Chapter 157 – Great kindness cannot be reciprocated with words
After half of the Ant Hole had collapsed, the Fire Red Ants poured out without end.
They did not even care about the human flesh that they usually loved to feast upon. They only moved piles and piles of crushed rocks without cease. Many Giant Ant Soldiers had come out, patrolling everywhere, and some of them even crawled towards Yue Yang. However, before Yue Yang could do anything, they had already been thrown off the hill by Hui Tai Lang, who hated the Fire Red Ants to the core… Hui Tai Lang spewed its raging black flames of hell onto their antennae, causing a few Ant Soldiers to roll down the hill in pain.
When it was inside the Ant Nest where it were surrounded by more than ten thousand restless ants, no matter how strong Hui Tai Lang was, it could not take advantage of them.
However, it was only facing a few Ant Soldiers now. It could now easily beat up these huge fellows whose bodies were a few metres long until they didn’t know which way was north.
The anger and pent-up frustration that it had bottled up when it was surrounded by the Ant Colony could now be vented out. Hui Tai Lang was pleased. As long as the Fire Red Ants left their colony, it would go up and beat them up as much as it could.
After all the crushed rocks were moved away, the Fire Red Ants found a few bags hidden within the cracks of the rocks.
Yue Yang and the others observed what was going on and found out that there really were Golden Ant Eggs.
Three Golden Ant Eggs were being carefully transported by a group of Fire Red Ants who were preparing to deliver them back into their nest. Yue Yang’s heart twitched. Although they were useless to him, but these Gold Beast Eggs weren’t bad either. Ye Kong and the others might be able to use them. Yue Yang let his intentions be known to Ye Kong, Fatty Hai and the others. “Who wants them? There are two Gold-ranked Ant Soldier beasts, and one of them is a Female Golden Ant, which would be the future Ant Queen… “
“I don’t want them!” Ye Kong hurriedly waved his hands. The Herculean Rhinoceros Beetle had been contracted by him last time. This time, the opportunity should be given to the other companions. “Give it to Fatty Hai and the others!”
“What? I don’t want it either!” The naked Fatty Hai covered his lower body with both hands and shouted, “Your Boss truly only wants to contract with beautiful female summons. I don’t like ants! Give it to Li Qie and Li Ge. I won’t value them at all!”
Although he said it so naturally on the surface, but in reality, his heart was aching so much that the fat on his face was trembling.
If it were under normal circumstances, he might have gladly accepted it.
However, ever since Yue Yang had helped him to regain his dignity last time, he became determined to turn over a new leaf. After drawing up a special plan with Yue Yang, Fatty Hai knew the direction that he was going to develop, which would be to train his Iron Rhinoceros… The Iron Rhinoceros was a Guardian Beast. Although it was still a little weak now, once it turned into Silver-ranked, and then Gold-ranked, the value of cultivating it would be much higher than cultivating a non-Guardian Beast Golden Ant Soldier. At the very least, the Iron Rhinoceros would never die, nor would it ever betray him. It would be his most trustworthy companion through his lifetime.
Although the Golden Ant Soldier was good, once it died, he would have nothing again.
And furthermore, Ant Soldiers did not have intelligence, only instinct. There was not much practical use for deploying them on the battlefield.
Thank goodness this was a strengthening-type beast. If it were a fighting beast-type Golden Ant Soldier, then it might not even be able to square off evenly against a Silver-ranked Demon Wolf!
“Leave the Female Golden Ant to the ant colony. It’s the future Ant Queen after all, all we need are those two Golden Ant Soldiers!” Li Qie and Li Ge felt that it would not do if they did not hurry up and improve their strength. With the Golden Ant Soldiers, their strength could be increased tenfold. In that case, they believed that they would not be burdens that pulled everyone down.
They knew themselves very well. Being able to contract with a Gold-ranked beast like the Golden Ant Soldiers was already more luck than they had dared to yearn for in their lifetime.
Not only that, these Golden Ant Soldiers were still eggs, still larvaes. They could take their time to cultivate them.
If not for Yue Yang, they would have never been able to obtain these Golden Ant Soldier Eggs. They could only watch such precious objects and drool.
Under Yue Yang’s instructions, the Bloody Queen swept down from the skies.
With a move, she snatched both Golden Ant Soldier Eggs into her hands… An uproar immediately began in the Ant Colony, but the Fire Red Ants were instinctively fearful of the Gold-ranked Bloody Queen. They were also unable to fly and thus, could not pursue her further. The only thing they could do was to increase their protection on the Female Golden Ant Egg. Dozens of Fire Red Ants crawled on top of the bodies of their companions, forming a densely-packed ant wall as the Female Golden Ant Egg was swiftly transported back into the ant tunnel. Even when the Female Golden Ant Egg was already transported so deep within the Ant Hole that it could not be seen anymore, the Fire Red Ants stacked up rocks and sealed the Ant Hole tightly behind them. It was as if they were still afraid of the Bloody Queen pursuing them again.
They had the inborn instinct to protect the Ant Queen. Compared to the Golden Ant Soldier, the Ant Queen was everything to them.
Even if it was a Golden Female Ant Egg that had not been incubated, that egg which was birthed by the previous generation’s Ant Queen was already destined to become the next Ant Queen.
“These Ant Eggs are really sturdy!” Yue Yang discovered that even after going through two great shocks, the two Golden Ant Eggs remained completely undamaged.
“If it were me, I would fuse a chaos egg with it like that monkey! Although the King Kong Demon Ape is still trash after fusion, but it’s still much better compared to the strength it had before!” Seeing that the Bloody Queen and Yue Bing were there, Fatty Hai who was nude, quickly hid behind a rock. Although he did not dare to come out, his voice showed that he did not want to be left out, giving a rotten idea for the Li brothers.
“No, we don’t want to try fusing a chaos egg!” Li Qie and Li Ge rejected the proposition in concert.
The 0.01% success of fusion already made people despair.
Not only that, this was already a Gold-ranked beast from the start. Why risk the danger?
Yue Yang also felt that using Gold-ranked beast eggs to fuse with chaos eggs would be painful… The higher the grade of the beasts, the harder it was to find a suitable chaos egg for fusion. Fatty Hai’s train of thought was really like a snake trying to swallow an elephant.
Although they were Ant Soldiers, they were still Gold-ranked beasts. This was already not bad. It wouldn’t do to be too greedy.
Although they were surrounded by danger, they had been able to gather a good amount of rewards. Not mentioning Yue Yang, Yue Bing and Fatty Hai’s summoning grimoires had both risen in grade. Yue Bing’s Advanced Bronze grimoire had officially turned into a Silver grimoire. At the same time, other than gaining an extra blank page on her grimoire, her Inherent Skill [Intense Poison] had increased in grade too. Yue Yang also found that her Hundred Year Old Treant Defender was showing faint signs of levelling up. Most likely, with the help of an external force, it could successfully become Silver-ranked.
Fatty Hai’s Bronze Grimoire evolved from Beginner-ranked to Intermediate-ranked. The Ancient Code had also gifted him a young Female Hippopotamus beast.
Although this little hippo looked like it was an idiot, but this was a gift from the Ancient Code. Fatty Hai did not dare to abandon it. If a beast granted by the Code was abandoned, one would never again be able to get the gift of a beast. When the summoning grimoire rose in rank again, the most they would get would only be a blank page.
Seeing Fatty Hai’s gloomy expression, Ye Kong laughed until tears formed in his eyes.
“This thing is a Bronze-ranked beast, cultivate it well! Maybe after the rhinoceros becomes a beauty, you can also cultivate a hippo beauty!” Ye Kong rolled on the floor laughing.
“I am an open-minded and calm person. My heart is as still as water and I am kind-hearted. My Intelligence is not the same as your level, monkey.” Fatty Hai tried his best to act like a refined gentleman in front of the Bloody Queen. However, trying to blow his own trumpet was a waste of effort, as the Bloody Queen did not even glance at him once. Seeing that Fatty Hai’s courting had failed, Ye Kong patted Fatty Hai’s shoulder, acting sympathetic. Just as Fatty Hai thought that he would console him with a few sentences, Ye Kong threw him down with a single phrase. “Fatty, I can’t say that you’re kind hearted. However, I can just barely call you contented and easy going (心宽体胖, big-hearted, and literal fat body). Look at the amount of fat you have on your body! It’s exactly the same as that little hippo. I daresay, you and your Iron Rhinoceros, along with the little hippo, are perfect matches for each other.”
“Heehee!” This sentence even made Yue Bing laugh.
“Ahhh! “ The Li brothers, who had meanwhile contracted with the Golden Ant Soldiers, let loose a loud howl simultaneously.
On their bodies, a faint golden-coloured carapace appeared like armour which was draped over their bodies, covering almost half of their entire body surface.
Ye Kong raised his fist and punched Li Qie as hard as he could.
Li Qie’s body wobbled slightly, but his feet did not move a single inch.
If he had been punched by Ye Kong full force before this, he would at least be thrown tens of metres away. His ribs might have been fractured too.
Now, he could fully withstand Ye Kong’s full power, completely fine from the attack. This was just the defensive ability that the Golden Ant Soldier had when they hatched. They were still larvaes; if they were cultivated to become mature Golden Ant Soldiers, their defensive ability could probably be increased manyfold. Not only that, the area of their armor covering Li Brothers’ body would also increase, until they had completely covered the Li Brothers’ entire body.
“So strong, as expected from a Gold-ranked beast!” Ye Kong cried in surprise.
“Actually, it hurts a little too… If you summon your King Kong Demon Ape and punch me again, I might not be able to withstand it!” Li Qie nodded his head, unexpectedly happy.
“Your Golden Ant Soldier is still a larvae, there will be a lot of room for it to grow in the future. Furthermore, after I contracted with the Herculean Rhinoceros Beetle, I received a boost in power and have grown to have at least ten times the power I had before. Even if I didn’t summon the King Kong Demon Ape to strengthen my body, I can probably send the fatty flying with one punch. Your Golden Ant Soldier is really strong!” Ye Kong confirmed the value of the Golden Ant Soldier. However, it was now Fatty Hai’s turn to oppose his opinion. “Oi, don’t use me, Master Hai as comparison! I’m not a punching bag!”
“The defensive capability isn’t bad, and its other aspects are decent too. Their only flaw would be their lack of wisdom. Looks like it’ll be difficult to raise them beyond Gold-rank.” Yue Yang sighed. Although the Golden Ant Soldiers were Gold-ranked beasts, they had limited potential. They were not the most ideal beasts to have.
“Being able to own a Golden Beast is already the greatest honour that we, the Li brothers, have ever had in our lifetimes. We will treasure it!” Li Ge nodded solemnly towards Yue Yang.
Li Ge and Li Qie were the kind of people who did not speak a lot. THey knew that they were not talented enough and would require a million times more effort in order to obtain a little progress.
Even though the Golden Ant Soldiers were not the best Gold-ranked beasts out there, how many warriors in this world would have a Gold-ranked beast?
Even though they neither had outstanding talents nor the backing of great families, these two ordinary young men now had beasts that most people could only yearn for in their dreams. What was there to not be satisfied with? In comparison, even Ye Kong, who had the greatest potential amongst the three of them and Fatty Hai, who owned a grimoire, did not have a Gold-ranked beast. How could they not know how to be satisfied? If not for meeting Yue Yang, they would have starved to death in Tong Tian Tower’s floors. Even if they had not, they were just the two idle bodyguards, destined to die who knows when as food for beasts.
If not for Yue Yang, would they still be around today?
Thus, Li Qie and Li Ge especially cherished and were extremely thankful for everything Yue Yang had given them.
They did not thank him in words, because great kindness could not be reciprocated with mere words. They had already decided to use their entire lifetime to pay back this strange guy who had completely changed their lives and fates.
“Oh no, if Sister Yi Nan… Ah, Brother Yi Nan has already arrived at Hope Town and met the mercenaries in their skirmish, she might be in danger!” Yue Bing thought of something and immediately cried out. Thinking about what she said, Ye Kong and the others sweated profusely. If Yi Nan had coincidentally just arrived at Hope Town, then the situation would be extremely dire. Ye Kong and the others looked at Yue Yang, hoping that he had some plan.
“Yi Nan has a grimoire, he should be fine.” Yue Yang consoled Yue Bing, but felt that it would be better if he went back to look around. Therefore, he nodded his head, saying, “Let’s go back to Hope Town and see what’s really going on. I really felt that it was really strange for the mercenaries to go crazy killing each other so chaotically. Someone must be pulling the strings from behind.”
“Then, let’s go back quickly…“ For Yue Bing, Sister Yi Nan was her future sister-in-law whom she could not bear to see getting into trouble to.