bookbashuk Chapter 23: This God-given Seed is Excessively Edible
Chapter 23: This God-given Seed is Excessively Edible
"Little guy, you really are here! Oh? Your divine seed has grown so tall already?"
It was the Red Citron ant, followed by more than ten worker ants. Two of them were carrying half of the hind leg of some kind of ungulate in their mouths, while the rest were carrying small sacs of spider silk in their mouths.
Seeing Ye Zhi squatting in front of the two-toothed pitcher plant's divinely bestowed seed, Hong Yuan immediately shook her antennae, signaling the worker ants following behind her to put down the half-leg meat. Then she herself came forward to curiously examine the two-toothed pitcher plant that had changed overnight.
Seemingly sensing the approach of a powerful primal creature, the two-toothed pitcher plant's divinely bestowed seed tree spirit emitted a somewhat wary signal, but then, perhaps seeing that Ye Zhi didn't react, curiosity replaced it: "This, can we eat it?"
Ye Zhi: "..."
"Hey, little guy, your divine seed has already given birth to a tree spirit?" Hong Yuan seemed to have caught the spiritual energy fluctuations between the two and excitedly shook its tentacles.
At its initial stage, the tree spirit of the Divine Seed of Destiny is not a complete product and cannot communicate with any creature other than the insect warrior that nurtured it. However, the faint fluctuations of primal force emanating from it can be keenly detected by the powerful mental strength of a Lord-level Zuo Wang.
"It was already born when I arrived this morning," Ye Zhi responded, nodding her tentacles. "Boss Hong Yuan, what brings you here?"
"I couldn't find you in your cave, so I came to check." Hongyuan tore off a piece of meat and swallowed it whole. "Strange, I heard Qingyuan say that the divine seed bestowed by King Qingzhi used to scold him and the king quite a bit. Little guy, yours seems to have a pretty good temper?"
Ye Zhi couldn't very well say that his divinely bestowed seed dared to covet this lord-level, slender ant king, so he quickly looked at the half-leg of an ungulate, then pointed with his antennae at his two-toothed pitcher plant seed: "Boss Hong Yuan, my divinely bestowed seed is an insectivorous plant, and it's a little hungry right now. Can I feed it with this?"
Hongyuan was taken aback, but without thinking much of it, it immediately opened and closed its jaws, tearing off a piece of flesh without hesitation, and said excitedly, "It wants to eat more meat? Little guy, feed it as much as you want, let me see!"
Leafweaver flew down from the leaf, took a piece of flesh, flapped its wings and took flight again. Amidst the craving mental energy fluctuations transmitted by the Nepenthes tree spirit, it threw the meat directly into another, larger insect trap.
Familiar white, root-like structures emerged, coiling around the flesh and blood, greedily absorbing the nutrients within. Ye Zhi also sensed that the aura of the two-toothed pitcher plant's divinely bestowed seed, within the sliver of connection in her soul, had noticeably intensified after consuming it.
Hongyuan's spiritual energy also swept over the insect trap of the two-toothed pitcher plant's divine seed, and she was equally surprised, saying, "Little guy, you digested your divine seed so quickly?"
It's no wonder it was surprised. The digestive ability of ordinary pitcher plants is generally poor, and the two-toothed pitcher plant has an even worse ability to digest itself due to its symbiotic relationship with flathead ants.
Let alone the citron, the abnormal digestion speed of this two-toothed pitcher plant's divinely bestowed seed and that strange white root-like object even made the nurturing leaf weaver sigh after some fruitless contemplation, "The Force, isn't it amazing?"
The entire piece of flesh was quickly absorbed, and Ye Zhi felt the tree spirit send a signal of satisfaction, along with another mental fluctuation: "More!"
"Boss, the tree spirit says it wants more..." Ye Zhi said, looking at Hong Yuan. Hong Yuan didn't say much, and immediately shook its antennae. The worker ants on both sides obeyed the command and began to cut the flesh with all their might.
Strips of fresh meat were torn off, each the perfect size, and dropped into the insect trap. Leaf Weaver flapped its wings to pick up the pieces and throw them into the trap, so that the divinely bestowed seed could absorb the nutrients within.
Ordinary carnivorous plants only obtain nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium from their prey, but the two-toothed pitcher plant's divinely bestowed seeds seem to accept everything, absorbing every piece of flesh and blood completely, making it a veritable "man-eating tree" from various online novels.
After consuming more than a dozen pieces of meat, each two fingers wide and the length of a palm, the pitcher plant finally emitted a wave of psychic energy indicating complete satisfaction. Ye Zhi also felt that the bond within her soul was becoming increasingly solid and vigorous, signifying that her condition was improving.
Seeing this, Ye Zhi waved her antennae at Hong Yuan and sent a mental signal: "Boss, the Divine Seed says it has eaten enough, so we don't need to cut it for now."
Red Cypress stopped its mandibles and shook its antennae. The worker ants behind it, carrying small spider silk bags, stepped forward, opened the bags with a hissing sound, and revealed pieces of dodecahedral raw stone underneath. Its mandibles cut and released streams of pure primal energy.
"What is this?"
The tree spirit sent out a questioning mental fluctuation. This was the first time it had replenished its primal energy with the primal stone since gaining sentience, and sensing the benefits it received, it quickly asked Ye Zhi.
"These are raw stones, brought by those long, thin ants. So don't keep thinking about eating them. They can bring you more raw stones and food." Ye Zhi lowered her mental strength and whispered to the tree spirit.
The tree spirit still seemed to understand, but fortunately, it also linked the long, thin ants with food and raw stones, which reassured Ye Zhi somewhat.
"The king said that it's best to supplement the divine seed with more primal force during its growth. I plan to turn the powder left over from grinding these primal stones into the soil. Little one, tell the tree spirit not to be too afraid."
Seeing that the original stone was basically broken, Hong Yuan sent out a mental signal. He was unaware that the "brain circuitry" of the two-toothed pitcher plant's divinely bestowed seed was somewhat peculiar.
Ye Zhi didn't say anything, but gave the tree spirit a few instructions. The tree spirit, having tasted the benefits, sent out a joyful signal and immediately agreed.
Ye Zhi then lightly tapped her antennae towards Hong Yuan, sending a "done" signal. Hong Yuan immediately shook its antennae as well, and the surrounding worker ants followed suit, gently turning over the soil and burying the pulverized stone powder, which still retained a faint trace of primal energy, into the soil near the roots of the God-given Seed.
The tree spirit was unusually calm, and Ye Zhi watched quietly from the side. Unexpectedly, Hong Yuan also fell silent. For a moment, only the sound of worker ants digging and stirring the soil could be heard.
After a moment of silence, Hongyuan shook its tentacles, and with a hint of reluctance in its spiritual power, it said:
"Little guy, the Mighty Ant Kingdom in the east hasn't been very peaceful lately. The king has mobilized combat worker ants to gather at the border. I need to go there to oversee things, just in case. In the next few days, practice the basic combat moves I taught you. If you need any resources, just tell Qingyuan."
"What?"
After hearing Hong Yuan's words, Ye Zhi immediately became a little uneasy - to the east, fierce ants, could it be the group of dark-bellied, large-toothed fierce ants that almost took her life in the wild before?