Chapter 1218 - 757: Soul Mimicry

[Time: Era 78 – Cycle 140 – Year 625]

Sheep Hoof Armor Star System, Potato Leaf Star,

Xianglan Mountain Territory.

Early spring morning.

As usual, Black Peach got up early, strolled out of the tree hole, waved his tentacles to summon the guarding Ant Army, and leisurely set off along the ant trail to start a new day's work.

Suddenly, Dragon Cypress's spiritual power mind shifted and projected over.

"Black Peach."

"Mm~ hm~"

"I'm about to break through."

"Huh?"

"These past few years I suddenly had some insight; my comprehension of all branches of Strength reached Completion four to five hundred years earlier than estimated."

"Oh——"

"That's great!"

Black Peach instantly perked up, straightened his tentacles, and sent out a spiritual power wave to call:

"Round Cypress! Fragrant Cypress! Giant Cypress! Rainbow Parasol Tree! Dragon Cypress can break through now!"

"White Willow, Mountain Persimmon, Mulberry, Areca, wake up! Dragon Cypress is breaking through!"

"..."

Bicolor Mulberry's spiritual power mind projected over, cursing: "Ant, what are you yelling for? Making a fuss over nothing!"

Black Peach straightened his tentacles and shouted: "Black Emperor Peach! Zhibai! Er Bai, Three Bai, Sibai..."

Black Emperor Peach: "Is this really okay?"

Zhibai: "Doesn't seem appropriate, right?"

Er Bai: "Isn't this bullying the trees a bit too much?"

Three Bai: "..."

The six tall Great Tall Trees surrounding Bicolor Mulberry understood, muttered, then activated [Reverse – Ecological Base Station], raised a Primordial Energy Barrier, and sealed off Bicolor Mulberry's spiritual power.

Bicolor Mulberry: "..."

Black Peach didn't bother with it much, his body flickered as he moved closer to the lakeside to notify the Azure Divine Seed Tree.

Inside the Short-Handled Horn Tree, the Assistant King on duty jolted awake.

Scattered across the mountain range, the insects stationed at Xianglan Mountain received the news, rose one after another, Spatial Teleportation, and hurried to the King Cypress tree.

"Dragon Cypress, you can break through now?"

"I can."

"You've confirmed you can?"

"...Confirmed."

"There won't be any mishap, right? If something goes wrong, the Second King will shark us."

"Won't."

"Alright then. Do you need Primordial Crystals?"

"I do."

Dragon Cypress said: "As a Level Two Origin Point, the Origin Force Concentration here is high enough to supply my breakthrough. But the commotion might be huge and could affect the neighboring Territory. Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid are both away, so keep things low-key, don't attract attention from other insects or trees, and avoid stirring up trouble. Prepare one million Primordial Crystals on hand for emergencies."

"My estimate is that this breakthrough will still go through ten eruptions, each spaced about thirty days apart."

"Got it!"

"Understood!"

"One million is too few. I'll go exchange two million right now."

"I'll go with you."

"Me too."

"White Willow, you're fast. Go to Palace Powder Star and notify White Rice and Chinese Clematis to come back and help."

"Black Peach! Don't just stand there, lay a few more Marks of Flourish on Dragon Cypress."

"Night Fragrance, let's not use Glinting Gold for now; give it to Dragon Cypress for emergencies first."

A brief round of discussion.

White Willow was the first to flicker away.

Mulberry and Areca escorted Round Cypress to North 1001 District to exchange Primordial Crystals for spot use.

…

Dragon Cypress handed over the Thousand-Year Tree, temporarily entrusting it to the Azure Divine Seed Tree for use.

Night Fragrance released Glinting Gold and passed it to Dragon Cypress.

Dragon Cypress did his utmost to absorb Natural Primordial Force, storing Strength for the Evolution breakthrough.

A month later,

Morning.

Round Cypress, Black Peach, and Fragrant Cypress commanded the Mountain Ants and Worker Ants, guarding the mountain-like pile of Primordial Crystals, stationed five hundred meters away.

Giant Cypress and Rainbow Parasol Tree directed the Combat Ants to guard all directions.

The Insect Clan Warriors all stood on the mountain ridge five kilometers away to watch.

All preparations were complete.

Dragon Cypress unfolded his Energy Field and quietly brewed.

Around noon, the rate of Origin Force absorption gradually increased.

Toward dusk,

The absorption rate of Origin Force skyrocketed; every leaf strained wide open, breathing desperately, like an endless Abyssal pit, frenziedly Devouring the Origin Force around it.

Within a radius of twenty to thirty kilometers, Natural Primordial Force rushed rapidly toward Dragon Cypress, but gradually could no longer keep up with consumption; a vacuum zone of Origin Force took shape and slowly expanded.

One hundred meters, two hundred meters, three hundred meters, four hundred meters, five hundred meters...

"We can start using Primordial Crystals!"

White Willow, observing from high above in the distance, spoke; the message was relayed through layers of Origin Force Plants to Round Cypress, Fragrant Cypress, and Black Peach.

The three Assistant Kings all shook their tentacles in unison to issue orders.

The ant swarms began to move, extremely fast; amidst the dense clicking sounds, vast patches of pure Origin Force rose and were instantly sucked away.

The range affected by Origin Force Fluctuation was compressed and kept within North District 4201.

This continued all the way until deep night,

When Dragon Cypress's absorption rate of Origin Force began to slow.

The Assistant King gave the order; the ant swarms stopped using Primordial Crystals.

It continued on to Dawn; Dragon Cypress's Soul Consciousness sank into sleep.

The first eruption of the Evolution breakthrough ended.

After a month of silence, the second eruption.

Another month later, the third eruption.

…

Finally, after nine months in total, at the tenth eruption, Dragon Cypress awoke from sleep.

He rested to recover.

In the early spring of the new year,

The long-silent Dragon Cypress sent out a spiritual power mind: blooming!

At the lakeside, beneath the Azure Divine Seed Tree, the insects who had been eating and drinking in advance celebration jumped up at the news, each activating their Ability, Teleporting to the Dragon Cypress tree.

They tilted their heads back to look.

At the treetop, a single flower branch shot out a spike and quickly grew, pushing out a flower bud that rapidly developed into a flower sheath.

The bud opened, a very small white flower; Primordial Energy Breath spread out with it, the petals assisting, steadily and swiftly drawing in the surrounding Natural Primordial Force.

Dragon Cypress explained: "I've lived up to everyone's expectations, it's done; Adaptive Evolution has a high probability of reaching deep into the Soul layer."

"And in other aspects, the adaptive capacity is much stronger. As long as I don't die outright, given some breathing room, I can adapt to most environments, including various non-overwhelming physical types of Primordial Energy attacks."

"However, there's still a limit. Attacks that go beyond that limit in a crushing manner probably can't be fully resisted through Adaptive Evolution alone..."