This year, only the single Divine-Given Seed of Southern Gorgon has borne ripe fruit. However, there are now plenty of Life Seeds both on the mountain and at the foot, gradually ripening and being harvested since autumn, all of which require Command Ants leading soldier ants to guard them.

Cypress stayed close, not leaving the 'Cuihua Hanlan Divine-Given Seed' for a moment.

Led by Giant Cypress, the soldier ants stood guard beneath the hillside where the Purple Kiwifruit Life Seed was rooted.

The Dominating Throne slowly approached.

"Great King—"

Giant Cypress greeted.

"Giant Cypress."

Dragon Cypress stopped the Throne steadily, his tone grave as he asked, "Is there not enough food on the mountain?"

Giant Cypress: "Spiked Cypress says that in the hunting grounds you've designated, there are fewer and fewer animals of all kinds, and each hunt yields less than the last. These past two weeks, the catches have been particularly poor—everyone's started eating plants."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Just as expected!

Currently, within the Ant Nest, just the number of high-level Specialized Soldier Ants has reached 600.

The number of high-level Specialized Worker Ants is about 200.

The high-level Specialized Blue Ants number 280.

And there are 100 Specialized Blue Soldiers.

Each of these big guys, over a meter in length, consume a huge amount of food every day.

Dragon Cypress has been expanding the hunting range with the growth of the Ant Kingdom.

At the moment, Dragon Cypress has assigned Spiked Cypress two hunting zones, using the mountain ridge at the Divine Force Barrier to the west as the dividing line, split north-south, hunting in the south and north without exceeding a range of 20 kilometers, and only moving along the rivers.

Dragon Cypress has never dared to expand the hunting range too much, worried about being discovered by Ant Clans or Bee Clans from the Ten Thousand Nations Continent.

Now that there isn't enough food, it means the Ant Kingdom's scale is large enough, and its strength is no longer weak.

If that's the case, then...

"Understood."

Dragon Cypress said, "Giant Cypress, just arrange for more soldier ants to guard here, you and Spiked Cypress, come with me to hunt in the forest and survey the terrain."

"Great King!" Fragrant Cypress hurried over, surrounded by Worker Ants.

Dragon Cypress turned back and said, "Fragrant Cypress, I just told Round Cypress we'd hold a banquet tonight... but the Ant Nest's food is running low, so let's delay for a few days. I'll take Spiked Cypress and Giant Cypress for a long-range hunt first to get familiar with the northern terrain."

...

Dragon Cypress has always kept an eye on Kingdom's food issues, knowing a shortage was bound to come, but didn't expect it to hit so soon.

However, Dragon Cypress has long had a plan for dealing with it.

In the boundless forest sea, life flourishes.

Jungle hunting is still currently the primary food source for Xianglan Mountain Kingdom.

When animals in one area are hunted out, others will naturally migrate in, refilling the gap and bringing back prosperity.

But animal migration and reproduction take time, usually counted in 'years'.

Food will severely limit the scale of the Ant Kingdom.

This is a problem faced by all ant and bee Kingdoms, and there exists a kind of equilibrium law.

Purely carnivorous Ant Clans have strong individual combat power, but their numbers can hardly develop and grow.

Omnivorous ants have weaker individual combat power, but on the same area of territory, can usually support more soldier ants and win by numbers.

The Giant-Headed Ant is an omnivorous ant leaning toward carnivory, with the most and most versatile differentiation among soldier and worker ants—a species whose Specialized Soldier Ants boast powerful individual combat abilities.

Because of the Dominating Throne, Dragon Cypress's Ant Kingdom has even further diversified food choices and ant-type differentiation.

Worker and Soldier Ants who inherited Dragon Cypress's Strength System Talent are obviously more carnivorous. They also eat fruit, rice, lotus seeds, cypress seeds, pine nuts, and other refined ant honey, but they don't like it, and eat little of it.

Blue Ants and Blue Soldiers who inherited Dragon Cypress's Water System Talent are a bit better. They're not so picky—if there's meat, they'll eat it; if not, they're able to eat plant food for the long-term.

Dragon Cypress has come up with three stable food sources:

The first: fully open up the Divine Force Barrier region. Expand south and north to establish relay sub-nests, greatly expanding the hunting range.

The second: carry out large-scale planting of fruit trees. Beyond supplying the "Origin Force Honey" trade, these would also provide food for the ant colony, offsetting some of the carnivorous demand.

The third: cultivate and catch fish in reservoirs and lakes. Currently, they fish at Black Lotus Lake annually; in the future, they can also consider fishing at White Lotus Lake regularly.

Every inch of land on Xianglan Mountain is extremely precious, so there's no way to build more large reservoirs or raise much more fish. The few existing reservoirs can only supplement as emergency backup.

The Dominating Throne's carrying capacity is limited, and there aren't many fish in the natural lakes, so long-distance fishing can only be supplementary and can't become a staple food source.

The main food source still lies in Forest Sea hunting.

Fully opening up the jungle hunting area adjoining the Divine Force Barrier brings the worry of encountering Ant or Bee Clans from the neighboring Ten Thousand Nations Continent.

But with the Ant Kingdom's continued growth, it can't keep laying low forever...

...

Dragon Cypress called over Spiked Cypress and Giant Cypress, leading 400 Specialized Soldier Ants, 400 Large Soldier Ants, 30 Specialized Worker Ants carrying 90 medium Worker Ants, 50 Large Worker Ants, and 100 hungry Specialized Blue Ants—off they marched in great numbers.

Dragon Cypress ran at the head of the team.

Giant Cypress habitually cowered in the middle.

Spiked Cypress ran at the rear, keeping the line in order.

They traveled swiftly, marching close by the Divine Force Barrier, heading north all the way to the Starship Wreckage entrance hill connecting to the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent.

Stop!

Dragon Cypress waved his tentacles forcefully, issuing the command.

The Ant King's powerful information transmission ability made the whole team halt in perfect unison.

As they felt the dense Origin Force continuing to spill outward, Spiked Cypress and Giant Cypress both realized what place this was, and hurried forward excitedly.

"Great King!"

"Shall we go in and take a look?"

Spiked Cypress and Giant Cypress looked at Dragon Cypress expectantly.

"Keep up."

Dragon Cypress led them through the earthen tunnel, stopping at a crack in the Starship Wreckage.

Spiked Cypress ran up to measure and was instantly disappointed.

Currently, Spiked Cypress is just over 1.4 meters long, with a huge head—totally unable to squeeze through.

Giant Cypress was smarter. Seeing the crack's height, he gave up immediately, crouched low, curiously peering into the Starship's interior.

Dragon Cypress: "I've searched the inside of the Starship with Ink Orchid two or three times. After tens of thousands of years, it's already been looted clean, leaving only an empty shell."

Dragon Cypress: "On the other side, the Ten Thousand Nations Continent—apart from having higher Origin Force Concentration everywhere, everything else is pretty similar to our side. In fact, most places are nowhere near as prosperous as our Xianglan Mountain."

Dragon Cypress: "Cloud Trace Continent doesn't have many Origin Force Points, but neither is it lacking. And the concentration of every Origin Force Point is above average. When the Ant Kingdom is strong enough, and we no longer need to worry about invasion from neighboring Ant or Bee Clans, I'll take you everywhere to broaden your horizons."

Dragon Cypress: "But, right now, our Ant Kingdom is still somewhat lacking in strength, so we have to tread carefully... As the Ant Kingdom develops and the colony grows, we have no choice but to expand the hunting grounds and look for food farther afield."

Giant Cypress straightened up and said, "Understood, Great King."

Spiked Cypress asked, "Great King, you brought us here because..."

Dragon Cypress: "To build a sub-nest here as a relay outpost for transporting hunted prey. From now on, your hunting can extend as far north as here."

Dragon Cypress instructed, "Same old rule: don't come here in winter or spring. Hunt more in summer and autumn to store enough food in the Ant Nest."

Spiked Cypress and Giant Cypress touched tentacles to indicate they understood.

Dragon Cypress: "On every long-range hunt, Spiked Cypress and Giant Cypress, you both must go together, and the total number of soldier ants led cannot be less than 800. Right now the Kingdom's soldier ant numbers are still lacking—I'll keep breeding them until the total force surpasses two thousand."

Spiked Cypress and Giant Cypress exchanged glances.

Giant Cypress: "Great King, Spiked Cypress and I both leave Xianglan Mountain? These long-range hunts—each one must get good returns, right? Might take three to five days, maybe even longer."

Spiked Cypress: "Who'll be in charge of Xianglan Mountain's security work? Cypress? But Cypress also has to take care of irrigation, pest control in the orchards, territory patrols, and so on—won't that wear her out?"

Dragon Cypress led the way out, speaking as he walked: "I'll breed another Giant Blue Soldier!"

Spiked Cypress looked at Giant Cypress.

Giant Cypress lifted his head, pretending not to notice Spiked Cypress's look.

Spiked Cypress braced himself and said, "Great King... what if another Divine-Given Seed is born... 50% of the yield split among six Command Ants... it just doesn't split evenly ."

Dragon Cypress: "Then 60% for you. Ink Orchid and I only take 40%."

Spiked Cypress: "Alright! I agree!"

Dragon Cypress suddenly whipped his head around, waving his tentacles fiercely: Does this king need your approval to make decisions?

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