Astral Cockroach

Baba, having nothing better to do, imparted human knowledge to the Nine Leaf Red Lotus Tree Spirit.

It wasn't without its benefits.

Banbu sketched out a simple map of the Northern Wilderness.

The Nine Leaf Red Lotus Tree Spirit marked relatively accurate locations, but since it was an immobile plant, its information was all hearsay, and it could only provide rough distances.

…

Guan Li and Big Bear had already transported the remains of the Red Pine God-Given Seed from the Frost Wolf Tribe's territory to the mountain stronghold, and a portion of it had been transferred to the Red Crow Mountain warehouse.

The team led by the Red Cockroach King arrived, rested for two days, and then departed fully loaded with goods.

Banbu visited the Red Crow Ghost King on the mountain, chatted idly, and negotiated the exchange of the next batch of Dragon Bamboo Fruits, before entering the Dragon Bamboo Continent.

First, he helped transport the remains of the Red Pine God-Given Seed outwards, timing it so that everything was completed in the winter of the second year.

With that, all the remains found so far were transported back to Li Bamboo Peak, and then it was back to treasure hunting.

It was Banbu's 59th year when he finally took action in the spring.

Guan Li, Xiangfei, Huozhu, and Danzhu, the four Red Cockroach warriors, acted together, searching for tree seeds in subtropical and temperate regions, mainly oak, evergreen oak, and sawtooth oak, but they didn't reject other tree species either, taking anything precious.

Banbu, along with Big Bear, Rat King, Baizhu, and Jinzhu, entered the Northern Wilderness grasslands.

Their first task was to find the settlement of the Great Green Mountain Snow Leopard Tribe.

The location was relatively certain, being 17 to 18 degrees south of due east from the Frost Wolf Tribe's lake island as the origin point. It was said that Frost Wolf Tribe warriors used to head straight out at this angle when traveling to the Great Green Mountain. The distance was very vague, ranging from 1000 kilometers to 2500 kilometers.

The landmark was obvious: a mountain range with a green mountain, large in scale but not very high. The Snow Leopard Tribe cultivated Chinese holly and Osmanthus heterophyllus on the mountain, while sea buckthorn grew at the foot of the mountain.

All were cold-resistant, drought-resistant, and thorny shrub species.

…

This planet had been transformed by insect "gods," and the transformation was quite crude, not even smoothing out the airflow and rainwater.

According to the unified division of Banbu and Red Crow Mountain, this was near the central region of the Dragon Bamboo Continent, with insufficient rainfall, dry air, and undulating low hills that were semi-desertified, alternating between green and yellow. Occasionally, strong winds would blow, raising dust.

The harsh climate was unsuitable for settlement and survival.

Traces of large animals were rare, and there were few small animals, mostly rodents good at digging and hiding.

Operating here, even food was a problem.

Banbu chose a small hill as a gathering point.

About 300 kilometers west of the stronghold was a lush wetland oasis, and Baizhu was assigned to collect thatch stems, dig up grass roots, hunt yellow sheep, and so on, specializing in collecting food.

Big Bear dragged a cart, specializing in transporting food and fresh water.

Banbu, Rat King, and Jinzhu dispersed to act, entering the barren hills to begin searching.

…

According to the Nine Leaf Red Lotus, among the beast tribes in the Northern Wilderness, there were more than forty rat species good at finding and excavating raw stone mines.

It was impossible for any raw stone mines to have been missed, so Banbu gave up searching for them, flying at low altitude for aerial reconnaissance.

After investigation, the "Great Green Mountain" was locked into a vague range of 1,000 kilometers in diameter. After patrolling repeatedly for more than two months, Banbu finally found it.

Without warriors managing it, the former "Great Green Mountain" no longer existed, having become the black and yellow "Great Barren Mountain," with only a few sparse green plants struggling to survive.

The sea buckthorn at the foot of the mountain grew well, not extinct, flowering and fruiting, sour and sweet, barely passable in taste.

The mountain range ran east-west.

North of the mountain range, a lake was surrounded by many cultivated high-quality Chinese holly and Osmanthus heterophyllus trees.

South of the mountain range, there was also a magical cactus forest, which was also one of the plant species cultivated by the former Snow Leopard Tribe.

This beast tribe liked thorny plants.

After discovering the target, Banbu surveyed the area to understand the overall situation and first landed by the lake.

At the foot of the mountain corresponding to the lake, there was a neat row of cave dwellings.

Upon closer inspection, the wind and sand had filled the lake almost completely, leaving a depth of less than one meter.

This was a bit troublesome.

What Banbu was looking for was a shrub-type "divine-grade" God-Given Seed, similar to the Blood Thorn God-Given Seed, developing woody branches close to the ground. The tree trunk was large in scale but very short. With the severe geographical changes, it must have been buried underground by wind and sand long ago.

The Nine Leaf Red Lotus had also heard about it from chatting with Frost Wolf Tribe warriors, all hearsay. She had never been there herself and didn't know the exact location of the thing, not even able to give a rough direction.

Looking around, it was all sand and soil, making it difficult!

Banbu circled the lake, searching and digging for several days, but without results.

The undulating raw stone mountain range, sixty to seventy kilometers in length, had once been inhabited by tens of thousands of beast warriors at its peak, being a leading tribe in the Northern Wilderness grasslands.

Searching carefully would be a huge undertaking.

Banbu couldn't think of an easy way. After searching for two days without success, he decisively returned to the stronghold to re-plan the operation.

He chose a lush spot with water and grass nearby, and Baizhu continued to collect food.

Big Bear still used the cart to transport food to the Great Green Mountain, a slightly longer distance, taking about 10 days for a round trip.

Banbu, Rat King, and Jinzhu were responsible for searching around the mountain range.

In the Northern Wilderness, there were many beast tribes that lived around raw stone mines, most of whom knew how to manage and cultivate plants, but very few possessed "divine-grade" God-Given Seeds.

If not for the information provided by the Nine Leaf Red Lotus, when searching in such places, Banbu and the others would at most use various sensing methods to search the shallow layers of the surface and be done with it.

Now, having confirmed that there was a "divine-grade" God-Given Seed and that the climate here was dry, confirming that the thing could be preserved relatively well, the search method was different. Spacing every 3 meters, digging and connecting to form a network, covering the entire mountain range.

The points on the mountain were dug to a depth of 3 meters.

The points at the foot of the mountain were dug to a depth of at least 5 meters.

It was a bit like archeology, first looking for the most likely places, then searching the unlikely remote places, one point at a time, covering and checking everything.

Time flew by to July. One night, a cold wind passed, and the temperature suddenly dropped. The strong wind continued, and the temperature became colder day by day. In just a few days, the lake froze.

Banbu quickly led everyone south.

As soon as they withdrew from the Northern Wilderness, a blizzard followed, and then came the long winter.

The temperate and subtropical climates south of the mountain range were still good, above zero degrees.

Taking advantage of the autumn season, they collected seeds. In winter, they gathered with Guan Li and the others at the mountain stronghold.

Banbu urgently set off to transport the seeds and various God-Given Seed fragments collected along the way back to Li Bamboo Peak.

The seeds were distributed to various mountains for planting.

Baba checked and analyzed the remains. Unfortunately, there was no hoped-for "divine-grade" God-Given Seed.

…

Rat King and Guan Li transported a batch of primal force food from Red Crow Mountain to the northern mountain stronghold of the Dragon Bamboo Continent, so everyone could improve their lives during the winter after a year of hard work.

They would continue their actions next spring.

Guan Li, Xiangfei, Huozhu, and Danzhu were still searching for tree species in the jungle south of the mountain range.

Banbu, along with Big Bear, Rat King, Baizhu, and Jinzhu, waited for the temperature to warm up slightly before entering the Great Green Mountain Snow Leopard Tribe's territory in the Northern Wilderness to continue digging and searching for the remains of the God-Given Seed.

After another 4 months of hard work, they completed the search of the entire mountain range and the iconic "Green Mountain" without any gains.

In Banbu's 61st year, they continued to investigate the area within a 2-kilometer radius below the mountain range, still without success.

Centered on the mountain range, the area to be searched increased geometrically as it spread outward, making it increasingly difficult.

…

The third batch of Dragon Bamboo Fruits condensed from the Dragon Bamboo God-Given Seed was about to ripen.

Banbu took Guan Li and Huozhu back to Li Bamboo Peak, leaving Big Bear and Rat King to continue searching.

Nine of this batch of Dragon Bamboo Fruits were still taken out and exchanged with Red Crow Mountain.

One was sold to the Black and White Flower Cockroach Tribe.

Li Bamboo Peak retained 8 copies. After careful consideration, they couldn't find 8 warriors on the entire mountain range who could go treasure hunting on the Dragon Bamboo Continent.

The four bamboo rat warriors led by Mazhu had to stay at Li Bamboo Peak, as they needed to do a lot of excavation work.

The lynx warrior Suocao could replace Camellia oleifera, responsible for jungle patrols and warnings, so Camellia oleifera could be spared.

1 Dragon Bamboo Fruit was arranged for Camellia oleifera.

Banbu himself had never been willing to eat a Dragon Bamboo Fruit. This time, he could eat one to improve his strength and accelerate his growth, advancing to L4 County Lord.

Little Baizhu completed his studies and his strength also reached L8 advanced warrior, so he could be taken to the Dragon Bamboo Continent.

There were 5 Dragon Bamboo Fruits left, which were given priority to Li Bamboo Peak, and were arranged for Datou, Xiangpu, Hongmi, Huoji, and Longzhu, respectively. They all had things to be busy with and would not participate in treasure hunting on the Dragon Bamboo Continent.

Dragon Bamboo Fruits and "divine-grade" primal force foods exchanged for Dragon Bamboo Fruits were given priority to Li Bamboo Peak, then Huozhu Mountain, trying to ensure that every member could successfully advance to County Lord. Then other mountains were considered and allocated as appropriate.

PS: Seems like I'm having writer's block. I don't know if there will be an update tonight.