Chapter 62 - Chapter 62: Chapter 57: A New Variety Has Evolved i (2/2)

First and foremost, he had to preserve the sword’s special abilities.

Carrying a basket on his back and armed with a hoe and those five termites, he set off towards the mountain.

Passing by the small stream where clothes were washed, a few village women saw him and immediately had a topic of conversation.

“All Niu, only coming out to work now? It’s already midday, you know!”

“You need to be more diligent and not indulge in sleeping in. Otherwise, getting married will become difficult for you!”

“Auntie Yang, didn’t you know? All Niu is quite impressive these days. I heard that he could sell a basket of mountain mud for fifty wen! That’s five days’ worth of wages for my man.”

“Really? Is that true?”

The eyes of the women immediately lit up.

“I’m not entirely sure. I only heard it from Wu Ma at Wang Furen’s household. She said a steward from the Yan Family personally came to talk to Ah Niu and paid him fifty wen in cash on the spot. You tell me, how could a basket of mountain mud be worth so much money? It’s just everywhere on the mountains!”

“Who knows! The Yan Family has money to burn. Perhaps they were just finding a way to give Ah Niu some charity, so he wouldn’t starve to death!”

“If Ah Niu’s basket of mountain mud really does sell for fifty wen, I’ll marry off my daughter Xiuchun to him tomorrow!”

“Haha… Look at how much you love money! Who knows if Ah Niu will even accept her!”

Qin Niu paid no mind to the village women’s gossip.

He quickly walked past the stream.

This stream was only a little more than a meter wide, formed from spring water flowing down from the mountain, so clear that you could see the bottom.

Normally, the villagers would wash clothes in the stream, fetch water for their fields, and occasionally, when extremely thirsty, they would even drink a few mouthfuls. Qin Niu used to catch fish, shrimp, and crabs in the stream with other children when he was younger.

After ascending the mountain, he went straight to the ant nest and could see that it was still the same as before.

Termites prefer to hide underground or in tree hollows, rarely venturing out.

They even seal off the entrance to their nests directly.

But they are also highly territorial.

Within their territory, they do not allow any other creature to invade.

This is a bit like how humans defend their own country, not relinquishing a single inch of land.

“Fourth, bring out those five termites that drank the banyan tree blood!”

The insect carcasses and eggs Qin Niu had fed them yesterday were already cleaned out.

Considering their small appetite and the small number of the colony, he only fed them a small portion.

He returned the five termites he had taken down the mountain to catch insects back to the nest.

Including Number Five, they all seemed very excited.

It seemed they still liked being in their own home best.

Fourth quickly crawled out.

In its mouth, it held a soldier ant whose tail had turned a light green.

Along with it came a young worker ant with a new green stripe on its body.

A light green vertical stripe ran down the center of its body, from head to tail.

It too was carrying a soldier ant in its mouth.

This young worker ant with the green stripe, whether in terms of crawling speed or the strength it exhibited, was by no means inferior to Fourth.

Qin Niu immediately recognized it as the one that had consumed only one-tenth of the safe dosage of banyan tree blood.

The little fellow had succeeded in its transformation in just a little over a day.

It seemed the less banyan tree blood they consumed, the shorter the time it took for their transformation.

“Not bad!”

Qin Niu examined it closely.

The two soldier ants that were brought out still only had their abdomens tinged with green, slowly spreading towards their waists and heads.

By the looks of it, they needed at least another day to complete their evolution.

As long as death didn’t occur, waiting a few more days didn’t matter.

Theoretically speaking, the longer the transformation time, the stronger their abilities would be..