The cushion area of the Dominating Throne was too small.

Or rather, the Mountain Lord Level Insect Clan Warriors were just too big.

Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, Blue Catalpa were lying horizontally, at the bottom.

Dragon Cypress and Black Rice lay vertically on top of their backs.

Stacked in two layers to fit all five insects.

However, the weight of the Insect Clan Warriors was manageable; the Dominating Throne could easily carry them and fly at top speed.

Upon entering Huagi Mountain, they flew straight down towards the Quandong Divine Tree.

Yellow Stem was busy alone in the mountains, carrying a spider silk bag to collect grass seeds; upon noticing them, he dropped everything and sprinted over.

"Quandong Divine Tree! Yellow Stem!"

Dragon Cypress called out, leaping lightly to the ground.

Black Rice followed and landed.

Spiked Cypress and Blue Catalpa jumped down from the throne with a cry.

Without waiting for questions, Dragon Cypress said bluntly, "The Termite Kingdom has fallen, and the White Poplar Divine Seed has been successfully secured."

Blue Catalpa picked up, "Under Dragon Cypress Ant King's flawless command, not a single racial warrior was lost in battle—not even an insect injured."

Black Rice continued, "The Blackwing Damselfly Warrior White Willow was also incredible; it was her keen senses that discovered the tracks of Lord-Level Assistant King Red Top who was in charge of protecting the Red Phellodendron Ant Queen's territory in the Termite Kingdom. We launched a decisive strike, annihilated him together, then followed the original plan and made a straight dash for the royal palace..."

Black Rice recounted the entire course of the war in one breath.

Yellow Stem waved his tentacles, shouting with excitement, "That's fantastic!"

The Quandong Divine Tree said in a deep, calm voice, "Congratulations, Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

Yellow Stem asked, "Where's Spruce?"

"The Purple Tung Insect Nation still has a lot of post-war matters to handle, so Spruce stayed behind to help."

Dragon Cypress waved his tentacles, signaling Spiked Cypress, Blue Catalpa, and Black Rice to quiet down as there was important business to discuss.

Quandong Divine Tree asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, how do you plan to resettle the Barley Bug Tribal Warriors?"

Dragon Cypress: "It's all been arranged. Each Barley Bug Warrior is assigned a private territory of 3 square kilometers; the Barley Bug Tribe as a whole has a communal territory of about 100 square kilometers, in an area near the Central Region with extremely high Origin Force Concentration."

Dragon Cypress: "With such a vast territory, they won't be able to manage all of it efficiently. Using my Soul-Setting Ability to observe, I found they don't have any major objections to this."

Quandong Divine Tree: "Making such concessions—does that mean you intend to sow the White Poplar Divine Seed in the Purple Tung Insect Nation?"

Dragon Cypress: "That's exactly the plan. On site inspection, the Origin Force Concentration in the core region of the Purple Tung Insect Nation is about 2.3 times that of Huagi Mountain! Sowing the Divine-Given Seed there will make it grow better and faster, and at fruit maturation, it'll greatly cut down the cost in Source Stones. The benefits are too numerous to name."

Dragon Cypress: "However, the Life Seed is a matter of life and death and can't be decided lightly. I'll continue to observe for at least half a year, to make sure we can coexist harmoniously with the Barley Bug Tribal Warriors before making a final decision."

Quandong Divine Tree: "What about in the long run? As the Ant King of the South, moving North to claim land—it's hard for the insects to accept."

Dragon Cypress, "I will do my utmost to help the Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed evolve to King-Level, and distribute all future yield evenly among all insects."

Quandong: "Once divided among every insect, that's not much per head."

Dragon Cypress: "Trade and commerce."

Quandong: "That's essential."

Dragon Cypress: "I will support reliable Barley Bug Warriors, led by Wuye, to evolve to Mountain Lord Level, balancing decision-making power within their tribe."

Quandong: "Maybe it'll help."

Dragon Cypress: "In the name of enriching Cloud Trace Continent's internal Origin Force food production and tribal development, I will encourage Barley Bug Warriors to cultivate Little Warriors by rewarding them with Origin Force Food. Once they have descendants, they form emotional bonds—before doing anything, if not for themselves, they have to consider their juniors, right?"

Quandong: "Maybe that's a win-win, or maybe the backlash risk is even worse."

Dragon Cypress: "Exactly! Favors alone won't bring lasting peace; there must also be military deterrence. The greatest deterrence is the super-powerful individuals Ink Orchid, Snakebark Maple, and Spruce—their Life Seed Plants will not take root in the Purple Tung Insect Nation. I'll provide resources to help Snakebark Maple evolve, while Huagi Mountain has what Spruce needs to grow. As for Ink Orchid, that's a given; she'll get the best resources to attain ultimate evolution.

At all times, at least one of them will be stationed in the Purple Tung Insect Nation. The moment the Barley Bug Warriors make any suspicious moves, regardless of outcome, Ink Orchid, Snakebark Maple, and Spruce will wipe out their entire tribe. I won't spell this out directly, but I'll arrange for Spruce, Snakebark Maple, and Ink Orchid to show up from time to time, intentionally or not revealing a little info. The Barley Bugs aren't stupid—they'll pick up on my intentions."

Quandong: "..."

The Quandong Divine Tree praised, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, I've always thought highly of you and trusted you—not because you're a genius, but because of your ability to handle complex matters."

Yellow Stem chimed in with approval, "Generous rewards combined with powerful deterrence—that's the most rational way to maintain true stability."

Yellow Stem asked, "What about the Assistant Kings and Soldier Ants? What's the plan?"

Dragon Cypress: "In the recent attack on the Termite Kingdom, over three thousand Blue Soldiers and Soldier Ants remain; they're all stationed in the Purple Tung Insect Nation. In the coming years, I'll add another three thousand medium and small patrol Soldier Ants."

Dragon Cypress tentatively suggested, "According to my observations and calculations, the central region of the Purple Tung Insect Nation with the richest Origin Force, if well-planned, can accommodate up to six Divine-Given Seeds taking root. Yellow Stem, Quandong Divine Tree, both of your Huagi Mountain's slumbering Huagi Divine Tree and Linnan Divine Tree—maybe you could consider..."

Yellow Stem just shook his tentacles and didn't answer.

Quandong: "The three of us Divine Trees cannot easily leave Huagi Mountain."

Yellow Stem: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, it's not that we don't trust you—we just worry that if anything unexpected happened... should the Divine Tree not return... Huagi Mountain couldn't bear a loss like that."

Dragon Cypress: "What could go wrong? Are you afraid I'll suddenly die? Or worried about security over at the Purple Tung Insect Nation? Surely you're not doubting my credibility?"

Yellow Stem replied bluntly, "All three."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Quandong: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, I've pondered this long ago—my answer is, once you've evolved to Lord-Level, let's discuss it again."

Dragon Cypress: "...All right."

Dragon Cypress knew it wouldn't be that easy to persuade Huagi Mountain.

Still, the Quandong Divine Tree didn't outright reject him either.

They rested a night in Huagi Mountain, chatting with the Quandong Divine Tree and Yellow Stem, recounting more details of the campaign against the Termite Kingdom.

Departing at dawn the next day.

...

White Lotus Lake.

The golden season of harvest.

The Worker Ants were following instructions marked at the tunnel entrances, gathering ripe orchard fruits and taking them back to the Ant Nest, where Blue Ants refined them into Ant Honey.

Without the Assistant King's command, all tasks proceeded as usual.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

Night Fragrance Divine-Given Seed hailed them warmly from afar, "Did you manage to take the Termite Kingdom?"

Dragon Cypress: "Of course! Not a single Insect Clan Warrior lost in battle."

Dragon Cypress: "And the White Poplar Divine Seed has been successfully secured."

Night Fragrance sincerely said, "Congratulations to you all!"

The Dominating Throne drew close, landing under the tree.

"This is Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress."

"This is Furry-Horned Beetle Warrior Blue Catalpa, and this is Sphere Insect Warrior Black Rice."

Dragon Cypress tapped his tentacles in introduction, leaped down, and looked up at the tree.

The three Divine-Grade Night Fragrance Fruits on the tree had already grown, to ripen next autumn.

"Night Fragrance!"

"Night Fragrance Divine-Given Seed!"

"Greetings, Night Fragrance Divine-Given Seed!"

Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, Blue Catalpa, and Black Rice landed and greeted, then looked up as well.

It was their first time seeing Night Fragrance Divine-Given Seed, and they all gasped in awe.

Dragon Cypress waved his tentacles for quiet, saying, "After on-site survey, the central oval region of the Purple Tung Insect Nation—within a radius of 2,000 to 3,000 meters—the Origin Force Concentration is more than double that of White Lotus Lake."

Night Fragrance: "Dragon Cypress, are you planning to sow the White Poplar Divine Seed over there?"

Dragon Cypress: "It's under consideration!"

Dragon Cypress: "Night Fragrance, you could also consider relocating to the Purple Tung Insect Nation to take root. First, when I and Ink Orchid leave in the future, you could choose to come with us or stay in the Purple Tung Insect Nation, where the Barley Bug Warriors could look after you—just one more option. Second, you'd save on Glinting Gold usage; I'm not sure whether, when the White Poplar Divine Seed bears fruit, we'd need to supplement extra Source Stones. If we do, it shouldn't be much, and using Glinting Gold could save quite a bit."

Dragon Cypress: "At the moment, I owe over ten million Source Stones. If I then use Divine-Grade Soul-Stabilizing Fruit to exchange for the Divine-Grade Six Paths Fruit, my debt will rise to twenty million. I need to save wherever possible."

Before Night Fragrance could react, Spiked Cypress and Giant Cypress started jumping excitedly: Great King, how can you owe so much? How do you expect to live?

What does twenty million Source Stones even mean? Blue Catalpa and Black Rice were also stunned, shivering in fear at hearing of such debt for the first time.

Night Fragrance: "..."

Night Fragrance: "...Fine!"

Night Fragrance faltered, "It's a long way, moving is a lot of trouble."

Dragon Cypress: "No rush on this—after I get the Divine-Grade Six Paths Fruit and my soul reaches Lord-Level, the Dominating Throne's flight speed will double. It'll only take a day and a half to go between White Lotus Lake and the Purple Tung Insect Nation each way."

Night Fragrance: "As long as you don't mind the hassle."

"Not at all!"

Dragon Cypress: "Night Fragrance, I'll help you get rich! Once this batch of fruits matures, you'll bear fruit again the year after. As for moving, just wait for my notice. I came this time mainly to let you know I'm safe and to give you a heads-up."

Night Fragrance: "Okay!"

Night Fragrance, a bit puzzled, asked, "Dragon Cypress, who did you sell the Night Fragrance Fruit to?"

Dragon Cypress: "Over in the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, there's a new minor tribe called 'Banded Assassin Bug'..."

Dragon Cypress explained the situation truthfully.

They stayed the night at White Lotus Lake.

Setting out at dawn the next day, returning to Xianglan Mountain.

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