Chapter 98: Chapter 098: The Ant of Loyalty
The Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord has been roaming the world for decades—what kind of shameless insects hasn’t it met? A little Ant King and a Little Huatang are hardly a challenge. It handled all their sneaky tricks with calm order, defusing every single scheme.
In the end, it only lost a few spider silk bags and a couple dozen seeds. No big deal.
It politely refused Dragon Cypress’s request to chat more, then returned unhurriedly to the plains at the foot of the mountain.
"Seven-Leaf, how’d it go?"
Aconite Spider King cared a lot about this young and promising direct descendant, even considering grooming it as a successor.
"The haul was way beyond expectations..."
The Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord couldn’t contain its excitement, leaned in close, reined in its spiritual power and thoughts, and whispered privately:
"Aconite Spider King, it’s not two Divine-Given Seeds—it’s three! Done deal. I got the lion’s share of the third Divine-Given Gorgon Fruit Seed!"
"Three?"
"Three! That little Ant King called Dragon Cypress just got another one, brand new."
"That little Ant King favored by the Natural God."
"Yep. Judging by our conversation, that kid’s anything but simple. Way too steady for a little Ant King only a few years old, super guarded, super smart...and super slippery."
...
...
...
"Dragon Cypress, this Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord is even stingier than Melde."
"Yeah. Old fox, tough to deal with."
"Shouldn’t have agreed to trade with it! White Ivy Mountain Lord is much nicer."
"Sigh...But it came to us on its own, what choice do we have? Can we really say no?"
"What’s the plan for Melde? How do we explain this?"
"Explain what? Explain what, exactly? I’m the one who should grill it! Why did Zeqi Spider King recommend this? Why send a wily old bug like that? I didn’t manage to squeeze a single advantage out of it."
"Uh—"
Ink Orchid said heavily, "Makes sense!"
Ink Orchid shook the spider silk bag and asked excitedly, "Dragon Cypress, what do we do with all these? Hide them?"
"Hide them?"
Dragon Cypress: "Of course we take them! Let Melde see for themself just how stingy this Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord is. The Six Paths Wood seed is rare, I get only sending one, but this Purple Kiwifruit—at best it’s a top-level plant seed, nothing amazing, and they only sent thirty seeds."
Ink Orchid: "Exactly..."
Ink Orchid started chuckling, hehehe...
...
The Zeqi Caravan still hadn’t arrived.
Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid, worried about attracting the Flame Spiders beneath the hill again, hid deep inside the Starship for a whole day and night.
The next morning,
The rising sun in the east painted the Divine Force Barrier in dazzling rainbows.
Dragon Cypress crawled out of the cave, scaled the hill, and hid behind a bush to spy in secret.
Didn’t have to wait long—
Zeqi Spider King led the caravan into view, slowly approaching.
"Ink Orchid!"
"Let’s go!"
Dragon Cypress turned around to alert Ink Orchid who was hiding at the Starship Passage exit, and together, they dashed straight to the small grove behind the hill.
...
Following the caravan to the destination, they planted the Life Seed—roots went down, shoots rose up, and soon a giant Melde grass stood seven or eight meters tall.
Of course, the moment Melde turned around and saw Seven-Leaf from the Caowu Caravan watching, the mood took a real nosedive.
Just couldn’t be helped.
Dragon Cypress wasn’t an idiot—actually, far from it. Even if the Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord hadn’t come looking, and even if no other caravan had shown up, once it evolved into a High-Level Ant King, Dragon Cypress would totally have reached out to a second, or even a third caravan to stir up some competition.
What really bugged Melde was that these merchant negotiation tricks—all self-taught...to Dragon Cypress.
—If I’d known it would turn out like this...
—No more inviting a third caravan next time.
This time, Melde didn’t rush. It just hung back, trailed the other Mountain Lord Level Spider Kings around the other trade circles, mingled, asked questions, sized up the goods.
It wasn’t until afternoon
That Melde dragged itself up the hill, and from way off, swept its spiritual power over and immediately spotted Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid carrying their spider silk bags—and all the seeds inside.
"Mountain Lord Melde!"
Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid waved them over, all friendly enthusiasm.
Melde squinted: "How come you two have such strong spiritual power these days?"
"Me and Ink Orchid both have a Ghost Fan Tree Seed, you know."
Dragon Cypress replied offhandedly, then asked with a tinge of grumbling, "Melde, what was that about? The Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord from the Caowu Caravan showed up saying Zeqi Spider King recommended them?"
Melde: "Yes...but also no."
Melde: "It’s that Seven-Leaf had already noticed our deals, figured out you guys have Divine-Given Seeds. You two are special cases, rooted in Cloud Trace Continent right next to the Ten Thousand Nations Continent. For safety’s sake, Zeqi Spider King really couldn’t turn down Aconite Spider King’s request."
Dragon Cypress sighed, "Yeah, Ink Orchid and I couldn’t exactly turn down the Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord’s trade request either."
Melde tensed up, tentatively asked, "Ink Orchid, what’s your age period now? You’ll evolve into a High-Level Warrior soon, right?"
Ink Orchid deftly opened the spider silk bag, pulled out a Divine-Given Black Emperor Peach Core, and said, "Once I get home and eat this peach core Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord gave me, I should be able to go into sleep evolution and advance to High-Level Warrior."
Dragon Cypress complained, "That Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord was way too stingy—only gave two Divine-Given Black Emperor Peach Cores."
Then Dragon Cypress tilted its head, faking a deep ponder, and said, "Mountain Lord Melde, you’ve also got a fixed Black Emperor Peach Divine-Given Seed quota with the Grave Burying Beetle Tribe, right? Actually, not a bad share either. How many peach cores did you give us again?"
Not a single one~
I just wanna throttle you~
Melde snorted, "That Seven-Leaf sure is generous! Way more generous than White Ivy! Even gifted you a Six Peaks Mountain Six Paths Wood seed. Do you know how many insects would trade Source Stones for that and still not get one?"
Dragon Cypress: "Melde, you’re mistaken. I think Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord is even stingier than you. Only gave us two Six Paths Wood seeds, and even then, one per year—split across two years."
"Cut the sarcasm!"
Melde was starting to lose it, asking, "How’d the Divine-Given Fruit-Scented Orchid Seed negotiations go? How much share did you agree to give Seven-Leaf?"
Dragon Cypress: "Hey now, I’m a loyal ant, okay? Melde, you may be a bit tight-fisted, but you really did help me and Ink Orchid a lot. So, until me and Ink Orchid evolve into Mountain Lords, only ten percent of the Fruit-Scented Orchid and Azure Divine-Given Seed Origin Force Food goes to Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord, just to use as samples for promotion."
"Ten percent?"
Melde instinctively didn’t quite believe it—there was surprise, happiness, and some confusion, too. "Ten percent? Seven-Leaf’s okay with that?"
Dragon Cypress: "All set and agreed! While Ink Orchid and I are High-Level Warriors, you and White Ivy get ninety percent of the Fruit-Scented Orchid and Azure Divine-Given Seed production. Of course, me and Ink Orchid need to eat a bit, but we won’t hog too much."
"Guess you do have a conscience, kid."
Melde was all smiles now.
"I knew it—you’re the kind of ant worth a lifetime friendship."
"Of course!" Dragon Cypress nodded, flicking an antenna.
Melde still couldn’t fully believe it, asking, "So you two just fobbed off Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord with all those goodies for ten percent? Seven-Leaf’s got a bit of a reputation in the Dulai Flame Spider Tribe, that’s no small feat. How’d you pull that off, Dragon Cypress?"
"It was simple..."
Dragon Cypress paused, then said, "Because I promised it half the share of the third Divine-Given Seed!"
Melde: "???"
Melde: "Third Divine-Given Seed?"
Dragon Cypress: "Me and Ink Orchid spent years building dams, blocking up the low-lying valleys, and made a massive reservoir. We planted rice, lotus, gorgon fruit, and all kinds of stuff at the reservoir’s edge. Then, last autumn, totally by chance, we harvested a Divine-Given Gorgon Fruit Seed."
Dragon Cypress stuck to the same story: "So then, this spring, we just planted it—first time, three divisions; second time, fifteen..."
Melde: "!!!"
Melde was so choked up, it couldn’t find any words for a very, very long time.