Force Astral Plane: Starting with the Chimera Ants

Chapter 53: The Fifth-Instar Primary Ant King

Inside the same expanded "Spider Cave," in front of Ye Zhi, fresh pieces of flesh and blood were laid out on a broad leaf, while two small spider silk bags were placed beside it.

With a ripping sound, the bag was opened, and the two jaws clamped a peach pit after the flesh had been removed. The tentacles slapped it open, and the peach pit was examined by the compound eyes, feeling the powerful primal energy inside.

For Ye Zhi, swallowing the entire peach pit was a bit of a struggle. Ants' mouthparts weren't designed to swallow such large solid pieces, even after the Force evolved.

Once the outer shell of a Force-infused food is broken, the Force contained within it will quickly dissipate, and it must be eaten all at once. After thinking for a while and deciding on a plan, Ye Zhi slowly prepared to speak.

As usual, she first picked out two grapefruit seeds that enhanced her ability to absorb Force food and swallowed them. Feeling the remaining Force surging into her limbs and bones, Ye Zhi made a firm decision, bit into the peach pit with her large jaws, and cracked it open.

The pure primal force emanated outwards. Ye Zhi didn't care about anything else. She chewed it up as much as possible with two crunching sounds and swallowed it into her stomach. Then she quickly moved her six limbs and jaws, guiding the primal force that strengthened her muscles into her six limbs and jaw muscles.

Each peach pit was enormous, containing even more primal force than the previously bestowed Heavenly Azure Persimmon Seed. The monstrous Ye Zhi's absorption ability was somewhat strained; she crawled to the flesh before her, quickly cutting and consuming it to restore her strength.

Another precious source of Force food is a variant of Torreya grandis called "Green Torreya Seeds." It also strengthens muscles. Although it is not a divine gift, it is produced in lord-level territories and has top-tier effects.

After eating a few grains of Force food, Ye Zhi ate a few bites of ordinary flesh and blood, and then felt the bond between the soul and the "Chimera," the divine seed that had been temporarily taken back into her life sac. Ye Zhi nodded her tentacles in satisfaction and prepared to begin today's training.

The Black Emperor Peach kernel was rich in Force, so Ye Zhi had to slow down her pace, changing her Force food intake from once every two days to once every three days. Each time, she would start with two grapefruit seeds, followed by a luxurious combination of one Black Emperor Peach kernel and two Torreya nuts.

In the initial stage, growth is rapid, and the resources required for growth and evolution increase almost exponentially with each age. Fortunately, the starting amount is very low, and it won't take long to reach the fifth age. Another month has passed, and after consuming Force food worth over a thousand Primal Stones, Ye Zhi shows signs of dormant evolution again.

With practiced ease, Ye Zhi filled his stomach with food, then sealed the entrance to the "Spider Cave," which had been widened once, with ant silk. He then found a comfortable position on the ant silk mat, which had been rewoven to suit his current size for easier evolution, and began to evolve.

......

Four days later, Ye Zhi awoke from her slumber, twisting her body as the old shell on her back snapped away, revealing a new, pale yellow-white carapace that stretched and extended. Her six limbs moved, and her membranous wings spread out.

Looking around at itself, in the early stage of the fifth age, the body length has reached about sixteen centimeters, which is not a significant increase.

However, with the enhancement of Black Peach and Torreya grandis, the strength of his newly formed muscles was greatly enhanced. To use the words used to describe humans in his previous life, Ye Zhi felt that he could now "kill a bull with one punch"—of course, given his current size, he could probably only kill a longhorn beetle...

After a simple round of activity, it reported its safety to the King Red Cypress, who was guarding the entrance to the nest chamber, ate some liquid food brought by the king red cypress, and then took flight once again, heading towards the hillside where the chimera had been planted.

Still skillfully digging through the soil, he spat out the divinely bestowed seed "Chimera," which had been strengthened once again, planted it in the soil, conveying a message of growth, and then personally used a bamboo joint to water it, waiting for it to sprout.

The Chimera grows as fast as ever. Two cotyledons unfold, followed by the main vine and broad leaves with their traps, then the cotyledons wither, and the main body grows rapidly...

Ye Zhi waited quietly, while catching various small invertebrates nearby. He swung out his ant silk lasso, accurately severing their heads, and then bound them together with thicker ant silk.

Once the first insect trap of the "Chimera" expands, Ye Zhi drops down the strings of small invertebrate carcasses bundled together like rice dumplings. The "Chimera" then extends its familiar white root-like structure to absorb them, and then waits for the tree spirit to recover.

"Ye Zhi, you've evolved again? I feel like my absorption ability has become stronger too." The tree spirit transmitted a joyful, yearning mental fluctuation. "Is there any more food? I need to grow upwards faster."

"There's not much left for now. When the Red Cypress King returns tonight, it will bring us more food. You should focus on restoring the plant's size and at least grow more insect traps."

"Okay." The tree spirit sent a brief emotional signal, then stopped sending out mental fluctuations and focused on growing. The main vine quickly extended and thickened, and the end began to turn purplish-red, gradually becoming stronger.

The vigorous life force allowed the main vine of the "Chimera" to grow more than ten meters in just one hour, with long and broad leaves and huge insect traps emerging. The insect traps were also illuminated by a familiar blood-red halo, emitting an aura similar to that of ripening Force Fruit.

Without a doubt, the chimeras hadn't eaten enough and were now resorting to entrapment. Ye Zhi saw that some flying insects had already been attracted and were circling the insect trap, so she simply stopped caring and took flight.

Slowly burrowing into the location of the banyan tree nest, which had been neglected by its main body recently due to rapid growth and evolution, Ye Zhi felt a joy in her heart as she sensed the special "spatial" connection between the worker ants and her own consciousness, realizing that her ant kingdom was beginning to take shape.

The two golden eggs cultivated during the third instar have just hatched. After simply shedding their membranous wings, they transform into semi-primitive queen ants and begin reproduction under Ye Zhi's control.

There are already more than fifty worker ants, and more than one hundred eggs and larvae. The worker ants are scattered throughout the incubation chambers in the tree nest under the control of the leaf weaving.

There are already five third-instar worker ants, each seven or eight centimeters long, and more than ten first-instar worker ants, which are still quite small. Among them, the third-instar worker ants have inherited the original energy characteristics of leaf weaving and the ability to fly with ant silk blades, and they already have a certain fighting power.

Ye Zhi entered the nest this time intending to personally "spit out" the eggs and raise several fifth-instar worker ants to test whether they could inherit the strength of her exoskeleton and muscles, which had been strengthened twice.

But just as Ye Zhi lay down on the ant silk cushion, preparing to begin laying ant eggs from her life sac, a spiritual fluctuation, mixed with surprise, astonishment, and above all, a yearning, emanated from the depths of her soul, connecting her to the life seed, outside the tree nest:

"Ye Zhi, come quick! What's this? I've never seen this kind of insect before. It looks delicious. Do you have it in your inherited memories? Is it edible?"