Creating a paradise in an ant nest

Chapter 25: Six Months Later, Immortals and Mortals Separated

In the forest.

Liu He led his ant soldiers to wipe out all the termites and woodlice that Feng Zhe had released.

These termites and woodlice haven't had time to reproduce yet, so their numbers are very small.

Insects that are tiny and imperceptible to humans have nowhere to hide when searched by a large number of ants.

The ant soldiers swept across, easily annihilating them all, leaving none alive.

When dawn broke, Wang Yarong came to relieve him of his shift, and Liu He left the forest farm.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"shuttle."

Liu He returned to his room and immediately went into the ant nest, wondering how Feng Zhe was doing.

"Is Feng Zhe still alive?"

He looked around but didn't see Feng Zhe.

Feng Zhe, still terrified from the night before, huddled in a corner, trembling. He was constantly alert to his surroundings, and the slightest sound would startle him.

He saw a figure suddenly appear in his line of sight, and his whole body trembled.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed Liu He.

"Liu...Liu He?"

He shakily got to his feet and approached, asking, "Who are you? Where is this place?"

"This is not something you should know."

Liu He looked Feng Zhe up and down and saw that apart from being frightened, he had no other changes.

His experiment was over, and Feng Zhe was no longer of any use.

"Come on, ant, take this prey out to feed the worker ants."

He called out towards the entrance of the cave, and immediately an ant crawled over.

Upon hearing this, Feng Zhe was terrified, trembling all over, and begged for mercy in a tearful voice: "Liu He, I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong. I released the termites. I was jealous of you and Li Liangtian for discovering the spiritual plant..."

I won't do it again, please spare my life.

As he spoke, he pulled two bags from his robes: "These are my spirit stones and silver, all for you, all for you. I'm giving up cultivation, I'm not cultivating anymore..."

He had previously regarded the spirit stone as his capital for making a comeback.

Now all he wants is to live, to live a peaceful life as an ordinary person.

He was so young, he didn't want to die. At the critical moment of life and death, he felt that cultivating immortality was not important, living was the most important thing.

"There are spirit stones too?"

Liu He's eyes lit up; this was an unexpected delight that he had almost overlooked.

He put away the spirit stones and silver, but did not stop the ants from coming.

"Please, let me stay as your servant~~"

Feng Zhe's will to survive was strong, but it did not shake Liu He in the slightest.

His voice was abruptly cut off by the ant's enormous mandibles.

"Hiss~"

Liu He turned around, avoiding the bloody scene.

He didn't feel anything when he watched ants preying on insects, eating them raw, but he couldn't bear to watch when the prey was a human.

"Sigh, you've blocked my path to immortality. You can die without my fault."

He adjusted his mindset, then opened the spirit stone bag and saw nine sparkling spirit stones inside.

"So many?!"

The joy of obtaining the spirit stone instantly dispelled his negative emotions.

"This guy didn't spend any spirit stones, they all went to me. Haha."

"One, two, three... one, two, three..."

He held the spirit stone in his palm and counted it back and forth more than ten times, becoming happier with each count.

This was the first time he had so many spirit stones.

I had saved up five spirit stones and bought half a Meridian Opening Pill.

Then I spent three spirit stones to buy the Purple Apple Spirit Fruit.

"Spirit stones really don't last long."

"Crafting a defensive magical artifact for the ant nest will yield twenty or thirty spirit stones. A Qi-boosting pill costs thirty spirit stones, and even buying half a pill will cost fifteen spirit stones."

Liu He's initial joy at obtaining the spirit stones diminished as he thought about the spirit stones he needed.

"No rush, take it slow. With the ant nest, I'm far ahead of ordinary cultivators."

He kept his composure.

With the ant nest as his life-saving artifact, he only needs to develop steadily, and his path to immortality is within reach.

For some time afterward, his fulfilling life continued.

Cultivating skills, refining earth elemental beads, practicing spells... day after day.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The six-month trial period for odd jobs has come to an end.

Waishan Forest Farm.

Of the more than twenty probationary repairmen under Wu Shao's command, only four were promoted to full-fledged probationary repairmen.

Song Qian, Liu He, Zhou Kang, and Li Liangtian.

This is a very high percentage; out of more than twenty probationary repairmen, only two or three can be promoted to permanent positions.

Liu He sighed as he saw many familiar faces leave.

Although those people possessed spiritual roots, they could no longer embark on the path of cultivation due to the scarcity of spiritual energy. Furthermore, since they had served as trial cultivators in the Qian Yuan Holy Sect, other sects were unwilling to take them in.

With this parting, they were separated by the divide between immortals and mortals.

At this moment, five unfamiliar faces appeared on the scene.

These people are newly arrived official apprentices. Including Wang Yarong, who arrived a little over a month ago, there are ten people in total.

"Next up are my fellow disciples from the forest region. Let's introduce ourselves and get to know each other."

Wu Shao then asked everyone to introduce themselves in turn.

No one spoke first.

After an awkward silence, Wu Shao looked at Liu He and the others: "You guys have been under my command for a long time, so you can go first."

"Then I'll go first."

Wang Yarong thought to herself that the others were being slow and spoke first: "My name is Wang Yarong. I specialize in wood-based magic and am skilled in wood diagnosis and spirit nourishment."

If you need any help, feel free to come to me. A small fee will suffice.

She certainly wouldn't help for nothing.

Everyone was surprised, after all, they were all newly promoted to the rank of miscellaneous disciples. Li Liangtian and Zhou Kang, who had just been promoted, had not even had time to learn magic. Wang Yarong claimed to be "skilled in wood diagnosis".

Wu Shao smiled and added, "She didn't mention the most important thing. She has a mid-level spiritual root."

Of his ten menial disciples, only Wang Yarong possessed a medium-level spiritual root. He might need Wang Yarong's help in the future.

Upon hearing "medium-level spiritual root," everyone suddenly understood.

Afterwards, everyone continued to introduce themselves.

"My name is Li Liangtian, and I live in Pokou Village, not far from our Waishan Forest Farm. I was lucky enough to find a spiritual ginseng in the forest farm and received a reward of spiritual stones. I then spent all the spiritual stones and managed to break through to the Qi Refining stage."

Please take good care of me.

Li Liangtian first spent five spirit stones to buy the Meridian Opening Pill with Liu He. When the six-month period was over, he was only one meridian away from completing the Qi Refining stage.

With the two spirit stones as a reward, he still had three spirit stones left.

So he spent three spirit stones to buy a Meridian Opening Pill with Zhou Kang, taking a 30% cut. That's right, he took 30% of the pill.

This is an extremely frugal approach; he doesn't want to spend a single spirit stone.

"My name is Zhou Kang..."

Song Qian, Zhou Kang, and Liu He took turns introducing themselves.

Then came five new faces who had just arrived.

"My name is Meng Kaizhou..."

Meng Kaizhou spoke calmly, no different from the other menial disciples.

But Wu Shao knew that this person was the one with the most special identity among his subordinates: Meng Kaizhou's father was a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Spirit Plant Peak of the sect, known as "Manager Meng".

The five people finished introducing themselves in turn.

"Now that everyone has gotten to know each other, let's divide the forest areas."

Wu Shao's forest area covers a total of more than 400 mu. Previously, there were many laborers working on the trial, with two people per group to guard 30 mu.

"As before, we work in pairs, taking turns guarding the forest during the day and night to ensure that someone is always on duty in the forest area. The two of us are responsible for more than 80 acres."

There are fewer people now, but everyone is a cultivator who has embarked on the Qi Refining stage, so the workload of guarding the eighty-acre forest area is not heavy.