Astral Cockroach

Banbu took Princess Youli for a stroll around Bluebell Peak and then inspected the Great Eucalyptus Mountains. In recent years, beast-type warriors had become increasingly rampant, so he also took the opportunity to discuss defense matters with the Red Cockroach Tribe.

After half a month of traveling, they finally circled back to Misty Peak, where Banbu introduced Princess Youli to the Wedge Ant Queen. In the future, with the planting of cherry trees, Princess Youli and Misty Peak would have more frequent interactions.

"Banbu, were these saplings bought with raw stones? Or were they exchanged for Sacred Bamboo fruits?"

"Your Lizhu Peak is wealthy. Can you find a way to bring back some top-tier saplings from the opposite continent? I think even paying tens of millions of raw stones would be acceptable."

On the way back, Princess Youli enthusiastically suggested to Banbu.

Princess Youli was indeed old; sometimes, her mind was clearly not working well. She had subtly mentioned the matter of top-tier saplings no less than ten times.

Banbu was speechless about this.

The inherited memories recorded only about three hundred top-tier saplings, almost all of which were on the verge of extinction. How easy would it be to obtain them? He had been treasure hunting in the desolate continent for several decades, and so far, Lizhu Peak had only acquired Dragon Bamboo, Cave Crown Pear, and Kui Chestnut – three top-tier saplings.

Princess Youli also greatly underestimated the value of top-tier saplings. No matter where you were, it would be impossible to buy a top-tier sapling for tens of millions of raw stones.

Flying swiftly along the mountain range, he returned to Lizhu Peak.

In the air, scanning the area, he noticed a large number of trade caravans stationed at the trading plaza. Upon closer inspection, he saw Flame Cluster Bristlegrass and Iron Saber.

"What season is it? Why are the caravans here?" Princess Youli wondered aloud.

Banbu carefully sensed the raw energy fluctuations and then distinguished that they were the Chonglou and Yuzhu caravans.

"It seems like something has happened," Banbu said. "Princess Youli, I have something to take care of. Please proceed slowly."

"What is it? Let me see," Princess Youli said, landing at the trading plaza.

After a brief greeting,

Flame Cluster Bristlegrass solemnly said, "Banbu, in the Loujia Kingdom of the Central Region, the Purple Stem Armor Tribe's Zijing County was besieged by beast-type warriors from the Northern Wilderness… and robbed."

"Zijing County…" The name sounded familiar. Banbu pondered, then suddenly realized, "Zijing Grapes!"

Warriors from the Purple Stem Armor Tribe had once come to Lizhu Peak to purchase Sacred Bamboo fruits. Banbu had met them once and had a good impression of them. They awakened fire abilities, had purplish-red shells, and were exceptionally beautiful, a particularly vain race.

The Purple Stem Armor Tribe, like the Red Cockroach Tribe, was a relatively weak tribe, living as vassals of the Loubu Armor Tribe. Zijing County was also very famous on the continent, cultivating the vine plant grape, and with great success. Among them, the Zijing Grape and Crimson Grape were no weaker than any high-quality arbor tree species. The biggest feature was that the fruits were crystal clear and extremely beautiful.

The caravan selling Nine-Leaf Lotus seeds seemed to have been in contact with Zijing County all along.

Banbu looked at Chonglou.

Chonglou said dejectedly, "I didn't expect that Zijing County also had a 'divine-grade' God-bestowed seed, a piece of news that our caravan didn't even know about, but the Northern Wilderness beast race did. As a result, not only were things robbed and warriors killed and injured, but the plants were also damaged. The matter has become very serious. Warriors from the Loujia Kingdom and the Bumblebee Kingdom have gone crazy, searching and hunting everywhere."

Yuzhu explained, "It is said that the name is 'Zijing Grape,' and it has existed for many years. The fruits produced are regularly exchanged with the Loujia Kingdom and the Bumblebee Kingdom, and it has always been very secretive. The attackers included Northern Wilderness snow leopard and snow eagle warriors, as well as native clouded leopard and forest wolf warriors, numbering more than five hundred. They targeted the ripening time and suddenly launched a surprise attack… The battle was fierce, affecting that divine-grade Zijing Grape God-bestowed seed. Ice abilities froze most of the vines… It is unknown whether such trauma can be recovered, and even if it can, it is unknown how many years it will take."

Yuzhu also said dejectedly, "We originally planned to go straight to Zijing County… We had a big deal to make. Now, the Wolf Scorpion, Frost Centipede, and Emperor Scorpion kingdoms have received the news and sealed off the mountain border. Those beasts have no way to escape back to the Northern Wilderness and must be hiding in the Central Region wilderness and jungles. Our caravan doesn't dare to move around recklessly."

When the Chonglou and Yuzhu caravans left Lizhu Peak in the spring, they were carrying 10 portions of Nine-Leaf Red Lotus seeds, as well as goods worth more than three million raw stones, and about two million raw stones in cash… Two county lord-level caravans, carrying tens of millions in wealth, but their wealth was not commensurate with their strength, so they were especially careful when traveling.

Chonglou said, "Yuzhu and I heard the news and immediately turned around, rushing straight to Lizhu Peak. We plan to travel in the opposite direction… This year's trade may have to be partially shelved."

Yuzhu said, "It's a bit too late to change the route at this time. We need to speed up our journey. Therefore, Chonglou and I discussed temporarily storing the heaviest raw stones at Lizhu Peak."

"No problem," Banbu thought for a moment and added, "You can also leave some of the raw energy food you are carrying at Lizhu Peak… We at Lizhu Peak can directly purchase a batch to reduce your burden."

…

After being busy at the trading plaza for most of the day, the caravans departed lightly equipped.

Their original route was roughly counterclockwise, but they temporarily turned around and changed to clockwise.

Lizhu Peak had purchased sufficient raw energy food for all the warriors in the spring, but with the caravans leaving behind an extra million raw stones worth of goods, it was a bit overwhelming.

Princess Youli caught up and picked out two bags of high-quality goods and left.

She sent some to Iron Saber, Red Tangerine, and the Great Eucalyptus Mountains.

There was still a surplus, so she distributed some to the mountain peaks of Jinping Mountains and Jinping Mountains, and the rest was sent to the bamboo forest at the foot of the mountain to entertain the six young warriors from Chiwu Mountain.

…

In fact, in recent years, there had often been news of beast-type warriors attacking insect-type warriors' territories, but they were all small-scale forces, minor disturbances, and no one took them to heart.

The Zijing County attack was unprecedentedly bad. A "divine-grade" God-bestowed seed was severely damaged, its fate unknown. For any tribe, this was an unbearable loss. Moreover, many tribal warriors had died in battle, which was an absolutely unforgivable crime.

The key to the attack was the siege by more than five hundred beast-type warriors… Some came from the Northern Wilderness, and many were beast-type warriors born locally.

This matter reminded Banbu, and he called Hongdao, Duzhu, and Guanli to discuss making some adjustments to the warrior deployment starting this year. All the young warriors sent by the caravans would be kept. Those young warriors who did not like any of the major crops that Lizhu Peak was currently cultivating could be arranged to live in the forests near Lizhu Peak. These young warriors would form a defensive circle around Lizhu Peak. If the natural raw energy was insufficient, Lizhu Peak would provide raw stone subsidies. If the tree sea had agricultural work that they couldn't handle, they could be mobilized to help. It didn't matter if they were idle at other times. If a battle broke out, these warriors could be used.

…

Youcha, who had been staying at Misty Peak, returned to Lizhu Peak, and together with Shuocao, they patrolled the nearby territories, one in the south and one in the north.

Several days later, the news of the Zijing County attack spread throughout the continent.

Princess Youli County and Chijian County each sent 100 advanced warriors to Lizhu Peak to help with defense.

Half a month later, after the dry season, Princess Yinshan of Yunshan County personally came for a visit. The Sacred Bamboo fruit tree, which extended lifespans, attracted too much attention. They were very worried about the safety of Lizhu Peak. Two years later, during the Sacred Bamboo fruit ripening season, Yunshan County would send 10 county lord-level warriors and 30 mountain lord-level warriors a month in advance to help guard it until the fruit was harvested.

The two sides had been interacting for decades, and this was the first time Lizhu Peak had benefited from the Mantis Tribe.

Zijing County was attacked in the hot summer of May. By mid-August, when autumn arrived, the storm had not subsided but had intensified. Several kingdoms around the Loujia Kingdom had joined in, and after the autumn harvest season, they organized warriors to jointly sweep and investigate the marginal territories.

Subsequently, a wave of encirclement and suppression of local beast-type warriors swept across the entire continent.

The Fire Cockroach Kingdom was also motivated. King Chijian and Princess Youli organized warriors to carry out a cleanup of the Great Eucalyptus and Jinping Mountains territories, where the tribe's control was weakest.

Lizhu Peak, on the other hand, was quite peaceful, and the Giant Dragon Bamboo fruit and Nine-Leaf Red Lotus were successfully harvested.

Chiwu Ghost King and Begonia Butterfly King, who had been traveling in the Eastern Region, returned, and the six young warriors who had eaten the bamboo fruit with their tribes were returned to Chiwu Mountain. The nine young warriors selected by Lizhu Peak also set off with them. They went to Chiwu Mountain to complete a transformation and growth, and then entered the Dragon Bamboo Continent to participate in the laying of steel rails.

Banbu's plan changed. He had originally intended to set off with them and go to Chijian Continent. In such a turbulent period, he needed to stay at Lizhu Peak to oversee the situation. Defense was secondary; the main task was to handle various exchanges.

Beside the canyon on Chijian Continent, there was a Wedge Thorn Cherry God-bestowed seed, with 10 Wedge Thorn Ant Queen life seed plants. In the former Red Flower County territory, there was also a raw stone mine that had not been completely excavated. Another year or two would not starve Bai Zhu and Little Bai Zhu to death; it would only slightly delay their growth.