Creating a paradise in an ant nest

Chapter 53 The Cabin in the Woods of Spiritwood Garden

"Greetings, Senior Brother Fu. It's a pleasure to serve under you."

Liu He maintained a polite facade.

"Come on, I'll take you to the forest area you're in charge of first. Once you're settled, I'll introduce you to everyone during the routine morning meeting in a few days."

As Fu Shuai spoke, he led Liu He to the forest area under his jurisdiction.

"Your forest area covers twenty acres, with about five hundred trees of various sizes."

Waishan Forest Farm has two people taking turns guarding it day and night, but not at Lingmu Garden. You're the only one guarding this twenty-acre forest area day and night, and you're responsible for all the affairs..."

Fu Shuai introduced the situation of Lingmu Garden and various precautions and rules.

Twenty mu?

Liu He was wondering why he was only looking after 20 acres of forest when he heard that he was looking after it all by himself.

No wonder it's only twenty acres.

It is no small task for one person to guard a 20-acre forest area day and night, which consists of valuable spiritual plants and trees.

Because the spiritual plants are so precious, in order to avoid shirking responsibility and unclear accountability if something goes wrong, there is no day shift or night shift assignment; all the care is done by one person.

After explaining for a while, Fu Shuai led Liu He to the middle of the twenty-acre forest area.

In a flat, open space, stands a wooden house.

The wooden house is not large, about a hundred square meters in size.

The entire structure is made of ordinary wood, without any bright paint, only a layer of clear oil to protect the wood grain, and the edges are polished to be smooth and rounded, without any roughness.

The house is small and exquisite, a single-story detached house with layers of neat and dense dark brown thatch on the roof. The eaves jut out slightly and the corners are slightly upturned, making it simple yet unique.

"This is your living quarters. You can renovate and remodel it according to your own preferences, but it can only be this big and cannot be expanded."

The person who used to live here has advanced to the seventh level of Qi Refining and gone to the flower garden.

Fu Shuai explained.

Looking at the wooden house in front of him, Liu He understood what the benefits of "living on Lingzhi Peak" meant.

He guards the forest area alone, 24 hours a day, day and night. Why would he go back to Qixia Peak? He can only live in the forest area.

This cabin in the forest was both a perk of his living in the second-tier spirit-gathering array and his workplace.

"Move your belongings from Qixia Peak, settle in, and familiarize yourself with the forest environment."

It's normal to have questions at first; feel free to ask me or other senior students.

"Understood, Senior Brother Fu."

Liu He nodded.

After explaining everything, Fu Shuai was about to leave when he remembered something else: "By the way, new disciples who join the Spirit Plant Peak have a small perk: they can go to the flower garden to get a seedling of a spirit herb."

Don't forget to collect it. This is the only spiritual plant we can grow that truly belongs to us.

Seedlings of the medicinal herb?

A unique spiritual plant that belongs only to me?

Seeing the doubt in Liu He's eyes, Fu Shuai patiently explained, "The spirit tree garden we are guarding belongs to the sect. We cannot plant any spirit plants without permission. That's the rule."

The sect's benefits are not included here. You can openly plant the spiritual herb you receive, anywhere you like, in front of or behind your wooden house.

"Although what you can get are just some worthless spirit herbs and flower seedlings, they can still be worth some spirit stones if you raise them for ten or eight years."

After listening to Fu Shuai's explanation, Liu He suddenly understood.

The rules of Lingzhi Peak are strict. In short, all property and resources belong to the sect. Apart from receiving a monthly salary and some benefits, the disciples should not think about doing anything to earn spirit stones.

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.

night.

Liu He returned to the familiar forest area of ​​Waishan Forest Farm with a suitcase containing clothes.

He came to lead the ant colony.

He's going to Lingzhi Peak to live a "good life," but he can't forget his ant colony.

The journey from the outer mountain forest farm to Lingzhi Peak is long and separated by the area where cultivators are active, so it is unrealistic for the ant colony to travel on its own.

So he specially found a leather suitcase used for storing clothes to help the ant colony migrate.

He traveled to the ant nest in advance to order the queen and the ant colony to assemble outside the nest. When he arrived, the two ant nests had a total of over 100,000 ant soldiers ready to go.

"Come in quickly, we're about to set off."

He opened the suitcase and placed it on the ground, and a swarm of ants rushed into it.

The ants swarmed around the queen, carrying the eggs and larvae on a massive relocation.

He took both queen ants with him, the red queen and the black queen.

They left the outer mountain forest farm overnight and rushed to Lingzhi Peak.

His own forest area, next to the wooden house.

"This is our new home."

"Red Queen, you can settle down next to my cabin. Black Queen, build your nest further away; I'll find you a secluded spot later."

He worked tirelessly for the ant colony.

First, the red ants searched for a good nesting site, and a large number of ants began to dig up the ant nest.

Then, a secluded spot was chosen for Black Queen to build her nest, about 100 meters away.

After settling the ant colony, he returned to the cabin.

The interior of the log cabin is as simple and unpretentious as the exterior. There is no stove for cooking or a bathtub for bathing; there are only some simple furniture such as tables, chairs, beds, and cabinets.

In short, it is a place to live, practice cultivation, and hone one's skills.

Cultivators absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, so they don't need to eat or drink. They have simple spells to cleanse their bodies, so they don't need to wash.

However, while there are spiritual fruits and teas, as well as spiritual beasts and livestock, these can be provided for cultivators to eat and drink, but they are only for high-level cultivators. Low-level cultivators try to save as much as possible, prioritizing their cultivation above all else.

Once you become a cultivator, the most basic needs of mortals, such as eating, drinking, and bathing, become the enjoyment that high-level cultivators pursue.

"The menial disciples of Spirit Plant Peak receive a monthly stipend of five spirit stones, plus twenty catties of spirit rice. With the addition of a second-tier spirit gathering array, this treatment is much better than that of the outer mountain forest farms."

"With these resources, I can reach the peak of the third level of Qi Refining in a year. Once I break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining and become an outer disciple in the middle stage of Qi Refining, my spirit stipend will increase to ten spirit stones."

Liu He felt that the path to immortality was within reach.

With the ant nest there, his spirit stone utilization rate is extremely high, one spirit stone can be used as a hundred spirit stones.

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 following day.

Liu He went to the flower and plant garden to collect the seedlings of the spiritual plant.

After some inquiries, he arrived at a field where seedlings of spiritual plants were being cultivated.

Each tiny seedling of the spiritual plant is planted separately in a designated area.

These spiritual plant seedlings are very small; many are no bigger than the palm of your hand, with only a few thin, delicate leaves, and some are even smaller, no bigger than a fingertip.

Liu He could distinguish mature spiritual plants, but he could not identify the species of these seedlings.

Outer sect cultivators are tending to and nurturing these seedlings.

It uses its spiritual nourishment and water mist techniques to moisten these spiritual plant seedlings.

"I am a new handyman disciple who has just joined the Spirit Tree Garden of Spirit Plant Peak. I've come to collect the spirit plant seedlings."

Liu He explained his purpose.

The outer sect senior brother casually pointed and said, "Pick whatever you want."

"Um... could you please explain, senior brother? I can't tell them apart."

"Whatever seedlings you want, we have all the common spiritual plants and flowers here."

"I have no idea……"

Liu He heard that the seedlings of spirit plants were not worth much money. The cheapest ones could be bought for one spirit stone for several seedlings, while the more expensive ones were only two or three spirit stones per seedling.

However, the value differs greatly once they are fully grown.

"Tianzi Lingcao, Ziyuanhua, Lingshen, Lingshouwu, Lingma, Lingbohe... all the names you can think of are here."

Many people who come to pick up seedlings choose Ling Shen, as the longer it is cultivated, the higher its value.

Or perhaps it's the honeysuckle, which is easy to grow, has beautiful flowers, and is quite valuable once cultivated.

Seeing Liu He hesitate, the senior disciple from the outer sect gave another introduction.

Just as Liu He was pondering which option to choose, a familiar voice rang out.

"Liu He? You're here to collect spirit plant seedlings too, right?"

It was Wang Yarong.