Seeing Zhou Leng pat his stomach, Vigorous Root said, "Giant insect juice is most potent right after it dies; later, its power fades and is even less than ordinary magical beast meat."

"Indeed." While walking, Zhou Leng practiced Qi Manipulation to slowly digest the giant insect juice.

It has slight toxicity, and ordinary Inmates can't consume it, but for Zhou Leng's physique, it serves more as a kind of training.

Vigorous Root said, "If you're not afraid of the toxins, consuming a lot of giant insect juice is similar to drinking Radiant Juice. To our Tree-man Race, giant insect juice is just another form of Water of Life and can also strengthen us."

"So you both keep eating each other?"

"Exactly. Tree-men have the Tree of Life, and giant insects have the mother nest—there's not much difference."

Cyan Flame said, "If you can still open your mouth when faced with a swarm of giant flies, I'll consider you impressive."

"I just had a meal, don't mention such disgusting things."

Vigorous Root responded, "The taste of giant maggots is quite exquisite, very nourishing."

"Alright, I'll stick to giant ants and bees, and leave the flies to you." Zhou Leng said.

Vigorous Root said, "We don't want to encounter giant ants and bees. Once these two giant insect armies are mobilized, we can only flee."

"What giant insect are you most afraid of?"

"Giant mantis, the swordsman among giant insects; their blade-light can sever us into two with a flash."

"Giant ants are similar; they aren't large, about the size of a fist, but they're too numerous, like a vast ocean, impossible to kill them all."

Cyan Flame smiled and said, "I quite like giant ants."

Vigorous Root suddenly brightened up and said, "I almost forgot, you Demon Spirit Masters and the old humans are skilled at dealing with numerous weak giant insects. I know a giant ant tribe; want to do something big? Set up a trap, burn the giant ants, and the war merits will flow like water."

Cyan Flame stroked his chin and said, "No problem. I have plenty of fire-element materials on hand, enough to create a vast sea of fire. But can you handle those large ant kings?"

"Ants aren't fast; kill what you can, run from those you can't."

Vigorous Root said, "In this season, the ant queen is accumulating life force and is filled with Radiant Juice. Unfortunately, it's hard to obtain. When we become Grandmasters, there's a chance."

"Radiant Juice? Let's check it out." Zhou Leng said.

"Let's go."

The team prepared briefly, and after Vigorous Root transmitted information via underground roots, they set out.

On the road, Zhou Leng took out a giant locust leg and asked, "How's the taste?"

Vigorous Root said, "We usually crush it into juice rather than eat it directly. However, I've heard Giants can eat it as long as they aren't afraid of the toxins within."

Zhou Leng took out a demonization detector to test the toxin, which measured about 4.3 toxicity.

As for his current body, this is approximately non-toxic.

Zhou Leng raised his hand, using Finger Sword Qi to slice off the spikes from the leg, and handed it to Cyan Flame: "Help me out."

Cyan Flame shook his head; the Demon Spirit Ball on his shoulder transformed into a firebird, spewing flames, quickly roasting it.

A faint meaty aroma wafted through the air.

Zhou Leng peeled off the shell, extracted the meat, and chewed.

"No fishy taste, a fragrant herbal aroma, fuller and juicier than crab meat, chewy, not bad. Do you want some?"

"I don't have as strong a body as you." Cyan Flame said.

Zhou Leng finished eating four Innate giant locust legs along the way, feeling warm; the energy contained in meat of the same size is higher than Innate Meat Herbal Cuisine.

"The Tree-man World is actually pretty nice. The locust's chest meat should taste good; I used to roast it as a child." Zhou Leng said.

Vigorous Root replied, "You Dragon Country people really are all the same. No wonder I heard Dragon Country had a Pioneer Company negotiating with our Tree-man tribe about developing a giant insect livestock industry but later found giant insects too strong and hard to control, and stopped the collaboration."

As they spoke, they headed toward the giant ant nest.

Outside the giant ant nest, a complex team composed of Pioneer Company members, Demon Worshipers, Demons, Beastmen, Giant Dragons, and giant insects was being chased by swarms of giant ants, rapidly retreating.

In the sky, Jade Wings cursed quietly.

"Crazy, utterly crazy!"

"Since you dare to have ideas about the giant ant nest, Aiden indeed is the Mad Prince; I will absolutely not be with him next time. Even crazier than Zhou Leng!"

"I'm not fighting, these giant ants have vicious teeth, each worse than the last!"

Below, Mad Prince Aiden and Broken Candle City Lord Radiance of the Bright Candle commanded the army, maintaining a retreat formation.

Behind them, swarms of giant ants were dense and numerous, with over a thousand Innate Realm giant ants and over a hundred thousand Qi Blood Realm giant ants.

Aiden smiled upon seeing the giant ants almost empty the nest.

"Draw these giant ants far enough, then organize the Innates to counterattack, snatch the Radiant Juice, and retreat."

Radiance of the Bright Candle said, "The ant queen is ultimately a Grandmaster, if it's a fight to the death, I fear heavy losses."

"It won't be. I found a giant insect translator; we only want one third of her Radiant Juice, she won't fight to the death. This sort of thing, I've heard experts have done it."

"That's for the best, otherwise if there are heavy losses, it will be difficult to excavate the Ancient Tree Fossil next. Not to mention, the Ancient Heart of Life."

Aiden said, "We have an agreement, if we really obtain the Ancient Heart of Life, it's mine."

"As long as you can help me kill Zhou Leng, all the Ancient Hearts of Life will be yours, I only want the Ancient Tree Fossil."

Aiden said, "The value of the Ancient Heart of Life far surpasses our imagination. Once obtained, we must leave this place overnight."

"I've heard that many Grandmasters have already entered, all aiming for the Ancient Heart of Life; naturally, we need to avoid them once we have it," Radiance of the Bright Candle said.

Aiden asked, "What does the Celestial Calamity Envoy intend, do they really want to destroy the Tree-man World?"

"Based on my deduction, that Celestial Calamity God seems to dislike the Tree-men, so he chose to sacrifice the Tree of Life to summon the god."

"Won't the cost be too great? Do your Lords agree?"

"This Celestial Calamity God holds a very special status; it's said that he's the child of a powerful Divine Spirit. Even the Ancient Ones in the Demon Purgatory, whose true forms may be Lords in the starry sky, need to give him face."

Aiden's eyes lit up and he said, "You must introduce me."

"Of course."

Aiden looked up at the distant Jade Wings, let out a cold snort, and said, "This cowardly scumbag, sometimes I really want to punch him to death."

Radiance of the Bright Candle showed anger and said, "If it weren't for this damned thing secretly poisoning you, you wouldn't have fainted."

"Yes, if I hadn't fainted, I would have gone to rescue your child."

However, Aiden thought to himself, "With Chen Shouhu holding the fort on the other side, do they really think I'm a madman? I'm pretending not to know and got poisoned on purpose. But this Jade Wings is such a bastard, meek on the outside, but strikes hard on the inside!"

In the deep of night, Zhou Leng's team reached a mountain top, quietly peering forward from the summit.

Vigorous Root said, "That small hill is the Giant Ant Nest."

A hill hundreds of meters high rose abruptly on the plain, covered with various holes.

Giant worker ants the size of fists moved back and forth, and arm-length giant soldier ants patrolled vigilantly while a male ant with transparent wings stood at the top of the Giant Ant Nest, as tall as a small horse, constantly on watch.

"What is the strength of this nest?" Zhou Leng asked.

"It's a small nest. If it were one of those large ones, filled with Grandmaster-level giant ants, I wouldn't dare get close."

"In this nest, only the Ant Queen is at the Grandmaster level. The Tree-man Race predecessors say the Ant Queen can't move recklessly, needing to protect the Radiant Juice and unformed ant eggs within her. She relies on other giant ants for protection unless it's a matter of life and death."

"Moreover, during this season, the Ant Queen is in her breeding period, with a lot of Radiant Juice in her belly, making her immobile and not at all threatening."

"Ordinary giant worker ants and giant soldier ants are mostly in the Qi Blood Realm, with few in the Vitality Stage, at most the Body Refining Stage, but they are numerous and are the most troublesome group for us Tree-men."

"Both male and female ants are in the Innate Realm, and there are thousands in this nest, quite strong. However... something seems off."

Vigorous Root and other Tree-men looked puzzled at the male ant atop the Giant Ant Nest.

"What is it?" Zhou Leng asked.

"Even at night, there seem to be fewer giant ants than usual. Generally, the ones on the top of the nest are usually high-level Innate, or what you call Muscle Innate. This one is just a Blood Shocking Innate giant ant."

Another Tree-man added, "Although some places are hard to see clearly at night, I still noticed some signs that this Giant Ant Nest seems to have undergone recent repairs..."

Zhou Leng quickly noticed something amiss, pointing to a spot, "Someone attacked here not long ago, look, there are trample marks, one pit after another; many experts must have participated. There are also traces of large-scale troop movements."

Vigorous Root suddenly realized, "I understand! Some experts wanted to obtain the Radiant Juice, so a battle took place. Most likely, the strong Innate giant ants have left, and there are few left inside the Giant Ant Nest now."

"Let me investigate." Cyan Flame said, performing a Demon Spirit Technique.

Before him, a blue light quickly gathered, intertwining into the shape of the Giant Ant Nest.

Soon, small red lights appeared within the blue glow.

After a careful investigation, Cyan Flame questioned, "Inside the Giant Ant Nest, there is indeed Grandmaster-level strength, only one."

"There are four with Muscle Innate level strength, but all are severely injured and unable to fight."

"Twelve are severely injured at the Bone Forger Innate level, two lightly injured."

"There are a dozen or so intact, Blood Shocking Innate and True Liquid Innate giant ants, but many are injured. There are also many corpses of Innate giant ants. A Giant Ant Nest shouldn't have this few Innates, should it?"

Vigorous Root thought for a moment and said, "The total number of Innate giant ants in this nest exceeds a thousand; unless a Martial Saint comes, even a Grandmaster wouldn't be able to force their way in, unless…"

Zhou Leng said, "Unless some experts lured the Innate giant ants in batches and killed some; eventually, the giant ants realized something was wrong, so they all went out to hunt down those enemies. Now, the interior of the Giant Ant Nest is vulnerable."

The six of them exchanged glances.

"Do we go for it?" Vigorous Root asked.

"Let's do it!"

"Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, can't be like a turtle hiding away."

"The key is, most of the Giant Insect Race doesn't have much intelligence. Even if the giant ants had experts, those have likely been lured away by the mysterious expert. The ones left are surely not smart."

"Let's quickly plan a strategy to maximize our gain!" Cyan Flame said.

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