Creating a paradise in an ant nest

Chapter 5 1 Spirit Stone

early morning.

Liu He slowly woke up and stretched.

"I slept so well."

He had a wonderful dream last night, in which he was sitting in an anthill, surrounded by countless rare and precious treasures and magical artifacts.

"Ant nest".

With a thought, he slipped into the anthill.

The leftover rice grains from last night were found in the food storage room.

He saw an ant circle around a grain of rice twice, looking like it wanted to eat it but was too afraid to.

In the ants' minds, this high-quality food should be reserved for the queen, who holds a noble position; ordinary worker ants are not worthy of eating it.

"You'll be able to eat spirit rice soon."

Liu He decided that from now on, all the rice he received from the canteen would be put into the ant nest.

He first ate some rice and had a hearty meal.

As he left, he realized that he didn't yet have his own "room" in the anthill. As a being of higher status than the queen ant, how could he not have his own nest chamber?

"Dig me a nest chamber."

He issued the order.

Several nearby ants received the message and immediately waved their antennae to communicate with each other. They "passed the message by touch," which soon attracted hundreds of worker ants to swarm over and dig a nest chamber for Liu He.

They burrowed deep into the ant nest, using their mandibles to dig out the soil and rocks at the bottom, and then carried the rubble out of the nest bit by bit.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Liu He returned to his room and headed straight for the place where the trial laborers received their spirit stones.

I received a spirit stone using my identity jade token.

This is the reward for his hard work protecting the forest for a month.

Afterwards, I went to the canteen to get my meal, and with a bowl of rice, I rushed to the forest farm to take turns with Sun Yan.

After Sun Yan left, he went to the ant nest.

"Make way, everyone, be careful."

Liu He moved cautiously and slowly, step by step, afraid of accidentally stepping on his fellow villagers.

He crouched down beside the anthill and saw many busy worker ants carrying loose soil out of the nest. The worker ants were digging a nest chamber for him.

"We've given everyone an extra meal; every ant will get some."

He gently poured the bowl of rice onto the anthill.

The heavenly rice emitted a fragrant aroma, quickly attracting a large number of ants.

"Move it back quickly, you won't have to skimp on food anymore, you'll have it every day from now on."

The ants, in a vast and dense swarm, carried grains of rice in long lines as they entered the anthill.

Liu He watched from the sidelines, feeling quite accomplished.

"Spirit rice is available every day, but relying solely on the faint spiritual energy within it, it is difficult to successfully cultivate Qi within five months."

I wonder what good things you can buy with a spirit stone?

He pondered this in his mind, then took the spirit stone out of his pocket and held it in his palm.

The spirit stone was about the size of a fingernail, with distinct edges and corners, crystal clear, and emitted a faint white light, like a glowing crystal diamond.

As far as Liu He knew, spirit stones were formed after being buried deep underground in spiritual veins and being refined by spiritual energy for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years.

It is the hard currency of the cultivation world.

However, the spiritual energy within spirit stones is compressed and solidified over millions of years, making it difficult for cultivators to absorb directly.

It needs to be activated within an array and a spiritual artifact to provide spiritual energy.

Liu He wasn't even a cultivator, let alone someone who could directly absorb the spiritual energy from spirit stones.

"Cultivation resources are too expensive; a single Meridian Opening Pill costs ten spirit stones. This one spirit stone is pitifully small."

The Meridian Opening Pill is a elixir that all trial cultivators and errand boys desire.

As its name suggests, it can help unblock meridians and open acupoints.

One Meridian-Opening Pill can unblock four meridians, saving three to four months of cultivation time.

However, for the trial cultivators, the Meridian Opening Pill was too expensive. Even if they saved up their monthly spirit stones, they could only accumulate six spirit stones in half a year, which was not enough to buy the Meridian Opening Pill.

"If I don't buy the Meridian Opening Pill, I can buy spirit beast meat. With the resources amplified by the ant nest, a tiny bit of spirit beast meat will be enough for me."

Liu He hesitated.

Should we save our spirit stones to buy better resources, or should we prioritize what we can afford and buy what we need right now?

"Let's save them for now."

Since the spirit stones were in his possession anyway, he decided to keep them and use them as needed.

"Yoo Hyuk, Yoo Hyuk~~"

Just then, a call came from afar.

Li Liangtian was a trial repairman in the neighboring forest area.

The outer mountain forest farm covers several thousand acres and is divided into sections for the servants to look after.

"I'm here."

Liu He responded and followed the sound, finding Li Liangtian carrying two bundles of dry firewood on his shoulder: "Are you going home today?"

"Yes, it's my grandfather's 50th birthday today, so I'm going back to celebrate. I've asked Senior Brother Wu for leave, so could you please keep an eye on this area for me?"

As Li Liangtian spoke, he put down the heavy load of firewood from his shoulder.

His home was in Fanren Mountain Village, next to the Qianyuan Shengzong Temple, not far from the Waishan Forest Farm, about ten miles away.

Born into a poor family in a mountain village, he lived frugally from a young age.

After joining the sect and becoming a trial cultivator guarding the forest farm, he became quite resourceful, collecting the dead branches and sticks in the forest to use as firewood.

"Firewood, rice, oil, and salt" – for ordinary people, firewood is a valuable commodity.

Logically, everything in the forest should belong to the sect, but firewood is too worthless; those two bundles of firewood are worth at most a few dozen copper coins, so no one cares.

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on things for you. Please give my birthday wishes to your grandfather."

Liu He knew that Li Liangtian was an honest person and had a good relationship with him.

Last time, Li Liangtian even brought him some fruit that he had grown himself.

"Thanks. Also, I have a question for you. Has anyone paid you money to buy your spirit stones?"

Li Liangtian took a few steps closer and lowered his voice.

"What, someone's buying your spirit stones too?"

"Hmm, the bid is eight hundred taels of silver!"

Li Liangtian held up an eight with his hand, his eyes filled with disbelief at his sudden wealth.

Eight hundred taels of silver! He'd never seen so much money before.

"You sold it? Someone offered me a thousand taels."

"Good heavens, spirit stones are that valuable? I'm glad I didn't sell them. Let me see if anyone offers a higher price."

Anyway, I can't join a sect. I can earn six spirit stones in half a year, sell them for a lot of silver, go back and buy land and a house to become a landlord, and then marry a beautiful wife, hehe.

Li Liangtian knew that the chances of being a trial laborer and formally joining the sect were very small, so he held no hope.

While others were scrambling to break through to the Qi Refining stage and stay in the sect, he was actually looking forward to returning home in glory with a large sum of money.

He shouldered two bundles of firewood, bid farewell to Liu He, and walked out of the sect while whistling a cheerful tune.

Despite possessing a fortune equivalent to a spirit stone, he would not discard this firewood worth a few dozen copper coins.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Liu He was patrolling the forest at a leisurely pace.

He was in charge of a 30-mu forest farm, plus the 30 mu of Li Liangtian's neighbor's, for a total of 60 mu.

Although they are called forest rangers, their job is actually quite leisurely.

After all, not many people are bold enough to steal timber from the Qian Yuan Holy Sect.

There is a spiritual vein beneath Qianyuan Mountain, but the Spirit Gathering Array covers several important peaks and the Spirit Plant Garden.

The spiritual energy in the outer mountain forest is extremely thin, and only ordinary trees grow there. The timber is used for the construction of some buildings within the sect.

The workday is over.

night.

Liu He returned to his small room.

"shuttle!"

He ventured into the anthill, and suddenly the view opened up before him.

After a day's work, the worker ants dug an empty nest chamber for Liu He.

"This is my underground cave."

He looked up at the circular dome that was over ten feet high, and then looked around at the empty surroundings.

Inside the "cave," there is a crystal-clear, fluorescent boulder that illuminates the surrounding space.

It is indeed a spirit stone.

Liu He placed the spirit stone in the ant nest, and the ants carried it into their nest chambers to use as a glowing stone for lighting.

Besides the spirit stones, there were also a few grains of spirit rice piled up in the corner of the nest.

"The cave dwelling is large enough, but it's a bit rudimentary. Security also needs to be strengthened."

He ate the spirit rice as he pondered this.

After eating, he returned to his room to practice his martial arts.