Creating a paradise in an ant nest

Chapter 3 Titan Toad Beast

It is grayish-brown all over, and its body surface is covered with bumpy, millstone-sized raised warts.

Its two eyeballs were enormous, bulging outwards, and its motionless black pupils were cold and lifeless.

Its wide, flat, abyssal maw almost occupies the entire head.

With a swift opening and closing of its enormous mouth, it "whoosh" extended its long tongue, caught an ant, and then closed its mouth.

"A toad!"

The toad in front of Liu He was as huge as a Titan, giving him an indescribable sense of oppression.

"alert!"

"alert!"

"..."

The ant colony was clearly no match for such an enemy; the ants emitted warning pheromones and scattered.

Toads have excellent dynamic vision; the faster an ant crawls, the easier it is for the toad to catch it.

It devoured the food like it was at a buffet, swallowing an ant with every opening and closing of its enormous mouth.

"My ants!"

Liu He was both anxious and heartbroken.

His ants were common red forest ants, unlike the army ants with their explosive fighting power, and unlike the red imported fire ants with their highly venomous stingers.

The red forest ants are relatively weak in combat and their current colony size is insufficient to deal with the toad.

"Protect!"

"Protect!"

When the ants discovered that Liu He was exposed to the enemy's threat, they triggered the underlying code to "protect the queen ant." Some of them bravely drove away the toads, some blocked Liu He's path, and a few ants swarmed around him as he hid deeper into the anthill.

"What should we do?"

Liu He was just about to build his own ant kingdom when he suddenly encountered the invincible Titan Toad Beast.

Could his ant colony have suffered such heavy losses?

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.

brush~~

The scene before my eyes changes.

When Liu He opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the cramped room.

Am I dreaming?

"This dream felt so real."

Something's not right.

He looked down at the dust on his clothes and the earthy smell emanating from them, which proved that what he had just experienced was not a dream.

"So, does that mean I can freely travel between reality and the anthill?"

"Give it a try."

He closed his eyes, focused his mind on imagining the scene in the ant nest, and silently recited the words "travel".

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the anthill, in the same spot as before.

The toad outside is still waiting; it has already eaten quite a few ants.

"Go back!"

Upon returning to his room, Liu He suddenly stood up, rushed out of the room, and headed straight for the forest farm.

He was going to save his ants.

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.

Waishan Forest Farm.

Liu He was panting heavily when he saw a toad still preying on ants near the ant nest.

The giant toad that left him helpless was no bigger than the palm of his hand.

"Dare to kill my ant, die!"

His shoe soles transformed into a demon-suppressing magic weapon, which descended from the sky.

puff!

The toad burst open like a gushing liquid, turning into a puddle of flesh embedded in the soil.

"My ants, let's eat!"

Swarms of ants emerged from their nest, surrounding the toad meat paste and tearing and devouring it with their large teeth.

"Eat slowly, no rush."

"Give the queen ant more eggs so she can lay more."

Liu He was overjoyed to have helped the ant colony eliminate its toad predator.

He suddenly realized that it was dawn, and it was almost time for him to hand in his report to Sun Yan.

"We haven't eaten yet, let's go to the dining hall first."

When he arrived at the dining hall, it was breakfast time, and there were many people.

He queued up and received a bowl of rice, then sat down at the table.

He scooped up a spoonful of fragrant spiritual rice and savored it slowly.

Just then, an acquaintance greeted them.

Good morning, Liu He.

He casually sat down opposite Liu He and put down the three bowls of rice in his hands.

His name was Ma Guanming, a trial cultivator who joined the sect at the same time as Liu He, and lived next door to Liu He. He came from a wealthy merchant family and was well-off.

"morning."

Liu He gave a perfunctory reply and continued eating.

"How's your cultivation lately? How many acupoints have you opened?"

Ma Guanming exchanged pleasantries and inquired.

"Not many, thirty. How about you?"

"A little faster than you, forty."

Ma Guanming's family was wealthy enough to afford a bowl of spirit rice that cost five taels of silver.

Thanks to the slight effects of the spiritual rice, his cultivation progressed faster than Liu He's.

However, at this rate, it will be impossible to successfully cultivate Qi within six months.

Actually, I have something to discuss with you.

Ma Guanming glanced around and lowered his voice, "I want to buy your spirit stones, one thousand taels of silver, how about it?"

"Spirit stones?"

"That's right, spirit stones. Even we trial cultivators get a monthly stipend of one spirit stone."

"I almost forgot about it; I haven't gone to collect it yet."

Liu He remembered that there was indeed such a thing. He could receive a spirit stone after working at the forest farm for a full month.

"How about you take the spirit stones and sell them to me? I'll give you a thousand taels of silver right now."

One spirit stone is too little; you can't buy anything with it. Keeping it won't do you any good; it won't help you break through to the Qi Refining stage.

Why not exchange it for silver, leave the sect, and become a wealthy man in the mortal world?

Not only this month, but I'll buy you spirit stones every month thereafter.

Ma Guanming is rich, but lacks spirit stones.

If Liu He were an ordinary person, he might have agreed. After all, a few spirit stones wouldn't change much; it would be better to exchange them for a large sum of silver.

"Let me think about it."

He did not directly refuse.

"Okay. You can contact me anytime if you want to sell spirit stones. We can discuss the price if you're not satisfied."

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.

"Alas, the path to immortality is arduous."

Liu He possesses the magical ability to travel into ant nests, but he has no clue how to quickly improve his cultivation level.

After finishing the spirit rice in his bowl, he used his chopsticks to pick up the remaining rice grains from the bottom of the bowl, as usual.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck me.

"A toad transforms into a Titan within an anthill. And what about this single grain of spirit rice?"

"Give it a try."

If his idea comes true, will he still lack resources in the future?

He gathered the last few grains of rice from the bottom of the bowl, held them in his palm, and hurried to the forest farm.

Sun Yan had been waiting for a long time: "Liu He, why are you so late?"

Yesterday we agreed to arrive half an hour early, but Liu He arrived right on time, not even a quarter of an hour early.

"Something came up and I was held up."

Liu He thought to himself, what's wrong with him arriving on time?

It's as if he was late.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Sun Yan didn't say anything more. He said goodbye and quickly left the forest farm. He was in a hurry to go to the dining hall for a meal and then return to his room to cultivate.

Time was of the essence, and he needed to seize every opportunity to improve.

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.

Next to the ant nest.

Liu He opened his palm and placed a few grains of spirit rice in it.

An inconspicuous grain of rice, about the size of an ant, falls at the entrance of an ant nest.

"Take it back, don't eat it."

"Don't eat it, store it away."

He was worried that the ants wouldn't be smart enough to understand what he meant, so he repeated himself several times.

Several ants used their mandibles to carry the rice grains and burrowed into their nest.

"We'll go into the anthill when we get back tonight."

Liu He resisted the urge to rush into the ant nest right now.

This is his secret, and no one can know it.

Disappearing into thin air in broad daylight would be easily discovered. Therefore, he could only travel to the anthill at night when he was in his room.

Later, while patrolling the forest, he casually caught a few plump caterpillars to feed the ant colony.

After a whole day of anxious waiting, Sun Yan finally came to take over.

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.

After leaving the forest farm, Liu He first went to the canteen to get a bowl of spirit rice.

He didn't eat a bite and took the rice back to his room.

Lock the door from the inside.

He eagerly closed his eyes and focused his mind: "Ant nest!"

When he opened his eyes again, he was already in the ant nest.

He chose a ant that looked a bit clever and used it as his mount: "Let's go to the food storage area."

Ants traversed the intricate tunnels of their nest, eventually stopping at a dark chamber.

"I can't see it. Go back and bring an oil lamp."

On a whim, he returned to his room, picked up the oil lamp from the table, and went back into the ant nest.

The bright lamps illuminated the ant nest deep underground.