Astral Cockroach

Chong Lou asked, "How is Ma Yu? Calculating the time, its lifespan is coming to an end."

Ban Bu was in low spirits and said, "It didn't make it through last year's cold winter..."

"Alas..." Chong Lou sighed, paused for a moment, and said, "Everyone is just trying to survive, it's not easy for anyone. Ma Yu was too stubborn."

Ban Bu knowingly asked, "Mountain Lord Chong Lou, do you know Ma Yu?"

"Yes, very well." Chong Lou said, "Its life seed was destroyed by a forest wolf warrior. It once traveled with our caravan. At first, everyone got along well, but when we entered the grassland wolf territory, it suddenly..."

Chong Lou said, "Because its life seed was destroyed, Ma Yu hated all wolf species, including the grassland wolves, and believed that we shouldn't trade with them. Everyone had a very unpleasant falling out, and it left the caravan to travel alone."

Ban Bu suddenly understood. So there was such a story. No wonder Ma Yu was biased against traveling merchants.

Chong Lou didn't like to mention this matter. After a moment of silence, he changed the subject and said, "When I was young, I was also full of curiosity about this world and once followed another caravan to the Myriad Kingdoms Continent."

"That is a chaotic continent that you would never want to visit again, ruled by various ant kingdoms, full of war, slaughter, plunder, and death."

"You can't imagine how crazy the ants are. A dozen ant queens can form a large kingdom, and a single ant queen dares to establish a small kingdom. They wage wars to争夺 territory, food, and raw stones, and can even have conflicts for no reason. New kingdoms are born every day, and kingdoms are destroyed every day. The war never stops."

Ban Bu asked, "In such a chaotic place, wouldn't caravans be attacked?"

Chong Lou said, "Yes, we would be attacked by ant swarms from time to time along the way. Only the strongest caravans dare to go deep into the Myriad Kingdoms Continent for trade."

Ban Bu asked, "With such risks, the profits from trading must be very high, right? What kind of goods do you trade?"

Chong Lou said, "It's still origin power food. All ants have the innate ability of strength. They are born strongmen. The origin power fruit produced by ant life seeds has the effect of enhancing strength and is popular among all races on the continent."

"Of course, origin power food trade has a profit of less than 30%, which is not worth the risk. The main profit of the caravan still comes from insect population exchange."

Ban Bu asked in confusion, "Insect population exchange?"

Chong Lou said, "It's very simple, Ban Bu. Have you noticed that there are still various ants living in your territory?"

Ban Bu immediately understood.

Among the ant queens that fly out every year, there is a certain probability that an origin power creature-level ant queen will be born.

What they are engaged in, euphemistically called "insect population exchange", or bluntly called "insect trafficking", is equivalent to "human trafficking" in human society. Of course, the profit from this kind of thing is very high.

Chong Lou said, "Ban Bu, if you find a special ant queen in your territory, don't rush to kill it. You can keep it and sell it to our caravan. The price is negotiable."

"Similarly, in the future, when you become a mountain lord or a county lord and have a certain amount of wealth and capital, if you want more warriors to strengthen your control over your territory, our caravan is also happy to serve you and send you young red ant tribe warriors."

Ban Bu asked, "Are there still red ants living on the distant Myriad Kingdoms Continent?"

Chong Lou affirmed, "Yes, of course there are, and many of them. Ordinary red ants need the protection of their own warriors to reproduce and survive well in the Myriad Races Continent, but in the Myriad Kingdoms Continent, they reproduce even better without the protection of warriors. They all have the opportunity to transform into red ant warriors."

Ordinary red ants have no combat power and find it difficult to survive in the natural world.

Ban Bu's thoughts turned and he realized.

Why do red ants appear on the Myriad Kingdoms Continent? I'm afraid it's the masterpiece of these iridescent flame spider tribe traveling merchants. The method is very simple: collect a batch of egg capsules, secretly transport them, and throw them into the Myriad Kingdoms Continent.

In a strange place, lacking natural enemies, ordinary red ants will reproduce more smoothly, which can probably be regarded as "species invasion".

Ban Bu asked, "How many origin stones do I need to pay to purchase a red ant tribe warrior from the Myriad Kingdoms Continent?"

"That's not a purchase. Everyone is used to calling it 'ransom'." Chong Lou first corrected Ban Bu's term, and then said, "The specific amount of the ransom is uncertain. County Lord Chi Jian has always redeemed her clansmen at a price of 200 origin stones."

"Mountain Lord Tie Dao of the Iron Saber Mountain once redeemed a fellow warrior, and we only charged him a ransom of 150 origin stones. I heard that the warrior changed his name and is now called Feng Ling. You should have seen him, right?"

"Oh, of course I've seen him."

Ban Bu was speechless for a while.

It turned out that the eccentric,尖酸刻薄 Feng Ling also had a tortuous insect life of being拐卖.

Yan Cu Ban Mao and Pu Tao both intentionally or unintentionally rejected Feng Ling, I am afraid it is not only because of Feng Ling's personality, but also because they dislike Feng Ling's origin.

Ban Bu tentatively asked, "What is the purchase price of a special ant queen?"

Chong Lou said, "That depends on the species."

Ban Bu said, "Big Head Harvester Ant?"

Chong Lou said, "Weak ants, without a kingdom, without insects to pay ransom for them."

Ban Bu said, "What about Six-Spined Cloud Ants?"

Chong Lou said, "Barely considered a somewhat powerful ant species. There are several stable kingdoms established by Six-Spined Cloud Ants on the Myriad Kingdoms Continent. We are willing to pay 10 origin stones."

Ban Bu also asked, "What about Whip Scorpion Warriors?"

Chong Lou said, "Traveling merchants cannot participate in the insect population exchange within the Myriad Races Continent."

Ban Bu asked, "Then what should I do?"

Chong Lou said, "Our Myriad Races Continent has kingdoms established by the Whip Scorpion Tribe. If you find that a Whip Scorpion Warrior is born in your territory, you can directly hand it over to Lord Tie Dao. Lord Tie Dao will hand it over to County Lord Chi Jian, County Lord Chi Jian will hand it over to the Longevity Roach King, and the Longevity Roach King will find the Scorpion King of the Whip Scorpion Kingdom to communicate, exchange with each other, redeem their own warriors, or pay a ransom."

Ban Bu asked, "I don't get any benefits?"

Chong Lou said, "There will be an origin power food reward equivalent to 10 origin stones."

...

The latest novel is first published on 69shu.com!

The sky gradually brightened.

Ban Bu gained a lot of useful information from his overnight chat with Chong Lou.

When the first ray of sunlight rose from the eastern horizon, the caravan stopped moving forward, chose an open space, and began to set up camp.

Ban Bu finally saw the life seed of the iridescent flame spider tribe.

Chong Lou spat out a spherical seed that was extremely rich in origin power and vitality, with a diameter of over 100 and a huge size.

This is Chong Lou's life seed!

The life seed landed, quickly took root, sprouted, grew leaves, and grew into a grass plant over 1000 in height, a seven-leaved Chong Lou!

Luo Shi's seeds are oval and much smaller than Chong Lou's life seed. The origin power and vitality are also several levels lower. After landing, it took root and sprouted and quickly grew into a Luo Shi grass plant.

The other flame spider warriors are also the same, choosing grass plants as their life seeds, and the type and name of the grass plants correspond. The stronger the strength, the larger the volume of the life seed spit out, and the more abundant the origin power and vitality it contains.

Among the caravan, the youngest flame spider warrior, Xue Mai, has a mutated wheat grass seed with crystal clear snow-white veins on the leaves. The growth mode of the grass plant is similar to Ban Bu's God-given Seed. Each plant stops growing taller when it reaches a height of 40, and grows by constantly dividing plants. Currently, there are only 3 divided plants.

After the life seeds landed, the flame spider warriors took out origin stones one after another, crushed them into powder, and sprinkled them on the roots of the life seed plants.

Ban Bu carefully sensed that the life seed plants quickly absorbed the origin power emitted by the origin stone powder, a small part of which was used for its own growth, and most of which was fed back and sent to the flame spider warriors.

Chong Lou absorbed the origin power of 10 origin stones in a row.

Luo Shi absorbed 2 origin stones.

The 4 intermediate warriors could barely absorb the origin power of 1 origin stone.

The primary warrior, Xue Mai, couldn't even use up half an origin stone.

For the iridescent flame spider tribe, the purpose of the life seed plant is equivalent to a tool for converting origin stone origin power, similar to a bio-refined origin power equipment.

After completing the origin power absorption, the senior warrior Luo Shi took 4 intermediate warriors into the jungle to hunt for food.

Those ordinary flame spiders climbed down from Chong Lou's back and began to move freely.

Satisfied with his greatest curiosity, Ban Bu bid farewell to Chong Lou: "Mountain Lord Chong Lou, this place is not far from Iron Saber Peak, I should return to my territory."

Chong Lou said, "Thank you for seeing me off, Mountain Lord Ban Bu, who has a bright future."

Ban Bu spread his wings and was about to leave when Xue Mai suddenly shouted, "Mountain Lord Ban Bu, wait, a gift."

There's still a gift?

Ban Bu stopped, addicted to receiving gifts, and looked at Xue Mai hopefully.

Xue Mai found a flat ground, stood on its four hind legs, stretched its two front legs towards its abdomen, pulled forward, drew out two colored silks, and the two poisonous limbs caught the colored silks and stretched them forward. Then the two front legs stretched towards its abdomen again and drew out two more colored silks.

With four legs standing, four legs constantly drew crystal clear spider silk from the spindle on its abdomen, waving rapidly and weaving.

Ban Bu's heart shook, secretly rejoicing: Xue Mai plans to weave a spider silk bag and give it to him!