Creating a paradise in an ant nest

Chapter 15 On the Concealment and Defense of Ant Nests

Liu He saw that the ant nest had turned into a one-meter-deep pit, a complete mess, with many ants struggling to crawl out of the broken soil.

A sense of urgency to protect the ant nest arose in my heart.

"Fortunately, the queen ant is alright."

He has a telepathic connection with the queen ant and can sense her presence.

He gently dug through the soil with his hands and found the queen ant surrounded by a swarm of ants.

"Those mice were after the elixir, not the queen ant. Otherwise, the queen ant would have been in danger."

He was overjoyed.

Liu He had fed the ants quite a bit of the half-potential-opening pill these past few days, and there was still some left.

The whereabouts of the remaining elixir are unknown; perhaps it was stolen and eaten by some rat in the chaos.

"My anthill must contain spirit stones and elixirs. This time it attracted three mice, what about next time?"

"We must strengthen the defenses of the ant nest."

This incident was extremely dangerous; at least a thousand ants were injured by the rats and accidentally injured when Liu He dug up the ant nest.

What is even more alarming is that Liu He was not in the ant nest at the time of the incident.

If Liu He is in the ant nest, and the ant nest happens to be attacked, wouldn't he himself be in danger?

After some thought, Liu He came up with a rather grand plan.

"It's up to me now."

Ants can only build nests in the ground; their mandibles cannot even break through hard rocks.

But they have Liu He!

They needed sturdy, well-defended nests, which Liu He built for them.

"You definitely can't buy an ant ecosystem box in this world, so I have to find a way to make one myself."

"It's not just about protecting the anthill, it's also about protecting myself."

"The most urgent task is to dig a new ant nest. I'll figure out how to build the nest."

Under the cover of night, Liu He found a secluded spot a hundred meters away as the "site" for his new ant nest.

A vast swarm of ants migrates through the forest.

They carried the ant eggs, led the larvae, and swarmed around the queen ant as they marched toward their new home.

Upon arrival, they begin to build nests, skillfully using their mandibles to tear at the ground and move loose soil.

"Dig deeper to leave enough space for the ant colony to expand."

Under Liu He's command, the ants continued to dig deeper into the ground.

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.

Its daybreak.

Liu He guarded the ant colony all night, until the ant mound on the ground gradually rose up.

The ants kept going in and out, carrying soil and stones in their mouths, as they dug and built nest chambers deep inside the anthill.

"Where is Sun Yan?"

Liu He was puzzled.

He spent the entire night in the forest farm but did not see Sun Yan, who was supposed to be on duty there.

After another half a day, it was time for Liu He and Sun Yan to change shifts.

"That's strange."

Liu He searched the forest area for a long time but couldn't find Sun Yan.

Even if Sun Yan was slacking off and sleeping, he should still show up when it was time to change shifts.

"Why is this guy getting more and more unreliable? He's even skipping work!"

Liu He hesitated whether he should go to Wu Shao to complain.

The two were in charge of the same forest area, and Sun Yan's irresponsible attitude would cause Liu He a lot of trouble.

Just then, Li Liangtian came to deliver a message: "Senior Brother Wu is calling us to assemble."

"Okay, let's go."

"Where is Sun Yan?"

Li Liangtian was puzzled as to why he hadn't seen Sun Yan during the shift change.

"I don't know, maybe he skipped work last night."

"Absenteeism? Tsk, I heard Senior Brother Wu looked unwell, it seems someone has caused a major disaster. Isn't Sun Yan just inviting bad luck by skipping work at this time?"

"What terrible disaster?"

"I don't know yet."

"..."

The two chatted casually as they walked to the meeting point.

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.

The scene was completely silent.

Wu Shao stood with his hands behind his back, his face terribly gloomy.

When the crowd arrived and saw his expression, they consciously remained silent.

The oppressive atmosphere hung over everyone like a dark cloud.

After a while, everyone arrived.

Wu Shao's lips curled down, and his warning gaze swept over everyone before finally landing on Liu He.

"Liu He, where's Sun Yan?"

"Senior Brother Wu, it seems he skipped work last night."

"Absent-from-work? Why didn't you tell me sooner!"

Wu Shao's voice was reproachful.

"I only realized he wasn't there when it was time to change shifts. He arrived on time yesterday evening. I don't know where he went afterward."

"Where did you go? Ha!"

Wu Shao's voice rose, and he suddenly raised his hand and slammed a sign onto the ground: "He went to Lingzhi Peak to die!"

It was a jade identification plaque stained with blood.

"That fool, he dared to steal spiritual plants from Spirit Plant Peak! He was caught red-handed by the inner sect disciples and is now fertilizer. I got a real scolding because of him, he deserves to die!"

Lacking spirit stones and resources, trial laborers inevitably encounter a few individuals who become obsessed with superstition. Such incidents occur occasionally.

This is Sun Yan's fault, it has nothing to do with Wu Shao.

However, he was, after all, a trial cultivator under Wu Shao's command. When he caused trouble, the sect's higher-ups would naturally blame Wu Shao for his poor discipline.

"This is a warning to you, to let you know the consequences!"

If one cannot break through to the Qi Refining stage, at most one can leave the sect and become a wealthy mortal.

He deserved to be beaten to death for daring to steal other people's property.

Everyone was horrified.

The sect's handling of Sun Yan was a warning to others, deterring any further ulterior motives they might have.

Sun Yan hadn't expected the sect's punishment to be so severe, showing no mercy and killing on the spot. His plan was to take a gamble; if he wasn't caught, he could steal the spiritual plant, exchange it for spirit stones to buy the Meridian Opening Pill, and if he was caught, the only consequence would be expulsion from the sect.

He had imagined the sects to be too benevolent.

Let alone Sun Yan being a trial cultivator who hasn't officially joined the sect, even if he were a servant, an outer disciple, or even an inner disciple, anyone who dared to steal spiritual plants from the Spirit Plant Peak would only face certain death.

"Everyone, you can leave now."

Wu Shao signaled for everyone to disperse.

"Senior Brother Wu."

Liu He strode forward: "Sun Yan is dead, so what should we do if there are no night watchmen in my forest area?"

"Several handyman disciples will arrive later, and the current forest areas will be re-divided. In the next few days, I will arrange for you to take night watch in the forest area next to mine and also guard your area."

Wu Shao originally planned to scold Liu He to vent his anger, but since Liu He and Sun Yan were from the same forest area, they should bear joint responsibility.

But now Liu He is a formal handyman, which makes Wu Shao think highly of him.

"Okay, I'll follow Senior Brother Wu's arrangements."

Liu He returned to his forest area.

Although he and Sun Yan didn't have much of a relationship, he couldn't help but sigh when he thought about how Sun Yan, who was still alive and well yesterday, was killed for stealing spiritual plants.

The path to immortality is arduous, and some people lose their lives without even realizing it.

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.

Two days later.

Liu He returned to Wanqi Peak.

"Senior Brother Hong, I'm here again."

He came to collect the free magical artifact, but was delayed because of the rat attack on the ant nest.

The Wanqi Peak disciple on duty here is the same one as last time, Hong Jianxiong.

Long story.

As an outer disciple at the sixth level of Qi Refining, Hong Jianxiong shouldn't have wasted his time on such a task. Any miscellaneous disciple at the third level of Qi Refining could have handled it well.

He failed in his attempt to forge a magical artifact and was punished by being forced to stay here for a month.

"I remember you. Have you decided which spiritual weapon you'd like to choose?"

Hong Jianxiong had two iron balls twirled in his left hand; he remembered Liu He.