Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 570 - 547 Saint Butterfly_3

"No matter how massive, they still need to trade. Maybe the Stone Hunt Blue Ants are being ostracized by other Insect Clans of the Mainland, or, more likely, the Stone Hunt Blue Ants themselves are extremely repelled by other Insect Clans, including the Flame Spiders..."

Dragon Cypress gently swayed his tentacles, silent.

The Outworld Civilization's God-Level creation, the 'Ocean God's Scepter,' combined with Blue Island's unique geographical location, has allowed the Stone Hunt Blue Ants to develop into a monster of unprecedented proportions. They possess the spawning capacity of the Ant Clan and the Bee Clan, have the communal consciousness and cohesion of conventional Insect Clans, hold a sense of bloodline heritage, and harbor ambitions of expansion and development.

From the description of the Flash Butterfly Warrior Purple, the Stone Hunt Blue Ants have been continuously invading the Mainland, attempting to land on the Mainland to expand their influence.

Meanwhile, numerous Ant Kingdoms and Bee Kingdoms along the southwest coast of the Mainland have also joined forces, forming the Wave Tree Bay Kingdom Alliance to confront Blue Island.

Large-scale wars have always been present. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Blue Island covets the vast lands of the Mainland.

The Insect Clans of the Mainland similarly drool over Blue Island's treasures.

The news of the 'Soul System Divine God-Given Seed' became the trigger that sparked all-out war.

More distant Ant Clans and Bee Clan Kingdoms from the Mainland joined the war, and even the Saint Butterfly from Zhibai Continent entered the conflict, driven by more than simple interests—there was an even greater sense of concern.

They feared the Stone Hunt Blue Ants would leverage their Soul System Detection Ability to gain the upper hand in the war and crush the Wave Tree Bay Kingdom Alliance.

If the Stone Hunt Blue Ants were to secure a foothold on the Mainland, it would undoubtedly be a continent-wide catastrophe.

Ink Orchid: "Dragon Cypress, do you think the number—a million soldier ants—is reliable?"

Dragon Cypress: "If it's on land, 350,000 square kilometers isn't enough to sustain that many ants..."

Ink Orchid corrected: "It's a sudden surge of a million soldier ants, an increase of ten million on top of the existing population."

Dragon Cypress: "Terrifying numbers."

Ink Orchid: "Fishing in the ocean?"

Dragon Cypress: "First, if the Stone Hunt Blue Ants don't have a Refinement Ability similar to our Blue Ants, they shouldn't be able to go too far out to sea to fish. Second, ocean fish aren't infinite—on the contrary, overfishing will deplete them, and the fish in the ocean aren't enough to sustain such a massive ant population for the long term. So, I suspect the Stone Hunt Blue Ant Kingdom erupts in periodic population booms, then launches invasion wars."

Dragon Cypress paused, organized his thoughts, and analyzed: "Within a set period, they fish from the sea without restraint, suddenly increase by ten million soldier ants, invade the continent. After the war ends, no matter the result, they enter a period of recuperation, waiting for marine fish populations to recover through reproduction. Once the numbers return to a certain level, the cycle of mass fishing, population explosion, and invasion repeats."

Dragon Cypress: "In this way, the Stone Hunt Blue Ant Kingdom forms a periodic cycle of launching invasion wars against the Mainland."

Ink Orchid: "That must be it! Now, it's the time node for another wave of massing forces from Blue Island to invade the Mainland. And this time, Bayonet and Zhibai Continent have decided to join forces to wipe out Blue Island."

Ink Orchid: "Dragon Cypress, should we continue the renovation project on Swinging Leaf Island? Or retreat back to Cloud Trace Continent, lie low for two years, and return after the war is over?"

Dragon Cypress: "...No need."

Dragon Cypress: "The war is being fought along the southwestern coastline of the Mainland. Swinging Leaf Island is in the deep northeast sea, over twenty thousand kilometers apart. This war has nothing to do with us."

But Ink Orchid's eyes sparkled, "How is it unrelated? If the Stone Hunt Blue Ant Kingdom is destroyed, Blue Island will leave vacant 350,000 square kilometers of land. Dragon Cypress, start using your brain—think of a clever way for us to land on the island and occupy some territory!"

Dragon Cypress: "You want to become the next Stone Hunt Blue Ant Kingdom?"

Ink Orchid: "..."

Ink Orchid tilted her head and pondered—it sort of did seem that way.

Giant-Headed Ants and Orchid Mantises don't belong to the Southern Hemisphere.

Bayonet Continent is vast, but they still have no place to call their own.

Let alone Blue Island—even picking some deserted isles from the Thousand Reef Archipelago as survival territory comes with serious risks.

Just thinking about it made Ink Orchid uncomfortable. She asked, "Dragon Cypress, when we fully move into Bayonet Continent, will we end up like Blue Island, ostracized and besieged by the other Insect Clans?"

Dragon Cypress: "Hard to say. But we definitely won't be attacked by all the insects on the continent. For starters, we don't own as much territory as Blue Island, so we're not nearly as threatening. Insects are realistic creatures: if there's no threat and no benefit, why besiege us? In the future, once we put down roots in the Thousand Reef Archipelago, the worst case is conflict with the Forest Beard Bee Kingdom and some nearby kingdoms. If there's fighting, we won't fear them at all—I'll just wipe them out. If we negotiate, maybe we toss them some benefits, and everyone is happy, living as neighbors, getting rich together."

Dragon Cypress waved his tentacles, "No need to think so far ahead right now. First, let's evolve to Age Period 5 Lord."

Dragon Cypress had already used the Divine-Grade Leilian Seed, gathered all resources needed to evolve to Age Period 5, now just missing a single Divine-Given Seed.

Ink Orchid flew close to the sea, landed on the island, and began this year's search work.

Dragon Cypress, meanwhile, rode the Dominating Throne, half-submerged at sea, waiting in the usual spot.

After Ink Orchid evolved to Evolution Lord Level, her soul reached King Level, and her perception of Origin Force Fluctuations advanced again, nearly doubling her search efficiency.

In one night, she finished searching the largest island of four hundred square kilometers.

No results.

On to the next big island...

Altogether it took seven days to complete the search of the Thousand Reef Archipelago.

Another fruitless year.

Ink Orchid circled down to land on the Throne, "Dragon Cypress, shall we go back?"

Dragon Cypress raised a claw, pointed west, and asked, "When will the war break out? So far, it's confirmed that the Forest Beard Bee Kingdom is participating. If they deploy troops, they certainly won't draw from their main King Nest forces, so the number of Worker Bees stationed on the coastal islands will drop sharply."

What a clever ant! Ink Orchid's eyes lit up, "Let's take a look!"

The Dominating Throne quickly dove, sneaking a hundred meters deep beneath the sea.

At dawn, they approached a coastal island occupied by a bee colony.

The island is about 450 kilometers from the Mainland, its area about 300 square kilometers.

Dragon Cypress clearly remembered that the first time he came to scout, the island had three sub-nests, one big, two small, housing a total of 5,000 Worker Bees of all sizes.

The number of bee colony members on the island had suddenly dropped by 2,000—specifically, most of the large-sized Combat Professional Bees.

Dragon Cypress: "They've already sent troops!"

Ink Orchid: "!!!"

Ink Orchid: "So the war has already started?"

Dragon Cypress: "No. If it had, the Fire Wheel Kingdom would've received word by now, and that butterfly wouldn't still be far from home."

Dragon Cypress: "But it's close. According to the Flash Butterfly Warrior's account, Bayonet Continent's side is waiting for the Stone Hunt Blue Ants to send troops first, then, while their rear is empty, they'll cross the sea and strike directly at Blue Island."

Dragon Cypress: "If I were commanding the campaign, I'd definitely split the forces into three. One to block and cut off the retreat of the invading Stone Hunt Blue Ant Army, to prevent reinforcements. One force departing from the north, one from the south—a pincer attack from both directions on the island."

Dragon Cypress: "Right now, the Mainland's armies are probably divided into three major parts, stationed in the south, north, and center of the continent, hidden well behind the lines, waiting to strike for victory."

Ink Orchid: "..."

Ink Orchid: "I just want to know—when will the war roughly start?"

Dragon Cypress: "Uncertain. Could be tomorrow, could be next year. With so many King-Level Ant Kings on Blue Island, it's impossible they're all fools—they understand the importance of intelligence. They've definitely made some arrangements. They probably already know the whole Wan Country is about to besiege them, so they're holding steady for now."

Ink Orchid: "???"

Ink Orchid listened, dizzy with confusion.

Ink Orchid: "Dragon Cypress, how about we take a look? Make the Dominating Throne fly higher, use the 'Scorching' ability to observe from three hundred kilometers away."

At such a distance, just a glance shouldn't be an issue...

Dragon Cypress shook his tentacles, "Don't just watch the fun—business comes first. The work on Swinging Leaf Island can't stop. First, get White Rice over to help."

Ink Orchid: "Then I'll stay on Swinging Leaf Island to help!"

What help can you offer?

These are chaotic times; Ink Orchid flying everywhere is just asking for trouble.

Dragon Cypress didn't reply, maneuvered the Dominating Throne to turn, dived into the deep sea, and left the Thousand Reef Archipelago far behind.

No nonsense, just sent her back to Cloud Trace Continent.

PS1: Prototype of Saint Butterfly [Saint Hymn Goddess Skirt Veil Butterfly]

PS2: Recent drop in average subscriptions, planning to post 4–5k character single chapters for a while.

PS3: There'll be a double monthly ticket event on the 28th, will add more then—please vote.