Force Astral Plane: Starting with the Chimera Ants

Chapter 19: Sowing the Divine Seed

The second-instar ant queen inherits a lot more of her memories, including a lot of information about plants and animals, as well as some planting methods.

After completely filling the hole with soil, Ye Zhi recalled the extra parts of her past life's memories and inherited memories, and concluded that the God-given Seed grew very quickly after sprouting, so she should water it more now and thoroughly soak the soil in the mound.

But this posed a problem for Ye Zhi. He was only four or five centimeters tall, and it was really difficult for him to go back and forth to water the plants. He couldn't help but cast a pleading look at the cypress tree.

As if knowing what he was thinking, a line of slender, long-legged worker ants stepped forward, each carrying a large, processed bamboo tube between its mandibles. The bamboo tubes were clearly filled with water.

They filed forward, turned their heads, and poured a full bamboo tube of water onto the soil in the ridge. The newly turned soil quickly absorbed the water, becoming evenly moist.

Then, they carried the bamboo tube away and stood guard in the distance, while the worker ants that had been on guard outside tore open the small spider silk sacs they were carrying with a neat ripping sound, and took out the dodecahedral crystals that were as white as jade inside.

According to historical records, this is a special mineral widely distributed in this world, called "raw stone". It appears in the strata in the form of crystal clusters and retains its dodecahedral shape after being mined and cleaned.

Under normal circumstances, the raw stone remains stable, but once it is cut and broken by external force, it will release a large amount of pure primal force. It is not only the universal currency of this world, but is also often used to quickly replenish the large amount of primal force consumed in a short period of time during evolution and the growth of the divine seed.

Together with the leaves, they wait. Once the divinely bestowed seed shows any signs of growth or sprouting, they quickly cut and replenish the natural primal force, allowing the divinely bestowed seed to grow and develop better.

......

The life force of the divinely bestowed seed was indeed powerful. About half an hour later, Ye Zhi, who was waiting, felt as if a faint connection had appeared in her consciousness.

This should be a sign that the seed of destiny has begun to take root and sprout - a very strange feeling, as if one is already firmly bound to it, sharing both prosperity and adversity, which Ye Zhi found somewhat novel.

Ten minutes later, the faint connection seemed to strengthen. Ye Zhi saw that the new buds seemed to have begun to break through the soil, and a touch of green stood out in the turned brownish-red soil.

The tender shoot slowly unfurled its two tiny cotyledons at a speed visible to the naked eye, greedily absorbing the natural primal energy in the air. Seeing this, the slender worker ants carrying the raw stone nearby quickly stepped forward, their mandibles swiftly cutting and shattering the raw stone, releasing streams of pure primal energy.

The tender shoot absorbed the dissipated pure primal energy and seemed to grow even faster. The main vine began to grow, climbing upwards along a "rope" of multiple intertwined ant silk threads that Ye Zhi had specially guided out during the waiting process.

The first broad true leaf began to grow, and at its end, a small and adorable mini insect trap was taking shape, with two tooth-like protrusions resembling venomous snake fangs already beginning to take shape, or rather, beginning to show their menacing appearance.

Four true leaves emerged, and the cotyledons, having exhausted their nutrients, began to turn yellow and wither, their rapid growth slowing down. These newly sprouted leaves were such a vibrant green, while the tiny insect traps and the tips of the tendrils, like half-ripe apples, were a beautiful sight, their green tinged with red.

Faint, dark red primal energy veins had already begun to emerge along the leaf stalk and veins, shimmering with the light of primal force, giving the scene a somewhat fantastical quality. As Ye Zhi felt the increasingly solid connection in her consciousness, a sense of satisfaction welled up within her.

Insectivorous plants obtain nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium from their prey, but normal photosynthesis still needs to take place. Therefore, pitcher plants require high humidity and ample sunlight.

By this time, the sun was high in the sky, and the thoroughly watered, moist soil released wisps of moisture under the sunlight, creating ideal growing conditions. Its vines thus continued to extend little by little up the trellis.

While waiting, Ye Zhi did not do nothing. Instead, she broke off many thinner bamboo branches in a nearby bamboo forest and crossed them to form a "beam" by running them up the thick bamboo poles, and then fixed them with ant silk.

The new vines of the two-toothed pitcher plant, born from divine inspiration, grow upwards along these crossbeams. A solitary main vine gradually climbs upwards, stretching out new broad leaves and pitcher-like tendrils to trap insects.

Plants with destiny tend to grow taller than ordinary plants, and this is especially true for those born under divine grace. Even though they have only recently sprouted, their impressive growth is already evident.

In the afternoon, Zuo Wang Hongyuan led a team of combat worker ants to hunt down another unfortunate little animal nearby. They then offered it to Wuyuan, Yezhi, and the nearby worker ants under the shade of a tree in the distance.

After finishing feeding, the remaining corpses were still dragged deep into the nest for the larvae to eat. As the queen ant, Wuyuan led a group of worker ants back to the nest to continue laying eggs after feeding, leaving only Hongyuan, Yezhi, and the fighting worker ants that Hongyuan brought behind.

Amidst the atmosphere of caring for the newborn divine seed, Hong Yuan's curiosity was once again piqued, and she frequently asked Ye Zhi questions. Fortunately, after evolving to the second instar, Ye Zhi's mental strength had increased significantly; if she were still like she was in the first instar, she probably wouldn't have been able to cope.

During the conversation, Ye Zhi suddenly had an idea – it seemed that this Zuo Wang Hong Yuan was not only impatient, but also somewhat combative, and under Wu Yuan's command, it was mostly responsible for hunting and patrolling tasks.

Ye Zhi's mind gradually became active - after all, they were slender ants, one of the natural fighting races. Although their physical structures were different, if she could learn a move or two from them, her own combat awareness might also improve.

This was ultimately a beneficial and harmless move, and at this moment, the other party was very curious about the king of this weaver ant race because of the deceased "Blue Trifoliate Ant King". This seemed to be a good breakthrough.

Meanwhile, Hong Yuan, who was waiting with Ye Zhi, continued to ask various strange questions from time to time. At this moment, Ye Zhi, having made up her mind, also used her mental power to ask:

"King Red Citron, when I was being chased by those dark-bellied, large-toothed ants, was it the worker ants under your command that saved me? That worker ant's fighting style was incredibly powerful. As King Black Citron's right-hand man, you must be even more formidable, right? Could you show us your skills?"

As she spoke, a gleam of admiration seemed to flash in Ye Zhiyi's double eyes—it wasn't entirely an act, after all, the image of her slaying countless giant ant swarms was truly quite impactful.