CHAPTER 78: CHAPTER 078: TWIN LOTUS, DIVINE-GIVEN GORGON FRUIT SEED

Jianlan Plain.

Same old rules—Ink Orchid to the north, Dragon Cypress to the south, each responsible for half, skimming along the edge of the forest to search.

It’s much smaller than the Molan Mountain Range, so we finished searching in just two days.

At twilight, Dragon Cypress returned to the low hill where the Dominating Throne was set up.

Ink Orchid had been waiting for ages, even picking some wild fruit in the meantime, currently feeding them to the Specialized Blue Ants for refinement.

"Dragon Cypress, are you hungry?"

"A little bit hungry..."

Dragon Cypress immediately turned the Dominating Throne around and said, "Just eating Ant Honey isn’t enough. I’ll go hunt for some meat and bring it back."

"Wait!"

Ink Orchid quickly called out, "You command the Blue Ants. I’ll go by the river and catch a few frogs. Haven’t eaten them for ages—almost forgot their taste."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress returned to the Throne.

Ink Orchid leapt high, soaring into the sky with fierce momentum, and dived quickly towards the distant Zhanjiang.

Dragon Cypress turned around to check the wild fruits—grapes, Mellon Wood, mountain longan—all mixed together in a messy pile. Grown wild, the fruits were all different sizes, overall quite small, and looked rather shabby.

Dragon Cypress buried his head and started sorting, commanding the Specialized Blue Ants to refine them.

Suddenly, a violent Origin Force fluctuation came from the distance. Turning to look, Dragon Cypress saw Ink Orchid, who had just left, now racing back at full speed.

"Ink Orchid?" Dragon Cypress tensed up and instinctively commanded the Dominating Throne to rise into the air.

"Dragon Cypress!"

"I found Divine-Given Seeds!"

Ink Orchid shouted ecstatically, dashing down to land.

Dragon Cypress, who had just stood up, was knocked over by Ink Orchid charging head-on.

"Divine-Given Seed?"

"Divine-Given Seeds! Two!"

"Two?"

Ink Orchid bounced around cheering, "Two! Gorgon Fruit!"

"!!!"

Dragon Cypress was stunned, overjoyed, jumping up in excitement, still slightly in disbelief, swinging his tentacles, and flapping his wings into the air.

"Where? Quickly! Let’s see!"

"Aquatic plants!"

Ink Orchid hurriedly called out, "Bring the Dominating Throne!"

...

In a shallow bay where Zhanjiang winds and turns, surrounded by marshy wetlands, scattered here and there are some Gorgon Fruits.

A plant that’s a close relative of the lotus.

But there are quite a lot of differences. Lotus leaves are smooth, water doesn’t stick, but Gorgon Fruit leaves are wrinkled and rough.

Round berries, murky purple-red in color, densely covered in hard spines.

It’s not fruiting season yet.

"Dragon Cypress, over there!"

Ink Orchid guided the way.

The Dominating Throne floated low over the water, drifting slowly.

"There! Look!"

Ink Orchid pointed out the exact spot.

A pair of twin fruit clusters growing together.

You could tell with just a glance that these were much different from the rest.

Focusing and sensing, there was a faint trace of Origin Force aura.

Sweeping with spiritual power, each of the two fruits only had one round seed inside. The other seeds couldn’t compete for nutrients and had died off early on.

Dragon Cypress confirmed, "That’s right! Those are Divine-Given Seeds!"

"Oh! Oh!"

"I wouldn’t get it wrong!"

"Two Divine-Given Seeds!"

"Dragon Cypress gets one!"

"Ink Orchid gets one!"

"Wow! Wow! Ka!"

"We’re rich!"

Ink Orchid hopped and danced around Dragon Cypress, cheering with joy.

Dragon Cypress was just as excited, his wings trembling.

Twin fruits!

That’s two Divine-Given Seeds at once!

"Wait, something’s off!"

Dragon Cypress suddenly snapped back, panicked, "Their mother plant is just a normal plant, can it really support two Divine-Given Seeds at the same time?"

"Huh?"

Ink Orchid froze at the words, slowly folding his wings and started examining closely.

Then compared to the ordinary Gorgon Fruit nearby.

He was right! These two Divine-Given Seed fruits were developing much more slowly, and looked a bit malnourished.

Dragon Cypress: "I’ve heard, in those Great Tribes with loads of orchards, whenever a Divine-Given Seed is discovered, they immediately clip off the other fruits on the plant to ensure the Divine-Given Seed grows properly."

Ink Orchid panicked at this and asked, "Is it really that serious? What should we do? Give them Origin Stones to replenish Origin Force?"

Dragon Cypress: "They don’t really need much Origin Force..."

Dragon Cypress had only ever heard bits and pieces; he wasn’t really sure about the details. This was his first time witnessing a Divine-Given Seed being born.

Ink Orchid looked all around and asked, "Dragon Cypress, should I pull out all the weeds nearby?"

Dragon Cypress: "Pull them all out by the roots."

Ink Orchid: "The fruits probably won’t be ripe for about another month, right? Divine-Given Seeds might take a little longer, but if we fertilize them now, isn’t there still time?"

"Should be enough time..."

Dragon Cypress controlled the Dominating Throne to land near the shore not far away, then flapped his wings and flew over.

The water wasn’t deep, so using his Water System Ability, he dove down and used spiritual power to pull up all the plants growing around the Gorgon Fruits, roots and all.

Back on shore.

Dragon Cypress said, "Ink Orchid, you stay here and patrol regularly, make sure birds, fish, or shrimp don’t come and eat the fruits. I’ll head over to White Rice Mountain for a trade, grab some bamboo tubes along the way, and bring over a batch of Marsh Slag."

Ink Orchid: "Okay!"

...

...

...

White Rice Mountain.

Red Fox, White Rice, and Black Rice were guarding the ripening fruits under a Rice Tree.

The Dominating Throne drifted in slowly.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

White Rice greeted him, but something felt off. As he got closer, he swept with his spiritual power and asked in surprise, "Where’s Ink Orchid?"

Dragon Cypress said lightly, "We found a Land of Origin Force, so Ink Orchid stayed there."

Red Fox was stunned.

White Rice and Black Rice both perked up their tentacles.

Red Fox: "Is it far from here?"

Dragon Cypress: "Not too far, but not that close either. The Dominating Throne would have to fly for two days and two nights straight."

Dragon Cypress exaggerated the travel time a bit.

Red Fox, White Rice, and Black Rice all thought for a moment, then looked disappointed.

White Rice asked, "Did you find something good?"

Dragon Cypress replied vaguely, "Found some good stuff."

Red Fox asked, puzzled, "No Beast Clan or Insect Clan Warriors there?"

Dragon Cypress sighed, "Most of the Lands of Origin Force that Ink Orchid and I find don’t have Insect Clan Warriors. Once they leave their colony, it’s almost impossible to survive out there."

Dragon Cypress changed the subject, "Are the Rice Fruits all ripe?"

Black Rice answered quickly, "Ripe! Absolutely ripe!"

White Rice asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, how do you want to buy them?"

Dragon Cypress had already looked everything over and set a price in mind. He checked once more thoroughly, then swept the fruits with his spiritual power and said:

"I’ll buy out the two Black Rice Trees for 400 Origin Stones, and the two White Rice Trees for 1,000 Origin Stones."

Surprisingly, White Rice didn’t argue this time. After holding it in for a long time, he sighed resentfully, "If only I hadn’t planted Black Rice Trees! Four White Rice Trees’ Life Seeds would be so much better!"

Black Rice objected, "White Rice isn’t good. Black Rice is good!"

White Rice retorted, "Are you going to eat Ant Honey or not? If the Origin Force food from the territory doesn’t sell for money, how am I supposed to buy Ant Honey for you?"

Black Rice wiggled his tentacles and gave Red Fox a gentle pat, the meaning clear: we have Red Fox’s Divine-Given Seed!

White Rice: "..."

Red Fox: "If the price is settled, let’s hurry up and start picking. Dragon Cypress Ant King, how do you want to harvest?"

The Dominating Throne shifted into its largest form and landed on the ground.

Dragon Cypress took out a Spider Silk Bag and tossed it over, "Start with the White Rice Trees. White Rice, Black Rice, you two pick the fruits on the lower branches. I can fly, I’ll get the ones on top."

The ten Specialized Blue Ants emptied their bellies, and as soon as fruits were picked, handed them over for refinement.

They only refined the fruit pulp, and spat out the White Rice Seeds, spreading them on the Dominating Throne to dry.

The fruit of Common Life Seeds doesn’t contain much Origin Force Material, so refining speed was about the same as regular fruit—one at a time, popping them out quickly.

After a whole day and night of work, all four Rice Trees were done, barely filling up two Specialized Worker Ants.

White Rice still had other Life Seeds slowly ripening.

Dragon Cypress was anxious about how things were going with Ink Orchid, couldn’t wait any longer, so he only bought the already-harvested Cat Tail Seeds, Large Fruit Stinky Chestnut Seeds, and Gourd Seeds.

Originally, Dragon Cypress planned to pay 500 Origin Stones to buy up all eleven gourds produced from White Rice this year, but they would only sell six, pricing each one at 30 Origin Stones.

"I’ll get the rest next year."

"Let me round up your total—2,500 Origin Stones."

Dragon Cypress said, "I’ll pay with the Divine-Given Ghost Fan. You can keep it to eat, and if you can’t finish it, keep it for next time to trade with me for other Origin Force foods you need."

The Divine-Given Ghost Fan was an even harder currency than Origin Stones.

White Rice was happy to take it and agreed, "Deal!"

Red Fox said, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, make a batch of Ant Honey worth 500 Origin Stones for Black Rice. Use White Rice and Black Rice fruits to brew Origin Force Ant Honey, plus some regular Ant Honey as well."

"Okay!" Dragon Cypress readily agreed, commanding the Specialized Blue Ants to get to work.

White Rice said, "Still need a batch of regular Ghost Fans for Black Rice to eat."

Dragon Cypress: "Only five hundred regular Ghost Fans left this year."

White Rice: "Then could you please mix them into Black Rice’s Ant Honey?"

White Rice was a proper elder—always scolding Little Black Rice, but never stingy with Origin Force food.

"Deal! That’ll be a batch of Origin Force Ant Honey worth 1,000 Origin Stones!" Dragon Cypress agreed and said:

"White Rice, that means you have 1,500 Origin Stones left."

White Rice: "Sixty Ghost Fans from Divine-Given Seed production."

Dragon Cypress checked the goods and handed them over.

With this trade done, both sides had settled up.

Dragon Cypress pointed at the bamboo tubes on the Throne and said, "White Rice, I’ll dig up some Marsh Slag from your Marsh Gas Pool, okay?"

What do you need Marsh Slag for? Could it be...

White Rice was taken aback for a moment and replied, "Of course! Help yourself! Dragon Cypress Ant King, if you have more good stuff, you must remember me and Black Rice!"

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