Force Astral Plane: Starting with the Chimera Ants

Chapter 55: Fire Yun

"The King of Cinnabar Ants!"

Ye Zhi channeled her spiritual energy, her antennae swaying as she sent out her mental energy into the nest where the black cypress was nestling.

"Little guy, what's this? Where did you pick up this little praying mantis warrior?"

The black cypress swung its pair of steel whip-like antennae, and its huge compound eyes swept over Ye Zhi. Seeing the brown wasp-mantis warrior hanging beneath Ye Zhi, bound like a dumpling, it was somewhat surprised. Clearly, it had initially mistaken the tightly bound warrior for a mantis.

"The Black Ant King is a little mantis warrior," Ye Zhi transmitted through her mental power. "It hid under my Divine Seed, trying to use the Divine Seed's primal force fluctuations to cover its own, but it was discovered by my Divine Seed."

Several worker ants, sensing the intruders, opened their mandibles and waved their antennae as they advanced. Ye Zhi, on the other hand, swayed her antennae and loosened her silken ropes slightly, deliberately exposing the little warrior to the menacing worker ants.

"It really is a brown wasp mantis warrior. You're lucky to have met you, little guy. Otherwise, you would probably have been killed by the worker ants as an intruder." The cypress antennae swayed, commanding the worker ants to retreat.

"Powerful Ant King, I didn't know this was your territory. I accidentally wandered in. Please don't kill me." The mantis-fly warrior's mental energy trembled, his voice shaking violently with fear.

"Wu Yuan Ant King, what do you think we should do with it?" Ye Zhi tightened the ant silk rope again and asked.

"Since we've already discovered it, let's leave it here for now and wait until the Flame Spider caravan arrives next year to see if any Mantis tribe from the Cloud Continent is willing to pay the ransom for this guy."

"Insect trade?" This time, it was Ye Zhi's turn to be shocked. He hadn't expected that the Flame Spider merchants in this world would engage in such a business.

"You could say that." Wu Yuan lightly tapped its antennae, then pointed to the still-bound brown wasp-mantis warrior. "Little guy, do you know why the Dragon Bamboo Continent is strictly ruled by ants, bees, and termites, while the Cloud Continent allows for the coexistence of all races?"

"Because of the deliberate arrangement of the true God of nature?"

For primitive civilizations, gods are always the best "scapegoats" to explain all unknown events, especially since this god actually exists and is likely a Force life form with an extremely powerful evolutionary level.

"That's right, but little guy, have you ever thought about how the true god of nature deliberately arranged this?" Wu Yuan slowly transmitted his mental power.

Ye Zhi shook his antennae. How could a "Muggle" from a world without the Force know so much about this magical power?

"The laws of the nature gods are constantly influencing the astral plane." The cypress tentacles pointed to the ceiling of the nest chamber, or more precisely, to the unknown cosmic space high above.

"Once, the King of the Blue-skinned Ants told me that the stars at night are the incarnations of the God of Nature. The divine gifts are bestowed by these stars, transforming ignorant insects into warriors and ordinary seeds into divinely bestowed seeds."

Ye Zhi was shocked. Could these stars be a kind of artificial satellite device that assists the powerful primal force life form, the True God of Nature, in releasing "divine power" and directly controlling the transformation of ordinary creatures into primal force creatures?

"On the Dragon Bamboo Continent, the divine gifts are given to ant kings, bee queens, and termite queens, while on the Cloud Continent, the divine gifts are given to various solitary insects, as a form of regulation?" Ye Zhi tapped her antennae, emitting a mental fluctuation that seemed to indicate she understood.

"That's right, but divine power is always biased. This little warrior was born on our Dragon Bamboo Continent, so the Flame Spider Merchant, who travels across continents, is needed to complete the final adjustment for the True God of Nature."

"The traveling merchants will take away the little warriors born on the wrong continent for a price of 100 raw stones, and then their tribes on the opposite continent will pay a certain 'ransom' to allow these little warriors to live there with their own kind of warriors."

"Perhaps we can keep it and use it to fly and scout or send messages in battle in the future?" Ye Zhi suddenly felt a little reluctant and sent a message through her mental power.

"If no tribe on the Cloud Continent is willing to take it in, let it stay in our Tree Ant Kingdom, just like that Black-tailed Gray Dragonfly warrior in the Mountain Ant Kingdom." Wu Yuan shook its antennae, offering a solution.

"By the way, little mantis. Have you conceived any life-giving seeds by your first instar? If not, I have some seeds harvested this year." Wu Yuan seemed to have suddenly thought of something and asked through mental power.

"Powerful Ant King, I have nurtured a life seed, a small yew tree seed." The mantis warrior seemed to see that its life was no longer threatened, and the mental energy it emitted became stable.

"The Little Cloud Tree is enhanced with fire elemental abilities, and the Brown Bee Mantis has also awakened its fire elemental talent. It's a pretty good choice," Wu Yuan said, tapping his antennae.

"Little mantis, I will provide you with Force food to enhance your overall physique. If there are tribes established by you mantises on the Cloud Continent, there will definitely be insects willing to redeem a clever little warrior like you."

"Thank you, powerful and generous Ant King!" The little warrior's only movable head and antennae nodded rapidly, radiating waves of gratitude.

"Little guy, you found this little mantis warrior. Well, you're the one who usually takes care of it. Before the caravan arrives, I'll provide it with enough resources to evolve to the third instar."

Wu Yuan looked at Ye Zhi, waving its antennae and pointing to the mantis-like warrior on the ground. Ye Zhi nodded its antennae in response, then used its mental power to withdraw the ant silk, temporarily freeing the mantis-like warrior.

The little soldier was startled, then suddenly flipped over and stood up from the ground, stretched his six limbs a couple of times, then lowered his antennae, crouched down, and quietly took two steps to distance himself from Ye Zhi.

"Alright, the King of the Black Ants has already decided to give you Force food, so I definitely won't do anything to you anymore. Just come back with me," Ye Zhi said, somewhat speechless.

The little mantis warrior remained skeptical, and slowly took half a step back in response, raising its antennae warily and waving them in the air, seemingly wary of Ye Zhi becoming the "man who catches ants" again.

Ye Zhi: "..."

"Never mind, my name is Ye Zhi. Do you have a name?" Ye Zhi transmitted her mental power again, and the mantis-like little warrior shook its antennae, giving a negative emotional signal.

"You chose the Lesser Cloud Wood as your first life seed, and the Lesser Cloud Wood is a combination of fire element enhancements, so how about you be named Huo Yun?" Ye Zhi pondered for a moment and gave the other party a simple name.

The little warrior finally nodded its antennae, accepting the name "Huo Yun." It stopped retreating, but its mental energy, still somewhat fearful, sent a message towards Ye Zhi: "Ye Zhi... Ant King."

"Okay, let's go." Ye Zhi tapped her antennae. "Go back to where I found you. You can continue hunting on my God-given Seed."