Astral Cockroach

In the midst of busy labor, time flowed silently, and before they knew it, the cold winter season arrived.

Big Head shrank back into the ant nest, not particularly fond of going out.

Cattail simply sealed up the entrance to her honeycomb, hiding deep within her nest chamber, entering a state of semi-hibernation.

Wind Chime spent her days lying under her natal plant, not moving much.

Red Rice was still lively and energetic, and Banbu, unable to dissuade her, allowed her to come down the mountain, following him every day as he worked.

The natal plants on the mountain all quieted down, no longer growing, even entering dormancy.

The three God-given seeds, Purple Gold and Emerald Bamboo, stopped growing, and the tree spirits became quiet as well. Blood Thorns, however, continued to grow in winter, and the Blood Thorns tree spirit was as active as in spring and summer. Its main branch, which climbed towards Li Bamboo Peak, had already exceeded 30 meters in length.

...

"Banbu, Banbu..."

Before the agreed time, the seven bamboo rat warriors ran back early, flustered and disheveled. Their usual straight line formation, from largest to smallest, was completely chaotic.

Seeing this, Banbu asked, "Did you find them?"

Rat King quickly ran up to Banbu, terrified, and said, "It's not the Gouju Mountain Python. We encountered a beast-type warrior."

Hearing this, Banbu was slightly disappointed and asked, "What kind of beast-type warrior? Who discovered it?"

Rat King said, "It was Water Bamboo, Water Bamboo discovered it."

Banbu looked at Water Bamboo.

Water Bamboo gestured frantically with his two front paws, saying in a panic, "Very big, very big. It has circles of black stripes on its body, like a tiger."

"Black stripes?" Banbu asked, "How big is it?"

Water Bamboo stammered, saying, "The aura on its body was too terrifying. I, I only took one look. It was too dangerous, so I ran... I didn't... It was a bit far away, I didn't pay attention... Probably, it should be bigger than, bigger than Rat King..."

"Could it be a wildcat?" Banbu asked, "Gray fur? Black head? With black rings on its body?"

Water Bamboo thought for a moment and said, "That's right."

Banbu said unhappily, "That's a Masked Palm Civet."

Water Bamboo said, "That's still a civet warrior, much stronger than us bamboo rat warriors. I had a strong feeling of danger. Once it found me, I definitely wouldn't be able to escape."

The martial arts taught by Banbu could train and improve the speed of the bamboo rat warriors, and so far, the effect was ideal. However, when facing felines, especially civet warriors, it was still not enough. This was a racial talent gap, and it was difficult to make up for it with hard work.

"Water Bamboo, your feeling is correct. If it found you, you wouldn't be able to outrun it, you wouldn't be able to beat it, and you would definitely die. Your choice was very correct," Banbu comforted, and asked, "Do you still remember the direction and location?"

Water Bamboo said, "I remember."

Banbu asked, "Is it far?"

Water Bamboo thought for a moment and said, "It would take a day and a half of running."

Banbu said, "Then you go back and rest first. I'll set off when it gets dark. I want to go take a look."

...

Banbu estimated that if the Masked Palm Civet evolved into a Force creature, it would be at most equivalent to a level 7 intermediate warrior. Without Force food, subsequent growth would be very difficult. It was indeed a natural enemy of the bamboo rats, but it didn't pose much of a threat to the Red Ant tribe warriors.

He only took Rat King and Water Bamboo with him on the road.

They set off that evening, running and hurrying, and only arrived at the location Water Bamboo mentioned the next day at noon.

They were almost out of the territory of the Jinping Mountains. Continuing northwest, after about half a day's journey, crossing the rolling hills, would be a flat river beach, an endless reed swamp.

The northwest of the Jinping Mountains was a barren plain, called the "Jinping Plain". It was said that the Force was particularly scarce, and the Fire Ant Kingdom had abandoned it for more than a thousand years.

"Jinping" and "Jinping", nominally two major mountain ranges, were actually a connected mountain range. The reed swamp was the boundary marker.

Banbu searched with Rat King and Water Bamboo for a whole day, searching through a dozen nearby hills, but couldn't find any trace of the Masked Palm Civet warrior.

Since they had already run such a long distance, they simply entered the reed swamp to investigate, and then tentatively entered the Jinping Mountains, speeding and flying, circling and investigating.

Generally speaking, the Force concentration was indeed slightly thinner than that of the Jinping Mountains.

The landform was mainly plains, with rolling mountains and dense jungles. At night, the sounds of wolves howling and tigers roaring rose and fell.

Over the long years, the Jinping Mountains had long become the world of beast-type warriors. Fortunately, there were steep peaks, rushing waterfalls, and the reed swamp to block them, preventing them from swarming southeast into the Jinping Mountains.

...

A Masked Palm Civet was not a big threat to the territory. If they couldn't find it, so be it.

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Banbu returned to Li Bamboo Peak with Rat King and Water Bamboo.

He gathered the seven bamboo rat warriors and re-planned the investigation route.

The southwest side of the Jinping Mountains and the nearby mountains had basically been searched.

Next, they would conduct an investigation along the northeast side of the Jinping Mountains. The north side was the territory of the Iron Blade Mountains, and Banbu had already greeted the Iron Blade Mountain Master, and would investigate it together.

The territory of the Iron Blade Mountains was relatively flat, mostly dense forests, with few mountain peaks. It was unlikely that the Gouju Mountain Python would hide in the flat ground. In addition, with more than twenty high-level warriors often going out hunting, their aura was intimidating, and it was impossible for them to be foolish enough to hide in a dangerous area instead of the safer Jinping Mountains.

Unexpectedly, this time, the bamboo rat warriors fled back in a panic again after 7 days of departure.

Rat King ran in the front, running very fast.

Several small bamboo rat warriors followed behind, running desperately, already exhausted. The smallest White Bamboo was nowhere to be seen.

Banbu noticed in advance, and before Rat King ran close, he asked, "What's wrong again? What did you encounter?"

"Banbu, python, Gouju Mountain Python!" Rat King shouted as he ran, "Many Gouju Mountain Python warriors, I almost got eaten by them!"

The six small bamboo rat warriors ran back one after another. After a long period of continuous escape, they were already half dead, lying on the ground, their four legs straightened, panting desperately. Especially White Bamboo, who was the weakest and most miserable, saliva dripping from his mouth, just a little short of being exhausted to death.

"In the future, you are not allowed to grab White Bamboo's food again, otherwise it will not be able to grow, it will become weaker and weaker, and sooner or later it will encounter danger and lose its life."

Banbu snorted and warned, then asked, "Rat King, where are the Gouju Mountain Python warriors hiding? How many are there?"

Rat King said, "It's the border mountain we went to last time, the one with the waterfall. They are hiding on the back side of the mountain peak, the side near the Iron Blade Mountains. There are many of them... Banbu, I didn't see clearly, I sensed the aura, mixed together, at least 10 strands! There is also the aura of a God-given seed, a large-scale God-given seed."

Sure enough, as expected, there was a God-given seed, and a large number of Gouju Mountain Python warriors gathered.

What he didn't expect was that they were hiding on the mountain peak where the three major mountain ranges of Iron Blade, Jinping, and Jinping intersected. The mountain peak had a name, called "Cloud Mist Peak". The mountain body was huge and steep, half of it was shrouded in clouds, and the summit was covered with snow that would not melt even in summer. It was a well-known tall mountain.

Banbu had specially gone to take a look last time, mainly to look at the snow-capped peaks on the mountain, and after circling around, he found that the Force on the mountain was thin, so he didn't pay attention to observe it.

It turned out that the Gouju Mountain Python warriors were hiding in this big mountain!

"They didn't chase, did they?" Banbu asked.

"No," Rat King said, "They don't know our intentions, they probably just chased us as food, and gave up after chasing for a while."

"That's good!" Banbu said, "You go back to the mountain and rest first. I'll go to Iron Blade Peak, inform the Iron Blade Mountain Master, and invite fellow tribe warriors to go and encircle them!"