Astral Cockroach

The bamboo rat warriors weren't keen on having names. They quickly devoured the gifted Origin Force food, their eyes darting around, eventually settling on the snakeskin bag.

Banbu silently observed, finally labeling them with a series of traits: timid, cautious, fat, agile, perceptive, skilled at digging, and especially gluttonous!

The largest of the six bamboo rat warriors, clearly in a "leadership" position, asked:

"Hei Sang, Banbu, are you planning to trade for Origin Stones?"

Hei Sang said, "I want to trade for Origin Stones. Banbu needs your help finding bamboo species."

"Finding bamboo species?" Ma Zhu asked, puzzled. "There are many kinds of bamboo on the mountain, why look for them?"

Banbu explained in detail, "The bamboo that's commonly seen on the mountain and in the bamboo forests are common species. I'm looking for rare species that aren't seen often."

Ma Zhu tilted its little head, thinking hard, and became even more confused, asking, "What do you want bamboo for?"

Banbu said, "To cultivate superior bamboo species. Our insect race's life capsules can nurture seeds into life seeds. When life seeds are sown and grown, they will condense into the Origin Force food you just ate."

"Origin Force fruit is delicious!" Bai Zhu, the smallest of the bamboo rat warriors, couldn't help but exclaim.

Ma Zhu's gaze turned cold as it slowly turned its head to look.

It didn't say anything.

The other four bamboo rat warriors swarmed Bai Zhu, bumping into it repeatedly, sending it tumbling down the slope.

Hei Sang hurriedly stopped them, saying, "Ma Zhu, you're not allowed to bully Bai Zhu!"

Ma Zhu still didn't speak.

Shui Zhu, the second largest, stepped forward and explained, "It shouldn't have interrupted your conversation."

Ma Zhu, acting like a real elder brother, waved its paw for Shui Zhu to step back, paused, and continued to ask, "Banbu, I'm quite familiar with various types of bamboo, but I don't know their specific names. What kind of bamboo species are you looking for? You can tell me."

Banbu said, "Red bamboo, its characteristics are obvious, the bamboo stalks are red."

Ma Zhu lowered its head, thought carefully, and after a long while, raised its head, turned, and asked Shui Zhu, who was lined up behind it, "Have you seen this kind of bamboo?"

"I haven't seen it," Shui Zhu turned and asked Hong Zhu, who was lined up behind it, "Have you seen it?"

"I haven't seen it," Hong Zhu turned and asked Zi Zhu, who was lined up behind it, "Have you seen it?"

"I haven't seen it," Zi Zhu turned and asked Jin Zhu, who was lined up behind it, "Have you seen it?"

"I haven't seen it," Jin Zhu turned and asked Bai Zhu, who had just climbed up the slope, "Have you seen it?"

Having just been beaten for being talkative, Bai Zhu trembled and stuttered, "I, I've seen it... a little red... purplish-red, is that okay?"

It actually exists!

"Okay!" Banbu was overjoyed and took out a cliff cypress seed, handing it to Bai Zhu, asking, "Where is it?"

Bai Zhu took the seed, hesitated for a moment, and reluctantly handed it to Ma Zhu.

Ma Zhu accepted it without ceremony, waved its paw, and said, "Banbu is Hei Sang's fellow tribe member, Hei Sang is our friend, Banbu is our friend, tell it."

Human-like actions, an elder brother's tone.

Bai Zhu obeyed, stretched out its paw, pointed in a direction, and said, "That way."

Banbu looked in the direction it pointed, layers upon layers, all mountain peaks, and asked, confused, "Where specifically?"

Bai Zhu said, "Far away."

Banbu asked, "How far away?"

Bai Zhu said, "Very, very far, you have to cross many, many mountains."

Banbu felt a blockage in its heart, feeling that it was too hasty and hadn't asked the question clearly. After thinking it over, it seemed there was no way to get it to explain the specific location clearly, so it simply took out six more cliff cypress seeds, giving one to each bamboo rat warrior, and asked, "Can you take me there?"

Bai Zhu looked at Ma Zhu.

Ma Zhu said, "Bai Zhu, you should take Banbu there."

"Okay," Bai Zhu replied cheerfully, not peeling open the cliff cypress seed, but directly stuffing it into its mouth, storing it in its cheek pouches.

After all, it was weak and couldn't eat too much Origin Force food at once.

The other five bamboo rat warriors did the same.

Ma Zhu said to Hei Sang, "Hei Sang, we don't have the kind of Origin Stone you want anymore, can we use other Origin Stones instead?"

Hei Sang thought for a moment and said, "The quality can't be too bad, I don't want too many impurities, and I won't give you Origin Force fruit."

"Then we'll take them out for you to see," Ma Zhu looked at Banbu's snakeskin bag and asked, "Banbu, do you need to trade for Origin Stones?"

Banbu said, "If there are high-quality Origin Stones, of course, I'm happy to."

"I'll bring them over for you to see," Ma Zhu waved its paw, leading the five bamboo rat warriors, lined up in a row, and drilled into the hole hidden in the grass, quickly disappearing.

Without waiting too long, Ma Zhu was the first to emerge, holding a jade-green Origin Stone.

Shui Zhu, Hong Zhu, Zi Zhu, Jin Zhu, and Bai Zhu emerged one after another, holding ordinary brownish-yellow stones.

From largest to smallest, they lined up and placed the stones in front of Hei Sang. They trusted Hei Sang more and prioritized trading with Hei Sang.

Ma Zhu took out a jade-green Origin Stone, the quality wasn't bad, but upon closer inspection, it contained a lot of impurities. Fortunately, it was large enough to cut out twenty or thirty qualified Origin Stones.

Hei Sang put the Origin Stone into its snakeskin bag, then counted out 20 hickory nuts and handed them to Ma Zhu, asking, "Ma Zhu, is this okay? Do you have any more?"

Ma Zhu said, "Hei Sang, the best ones are all for you, there's only one like this."

Hei Sang looked at the stones that the other five bamboo rat warriors had taken out. They looked ordinary, and sensing with mental power, due to the shielding of the stone skin, it only sensed faint Origin Force fluctuations. It stepped forward, picked up a stone, and cut it little by little with its foreleg toes. There were Origin Stones inside, but very few, fragmented, and full of impurities.

This was a standard low-quality ore.

Hei Sang picked up another stone, opened the stone skin to check, and it was still a low-quality ore.

Low-quality ore wasn't useless. If it was in the Iron Saber Mountains, Hei Sang would be happy to spend the effort to bring it back, patiently scraping off the powder, letting the life seed plants absorb it, and then it would feed back the pure Origin Force needed for growth.

But it was currently in the Sheep Hoof Mountains, would it be worth it to drag a bag of low-quality ore from so far away? It wasn't cost-effective.

Hei Sang was very familiar with Ma Zhu and the others, and its dissatisfied emotions erupted directly, saying, "Ma Zhu, I don't want this kind of low-quality ore, they're too heavy, I can't carry them away."

"Oh, these are already the good ones..." Ma Zhu was a typical bully who feared the strong and bullied the weak. In front of Hei Sang and Banbu, it lost its elder brother's aura, and looked hopefully at Banbu, asking, "Banbu, do you want them?"

Banbu shook its antennae and said, "I can't take them either, their utilization value is too low."

Ma Zhu lowered its head in disappointment.

Banbu asked, "Are there no more Origin Stones of good quality?"

Ma Zhu said, "No more."

Banbu asked, "Judging by their appearance, they should have been cut from a very large piece of ore, right?"

Ma Zhu said, "Yes."

Banbu asked, "Why is there so little?"

Ma Zhu said, "There used to be a lot, but we ate them."

Banbu asked, "Eat?! How do you eat them?"

Ma Zhu nodded and said, "Each time we eat a very small amount of powder, we eat it with bamboo, and we can absorb the Origin Force emanating from it."

Shui Zhu also said with annoyance and frustration, "Origin Stones don't taste good at all, if we had known, we wouldn't have eaten them..."

Eating a small amount of Origin Stone powder can indeed utilize the absorption ability of the stomach to efficiently absorb the overflowing Origin Force. This is the most foolish method of use because you can only eat a little each time, and eating too much can damage the stomach.

"Oh, I understand," Banbu nodded its antennae, then asked, "Have you looked in other places?"

Ma Zhu said, "We've looked, we've been looking every day, we've dug a lot of holes, but we haven't found any."

"If there aren't any, then forget it," Banbu comforted, "It's okay, you help me find bamboo, and I'll still give you Origin Force food."