"Bang——"
As soon as the Luoyang Shovel was inserted into the field, the previous scene repeated itself. A Red Fire Ant Queen, red to the point of purple, crawled out of the nest, cursing under her breath, ready to spread her wings in a moment of intimidation attack, when Master Fuli's big stick came down.
The Ant Queen kicked out with her six legs, stretched her four wings, and lay sideways at the entrance of the porous ant nest.
"Truly a family; their reaction to being prodded and the way they play dead is exactly the same."
Holding a bent steel pipe, Master Fuli looked at the newly fallen Ant Queen before him and sighed.
"Forest Ranger, drag it down to be bandaged! Later, stuff its mouth with a bottle of Spirit Particle Potion so it can relive the joys of childhood...."
Master Fuli waved a large hand, signaling the Ant Queen to continue digging at her sisters. The Ant Queen heard this and looked back with a tinge of envy at the new Ant Queen's location.
The new Ant Queen was knocked over by Master Fuli's stick.
Once the new Ant Queen was handed over to the Forest Ranger, to keep her calm, the Forest Ranger took out the Spirit Particle Potion for emergency use, diluted it with water, put it in a water bottle, poked a few holes in it, and let the new Ant Queen sip it for fun.
Although the Ant Queen didn't know what it was, seeing the new Ant Queen start to sip, she flipped over entirely, lying on her back on the ground, holding the bottle with six feet, her face showing a look of intoxicated pleasure, indicating that the water bottle must be delicious.
When the newest Ant Queen got captured, the Forest Rangers immediately repeated the process and shoved a bottle into the newest Ant Queen's mouth.
The two insect-class Red Fire Ants were indulging in the joys of mammalian childhood.
"Zizzz....."
The Ant Queen withdrew her envious gaze, looked at Master Fuli, and spoke.
"Hm?" Master Fuli was taken aback by the words, looking at her with a slightly puzzled expression, "No other sisters? Next, you'll take me to the Supreme Emperor."
"Zizz....." The Ant Queen nodded and explained.
Even though they belong to multi-queen ant groups, they are somewhat different from other Red Fire Ants.
Their fertility is extremely limited, or rather, they have no intention of reproducing at all; during colony separation, they generally take along a dozen large worker ants from the main nest to choose a new location to settle down.
Once the ant nest is roughly shaped, the Ant Queen will select a few from the large workers from before, providing secondary care to cause them to transform into ordinary Red Fire Ant Queens responsible for reproduction.
And spiritually transformed Ant Queens promote to Supreme Emperor status, receiving offerings from the colony.
The three Supreme Emperor Ant Queens, after keeping enough resources for themselves and the colony's development, would send all excess resources to the [Master Treasure Tree].
This group of Red Fire Ants, influenced by Master Treasure Tree and spiritually transformed, underwent subtle shifts in their societal structure.
"Your appetite is quite huge...." Master Fuli mused and said, "Seems like it wants to become immortal and be worshipped as an ancestor!"
For some reason, when hearing the Ant Queen talk about the special societal structure of the ant colony, Master Fuli always had an inexplicable feeling of déjà vu, with Grandmaster Lin's demeanor and appearance appearing in his mind.
"Zzzzz..." The Ant Queen nodded gently, walking ahead, leading Master Fuli to the nest of the Treasure Tree Ant Ancestor.
Indeed, the Supreme Emperor ate quite a lot, capable of consuming four to five pounds of plant roots and stems, and three pounds of meat per day.
For catching insects and pork, they really worked hard.
Led by the Ant Queen, they went from the field to the old residential area of the town. Calling it the old house was more like saying they were abandoned old mud-brick houses where no one lived anymore. Some beams even collapsed due to moistness and weathering.
In a mansion covered with moss, Red Fire Ants about two to three centimeters were swarming around.
There were even some soldier ants, seven to eight centimeters long, crawling on the house walls and beams, using their forelegs to transport bits of food.
"Zizzz——"
The Ant Queen ceased her flying posture, landed at the mansion entrance, and emitted a burst of wing vibrations towards the inside.
The old mansion fell into silence for a moment.
Suddenly.
A female voice transmitted from the mansion to the doorway.
"Only..."
"Kill....."
"The enemy——"
Under the astonished gaze of Master Fuli, Leopard Head, and Wang Qiqi, a dark figure flashed from the courtyard, standing on the collapsed beam behind the door.
That thing had a human upper body, with its body covered in a layer of black armor, spreading to the face.
The most peculiar was its lower body, having an ant-like big abdomen, with six legs resembling a spider's base plate. Besides, its hands were holding a straight wooden stick.
Seeing intruders, it fixed a fierce gaze, letting out a low, hoarse intimidation from its mouth.
"Only killing?"
Master Fuli stepped forward, shifting his gaze from the peculiar Treasure Tree Ant to its hand, watching the tree branch tightly clutched in its hand, he slowly spoke to the Treasure Tree Ant:
"Can you guess, what idiom encompasses young, middle-aged, and old age?"
Master Fuli continued to walk inside, transforming with every step taken.
Crossing the threshold, he sprouted nine tails, instantly transforming into a beastman form upon entering the courtyard interior.
"......"
The Treasure Tree Ant stiffened, glaring deathly at the fox spirit intruding on its homeland.
Master Fuli extended his arm, seizing the tree branch held tightly by the Treasure Tree Ant, his face revealing a youthful fox-eared look, tightening his eyes at the Treasure Tree Ant Ancestor, saying:
"The answer, that within the same timeline satisfies young, middle-aged, and old age is either extermination of an entire family, or it could also be three generations living under one roof!"
Master Fuli snatched the branch, raised it, leveraging his height advantage, and looked askance at the Treasure Tree Ant, saying:
"Now I've shown you the path, choose one!"
"Zzz——" The Ant Queen guarding outside, couldn't help but anxiously remind the Ancestor.
Emperor!
Did you see the branch raised high? Earlier, the fox used an iron rod to knock over the eldest and second sister.
If you say no, the fox will hit your skull!
Feeling the atmosphere in the courtyard somewhat stifling, like gathering some intangible presence, the Treasure Tree Ant's cheeks displayed a conflicted expression, after struggling, it decided to leap from the collapsed beam down to the ground.
"Give it back...give it back to me!"
The Treasure Tree Ant raised its hands, using its six legs on the moss-covered stone path, hopping around the fox, its mouth letting out pitiful pleas.
However.
Standing just over thirty, forty centimeters tall, Master Fuli, no matter how short, stood at a height of one meter thirty to forty, raising his hand, reaching an impressive one meter eighty or ninety.
The Treasure Tree Ant's attempts to look cute and jump were futile to reach the branch held by Master Fuli.
"Mmm..."
Seeing it couldn't reach and couldn't confront the intruders in its home, anxiousness overtook the Treasure Tree Ant, it lay on the ground rolling back and forth, releasing sobbing sounds from its mouth.
The survival instinct within it whispered.
Should it leap to hit the fox's knee or crotch, something terrifyingly awful would happen.
"This..."
Wang Qiqi and Golden Leopard appeared speechless, gazing at the half-formed Spirit Beast, displaying some incredulous looks.
Though small in stature, the closer to the origin of the beast, its form resembled a human more.
Although not showcasing any particular ability, its power should be no less than a [Defender], and might even reach [Territory] level within its specialty.
But.....
Here it was, rolling on the ground.
[The ruthless power seeker has long lost all morality and boundaries, with only strength being its eternal pursuit. To this end, it will stop at nothing, even causing chaos in cities. During a holiday in the secluded mountains, Master Fuli learned of the demon's existence, reluctantly bidding farewell to close kin to embark on a demon-slaying journey.]
[In the fields, after several intense battles, Master Fuli, through wisdom and strength, dealt a severe blow to the misguided being, awakening its humanity, prompting the demon to lay down its butcher's knife and return to the right path.....]
[Wish Power +6]
"???"
Inside, Master Fuli was bewildered, observing the noticeable reminder popping up on the wish list.
He glanced sideways at the Treasure Tree Ant lying on the ground, kicking its ant legs.
No, buddy...
Is this, ruthless?
Even though it certainly has little compunctions, it is being pretty cute and coy to get the branch back...