Spider Kingdom, with equal status among the five tribe clans, jointly governing and controlling the traveling merchant trade of both Ten-thousand Tribes and Wan Country Continents, amassing endless wealth.

They'd definitely dislike having a "primordial ancestral tribe" that naturally outranks them looming overhead.

Dragon Cypress guessed that the clever Flame Spider Roving Merchants would be very "respectful" to Areca, but would never send the Native Breed Flame Spider Tribe to the Wan Country Continent…

But judging by Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord's response…

...

Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord tore down the hillside at full speed, instantly drawing the attention of many tribe members in the trading square.

"Seven-Leaf, what's wrong?"

"Seven-Leaf, what happened?"

"Ran into trouble?"

Several familiar Flame Spiders asked.

"…It's nothing."

"…Nothing happened."

"Everyone's busy. I'm fine."

Seven-Leaf settled down, slowed his steps, and approached the Aconite Spider King.

"The sky falling?"

The Aconite Spider King looked a bit dissatisfied with Seven-Leaf's loss of composure—after all, staying calm in a crisis is the most basic quality of a good leader.

"What is it?"

The Aconite Spider King asked. As a direct elder who had watched Seven-Leaf grow up, it was the first time seeing him so rattled.

Seven-Leaf drew close and lowered his mental power, saying, "Native Breed Flame Spider—the Cloud Trace Continent has a Primordial Spider Warrior!"

"What?!"

The Aconite Spider King lost composure as well, sprang up, stared blankly for a moment, then sank back down, extending spiritual power quietly to scan the hillside.

No mistake—that's a Primordial Spider Warrior!

The Aconite Spider King's mind raced, and he cautioned: "Seven-Leaf, don't spread the word yet. Find out the backstory first, confirm if it really is from Cloud Trace Continent, or somewhere else, see how many Primordial Spiders there are—any other roving merchant tribes involved…"

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.